Tag : day in the life

64 posts

Welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday. Come with me for a little walk around the yard today. You won’t believe how huge the tomatoes are!! FYI…picture heavy post

We’ll start were we left off last week. The former playset.

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The sand box has been removed and all that’s left are some bare spots in need of a load of dirt and grass seed.

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I got a little carried away with flowers this year but I’m really enjoying them.

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Of course many of them are perennials which suits me perfectly.

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Here’s one of the crazy horseradish plants along with some tiny cucumber plants. Only one survived the transplant to out doors after our strange spring. I just replanted some seeds. It remains to be seen if they ever get big enough to produce.

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Here’s the same deck box garden from a different angle. Those are my yellow pear tomatoes.

Remember where they started this year??

plant vigil

Hey look…there’s the playset in the background.

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And we can’t forget the obligatory beverage for T stands for Tuesday. Ice water for the humid afternoon we had while taking these photos. Heavy rain early in the day gave way to a sticky afternoon.

Continuing my backward progression around the house we come to this sad bucket of dirt.

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There are seeds in there…I set it in the sun hoping they’d germinate. If not I’ll throw something else in there…perhaps some daisy seeds for a splash of texture and color.

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The big garden or shed garden or perhaps deer feeding station.

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Some things are doing wonderful like my peppers and a rouge carrot.  My beans not so much. I’ve replanted seeds twice now after only a handful came up.

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The herbs I transplanted from a Trader Joe’s herb pot are getting really big.  Behind them is the other horseradish plant we inherited.

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I have beef steak tomatoes in this garden…nice thick stems and blossoms. Hooray!

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One of my Egyptian Walking Onions is starting to look real interesting. I inherited these with the horseradish.

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Not surprisingly the clover is looking fantastic. *grin*

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I picked up these great hanging pots at Walgreen’s of all places. I couldn’t pass them up for the price.

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The front walk pots aren’t looking the best this year. I was a little late in planting them.

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I do really like these ones though. I picked up with watering can half filled with dirt at a garage sale this spring for $2. It’s a nice edition to my eclectic bunch.

It wouldn’t be Tuesday without a full to-do list  for me. I’ll be around to visit my T companions at some point…have patience.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday_200As always on Tuesday…I’m linking up with T stands for Tuesday where we share a virtual beverage and talk about whatever comes to mind. IMG_0202

This week I was hoping to share all kinds of fun things that I had created with you like my new journal

But instead I have a tale. A true story from Sunday.

So grab your cuppa and sit a spell.

Sunday morning I put a turkey in the oven…one of the four I purchased when they were on sale at Thanksgiving.  It looked and smelled delightful when I pulled it out of the oven. It was perfectly cooked…I had out done myself on this one.

Mini-me was helping with all the sides. We had gravy heating on the stove while I was carving the turkey. She was heating green beans in the microwave and making instant mashed potatoes ( I know…but those are the kind she loves and since she was making them). The plastic splatter cover from the microwave was set over a burner…that was never on…and when we turned around it had melted in and was on fire.

I quickly grabbed the plastic and tossed it into the sink at which time the melted plastic on the burner continued to flame even higher.  I made a judgement call and grabbed the fire extinguisher and shot it. Only then did I realize that horrendous mess we had.

I threw open windows, the smoke alarm was going off. Mini-me was in tears in her room. Our entire meal had to be thrown away due to the toxic nature of the chemical flame retardant.

On the bright side…my kitchen is the cleanest it’s been since we moved in thanks to Mr. G. He is a cleaning master. I took the kids out to eat (since I had thrown away our food) after getting everything off the counters cleaned up while he cleaned up the rest including taking apart the stove to get all the chemicals out from the nooks and crannies.

How’s that for excitement!?!?

He jokingly told me next time I wanted him to clean,  to just ask. :)

Today I’m staying home watching the freezing rain and snow fall outside. It’s going to be a skating rink out there.

What are you doing today?

It’s time! Time to wrap up the 2014 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)

This is a sign from a nearby town I took one morning…hey, this one could even work for #13 a sunrise. Kind of a crummy photo but what do you expect for a really old cell phone through a windshield.
sign
2. A garden gnome

I didn’t need to go far for the gnomes since my neighbor collects them.

gnome collage
3. Birds on a wire

I wish I’d gotten a picture of a large power line that was just solid black with birds but I was driving…so you’ll have to be satisfied with these.
bird on a wire birds on a wire 2

4. A group of tourists

What a great day this was with the family.tourists
5. A rack of post cards

Wall Drug: Wall, SDpostcard rack
6. An urban street scene

Minneapolis, MNurban street scene
7. A rural landscape

Various MN locationsrural landscape 3 rural landscape 1 rural landscape 2
8. A tattoo on a persontatoo
9. A bakery  I’m going with Alternative B: A bird house

Another crummy cell phone picturebirdhouse
10. A photo bomb (someone found lurking in the background of photo; the lurker may have intended to disrupt the picture or may be doing it unintentionally, but the background lurker is a surprise to the photographer)

Gracie photobombing while I was trying to capture photos of giant bubbles photo bomb
11. A horn

I honestly could have had a whole collage of horns but I left it to this one photo.horn
12. A mascot

All taken during the 4th of July parade.mascot collage
13. A sunrise

This one was hard to get over summer since I didn’t have to get up quite so early. sunrise
14. A parade

Self explanatory.parade
15. A juggler

A little pre-parade entertainment.juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English

I took a liberty with this one. If I’m not mistaken those are Latin names for the flowers.FLcollage
17. A lamp post

I had never noticed all the unique lampposts around until this scavenger hunt. lamppost lamppost3 lamppost 2
18. A water fall

I really could have made 2 collages of waterfalls. I saw a lot of falling water. :)waterfall collage
19. A public garden

Minnesota Landscape Arboretumpublic garden public garden 2
20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.

I thought this one would be difficult but I saw lots of painted buses, however, I only had my camera ready for 3.buscollage
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season (recognizing that the season will be Winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere).

This first photo I can be seen in the rearview mirror photographing the bison that tried to ram the van…seriously. It was almost a “State Farm moment”.

summer activity 2

 

I can be found under the yellow canopy waiting for the parade to start.
summer activity

Whew!! I did it! I’m a little bummed that I didn’t get a bakery. I saw one over summer but again was not prepared with a camera. I considered taking a photo at our local grocery store of the baked goods section but decided that was cheating.

I’m looking forward to playing along with this challenge again…. Thanks to Rinda @gallorganico  for this fun summer challenge.

Welcome to T stands for Tuesday.T stands for Tuesday_200

Do I dare say that I think our internet troubles are finally over?  We haven’t had a reboot in almost 3 days now.  Of course, we’ve hardly used the computer either since we’ve been so busy.  Where shall I start?

Apples….Phil and friends

We helped with the annual harvest at our neighbors house on Saturday. We brought home 6 grocery bags of apples to be processed…a fraction of the total haul from their 7 trees.

Later that evening I went to a new neighborhood edition of craft club, where I made these 4 cards as well as got my stamp on the backs of a huge stack of previously made cards. I was pretty tired from the day and didn’t really have my craft mojo going.

craft club cards

Sunday was spent with Little J in the garage processing through the apples.  They are organic so they have spots and holes so most need some trimming after being run through the peeler/corer/slicer. BIG JOB! So glad I had help this year. We ended up with about 15 gallons of apples ready for the next step.

applesauce

So far I’ve made 7 quarts of sauce…

apple pie

One pie…dehyrator

An overstuffed quart bag of dried apple slices and three 8×8 apple crisps are in the freezer at the ready for future desserts. That was only about 1/2 the apples. More apple-ing today…

Last night I had a well deserved glass of wine.relaxing

Last week I finally got around to doing some creating…here’s a work-in-progress shot of a painting.

WIP

I’m a little late with my post today as I went for a walk with a friend around a local lake this morning. 4.25miles.  It was a little brisk at times but as long as you keep moving it helps keep you warm.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday_200Good morning and welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday. Our hostess with the mostess, Elizabeth (along with her furry companion Bleubeard) is not a stickler for any sort of rules…she asks that we share a virtual beverage of your choice and whatever else you’d like to share for the week.

horse cup

As I sat in the quiet this morning with my coffee I was thinking about all the changes that will be happening for the kids in a couple weeks. Both into new schools…High school and Middle school. I’m no longer an Elementary school parent. Then I look over at my coffee and see Playmobil horses and realize that they really are still just kids. Don’t grow up too fast…

Welcome to T stands for Tuesday.T stands for Tuesday_200

I’m going to warn you ahead of time… you better grab a fresh cuppa whatever you’re drinking today because I’ve got a lot of photos to share.

We traveled 1318 miles (2121 km), crossing two states, in 4 days. We spent a total of 25 hrs in the van. Remarkably there were no fights or bickering until we were within 5 miles of home.1-windfarmWe saw numerous wind farms we saw along the way. This one is in SW Minnesota.2-SDCrossing the boarder in South Dakota. Kind of a boring sign if you ask me. We honestly almost missed it.3-wall signNext stop Wall Drug. This is just one of hundreds and hundreds of signs along I-90.

Actually we made a couple of stops before Wall Drug, such as a drive by of the Corn Palace in Mitchell even though it is closed while some restoration is done on the domes.  At least we saw it.4-wall drugWe ate a very late lunch in Wall. It was super busy since it was the week preceding the Sturgis Bike Rally. We had hoped that we’d miss all that traffic but they started showing up about a week early.5-camp disappointmentThis sign sort of said it all for the Wall Drug stop. Camp Disappointment. Too busy, poor service, and no paper in the restrooms…none. Lovely. But if in SD you have to stop at Wall! Just not near Bike Week. :)6-cabinWe finally made it to our home away from home. We were fortunate to have the other side of the duplex empty the entire time we were there.7-coffee and ducksLittle J and I fed the ducks early the next morning before we left for Mount Rushmore. Note my coffee cup on the picnic table.
Two days later we saw a sign on this side of the lake asking people NOT to feed the wildlife. Whoops.

After a hearty breakfast we were on to Rushmore… 10-road to rushmoreWe ended up behind this motor home that had a long license plate such like one I associate with European countries. We lost track of it once before we even got through the gate.11-rushmore entranceWe saw plates from all over the country both here and on I-90. I’d estimate that we saw 3/4 of the states in the lower 48 and several Canadian Provinces in the 4 days were gone.12-Mt Rushmore

12a-closeupI’ve visited Mount Rushmore many times over the years but have never walked the Presidential trail before. We got so amazingly close. 13-Keystone bikesAgain with so many bikes…we decided to skip stopping in the tourist trap area of Keystone. Later that same day we visited Cosmos Mystery Area, Dinosaur Park, Black Hills Caverns,  Chapel in the Hills and stopped for groceries. Whew! No wonder we were tired. Plus the kids and I went in the pool at the end of the day.

The next morning we decided to head to Custer State Park. As we entered rounded the bend towards the visitors center we encountered a bit of a road block.

16-Custer state parkAbout 200 or so bison were hanging out on and along the road. Males, females and calves all together. The bison were in rut.

17-offical greetersThis one was very interested in sniffing all the vehicles as they went by.

We took a 2 hour Jeep tour through the park seeing areas that aren’t accessible to the general public.

21-Custer Jeep ride

I think this was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. Our guide happened to be the lady who owned the tour company. She was amazing knowledgeable. 22-prairie dogWe saw prairie dogs…

23-mountain bluebirdmountain blue birds…

24-big horn sheepand bighorn sheep.

After spending a lot more time than expected in Custer, we went to Rushmore Cave then back to our cabin for supper. We decided to explore the park that was on the other side of the lake  until it was nearly dark. It was a beautiful evening.

In the morning we packed up to head for home via the Badlands.

25-badlands

26-painted layers27-above the painted layersThere really isn’t a bad view in this whole park. 28-rattlesnake shakeNow why in the world would I show you this… Well, there is a story to this photo.  As we walked to the end of this overlook Mr. G had mentioned that he thought these raised boardwalks would be a perfect place for rattlesnakes to rest in the shade. As we got about half way back we heard the telltale rattle. The kids were gone like a shot and wouldn’t get back out of the van for the next few stops.  29-end of the journeyWe finally got them to emerge for a final little trek. Little J would go past the sign that said beware of rattlesnakes. I have to admit I wasn’t terribly excited about doing that either after hearing one. Blech…gives me goose bumps just thinking about it again.

I hope I didn’t bore you with our road trip photos.  We took about 900 photos with our 2 cameras plus a few videos.

Sorry that I never made it around to anyone last week….we were too busy traveling. I had my post scheduled and was able to use some wifi long enough to link up at Elizabeth’s blog.

Happy Tuesday! So glad you could join me for another edition of T stands for Tuesday.

We’ve been trying to get out and about more this summer with the kids before they are too old to want to go out with us….or have jobs and can’t. I know we still have a couple of years but the times goes by so quickly.

On one adventure we came across a garage sale…more of a sample sale I guess. The kids convinced me I needed this travel glass.great at 40Of course, this edit would be most accurate…actually 42We’ve explored the MN Landscape Arboretum twice already. I bought a 1yr membership with my birthday money so I want to make sure we make it worth while. collage1 collage3Such a beautiful place…abundant trails…something new around every corner.

We always have a great time on Independence Day.collage4And no, those are not my kids. Mine are much, much older.

collage2We just had to go see Minnehaha Falls after the torrential rains and flooding. I’ve never seen the Falls running that fierce. It’s just a few short blocks from the Mississippi River, we ventured over there as well. collage5These photos were taken from Lock and Dam #1. The trees in the middle of the river look pretty strange right?! It’s normally an island about 200 yards from the dam. A good share of the walkways used by the Army Corp of Engineers are totally under water as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The more we adventure around…the more places we want to see. I keep making lists of things to explore. I’m sure we’ll have lots more to share before summer is over.

But for today, I have my everlasting list to tackle.

What are you doing today?

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