Garden

Well, I picked a harvest from my garden today. Needless to say, it wasn't much...a handful of beans, peas from two plants that I uprooted by mistake when weeding, a potato I thought was a weed (but isn't it the cutest little thing???) and two onions that decided to come up when I was weeding. They aren't any bigger than they were when I planted them, but the others in the garden are.

I took a picture of the "box" garden plus a couple of the cow manure garden. The cow manure garden is much more prolific than the box garden, even with weeds. :) I haven't been out to see my strawberries for a while, and I want to work on tilling a row to plant some raspberries this fall.



Tracy's been at orchestra camp all week, and I got to pick from the garden of the family she went with. I've canned three quarts of carrots, eaten a bunch of broccoli with a little cauliflower and some carrots in it, have a few carrots to eat, and have canned four quarts of green beans. I have eight pints of beans in the canner right now plus probably another eight in the fridge ready to can once I get my rings off of these jars. Oh, we also picked over a gallon of raspberries!

Mike and Aaron went out blueberry picking today but didn't come home with much. They must be about done for the year--maybe one more trip up to the corner and across the street from us will do it...

School

School starts today at our house. I posted a trial schedule on the wall and got various disgusted comments and complaints. I didn't think it was too bad, especially since I'm going very easy for the next few months. For Jason and Emily, all I'm doing is Bible, math, and language arts. Aaron has spelling, history, language, and math. We'll put on the steam when the new year rolls around to get the other subjects caught up.

Soccer starts tonight as well. I'll have to get my act together and have a snack ready for when we come home. I'm planning to stay at the field for a bit and then take the three little girls to the pool. The indoor pool opens today--Hooray!

Saturday the older three girls and I went to Bemidji to a funeral. We stopped at Wal-Mart and got Mike a pair of shoes and some gas and then went to Putt 'n Go. They went down the waterslide with some money they made picking blueberries for a friend. (The boys went to Valleyfair in June.) It started raining while we were there, and I joked that I should have just gone down the slide for as wet as I got. I think that was one of the coldest rides home I've had for a while. My mom offered me a sweater, but it was tight and long-sleeved. I would have "died" I think.

Yesterday Mike wanted to go out blueberry picking, but it rained and rained and rained. Around 6, the sun came out, but by then it was too late. A friend is planning to come Tuesday evening to pick so we'll see how that turns out.

Wednesday

What a scorcher of a day! I fixed my curtains that separate the kitchen from the living room and turned the air conditioner on (again.) I'm sure it'll be on tomorrow and Friday also... Our thermometer says it hit 97 today. It was 99 in the sun where the kids were using the slip-n-slide. We went to town and dropped off some blueberries for my friend and then went to the pool. I'm sure by Friday the water will be very warm since it was much warmer today than yesterday. :) I sneaked away just before Mike's supper break and brought him a strawberry shake. He slurped the whole thing down without even offering me any!!!!!

Tuesday

Aaron, Jason, Emily, and I picked raspberries while Tracy had her violin lesson this morning. On Sunday she'll be heading out to orchestra camp.

This late afternoon, the kids and I went to the pool where we met up with some friends. I was hoping the day would cool down enough that the water would be warmer than the air temperature, but it didn't. I went in anyway.

The dog is chasing a mouse.

Monday

Today instead of mowing, we went to a soccer meeting. Afterwards, the kids and I went to the grocery store. I think I found out why I prefer shopping alone; man, were they WILD!!! We bought some groceries, including SUGAR cereal *gasp* so they're all anxious for Wednesday and Saturday, which are the days for sugar cereals for breakfast. :) We also got food for Tracy to take to orchestra camp with her next week. Oops, I guess this is Tuesday, but I'm posting it as Monday anyway. Good night!

Mowing #3

Today the younger five and I went out to Jackpine to mow another tank of gas while Mike and Tracy went blueberry picking. I think we were all productive. The kids found a wasp's nest up in a tree we'll have to take care of. We'll also have to take care of the underground nest as it's close to the fire ring. Some gasoline and a match just after dark should work fairly well. Mike and Tracy got nine quarts of blueberries so we have a couple more gallons in the freezer but are out of buckets. I guess we'll have to scrape up some ice cream money and go shopping and eat, eat, eat! :)

Mowing #2

Well, we went out and mowed more at Jackpine this afternoon. Aaron ran the rider through a tank of gas, then he and Jason mowed with it a bit more but didn't use another tank. Tracy and I put the push mower through a tank of gas plus I worked on pulling some of the branches out of the weeds, ferns, and raspberries for the campfires. Tracy also got her first two bee stings. Poor girl. :( It was a nest in the ground so we'll have to figure out how to take care of that one for sure. I saw a few bees by the new outhouse but didn't want to venture close enough to see if there was a nest or not. There are SO MANY frogs/toads out there!!!!! Usually we have several, but this year the ground seems to be crawling (hopping) with them.

On the way home, I stopped at the little grocery store to get some burger, cheese, and a tomato since Mike will be home for four meals in a row. They have a basket of suckers for the kids so I grabbed it and brought it out to the van for them to choose. There was another lady in there who gave me the third degree for leaving it out there with them. It's not as if they would have taken more than one, but she doesn't know my kids! I just had to laugh at her and reassure her several times that they'd be "fine" with it. You know kids and choosing though..."I'm not taking that one if you're taking that kind. Oooh, look at all the types to choose from. Hmm...which one should I pick. I want this one; no, I want that one." LOL

Mowing #1

Today I did the classic "no-no" and took the seats out of the van. We piled the rider into the back and threw all but one of the kids back there also! We went to town and mowed at the church building then loaded it plus the mower we keep at the church building back in the back end.

Well, there were police ALL OVER in Warroad today. I'm not sure if something was going on or if I was just oversensitive to the fact that I would have had a HUGE fine for not having people in seatbelts/carseats. :) We headed towards Williams but I chickened out when a police man was on the side of the road flashing his lights at people who were going too fast (not me though.) :) When he turned around and started following me, I turned towards home instead of going on.

Tracy stayed home with the little four while Aaron and Aussie and I went out to the campgrounds. We each mowed a tank of gas in our respective mowers and headed towards home. Tomorrow I'll take all the kids out there so they can play/help mow since we left the mowers there (and I'll have enough seatbelts!!!!!) Aussie chased a squirrel for a while and then sat and rested, wanting in the van. He knew we had peaches and water in there!

Prenatal Appointment

We had an appointment yesterday. I only grew one centimeter from the previous month, and baby's heartbeat dropped to the high 140's. Other than being admonished to drink more water (which is ALL I do, it seems,) everything is looking fine--thinking more and more that October 18 is the correct due date.

After the appointment, we went out blueberry picking and should have four cleaned quarts from that. Another pail full and we should have enough for our family... Then we'll have to pick for the grandparents. We even have one request for someone who wants to buy a pail from us. I brought a cupcake liner container (filled with blueberries--lol) up to the chiropractor and want to give a few to another friend in town.

We had a stray dog here for a while. Our dog is just too wimpy and couldn't hold his own. The other dog would bark at him, and he would run! It followed me down the road yesterday when I ran to return some canning rings (long story) so I wasn't sad about that.

I bought three lugs of peaches and canned a couple of them. Aaron and I have been enjoying eating from the third lug. :) I had everything all ready to go for canning only to find out that I only have seven regular-sized rings. I know several I had were too rusty to use and got dumped a few years ago, but it hardly seems like I would ONLY save seven! Oh well, a friend came to my rescue and let me use some of hers. I didn't want to "waste" all that boiling water.

That's about it for new stuff. If it doesn't rain, the kids and I plan to go to town and mow today. Melissa wants to go on the bike trail also.

Wednesday

Today we have a trip planned to pick blueberries. We're taking a group from the Crookston (sp?) area who would like to get around 50 gallons. Well, I don't think they realize how small and sporadic wild berries are, but we can show them some places. :)