The White House

The White House

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Who Stole Summer?

You know how you set the "size" of your photos? I wanted to set this one to super skinny, but couldn't find the setting. *sigh*

Yes, it is raining. Raining. And then raining some more. In defiance I went out to do chores in shorts. It took about 2.5 seconds before I was breakfast for the bazillion bugs we have this summer. But it's okay...I laugh in the face of Mother Nature. Bring it baby! (The sunshine, I mean). Um, thanks.

Yes, I know she looks like crap. Yes, I know she needs sheared. Rolling around with a wet stinky sheep is not on my Bucket List. Again, bring on the sun. 
We  shall now refer to these guys as the Stupid Chickens, as in, we are too stupid to follow the other 20 chickens into our deluxe dry accommodations. We'll just stand here getting soaked and muddy like the idiots we are.
The plants are growing and there's even a few small tomatoes. Not holding my breathe for a lot of produce this season. Too late of a start, too cold, summer is too short....such are my gardening woes for 2011. (But my orange beds rock!).

Lots of little cucumbers on those vines. Can't wait until one of them is big enough to eat!

Isn't that the cutest little jalapeno?
54* in the greenhouse. Not warm enough.
Not having the siding on and a breeze blowing through isn't helping matters. The rhubarb seem to like the rain. To the gardeners out there: I read that I should not harvest the year I transplant and should wait until next year. Is this right?

I have many beds of carrots whose tops are growing. Sure hope there is something happening in the dirt. One year I had huge tops and no carrots. Last year I had lots of carrots. Crossing my fingers.

Kohlrabi, cabbage and the spinach that bolted and needs replanted, but who wants to garden in the rain? Not me.
Swiss Chard and some very slow growing cabbage. Such inconsistency. I have so much to learn.

I love this rainbow chard...red, yellow, white....it's so pretty and tasty, too.

While my younger kids played air hockey what did I do? Did I weed or paint?

You guessed it. Weeding in the rain is also not on my to-do list. Nest boxes are painted and ready for the coop. Hopefully, it can happen tonight.
Nick caught a frog for his little brother. He drove around with it in his car for two days. (????) Last night he set up a very cool frog habitat while we I search for a small aquarium.

See the little guy? Now I suppose I need to go buy some crickets or some kind of bug for him to eat.

He even put in a bowl (from my kitchen!!) so he'd have a little swimming pool. I swear when I looked out at my big 18 year old with all his enthusiasm I saw him as an 8-year old. I miss that little boy (men aren't as fun...trust me).

Last night was a soccer night. I actually took a couple photos with my phone, but Elijah stole my cord and it's in his room and we all know I have to walk outside to get there. And it's raining. You can just take my word for it....it was wet and cold. Lucas played at 7 in the pouring rain. Then Nick was at 8. It rained off and on pretty hard for over half of the 90-minute game. By the time I got out of there I stood around in the rain for 3 hours. Do you think I brought a rain coat? No, not that smart. (Maybe that's where my chickens get it from).

Up and at 'em this morning. Meeting, job applications and work service with Elijah. Now it's time to finish up some cleaning I started yesterday.....

4 comments:

Mama Bean said...

It is best not to harvest from rhubarb the year it's transplanted. I don't know why - help them get established? Maybe the shock of transplanting means it isn't very sweet the first year? We took a stalk or two from our new plants last year and it didn't seem to do them any harm. And they tasted normal. But they do taste better this year :) Hope that helps.

Gail said...

Your plants are beautiful. Nothing tastes quite as good as home grown.

Corey~living and loving said...

this rain stinks. Sugar had swimming lessons in the rain this week. booo hisss......

Love the frog. as you know...we are fans of frogs. :)

Janie said...

Funny that those chickens stay outside during the rain. I guess that's why chickens are not known for their brains!