O.M.G. Where Did June Go????

Hi there everyone....hope you had a great JUNE! But, but, but, this is the last day of JUNE ~ where oh where did JUNE go?????? 

I did manage to get a few plantings done though, have already had some lettuce and a few radishes. In this planter above and below, I planted Italian green beans (they are flat instead of round), radishes, lettuce, and a cucumber plant. I tried some chive seeds, but the seeds must have been old. They did not grow. I have another planter like this on the other side of the yard, that has some new seeds for chives planted, so we shall see.

Here is another view of the beans....hoping to have lots this year. Last years crop was a handful a day...never enough to can or freeze. Maybe this year will be different.

Got my little ponds working, there has been plenty of rain lately, enough to fill the pond up. I still have to get my ceramic animals out.....just a little slow in that area. Maybe this week. As you can see in this picture, there is a few weeds and the leaves still have to be raked up. Maybe I will just leave them and cover with some new mulch....I don't know, still have to decide.

This little fountain is over by my other planter, it's a solar fountain, so it needs LOTS of SUN. I can see it from my kitchen window....fun to watch. Still have lots of work to do here though. A little bit each day may get all the summer work done...I hope.

I do have another fountain on the front porch...that one runs constantly, although I do not have it on today....listening to the rain fall was fine by me. Wish I lived by a water fall....I do love the sound of water splashing or falling.

So in the next 3 pictures are some plantings from seeds. Below are Zinnias...one of my favorite summer flowers.

Another batch of flower seeds.....marigolds. Guess I will have to start transplanting some of these seedlings soon.

Another favorite are these Morning Glories, they will get the morning sun. Will be nice to see early in the morning. Around the planter are purple violets, weeds and a few volunteers tomato plants. 3 of them, they were in this pot last summer, a few seeds must have planted themselves....that's okay.

So there you have it a little tour of my gardens....still much to do, with many, many weeds to pull, THEY never stop growing, do they?!?!

Time to close here, have to go make dinner for JP....I made chicken stew in the crock pot yesterday....so he shall have left overs. I am dieting again, hopefully to lose 10-15 lbs. this next month. I am doing the Keto diet which really works for me. Total loss of lbs. since July 2017, about 35 lbs. I have not been strict on the Keto so naturally the weight loss is very slow. This month, I will really work hard at it and see what comes from it.

You all have a great 4th of July weekend and enjoy the fireworks and family fun. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Oh My...Last Post for the Month of July!!!

Hi there everyone. Can you believe it? The last day of July, I think it was just a few days ago that it was July 4th.....right?!?! The summer is flying by way too fast. I am still working on my yard, planting, painting, pulling weeds and what ever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I just prefer to be lazy and do NOTHING!!! I read someplace, that in retirement, everyday is Saturday.....I am still waiting for that, guess I have not been retired long enough....lol!

So, Sunday I cooked on the grill. I am surprising myself, I've grilled more this year then I have in previous years....not sure why, one reason might be that I moved the grill to the patio area rather then in front of the garage.....seems more cozy here and I can sit on the chair and watch the fire. The walk into the house is shorter...…(ha, by a few steps). 

I have chicken (from Sam's Club) was marinated and sprinkled with my homemade seasoning....soooo good! The red potatoes were halved, sprayed with avocado spray, seasoned with my homemade seasoning. I then put them in the microwave for about 15 minutes then put on the grill. I should have taken a picture when the food was done....potatoes and chicken browned perfectly! I just finished up the last of chicken about 30 minutes ago. Good meal with plenty of left overs for JP's dinners. This definitely will be a regular for the grill the rest of this summer.

 So now I will take you on a tour of my back yard.....mind you, there is so much to do yet, probably by the time I get everything done....it will be late Fall and time to put everything in the garage and shed. In the above picture, I have one cherry tomato plant growing....gives me a handful of tomatoes almost every day. My white rose bush died....we will have to dig it up one of these days.....no rush.

In the above picture, I have 3-4 bean plants growing...yep have gotten some beans off the plants. In the black container above the beans, I have a basil plant growing. I took a bunch of leaves off, rinsed them, and placed them on the chicken, cooked a little bit longer, then put mozzarella on top of the basil and chicken...oh yes!! A little marinara sauce helped also.

See those purple and red drawers and broken brown chair? Eventually I will fix the chair and spray paint it and the drawers will eventually have shade flowers growing in them....any ideas?

Here we are at my pond area....love this part of my yard. I need another layer of mulch to brighten things up. See the ceramic cow down in the right corner??? I will be spraying her white with black spots, she will be a Holstein cow. I think she was originally all brown and the paint wore off....time to repaint.

A few hosta's and inpatient's growing in my pond area. Not a lot of sun shines in this area....it's mostly shade. See my Flamingo's....love Flamingos. 

Here is my little sitting area....although I have not had time to sit, cause every time I sit down on my red bench....I see something that needs to change or moved some place else. See my tires? Been spray painting them and growing things in them....still not done. I have a tire that I will paint bright pink. That will be a colorful addition. Bought a "popcorn hosta" and it will go in the pink tire.

This is my second planter that I received free from Habitat for Humanity. This one has beans, pepper plant and a tomato plant. I am planning on planting some chives, and lettuce and maybe some spinach.

If you have made it to this point, I congratulate you and hopefully I didn't bore you. 

In this planter are onions, carrots, a new planting of radishes, beans, pepper plant and cucumber plant that is really producing an abundance of cucumbers. As I mentioned in a previous post....these plants get the morning and early noon sun.

So there you have it. A walk in my garden. I have a few more pictures to share, but that will come in the next post, hopefully within the week.

Talk to you all later, have a great week and coming weekend. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Summertime Projects

Hi there everyone....I hope you had a nice day off and enjoyed your 4th of July holiday. We enjoyed the day. Made a pork roast, corn and beans on the grill and played in my gardens, oh and got bit up with the mosquitoes.

Today I am going to show you some of my projects I have been working on. Just a few. These drawers were all blue and I repainted them, put handles on them, filled with dirt and planted onions, radish, swiss chard. In the wheel barrel is cucumbers.

In this yellow drawer is sunflowers and more onions. The pie tins and wire mesh were to keep the squirrels out.....but that did not stop the chipmunks though. Out of 15 seeds planted the chipmunk left me 8 plants. I did transplant the sunflowers into bigger pots and protected wire mesh.

These drawers are still in their re-purposed process, the pink one is ready to plant....I just have to get some dirt in there....maybe flowers for this one. The red drawer will probably have lettuce planted when things cool down a bit. I have to get some more red paint for that one yet. Along with some white paint to spray down an old ladder and wicker stool for the porch. (no pictures as yet). Still on the back burner is my "Freda the Frog and daisies painted on the shed door.

See my pretty red bench??? This is my "Red Garden" Eventually everything will be red. I want to get a bamboo 6 foot fence to hide the neighbors junk and make my "red garden" a little bit more private, but that may be down the road a bit. Also on the agenda is some red mulch. This area gets the morning sun and evening sun, will be a nice place to meditate. (hopefully minus the mosquitoes)

I am painting rocks too....I thought different colored rocks thrown around would add a bit of color here and there. A few other things I have been working on....stepping stones, I made one so far. Turned an old tea cup and saucer into a bird feeder, it is still drying, as I used A LOT of liquid nails on it....that might work. Fixed my old picnic table umbrella with liquid nails too....the stick broke and it is still drying.

This is what my neighbors side of the house looks like when I first pulled the weeds and planted some tomato, cabbage and pepper plants. I tried zucchini, but the seeds were too old. If I had not done that....the weeds would have taken over the side of their house. This picture was taken May 28th.

Here is what the side of their house looks like as it is growing....looking good. Least I can keep an eye on the plants and know when they need water. This picture was taken July 1st. Lots of growth, but the two cabbage plants on the left are not doing so good, I had to transplant them because the rain from the gutter was beating them down. Poor things, if they make it, it will be a miracle.

So there you have it....keeping busy outside and inside making cards.....maybe next post will be a few cards. We shall see. You all have a great day and keep looking up.....better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

Hi-lites of July 4th weekend - part 1

Hi everyone how was your July 4th weekend?? Mine was quiet, busy and productive. There is just JP and I and Kylie our doggie...so that is where the "quiet" comes in. No family or friends here in Appleton. So, quiet it is and busy and productive. We got a lot accomplished this weekend. Gas grill turned into a charcoal grill and the front porch washed down and stained. Along with a few other projects.


If you would like to find out more of what we were up to, go to my wordpress blog at: cards4ubylouise.wordpress.com


Hope this new week is fun-filled and prosperous for you. Take care and keep looking up.
Cheers ~ Louise


NOTE: Still due to unresolved issues beyond my control with BlogSpot. I cannot download pictures. So I have taken my blogging to Wordpress where picture downloading is more assessable. Please continue visiting me here and at Wordpress. Please leave comments, I like hearing from your all.