Camp Hygge...

 I constantly say how thankful I am for the life I have.  These last two weeks have been a prime example of why life is good.  My friend, Christina, came with her niece to visit.  They are from Denmark, and it was her niece's first visit to the United States.  

We showed her niece everything the area has to offer: Spearfish Canyon, a buffalo at Custer state park, the Needles, Mt. Rushmore, the badlands, my parent's ranch, the little Harrold School, a rodeo, a major thunderstorm, Deadwood, an escape room, tubing down a creek, and Devil's Tower.  Whew.  It was exhausting, but fun.  

Poor Lilly had never been in a real crash bang thunderstorm.  It caught us while we were driving across the state.  We also experienced the Badlands in 103-degree weather with no air conditioning.  I fell in the creek inner tubing but survived and the rest of the ride was relaxing.  We got to see my nieces and nephew at the State 4-H Rodeo Finals.  Christina's niece does dressage and show jumping.  It was a bit different, to say the least. 

I wish I had kept track of our miles.  We drove a lot.  Especially when they are from a country that takes 2 hours to cross.  We drove 5 hours and were still in the same state.  I showed her mountains, valleys, badlands, little creeks, the mighty Missouri, cattle pastures, fields of corn and sunflowers.  We saw antelope, mule deer, white tailed deer, big horn sheep, buffalo, and fed my chipmunks out of their hands. In the evenings we taught Lilly how to play poker, played pool, giant Jenga, bean bag toss, and roasted marshmallows.  I don't think things could have been more perfect. 

We got lost, we got found, we hiked, went to an escape room, drove the jeep with the top and doors off, and inner tubed for several miles.  We had Dairy Queen Ice Cream, smoked venison, picnics, and my mom's home cooking.  Life couldn't have been better, except for the thunderstorm.  Poor girl.  

After dropping Christina and Lilly off at the airport, we went back across the state to pick up our new addition.  Meet Dollar.  He is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and my new gardening partner.  

As you can see above, he enjoyed romping through my beans and nibbling on my tomatoes.  

He seems to be getting along fine with the chipmunks and encouraging the deer to stay out of my flower gardens.  He has also put the run on our more than bold turkeys. Hopefully, he will keep us young.  

We have sure taken quite a few walks trying to keep him busy.  The fawn in the picture above doesn't know what to think of him. 

That is the extent of our adventures.  I call it camp Hygge (the Danish word for cozy).  I think we achieved our goals.  If you had someone from another country come visit, where would you take them?

Veggies

 My vegetables are doing pretty good.  I got tired or fighting my way through the hail netting, so with my husband's help I made a door.  

My beans and broccoli are doing great. I'm afraid the chipmunks and mice ate the corn and peas.  Drat.

Here is my husband's giant pumpkin.  He has a good chance of going over 50lbs this year.  It is certainly off to a good start.

I, on the other hand, am going for the smallest melon prize.  Here is my Minnesota Midget.  I have two and they look great1

I have 3 eggplants.  That really makes me happy.  I decided to close up the greenhouse as it really hasn't been overly warm here.  Since I have done that, they are making good gains. 

The chipmunks planted some sunflowers for me in exchange for eating my corn and peas.  They really do look pretty and the bees like them. 

The bees must be doing pretty good, as the keeper has added several boxes.  There is nothing better than honey from your flowers.

The motorcycle rally is finally over.  Just a few leftover bikes.  I have no flower photos.  What the hail didn't nail the deer and chipmunks ate.  So frustrating.  I have some pretty special company coming this week and I'm pretty excited.

How are your vegetables doing?  How are your flowers?  Any part of the summer you are glad is over?

You can't go back again...

 I made raspberry jam tonight.   It is the first time in several years that I had enough berries.   Long ago my neighbor had an amazing raspberry patch.  He moved and the people that bought the property didn't give the patch any love.  My husband and I were really desperate for some jam so we asked the neighbor if we could pick his berries.   He only visits the cabin twice a year.  He said yes.

Well, it is true.  You can't go home (or in this case, to the neighbor's) again.   The patch was decimated.   Nothing left.  I am heartbroken.   I have some raspberries,  but that patch was legendary.  I bought some raspberries at the store to pair with my sad harvest.  At least  we have jam again. 

We had another hail storm.   It nailed us pretty good.  Luckily I had just harvested the raspberries and cherries.   The veggies were under wraps, so I just lost my flowers. 

We've had lots of fawns to entertain us. We have also had a yearling mountain lion keeping us honest. 

My cherry trees rocked it this year.  Jam and wine is in my future.   

That is it for me.  We've hunckered down as it is Sturgis Rally time.  Life flight we over our cabin 5 times today.  I will never understand.   Do you make jams or jellies?  What is your favorite?

A week with Aunt Bonnie...

 Luckily some things don't change.  My nieces came out for a few days reminiscent of our week with Aunt Bonnie. 

We enjoyed a long visit while roasting smores.

We did some relaxing, as the girls work and rodeo all summer.

There was the traditional hike.  This year we took a new  trail that overlooks Deadwood. 

We also explored Sylvian Lake.  Crazy on the beach, but quiet when you go down the trail a little. 

I sure enjoyed their stay.  It is nice to know that even though things change, some things stay the same.  Do you have a traditional family visit?

Same day different rainbow...

 We had several thunderstorms go through.   

Both produced double rainbows.  It is rare to have it happen once, so two doubles in one day is fabulous. 

Of course I took full advantage and took a plethora of photos.  When was the last time you saw a rainbow?

Summer sights...

 We have a set of twins around the cabin.  They had the zoomies the other day and were running all over the place driving their mom nuts.  She kept bleating at them and they kept bleating back as they ran amok.

It was hard to get a good picture as they wouldn't sit still.  

Operation Chipmunk Removal is in full swing.  The buggers are getting a bit out of control. So far, 8 have be relocated.  Down the road is a nice big mud puddle flanked by a giant slash pile surrounded by grasses.  I have observed that chipmunks really like to pull down grass blades and eat the seeds on top.  My husband is concerned I'm going to relocate some of the tame ones that been eating out of our hands.  There are only 2 brave enough.  I haven't deported them yet.  

We have turkey poults everywhere and in all sizes.  These good-sized ones went by the other day, but yesterday I saw some the size of a baseball.  I wish I had my camera as one little one kept crawling all over his mom while she laid in the shade.

My husband's pumpkins are doing fabulous.  They are growing by leaps and bounds.  Mine were dug up and eaten by something (I suspect chipmunks), thus I am out of the great pumpkin running.

The bees are looking good.  They have been staying busy. 

There are quite a few berries this year.  I am trying to be patient with my gooseberries.  I usually pick them too early and don't wait until they turn a little darker.  

This Garter Snake has been seen pretty regularly.  I always love to have snakes around.  They eat mice and that makes them my friend.  He is a pretty calm fellow and seems to like the greenhouse.  We call him Clyde.

The roses are blooming now.  

These orange daylilies are special to me.  I acquired them via a five-finger discount as my father-in-law calls it.  Of course, since we acquired them from the road ditches I don't really think they technically 'stolen.'  He was a great partner in crime, and I really miss him. 

I was so busy doing projects this weekend, I didn't get photos.  Although we have had some good rains, it was pretty warm.  I did enjoy some time sipping lemonade on the porch.  This coming week is going to be busy as Our center is hosting an all school reunion.  I am really looking forward to seeing how the lives of my students has progressed.  I know a lot of my students from 2000-2005 are coming.  I'm sure there will be many plesant surprises.  When was the last reunion you went to?