This and That

Our hummingbird came to the porch for a very long visit.  It was about 5 feet from me enjoying our porch hanging flowers.  Visit from Mom?

Woke up to no water pressure in my kitchen sink, and a ton of dirty dishes to wash.  I left the water on to clear air and painted.

Before

The other side of the bathroom door got primed.  I will be picking up paint samples soon for the other bathroom.

I also painted the last wall in the kitchen.  I just have to paint some trim and the kitchen will be done completely.

We got a lot of rain yesterday, so the garden should be popping with bounty soon.

We were on the porch eating dinner, and heard a gun shot.  He pulled into our drive and we talked for hours.  He was taking care of rodents in the field north of us, so we gave him permission to park in our north drive to take care of ground hogs that took over our barn rubble, and were also causing havoc in the same field.

I put 8 # of onions in the dehydrator.  We did not plant onions this year, other than bunching onions, and my herb garden green onions.  I found a deal on organic, and decided to get that stocked done.

 

Kitchen-ness and weather updates

 

I did a lot of kitchen work early, due to the water needing shut off again, for the bathroom repairs.  I finally got a batch of taco seasoning made, whipped up some biscuits for a breakfast for my husband - biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, and fried potatoes.  However, I have a mound of dishes to do this morning, and need to empty the dishwasher.

We got more rain early yesterday and more last night.  We hit a heat index of 100°F yesterday, and boy was it humid and hot.

The bathroom repairs are coming along, but slowly due to the rain.  The old drywall is cut out, and the floor is in, but there needs to be another layer of floor to get it the the same height as the kitchen.  Not sure how long that will take.  All water lines to the bathroom sink have been replaced.

I brought down another bag of trash from the upstairs and got more organizing done, but have a large tote of hay to get rid of.  Apparently, Daughter K had it for her rabbit, and the rabbit didn't like it.

Both the younger two daughters left their graduation gowns up there too, so I brought them both down and put them up for free.  Hopefully that will help someone else out.

Trash day was delayed a day, so I also got some of the fridge cleaned out, but not all of it.  I still have stuff in there like pudding cups from Daughter K that need to be cleaned out.  It's just been so busy here with the garden, painting and what not.

Bluebell flew the coop....again...

 

Bluebell flew the coop again.  My husband put the ladies away the other night, and didn't realize she flew the coop and was not in the run.  She was left outside all night long on her own, and survived.  We found raccoon and coyote scat nearby.  She is one tough bird, but naughty.  I have to clip her wings soon. 

It's thunder storming, so it's not happening today.  Although thankful for the rain, our bathroom project is delayed.  There is no where to saw the wood, unless we move it to a barn possibly.

I'm taking inventory on our freezer stash today, and in one pantry area.  I have a lot to keep me busy, so that is not a problem.

View from the porch . . .

The weekend went way too fast, but I'm happy to say my husband is home today.  However, we'll be doing early garden work to start this day off.  We'll heat up to the 90's today, so our time will be short out there.

Happy 4th of July!
 

Easy Pickled Carrots

 We are not going to get a lot of carrots this year.  Sadly, the derecho we had washed out the seeds.

I picked up some organic carrots and decided to try something new - pickled carrots.

We'll toss these in salads, on sandwiches and even on tacos.  I'll let you know how they taste when we do taste them.

I spent about 3 hours cleaning the upstairs.  Some items went to the roadside for free, some were donated and I filled the trash, cleaned one closet out completely, and shampooed most of the carpet.

It Rained!

 We finally got our much needed rain.  I won't be able to weed today, but I do need to go out and check stakes and make sure the thunderstorms and wind didn't blow any down.  So thankful for the rain.  Everything, including trees were wilting, despite watering everything myself.

I actually got crochet time in yesterday.  The water had to be shut off for replacing some parts, so I got some relaxing time in.  Thankful for that too.

I don't know what was going on, but when I went to the grocery store, it was crazy busy.  There was at least 12 people in every line.  I'm guessing the holiday shopping for the 4th, but who knows.  It could be people going to a different store to find things they can't find elsewhere.  I went for fresh jalapenos, and they were completely out.

Slippers to the Garden and other Tidbits

 The other day I came inside to do something, and realized on my way back out I still had my slippers on.  I take my muck boots off at the door.  So funny.  My brain is on overdrive I swear.

My living room is a mess and now the bathroom door is in there getting primed.  I painted one side yesterday.  Half of the bathroom floor is in, but they had 4 layers of flooring, so it's lower than the kitchen floor.  There is more work to do, and more supplies, to get the floor even with the kitchen.

I've taken care of the peaches now.  I canned 8 half-pints of reduced sugar jam, and baked a peach crumble.  I left the rest for us to snack on.  Not sure if I will get any into the freezer or not.

I started water-glassing eggs.  I figured if I fill that bucket up, I can start dehydrating, but this will reduce using canning jars right now.

We are going on more than two weeks of zero rain.  We had thunderstorms in the forecast for today, but those left just disappeared off the radar.

I've been doing pretty well keeping up with weeding the garden, but not the flower beds.  I got the green beans weeded finally.

Daughter E never made it out to help clean the upstairs.  She took her car in for a new tire at Midas and they told her that her wheel bearing was so bad that her car was not safe to drive.  I got on my phone and with the help of my husband, (our go-to man is doing our bathroom) he found a friend to change it. Cost of part was $104, he asked for $70 for the labor, and she paid him $100.  Midas wanted $500.00 for the job, and it's a fairly easy job to do.