What do I know...

All week that Cedar Waxwing has been sitting in the top of a tree calling and calling.  I told my husband on Wednesday there was no way that Waxwing was going to find another Waxwing just sitting in the same tree calling every day.  An hour later, I noticed there seemed to be more calls than normal.  I grabbed the binoculars and what do I know.  There sat two Waxwings calling to the world.  I guess it is true there is somebody out there for everyone if you wait long enough.  

We had a wonderful day on Sunday.  We did some prairie dog hunting and then went fishing.  I caught a bass and my husband caught some perfectly sized catfish.  Then I went and picked some wild grapes.  We came home and fried up some delicious catfish for lunch.  Life is good.

I've been busy in the garden.  The strawberry spinach is producing berries like crazy.  I am not sure what I am going to do with all the berries.  I just keep putting them in the freezer.  I've also been picking and freezing the borage flowers.  I am going to try making a wine out of them.  I have to be careful picking them.  Sooner or later I'm going to grab one that has a bee on it.  

My peaches and cream hollyhocks are blooming like crazy.  I love watching the bees wander in and out of the blooms.  I would guess it is like a flowery maze to them.  I would love to be covered in a blanket of hollyhock petals.

It has been a fabulous week.  We are hunkered down trying to pretend the Sturgis Rally isn't happening.  Unfortunately, you can hear the roar of motorcycles even up here.  I went to the grocery store and every local had a mask on.  Not one biker wore a mask.  I will admit I am hoping for rain every night.  Maybe even a little hail.  Sorry, but it is true.  

Is there some local event that puts you up a wall?  Have you ever tried strawberry spinach?  Here is a long shot.  Has anyone ever had borage wine?  If so could you send me a recipe.  Here is hoping you have a wonderful week (without motorcycles). 

The Tomato Taj Mahal...

Here is my new Tomato Taj Mahal.  I love it.  This weekend I finished the patio and most of the retaining wall on the right.  This one is much taller and the bench is along the side instead of at the back.  The bench will be great next year because I grow most of my peppers in wash tubs.  I think I will even have room to grow some tomatoes in tubs.  Here in the hills it is almost impossible to grow tomatoes and peppers without a greenhouse.  The season is too short and it never gets super hot.  Below is the bench with my tubs and little garden potting bench kit.  I was pretty worried about transplanting my tomatoes from the tubs to the ground of the greenhouse.  Turns out they did great and didn't miss a beat.  

My chamomile has been blooming like crazy.  It is contained in a water tank.  If you aren't careful it will take over the garden.  I use the flowers for tea, an amazing hair detangler, and facial toner.  Because it is so plentiful I am going to try making a wine with it.  It will be an interesting endeavor.  Who would have thought dandelions would make a good wine?  It never hurts to try.  The rest of my outdoor vegetable beds are making progress.  My first round of sweet corn is knee high by the Fourth of July.  The green beans are also doing fabulous.   

My roses are doing great.  One of my favorite quotes is by Richard Sheridan, "Won't you come into my garden?  I want my roses to see you."

                                                For the first time ever my poppies are plentiful.

The butterfly bed is beautiful.  It has been too dry to use the fire pit.  With the tomatoes in transplanted in the greenhouse, the tub was open for a different use.  Leftover flowers are on sale and it was easy to find some to make a mobile hummingbird heaven. 

If you have a smoker this is the perfect summer recipe:  Smoked S'mores Ice Cream

2 cups of milk

2 cups of cream

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 Tablespoon of vanilla

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix well in an oven proof bowl.  Put the bowl in the smoker.  Spread 1 jar of marshmallow cream on an aluminum pan place it in the smoker.  Place 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in an oven proof pan and in the smoker.  While everything is smoking, crush one sleeve of graham crackers.  Smoke the ice cream mix, marshmallow cream, and chocolate at 150 degrees.  After an hour remove the ice cream mix and put it in the ice cream maker.  Let it do its thing.  Leave the chocolate and marshmallow cream in the smoker at 150 degrees until the ice cream is done.  Swirl in the chocolate, marshmallow cream, and graham crackers.  Freeze over night.  Then enjoy.

Do you make homemade ice cream?  Are the fireflies out where you are?  I've been watching them every night.  I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July.  

Bees, greenhouses, romantic drives, and tracks...

 It has been a busy week.  We worked on our new greenhouse, went on a romantic drive, and of course enjoyed the flowers.  The flowers are blooming like crazy.  This makes it hard for me to focus.  My husband will look up and I'm wandering around the yard taking photos.  Chasing down some bug, butterfly, or in this case a monstrous bumblebee.  It has been a wonderful summer.  We were getting pretty dry, but tonight we got an inch of rain. 

 We have been super busy on the weekends building a new greenhouse.  Since my sweet husband is now retired, he has also spent most of his weekdays putting together the greenhouse. The old one was a trooper, until the big hail storm two years ago did enough damage to begin it's demise.  I got a little misty eyed taking it down, but the new one is much bigger and taller.  It took two weekends to get it put together.   My husband did most of the work.  We got the roof on this afternoon.  Just in time for a big storm.  The roof didn't blow off and it didn't leak.  I was happy to transplant my tomatoes and cucumbers into the ground.  Hopefully it isn't too late.  The tomatoes were pretty good sized.   We still need to put on the door and set up the fan.

 My husband took me on a romantic drive Friday night.  We took our little Roxar and drove way up behind Deadwood.  In the photo to the left you can see the Lead Homestake mine tower at the top and Deadwood at the bottom.  The photo below looks back at the road we took to the top.  It was amazing how well sound travels.  You could actually hear people talking down on Main Street.  It was a great adventure and nice to get out.  I have lived here twenty 28 years and always wanted to go up to White Rocks.  I am so happy to mark that off my bucket list.  

We've heard a female mountain lion calling at night.  Today when I took Ella for her Sunday walk I saw it's tracks in a mud hole.  You can tell they are lion tracks because there are no claw marks.  Only cats can retract their claws.  It isn't a very large cat.  On a less serious note, because we have been working on the greenhouse in the garage we haven't been able to shut the garage door.  In the dust a few mornings ago I saw the cutest set of tracks.  Our pine martin is still around, because he took a tour of our Jeeps.  He was in and out of everything.  I'm glad he is around, because our squirrel population has been diminished.  

That was our week in as much of a nutshell as I could put it in.  It is good to keep busy, but not so busy that you don't enjoy the beauty around you.  The fireflies were out last night.  They are not out for very long here.  I hope your week has been as productive.  Did you make anything?  Did you go anywhere?  Have a great week.

Flowers...

It was a busy weekend.  We are moving towards putting up the new greenhouse.  It is going to be a two or three weekend project.  I'm just so happy because suddenly and finally things are blooming.  I wait all winter for this.  I have to say this year it is looking good.  I don't have any further comment.  I will let the photos do the talking.  

It was almost impossible to do yoga on our upper deck tonight.  The sunset was amazing.  I thought I got a bunch of photos, but alas, doing yoga and taking photos doesn't work.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.  Next week I will have the grand unveiling of the new greenhouse. Maybe.  I hope your gardens are as delightful.