Summer slowly simmers...

 Summer slowly simmers.  The fawns are braver, and we see them quite often.  This picture is about the only time they have been still.  Usually, they have the zoomies and running in circles like their tails are on fire.

I was going for a walk and wandered into these little turkey polts.  They scattered everywhere.  You should hear them peeping to their moms.  It is like little radars underneath the fern leaves.  

The sky was pretty hazy due to fires.  It does make for some pretty sunsets.  

We had a terrible hailstorm last week.  It hailed for about 20 minutes.  Nothing big just pea and marble sized, but it went on for what seemed like forever.  My flowers didn't fair very well but seem to be recovering. 

I was pleasantly surprised with the hail covers over my vegetable bed.  Everything was saved.  I might have to come up with a way for the hail to slide off instead of weighing down my cover.  That is its first real test and it passed with flying colors.  As you can see below, my crab apples and apple trees took things pretty hard.  We had to rake the apples up and throw them below the cabin, because the deer were in the yard every day eating them.  That wouldn't be so bad, but they were using my hollyhocks, black-eyed Susan's, and phlox as an appetizer.  

We had the most amazing Sunday dinner today.  I cooked up the morel mushrooms with butter and garlic powder.  My husband smoked some of last year's deer backstraps.  There were plenty of beans in the garden, thanks to the hail screen.  I fried up some bacon then used the grease to sauté the beans, okra, and red onion.  Added a few garlic cloves, salt, and pepper and volia, a meal fit for a king.  Best of all, with the exception of the bacon it was all harvested by us.  To top it off I had a glass of homemade chokecherry wine.  Life is good.

The bees aren't enjoying the hot weather.  Their hives are now 5 boxes tall.  I have a feeling there will be a plethora of honey to share.

I did have a few flowers survive the storm.  I'm shocked that a small group of sunflowers survived as they are quite tall and the wind was coming from every direction. 

I had to sneak up on this butterfly.  It took several tries before I finally was able to get some good photos.  He matched the marigolds perfectly.

What a fabulous sunset.  It is motorcycle rally time here.  Even at 9:18 there is a constant roar.  We are 5 miles from the nearest paved road, but sound carries.  Life flight has been over our cabin about 4 times already since last weekend, and it doesn't start until this weekend. 

Do you get a lot of hail?  Do you have motorcycle rally's or something as annoying in your area?  Hope your summer is moving along nicely.