Playing Ball 6-16

Today we took a walk with Seth down to the store and enjoyed all the flowers blooming in yards along the way.  Then we played ball and played with my camera's multi-shot mode which we had fun with.  We are having a good visit.

Happy 7th Birthday to Seth! 6-14

This time seven years ago we were roasting here in Oregon waiting for Seth to make his appearance into the world...today it is cloudy and not so warm...a typically great day here in north western Oregon!

Seth had a great pool party for his birthday on Saturday with his friends and family.

Larry presenting Seth with his new bike.

Shivering

Andrea and Connor

Ian and Seth, Michelle cutting the cake

opening presents



the baby in control of the hose...scary, Seth, Andrea & Ian
are in this picture too



Connor

Darel helping Seth break out his new Dxi

The end of the day and after great hamburgers & hotdogs.

Seth enjoying himself

The whole crew the next morning

Checking In 6-13

Having a nice visit here at Michelle's.  The weather hasn't been very sunny or warm yet, but tomorrow it is supposed to start getting better...being Oregon we'll see.

I just haven't gotten the time yet to figure out which of Seth's birthday party pictures to post.  It was a nice day and it was a lot of fun for all the kids playing in the pool and with water guns and balloons.

Yesterday we visited and played with the boys and this morning Andrea and her two boys Ian and Connor headed back home.  This evening we went and watched Seth practice flag football.

Visiting 6-11

Yesterday we headed up to Oregon to Michelle's place.  We left at 6 a.m. after saying good-bye to all of our budding out babies.  It is going to be in the 80's for the next week or so and WE are heading to cloudy, rainy Oregon!  Dang, but we had to get in our Grandson fix.

Shasta Lake was full, full, full,...water all the way up to the tree/shrub line and the forests are deep vibrant green and not at all stressed out looking after another wet spring.  Leaving Albany, Oregon I saw a Bald Eagle flying overhead.

We stopped in Roseburg to have a quick visit with Aunt Millie and Uncle Marty and these are their flowers.  It was a really, really long day. 

Today was the birthday party and I haven't had a chance to offload those pics and edit them yet.  It was overcast but still just warm enough for the kids to play in the water.

Popping Roses 6-9

My morning coffee view today.

Today was sunny, warm and humid.  It got into the low 80's and thank goodness for a light breeze because with the ground being so very wet it was way humid...felt like we were east of the Rockies.  Larry finished staining the deck off the kitchen and it looks really really nice.  We kept walking around the garden to see which of the roses was going to pop next.  The lavender hedge is going to be so pretty and they smell wonderful.  Now that it has warmed up everything is growing like crazy. 

Fragrant Lavender Simplicity Hedge rose

After my shower I got my bowl of fresh blueberries, plain Greek yogurt with cinnamon on it and walked up the hill to our bench and enjoyed the cool breeze with the bats and the day sinking into twilight.  Ahhhhh!  We love it here and are truly grateful.

This is the first iris I've ever seen hold its
second round of buds until the sun came back, opened today.

Gorgeous Day 6-8

Another gorgeous sunny warm day.  Coffee and breakfast out on the deck in the sunshine and then most of the day outside.  Larry stained the back deck and just did stuff outside that needed doing.  I worked in the yard, we could practically watch some of the plants growing and for the first time this season we fired up the barbeque.  The windows and doors were open all day and into the evening....ahhhhh.

Maintenance Man slacking...my deck lizard...he claims siesta

Look at these lavender rose buds...this hedge is going to be stunning!

SUNSHINE!!! 6-7

We awoke to a blue, cloudless sky!  The ground was still extremely wet so it felt steamy most of the day.  For the first time in weeks we were able to sit out on the deck and have our breakfast baking in the sun. 

I spent a couple of hours out in the garden...today I fertilized the thirty rose bushes...they are all just doing so great.  I love that Bayer rose 3 in 1 stuff.  I have never had rose bushes look so strong and healthy.  Larry built me a work table to keep in the garden, out of left over lumber and siding and it has a heavy coat of primer.  Now I just have to decide how to paint it and I'm thinking I might mosaic it too so it is a work of art in the garden...functional art. 

I also gave a massage this afternoon and I'm not as pooped as I thought I would be, I must be getting back into shape or my new vitamins/herbs are helping. 

We heard thunder off in the distance but the clouds stayed away...yay!  I didn't download my camera today so no pictures.

More Rain 6-6

It poured buckets again during the night and drizzled all day, it was cold, windy and a full on winter storm.  It didn't quit raining until almost 5:30 p.m. and because the wind had quit we took a walk.  It was certainly fresh smelling.  It was just odd having the inside of the house be so dark and cold for being almost a week into June...this years summer is sure going to feel short by the time we get into it because it just hasn't felt like late spring, much less almost summer.  This last storm dumped another 2 inches of rain on us and our little stream bed had water in it.  The clouds finally moved out around 7 p.m. and we sat on the bench up the hill soaking up the weak setting rays of the sun.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 70's and sunny...we'll see!

Today was International Smile day so I thought I would share these photos I took back in '06 in West Branch, Michigan.  You could see their water tank from all around and it just made you smile.

Warmer 6-5

It was a bit warmer today, but overcast and misty, drizzly and rainy.  During a break in the drips I went out and finished transplanting the nasturtiums.  Later I sat out in the garden watching the plants grow, listening to the birds and watching the deer play.  The Tuscan Sun rose is really pretty and I ended up cutting it and bringing it inside...there are a lot more ready to pop soon.

Junuary 6-4

It was a steady down pour of rain all day.  It quit in the early evening and Larry claims to have seen the sun shine on the ground for a whole minute and a half just before it set.  We didn't get the bad wind that others got with it fortunately, we had a couple of gusts is all.

I finished up a knit wrap that I should have finished two months ago and started on another project, this time crochet.  It is fans in squares that will have to be pieced together so it may be awhile before I finish, but will be easier to work on while its warmer this summer.

Day two without sun and I just couldn't come up with the energy for anything much today...attacked by the blahs.

Played in the Dirt 6-3

It was overcast all day but it wasn't windy and it was warmer, in the 60's.  It was still a long sleeve day but I didn't need an overshirt.  The first thing to do was finally cut Larry's hair...he was getting close to it actually going over his ears, but the weather has been too cold and windy to attempt his shearing until today. 

This lady is getting larger with baby every day

I played in the dirt for a couple of hours putting my primroses from their pot into the ground so I could use the pot for a shade loving summer arrangement, which I potted up and I potted a sun loving pot for the back deck.  I then transplanted a bunch of nastursiums...they prefer yucky dirt to flower in so I moved them from where I started them from seed.

There was a bird ruckus up the hill....a baby scrub jay was on the ground and for some reason a wood pecker was bothering it and the jay's parents were fighting it off.  Maybe the woodpecker thought it was its baby.

I made a yummy chicken/veggie stir-fry for dinner and that was about it.

The bucks are sprouting antlers

I love poppies, their petals are so ruffly and paperlike

I asked Larry to hold my camera for me while I finished up

Thanks Lar, I look like the hunchback, I was just straightenng up and hadn't gotten
things shaken back down yet. :)

So much neater looking now without those mounds,
now we have to figure out what to do with this area.

It has come so far

The little box is going to be for herbs

Sunshine! 6-2

It wasn't warm, but at least it wasn't raining.  We took a walk for the first time in over a week, in spite of the breeze, had to be done.  Then we decided to go into town to Home Depot, again.  After we came out of there with bales of compost and plants and other miscellaneous stuff Larry has forbidden us from going back there for a good long time...it keeps costing us time, work and money.

Larry got the gopher mesh rolled out, cut and nailed into the bottom of the mega planter then after dinner he shoveled dirt from the last two dirt mounds into the box and I spread the dirt around in the box and killed earwigs...squishing them with my fingers, in gloves of course.  Then Larry dumped the compost in and I mixed it all up with a hoe.  I plan on planting a lot of perennials in this bed so want the dirt nice and nutritious.  I got my hydrangea planted and a couple of strawberry plants put in too. 

One of our neighbors was out walking her horse on a lead and stopped to tell us how nice our place was looking.  With all this rain the horse had gotten sick from the extra vegetation it had to graze on, something they haven't had to deal with I guess...it explains why he has been in the corral instead of the paddock.  Just such an unusual spring here weather wise.  We have more rain predicted for this weekend :(

This evening I saw something move outside the window and got to see a fox running down the drive with something in its mouth and over the hill it went.  Larry keeps threatening to go over that hill to see where all the animals go....the deer, turkeys, everything goes down that trail.  The fox was on the move and didn't stop to pose for a photo...rude!

Even though it wasn't warm it was nice to be able to work outside again. 

JUNE FIRST!!! 6-1

The calendar says June first but the weather says January.  Today I had to put on my heavier than a flannel shirt jacket because it was COLD.  I ran out to get this picture to prove that it does exist...blue sky!  I also got a picture of this poor rose trying to open but its petals stay closed because it is SHIVERING. 

This afternoon and evening there were tornado warnings in the valley and lucky for us the big thunder cell came and settled right over us.  So here we are on June first and at 4:45 P.M. we had the lights on because it was so dark and then Larry says what is that noise?  Oh...thats just the furnace kicking on...  It thundered and lightninged all evening and then it started dumping rain and has been doing that for about an hour and a half, another inch of rain at least.  We are at least twenty degrees below normal temps and there is still just nothing but rain and coolness in the upcomng days forecasts. 

I know, I am very thankful that we aren't dealing with floods as those people all along the Missouri river nor the devastation of tornados...but it still doesn't stop the grumpies about our own weather.