June 22nd?!

How has this month nearly gotten away from me?!  What have I been doing, you asked?  Well let's see.
First I was watching the little ones:

I'll bet you thought I was talking about the grands....hehehehehe! Nope, can you see the two spotted fawns?  They like to camp out in my yard in the afternoons around 5ish.  When I went to the front door to take a photo, they heard me but didn't know from which direction I was. They froze in place. They were too cute.  I was able to get a couple of pics before they scampered off.

Then I:::::

Did some canning of tomatoes.  All I did here was chop up a bunch of tomatoes into a very large pot. Poured sugar over them and allowed them to set for a couple of hours to draw some of the liquid from the tomatoes. Then I brought the mixture to a rolling boil, reduced to a simmer & cooked for about 4 hours until most of the juice had simmered away. Because I didn't can these in a hot bath, I placed the jars in the frig until I'm ready to eat some and give some away.

Finally....

I've been flower gardening......don't laugh.........I know what you're thinking. At no time during the time I've known "her" has she ever been involved with flowers!!!! And you would be correct but a couple of my girlfriends talked me into this and off I went......SIGH!!!

Until next time....cross your fingers that I don't kill the garden.

What have you been doing in June??

Me-Huntress

No, not that kind of "huntress"......hehehehehehe, but I have been known to go a-hunting for snakes in the yard.

I'm talking about hunting in the garden, of course.....hehehehe

I have a very small garden this year, so much so that all the cucumber vines are entangled as they run together. Believe it or not, I love poking through all those vines looking for cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers every day. It's rather cathartic.

 Those cucumbers grow quickly and tend to hide out under the shade of the leafy foliage.

I have a fence around my little garden to keep the rabbits out. Every morning, we go

 through the same routine.....I walk out the back door, spot two rabbits nibbling around the fence

 and start the chase. Around and around and around we go until I get dizzy and the rabbits

 make a break for the bird feeder to harass the poor birdies and eat their seeds

 that has fallen to the dirt.....sigh

It take me a few minutes to catch my breath before I start picking veggies. You'd think

 I'd be able to stop myself from chasing them but, alas, I've not broken myself

 from this habit.

These days I'm into canning the cucumbers into sweet pickles which take about 3 days

 but it's well worth the effort.

There are many recipes on the Internet that are inspiring and I have tried a couple. 

Mom and Cowboy love the pickles and so do all my neighbors.

Well, I'm off to rinse the cucumbers and begin the next step in the process.

On another note: I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my "big give-away." I didn't get to respond to all the comments yesterday so this is a great big THANK YOU ALL.

I'll be doing another give away in the fall, so stay tuned for that. 

Grands & Gardening

Austin is truly a bundle of joy & such a pudgy little cutie....just look at those cheeks!

Ayden is learning to identify coins. She is so funny. She was calling dimes diamonds....laugh out loud! 

Gardening is very therapeutic for me. I find myself humming happily as I water the plants and watch the bees pollinate everything.

The tomatoes are coming along.

The bell peppers are as well.

I'm even trying my hand at growing pineapples but this will take until next year.

But what I'm really looking forward to are the cucumbers. Can't wait to can sweet pickles!! It's amazing how quickly the cucumbers seem to grow inches over night.....more pickles for me.