Saturday, July 31, 2010

Harvesting in the garden today...........









And the "lawn guy" killing some weeds.



What a beautiful HOT Saturday morning....... The garden is finally not slime to try to walk in after the rain earlier this week.... So it was time to pick !! And pick we did !!

WOW ! I am just amazed at how things are growing...and we have vegetables to eat !!! .....We are talking about our garden for next year already.

So we picked our cabbage....cauliflower.......cucumbers......beets - they are still little yet.. And tons of beans and peas !! The radishes are done so we pulled those out.....gave more room for cukes and melons.

Our celery plants are just beautiful and taste so good...... and now I read about how challenging it is to grow. So guess we got lucky !!
Sorry to go on and on about the garden and the veggies......LOL....... I have not grown anything in a garden for many years....and it is just so fun to watch it grow and get to eat it !!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Late Night Friday...........

.............hmmmmm the end of the week....... Not must happened this week.......so I will hope to have some posts next week.
............Have a Great Weekend !!!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Late night storm.......


What else is there to do at 1:00am in the morning when they issue a tornado warning..... So.... I made a pot of coffee, gathered up my valuables, got the cats and dogs.....and headed to the basement... When they talk about possibly seeing tornadoes a couple miles from your house.....well....then it is time to get to your safe place. It was sure nice to have the computer with me and watch the live stream news and weather information. Now they are saying there was a touchdown at Reiles Acres..(2 miles south)...but have not heard of any damage yet.

I think we are in the clear of this storm right now........BUT now the darn storm is headed right to the lake cabin !!!....

After the HOT day today.....these darn storms pop up...and interrupt my sleep.
We went to Taylor's baseball game tonight.....and that was a good game and played in the BIG ball park.....with seats and lights. Taylor had a great catch out in right field. And the "Bobcats" win !! Yeah !! It was a beautiful night and a light breeze and only one mosquito bite.
Now it is 2:30am.....and this storm has passed east and south of us now......BUT they say another one is coming in a couple hours...... Can you tell how much I dislike storms !!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Hot Summer Day !


Today is a HOT summer day ! It was HOT this morning when I got up....and on the muggy side. It is very humid out now. It is 89 now.....at 3:30pm. They said we were going to be in the mid 90's......and we are getting to the hottest part of the day. As happens in North Dakota......we get storms after we have these hot muggy days....so those will probably fire up later tonight.

Glad we got the grass cut and the picking from the garden done yesterday. I love our warm summers here in ND.... but this is just a bit hot for me to be out in it. The dogs are happy to stay in and lay on the floor in the air-conditioning.

We are waiting to hear if our Grandson will play baseball tonight. Their team is short a few players today. The boy's baseball season is winding down for the year.....and soon is will be school shopping and get back to the school routine.

Trying to to think of something "cool" for supper tonight.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

A quiet Saturday evening............

After my crazy running errand day yesterday......This was my Friday night supper..... Saw this rainbow from my front porch after the showers were through.

Saturday - I did have a couple errands to run today...... found this great background fabric for my charm squares. Going to make a couple fall table runners for my daughter and myself.

Then they had patterns for .99 cents !!! Well, you just HAVE to buy one.


This afternoon I picked these green beans from OUR garden !!! Can't wait to cook them and eat them. My neighbor picked cucumbers this morning. I also picked a head of broccoli, and some lettuce and I ate a few peas as I was picking.
There will be more green beans in a couple days.


So that was my Saturday............What did you do today ?




Friday, July 23, 2010

God is great - beer is good - and people are CRAZY











I had to borrow this phrase from a song....and I can't even tell you who sings it.
I did my errands today......had several places to stop... and I have to say the LARGE box store I went to was absolutely NUTS. They have rearranged our whole store.....some items they used to carry they don't carry any more..... the items I am used to knowing just where they were at are not there anymore.......and PEOPLE......must you stop and stand right in the middle of the aisle and gawk or just stop to chat with others ???......Come on !!.... One wandering lady......no matter where I went in the store.........there she was !..... I don't usually have a problem with people out shopping and doing their thing.....and I just go about my business.....BUT......today - the traffic, the people, the road construction and everything else...........Just drove me crazy today !!
PS - I stopped at the quilt shop about half way through my stops..(I forgot to take pictures of the other 3 stops I made. And now that I have a bit of fabric to pet......that makes me feel better....and calms my thoughts.
Have a great weekend.
Claudia

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Gus was so proud !








Gus was so proud last weekend !!! He went swimming !! ........he has been in the water before, but he never really wanted to go swim. Now after seeing Rollie swim.... Gus wanted to go in the water. (You see....Gus is a Large Munsterlander dog....and they are supposed to LOVE the water !).....All the other Munster dogs I have heard about love any kind of puddle.... so Gus was the different one. So last week he decided to go swim......he even came out...shook off ......then wanted to go again !!! We are so proud of our Munster boy !

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Garden growing

Took me all day to get these pics on here. It would not let me load them.....
Take a walk through our garden......see all the veggies growing ! Our lettuce and salad mix is really growing.... come on over and pick some.
The corn made it "knee high by the 4th of July". And the watermelon and cantaloupe and potatoes.


Over here we have celery, red cabbage, regular cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, gladiolas and onions.

And in this corner we have beans, beets, peas and carrots.

Can't post pictures ?

Now I wonder what is going on...... I wanted to post some pics of my garden today......and it won't take them ?..........anyone else having problems today ?
I will try again later.
Claudia

Friday, July 16, 2010

Our sewing project......

This is my little Featherweight machine I got from a friend........ I have never sewed on one before.....it is so cute !! I just love it.

This is the project we worked on.....charm squares.....and then the "Lil Twister" tool...

Alice sewing away !!!........



she is still sewing !!!

And here is our table topper....(still sewing the little blocks together here )....These are so fun to make !!! And we have plans to make many more!!



Where did our vacation week go ???

Yesterday we watched this guy try and try again to get this surf board sailing thing going....
And he falls off again !

I made potato salad for supper last night.....along with chicken on the grill..... We don't skimp on the eating at the lake... I will have to diet next week.



And the sun sets..........."Red sky at night......sailor's delight" !



And today is Friday.... The week has gone by too fast. Our weather hasn't been too bad...except Tuesday night we had storms very close and wind and rain here. So....I didn't sleep too much Tuesday night. Made a couple trips to the quilt shop....and the grocery store.....and out to eat.....and the same all over again......LOL

So I will try to catch up with some pictures.

Hope you are have a good week wherever you are !
Claudia in Minnesota Lake Country

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

It was the PERFECT lake day !













We are vacationing at the lake this week..we have friends here from Bismarck, ND. We were so lucky yesterday - it was the PERFECT LAKE DAY......sunny, not too hot.....the lake was calm...... so we played all day! Pontoon ride, jet ski riding, swimming, eating, a walk in the evening, and sat outside with the dogs. Spending the day with great friends........... Just doesn't get any better than that !


So glad we had that perfect lake day.....because this morning it is cloudy, cool, rain coming, and they say we could get severe weather this afternoon and evening......I sure hope NOT.

Looks like in inside day today ! Guess we will have to dig out the sewing and eat some more.

Tomorrow is another day.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Where is Mark Lipinski ?



Somewhere I read a brief note about Mark Lipinski NOT going to be the "Quilter's Home" guy ??? Now I don't know where I saw it.
What is up with this........ I got the new issue....not a word about Mark...he is nowhere in the magazine ..............looked in the previous issue...didn't see anything about him in there either.

Did he go to another magazine ?......What is he doing ? And there has not been an update to his blog for a long time..... So.......where in the world is Mark Lipinski ???
I hope someone will help me out and fill me in !
At the lake...... and now there are thunderstorms popping up. Always happens after HOT weather.

Friday, July 9, 2010

And it's Friday night...........

The pictures are from last weekend and my first attempt at making kabobs !
Jeff the Chef grilled them to perfection !!

.......served on a bed of rice.....ok - Rice A Roni........LOL.
They were pretty good !


We didn't head to the lake yet.....lots of stuff to pack and get ready. So I will get the rest of my groceries in the morning...
Warm here today........85 F or a couple more degrees.... My garden partner finished weeding...and I watered the garden tonight. I just have to take some more pics......I can't believe how it is growing......we are eating radishes and lettuce from the garden !!...Yummers.

Have a great weekend !!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Pictures from the weekend............

Sunday morning the lake was like glass......................
Love that clear water.....

Nothing prettier than the calm of the morning...........


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

they are coming back to roost...................................




There has been a Barn Swallow nest on the light right beside my back door...... At first the birds tried to build at the front door.... I discouraged them from that location and they started building on the back door light. I didn't have the heart to tear down their nest......So.....they had a nest of eggs and I have been watching and waiting for the baby birds. Four baby birds hatched. They have been growing and the 4 of them sure filled up the nest - I was afraid they would fall out. When we left for the weekend they just had fuzz on their heads...and the start of wing feathers..... This morning I could see they had REAL feathers......all over......and looked like they were all about to spill out of the nest.

I wanted to get a couple more pictures of them before they left.......so I got the stool....and got a picture......and then tried to get a bit closer.....and POOF !!! - they all flew out of the nest !!

I saw them fly higher and higher !...........and the mom and dad were flying at me !! I watched as the 4 babies flew out of sight....... I felt so bad !!! I had scared them.....they could fly.....but they were probably not ready to leave....and how would they eat.

So I looked all day for them........a couple times I saw all 4 of the babies flying around a tree across the back yard... Where are they going to spend the night......???? Every time I go out on the deck and mom and dad show up and I could just tell they want to peck me in the head!.

Just a little bit ago..........I saw the parents flying around ......and I think I saw 3 of the babies....and 2 of them came back to the nest.

I just looked again.....and 3 of the babies are home to roost.
Now I feel better.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

4th of July !!!

Dessert for later..........................
Boat parade on West McDonald Lake
Pirate ship..............
The gangs all here !..................
Our neighbors watching the parade..............



Happy 4th of July to All ! ............. After last nights downpours.....I think the lake came up at least 3 inches. This morning we awoke to cloudy, cool weather after the last couple days of 90+. But......look.....to the west......what is that !!! - a break in the clouds ??.....Yes........ And what a beautiful afternoon we are having . Probably more breeze then those who want to do fireworks really want......but I think it is just great for keeping us cooled off and the skeeters from landing.
All around the lake shore are people swimming, boating, riding in tubes......and just sitting and enjoying the wonderful day.

Tonight the fireworks will start and go till ......well....who knows. But I will be tucked safe in the cabin either surfing blogs and sites....or sewing on my projects I brought with me....ok...they probably won't get all done this weekend !

Have a Happy and Safe weekend ~!