Great Falls

Great Falls, Montana... The Lewis & Clark Expedition spent a month here because they had to portage around 5 waterfalls. These falls are awesome (except one is now underwater). Tawnya, John and I had a great time exploring these falls and looking at the rugged terrain in this area. It's beautiful and impressive. Sure nice to see some different landscape for a change. We walked across a suspension bridge to see the largest falls... that made my stomach churn a little as the swaying in the center was rather pronounced!

Peonys at Braham Cemetery

Last Sunday John and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Rice Lake Cemetery in Braham, MN. This cemetery has hundreds of peony bushes planted throughout. It is absolutely gorgeous when they are in full bloom! Here is what I captured with my camera eye...

Summer Sights & Smells

Lately, I have thought a lot about the sights and smells of summer. Sights are easy to blog about with pictures telling most of the story. For example, the yellow finches eating their thistle. They are nervous little birds, so I took the picture from inside the house, through the screen! But they are beautiful birds to observe during the summer.

Although smells are hard to "capture" on camera, I thought a picture might be a reminder of a great smell. Soooo, here is a picture of our freshly cut hay field.

If you didn't grow up on a farm, or have never visited a farm, during haying season (summer) you may not enjoy this post. But, I love the smell of freshly cut alfalfa. Cut grass is good too, but hay is sweeter and more fragrant. John loves this smell too. And much like a dog with its head out the window, when we are out for a drive John rolls the window down if he happens to see a cut hay field. Has anyone ever heard of air freshener with this fragrance? Maybe this could be my million dollar discovery!!!

Swingin' Duo

It was the best weather on Friday! Shawna and Jenna came over and we had a great time. Worked in the gardens, did a little swingin' then went out for lunch to Tasty Pizza. Life is full of wonder, even for oldies like me! Isn't Jenna just the cutest ever? She sits in the swing like she's driving a car and tanning her arm out the window!!

I made John his favorite pie of the summer. This could be made year round, but the flavors are so much better with fresh-from-the-garden strawberries. The secret ingredient is 7-UP.

Summer Treats

We have been eating from our garden for two weeks - the early perennial plants of rhubarb and asparagus. They are so tasty when fresh.

My favorite this time of year are the fresh June strawberries. I picked our first bowl full today. Don't they look delicious?

After cleaning the strawberries, the next big decision was how to eat them... pie, shortcake, with cream & sugar? Tonight I decided to mix a few strawberries with ice cream and a little milk. Hit the blender power button, and walla... a delicious strawberry shake! Yum, yum, yum. Fit for a king (or queen).

Mother Nature's Helper

It's a sure sign of summer when the irrigation starts; and it's a sure sign of dryness when the farm irrigator is started this early! My children use to love running under the irrigator on very hot summer days. It was a break from weeding the garden. Even though it was a shock to the human system, because the water is sooooo coooold, they enjoyed running under the water spray!

I'm not sure how many pounds of pressure is used, but the water comes out with a great deal of force - enough to clean like a good carwash. One summer when the irrigation was started for the first time, an animal had a ride of its life. Thinking that the water pipes would be a good place to rest, a skunk had taken up residence inside the dormant pipes. When the water was turned on, the force of it caused the skunk to shoot out the end of the irrigator like a man shot out of a cannon. We aren't sure if that skunk had time to spray in it's own defense! I like to watch the water spray and think about all the tiny plant roots that are getting a much needed drink. It's a great help when mother nature takes a break.

Final Decision

It wasn't easy, and the furniture was heavy to move, but we finally decided on the new layout of our living room (at least for now). It feels right, so it will probably stay this way for a while anywho! I've made a lot of progress on the inside of our house since the first of the year... now it's time to move outside and see what I can re-arrange there. Between wind gusts and rain, I should be able to accomplish something!