The next Sat.

Weather continues to be wonderful with the garden just being a magnificent place to find LOTS of butterflies, hummingbirds, nuthatches, and beautiful flowers of every color.  Yes...the ivy is out as of today.  All the ivy that needs to go.  I think at least 60 fern plants left our garden for someone else's garden and I could give away even more.  They were hiding under the ivy.  Woo...Now...a few hostas need to go.  We had a wonderful two days of rain so the last ivy pull wasn't as hard as the first.  Now the fun begins with the brain trying to figure out what is going in the ground.  Tues...invited some good friends to enjoy the garden.  What a hoot of a time.  I love my friends.  Some I've known for 50 years. Thurs. was soup kitchen with lot of great friends who live in the church area.  The guys are so polite.  I love soup kitchen time.  Two showers today...I was a very dirty lady with unknown dirt even on my face.  Working under bushes can be a very dirty place.  Tomatoes are coming on strong as well as peppers.  5  more caterpillars are hibernating.  And more caterpillars are on the dill.  Woo...this is a great butterfly summer.  There are such good butterfly videos  on UTube. 
Tomorrow is church with Friendship time resuming.  And now...it's time to sit for a bit. 

Back Home Again in Indiana.

Butterfly report.  11 Monarchs have been released with more to come.  I see at least 3 flying in the garden almost every day...The rest...off to please someone else.  Yes...Home again after a wonderful two weeks again in the UP of Mich with Jared/family and friends we have made over the years coming from Detroit as well as other places.  It was read/knit/sleep/walk/eat/talking and then do it all over again.  Rain came on two occasions which we really enjoy.  Enjoy rain while camping?  Yes.  The sound of the tent roof makes sleeping so easy.  It's a blessing to have equipment that allows us to stay dry.  The unbelievable sight when pulling into our driveway was really something to experience.  There was rain here at the right time and the garden just could not be more colorful and stunning.  That includes five different kinds of butterflies...gold finches...nuthatches...humming birds and an occasional hawk singing.  Singing?  sounds more like music with no notes.  Ir's been snipping and raking and laying more Superior beach rocks around our little fish pond.  The rock supply lake is staying strong. 
One big project now is doing some changes to what was a shade garden to now being a sun garden since we lost part of a tree a month ago.  That involves mostly moving Ostrich Ferns and dinging up a ton of ivy.  Ugh!  Ivy...don't like it a bit.  But...little by little this week...most of the ivy is gone.  It's just hard work pulling and clipping.  I've advertise in our church newsletter...Free ferns.  Come and get them.  The plan right now is to do some filling with Black eyed Susan's.  Some hostas will need to find another home as well.  Maybe the garbage can would do.  So...that's life in Carmel, Indiana right now.  More butterflies to come.   

Friday Evening.

The week went very fast.  Camping things started to collect in the living room.  Food was packed...Clothes were packed.  Everything was ready and this afternoon we stuffed the van.  Well...there is plenty of room left.  So not so stuffed.  The van is huge with the middle seats taken out.  So...tomorrow it's on the road and we'll stop in Madison for the night.  Then on to C H. for TWO weeks of fun.  Taking two days makes the trip SO easy.  It's about two7 1/2 hr. days of driving.  And if we have any sense we'll do the same on the way back to Indy.  Car is full of gas!  Books/Knitting is my entertainment and  it's time to Go! 

Oh, yes butterfly report.  I'm expecting 7 Monarchs to appear by the end of the week.  My neighbor is taking care of them. 

Sun Evening.

What a great three days with the Michigan family.  Could not have been better.  They are always asking about projects and I had a list and it got even better than the list.  Fri late afternoon, the  at least 25  ft. pine tree half alive and half dead came down.  And we...meaning 5 folks other than JB pulled all the branches to the burn pile.  JB was the saw guy.  It was one hot birthday afternoon.  93 degrees.  A cold shower felt wonderful.   Doug burned on Sat.  Ceiling tile replaced...hose problem fixed...water tank pressurized...cushions added to the kitchen chair legs...a bathroom register was ground down and  sanded and repainted...Looks like new.  Woo...It was a busy weekend.  And...Now...I can forget about thinking about what needs to be fixed.  The list is very, very short and that's a good thing.  It still remains very hot.  Tomatoes are hanging on but not ripening.  Bummer.  We now can find 13 Monarch caterpillars on the swamp milkweed.  I have netting around the plants.  The leaves are really being chewed up.  Time to make butterflies which will probably happen when we are camping.  Tues. I'm spending the day at friend Sarah Ellen's house waiting for repair people.  It's something I can do for my Kenya friend.  I'll be reading for sure.  TV out...Air conditioner out...
Got to keep the Indy fires burning in their house. So...the big thing this weekend is finishing prep for camping.  Wed. probably will be the day. for that. 

Wed.

Three very good days to get things ready for the Michigan family.  Woo...that is called motivation.  And I needed that.  Cot came...House is ready...Bought groceries... I think the bases are covered. 
Tomorrow is soup kitchen morning.  And then the plan is to cook in the afternoon.  The weekend? 
Time to play.  Then...Next week...getting packed for Two weeks of camping at Copper Harbor.  Woo..that came fast.  Most of the food is ready.  We've been doing this so long it's just a piece of cake getting ready.  Especially when Doug packs his stuff...I pack my stuff and that's about it.  We take two days of driving stopping in Madison and then on to Copper Harbor on Sunday.  Time to see our Copper Harbor friends. 

Another Sunday. update.

The weather cracked.  Woo...cooler weather.  We even needed covers the last two nights.  What a switch.  Garden continues to do well with the hope that every zinnia will have a flower by the end of the week.  There are MANY zinnias.  The tomatoes plants are FULL of tomatoes getting ready to ripen.  Made pillows for the patio chairs.  Place mats finished.  Yesterday I made a dent in the fabric stashed in the sewing room.  I'm a bit tired of thinking...what should I do with this or that.  99%  is donated by someone else who didn't know what to do with it.  So...it was a great liberation day.  There is still way to much but some of the problem stuff has gone into the recycle bin.  Now onward to the next thing.  Expecting JB and family this coming weekend to pick up a camp kitchen we had made for us at least 40 years ago.  It's well made and I think it will fit the JB needs well.  My camping cot should be here on Tues.  I've chucked the air mattress.  Got tired of blowing it up every night and then having the darn thing pop on me.  So...back to a cot.  I'm ready.  Need to get some food in the refrigerator for the weekend.  I hate to cook when company comes, I'd rather play, so just pulling it out of the frig is my speed.  That's the update.

Movin right along.

Heat continues but we are doing just fine.  Back at the Y for the first time in 10 days.  Did 15 minutes of walking this morning and 20 minutes this afternoon.  Knees came through fine although I could tell I'd taken a break!  Did some tutoring at church this morning with the summer program.  It's run by terrific college kids and we come in to hear the kids read.  I think the rest of the week I'll be at home since they really are getting a great group of volunteers to listen to the kids.  Then on to the Reef to get a new plant for the fish pond...And then to Sullivan's Hardware...Bought a beautiful umbrella for the patio.  I'm thrilled.  It's burgundy.  And takes the place of the particle tree that came down this morning.  What a hole to fill.  I would prefer the tree but it was dying big time.  Spent a little time at the sewing machine to make burgundy place mats and a new burgundy chair cover.  Woo..the patio looks great.  Bought deer/rabbit off to spray.  It's mostly deer.  The rabbits did their thing early in the spring with pulling up sunflowers.  The deer are eating Hosta flowers...day lillys flowers and all my sunflowers and a nibble here and there.  I cut all the Hosta flowers off.  Can't do that to day lillys.
The peppers will get bloom buster fertilizer.  I'm looking for flowers.  Can't have peppers without flowers.  The tomatoes are off the chart with tomatoes hanging everywhere.  Yup...they are loving these hot nights.  Have had two little cherry tom. and a roma is getting ready.  Tomorrow I need to remember to get my drivers license renewed.  This is birthday month.