Odds and Ends

I am starting to feel at home. I wanted to show you my flowers that I have babied since I moved in. The lady who previously lived here had these giant pots of petunias. Between her trying to move and us moving in the poor petunias were pretty much forgotten. I really didn't think they would come back like they have, but I started watering them and they came back. I have four pots and two of them look pretty good, the other two, I think I am going to plant something in them. I found my seeds finally so maybe some of those. We have such a long growing season here.

 We had to run to Home Depot Saturday for things like towel bars, and dryer hose and stuff that you never realize you need. Of course, we had to go through the garden department on our way to the rest of the store. As I have sat and stared at this tiny back yard, one thing that bothers me is there is no food growing. Just bushes that just sit there taking up space and water. We bought a New Improved Meyer Lemon and a Key Lime. I plan on buying another blood orange. That is about all the room I have for trees. Unless I take out the gardenia trees. Which is always a possibility.

This is all the room I have for a garden bed. The soil is so sick that weeds don't even grow. Ron said that when it gets cooler he is going to buy bags of soil amend and just fill the beds with it then in the spring start working it in and making it all healthy.

We of course have this waste of space.

Can you see it there? A hot tub. A broken hot tub. I told Ron I should just fill it with dirt and use it for a raised bed. We will get it fixed I suppose. I can tell you in my whole life, I have never wanted a hot tub. Never! When we were looking at this house, that was almost the deal breaker. Except we had to find a house, and there just weren't any on the market then, or they were selling in one day. Even this one had sold and fell through and we bought it the day it came back on the market. The yard will be pretty once we get started on it. Its such a blank slate.  

Here is some pictures of my lovely sewing/office/library. Its such a nice place to work in, I feel so happy and calm. Ron hung pictures of all of the past things I have made. Except of course rugs.

At my other house, all of my things were scattered all over the house. To have them all in one place is so nice. I still can't find anything yet, but now I know the place it might be. Today I get my first order from Dorr Wool. I think it has been 2/12 years. I do like to dye my own wool, but I can never get good reds or blacks. With Ron working from home until possibly 2021 I don't think I will be dyeing much wool. He just hates the smell. All the men in my family did and the women didn't. I always thought that was interesting. 

One of my last sunflowers before I left.

There are so many nice things about this house. No road noise. My clothes dryer works like a dream. I have a gas stove top. We have so much solar on the roof, the electrical company owes us money. Water is 40 dollars this month. I just have to tell you this our last water bill from the old place was 583.00!! That wasn't even a high one. No, I am very, very happy with our situation. I keep trying to shake the feeling, that the people who bought our old house might try to give it back. Ron told me that was why we signed all of those papers for weeks, because it means, " No Backsies!" Still weird things come into my mind. I haven't found a single tumbleweed. Its the end of July, and I don't have a hula-hoe welded to my hand. I think I could get used to this really fast. I wake up in the morning feeling like I am on vacation, with all of my stuff. Its very nice. Not to mention, I can see the blue sky. There are still lots of birds so all is not lost. I can take Sasha out at 2: 00 A.M. and No skunks! 

So it hasn't been like I thought it would be, Ron isn't smoking cigars and I am not grumpy. I was so afraid, it was going to be Ma and Pa Kettle go to town. :) Its a new week and I am so very thankful to be on this side of the move. Only one more thing I have to get done. Go to the DMV. I have to get a new drivers licence. They aren't taking appointments so I anticipate hours of standing in line. I always want to ask,

"And you want the government in charge of health care?"

Have a great week,

~Kim~

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone.     

Natalie Babbitt

The Garden in July

Moonflowers and Morning Glory are climbing the arch, soon it will be covered!

This row of sunflowers was planted late in the spring way after everything else was up, they seemed to grow much faster.


This is the first row of corn and sunflowers we planted, they are getting tired.


Here is a view of the south end of the garden.

Here are the luffa and bottle gourds, thriving in the heat.


We are going to have more pumpkins than we know what to do with.


My daughter scratched some designs into the pumpkin when it was little, now it has a permanent decoration.


We have room for a much bigger garden next year, but we haven't decided if we have the energy for it yet....