Our Morning Walk

One of our "simple pleasures" most evenings is to review the photos we have taken during the day.  We rarely find ourselves without at least one camera, and the result is usually more than 200 photos to enjoy after supper.  Yesterday began with a typical "morning walk."  We checked on our sunflowers, the ones we planted WAY late, but which have not disappointed.  Despite the woodchucks, squirrels, gophers, moles and others, they continue to grow and to provide us with new "photo ops" each day.

And Joe and I wonder what our neighbors must think if, per chance, they are sitting at their kitchen table, enjoying their breakfast and observing our morning silliness.

But, reality is, I'm pretty certain nobody CAN see us from their kitchen table, or from anywhere else, for that matter.  Part of the charm of this place is, after all, its privacy.

While the sunflowers line the driveway to the old farmhouse, the watermelons have taken over the fence, actually escaping beyond their wire protection against deer and the likes.  I am continually amazed at how these things seem to double in size overnight!  Yesterday I had to fashion a "sling" for one of the melons, as its chosen development location had it resting directly on fence wire that would, with growth, cut the melon in two.  So now that melon rests comfortably in a pantyhose hammock!

Mowing the lawn is another continuous activity here and one that the whole "family" can enjoy.  We get the kids started early every morning.  They are so compliant, literally thrilled to "Work for Food."

The days are spent working on the long list of projects we have created for ourselves.  One of our current primary interests is the ridding of moles/voles/gophers or whatever they are from the gardens...yesterday it was our pure delight to meet another with a similar goal.... I hope he brings his whole family hunting!

Last night, after spending the day in the yard, we headed to the local Lowes to pick up some fruit trees...the first of what we hope will one day be an orchard here.  We, as is typical for us, ended up picking up MUCH more than fruit trees, and, I am afraid, have picked up more "projects" to complete....the list wasn't even growing short and we are adding to it!  Perhaps today we will get the fruit trees planted and the moles deterred (to some other yard) but I doubt we will get the carpet laid in the eBay trailer.... We loaded the beater van with our "goodies" and made our way home to eat  -- and to enjoy our nightly slide show.

And so, it is with anticipation, that we head out this morning (OK, OK, I KNOW it is well into afternoon, but it has been raining here this morning) to see what excitement awaits us.