So- last night we had huge downpours!! Luckily, Jim and the crew were able to get the roof sealed off with tarps before the rain hit the first time. They did a great job because our house stayed dry!! With our kitchen all open and possible large hail forcasted, I was a bit worried! The only thing that seems to have gotten in besides bugs was a little green tree frog- a very cute one! I was sitting on the couch reading (waiting for the rain to lighten up just a bit so I dared go get my groceries from the car- and listening for water coming in- and periodically checking) when out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving on the floor. My first thought was "Ugh! Another giant spider!"- so I was pleasantly surprised. But, then I knew I needed to get him out of the house before an animal discovered him or I lost him (and he died somewhere). All my buckets were outside or filled with a ton of electrical wires...so I didn't know what to catch him with...and he was a fast hopper! I finally cornered him between 2 shoes and managed to scoop him into one and took him outside...where I found a huge toad hopping across the concrete in front of our door. I'm sure he will be happier outside.
Today the builders got the 3 walls up and the wood and tar paper for the roof!
Lily is now 17 months old, and is
running and climbing all over and talking quite a bit (though a lot of
her words don't sound quite right- such as "bwaa" means blanket). I
took her to the park today- and she was all over the equipment- I could
barely keep up with her- and had to run down the ladders to catch her at
the bottom- so I got my exercise. She really wanted to go down one big
tall tunnel slide that I thought was a bit big for her- so I went down
with her- and I honestly almost got stuck at the bottom!! It was really
short- and I stopped sliding- so I couldn't sit up and get off- so I
pretty much had to wiggle on my back to get down more to get out (with
my big 7 month pregnant belly)- meanwhile Lily was off and running to
the next obstacle. Next time we go I may have to recruit a second
helping body! Lily absolutely LOVED it though- we stayed for about 45
minutes, 20 minutes of which she just wanted to be on the swing (one of
her favorite things). After being on that long- I took her out- she
went down one slide then went right back to the swing!
We
also went and let our tadpoles (which we captured from my mom's pond) go
in Lake Winona- where there is a lot of algae for them. Since we are
leaving for Alaska on Monday, and we have been pretty busy- I thought
they would be happy there. Lily has enjoyed watching them- but I think
she enjoyed the baby ducks we saw at the lake even more. One mama duck
had 12 babies- they were still all soft and fuzzy- very cute!...and they
came VERY close to us!
After the lake- we went to the
Lakeview Rootbeer Stand, and Lily had a few french fries with me and
some root beer (things she does not get very often). I also let her ride
on the mini merry go round 4 times- which she thought was quite
wonderful. For 25 cents it actually goes around quite a few times- and
we invited some other kids to join us (as it doesn't charge per kid)- so
a bunch of kids had a good time =) How excited she gets about this
little merry go round really makes me want to take her on a big one!
The county fair is this week- so I just might have to take her. She
would enjoy all the animals and one of the kiddy rides.
We then went to Menards to get more perennials (Jim asked if I really wanted to buy more flowers when I am already so busy). The answer is yes- because these flowers will actually save me time. Right now my raised bed around the septic pipes is 95% weeds which I keep pulling out so it doesn't look awful. In the 5% that has daylilies the wedding goes SO much faster- because they block some of the weeds from growing and take up some of the room---and they just started blooming and look nice, if I can keep the rest of the weeds down enough where you can see them! So- I spent $25 on perennials- 2 coreopsis plants, a big coneflower, and 2 more yellow daylilies. I will have to take a picture of the coreopsis and coneflower leaves to remember what they look like in the spring (so I don't weed them out)- but hopefully they will all spread and help fill my box with something other than a weed fest. These are the first perennials I have added to my yard this year (though I have added some shrubs and trees I guess). It makes me feel good to buy a few perennials each year and add to my growing flower gardens and yard. Eventually I will have a beautiful yard full of color! =) My "butterfly garden" by the way has about doubled this year. My original plan was to keep all of my orchard area as natural prarie meadow with wildflowers- but starting from field, there was just too much ragweed and junk in there for me to weed it out and get it nice....so I started mowing it, and kept a small part that had milkweed and have been taking care of that area. Now this year I have tons of milk weed in there- and it is expanding. I even found a monarch caterpillar in there a few weeks ago- and there have been tons of butterflies visiting. I also planted some sunflowers in a small part of it- and tossed all my old flower seeds in a small patch I tilled up (we will see if any of them grow).
The most neglected part of my yard is my original flower garden....I did not mulch it this year, and it is getting overgrown. I went and pulled the biggest intruders out this evening- giant ragweed and queen anne's lace (which I like, but it was towering over my flowers- I left a little in the back). The biggest problem is that the yard is completely uneven around it and I can not mow up to it- so huge weeds tower all around it, and there is no real lines defining my garden. I need to move my flowers to a better place- though the dirt here is really good, and they are very well established there...they are so pretty I hate to risk moving them. I have 2 giant white lilies that are blooming right now that are huge and beautiful! My bee balm is getting close to blooming- once things bloom out I will attempt to move at least some of them one at a time. My peones I especially need to move- they are really getting huge and spreading (and starting to block other things out). Good intentions....we will see what I get done!
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