Category: Outdoors

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Cool rain catchers

During the summer I went to visit a friend of mine. On her porch she had what she called rain chains. I had never seen them before, and she explained that they caught the rain and watered the plant below, that was in a pot with the chains attached to it. She had a lots of really cool ones all around her house. I knew right away that I wanted to get some for my gardens, yard, porch and gazebo next summer. I asked where she had gotten them and she told me she went online for them.

I of course got online and found the garden rain chains that I totally love and want for my gardens next year. So then that led me to start doing more garden planning for spring. I’ve listed all the seeds and plants I want and how I want to redo some of my gardens just for these chains. They will make really nice additions to my front gardens as well. I have a lot of little fairies and what I call peeky people situated in places that one would least expect them, but can be seen if a person looks closely.

While browsing, I found a gutter rain chain and thought that would be a great idea for dispersing more rain water than what my boarder flowers would normally get because of the overhang on the porch.

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Playing with bunnies

This morning I let my dog outside and it was really foggy out. I thought for sure that he would stay in the side yard, where he usually stays. He generally “does his thing” and then plays with the cats for awhile, and scratches at the door to be let back in. This morning he was staying out longer than usual. The fog was lifting as the sun was coming out, and even calling his name didn’t make him come back. I didn’t panic.. yet. I went to the back patio doors to see if he had gone out into the big back yard we have. Wouldn’t you know, I didn’t have batteries in my camera. There was my dog, playing with (from what I could count) at least seven rabbits. It seemed like they were doing their own special game of hide and seek and tag. One or two rabbits would take turns chasing the dog, then he would chase them. No fear in the bunnies what so ever. It makes me now wonder just how long this game between he and the rabbits has been going on. It would have made for a wonderful video. I just put batteries on my shopping list.

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Welcome September

September (free clip art)
September (free clip art)

September is one of my favorite months. Temperatures start to cool off, and there are a lot of family birthdays to celebrate. Fresh apples are readily available to use to make caramel-candied apples, and fresh apple cider is available in the stores (no preservatives added – my favorite!) Fall festivals abound, and the whole world seems to start getting ready to hunker down for winter. Some evenings and mornings I can smell one of the neighbor’s wood fire wafting in the air. There is a clean, crisp feel to the early morning air, and I love watching the squirrels gathering their acorns and the leaves on the deciduous trees start to change color.

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Cooler weather

It really cooled down last night. The temperature gauge on the porch read only 63 degrees at about midnight and I was chilly even in sweat pants and a sweat shirt. I put on some fluffy socks and sat outside for awhile looking at the stars. The night sky was so black and clear and there were so many stars that could be seen, it sort of made me realize exactly how small we are, if that makes sense. This morning I noticed that the leaves one of the dogwoods in the front yard is starting to change to red already! It won’t be long now before we are all complaining about the winter weather again!

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Picnic and Fireworks

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays because the family always goes down to the elementary school for the town celebration. The fire department sells grilled chicken dinner with potato chips, corn on the cob and cole slaw, there are several local bands playing music to provide entertainment, and when it gets dark the fire department sets off a pretty decent fireworks show. We get to see some of our friends that we haven’t seen in a while, spread a blanket out on the lawn and enjoy the nice weather.

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Sunday cookout

I’ve just about got everything ready for the spur of the moment cookout I decided to have. I think when I got up early this morning I was in a cooking mood. I made potato salad, a tossed salad, deviled eggs, jello and fruit salad, and we have corn on the cob and chicken, steaks and hotdogs. No one wanted to have hamburgers. I also made some other things, and have chips and munchies. Have to go to the store and get some soda pop and the sun tea is good to go. It’ll be a filling supper, if nothing else. I like days like this!

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Summer

Every summer we spend as much time at the lake as we can, fishing, boating and swimming. This year has been no different. The best thing about this year has been taking our dogs out on the boat, they love it and seem to really enjoy going fast on top of the water, they hang their heads over the side and bark with glee. I had never known that a dog would love the water so much. When we pull in a big fish they sniff and bark at the fish like they were responsible for reeling them in it is so very funny. A couple of the dogs even like to get out in the water and paddle around, Dottie and Diva really like it the best I think, they jump in when ever they can. Over all this has been a great summer and I already can not wait for next summer to get here.

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Going swimming

A good friend of mine has invited all of us to go swimming at her house. I’ve been cooking some things to take and am looking forward to going. Pat, my friend works a lot of hours and we don’t seem to be able to hook up and hang out as much as we used to. I’ll be great to spend time with her, her kids and her grand kids also. I haven’t seen her newest little grand-daughter and it’ll be nice to hold a baby for a bit. AND, I can give the little one back to her mother when I get enough of my “baby fix”. LOL!

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Swimming lessons

My six year old grandson is taking swimming lessons at the YMCA this summer. It was distressing to me that at his age he had no clue how to even tread water! He is one week in to his lessons and is doing well. He is not afraid of the water and that helps him to be a good student for his swimming lessons, as soon as he learns to swim I plan to take him to the beach and let him see the ocean. He loves the water and this will be a good trip for him this summer.

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New boat

After searching for two years we have found the new boat that we want to buy; it is a twenty foot cabin cruiser with sleeping berths for four, so we can go on weekend trips on the boat and not have to worry about a place for everyone to sleep. We have it out of the water right now getting it checked over and if everything is as good as it seems we will pay for it and get her back in the water next weekend. I can not wait we have wanted a big enough boat to go out for two or three days at a time and get out of our hot house! We have got it now and I am very happy about this purchase, and can not wait to get it in the water!