garden update

Scott & I went to the garden {very early} this morning to do some picking and weeding before it got too hot.
The corn is growing nicely despite the wicked winds that have knocked some over. Should be ready in a week or so. You can see the difference between the first planting and the second planting several weeks later:

Here’s the tomato plants. We’ve also got some nice banana peppers growing. And cabbage!  Last year the bunnies ate every single cabbage plant.  This year we have one bunny who jumps the fence and just today was the first signs of a deer being in the garden.

Do you see that little white speck in the middle of the next picture?  Guess what it is!  It’s one of my Boo Pumpkins growing.  I’ve had a goal for three years to grow a pumpkin. Container gardening didn’t work. Last year’s garden crop didn’t work.  So excited that it is growing this year!  I planted Boos, Jack Be Littles and I think Connecticut Field Pumpkins.

Here’s some of our cucumbers to make pickles with:

Not sure if this is a pumpkin or a melon.  Their vines have kind of intermixed.

One of the melons we have growing.  And there’s a lot more blooms, too (:


We’ve also got potatoes, onion, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, cantaloupe, green peppers,  butternut squash & spaghetti squash growing, but I didn’t take any pictures of those.

Here’s the loot we took home today: a lot of banana peppers, 2 bags of cucumbers, a couple spaghetti squash, a couple cabbage heads and some broccoli.

Strawberry Pickin’

So apparently Elli had never been strawberry picking.  So Scott & Julie promised to take her sometime this year.  So Scott arranged for us to go picking…on one of the hottest days of the year at a time when the shade on the patch was gone!  Then he ended up not going b/c he got a tow job to Massillon.

So Mom, Rhett & I took Elli and Emmy Jo to the garden so they could pick for the very first time.  Elli said she liked it.  She didn’t like getting a hold of the mushy ones.

I didn’t think Emmy would pick any, but she ended up getting a couple.  This is her first one:

We managed to get four buckets:

Then Julie treated us to Whits:

And before we got home Emmy & Elli were asleep:

Memorial Day ‘11

This year Memorial Day was so hot!  The day began with our first strawberry harvest of the season (actually, ever).  Mom, Scott & I picked three buckets of berries.



We had a really nice cookout for lunch. Then we all hit the pool for the first time this summer.  Emmy loved it.

A Busy Weekend

My busy weekend started on Friday when Bean, Emmy & I headed to the Columbus Zoo.  It was our first trip of the year.  Despite the LARGE amount of school children on a field trip, it wasn’t that bad. 

We started in the aquarium…

Checking out the new gorilla…

It’s a baby!!

Checking out the orangutans…

The kangaroos were the 2nd favorite animal this time.  I taught Emmy the night before how the kangaroo hops.  Right after this picture, two of these took off to the other side of the exhibit.  She said, “They boing.”

Here’s the #1 animal so far of every trip….a “duck”.  Emmy still thinks anything with feathers larger than a bird is a duck.  Where we like to eat lunch there was a family of geese… “baby duck”, “mommy duck” and “daddy duck”.  Emmy was in heaven.  Anytime she’d spot a duck, goose or swan, she’d say, “I see ducks”.

This “duck” really wanted her lunch.

The baby elephant was asleep…I hope!

Still loving the polar bears.  Even though it was apparently time for a nap…they’re just so darn cute!

Checking out Brutus & Buckeye, the brown bear brothers.

The bobcat.  Emmy thought it looked like our cats… “meow”.

Finally, a decent bald eagle picture for Scott.

There was hardly anyone at the otters by the time we made it to their exhibit. I got some good pictures, but this is my favorite.

So that was Friday.  Saturday was spent at the garden (see the post below) and visiting with my brother and his wife in the evening. 

Sunday after church I went on an impromptu road trip with my Mom, little brother Nick & Bobby B.  At first, Mom was going to treat us to McD’s and eat it on their back deck.  But as we headed there, she was like, “KFC sounds good.”  So we headed towards Coshocton. We took the KFC to Lake Park for a picnic.   Afterwards, we walked around the Lake and then stopped for a Frosty on the way home.  We stopped at Emerson’s, too, for some flowers to plant.