Well, didn't get done yesterday what I wanted to do, and I am not even going to try it for today, afraid it will end up the same way.

Yesterday morning I did manage to get into the ground 15 trees, 3 lilac bushes, all the lambs ears, the rodella?? (forgot what its called), the tiger lillys, and the iris bulbs.

I still have to go more lilac and lots more trees. However, I can't plant them until the utilities get their locates done, and so far none have shown up. they have till 8 tomorrow morning to get it done. So, the rest are soaking in a bucket of water.

Dad gave us several huge logs to use as seats around our bonfire area. I got the 2 out of the truck that I could budge, the rest will need to wait for some man muscle.

Yesterday and today we have had really weird rain. I started to mow. It downpoured. I brought the mower in, and the rain stopped. It only lasted 3 minutes at the most. I started to till. Same thing happened. I tried to water the garden and wash my car. Each time, it would downpour, only to last less than 3 minutes. None of it did any good. Their are still cracks in the ground. We had (still have) weird lighting and thunder also, but the rain just isn't doing any good.

So, my big project for yesterday was to clean out the garage. Got it done. This afternoon I will work in the basement.

While I was cleaning out the garage, I found 3 dozen canning jars (which I needed and had on my list to buy). So, the task paid for itself.

We went to my parents house for the day yesterday. It was for my birthday dinner (a month late, but since we moved away and with everyones schedules, had no choice on that one).
Anyway, it rained most of the day. We had taken the pick up as we were going to bring back some chicken nesting boxes from mom and dads chicken coup. But, when we went down to get it, we discovered poision ivy was everywhere. So, dad is going to spray it, and we will get them next trip. My new hens won't start laying for another 6 weeks anyway.

Anyway, since we had the truck, I took advantage of it. I brought back part of my moms lilac bush--about 30 little ones. Her bush is huge-I mean the size of a small parking lot. When we were kids it was little bitty. She is always compaining of its size and giving people starts, so I cleared out some of it. Today I get to plant it here.

I also got some tiger lillys, that are family plants. They came from my grandparents farm and the story is her mom gave them to her. So, I have those to plant today.

Then my sister in law gave me some lambs ear. Seems these plants are intent on taking over her front garden. She also gave me a rhodundia plant.

Dad had just cut down a big big big tree, and gave us huge chucks of wood from that. I think he thought we could burn it, but after looking it over, most of it we will use as seats and stools around our fire ring. Some of the logs are big enough that 2 smaller people could sit on them. The smaller logs we will split to burn.

Dad also gave me several tree seedlings. I think I got walnut, oak, ash and pine.

All in all, I think I got around $300 in plants free. I was going to get some lilac at the garden store, but the price stopped me, knowing mom wanted hers thinned out and it would be cheaper and helps us both out.

The garden has a few rows popping up in the newer section. I need to till it badly, but couldn't till stuff started to come up so I could see where to till and where not to till. I think I can get 3 rows safely tilled today without destroying plants.

Yesterday I cleaned out and reorganized the office. Since Thursday was the last day of school, I had brought home all teaching materials I had at school, so I got that all put away. The girls got to bring home all their text books to keep, so I organized that as well. We will be using them for home schooling. DD#3's 5th grade materials we will put away for DD#4 and #5 for next year.

What they used this year we will be reviewing during June, July and August. If that goes well, we will start with new material Sept 1. If it goes very well, we will start with new material earlier.

One of the girls struggles with spelling, and another is starting to struggle with math. So the review will be good. The one who is struggling with math should not be. She used to be an A student in math. After I got her grade card, I then found out that the teacher was leaving the room during math and letting another student teach it for the last quarter. I discussed this with the principal and he denied it was happening, but since then several other parents in the class are saying their child says the same thing, and 2 other students told me it was happening also, so I think the principal was just unaware of it.

I also downloaded a FREE home school program that tracks grades, assignments, reports, reading logs, attendance, time spent...everything.

Eventually we will be doing our schooling in the basement--but until it is done we are upstairs using the office and the dining room. When the basement is completed, we will have our own bathroom (complete except for the door-which is currently a shower curtain, and the sheetrock on the ceiling), kitchen (will be good for home ec), living room and a large area which has cabinets and counter tops and a work table for sewing or doing activities on.

The basement is also being set up so that when we have company they can stay down their & have their own private area.

So much to do, so little time......

It is humid out today, so I have to do the laundry in the dryer. It will mildew if I hang it out. But, stuff is popping up in the garden from the last 3 days of rain.

Yesterday the girls got out of school at noon. Last day. Yee Ha. Now we start summer school. This summer we will be reviewing what they learned last year (esp math and spelling), doing some reading, and working on our home ec skills. I am putting them in charge of lunch everyday. They have to check the food on hand, and plan their lunch menu around what we have. They are not allowed to serve the same thing twice in a week. (That will avoid PB&J every day). Also, they will be rotating chores. We have chore list A, B and C.
Each list will have some common chores-such as pick up your room and bathroom, making their own bed, and each list will also have some unique jobs such as empty dishwasher, feed chickens, feed dogs, feed rabbits, feed steer, gather eggs, vacumme, dust, gather laundry, wash whites, wash towels, restock wood pile, sweep floor, water plants, work garden.....

Also, we will be starting some beginning sewing--first up is each girl will learn how to sew on a button.

Its been raining off and on today. I have a chicken on to boil. I haven't decided yet if I am going to add veggies, or make noodles, or do both. Also, I need to make a pineapple upside down cake-I owe DH one.

Today I got the last of the sweet corn in, and the sunflower seeds. I also went ahead and planted some seeds left over from last year. They should still be ok.

I have more seeds left from this year (I kind of over bought on a few things), so, I will try to add more: cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, pumpkins, butternut squash, watermelon, canteloup, and zuchinni.

I will be doing some more flowers also.

The cheapest gas around now is $3.29 a gallon. Yuck.

Got a tetnes shot yesterday. I got the new kind for adults over 45--it has the whooping cough vac in it too--since we fell into that gap where we didn't get vac against it.
About the pitchfork--it wasn't even mine!! This part of the garden had not been used before, so it was buried from years ago. We doubled (or more) the garden from last summer. This farm used to be a sod farm years ago, so I am assuming it is from those days. It is an older fork. Guess its good I stepped on it and not a kid. I'm surprised though that we didn't hit it with the plow or disc--although that could have broke the pto if it were hit just right.
So far, I have dug up several old interesting things--an old glass doorknob, old fork, old brush, pottery, old bricks. I wonder if the garden spot may have been the site of a house or the outhouse. (for you city people, out houses not only were an outside toilet, but also were the garbage dump site as well. The house was built over a dug pit, and when the pit was full, a new pit was dug and the outhouse moved to it. Its a good place to dig to find old bottles, broken dishes and such. Fire departments weren't around then, so people were afraid to burn their trash in case the fire got out of hand).
So, I am going to hobble out and try to get a few more rows planted today.

because I stepped on a pitch fork yesterday. So, in about 45 minutes I have an appt at the county health office to get a tetnus shot. It got right in the ball of my foot, hurts to stand on it, but the worse is driving, as it is my clutch foot.
So far, I have in the ground--
tomatoes 40
peppers 38
okra
radishes
lettuce
cabbage
red cabbage
carrots
onions
califlaur
tons of flowers
watermelon
canteloup
cucumbers
zuchinni
brocolli (that probably wont make it-due to the freeze & flood)
lima beans
I still have to go:
corn
green beans
peas
squash
and a few other veggies
hopefully tomorrow I can put more weight on my foot and get back out there and play in the dirt.
I already have tomatoes coming on, caulifloaur coming on, and my peppers are blooming

But, the air is not on. Our house has the tall windows and if we open them from the top, it stays much cooler than the outside.

I ran out of yeast today. I need to find a bulk Amish store that will send it to me. The nearest one is a couple hours away, and gas in this area is now $3.11 a gallon. To buy yeast at our local store is about $3 for a strip of 3 packs. Before I moved here, I got 2 lbs at a time for $8. If anyone knows of an Amish store that #1 takes credit cards and #2 does mail orders and #3 has a phone so I can order it, let me know-please! I usually bake 5-7 loaves a week.

Got ready to leave for church this morning to find out some baby chickens had managed to break out of the coup or pen and get loose. They were running around frantic because they couldn't get back in. So, we had to take them back inside and get them resettled.


The flood seems to have got the goose nest. She had several eggs that she was sitting on and the whole nest is gone.


The steer bought 2 more weeks of time. He was supposed to go to the butcher Wed, but the feedlot was too wet to get the truck and trailer backed into it. So, will try it again in a few weeks if it doesn't rain anymore. The Liberty park by the River on 291 is still closed. Where the girls played at last week is all under water.

The garden is a wreck. If it doesn't rain for the rest of today, I am hoping tomorrow I can get the tiller into it. 7 inches of rain in 3 days, followed by several days of 80 degrees, has sprouted weeds and grass where I had not planted yet.

I mowed some Friday, but there are still parts of the yard with 6 inches of water standing, so I can't get the mower thru it all. I even got it stuck a few times. But, the ducks love it!!