Damn it was Hot!

The dogs and I took a walk just after sunrise hoping to get some exercise before the dangerous heat moved in.

It was hazy and humid as you can probably see behind Charlie. [He seems to be doing fine even with his bad tooth situation right now. I don't know if he is just excellent at hiding his pain or he is stoic. My bet is on stoic.]

The heavy dew was amazing at showing spider webs that are springing up all over the place. In a few weeks the meadow behind Charlie will be full of webs for Orb Spiders. I was able to actually find one tiny spider between two webs. It took quite a few shots to get this little spider in focus, but I persisted.

The web below is likely built by a Funnel Weaver. I've yet to see one, but can appreciate their beautiful webs.

The bees are incredibly busy on these flowers. Horse Nettles. I've been fighting them in a section of pasture for a while. I tend to think of them as beneficial to bees so I am leaving most of them alone. When they are flowering, I can sit in the grass nearby and watch the bees swarm the flowers.

They are toxic to humans and animals so there is that. I'd like to get rid of them but not quite sure I should, I'd rather support the bee population. Perhaps I'll just make that spot smaller and keep them from taking over.

The morning quickly turned incredibly hot with the humidity. I picked a large bunch of Queen Anne's Lace along with a few of the Zinnia's that decided to blossom this year.

I thought I'd do a little photographic 'study' of them while indoors and beating the heat.

Your eyes are not betraying you. Some of the ones I picked have a pink hue to them. I left most of the flowers alone that I noted the pinkish color. I thought all Queen Anne's Lace was pure white.

By late in the afternoon the 'heat index' had risen to 115. I went out a few times with the dogs. I stayed out as long as I could and then brought everyone inside.

Hannah played ball and took all of her toys out of the basket and spread them around house. She was bored.

I read for a while and then decided to try and find something to watch.

I found a program that absolutely captivated Hannah.

It is a series of videos by a guy named Rocky Kanaka that goes into Dog Shelters and basically 'sits' with dogs that are non responsive or deemed not very adoptable. It is called Sitting with Dogs.

Hannah had a keen interest in what was happening.

The weather broke overnight. It is still muggy but the temps are in the 70's for today so I will celebrate by getting out and about.

My busy messy gardens. Hannah update too...

A post by a friend AC, got me thinking about my own gardens and yard. The mowing is done by a zero turn and push mower and it looks pretty nice. Unless you count all the overgrown areas of pasture [not safe to mow] and weeds growing around old equipment.

So I've always tried to make a very colorful and brilliant bunch of little gardens.

They may be messy and weedy, but the birds and the bees are really enjoying them.

Creeping Thyme flowers.

Morning Glories on the porch.

Self seeded Sunflower in the yard.

Happy Birds

Sunlit Nasturtium. These flowers literally take over the SE section of the porch.

 

Not a hummingbird.

Blazing Stars being watered.

My outhouse garden looks amazing and is nearly surrounded by Bee Balm plants. I can sit on the back stoop and watch bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds dodge around in the flowers. 

If I move closer and am patient I can get photos of them.

The East garden. It is one of my free for all gardens. I have creeping thyme, vinca, iris, day lilies [not shown] bee balm, zinnias, cosmos, a pumpkin plant...😁 along with nasturtium and corn flowers. Basically I took a jar of seeds to the one side of the garden and tossed them in, raked, and stomped and thought I'd see what happened.

There is actually a hidden path that goes through the garden. The dogs and I use it.

Yes the garage is still there crumbling slowly. No word from Frank on when he is thinking of tearing it down. I'm okay with waiting because Frank is also busy with working on two farms with crops. He also raises cattle and runs a Excavating and Gravel business along with hauling things for farmers. His wife believes he should clone himself.

Below is another mess. I had Borage Flowers that grew to 4 feet tall and got taken out by last week's winds and 6+ inches of rain. But the surviving flowers are filling in. I don't do a strict border, but just mow close to the plantings. Love in the mist, Borage, Morning Glories, and it looks like some self seeded black eyed susans are going to appear between some marigolds and nasturtiums. I like my untidy messy gardens. Lots of crazy textures to admire.

I've ignored this spot-- below.... 

But this spring I had a tiny field of tall Sweet William which I just let grow. I'll probably save some plant seeds from these and dig the whole thing up this fall to start over or let it grow to grass. It is a mess and overgrown.

I'm going to pick my battles and do less next year as it is obvious I can't keep it all up. I didn't have time to properly care for it last year either. So perhaps it is time to go. Though I hate to dig up the black eyed susans that put themselves here too!

My one tidy garden is this one.

I may do the same for the other half of the porch next year. But I'd rather have cosmos and zinnias along with all the reseeded Love in the Mist flowers.

I love looking at tidy well done gardens, but for the life of me, I like to mix up as many things as possible and see what happens with no rhyme or reason.

I'm finding out what flowers like to grow together on my own and which plants like which places the best.

I suppose I could study some garden books, but the gardens they suggest are too rigid. I like wild and untamed.

Hannah and I saw Dr. Grimm, she is an awesome vet and Hannah loves her! Hannah does have what is called a seroma or pocket of fluid that is to the side of the incision. Her surgical incision is healing perfectly, the seroma is a small concern and we want to stay ahead of it.

So instead of my solution to keep her from licking it open...we changed tactics.
The area must be open to the air yet keep her from irritating it. 

I have a cleanser to swipe the spot twice a day.

So not a gross shot but here is a photo of the incision and the area points to what seems to be a seroma: Clear fluid that is next to an incision. 

Doc and I want to stay ahead of this as it could be serious and hard to treat if not taken care of.

I learned something today!

She has a new look with a PJ top from Olive's house, she gave me some shirts that her kids didn't wear anymore.

So Doc gave me some cotton balls in a solution to swab the sight and she came up with this to keep the area aired out and keep her from licking it.

It is a toddler t-shirt with leg holes. It is super easy to do and she was embarrassed at first, but is not bothered with it by bedtime.

Flutterbies and bugs

Last year I planted petunias and verbenas in the annual garden by the kitchen window. It looked great, but I noticed that the butterflies and bees preferred the Zinnias further away from my house down in the veggie garden.

So this year I took seeds that I'd gathered last year and seeds from Aurora and tossed 4 O'clocks and Zinnias in my small annual garden.

You will notice some Marigolds mixed in and those were all leftover seeds from the year before. I picked up the seeds that had fallen on the ground and poked a few here and there.

What a surprise my willy nilly casting of seeds gave me this year.

I think the butterfly below is a Black Swallow Tail! I've learned patience this year. A LOT of patience!

To get a bright back lit photo of a butterfly takes a ton of patience and waiting. 

The butterflies like to hit up the flowers when it is warm and sunny, then all of the insects are going crazy in a sense.

I even planted 3 sunflowers within close proximity of the house. In years past, Rich would complain about the sunflowers blocking his view of the driveway. I made sure that he could see the driveway, but also see the sunflowers.

This year he stands at the kitchen sink window and gives me a commentary on what is happening in the flower garden.

I planted sunflowers over a few different weeks in hopes of having more blooming time. The insects and the Goldfinches have been having a hay day with those huge flowers.

And there are all sorts of secret things hiding in the Marigolds. Crab spiders love hiding between the petals of a Zinnia or Marigold to wait for an unsuspecting 'meal' to come along.

The bees, butterflies, and spiders are all having a blast in my tiny garden. 

I'm collecting seeds from the 'Wildflower' Garden I planted in another section of the yard. I recognize the Bachelor's Buttons, the Marigolds, and some of the others, but some flowers evade ID. I think they are pretty, so I am gathering their seeds to toss in another section of the yard that I mow [hubby won't mow it over then!] next year.

I'm fairly sure that I will surely miss this riot of color after the first frost this year.

The flowers have brought me a lot of joy this year, as well as practicing with my camera.

I planted Nasturtiums because my friend in Alabama says these were her absolutley MOST-est favorite flower when she resided in the North. She says they do not survive the intense heat of the far south.

They were not always my favorite flower, however, I am reconsidering them as they have added beautiful mounds of brilliant color around my porch where the ground cover was sparse.

Apparently they too, attract spiders!

The humming birds are still either here or passing through. They are all over the 4 O'clocks in the early morning and early evenings.

I'm pretty lucky to have all this activity just outside my door.

Lucky me

I am pretty grateful for having such an interesting upbringing. All summer we stayed at a  small cottage. No TV, no hot water, we did have a toilet that flushed but weren't allowed to use it during the day.

Grandpa wanted to conserve electricity and not burden the pump. I think he was under the impression that we kids would flush for fun? I have no idea. 

My Grandparents had a tiny house not far from where we stayed. Our tiny house had two halves. One half was a room that was the kitchen and everything else room. The other part of the tiny house had 2 sets of bunk beds shoved together to sleep in. And the toilet with a curtain for privacy. It was built for Grandmother's parents to live out their lives in. The floor was wavy, uneven, and fun to play marbles on. 

We spent the summer surrounded by my Grandparents' huge garden. Only now am I coming to realize that they didn't just raise items for themselves and to sell, but they also raised enough food for to always have extra. I can recall their cellar be lined with home canned goods. The floor was dirt and there was a 'cold' room.

My own family had rows upon rows of home canned goods also. I never ate any jelly or jam that was factory made unless it was at a restaurant. I actually still don't as I've only once purchased grape jelly for grandkids when they all visited for a week during the summer and they all wanted grape jelly and peanut butter for snacks.

So why am I so lucky? I learned how to preserve and garden as a kid. A skill I was sure I would never use, ever. After all, we are the land of plenty right? I mean I can go to the store and pick up whatever I want when I want.

After swearing off vegetable gardening for many years, but growing flowers, I decided to experiment and mix it up. Flowers and green beans along with leaf lettuce.

Soon the garden grew larger and included all the basic veggies that Rich and I both loved. I had continued all along to make jellies and jams from foraging in the woods and picking blackberries, raspberries, and seeking out the wild apple trees to make apple jelly.

I went to the store after the Covid-19 #SafeAtHome order came to our state. Imagine my surprise in March when the land of plenty became the land of empty shelves. 

I dug back into my childhood and decided the prepare for this coming fall and winter. I planted another vegetable garden with the foods I knew that we would use all year to make stews, soups, and meals.

This is the third batch of tomatoes. The other two batches yielded 8 pints of Pasta Sauce to use for Lasagna and of course spaghetti this winter. I used to hate canning tomatoes, especially the peeling part.

Not so much any more. I use a food mill that separates the skins and most of the cores from the tomato. Easy Peasy.

It all comes somewhat naturally to me as I reach back in the memory banks to kid-hood. Grandpa's habit of saving things that could be useful in case of a shortage must have stemmed from living through WWI, the pandemic, the depression, and the rationing of WWII. Now I get it.

My Grandparents weren't idiots, they'd seen a world they hoped I would never see.

Yes I am Lucky.

Buggin

Early mornings are my best times.

This morning I went out and started to 'dead' head the marigolds to keep them blossoming. I picked seeds from the 4 o'clocks and zinnias to have for next year. I clipped most of the yellow cosmos and had gathered enough of their seeds to plant an acre of them.

I nearly put my hand over a bumble bee when plucking marigolds. So I went in and grabbed my camera.

The early morning sunlight highlighted the Bumble! After I downloaded the photos, I noticed the little beetle below the Bumble.

I slowly walked around and looked at the flowers more carefully.

If I am right this butterfly is called a Skipper? I don't know but it was cool. The Skipper stayed there for quite a while and I was able to try more than one angle.

I moved around to the front of the porch and found this interesting tiny bee below a tiny orange marigold.

It was dead, probably killed by a spider?
Hanging by a mere thread.

Bug Drama.

I dig insects.
~~~~~~~
Monday I have to dive back into the billing saga of the utterly discombobulated way the Gundersen and the VA work or don't work together.

Neither entity it seems wants to actually pick up the phone and make real communications.
Gundersen won't recognize disabled veterans right to have emergencies billed to the VA per CMS guidelines. Won't? Can't?
The VA keeps asking for proper billing and paperwork or notes.

And Gundersen just told me last month to just pay them and then I could talk with the VA.

Someone at Gundersen doens't know very well how to handle veteran claims when the veteran is admitted in an emergency. As the gal in billing said, "It is awful hard to do unless we have an authorization number!"
Amazing comment coming from someone who handles billings for such a large health care system.

Yards and Gardens, Goat, Dog, Pony

I got the yard mowed again before I had to put pontoons on the mower! Well, I got most of the yard mowed. I left a section for the pony to clean up and did some manure raking by hand.
I couldn't mow the hill by the shed as it is steep and was still wet under the grass.

But my supervisors watched me carefully.

Charlie and Sven tied out so they can enjoy sunbathing 

together.

If Sven sees Charlie in the yard, he cries and Charlie

runs to be with him.

Charlie doesn't really need to be tied when he is with his Goatie friend. But since I had a huge mower out, it was a safety thing.

I have been calling Sven 'Goatie Goat' and he seems to not mind. I refer to Lil Richard as Pony and he doesn't mind. Charlie gives me a look when I call him Dog.

Later, my supervisors were bored...

An old picnic table top

serves as a place to

sleep.

Lil' Richard was in his area cleaning up around the machinery and the old Jeep which has finally been sold. I'll move him and then rake out the manure there. The next trouble spot are two places I can't mow. I could weed wack it. But I'll wack down the weeds he doesn't eat..

The mules moved to what will eventually... I hope, be a picnic area overlooking the ridge to the north. I just love to sit under the big old Box Elder and enjoy the view.

After my mowing and whacking, I decided to plant some flowers. I'd gotten marigolds for the right half of the porch and planted seeds on the left side with a mix of cosmos, zinnias, and sunflowers. Some of the sunflowers reseeded themselves so I will move them around when they are big enough.

I tried something different this year.

I picked up the logs from a tree that was cut down last year. It was hollow and I thought it would be fun to try planting stuff in them. I moved other logs to the Morris Garden to be used as holders for my pails with plants. It is fun to try and get a bit creative with plants and planters. 

I have one spot under the kitchen window that may need more color this summer. I may transfer some seedlings or pick up some more Marigolds. I never liked marigolds as a kid, but now they are fun and I love their late summer hues.

My bleeding hearts are doing well and as they fade out, the iris's will shoot up with purple. As the iris flowers fade, the Blazing Glories will burst into color.

After that the zinnias should show up along with the 4 oclocks.

I don't know that I will do a veggie garden this year. Seems I have a lot of vegetables left over from the abundant garden of last year. I still need to string the electric wire down by the creek. 

At least I am not running out of things to do.

Of Fog and Wild apples

The morning started out with thick fog and a brilliant sunrise on the ridge.
I don't know if the extra color is because of the smoke from the wildfires out west or not. But the fog was thick and intriguing.

If I stood on our ridge and looked east just before the sun broke through, I could see where the other ridges peeked up out of the fog. I can tell where the Kickapoo River is in this shot. But only because I am familiar with the lay of the land.

September is a good month for sunrise photography and dewy wet surprises.

My idea yesterday was to pick some more of the wild apples from the pasture and make some apple juice. The trees are abundant with fruit this year and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

So far I've made 10 pints of pink apple jelly and 2 quarts, one pint of applesauce. So I thought I'd try making some apple juice. I've done it before and recall how pleasant it was to open up a quart and make some 'fresh' apple juice in the winter to drink.

I dragged a ladder out to the pasture and after so many trips up and down the ladder picking and gently putting the apples into the bucket, I decided that perhaps next time I'd take a canvas shoulder bag to pick into. It would save a lot of trips.

I got nearly a 5 gallon bucket full before I stopped.

I washed them and chopped the apples in half then put in just enough water to cook them for about 20 minutes at a slow simmer.

[Note...WOW, does that ever smell great!]

Strain the cooked apples next. Sometimes I use a cloth to get the purest of juice and squeeze it.
This time I just used the strainer and what didn't drip out with the pulp I transferred to another container to run through the food mill later.
This will become either applesauce or applebutter.

Somehow this would not have been a pleasant task in the old kitchen that had no counter space.

This harvest season is proving to be rather productive.

And of course it makes for a pretty nice Still Life display too.
Dried food and canned food along with tomatoes and zinnias.