Thank God for cooler temperatures!

      We received a nice rain last night, as well! The air is a lot more humid, but the temps. are not as high. Right now, it's 87 degrees. That feels cool compared to 105! It actually got hotter than that, I'm assuming 107-109. I didn't keep up with the weather man. I hope ya'll found a cool spot to hide over the weekend! My garden is showing signs of suffering from the heat. My zucchini plant swiveled up and died! I was watering, too! I guess they can't take that much sun and heat. I did harvest a few tomatoes though. The one that grew from chicken scratch tastes sweeter and more delicious than the one I grew like it from seed, last year! It's bigger, too! My hens are hardly laying, because of the heat. Amazing how weather affects animals and plants!


      My Dad is recovering so nicely! He has days where he's really weak, but then there are days like today, he's been walking up and down the street! Not without my Mom or his walker, though. I am so thankful that God is helping him through this! My niece went home from the hospital the other day, and is staying completely out of the heat. She can't get outside as long as things are so warm. Everyone is coming here for the fourth, and she will be able to, just as long as she stays inside. Her Mom's birthday is tomorrow, so we are meeting at a local restaurant for lunch. Wow! Two days of celebrating! Oh well, that's what holidays and families are for! I'm glad we all live local, so we can get together often! 


      I made twelve half pints of blackberry jelly over the weekend, and am about to use the last of the juice. I should get at least five jars out of it. The blackberries are burned up! I don't think there will be enough to do anything with after this. I'm kind of glad, cause I seem to find chiggers when I pick them! A little cow-itch too! My nectarine tree looks like it will split in two any second! It's loaded with almost ripe nectarines! We're waiting until they are a little more ripe before we pick them. I hope the jelly will taste good! I wasn't very pleased with the way the plum jelly tasted. It didn't taste "plumy" enough for me. I'm glad things are settling down so life can get back to "normal"! Ya'll have a great fourth and I'll talk to you later! Blessings from Bama!

Skylar's hands messing with the sugar!

Beautiful blackberry jelly in the making!

Sure, I used Sure Jell!

Baby Kassie sure has grown! She looks like she's trying to smile!

Look at those sweet hands!

Blackberry jelly!

That's in the shade!

Hubby is trying his best, in that heat, to level the ground under the pool wall! He used a shovel and pressure washer cause the ground is so hard!

My first tomatoes! It tasted delicious!

Watering the garden and plums....

      Hello! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial weekend! The weather is still hot and humid here. And there's been no rain! Everything is getting so dry! I have the hose going in the garden as I write. The only good thing is, the grass won't need to be mowed. It's turning brown! There is some chance of rain today, but I don't think it will, by the looks of the sky.


      We had a house full Sunday and we cooked hamburger, brats, and beans on the Primo. Everything turned out so nice! We even made homemade ice cream! My brother was here from Mobile and hopefully he'll be moved to this area, soon! My great-nieces surprised us, too! We weren't expecting them until next weekend when Yasmine turns three. It's hard to believe how quickly children go from being infants, to little girls and boys! Speaking of infants, we visited baby Kassie's family yesterday, and although she's still so small, I saw changes in her from a week ago! It's going to be fun watching her grow up like her big sister. They all seemed to have adjusted well to the changes and Mom is doing real good! I forgot my camera, so there are no photos of them, sorry!


      I finally got to the plums! Really, this was the right time because any earlier, and they would not have been ripe enough. It was amazing to see the color go from a cream-like color, to a beautiful red! I have some juice straining now, and hope to get at least five and a half cups of juice. That was from almost two bags full. Did I tell you the man brought us two more bags? Yes!!!! I will cook that juice later today or tomorrow. I'm just doing one at a time to see how it turns out. Once I get the juice strained, I can put it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to make the jelly. Have you ever made plum jelly? This will be my first time but I'm following the instructions on the Sure-Jell package. Stay cool! Hope to talk to ya later this week! Blessings from Bama!

Barbecue chicken pizza with leftover chicken and veggies from the grill. Like my hand tossed crust?

Hubs cooking on the Primo.

Winterlynn was so pretty in her dress!

My brother.

She loved playing in the sprinkler!

I

Close up of a rat snake. Glad it's not a chicken snake! The dog got right up at it and the snake lunged at the dog! That was before I got my camera. It is laying in the flower bed next to the front porch.

She discovered my rollers. Do you like the See Rock City birdhouse? Almost everywhere you go on the interstate toward Chattanooga, you'll see a sign like this.

I could barely wait to get to the house and photo these and wash them so I could eat them! I usually don't wait that long but I wanted ya'll to see the first blackberries.

The butterfly bush has gotten so big!

This one isn't quite as big. The snake was to the left of it.

I like to photo these a lot because they won't bloom forever!

The bees are doing so well multiplying and all that we got to add the super. Our honey will be harvested from this.

A closer view. Either the hive is leaning or I was when taking the photo!

I think the sunflower will hit the ground. I had one to do this last year.

Plums before.

Plums after. I did get my five and a half cups! You can see the reflection of the camera in this!

Lord have mercy, I feel the temperature rising!

      I don't mean that in a sacrilegious way, either! It's just so hot here now! We don't usually get these kind of temperatures until much later in the summer! It is 92 degrees in the afternoon, as I write this! We haven't had a good rain, in I don't know when! Some parts are getting too much rain! Wish we had some of that! The sunflowers are starting to lean sideways, so I hope watering them this evening will help.

      I want so badly to be outside, but with that heat, I can't take it for very long! I need to walk, weed, water, and the list goes on. Are ya'll experiencing unusually warm temperatures like this? I hope not!


      I've been cooking on my small table top grill lately and last night my son gave me the sweetest compliment! He kept saying 'ummm' as he was eating and that "I sure did know how to cook on the grill!" That made my day! I just grilled peppers, onions, and zucchini and then I grilled some boneless, skinless chicken breast that I flattened out a little. I used the Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce and I think that is what makes the chicken taste so good! Tonight, I will use the leftover chicken and veggies on a pizza.


      I hope ya'll have a safe Memorial Day weekend and try not to eat too many hot dogs! We're cooking out here this weekend and making ice cream and all the goodies to go along with a cookout! Stay safe! Blessings from Bama!

Using the Vitamix again!

I used beets, small tomatoes, spinach, beet greens, carrots, and blueberries in this juice. Beets are good for liver detox.

Zucchini bread and a glass of juice. Did I eat all that bread?

Maddie was here today. She took out her hair holder and messed up her hair as I was taking this photo.

My little orange grill. Hubs in under cover.

You can kind of tell they are leaning in this photo. The weight of the flowers make them droop, I think.

Finally, some ripe figs! 

I pulled these two and ate one. They are not quite ripe enough for me yet.

A man was banging on my door this morning and this is what he gave me! Aren't these beautiful plums?

When they get a little riper, I hope to make jelly.

What has your attention today?

      Are you staying in out of the 95 degree heat, or are you in the pool? If I had a pool, I don't know if I could even stand to be in it. I'm doing things inside until it gets a little 'cooler' because the temps. are going to get even hotter today. I watched Joyce today and she had an interesting prop. She had Dave come up on the stage and wear a robe. He was playing the part of God. She had on a raggedy and torn coat. God (Dave) took her coat and gave her his robe, but it was too big. God (Dave) said "That's OK, you'll grow into it." Isn't that a neat description of how we grow in our walk with the Lord? We grow in grace and as we grow, we begin to fill the robe of righteousness God gives us when we became a Christian. God sees us as righteous through the Blood of His Son Jesus, not our own righteousness. Our righteousness and 'works' are as filthy rags! I'm so glad God sees me that way, aren't you?
     Hubby got one of the trees cut up and moved from the path, down behind the house. It was one from April 27. I filled the wagon again this morning with more dirt to go in another raised bed he hasn't built yet. I also need to go down the hill into the neighbors pasture and get some horse manure. But I have to empty the wagon first. I should get another wagon and mower! NOT!
      Blackberries are not quite 'there' yet. Hope to get some soon. TTUL!

The place where I was digging dirt and hauling it up the hill.

Full wagon, again!

Can you see the humidity on the trees?

Blackberries.

Spot where the tree was across the path. Burn barrel contains the fire.