The Latest

The latest blog post? The latest excuse? Nah, just some of the latest pictures and bits and pieces of our week. Every day I wake up and tell myself that this is the day I'm going to get it all together! Every night I go to bed and wonder what happened to the day. You'd think I would have figured it out by now.

On to the pictures. I'm loving the day lilies right now. This picture was taken in the evening. If my pictures are from the evening, it's not because it's planned....it's because I suddenly realize that I haven't taken my photo for the day. This one happened to work. :-)

I have a new perennial garden that I've been meaning to blog about someday. This is a cool double cone flower blooming in my new never talked about perennial garden.

Out of the garden and on to the country. There are a couple of new horses on the farm. My mom is getting some extra help with fencing etc in exchange for boarding. Two friendly mares. Friendly...read "in heat". My geldings think they are very interesting. The getting acquainted dances have been interesting. They act a lot like teenagers.

It was a busy weekend in the country for the 4th. The boys each brought a friend to the cabin. They bought fireworks. There was a lot of teenage banter between the 4 of them. Eric and I escaped for a little bit to catch the sunset. It wasn't spectacular, but it was quiet....and that's sort of spectacular all on it's own.

On the 4th I was at my mom's place, working on a fence, when I heard some squawking. I wandered down the hill to check it out. It wasn't much....just a pair of BALD EAGLES!!

One in each tree. I don't know what all the squawking was about....probably something about Barry the bald eagle just not understanding how it makes Bald Betty feel when he leaves his wet towels laying all over on the bathroom floor. What??

Oh look....the herd is on the move. They actually are getting along really well. Why is the littlest female always the bossy one?

Sunset on the 4th of July.

Who needs fireworks when the view looks like this?

Well...we did of course! We went to the little town of Amery, Wisconsin to watch the sky light up.

Instead of fighting the crowds, we found an out of the way spot on the driving range of the golf course there.

The view was just fine. I think Brian and David liked the show.

I don't know about these two though. Ryan looks scared...Billy looks like he's texting someone. Really, texting during the fireworks? Sigh.

I liked this shot, it looks like a couple of flowers to me. Have I mentioned that I like flowers??

Boom, ahhhhh, slap. It wouldn't be the 4th without mosquitoes. They weren't too bad though.

On Monday the boys were hired to paint the cabin. Here's Brian, he's looking a little scruffy with his beard.

Here's David, he's looking a little scruffy too. Woodsmen, that's what they are. A close relative to Sasquatch.

I watched from inside....Sasquatch scares me.

Billy and Ryan painted too. It was impressive that Billy didn't need a ladder to paint under the eaves. How'd he get so tall?

I think it happened over night.

While they were painting I went and picked a few wild blueberries. Then I made pancakes. And the boys only wanted the plain ones. My efforts were under appreciated. More blueberry pancakes for me I guess.

Back home to Eden Prairie to some evening day lilies. Yep....behind in the day again.

This is Yarrow growing in my front garden. I take close-ups so the weeds don't show....shhhh....don't tell.

On Thursday we had a picnic after Eric's softball game at the lake. I made Calico Beans. At least the softball players appreciate my efforts! The sunset was perty.

A couple of random flower pictures to end the week, and the post. Some pink flowers in my front garden.

And last but not least, a couple more day lilies. I planted these last year around our river birch tree....they are starting to look pretty good. They just bloom and bloom and I don't have to do a thing....

....except remember to take pictures of them every now and again. I like that. Summers are busy, life is good. I hope to get back to more regular posts someday soon.

Happy summer!

Daily Pictures

First a birthday wish...and then catching up with pictures again.

Happy Birthday to my niece Stephanie! Here's a link to the post I did for her last year. Not much has changed in her life this year....other than becoming a mom for the first time! :-)

Now the pictures....I figured with the holiday weekend before us I had better catch up, because I'm guessing that I'll be taking a few pictures this weekend. Baseball and flowers....because that's where I've been at the last few weeks.

Wild Forget-me-nots deep in the woods...what a fun surprise.

Baseball action...Billy pitching.

Sweet cheeks baby Avery. We got to see my cute grand-niece on a quick Sunday afternoon trip to the country.

Daisies in my front yard.

Between innings discussions...it looks serious.

Billy pitching again. He had a pretty good time pitching again after a few years away from it.

Molly the Jungle Cat in the front yard.

Bee balm in my new perennial garden in the back yard.

Billy hitting in the play-offs.

Billy hitting with his game face on...you should see the look he gives when a pitcher almost hits him....scary. :-)

Day lilies and daisies...a couple of my favorites...in my perennial garden in the back yard.

On the bench waiting to bat in the play-offs.

The last at bat that I got to see for the season...a triple. I left for my softball game and Billy hit another triple. Nice way to end the season.

Verbena in a pot in my backyard.

Bee balm by my bird bath....the perennial garden is coming along....

....except for the parts that the rabbits have eaten....but I'll think about that another day. Have a safe and Happy 4th!

He's a Dirty Player

Baseball season is over, Billy's team got knocked out of the play-offs on Tuesday. Since then, I've been sorting through some of the baseball pictures that I've taken...and I've realized, without a doubt, that Billy was the dirtiest player on his team. Again. It started with the first game. Look at this series of shots....sliding into home....

Safe! And dirty! Oh...did you think I meant that he played dirty? Nope...no way...he's a competitive player.....but never a dirty one. Except for his uniform. Dirty. Always. See?

Here his coach is asking him how he got so dirty....I think he said "just hittin' the dirt coach."

He doesn't just get dirty running the bases, he gets dirty playing in the field too.

Here I think the coach was telling the boys that they weren't dirty enough.....

....the very next play Billy took care of that! Trying to tag out the runner after a wild pitch...

....oof........dirt. The runner was safe, no one was hurt... so all I saw from the play was more laundry.

Here he's asking his dad why I worry about laundry so much. Not really....I think he's asking him if there's another good way to get really dirty. His dad says sure...hit a triple and slide into third.

No he wouldn't....oh dear....he's running fast....that can't be good.

Hmmmm.....still running....

....and then the darned coach says "get down!".....

....and he's sliding, sliding, sliding.......

....in a cloud of dirt. Like Pig Pen in Charlie Brown.

But he was safe, albeit very dirty. Sigh. Most of the time he would just slide and get his pants dirty.

But then...when he figured I didn't have enough other stuff to do, like blog or paint my nails or something.... he would make more laundry for me by diving in head first and getting extra dirty.

Wow Billy.....nice dive....and you were safe! And dirty. And it's picture day. "So?" he says.

Even when he was pitching he was dirty. Look at those pants. Shout it out. Actually, when I used to try to get his pants clean I would soak them in dish detergent. It worked great. Then I gave up.

Do you see this field? This is how it looked before Billy started playing. None of that dirt is left there anymore. It's all in my laundry room.

But do you see this smile? That's a smile of a dirty player. Dirty shirt, dirty pants, dirty socks....

....and a big wonderful baseball loving heart. He's grown and learned a lot this season, I couldn't be more proud. I hate to see the season end so early....I think I might even miss the laundry. Well, maybe not....but I will miss everything else!