Other June Happenings

Here are just a few more shots from June. We have TONS of wild turkeys in the yard. The chickens are still a bit leary of them. At one time I've seen as many as 70 of then circling the house. They roost in the woods just beyond our yard. Sometimes there is quite a ruckus! Here is Mr. Tom after the hens.


Here is one of my gardens full of perineals. All in all I'm very pleased with how everything has come back this year. The wonder of growing things! This one has columbine, sedum, a wigelia bush, batchelor buttons, cone flowers and yarrow. All "donated" from many of your gardens. THANKS! This year my big planters have annuals again including spider flowers, dahlias, and c........ oh why do I even try to remember all the names. This one is GONE! Well - come see them sometime! They're pretty.


And of course, I'm still making stuff. Here is a little pair of booties I made for a friend with a new baby girl.

And, on the camping trip making ANOTHER doily washcloth. I am loving my new skill of lace knitting. I've got to go learn another new trick and move on!
And, we had recitals - two of them and a dress rehearsal. Here are the girls with their piano certificates. They did awesome. We're very proud of their talents. The dance recital was CRAZY and in the auditorium lighting not optimum. I'll get a shot in the yard of them in their PINK 50's costumes one of these days.


And, we had school projects the last month of school. Ingrid had to do a demonstration and show everyone something she knows how to do. Cooking was her choice. Here she is with her completed Green Salad. We had to make a poster - of course - and get all of our tools and ingredients together. This was fun and I'm told almost everyone in her class like the salad!

So you see - June was pretty busy after all. I'll try to do better with my BLOG updates in July. I go to Wiawaka for a 2-day getaway tomorrow. http://www.wiawaka.org/ Then we start swimming lessons next week and perhaps another weekend getaway, chicken rearing, more jam making (I put up 20 pounds of strawberries in June), building a rear deck, campfires, music in the park on Tuesdays, the drive-in, and just your average batch of summer fun. Be in touch - and the door is always open and guest room available of you folks are "in the neighborhood".
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The 4H Camping Trip

Oh yea - here is another thing we did in June! The 3rd Annual 4H Camping Trip was a success. This is a full weekend of fun - and we had 12 kids and 9 adults this year - a fun time for all. We had smores - natch! Only a few got burned.

The kids did dishes for 3 of our meals. It was a bit wet - and the kids were more interested in rinsing and drying than washing - but the job got done. After all - this is a GREEN trip - we DO NOT USE PAPER OR PLASTIC!

Donna brought a whole bunch of green t-shirts. They, when finished will read 2008 3rd Annual Camping Trip - the WET ONE! We had a beautiful Saturday - - and then... The torrential rains came. All 21 of us hovered under the tarps for dinner and then stood around wondering what to do as the creek rose! In the end 3 families bailed and went home - the going for them was slow. For the 2 families that stayed - it was loud and wet. Thankfully we all stayed dry - but it was more rain than any of us have every seen from the vantage point of a tent. WOW.

The beach Saturday was GLORIOUS however, Here is Amanda - burried.

I MUST give credit to Denise for many of these photos - thanks - they are terrific. Here are the parents at the beach (and a few of the kids)- relaxing and enjoying the nice summer weather - - - - - all in all, it was another great camping experience.

June is GONE!

Well - I'm not sure what happened - but June is OVER! WOW. I didn't FEEL that busy -but I guess we were!! The kids got out of school last week. We are now enjoying the lazy days of Summer 2008. A couple of weeks ago we went to a friend's wedding south of Buffalo. On the way home we went to Niagara Falls. What a site. It is a pretty awesome natural wonder. On the last day of school, some friends of mine organized a fantastic end-of-year party. We went out to Grafton State Park for a picnic lunch and time on the beach. Everyone had a blast.
Here is a shot of the beach. It was a beautiful day - and one of the few in recent memory where we had NO thunder storms mid-afternoon. The weather remains unsettled and a pain-o-rear.
The chickens are doing fine. I think we're about 11 weeks old. They're outside all day long. Before we went to the wedding we gave away 4 of the roosters - so our flock is down to 14 (10 hens and 4 roosters). The remaining cocks have only a couple of months left - IF THEY BEHAVE THEMSELVES!

The "Honseri"

The chicks are now just about past the "chick" stage. They are officially 7 weeks old this coming Tuesday. They really don't seem like chicks anymore. More like 1/4 sized CHICKENS. Here is one of the roosters... Pray for him - he isn't long for the chicken yard and on to a stew pot!!
Here they are cruisin' about their new improved "yard". The official name to be posted on the yard will be STILLE SKOV HONSERI. This is our official "farm" name plus the danish word for "chicken farm"!! So - translated it is: Quiet Place in the Woods Poultry Farm!!!
Some CAN NOT believe this - but I went to an estate sale Friday. I was looking for crocks to decorate with - and found THIS!! It is in perfect condition - A CHICKEN WATER JUG! Can you believe my luck? The proprieter gave me a GREAT Deal. PS: Thanks Cindy!! As you can see - they love it - and it provides an outdoor source of water on these HOT days. 90F here in NY for the last 3 days. NOTE: It rarely gets warmer that 90F ALL SUMMER LONG!!! THIS IS WHY I MOVED TO NYS IN THE FIRST PLACE 23 years ago!!! OK - I'm ready for Fall. JUST KIDDING - we haven't even started swimming lessons yet!

Stay tuned. It is a busy week. Piano recital, Dance Recital Rehearsal AND the Recital. If I am up to it - I'll be posting along the way..

Enjoy the week and pray for a break in the hot weather.

Luncheon for Elise

On Friday, May 30, 2008 - Elise became a citizen of the United States of America. The ceremony at the County Courthouse was fascinating. 59 people were Naturalized from all over the world. But only one Aussie! They all stood and took the OATH of Allegiance - and then we all stood and recited the PLEDGE of allegiance. Here is a link to THE OATH f0r those interested!! It's quite the pledge! http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=931696981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=d6f4194d3e88d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD Then we had a wee little party. Elise shares some good yak with Jeanne and Heliena from the Mom's Club.



MANY THANKS to my Grill Women - - Chrissy, Jo-Anne and Heather. I couldn't have pulled this off without you! Truly - THANK-YOU so much. I've promised NOT to share this with the hubs - we wouldn't want them to know we CAN grill on our own now - would we!! ?? !!




Then she moved on to circulate with her neighbors - Polly, Stefanie and Mary Louise.

Elise received an "AMERICANA" gift or two. Jeanne gave her a funky USA t-shirt and Heather provided an Uncle Sam hat for the occasion! The Budweiser - well - - what American Summer Picnic would be complete without it!! Sawyer's not to sure about all this fuss! He sure is the spittin' image of his Mum in this shot - isn't he?

Here are Lora, Heliena and Jeanne enjoying a munch or two in the kitchen. The kitchen sure is a place to congregate. Well - if you look on the back counter behind Lore you can see why - we tipped a few bottles of Champagne... Ummm - a good time was had by all.

Thanks to everyone. The food was delicious........ Several recipes have been requested and I'll send them around as folks send them to me...




CONGRATS ELISE!

WELCOME TO THE USA!

I hope everyone enjoys theweekend - and the much needed rain!!

Awwww - - so cute!

Well, for a picture taken with a cell-phone I hope this isn't TOO bad. Mom here was almost in tears.... This was taken at the teachers house today during their lesson. It is just so darn cute to see them playing a duet together.... There was just a LITTLE BIT of elbowing going on - - they aren't so serious that they forget they're related. Grace gets peeved if Ingrid doesn't play PIANISSIMO!! BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE LOW PART AND I HAVE THE MELODY!!! They are set to play it at their recital in a couple of weeks. I'll try and learn how to use Dazzle by then so I can put a decent video of it here... Wish me luck - and if you've any hints on Dazzle - let me know. I haven't even had a chance to take it out of the box yet.......

Adventuresome Chicks

Well - today was a busy day. DAVID FINISHED THE CHAINSAW work on next years wood. HAPPY DAY!!! For fun we decided to make a temporary outdoor area for the chicks and see what happened.
It took about 20 minutes - but they finally came OUT! It was a tentative effort at best... They JUST DON"T GET IT!
Then after dinner - David had to go wrangle them in. They didn't want to go. Then it started to sprinkle a bit - and they GOT THE IDEA! Hey - it's night time - time to head in where it is warm.


Today we've accomplished a bit - more news to come if it rains. If the weather stays nice we may check out the drive in. I heard Indiana Jones was playing this weekend. Time for the summer season to get underway. Enjoy your HOLIDAY WEEKENDS!