Friday, July 22, 2011

Summer days...

 Our summer is flying by.  We have kept busy doing a bunch of little things.  My husband has been mowing our food plots for the deer.  We have put in several trails throughout our property.  Since it is so wooded, the trails make things accessible.  It also makes it easier to move logs and other things we use for our winter projects.
Our window peepers are back.  Every year the Flycatcher family builds their nest on the highest peak of our cabin.  Then they spend the summer peeking in our windows.  Actually our upper deck is a staging area before they feed the little ones.  Still, they do seem to spend a lot of time looking in our door.

 

The rose bed is at it's peak.  The roses are going nuts, the day lilies, delphiniums, and daises all look dapper.  I learned from last year that skimping on fertilizer will get you in the end, so I have been diligent this year.

 








I love delphiniums and roses.  Almost as much a delphiniums and peonies.  Ah heck, I love everything with delphiniums.  They are so stately and their colors are iridescent.

 

 

My little round tree bed looks good.  It is not a color combination I normally use with the bright yellows and dark maroons.  I have been going to a few rummage sales and found this great birdhouse for $5.  I put it on the potting bench on the porch until I figured out where I wanted to put it.  That darn squirrel tried to modify it for her own personal use.  I am less than pleased.

Well, I'll leave you on the porch.  As you know my motto is, "coffee on the porch in the morning and lemonade on the porch in the afternoon."  I have learned this summer that if you make a bad batch of wine, it goes pretty good with lemonade.  I'm sure you are sick of blooms, I go a little overboard since it takes nine months of winter to get here.  My next post will be about berries.  

Oh I do have to show you another photo of the greenhouse, taken 4 days after the last one on the last post.  The pumpkin is almost on the ground.  I think it is planning an attack on the strawberry bed.  I had to beat them off of the tomatoes this morning.  I need to make yet another trip into the chaos with some scissors.  My pumpkins are bent on taking over the world, or maybe it is the squash, could be the zucchini, at this point I have no clue, but be afraid out there, be very very afraid.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Blooms!

Good Morning!  While Christina and I visited my parents the garden flourished!  We came back to beautiful blooms.  I hope you enjoy your morning coffee and take a tour.  If only you could smell the flowers also. 


We start on the porch.  The birds are chirping, the weather is perfect, and the slight breeze is filled with the scent of beautiful flowers. 



Finally, after 3 years my Miss Kim lilac bloomed.  Poor thing usually gets crushed by the snow or eaten by mice.  I killed the mice and wrapped it to protect it from the snow.  It was worth the work as the smell was intoxicating!



My Theresa Bunget rose is in full force and as big as ever.  Again her scent is heaven.  I think she is 5 feet tall.


This spiderwort was in a load of topsoil we used for the lawn.  I rescued it and planted that one little plant below the rose.  It has flourished. 

This is my husband's peony.  In Denmark they are called the prairie rose.  To be honest I like that name better.  I picked one and brought it in the house.  I was amazed how the aroma filled our cabin.





My iris collection includes Congratulations Iris, the iris Lois gave me, and the iris AJ gave me.  There is nothing better than flowers in the garden that remind you of your friends.

 My loving husband managed to get me some of these beautiful dark red iris from one of the ladies at work.  I can't wait to see how they do next year.  The card was made by Susan at 'My Mother's Apron Strings.'  I won a beautiful apron from her.  I am so impressed by her talents.  I can't thank her enough for her generosity.




We are back on the porch and this is the view from my chair.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I enjoy your comments and appreciate that you take the time to visit.  Life is better when you share it with friends and family. 

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Welcome to South Dakota USA


If I haven't mentioned it before, I am an extremely lucky woman.  I have the greatest husband, wonderful parents, and good friends.  I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with one of my good friends from high school, Christina.  As I mentioned before Christina is from Denmark, so time with her is precious and a more fun than one could imagine.  Chris was here in 2008, but it was a whirlwind tour that was fun, but we had little chance to spend quality time together.  This time it was different. 


First we took an ATV ride up to Mt. Roosevelt.  My students worked with the Forest Service to restore this historic monument and improve it for future generations.   We are overlooking Deadwood on the ATV.


Of course we went to Deadwood.  We didn't gamble with money, but the calamari with banana ketchup was a bit of a risk:)  Then it was off to Harrold to an all school reunion.  We reconnected with old friends.  I was pretty bummed we missed the slowest tractor races.  If you have never seen one you are missing out.  I am not being sarcastic; they are a hoot. Still we had a great time and I really appreciate all of the work the reunion committee put into it as everything was great.

Next we went home.  My parents really went out of their way to make our time there wonderful and it was.  I don't think things could have gone better.  We went for a ride.  The only way I could describe that ride was the title of the painting "The Prairie is My Garden."  The grass was stirrup high, the wildflowers were incredible and everything was so green. Then my Dad took us out on the boat.  The photo below is of their ranch from the boat.  Sorry no boat photos.  Some were taken, but they will not be released to protect the innocent.   


Then we took Christina on her first fishing trip.  She caught a fish, then another, then another, and a few more after that.  She is so excited to take her fishing photos back to work to show the guys.  Of course my husband, a Minnesota fisherman born and raised, pointed out that we need to work on our catch photos.  I tend to agree.  My Mom then proceeded to make the best catfish supper with homemade ice cream for dessert.  I dream of the that meal (there are not a lot of catfish in the Black Hills).
 I cannot thank my parents enough for such a great trip.  Both Christina and I will not forget the experiences we had.  Not just all of the activities, but also just sitting in front of the house visiting.  It was perfect.
We went home via the Badlands.  My nieces will be impressed that we tread on such dangerous ground. The next day was an extremely relaxing day in my garden, just visiting and visiting.  For a perfect end to a relaxing day my husband grilled us the perfect meal for supper.  Then the grand finale, we climbed Harney Peak with high hopes of swimming and relaxing on the beach after.  We made it up and down the peak with no problems, but the hail storm cut our stay at the beach short.  No problem we went shopping.  

 One of the final highlights is Christina got to see her host family before she left.  They just happened to be on their way home from Washington as we were waiting in Rapid (shopping) for Christina's flight.  I am happy they had a chance to visit.

It was the best vacation ever.  I can't say enough how important it is to have such a good friend.  I was sad to see her go, but Kelly and I are going to Denmark in 2 years and look out Denmark!  I sure appreciate how everyone helped us make this a special trip.