Hello, Summer!

      I can hardly believe it's summer! Wow! What warm temps we're having! It's been in the nineties for about a month! When summer hits the South, it really hits! From nice cooler weather and rain, to BAM! Heatwave! At least we've been having nice breezes! And the humidity hasn't been as bad on some days. We have been to the beach; celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, and celebrated Father's Day. Not to mention Yasmine and Mother's birthdays! Now, we have 4th of July and my sister's birthday to celebrate.

      My garden is doing good, what survived that is. For some reason my two squash plants just killed over! I'm still trying to grow some in the grow bags. Almost everything is doing good in the grow bags. The tomatoes and pepper plants are flourishing, as are the cucumbers. The sweet potatoes and strawberries are as well. I've really enjoyed summer so far! I have harvested almost two gallons of blackberries! That was not fun, as I always get chiggers! Still have them! I'm sure there are more blackberries that need picking; I'm just not sure if it's worth getting more chiggers! The eggplant plants are producing eggplants! I haven't harvested one yet, as I want them to get just a bit larger.

      I've been suffering with a terrible chest cold this week. I hate being sick, especially during summer when there's so much to do! I hope this stuff leaves my body soon! But even with that, I am so blessed! I just have to stop and look at God's creation to realize it. Everything around me is so beautiful! The hanging baskets, daylilies, green grass and trees! There's beauty in them thar' hills! Thanks, ya'll for reading my blog! Have a healthy and safe 4th! Blessings from Bama! Update!: I just came in from doing chores and my chest feels so much better! I'm beginning to heal, Praise the Lord!

Love this view!

Randy in his new recliner for Father's Day/Twenty-fifth anniversary!

Randy and Gavyn in the old chair.

I made this for a friend.

These beauties rode with us all the way to the beach! What were we thinking?

Our favorite spot at the beach!

Randy and Riley with Winterlynn in background.

Me and Gavyn had a good time on the Sea Dragon!

The three younger pirates.

The little bit older pirate.

What fun at the amusement park!

A deer right outside the camper! They were so tame!

I love this picture! They are all asleep on the way home from the beach! I guess the trip wore them out!

Loving all my pretty plants!

These beauties are going into hanging baskets.

One of the eggplant plants. 

The grow bag garden. Sorry it's sideways! Taken from my phone.

Gardening, Summer Vacation, And 24th Wedding Anniversary!

      As I said in the last post, it's a busy season! Thus the reason I haven't written! You wouldn't believe the heat unless you live in the South! I'm sitting here sweating as I write this! AND the air conditioner is on! What a drastic change in the weather in just a few short weeks! We went from somewhat mild and rain to heat and drought! I would sure like to get some of that rain they are getting in the west and along the coast! At least some clouds would be nice! When I get up at 7, it's already 70+ with about 50% humidity. Then the temps climb into the 90's! Today it's supposed to get to 98 but probably much higher. My body is so sore and drained! I can't even walk my regular walk! All I've done is work in the garden. I love it, but it's so hard! I'm hoeing all the grass and putting down mulch, so hopefully I won't have to hoe much the rest of the summer. If I had been smart, I would've gotten the mulch in when we planted. Randy seemed to think he could keep it tilled. He wants to till and I want no till! I think he finally agrees, since his job is keeping him so hot and busy! He comes home literally soaked from sweat every day! And I'm talking blue jeans! Poor guy! I think our summers are as extreme as Wisconsin winters! What do you think, Jacky? 

      We got to go to the beach a couple of weeks ago and it was so nice! It wasn't too hot and it didn't rain but a little. We had one cloudy day, but still went to the beach. My Mom and Dad, Amber and the girls all went. We stayed in the camper and they rented a house close to the state park. It was convienient for them and us. The girls had a blast! The trip was not without incident however. We had a blowout on the trailer along the Florida State line. Thank goodness it wasn't far from a rest stop! It didn't take Randy and Skylar long to fix it and we were back on the road. Then Skylar got food poisoning or something he ate made him terribly sick for a couple of days. Then he felt better again and was able to participate in all the fun. We played putt-putt on Yasmine's birthday that night and my Mom fell and dislocated her little pinky. It went backwards and you could see the ligament poking through the skin on the front! Needless to say, we spent most of the early morning hours in an emergency room. She's much better now and had the stitches removed. It will take some time to heal since it was a rather serious injury. An hour before we got home, the neighbor called and said our beloved collie of 12 years died in their garage. Randy and Skylar her buried down the hill behind our house as soon as we got in. I was so sad! I miss her so much! She was my daily companion and watched me every where I went outside. I have a hard time when I walk through the back door where she always layed. She was the most faithful and sweetest dog we ever had!

      This past Sunday, Randy and I celebrated 24 years of wedded bliss! We went to the local Thai restaurant where Skylar treated us to dinner! He's such a thoughtful young man! He's been working hard too! He rarely gets home before 9:00 P.M.! Well, I think I've caught ya'll up on all the happenings here on the homestead! Just more heat and no rain predicted for the next week! I hope we do have a shower! The extreme heat is not good to go on without one! People will start to get sick in this heat if they're not careful! I hope ya'll stay cool and dry! Thanks for reading and commenting! Blessings from Bama!

The beautiful water and sand!

Little LuLu playing in the white sand.

View from the back of the camper.

Me and Randy with the girls on the Sea Dragon ship. We took them for a cruise along with their Mom for Yasmine's 6th birthday.

The girls wanted a pic with the pirates.

The night and place where my Mom fell.

Can you believe the size of this ship?

Even I enjoyed staying under here!

Such pretty water to have such danger lurking below! Two days in a row, we saw sting rays swim by!

We enjoy staying in here even though it gets a little cramped at times.

First harvest. I've harvested more since this photo.

Homemade chicken nuggets with homemade ketchup. Better than McD's! That's homemade chicken noodle soup, creamy style. Yum!

I made enough for eating and to freeze.

Homemade bread with homegrown eggs and homegrown squash inside!

The girls planted birdseed while the weather was still cold. These are what they turned into!

The sun is so bright, it makes the dirt look white. It is very dusty.

Finally got this section done!

There's a lot more grass than what you can see here. It is very thick and deep so I will let Randy till this.

The path down the side was tilled awhile back. We just failed to remove the grass so it grew back.

Even the chicks know to stay out of the sun in this heat!

Good times and not so good times...

     Hey! Did ya'll miss me? I sure have missed ya'll! Thank you so much for thinking of us during this time with my Dad! He's home now, but he's weak and emotional. My niece is in the hospital and almost died Monday, so he got upset when he heard about that. That's natural, but we're going to have to be more selective with what we share with him. We learned the hard way. I spent the day with him yesterday, and will do so again tomorrow. I spent today with my niece, and driving her husband home to get some clean clothes and pick up some food he can eat while there with her. He's on disability and doesn't drive at this time. She is better now and the baby seems to be doing OK. Yea, she's six months pregnant! She's had all kind of tests run on her because they didn't know what was wrong with her. She was on medication for bronchitis, but was not getting any better. In fact, she got worse! She was wheezing so bad! I've never heard anything like that before! They thought she might have a blood clot, so they checked her legs and lungs and heart, but thankfully, no blood clot. The lung doctor finally diagnosed her with severe asthma, the worst he'd ever seen. He said that she had it since childhood, but was never diagnosed with it. Her lungs were burned from it. They treated her in the hospital last week for it. She got bad over the weekend, and on Monday, the nurses at the doctors office referred her immediately to the hospital, as the doctor couldn't be there. When she got to the hospital, they told her her lungs were closed and if she had been a few minutes later, she would have died! I didn't even know this was going on until after the fact! Her Mom wasn't there either! I don't know why my family is being attacked like this! It really brings into perspective things that you don't normally have to think about. She will not be released until the doctor hears no more wheezing in her lungs. I feel sorry for my Dad, crying about this! He's not a crier! I would appreciate your continued prayers for my family!


      That was all the bad. We had a great time on vacation last week. Well, almost. I couldn't help but think about my Dad and my niece. Skylar had a bad wreck on his bicycle, but thankfully, no stitches! The purple flag was up a few days, so we didn't go to the beach on those days. That means dangerous wildlife. We found out it was jelly-fish. They sting! The surf got up, so they put up the red flag. We only spent two days at the actual beach, but that was fine with me! I don't get into sunbathing like I did when I was younger. I'm happy with my farmers tan! I forgot to take my camera to the beach, so I only have pictures made on a boat looking at the beach where we sat. I don't know how blogging is going to be over the next few weeks. I hope to write at least twice a week, but we'll see how things go. I've got blackberry juice in the refrigerator to make jelly and our nectarines tree is overloaded with fruit! They will soon be ready. Would someone like to come and help? I really miss reading about ya'lls gardens and such, and hopefully things will settle down so I can read more! Ya'll take care in this treacherous heat wave and drought we're having! Stay inside where it's cool! Blessings from Bama!

Our campsite at Panama City Beach, Florida. St. Andrews State Park.

We got to see the boats go in and out of the bay everyday.

Would you ride the Vomatron? It goes around and turns you upside down, then back the other way! I would not!

They love riding go-carts!

Hubs is in front, this round.

A nice carpet golf place.

Our view of our camper from the Sea Screamer. Ours is the one with the blue awning.

The point at the park where the hubs liked to fish. That's not him.

These are Cannon-ball jelly fish. I wonder if these are what warranted the purple flag? They do not sting. The water was full of them.

The dolphins love to come around the Sea Screamer.

Looks like he's waiting for a snack.

One of the deck hands pretending to have a fish. Legally, they are not supposed to feed the dolphins. 

Enjoying his trip!

These folks got to swim with the dolphins!

The Sea Dragon is a wonderful cruise for the kiddos! They stay in the bay, not out in the se 

Look at those beautiful condos on the beach!

We happened on a parasailer in distress. Somehow, it became detached from the boat.

A trained diver on a jet ski to the  rescue. He pulls a banana boat, so he's trained for such as this.

Have you ever heard of Pineapple Willie's? Here it is!

This is the beach where we went.

The surf was so hard, it made a cliff here.

A much larger cliff.

The new captain.

The older captain (his Dad).

I enjoyed watching this squirrel eat his peanut butter cracker he robbed from the hubs fishing sack. 

He is really stretched out!

We're at Pier Park, a very nice shopping area with unique shops. I have a chub from all that seafood! I'm working it off now, though.

We went on a dinner cruise on the Lady Anderson.

The son is leading this lap.

He wanted to eat at Margaritaville. (Skylar)

Another limb collapsed while we were gone! I'm glad it didn't break!

  

Green beans and potatoes harvested from our garden. They sure were delicious!