Two In One

Not the most exciting blog post ever, though I will say that the two pictures of Sarah are pretty cute.  But there were a couple of things to remember, and exciting or not, here they are:

Blog Post (2in1) #1: A River Runs Through It
I mentioned before that between the harsh downpours we've had in the recent past, the numerous bursts of hail that we've had with those downpours and the subsequent mini-stream that developed through my garden as a result of those downpours, I had pretty much resigned to the fact that the majority of my garden was going to have to be deemed lost.  But its amazing what a little (better yet, ALOT) of sunshine will do for both the human outlook on things and the potential life still left in beaten down plants. I still think that all my spinach and about a quarter of my newly set strawberries are goners, but I think everything else will survive. 

I had planned tacos one night for supper last week.  And, of course, you need lettuce when you have tacos.  So the kids and I happily got ready to go out:  the kids were thrilled to have been promised to play in the mud and puddles and I was eagerly looking forward to my first big reaping of lettuce.  The kids were content with the mud and puddles that the 6+ inches of rain in 36 hours had left, but their Mama was not prepared for what she saw.  That was the day that I discovered the entire garden was beat up and plastered to the ground, the worst of which was the lettuce.  I was absolutely sure that there was no hope.  Needless to say, I got no lettuce and we got no tacos that night.

It doesn't LOOK bad, but there are spots that this little stream is a foot deep.  Crazy.



Depressed, I abandoned the whole gardening idea for the day and played in the mud with the kids.  I don't like mud, but it was better than dwelling on failure.

BUT... the rainclouds eventually went away a few days later.  The sunshine finally came out.  Things started drying up.  And much to my surprise, three days later, the lettuce that I had already called gone for the season was full and bountiful.  I had to throw out the worst of the leaves that were still plastered to the soil (the birdies and other critters had a nice guilt-free salad that night), but we had more than enough for our family and to share with my family up north.  And its still growing!

And we still haven't had those tacos.  Maybe tonight?




Yummy!



Blog Post (2in1) #2: Kicking Back with a Cold One
My kids' favorite summer time treat: we call them IceePops.  And Sarah Rose has eating IceePops mastered!


Anything blue is her favorite.  Including IceePops.




This picture has nothing to do with IceePops,  but its cute nonetheless.  Sarah Rose's first braided pigtails; they stick straight out and are cute as can be!