a weedy walkway

When we moved here, there was no sidewalk from the driveway to the front door.   We always use the back door anyway and so does everyone who knows us.

At one point we had some cobblestones removed from a wall inside the house (too much weight) and at the time it seemed like a good idea to use those to make a side walk.  But after a few years they became uneven and treacherous to walk on, so those were taken up and now we have a walk way made of pavers.

I like it but it's not exactly maintenance free.  It has to be weeded.

But first, I need to deal with this daffodil greenery (the long skinny leaves).  You aren't supposed to trim it until it's no longer green - the leaves gather energy to store in the bulbs for next year. Meanwhile, it's sprawled out looking sickly for weeks.

Some people make these little tied bundles of the leaves, but they are sort of weird looking in the flower bed. I mostly just coaxed the leaves to lay down behind the Hostas.

Much nicer.

Usually I sprinkle this "Preen" on the walk but I forgot to do it this spring.. It prevents anything from growing.  

I normally don't like to use chemicals, but I make an exception here.

I still need to buy some more sand to fill in between the pavers.  Somehow it disappears. I guess it washes away or sinks into the ground.

sss = snake

Here comes Mr. Snake...crawling our way by forming a series of "S"s with his body.

I noticed it in the backyard on my way to the bird feeder.  It startled me and I did a fancy little step backward, but we see them fairly often and I am not scared of them.

Lonnie went to look at it too, and when he turned around to walk away from it, I told him that the snake was chasing him (ha ha).  He did a couple of fancy fast steps before he realized I was kidding!

But Mr. Snake did come up to the porch...

...and disappeared underneath.

Changing the subject...Lonnie has been a painting machine!   After doing the deck rails and steps, he switched colors and painted the swing.  Bright white - so fresh and clean looking.

(It's setting on the wheelbarrow while he's painting it - not suspended in mid air)

Later in the evening we enjoyed the perfect weather, sitting out on the back porch until way past dark.

I worked on this needlepoint eyeglass case until it got too dark to see.

It was breezy and pleasant and we didn't want to go inside.

I like summer!

rule this one out

I have been trying out some recipe ideas for the upcoming "Chocolate Dessert Contest" at the Bullitt County Fair.
So far, I haven't found anything that might have a chance of winning. This is the second of two roll-up type cakes I've made.
The one from the first recipe I tried, was tasty, but crumbled when I tried to roll it.

Then I thought of how my Pumpkin Roll cake always rolls up nicely - so for this second try, I used that recipe and added cocoa but left out the ginger and nutmeg.
Yep, it was a pumpkin chocolate cake!

The pumpkin kept it moist and easy to roll. I filled it with a mix of melted semi sweet chocolate, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.  My family thought it tasted okay but not extraordinary....except for my husband,  he. wouldn't. even. eat. it.  

We had it for  dessert on Sunday - after our meal of "breakfast for dinner".

Thick cut bacon, spicy hot sausage, pre-made hash browns, homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, waffles, ham and swiss crescent braid, and honey lime fruit toss. 

I've got just over a week to come up with something good and chocolatey for the contest.

I will enter something, even if I don't think it has a chance of winning.

It's fun, and the more participants there are, the more likely they will continue holding the contest each year.

watch for turtles

Whoa! I nearly ran over this turtle with the riding lawn mower.

I always keep an eye out for them when I'm cutting the grass -  they can be hard to see until you are right up on them.  Usually they are hanging out in the shade near the trees, but you never know when one will be making the trek across the field.

One time, I came across a pair that were in a "compromising position", if you know what I mean (wink wink).

So, what's this one doing?  Looks like she has dug up some dirt behind her.  Could she be laying eggs or is she just digging herself backward into a hole?

Here is a better view. I wasn't really this close - just zooming in with the camera. I didn't want to disturb her too much, although if a big noisy lawn mower roaring by, just inches away, didn't disturb her, I don't know what would.

I think I'll take a walk out there later this morning and see what's up with Mrs. Turtle.

Unrelated (obviously), but Lonnie and I had an early dinner at Cracker Barrel. We like their fish dinner and it's only on the menu on Fridays. 

That's what Lonnie had - the fried cod.  But I want to recommend this salad that I ordered. 

It's the "Grilled Chicken and Fresh Vegetable Salad".  Pretty good for a low calorie meal. Only 490 calories with their vinaigrette dressing on it.

The chicken pieces are small but have a good grilled taste. It makes nice meal for hot weather.

tree is a bully

My husband has been sprucing up the screen porch. He has been re-staining the outside wood, and he has been shopping for a new grill for out there.

He also bought two new ceiling fans. The blades on the old ones were saggy and one of the light fixtures had gotten broken.

Eventually the whole structure will need to have some work done on it.  The concrete has heaved up inside - probably from the same tree root that has caused the pad to crumble here.

See how the two-by-four has been pushed forward?

There's the culprit. This big maple tree. When the porch was built the tree was much smaller. We never expected it to get so massive. 

Doesn't it look like the tree made a special effort to grow over to bump the deck railing?

You can see how the white vinyl strip that holds the screen has buckled out.

Here's how it looks at deck level. It is actually bending the gray metal floor...and nearly touching the railing.   

That's our new stain color there on the railing. Nice work, husband!

We definitely do not want to cut the tree down. It shades the house and the deck and screen porch in the broiling summer afternoon sun.

So, we aren't sure what to do except wait and see if it gets worse.

Maybe the tree has stopped growing? I hope so!

keepsake corsage

 I was at my parents for a visit earlier this week, and my Mom had something interesting to show me...

It's her wedding corsage...from 1958!   It looks pretty good when you consider it's been around for 58 years.

It's a bit yellowed, but overall it's in good shape.

She said she found it laying in the bottom of her closet. It must have gotten squashed out of a box when things were being moved around on the top shelf.

She wore a dark blue suit to get married in, so you can picture how crisp the white corsage looked on her shoulder.

Donna and Fred...my Mom and Dad.

I wish I had thought to try and take a picture of their wedding picture to add here.  They didn't have a lot of photos taken that day, but I think I remember one that had been enlarged and colorized.

I'll have to find out more about that!

a day no mulch was spread

I planned to spread mulch yesterday but it turned hot and humid early in the day.  So I watered some of the new plants and trees in the morning, and filled the bird baths, then came inside to do some sewing.

All I need is one last brown border on this quilt and the top will be finished. Then, on to the basting and quilting!

I had a little trouble with the parallelogram border. It kept stretching as I was sewing it and that can cause puckers. I tried to press it into submission with the iron.  After it's quilted it should be fine.

Later, I went back outside, thinking I would spread the mulch...but the wheelbarrow was still full of the last load of stuff I pruned off the lilac bush.  

I had to dump it in the burn pile.

I don't like for the burn pile to get too big, or rabbits might build a nest in there and I would be afraid I would roast their babies when I finally started a fire.

So, I had to go ahead and burn it all...and since I had a fire, I gathered up other fallen sticks and branches, and also some small limbs I had trimmed out of trees earlier this year.

You can see below, back on the right...I haven't burned all of those pine branches yet either. I threw a couple of them on the fire, but mostly I've been dragging them back to the sink hole a few at a time.

It was nearly dark by the time the fire burned down enough that I could leave it.

That's the story of how I didn't get any mulch spread!