Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's raining again today, which will probably lead to more flooding before the first round has even really receded. The roads out of our neighborhood are still closed to the north, east, and west. We can get out to the south. I drove out to school today to see if I could get there, which I can, but I had to go south for  miles before I could get back on the freeway going north and then get to Hwy 34 to go east, and it was raining hard, so it was very slow! Then, when I got to school, I discovered that the ceiling there has started to leak. We've had more water in the past 4 days than we normally get in a year! 

We've been spending lots of time inside, obviously. Today, I made a pumpkin pie from the pumpkin we grew, Mike made chili using homemade tomato sauce and ground elk from my parents, and I also made two pots more of tomato sauce today, so it's been some yummy homemade harvest! I had to dash out in the rain to pick some more tomatoes--about 3 gallons this week, but I think they are finally about done. Everything is so water logged and muddy too. 

Fall Harvest

I know I've been terrible about keeping up lately, but I can only plead exhaustion! It's been a completely crazy back to school this year, and the garden has been in full swing too. On Thursday, we picked a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes. I gave a couple gallons away and then Saturday morning I made 10 pints of canned salsa, and a couple pints of fresh pico. Mike also made about 3 pints of HOT red pepper sauce too. Then Sunday we picked again. Here's a picture: 

Potatoes, onions, pumpkin, spaghetti squash, another 2 gallons of tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, peppers, and even a small cantaloupe and even smaller watermelon! I spent most of the day washing and putting away vegetables and also stewed down 4 of the pumpkins and made puree. I'm ready to start those yummy fall pumpkin recipes!  My favorite part of the day. I'm on the back lawn washing potatoes while Jack is playing in his kiddie pool. I'm bent over at the waist putting potatoes under the hose and Jack comes up behind me and pours an entire cup of water into my pants and then runs off laughing hysterically!   The bugger!

Today, he saw a motorcycle on the way home and then spent the entire ride home asking "Mommy, my own motorcycle."  He didn't seem to give my statement that he had to wait until he's older much credit at all! He's going to be that kid...I foresee trips to the emergency room in my future.

Anyway, I think I'm ready for the garden to finish off and things to cool off and really move into the fall.  The poor cat is still at the animal hospital. She's been there since last Wednesday. It's still seems pretty unlikely that she'll make it, but we're still holding out hope.

Summer Happenings #2

Okay, so I'm having trouble keeping up with things this summer, so I'm going to have to recap the last several weeks. A couple weeks ago, we had a lovely visit with Mike's mom, or "Grandpa" as Jack insisted on calling her the whole time.  We went to the zoo, rode the carousel in Nederland, had barbecue, played pool, and all sorts of fun things. 

 Jack loves, loves, loves to throw sticks and rocks into the water. On this day, he accomplished this while holding his chocolate sucker, which he wasn't letting go for anything!

 Last week, we tried out a new park. We've been to at least a dozen different parks in four different towns this summer.  Jack really liked this new one because it had a tractor and animals besides the usual toys.

 Then, we have a new member of our family. This is Sam, short for Samantha. She's a 7 year old blue and white short hair. We adopted her from the Humane Society yesterday. She seems very lovely, although she's still a little stressed out at her new home. She's doing well with tolerating Aspen, but Aspen has been following her around and pestering her all day long! She's not scared of the dog though, so it seems like they will settle in well together.

 Over the weekend, we went camping at Big Creek Lakes in the extreme north of Colorado. On the way up there, we saw not one but two bull moose eating on the side of the road, not far from each other. We stopped to watch for a bit. We didn't have the good camera with us, so not much zoom, but the pictures give you a little idea.

 Jackson loved all the chances to play in the dirt. He was very into housework too...He appropriated the tiny broom we use to clean the tent and proceeded to sweep the entire camp with it.  He moved a lot of dirt around, got it all over his face, and ran into a bunch of pine sap, but not sure the ground was cleaner for all his efforts.

 After he got tired of sweeping, he decided to start covering the dog with dirt, but she was a very good girl and put up with it well.

 Look at that dirty face!

 Jackson liked playing in the tent, and jumping on the air mattress. Here we are in the tent right before bed. He didn't sleep very well in the tent, which means none of us did, because he hates being under blankets but kept getting cold without them!

 The next morning, we went on a good hike. It was about 2 miles round trip, so we knew it would be a stretch for Jack, but we figured we'd go slow, and we stopped lots for rests and to play along the way. At the halfway point before we turned around, there was a lovely pond where Aspen fetched sticks in the water and ran around while Jack threw countless sticks and rocks into the water.

 Mike discovered and picked a few of the world's tiniest wild strawberries along the way.

 Jack had to check out every stream and bridge along the way. There were many!

 However, Jack got so tired before we got back that he asked to be picked up and immediately fell asleep in my arms, so I spent the last 10 minutes of the walk carrying 30 pounds of dead weight. I can't believe he could sleep as we were hiking back! But he slept the rest of the way back, and then for another hour when I laid him down in the tent.

 Both days, it rained in the afternoons for about an hour, so we did have to spend some time hanging out in the tent. Daddy and Aspen decided they were ready to nap, but Jack had other ideas and climbed aboard to play with Daddy. He was scared of the thunder and would dive into my lap every time he heard it but he had fun climbing on Mike between times.

After the rain stopped, Jack had fun driving his tractor through the puddles. 

 He also liked to bring us both handfuls of rocks constantly. He thought he was being so kind to us by filling us up!

Overall, we had a really great time. I think we are done with summer travel now though. It's time to start thinking about heading back to school and getting into our routines again. I still have lots of summer projects to get done too! I did finish hemming and hanging all the curtains in the house. We hung 22 curtain panels, 20 of which had to be cut short and hemmed back up again. I'm definitely tired of ironing and sewing, but it's nice to have that project done. Now, I'm working on restoring the antique sewing machine I bought and working in my garden a lot. I got my first ripe tomatoes today!

Summer Happenings

I've gotten behind again. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks. We had a great time visiting Reno. Jenn's wedding was lovely, and it was fun spending time with my parents. One day, we went up to Tahoe. First thing, we stopped at a park for Jack to play. 

 Then, we went to the Gondola at Heavenly. Jack really enjoyed this. He called the gondola a "Sky Choo Choo," which we all decided describes it pretty well. The views were beautiful and we had fun wandering around.

 Before that, we had Grandpa and Grandma Pierce for a visit at our house. Aunt Kami and Uncle Jason sent out some fun toys which Jack is enjoying.

 He also liked Grandpa's bus a lot. They spent lots of time going in and out....

 ...and playing pool.

 On the 4th of July, we went to a parade. Jack really liked that, but it was hard to wait for it to start!

 Then, we had a relaxing afternoon with good BBQ and fun on the back patio.

 We also made another trip to the zoo, and Jack rode the train with grandma Fran.

Now, this week, Grandma Harper is here visiting. I'll have to post pics of her visit soon, but first I have to take some! We went to the zoo yesterday, but I forgot my camera in the car!