I Have Homemaker ADD Today....

It started at 5:30  this morning when the 

chickens were going absolutely bonkers 

out there.

I was convinced that the resident fox was 

tormenting them again and got up and 

ran out to give him the "what for!".

However, there was no fox.

It was an empty waterer

that had their feathers all in a 

fluff.  Good Grief!

Well, actually I am thankful that they 

tell us such things.

Sometimes they go through it so quickly....

and it has been hot lately.

My funny girl, Mabel, came into the 

box and chattered away at me....

pointing out the empty waterer.

Love that hen.

By the way, 

we have five chicks in the nursery.

We removed a hen and set her up

to raise them until they are big enough

to stand up to the rooster.

That rooster is a bugger!

I've seen him intentionally step on 

the chicks....no more, big guy!!

No more!

I decided, since it was early, to 

peek out the front window and see

who might be playing in the field across 

the street.

There were five or six deer out there.

Some fawns and Mommas.

The fawns were playing together...

chasing each other and bounding about.

So fun!

Well, anyway so the hens

had me awake and the dogs 

were up early. 

Up and out with belly aches.

Someone....(me)....had given them

too much table food.

Oops!

I've been cleaning up messes

over the past 18 hours so when they were 

eager to get outside and then were quite

busy with making themselves feel better 

I started weeding my perennial bed.

Now I thought I would just pull a few weeds.

Then one thing led to another and I did the whole bed.

Wow!  Did it need it!

I also took out most of the mallow as the 

Japanese beetles were attacking it and it 

was looking rather ugly.

While I was out there pulling weeds I saw that 

they launched two hot air balloons today.

I'm going to show some of Chelsea's Photos soon.

But for this post I have included pictures I took 

yesterday at Longwood Gardens.  We took a 

quick trip over there yesterday afternoon.

It was nice to be there again.

It had been too long.

I came inside and decided to pay the bills.

Got that done....

Decided to start some wash....

Started that....

Found some coupons for Costco....

Cut those out.

It is 8:11 am and I am trying to decide which 

direction to head in next.

I have a whole host of things on my 

"to do" list for today.

Good thing I got a head start!

Here's the tentative list:

Four loads of laundry

Scrub bathroom and kitchen floors.

Get groceries

Make 5 hot chocolate mugs

Make 2 new bowl candles

Vacuum

Dust

Nap!

What are you up to today?

Hopefully you are able to focus......

F.O.C.U.S

Plant Geography

This is an exciting time of the
year in the Northeast.

With January gone and Groundhog
Day just around the corner,
we are smelling Spring.

While the long days of winter
may continue to be a reality,
the hope in our hearts begins
to grow. Everywhere I go, friends
are discussing garden plans and
some are even actively working
toward this by clearing land.

One of the ways we can make the
most of our gardens with no money
out of pocket is to evaluate the
placement of our existing plants.

When Georgia moved in next door this
clematis was a sad little thing placed
at the top of a garden under a canopy
of trees. It put out a couple of tiny
flowers each year. Georgia moved it
to a sunny spot at the side of her shed
and look what it did last year.



So big.
So happy.

A happy Clematis.
Who knew?

No cost!
Big results!

So, once again, I have been thinking
about the placement
of some of the perennials
in my front flower beds.
I have some rearranging to do.

What about you?

I am linking up with Mary at
Mosaic Monday.
Hope you'll stop by to see
the other mosaics.

As Promised...Two Books

My friend, Carol, showed up on Sunday
morning all a~flutter carrying a cute, cute
gift bag which she presented with a flourish.

Inside this lovely bag was a very adorable,
very me, book.



Inside Patsy chats away about all kinds of things related to teas.
There are recipes for goodies to be served at your tea party.


This sweet prayer that too often can be true for any of us busy moms and grandmoms.

There are photos that are so beautiful they make you want to cry.


Why is that, anyway? Why do we cry when we are happy, sad, mad...
Inquiring husbands would like to know the answer to that question.


I highly recommend this book for yourself or as a gift to a dear friend.
She will appreciate it...and maybe she will invite you to tea.


The second book that I am enjoying, immensely, and will be purchasing
a copy of is this Reader's Digest Guide to Care Free Plants.



As so often happens, because we homeschool, I learn as much or more than the kids.
I got this book for Mikey to study from and I have spent more time with it than he, so far. It has all of the perennials that I have planted...and so much more.
I am learning how to start my own, move them and divide them.
It is like candy!!!
So much sweet information all in one place.

Someone gave me poppy seeds one time but they did not come up.
I am not sure what I did wrong....but I may try again.
They are so brilliant.

Yesterday, the kids and I cut back
all of the huge hostas by the deck.
They had suffered a lot of hail damage
a few weeks ago and were not nice anymore.

We are dividing the hostas and
putting some out in the front flower beds
and will move several plants further out
into the yard where they will
enjoy more sunlight.
I am taking a hint since all of those
plants are leaning forward...
perhaps they like the light?!
Ha! I am sharp like that!

This does mean that I will
have to expand that front
bed significantly.
Yay!
Thank the Lord for three
strong children who know
how to remove sod!

Speaking of those children...
They are all still snoozing and
we must start school.

I'll be back tomorrow,
Lord willing... with more profundity!

That should keep you in stitches
until tomorrow...profundity...right!

Blessings,
Becky K.

Good Times with Grandma and Gardening with Mikey

Jonathan and Chelsea are about to finish up a great week in Virgina with both of their Grandmothers. Every night the cell phone rings and we get a play by play of their day. It would seem that next week everyone at our house is going to be sore and exhausted. They are keeping so busy: hiking, swimming, mini golf and touring local attractions. Chelsea and Warren's Mom, Georgia went trail riding on horses yesterday. Miss Chelsea has informed me that she will want to do more of this. Loved it!!!

Mikey has been very busy here working, helping us at the church and doing a side job for the neighbor. It would seem that his dream of working in Landscaping is coming true. After being at Longwood Gardens on Memorial Day we submitted an email to them regarding an internship program that is offered. The problem is, they usually only accept students from two local schools. We are not in those districts. I received a reply that Mikey would gladly be considered for a future semester. He is in the process of building a portfolio and making flower beds, etc. to put himself in a position that they would want him.

So, part of that process was making a large flower bed in our front yard. Mikey removed the sod and planted 4 rose bushes, a hydrangea, 2 Russian sage and 4 other perennials whose names escape me. The best part? He paid for all of it himself. Even the mulch that he then covered it with. It is absolutely gorgeous.







As he was making this flower bed a neighbor...whose lawn is "to die for"...stopped and found out what he was doing. She hired him a few days later to do her lawn care...not the mowing...but the weed and feed, caring for the bushes, etc. So, this summer is shaping up to be a busy one for Mikey with his regular part time job and this side job.

To make it even better...her husband knows some men that are in the maintenance department at Longwood and wants to get Mikey together with them. Any and all of these experiences and contacts are great for our ambitious young man.

It has been an exciting time. I am glad for all of my kiddos for the opportunities that came their way this week!

Blessings on your day!

Cheering my Plant Babies Along...

Like the Momma proud of her babies
I am cheering the little plants in
my garden on to great things.


They may never grow large in stature
like the great hosta of yesterday's post,
but they will do their own growing and
part in the gardens at Hospitality Lane.


This little spot on the hillside has
been generously planted with a variety of
wildflower seeds. I am watching hopefully
that they make it and make this hill a wash
of color year after year.
It surely doesn't look like much right now,
but, I have the vision of what it can be.

God has that vision for us.

We are not what we will be.
Some of us are not the huge,
make a statement kind of people.
Most of us are the little plants
just quietly doing our parts in the
garden of life.

But Our Heavenly Father knows the plans
He has for us. He knows exactly how we
fit in to His Eternal Garden. He sees our
potential and He is cheering us on.

Better than that...He actively prunes,
waters and feeds us.

Don't you just love that!?!

Gardening Fun

Mom arranged with Warren's Mom, Georgia, to take Mikey to work in her truck and then to use the truck to bring back many, many bags of mulch. I decided as long as a truck would be there to go ahead and get some too.

The weather was perfect so with Jonathan's help we unloaded the mulch at our two houses then the real work began. I started my new flower bed...

It looked like this when I began...


It is not easy to remove grass. I started and was soon puffing and panting. Chelsea wanted to help. Pretty soon Jonathan joined us and the two of them worked together very well and very efficiently and got it done!
Made a Mommy proud!

We took the sod out in big chunks and relaid it into the mess left when they ground up the stump after we took down the tree. Funny story...if you haven't read it. Warren reworked that sod when he got home and I think it has a great chance of "taking" and growing there.

The end result.
Click on the pictures and they will enlarge...


Aren't these flowers sweet?









This hosta spent last summer looking dreadful!
I brought it over from Mom's since she was having a new porch put on and needed to move it. She shared it with me. The poor thing was so shocked...but look at it now!
What a difference a year makes!


These beauties are waiting to be planted. I think I'll put them where I can enjoy them from my kitchen window. They are so cheery.




Today I am headed to get a burning bush. I had intended to place it in this new flower bed but I am settling to put in nearby in the yard. Maybe next year this bed will expand to get closer to the size I am looking for. Better to start small and complete the project than to have it languish unfinished. Amen?

Random Thoughts...

Good News:
Our son Jonathan, profiled in one of my earliest posts, has always struggled with writing. Not the creative part but the getting things onto the page part. His one time tutor said it is like there is a dam at his elbow that stops the words from being able to get through to his hand and then out of the pencil.
This week something worked that enabled Jonathan to work past that difficulty. I have mentioned before that we are reading Airborn. We are still reading this book. We are enjoying it and are at a place that the heroes of the book have just discovered the bones of a new, never before discovered species. At this point as I stopped reading I asked each of my children to take the story up from here and tell me what happens next and how would they handle such a discovery. Here comes the good news. Jonathan got very excited about this assignment and began writing. He wrote at home, then he took his notebook to the bowling alley with us to write some more. This young man who normally would struggle out a half a page to "please me" has written at least three pages. I most likely would not be able to easily read what he has written but when he read out loud what he had so far on our way to bowling, I was captivated to hear more. I am so thankful for those rays of hope that come through now and again.
Knowing how extremely difficult writing is for Jonathan I am more than a little bit proud of his accomplishment this week.




Flower Beds:
I want to make another flower bed in our front yard. I want to set it up in such a way that it is mostly self sufficient because I am a lazy summer gardener. I am good in the spring and the fall when it is not too hot but not so much in the heat and humidity of summer.
Any suggestions?
At this point my planning has gone this far: I want it to be a large triangular bed in the front corner of our yard facing an intersection. You can see it in the old picture I dug out of the memory of our computer at the top of this post. The landscaping in front of the house has changed already and one of the two trees has to come down, the one closest to the house.
I plan to have the boys help me remove sod and then thought I should have a small truckload of topsoil brought in and placed there where I can then plant Irises, butterfly bush, spring bulbs, Burning bushes, lavender, short blue grasses and black-eyed susans.
Add some mulch and give it a border of some kind....I could use help here....and watch it grow. I traditionally use garden "plastic" to keep the weeds down. Any thoughts on that?
How raised do you think this garden should be? The ground slopes sightly toward the road here.
Any advice will be carefully considered and I will post pictures of the process as we go. Maybe that will help me weed in the summer!

Blessings on your day!