It's heating up in the north country!

It's another sweltering day here in the northeast. We hit 91* yesterday and should hit 88* today. There are more clouds today not the clear blue sky but the heat is here. The horses are sweating just standing in the barn with the overhead fans on. I can't imagine making them work on days like this. I hose them off and that helps cool them down for a time and I'm sure it feels good to them getting all the sweaty salt off them. There was a show this weekend and I can't imagine being out in that heat all day working in a dusty ring. I was glad I was at the lake! :o)

I have been on a cleaning binge. My upstairs has had an almost complete overhaul. I still have two closets to do in the guest rooms but almost everything else has been done. I have sold, given away and thrown out. Why do we accumulate 'stuff'!? I bought a new bedroom set for one guest room with a queen size bed as it just had a double and my company always grumbles a bit! ha! The salesman told me that he could sell me what they call a 'mother in law' mattress to put on the new bed. Lumpy so that the MIL doesn't visit too long. I thought that was rather mean, but to some people maybe needed. :o)

I don't have a MIL, she passed away about 15 years ago. I still miss her every day. We had a wonderful relationship and I feel badly that she didn't get to see my SIL's triplets and all of the great grandchilden in the family now. She had a lovely voice and sang in a trio and choir at our church for years along with teaching Sunday School and working in Awana. I'm so glad that we will all see her again someday in heaven.

Took some more pictures of my flowers this morning. All of this hot weather has spurred the growth of the flowers and the veggie plants. The veggies don't really have time to catch up but we will get a few things.

I have several varieties of hydrangea and they are starting to really bloom.
This one isn't quite out completely but is very fragrant.

These two are in the front of the house and the first ones are out back.
Another shot of my brown eyed Susan's, they have just taken off!
My poor marigolds didn't do much with all the rain we had.

These are called Turtle Back. They kind of look like a miniature Ladies Slipper.

The Stargazer Lilies are just spectacular this year!

Need to head out and do some errands. I may swing by the flower nursery, you know, just to look..........

Fun at the lake!

It's been the nicest weekend of the summer. Of course we went to the lake to enjoy all the fun things that we do there. Blogger is not getting along with me and I tried cutting and pasting to no avail so here are the pictures in no particular order.

This is me and Miss T heading out in the boat. I love Miss T's hair in braids and of course I have the windblown look with the hair standing on end! :o)

This is my sister Jill, doesn't she look like a younger version of me?

Here goes my niece Ashley and D on the tube!

Ashley had to sit on her knees the whole time! Mine would have just fallen off after two minutes.

My nephew and his wife out for a canoe ride.

Here is Funsize on the skis!

She got right up with ease.



Ashley diving off the dock!

Miss T running down the dock to dive off the end.


Ker-splash!

Ashley and my nephew Billy skiing double.




Ashley and T on the tube.

Ashley and D on the tube.

Miss T in the tube.


Funsize in the boat.



We had just a fabulous time at the lake. Besides all the hot dogs, hamburgers, and all the fixings my sister made dough boys for us in the afternoon! Yum! We scarfed those down in no time at all!! :o)

How blessed I feel to be able to get together with family and friends at the lake and have such a good time. Memories made for sure!

Blogger, please behave yourself again........

Is anyone else still having trouble putting their pictures where they want them? Don't you usually just go to the arrow on the side and place them? Mine still won't do that so I tried to work around it but it took me twice as long and I'm fuming again at Blogger. Sigh......I know it's not earth shattering but it is annoying. There, I feel better. Amen.


Miss Pea over at Pea's Corner is having a fun give away this week! You will see spots before your eyes when you go check it out but it's worth the visit!! Thanks Miss Pea for such a fun Give Away and I will expect to win of course!! :o)




Thank you to my two friends KC over at Mindless Chatter of a Busy Mom and Tina at Palm Tree Fanatic for this award! This award really sums up what I try to accomplish in this world of blogging and I thank them for it!!

This award is for anyone who likes to smile and/or laugh, and just generally spreads that along in this blogging world we all travel in.

I love taking pictures of my four boys all together. Little Bud has been on his weight loss program for about 8 weeks and has lost a little over 100 pounds! With all the exercise and the reduction in calories by being out in the pasture just six hours per day instead of 12 the weight has dropped off and the muscle tone has increased. My vet and farrier want him to lose another 50 and I'm sure that will be a little slower coming off but we will continue to work at it. (Oh BTW he does get a handful of grain and a big flake hay for supper, I'm not depriving him!)

We had just a lovely weekend. The weather was warm, not humid but sunny with puffy clouds. Sunday we went to the early service and then headed to the coast with the grand kids, FIL, SIL and nephews. I never tire of the drive down to our favorite restaurant and beach and have been going down there since I started boarding school in 1965. Actually it was before that as my two older sisters went to boarding school before me so we made the trek quite often.

Grampy helping D with his lobster. Miss T opted for a more traditional child's meal, grilled cheese and fries.


It's going to be hot and humid today so I guess I'd better get out and do the bushhogging that I want to get done. Doesn't that just sound like a blast??!! :o)

Fridays Flowers

It's another beautiful sunny day here in north country. I decided I'd better get out and get some pictures of my summer flowers as they are predicting temps down in the 40's at night so I think fall will be coming soon. Blogger is still being a stinker and not letting me put my pictures where I want them so I am taking Mary's advice and putting in my writing as I go along.

This is bee balm and it really does call the bees and butterflies.




Purple bee balm.

Laitris.

Red bee balm.

This is in front of my house, it's just a mass of color and fragrance right now.

This is flox one of my favorites as it smells sooooooooo good! I have pink, purple and red.

These are petunias in my front urns. They sure have taken a beating this summer from all the heavy rain.

This is cleome. These came up on their own from last year.

Cone flowers, again these came up on their own. I have TONS of them!

A hollyhock, the only one that came up from last year.

Brown eyed Susan's.


White cleome.

A blossom on one of my pumpkin plants. I don't think they will have time to produce any pumpkins this year. :o(


Another beautiful coneflower.

We are planning a trip to Dallas next month on business. We are going to go a few days early so that we can see some of the sights and play tourist with the cameras and all. I can just imagine all of the bloggy fodder to be had there!!

I'm wondering what the temps are going to be in September. Hot? Really hot? Scorching hot? We are trying to set up something at a working ranch to go riding while we are there so I imagine we should go early in the morning before the temps get high. We did that a couple of times in Arizona and went very early in the morning and that worked well. I'd like to chase a cow but I doubt that will happen! I'd probably end up in the dust!

Guess that's it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Slow News Day and Bad Blooger!

Blogger is being a booger and won't let me put my pictures where they are supposed to go!!!!! Hope you can figure it all out! :o)

As you all know we have had a rainy summer. We've had lovely days scattered here and there but for the most part it's been overcast and lots of heavy rain. I was walking out to my flower garden in my flip flops yesterday and the ground was going squish, squish, squish and the water was coming up over my toes. It's been challenging to keep all the mowing done that we do around here but when we do get a good day and things dry out a bit we mow like there was no tomorrow!

I don't mind mowing, in fact I like it. Of course I'm riding a big commercial type mower with a nice comfy seat and a cup holder so it's not like I'm pushing something around (which would be more benenficial for me!). I like being out in the sunshine too and yes I do have a farmers tan. :o) I try to remember to put on sunscreen but don't always which I know is not good.

I like the smell of the newly cut grass, it's so sweet and fragrant. I wear ear plugs and a headset to protect my hearing. Even with that my ears ring for a while after I am finished mowing. This summer I have mowed a lot of mud.........got stuck once and Dad had to pull me out with the tractor. I have been more careful since then. There are still places that have standing water that you can't mow which is unheard of for August.

Now you know it's been a slow news week when I post about mowing the grass.

We did get to the lake this weekend. It was just perfect, warm with a nice breeze off the lake. We rode around the lake a few times in the boat just sightseeing, didn't see any loons this time. There was a small plane that kept landing and taking off in front of our camp. Someone must have been having a lesson. Of course I left my camera home, darn it!

Another small plane went over fairly low and we wondered who it was that would swoop so low right over us. Come to find out it was Cousin K at the wheel! No that must be at the helm, no that's a boat, well anyway you know what I mean. He was with a friend of the family in their small plane and the pilot let him do a little steering so he was pretty excited about that! He told us all about it at church the next morning and he was still on a high! That's pretty heady stuff for a ten year old! Next time I'm going to have them call before they fly over so that I can get some pictures!

Someone sent me these pictures. Sooooooo cute!! They are called Mom's Lap.

We have decided to sell our pony cart. It has been used twice as I am too lazy to change it over from one pony or two. My hubby had it made for our ponies and it is in mint condition. I've got to get some pictures put in the Yankee Peddler and at the tack shops. I hate to sell it but it's just taking up space in the basement and we never use it. I also sold our antique doctor's buggy. Again I hated to sell it but it's too nice to just sit on the lawn for decoration as I wouldn't want it out in the elements but it was taking up so much space in our basement. I bought it from someone who had it in their living room!

Well I'm mad at Blogger! I have never had trouble putting my pictures where I want them. What's up with that????