It's been a rather busy day here.. I've still got laundry to finish, but the mowing is well underway.  Trouble is, it's so bloomin' hot out, I can only go for 10 min and then have to take a 30 min break!!
It does look better out there though.. I'm making progress.

Wendell saw 3 deer looking over our baby watermelon plants this morning.  He said he jumped up and clapped his hands, whistled, and yelled at them.. they simply looked back at him like he had lost his mind.. and slowly ambled to the edge of the woods.   I laughed, but only until one of them stood right near my chicken run with new plants all over... I did the same thing Wendell did.. with no influence whatsoever!   Now, if you want them to come near, you have to stay perfectly still and quiet.. but today, they are ignoring us like we were  a couple of paper dolls.   Accckkkk!
More later...

Some days I could just give up this blog.. though it's a lifeline for me by times, it's becoming an aggravation when there is sooooooooooo much spam every day in my emails~!  YOU don't see it because all my comments on my posts have to be approved by me before posting.. so I'm going to have to take that step like most of you have done, and put my security into effect.  So sorry, but it's getting out of hand when 20 email comments come every day and they all are in some weird language with hyperlinks all through them.  Just am tired of it.

It's been a wet and yet beautiful day.  Rain is off and on, and just enough to soak the garden good.  Thank you Lord for sending rain.  I've done quite a bit for me today and I'm about ready for a nap.  I think Wendell is already there.  :)  Vacuuming is done, ham and bean soup is on the stove cooking away, I've policed outside, replanted a basil plant, parsley, mint, and 2 stalks of celery.. I hope it grows.  I have never tried celery before, but , why not ??
I took 2 of Charlie's cabbage plants and put them in the kiddie pool in the chicken run garden.. they are doing just fine.  Wish I could say the same for the 10 plants I put in the upper garden for him.  :(
Rabbits.. Wascally wabbits!!  So the trap is set.  Please don't even ask me what I'll do if I catch one.  I just feel better knowing there is a trap set for them... or the groundhogs.  I was a good friend to the groundhogs.. I gave them 3 packs (4 packs in each) of Juicy Fruit gum to chew..   Maybe I should have told them not to swallow it or it'll gum up their insides.. oh, well....
5 babies, mama, and papa groundhog... ugh.

 Our salad garden with mint, radishes, onions, and lettuce

 the upper garden has peppers, tomatoes 

and what is left of the cabbages that the bunnies are devouring

 Daylilies grow wild up and down the driveway

wild black raspberries will be ready in a week..

 The view from the back deck..

 Inside the 'chicken run'

 Peppers I grew from seed- have blossoms

 Shallots in the center, Parsley, basil, spinach, catnip

 watermelon with blossoms

cherry tomato in a bucket

Hummingbirds

We have the cutest hummingbirds who visit us all day long on the back deck..

Declaration of war !

 

War is declared on the groundhogs around here... I filled in one hole with a dead coon carcass and covered it with dirt.. then after filling in another hole not 12 feet from it under the apple tree, those lousy beasts opened it back up and frolicked in front of me!!!  This is war.  I filled in the hole one more time and the kids put a half concrete block on top of it.   We shall see......

my mini gardens in June 2011

the first Stargazer lily to bloom.  The plants are loaded- I believe I counted 9 buds!

lilies, gladiolias, and impatiens

glads and impatiens

Kiddie pools have shallots in one and peppers in another.  Impatiens in pots,

and garlic in the concrete blocks..

Impatiens

Tomato and garlic

the right side of the chicken run..acorn squash and yellow squash.

Hanging basket of sweet peas and a spider plant.  Lima beans

down the lower side, and cucumbers across the back.

left side of the run has sweet peas, sugar snap peas, green beans

Runaway onions on the right.  Glads and impatiens

Spearmint

Salad anyone?  Onions, radishes, and lettuce all ready for a salad

Zucchini in a tub.

watermelon and nasturtiums

It's been a busy tiring day.. I really didn't do anything to become so tired.. I think it's the weather perhaps.
I was thankful for Paul  who watered my garden, and Daniel who watered the peppers and put potting mixture around the impatiens.  Shortly after the watering was done, we had a cloudburst and it really soaked everything very well. 
I planted watermelon seed tonite- 3 hills, 3 seeds in each hill.  Then I planted 11 nasturtium seeds in the concrete blocks.  I opted for Seven to dust the beans- something is nibbling on the leaves.. and I don't have enough beans to deal with that.
I set a trap this evening above the house- I saw a new groundhog hole beside our apple tree and a HUGE mama and baby frolicking around it.  Grrrrrrrr!  This is war.

Saw the doctor yesterday.  I've got a UTI and now am on an antibiotic.  He thinks that's what's made me so sore and ill for the past 2 weeks.  Other than the soreness and illness (nausea mostly), I had NO other symptoms.  In fact, my urine specimen of yesterday looked clear as a bell and light yellow- who would have guessed there was a problem there?  But there was, and after coming home and taking the first doses of the meds he gave me, I took an hour nap and felt wonderful when I got up. 
He also noted with me that I needed to increase the Metformin for my diabetes- so today we start 2 500mg tabs per day- one in the AM and one in the PM.  Hope this helps.  I've lost 17# so far since February 10th, just following the diet.  My A1c was lower, but still high at 6.4- high normal is 5.8, but he says I'm still doing very  well.  As for my soreness, he says we'll deal with that when the UTI is under control and see how much soreness there is after that.  I must say, I have less soreness now, not even 24 hours since the first dose of antibiotic.
It's a very warm day today and an AQA day today.  That means I need to stay inside as much as possible, though I plan to go to Keith's game tonite.  Hopefully air quality will be in a better range for breathing by then. 
The rain of yesterday morning has made the garden so beautiful.  Thanks to the Blair kids- Joyce, Paul, and Daniel- who joined me on Monday evening to put in about 4-5 dozen pepper plants.  I never could have done what they did for me.  Thanks to you all- and Amy too for bringing them over.  They super soaked the plants for me and then the rain yesterday, a steady soaky rain, was the icing on the cake.  The zucchini is up now and looking healthy.  I just looked out back in time to see a deer directly behind the garden- I'll have to get the garlic out again to deter them... maybe plant some mint out there too. 
Repotting herbs so they can grow better before I put them in the flower garden .. maybe tomorrow if the AQ is better.
AC is running frequently- I sure hope it's as energy efficient as they claim.  The next electric bill should tell the story.  We have the temperature set at 76 which seems comfy to us. 
Lunch time here.. maybe a garden salad?  Lettuce and onions are ready..

I really LOVE flowers.  I've got a ton of impatiens to plant.. doesn't look like I'll be making it to the cemetery in time to plant them there.. they are needing planted now desperately.
So this morning I started planting them in the holes in the concrete blocks around my 'chicken run' garden.   Then this afternoon I put the Topsy Turvy tomato plant up on the chicken coop.  It was Wendell's idea.. and I think it'll work.  I got the 2x4 up okay, but I notice it's not quite straight.  :( ugh. 
I watered the goose berry bushes this morning- they never looked better.  I'm proud of them- I planted them by seed this spring.
Lots to do, but I am not feeling the best today.. I may take a break from planting for a while and drink some raspberry ice tea with lemon.. thanks John and Amanda for the tea!  It makes very good iced tea.

It's garden time!!  Charlie brought about 40# potatoes to plant here as well as his favorite hot peppers.  I gave him my tomato plants to grow up at the White house.  If they all grow, we should have tons of potatoes, peppers , and tomatoes to can, dry, or freeze.. and to just eat! 
My chicken run garden is coming along beautifully despite the mini critters that have ripped out my lima beans over and over.  I don't care much for lima beans, so the remaining 8 plants should be plenty for us.  I still have more to plant.. asparagus beans for example.  The peas look great and the green beans are about 6" now.  I'll soon have to get the strings up for them to climb.  The yellow squash is up!!  No sign of the acorn squash yet, but it's not been that long.  My cukes are up too.. the animals must have missed them ;)     I noticed the dill weed I planted in a concrete block is just getting started too.. the garlic is abundant... hope my family likes garlic..
My 2 little tomato plants and the 7 sweet and red peppers I planted are looking awesome.. as well as the onions and the lettuce and radishes.. moving right along..
Tonight I planted zucchini .. and then 6 gooseberry bushes.  I hope the berries make it.  They were so very small, but the bugs seemed to be bothering them, so I put down a piece of landscaping cloth and cut holes in it to receive the plants.  Hopefully the bunnies and deer won't bother them- they are covered with cayenne pepper.. :)
And finally tonite, my dear little houseplant from Sandi and Rick got repotted in a huge pot outside.  I can't think of the name of the plant.. :(   Inside the house it kept developing yellow leaves no matter what  I did to help it along.. so we decided to give it a spot on the deck in a hanging basket.  After 24 hours on the deck railing, the dear little plant spread itself out and the leaves look happy again. 
Topsy Turvy is a dumb idea.  I spent the $10 for the bag, so I'm going to definitely do this .. but I've already lost one tomato plant in it , so we are going to change our strategy..
I'm weary tonite.. need to eat something so I can take my med for diabetes.  I'm just not hungry. 
We went for supplies today and groceries too.  I'm so longing for some strawberries.. I think we'll go to Sam's club tomorrow and see if they have some good looking fruits/veggies.
I got sausage rolls for us today and we made our own hoagies for lunch.. yummy!