Catching up

Tomorrow will be the 1st of September.  It seems like Summer just rushed through here before we knew it.  We had such a long wet cold Spring this year.  Our garden never got planted until after the 4th of July!  That put everything about a month behind schedule. 

But, thank the good Lord, we still have veggies coming on in the gardens.  Canning season is on!  So far this month I have made pickles.  I made 21 qts of bread and butter pickles, and some sweet spicy spears, and 7 qts of pickled peppers.  Also we juiced some blackberries and canned 3 and a half qts of blackberry juice.

Next we will be canning green beans and making some dill pickles.  The cucumbers are really producing.

We picked some cauliflower from the garden.  Look at this picture of the three varieties we grew this year.

We planted purple, cheddar and white cauliflower this year.  Isn't it pretty?  ( I don't know why that one photo never finished downloading.  I can't seem to fix it.)

We took the girls camping this year.  Yep, bought a tent and went camping!  The photo on the top of the blog is a picture of the stream that flows into the lake where we camped.

This is the campground sign where we camped.  Welcome to the campground/pick up your dog poop!  :)

Here is the new tent all set up.  Not a bad tent for the price.  Measures 16' x 10' and six feet tall.

The picnic area and campfire pit.

Pretty nice fire pit.  I kept my tea kettle on the grate and kept the water hot for washing up or making tea.

Audrey took this photo of us sitting around the campfire the first night.

The girls and Ed getting cozy around the fire.

Ed and Duke walking on the beach.  The ocean was just about half a mile away from the campground and the lake.  So we took the half mile hike to the beach the next day.  This was the first time Duke has been to the beach. 

Ed, the girls and Duke strolling along the beach.

Strange looking things on the beach.  They looked like ping pong balls.  Well it was seaweed.  I thought they looked fascinating.

The big long one I believe is called bull whip kelp/seaweed.  When I was a kid and we went to the beach, my younger sister Mechelle would always try and smuggle some of these big long seaweed home.  I can remember her sneaking one in the trunk of the car.  When they get hot and start to decay they really can make a stink!  : ) 

This is the sunset the first night.

Two sleeping girls.  In their sleeping bags with their quilts I made them on top for extra warmth.








Sally snoozing away.
Audrey all snug as a bug in a rug.

This is a photo of the little pocket area where you usually put your flash light or something.  You can see this is where toys took up residence including Barbie.

We had a fun time.

I promise to keep updating more often.  I have lots of photos I have taken this summer, just never had the time to post much.

 

Good bye dear Toby

My beloved cat Toby has died.  He was hit by a car this past week.  He was 15 years old.  I got him from the Animal Shelter in Fairbanks Alaska in Sept. of 1995.  He was a tiny kitten, so small he could sit in the palm of my hand.  I became his new mother and he was my baby for the next 15 years.  He was so precious to me and my heart is breaking because he is gone.  I am thankful that Ed found him and we were able to know what had happened to him, and I got to pet his precious little body once more. We had a  little funeral yesterday to bury him.