Seems like with these hot and humid days, each plant grows about a foot a day. Each container needs about a gallon of water each day to survive.
06/26/2010
Cosmo is clean!
Turns out, Cosmo loves his bath! I think this is because his groomer has done an awesome job with him over the past year. He calmly walks right into the bath, patiently sits there while we lather him up, and doesn't mind being sprayed with the hose to rinse. Of course, the entire time Ed is feeding him treats, but still, I think it just goes to show you what a great dog he is.
The second best part of his bath is that Brian and Ed get a chance to play in the tiny baby pool in the backyard.
The pool
Here's where we are most days. I think we have gone every day for the last seven days (Brian has been keeping track). It is just such a nice place to be on these hot days, and we always seem to meet up with the guys' friends there.
Real blueberry picking
Brian, Ed, and I went blueberry picking this past week, and we had a really nice time. We picked the coolest, sunniest day, and just took our own sweet time going through the fields and gathering our berries (kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk -- betcha can't remember what children's book that is from). Ed was quite serious about it, but slow and methodical, and Brian's main purpose in life at that moment was just to eat the berries, not necessarily save any for later. Ed shamed him into adding a few handfuls to our pail, but it was mostly just Ed and me gathering. Towards the end we lucked into finding a few large bushes that were just laden with stuff, so the picking became very efficient. We ended up gathering about five pounds/
Our front porch
Pretty much the best part of our house is the front porch, at least in my estimation. We hang out there a lot and my window boxes of supertunias are really prolific this year. I also planted a blueberry bush out front -- I didn't realize how small the bush was until I saw how many blueberries we grew on it this year.
There were maybe ten berries in toto. Better luck next year. At least next year the bush might be bigger. Here are some photos of Ed and Brian chowing down on the berries.
Our back deck garden
Because of our deer problem, I decided to go the container garden route this year. I have three large monstrosities of tomato plants (two hanging!), a box of mesclun mix, a box of bok choy, two large boxes of basil, a rosemary plant, and a oregano plant. I've had a lot of luck with this system, and so far have a freezer full of pesto, lots of bowls full of salad, and a whole lot of green tomatoes on the vines. So far the deer haven't climbed onto our deck to rampage through my vegetables, but I'm not holding my breath. I also planted carrots, broccoli, and cucumbers at the bottom of my deck in actual soil, but thus far they are mixed in with a whole lot of weeds. I expect the deer to eat them when they grow to the peak of ripeness.
Deer!
A deer had her baby right in our backyard next to the kids' clubhouse. She keeps sitting back there and the baby hides a few yards away, sort of in our neighbor's yard. Every day we see this Bambi-looking thing with the splindliest legs and spots wobbling around after the mama. My neighbor is afraid to go outside for fear that he will be charged. Cosmo doesn't like this development one bit.
Drive In
We saw Shrek 4 at the drive in a few weekends ago. Brian and Ed sat on their chairs in the back of the car, and then Scott and I sat in front of them -- sort of like stadium seating. We've seen Karate Kid and Toy Story 3 also this summer, but not at the drive in.
Summer of the turtle
Lately we've noticed a plethora of box turtles showing up all over our neighborhood. In summers past, we were lucky to see one turtle a summer. Now it seems like every time we take a walk in the neighborhood we are met with a different turtle, just hanging out under a tree or crossing a street. The planets must have aligned for a bumper crop of turtles.
Indianapolis Indians Minor League Baseball Game
Brian really got into baseball this spring and he had his heart set on seeing a real game, so we took him to an Indianapolis Indians game. The best part was that they sold unique baseball cards from a vending machine. It was a really hot day but we switched seats midgame to a more shady place. We had a blast --I think he wants to try a major league game in Cincinnati next.
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