Monday, October 3, 2011

Cooler Times

Once again, it has taken me a while to sit down and do a blog entry.  I took the photos below at the beginning of September and had every intention of sitting down and doing this entry right away.  Unfortunately, however, time got away from me. 

Since this was such a horribly hot and buggy summer, I spent most of my time hiding inside in the air conditioning.  This isn't such a bad thing because I started working on my art again.  I have three paintings in progress and they are each in a different medium.  I rotate between them in order to keep from getting bored.  Of course, I haven't given up my knitting, so that keeps me busy as well.  There have been plenty of times when I wish there were more hours in a day.  It would also be nice if  I wasn't one of those people who need about eight hours of sleep each night in order to function properly. 

On the day that I took the following photos, the weather had FINALLY cooled below 90 degrees.  It was nice to be able to get outside and work in the yard....even though the bugs were still a wee bit annoying.  The "girls" enjoyed being let out of their pen so that they could eat grass and acorns.  They love acorns and will go around the yard like little vacuum cleaners "hoovering" up as many as they can find.  I have read that acorns and oak leaves can be toxic to sheep in large quantities.  So far I haven't had a problem, so either it must be an extremely large quantity that is toxic or the sheep that are poisoned are consuming them as the bulk of their diet. 

As you can see, my flowerbeds are in very sad shape.  The Black-Eyed Susans definitely took over this year and I have spent quite a bit of time ripping them out and relocating and/or composting the excess.  I prefer flowers/plants that aren't invasive and can pretty much take care of themselves.  Therefore, hostas and daylilies are the ideal plants for me!

Having a full supply of hay for the winter is a huge relief.  Kirk, Tony (my daughter's fiance) and I spent an entire morning/afternoon moving and storing all of the bales.  It was a LOT of work, but totally worth it.  I certainly couldn't have done it without Kirk and Tony and I really appreciate all of their hard work.  The sheep do too!!
"Mowing" by the driveway

Hay shed....stocked full for winter!
A view of the center circle of the driveway.
I've been slowly adding plants ever since we moved here!
More hay stockpiled for the winter!! 
The Black-Eyed Susans that are taking over the flowerbed
You can see the hostas, but it's almost impossible
to see the daylilies and rosebush that are in there!
The girls thought they would come see what I
was doing...and see if I needed help with any weeds.



1 comment:

Michael J. said...

Good to hear from you and the girls again!