God's green Earth

During the winter I showed you some pics taken by my brilliant middle child.
I think it's about time I showed you some more, don't you?
Good, I thought you'd agree. {snicker}

It's summer in my neck of the woods and since I have two boys, you know what that means. They do a lot of catch-and-release of little critters. They keep them in a bucket or aquarium for a few days, then let 'em go. Here are a couple of this summer's victims scientific observations.

Zucchini

I know how to spell that word "real good." I have to...I need to look up recipes every year.

This year I planted six HILLS of zucchini. Three seed in each hill. Each hill had at least two seeds take off. A couple of them had all three produce a plant.

Yeah. You know what's coming next.

I don't usually have a problem getting rid of our extra zucchini...but then again...I don't usually plant that many at once. You see, ideally I would plant a few seeds in May, then a few more in June.

I lost my head in May and planted the whole packet of seeds.

So I just got back inside from picking this weekend's crop. Nine, count them...NINE more zucchini to add to the six that are already on the countertop. Two of them are biggins.

This past weekend I used one of the two biggins I picked LAST WEEK by cutting it open, scooping it out and frying it in the deep fryer. Dh wasn't crazy about that. It's been ages since I've fried our food, so we're not big on fried food anymore.

Today I used a regular sized one by chopping it up and putting it in the pan of taters and onions. Nobody knew it was there. he.he.he.

It's too hot/humid to bake zucchini bread. Anyway, I did that last year and put about three loaves of bread in the freezer. We didn't eat it before the freezer burn got to it so I won't be doing that again. In years past I've grated up the biggins and put them in the freezer to bake into breads later when it's cool outside, but never used it up before the freezer burn got to it, so I won't be doing that this year. And I've pretty much zucchini'd all my usual victims er, friends.

Does anyone want any zucchini?
Please?

The joke's on me.

Back in May I titled one of my posts "Been MIA lately". Actually, there's only one post in between THAT one and THIS one. That title belongs HERE.
Anyway, the summer is in full swing here. Today we will be wrapping up the last of the summer camps. There were three....count them, three....this year.
Actually, now that I think about it, there have been three for several years now.
The first one is a family camping vacation.
The second one is church camp, where usually only one of my teenagers attended...but this year two of them went.
The third one is Boy Scout camp. Dh goes to camp with the boys--and I miss having him here, but they really like that he's there...so it's a trade off. That's where they've been all week and I expect them home any minute. With laundry. And stories. Dd and I didn't get to do nearly enough girly stuff together. We spent one entire afternoon at the 4H project judging. It was even less organized this year than in years past. This is her last year in 4H. She's an adult now.
If anyone still reads this blog, I'm sorry that it's been so dry lately.
More updates later. TTFN

Graduating Class of 2009

The graduation was last Saturday. It went well. Katherine felt special, which was everything I wanted for her. She didn't wear a traditional cap and gown. Everyone who knows us well knows that we aren't very traditional.

Instead she wore a sash and headband (with a cap and crown attached). Both said, "Princess Grad".

I'm surprised that nobody has put out a webpage with ideas and suggestions on hosting a homeschool graduation. For those of us doing it for the first time, it's intimidating. In the end we decided to do our own thing. I wrote a speech. Her father presented her with the diploma. Then she gave a speech.

A friend grabbed my camera and took pictures, otherwise I wouldn't have any.

*I* forgot to take any pictures! Can you believe it? That was my only regret from the day...that I didn't get any pictures of the guests. After everyone ate (of *course* I fed them all), the teens got a game of softball together and played outside in the heat and humidity. We older folks stayed in air-conditioned comfort and talked. :^) I'm so glad I put on all the invitations to "dress casual." I think everyone was comfortable, therefore we all had a good time.

We are so blessed. I just can't say that enough. We are blessed with friends, with family, with fincances and support. I could go on and on....but I won't. Thanks for reading.

Been MIA lately.

Did you miss me?

This graduation thing has come up QUICKLY! Faster than I had planned. I'm a list-maker, so stay with me while I write this all out so I can see it.

The cake is ordered and paid for. There's a 3 dollar coupon in this week's ad for this week's cake orders. It couldn't have been in there LAST week, could it? {sigh}

Most of the food is bought. In fact, I think *all* of the food is bought. Now it just needs fixed. Any volunteers?

The photo collage is coming together. By that I mean...I have the tri-fold board and the pictures. Some assembly required. That's the sticker. When I laid the photos out on the white board, I didn't like it. It needed a background. After much consideration and some discussion, I decided to lightly spray paint it. It seemed like the best option. Katherine wants blue and purple on it. Do you know how difficult purple spray paint is to come by here in Mudville? We went to town and still had a time of finding the right colors. {sigh} I wasn't about to drive to the big town this late in the game, so we settled. Now to just finish it in time.

What else? Oh, decorations are bought. We *need* to start decorating so I can see what we've got and if we still need anything. It's been over a year since I started buying for this event and I can't remember what all we've got.

I need to get the tableware out and make sure we have enough.

What am I forgetting? Answer quick--the graduation is Saturday afternoon.

Typos

I hate making typos. It must be the perfectionist in me. Sometimes it bothers me when I read a typo. Not from friends, but from "professionals". The desktop background that I have at work has a typo on it. I can't enjoy it because once I saw the typo, that's all I see.

But most of the time they make me laugh. Take this one, for instance. It made me laugh...so I saved it. It's from a paid ad in a local newspaper many years ago.

Yeah. You read that right. You too can own your very own 15 foot fool. I am VERY curious about the "accessories" that come with it. Is it a "he" or a "she"?
So many questions. So few answers. I could go on and on...but I'll let YOUR imagination take you were it may.

BTW, spellchecker found no typos in this post. But there is one. I left it in just for kicks. It's good therapy for my perfectionist ego to make a few mistakes every once in a while. It keeps me grounded.

Just thought you might want to know.
TTFN

Okay, here's my River Barge story...

When dh and I were first married








we rented a little house that sat right along the riverbank. The Ohio River riverbank, that is. It was just big enough for the two of us and we were so happy to be living as a couple. Both of us worked full time jobs. He drove a delivery truck and had to be at work at four o'clock every morning. I worked an office job and had to be at work around eight o'clock (they were very leniant). Anyway, since we lived 40 minutes away from work, he would get up at three...and being the loving, newly-married wife, I'd get up with him and see him off to work. Then I'd stay up and do the housework, write the Thank You notes and do all those other mind numbing tasks. Sometimes my job would be slow and I'd come home a little early...and sometimes it was stressful and I had to work late. All of this would eventually take its toll and I'd be extremely tired by the time I got home from work. On one such evening I went to bed as soon as I got home...thinking I'd just take a little nap and get right up to fix supper.
Well...I ended up taking a big nap...in a deep, deep sleep. I woke up when dh came running in the room and called out my name. I woke up disoriented because it had become dark while I slept...and dh was excited about something.
It turns out (as he tells it to me) that a barge was traveling down the river. When they travel at night they use a spotlight to keep track of the shoreline so they don't run aground. Nothing unusual about that. But on this particular night this particular barge was shining it's spotlight on our house. Specifically...on our bedroom windows.
And it was blowing it's airhorn.
Dh's imagination got the best of him and he thought maybe I was standing at the window dancing for the barge-hands. Or so he says. We'll just have to take his word for it, I guess.
*I* never saw the barge light. And *I* never heard the horn.
And I certainly wasn't dancing in the window.