A lawn sometimes grows too fast!

Michael does a great job keeping our lawn looking great and mowed but sometimes when we get rain and busy times at the same time, it gets away from him. It happened this spring for a few days, and we had a field of dandelions! They were pretty but didn't last long!

May 2010 garden

One reason I haven't blogged as much this month is the garden! It's keeping us very busy but we're having great payoffs! Our strawberries are almost over but we've picked 70 gallons and had a wonderful harvest.

We're loaded up with blackberries that are just now starting to ripen. Our blueberries are right behind.

Here's the older part of our garden beds. The tomatoes are in the back. We harvested our cauliflower and broccoli. Our earliest corn is toselling!

Here is a picture of me in the garden.

And Michael working in the garden.

Here are the new beds we've built. As soon as we build and fill them with soil, we've been planting!

We have four more to build but the new beds are already producing squash and cucumbers!

Strawberry fields forever!

We have been picking wonderful strawberries for the past three weeks. As of today, we have picked over 60 gallons of berries. They are almost over, but we should get a few for the next week or two. We have really enjoyed them with a wonderful sugar free strawberry pie, berries with yogurt, and berry smoothies and just plain berries. We have also shared a lot of them with others. I think I could eat them every day! We hope to at least have them every week as we've put about 42 quarts in the freezer.

My Unusual Mother's Day Present!

I'll bet I have one of the most unique Mother's Day presents
given to anyone!
Of course, Michael did get me flowers for Mother's Day and a couple of sons gave me cards (Ryan got me a red rose). I also got to hear from every son on that day (Thanks, guys).
But, we'd been looking at a chipper shredder to use when I trim the trees and we take things out of the garden. We couldn't afford the expensive ones but found this one at Harbor Freight.
Michael put it together this Saturday and in a little bit, he had the pile of brush all chopped up along with some broccoli plants that I took out of the garden. This will be a great help to the garden!

RABBITS IN THE HOUSE!

Who would think that these two adorable, calm, furballs would be causing me such anxiety and stress!

Last Monday night, we were relaxing in the living when suddenly Michael yelled, "Cover your eyes." I did so as I heard squealing by something and running around by the cats . . . of course right behind my chair. Of course, that set off screaming by me in the process (I have a terrible fear of mice and thought they had brought one in alive.)

Michael maneuvered me into the bedroom and shut the door. After a long time with Michael and the cats in the living, he finally came in to tell me that they had brought in a small rabbit to play with in the living room. With the commotion the rabbit ran and hid and he couldn't find it! He was hoping the cats would find it for him.

No sign of the rabbit, except Michael found a dead one outside. Now . . fast forward to Wednesday. I was working and just about the time Michael came in from school I again heard squealing from behind my chair. Yes, once again there was a rabbit in the house. Same process repeated. The rabbit dashed behind the TV. No more signs of the rabbit. Is it still in the house??????

I guess our mighty cat hunters are trying to please us or maybe feel they are protecting our lettuce in the garden from the little furry creatures.

I don't want my living room to become a wildlife refuge! How do you teach a cat to leave the hunting to outside and not play with their prey in the house???

Good things to eat!

Look at our beautiful broccoli! I didn't know if we could get it grown in time before the heat hit. We still have a dozen more to pick but it is luscious!

Our strawberries are starting to come off! Yea!!!

I picked a few on Saturday but we got 3 gallons yesterday. They are so juicy and flavorful.

Our blackberries are full also so when the strawberries are over, we should be able to go right into blackberries!

Here's a view of our lower garden. The green beans and corn are coming up good.

We still have some lettuce coming along. I picked a lot of heads so they would not bolt before we could eat them! We're having wonderful salads each night.

I just love spring!

I just love flowering plants in our yard. My granddaughters all love purple and pink so I think they love it too!


The azalea is just stunning right now.
When I was a little girl in Oregon, we had a huge rhododendron in the front yard that I used to play house and my dolls in front of on a blanket. As I recall, it was a deep purple. Now I have one of my own! This is the most blooms I've ever had.

My mom loved flowers and I wish I could have a yard like hers. She loved to go out and look at all of the plants and blooms and could tell me what everything was. She had a lattice with a Clematis and I had to have one also. It's full of beautiful, huge blue blooms.