Work, Work, Work... and Did I Say Work?

Spring is a busy time for us this year.  We are getting the garden in, planting flowers so our house has a personality, and planting trees so they can start growing big and tall to give us shade and beauty.  Wow, have we been super busy!  And today will be no different...

I have to plant our melons, squash and pumpkins and a few flowers.  I have to water all the plants we have in the ground and the ones I have left in the green house and on our patio.  Yes, lots of work... so why am I blogging?

Because I feel the need to catch up, so here goes:

The garden is finished!  Completely planted and on its way to providing us with yummies for the rest of the year:

We have LOTS of tomatoes... too many in fact, but we have them:

Our herbs are coming up and looking good:
 

Bet you cannot tell, but this is okra - and I planted about 24' of it because we love it!
 

And 24' of super sweet corn is coming up - YUM!

Red cabbage is looking great!
 

Green cabbage is looking great:

And did I say tomatoes?  Yes, they are looking great as well:
 

Yes, I know I have weeding to do... that is on the list of stuff to do.  We still have to plant the squash, pumpkin and melon hills - I intend to do that today.  It is on a separate area that is 24' long by a tractor width wide.  We put it in the pasture since I anticipate it taking so much area to grow.  

Now can you see why I haven't blogged??

A friend of ours has been growing something in her yard:

Now we want to know what the heck kind of mushroom is that??  She just noticed it when she went outside - and if you look in the background - she has two of them!  No she didn't plant them!

And now for the rest of the story.  Steve is having surgery tomorrow.  I am not thrilled, but we both know it need to be done.  He has had some problems with his shoulder and has been for years and years.  He finally gave in and went to the Dr.  Tomorrow is the big day - he is having surgery on his right shoulder rotator cuff... and last week they fit him for the sling he will be wearing for a few weeks:

Yeah, he is about as happy about it as he looks.  Neither one of us is looking forward to it, but it has to be done.  We have spent the last week (since he found out) trying to get everything mowed, cars serviced, shop clean so he CAN service the cars, planting gardens, flowers, trees, weed eating... training Megan to help... you name it, we have been busy doing it.  Oh, and did I mention taxes?  Yeah, we had to do taxes the day before they were due.  Not nice.  Very not nice.  He is lucky to be alive to HAVE this surgery.  

Now for the big day... going to buy him jammers (?)  (!)  today because they told him he has to be comfy and easy to dress tomorrow... and we need a shirt big enough to go over that big last 'cast' and sling. 

This oughta be fun.  Keep him in your thoughts and prayers please.  I think we're gonna need it.  Keep me in your thoughts and prayers - this is the first time my handsome man has ever been in the hospital - much less having surgery.  He has never missed work, been ill or had anything like this done.  He is not a big baby though so I don't worry about that.  I have never had to pick up after him, do for him or wait on him.  This will be a first!  Heck, I think I might even have to cut his steaks for a bit - but you know what?  I can do that!  I love him!  

Good luck, Steve!  I will be waiting on your hand and foot for the first time in our 35 years of marriage. Now I can enjoy doing things for YOU finally.  Just take it easy, keep the pain away and heal quickly.  I need my honey back strong and handsome ASAP.

Cause I love you...

Bits and Pieces

Here are a few bits and pieces of what has been going on this last week:

A bird set up house in our propane tank cover - unfortunately, he had to move:

This is not what you want to see:  Our nephew, Gavin, being loaded on a life flight after suffering a prolonged febrile seizure.  They life flighted him after two hours of seizing.  Thankfully he is ok now.  

Yes, that is our brother, Danny, on the left there - he was a medic and they answered all his questions and let him help a bit.  Very scary having him intubated and them breathing for him.  So glad he is ok now.  Such a cute little guy:

Another thing you don't want to see, but we got to this week:

That is the inside looking out of our storm shelter.  Here is what we were looking at:

Thankfully it went on its merry way away from us with no damage.  It was a bit unnerving though!

As I sit here and peer out my drapes, I get to see this:

A wonderful sight on our finch feeder.  Some days the entire thing is filled with gold finches.  Most days I have the curtains wide open, but it wasn't because the storms were passing through.

Our garden is finished!  Gate and fence all installed - I just have 4 more rows to plant!

Very long rows I might add!  48 feet times two rows of just tomatoes!  WHEW!  Are you gonna want any?  I sure hope so!

And our neighbors are harvesting!  I think it is oats, but don't hold me to that.  It was fun to watch though:

 

All of our plants are doing great.  It is so fun to actually be able to enjoy spring... such a long time since we were able to do that.   Course, we have the weather to deal with... you know, the tornadoes... Oh well, hurricanes there, earthquakes over there and tornadoes here... watcha gonna do? 

Steve is going back in to the shoulder Dr tomorrow.  Will see what the outcome of that visit is.  Not looking forward to it though.  Steve is thinking surgery is in the works.  We shall see.

Off to sort pictures and get ready for a family reunion!  It is actually June 9th, but I have some preparations to do!  Looking forward to seeing everyone though!

Later gator!

Have Fence, Need Gate!

And lots of muscle cream.


The garden fence is up now!

Made to keep critters out:

But it didn't work, did it?  

We just need to get a gate installed now then plant our veggies.  I am off today to (1) Going with Steve to his Orthopedic appointment to get his shoulders and knees checked.  His shoulder is really bothering him and has for years...  He finally gave in to go for an appointment.  Wish us luck!  (2) Find a gate for our garden.  Oughta be fun... Trying to beat the weather...

Other than that, we are sore... work is not all it is cracked up to be... lol...

And that is it for today.  Hope you had a great Easter!  

Happy Easter!

Today is a celebration of renewal!  I hope everyone is having a terrific Easter holiday!

Today Steve and I are home alone - and since we have no little ones here to celebrate the joyous day with us, I have decided to just share some pictures of previous Easter holidays.  

I have not edited at all, some are take with a point and shoot, some taken by someone else and shared with me, some from years ago and some are before I started getting really interested in photography - but I am sure you will enjoy them just as well:

Raelee at Granny and Papa's

Grandpa Gary and Grandma Ruth holding Raelee.

Katy, Daisy, Stephenie,

Jeremy and Yvonne

Stephenie holding Raelee

Raelee with Jaci looking on.

Raelee

Granny with Raelee.

MawMaw Evaline Breaux (friend) with Raelee and Jaci looking on.

Raelee and Grandma Ruth coloring eggs

Raelee and her blue hand holding a yellow egg.

Raelee... 

Raelee

Super proud of herself, Raelee.

Raelee

 

 

Raelee at Granny Bon's

Marcus in California

Aedan in California 

I love seeing dyed eggs.. what is it about them that makes me happy?

Easter is so different when you don't have little ones to celebrate with!  Usually we have a big crowd, but today it is just Steve and I - alone.  Not bad, just very odd.  Every stage in our lives take a bit of getting used to... but our love makes us happy that we have each other, our memories (for now... lol...) - and a God that blesses us beyond measure.  

Happy Easter everyone!

Can You Imagine? 

Row, Row, Row...

We have the rows in the garden all tilled, mounded and ready to go!

Steve is loving his tractor!  

In fact, so am I  :-)

How did they do it 'way back then'?

Here are my plans before the tilling was done...

See the 5 rows?

Yeah, we have 8 now... so back to the drawing board - but I am so thankful we have so much space to put our garden.  It is 32 x 48 FEET!  WHOOT!

Gotta go work some more!  

Spring Plantings

Busy, busy, busy!  That is all I have to say about Spring.  Well, not really...  you know I have to say more, right?

When we bought our house it was very bland - not a flower to be seen around the yard.  I love flowers; I love all flowers, but I especially love the ones that have a scent like this bearded iris... oh.  my... gosh!

So we had to get busy... and plant flowers... 

But before we could do that, Steve and I had decided on some trees we wanted on our property, so we had to get a game plan on that and start planting so they can start growing.  We got several trees:

This is an Autumn  Blaze Maple Tree:  

We dug a huge hole (8ft by 8ft) that was 2 feet deep - thank God we had a tractor to help - and Steve is getting really good at using that thing!

We took the dirt out with the tractor, weeded the grass out, then added the dirt back with the tractor.

We were super happy when that job was done - and exhausted!  The tree is about 10-12 feet high and looks like it is doing great!

We strategically placed it so when it grows up it will shade the patio.  We have lots of trees, just none to shad the patio from the west:

I removed that ugly black fence from around our porch and spruced up the garden there:

We planted 12 small trees that the Arbor Foundation sent us!  We have been super busy in the yard. 

We planted 60 gladiolas last night and have 30 left to plant.  Whoever picked up that big bag of glad bulbs for a great price at Sam's shoulda looked at how many were in it!  NINETY bulbs!  Yikes!

And I found an Green Country Oklahoma gardening site on Facebook that is gonna be the death of me.  I can buy, trade, pick up or beg for plants... and get them!  I got about a dozen free orange cannas last week! 

I shoulda never found that site - I can see our 20 acres filling up quite quickly... 

We are going to try to get our garden planted this weekend!  I know it seems quite late for you southerners, but most people here in Oklahoma say don't plant your veggies until after Easter.  I figure Easter is a time for new beginnings, so I am gonna plant this weekend.  Can't wait to see our garden grow!  We have been busy bees - and we're gonna be busy for another few weeks...

Being busy pays off though:

More on the rest of the trees next post...