Wreaking Havoc - heat

100 + degrees

For over a month now.  Can I just say I am S-I-C-K of it?

I water the poor little plants every night.  They look pathetic.

I let the outside kitties come in for a couple minutes to try and cool off. Mostly they just languish on the garage floor concrete or under a tree. I even put ice cubes in their water to try and cool them off.

The weather people promised 60% chance of rain last night. My house, not ONE drop.

Today they promised oh highs only 95... LIES. When I got home over 100 again.

Weather is supposed to change in the Midwest. I am ready for some change!

Writing a book?

I am thinking about writing a book. I am completely in the dark on this topic. I mean I have a good idea for this book and I think it would do well as I haven't seen any books written on what I am thinking about but how do I go about it?

I know first I have to write a rough draft...that may take me years alone. Then I know I have to send it to publishers and try to get them to notice it. That is the part that has me concerned. How do I get noticed being a first-time author?  Will anyone take what I have to say seriously?

I wish I had a big audience that read my blogs so y'all could give me advice on this. Should I even tackle this? I mean I love to blog. Is that even a step in the right direction?  Please send me ideas or places to look!

Signed,
Budding Author.

Evil bugs!

We had a mild winter so I should have expected it, yet it always seems to come as a surprise.
Bugs.
They have arrived in my garden with a vengeance.  They are eating and killing more than their share of garden goodies. Sure I will reluctantly share but when you bugs start taking over my garden I get upset and fight back!

I should say hubby has been fighting back. We have tried expensive sprays, reliable old Seven, and old fashioned squashing them under our shoes.  Still the bugs seem to be winning.

I had a beautiful melon plant with baby melons on it. It was the best melon I had ever grown.

DEAD!

Killed by a borer bug.




Those aren't the only evilness in my garden. We also have squash bugs and cucumber beetles. Summer squash - almost dead. Cucumbers - suffering.


Squash bug shown above.


Cucumber beetle shown above.

I don't know how I will get anything out of the garden with all these pests taking over but I guess we will keep trying. Everything I read on the bugs, is they are hard to control and eradicate.

Any ideas?

Flower gardening

I have been updating you on my vegetable garden and fruit trees but thought I would take a time out and show you some of my flowers.  These are just what happened to be blooming when I took the camera out and snapped some pictures. They constantly change as sometimes they take a break from blooming and others begin.  I don't have the offical names of most of these flowers so if you would like to comment and add names I'd appreciate it.


I'll comment on the ones I may know.  This first one is a moss rose.

 This is a gerber daisy.

 Another gerber daisy of a different color.

 A yellow clumping mini rose. This rose was almost dead last year and now this year it is doing really well. You just never know about plants.

 This is a late bloom on the amarillyis plant. I don't know if I spelled that correctly.

 A regular red rose. This particular plant is my most fragerant rose I have in my garden. The smell is AMAZING!

 These are climbing roses. I believe a vintage variety.

 This is a decentant of a cactus plant from my relatives in Palm Beach Florida. They had this in their yard and I brought it back.  This one fell off the original plant and began growing over the winter. Now it seems to be going crazy. I have good luck with succulent plants.

And these are some of my many Aloe Vera plants. Need some???? This started out from one 4 inch plant many years ago. Now I have them in 2 giant planters plus 6 or so smaller planters. Told you I could grow succulents.

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY SON!!!

Happy 18th Birthday to my first born son!  I love him with my whole heart as I am sure any mother would. He is going off to college next month and I am sure it will hurt a lot. Here are some photos of my young man.


Here is a few years ago - before puberty finished.

 Her he is a couple years ago with ME! hee hee He is so blonde in this picture!

 One of my favorite senior pictures of him.

And here we are at graduation.

I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!!!!!!!