Category Archives: Nature

Three Buck Monday

Last Thursday we had three bucks pay a visit to our back acreage.

They had a variety of head gear.

This fella’s was out of the ordinary.

This one was more typical.

Smile, you’re on candid camera.

They entertained us for a while and then they took off.

The Quail families we have on our property weren’t worried about them.

The babies are always well camouflaged.

Before July was over, I completed this wooden piece puzzle. It was fun.

I’m scheduling this post on Saturday morning while we still have power. We have been warned by our Power supplier that they are planning outages to different areas in our county because of the Red Flag warning and the existing major wild fires burning in our county and adjoining county. The concern is high winds and continued dry conditions. We might be one of the properties that will not have power for an extended period of time. Hopefully the outage won’t run into Sunday. We are completely dependent on electricity including our well/water. Time will tell if we can have a fresh shower for church on Sunday. We are not in the path of the current fires.

I’m happy to report we did not have our power shut off. The sad news are the devastating fires that burned through and are still burning in the Spokane area.

August is coming in hot and smoky and tragically. Continued prayers for all those in the path of the fires, those who have already lost their homes,  and to the firefighters!

Summertime Hodgepodge

 

Another Wednesday Hodgepodge hot off the press. Thank you, Joyce!

1. “Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” Sam Keen

Do you feel less guilty relaxing in July than you do in January? Elaborate.
No, but I would much rather sweat in January than in July. There is less for me to do in January. July is filled with mowing, weeding, watering which makes me sweat. Even if I weeded everyday there would still be more weeding to do. I generally do not feel guilty for relaxing.
Found this welcoming gate on a beach walk way back in 2009!
2. What’s a telltale sign you’re upset?
I stop smiling…

3. July 16th is National AI Day. What are your general thoughts and/or experiences with AI? Have you purposely used it? Does it excite you, scare you, or worry you? What do you see as a benefit? How about something relating to AI you see as a negative?

I haven’t given AI deep thoughts. I probably use it mostly in my google searches for information. I ignore the prompts that ask if I’d like help writing, etc. False information connected to people or misrepresenting images are worrisome.

4. You’re invited to a summer pot luck and are asked to bring an appetizer, salad/side, or dessert. Which category do you go for and what are you bringing?

Dessert is the easiest thing for me to sign up for. Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies or Peanut Butter Rice Krispie bars with Chocolate/Butterscotch Topping are what I’d probably bring.

5. It wouldn’t be summer without___________________.

It wouldn’t be summer without a trip to the beach…

…and Ice Cream.

We’ve had many enjoyable last minute adventures in the summertime.

Lavender Festival in Sequim, 2012. It always happens the third weekend in July. We enjoyed them very much in past summers. BTW: you pronounce Sequim -squim.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Update from last Wednesday’s Hodgepodge; I did manage to bake some blueberry muffins. I used this recipe. I left off the topping because I stay away from cinnamon these days, our grandson is allergic to it. I enjoyed them even more without the topping because the result was delicious muffin tops with just a bit of crispy edges.

I also liked the fact that this recipe makes 8 muffins, not a dozen.

Update on our A/C: A technician came out on Tuesday afternoon and within 20 minutes our unit was repaired and ready to cool us again. So thankful! Doubly thankful, as we are supposed to hit the 100’s next week!

July at Home

Summer has arrived in our corner of the world. On Friday evening our A/C stopped pumping cold air into our home. Of course it was after hours which means we won’t be able to schedule a service call until Monday after 8am (today). We have had the windows open and are enjoying the summer breezes. Thankfully the air has been fresh without the fertilizer and other natural livestock scents dominating the air!

Our July views prompt gratitude and thanksgiving to our God who created all things for us to enjoy.

lavender

We have a new umbrella this year and we’ve had to put extra weights on the base even though it’s supposedly a 40 lb. base. Before we added the weight the umbrella had tried to fly away.

Bee Balm

Coneflowers

Hosta

Bluebells or a relative?

Day lilies

The baby swallows have exited their nests and learned to fly.

We have several Quail families roaming our acres with babies, toddlers, and teen quail in tow. They always make us smile. There is always a scout quail that chooses a higher position to warn the other quail of any danger.

Deer have been more sporadic.

Hopefully before the morning ends we’ll have a scheduled HVAC appointment for this week!!

Busy Butterfly

We have a very busy Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

We are flitting about like this butterfly from one activity to another.

The Swallowtail enjoys this plant.

I think it’s a Tiger Swallowtail.

We have Taekwondo Promotion, Taco Salad Dinner, Irish Dance Recital, overnight out of town guests, Church, Lunch, Irish Dance Recital, Pulled Pork Sandwich Dinner and more!

Whew!

I did manage to finish this puzzle before things got real busy.

I’m glad it was a thrift store bargain with all the pieces included. The quality of the pieces and the way the pieces fit was a bit of a challenge. I’ll offer it for sale at the Community Garage Sale we are part of at the end the of this new week coming up.

Speaking of puzzles…

These two finished up the puzzle I started with them over Memorial Weekend. It was a fun one to work on. We almost finished it before their parents got home from Montana. I’m glad they put the last pieces in. Looks like someone wants to put in the very last piece.

If you don’t see any comments from me on your weekend posts, you’ll know why.

A Pickle of a Hodgepodge

If it’s Wednesday, it must be time for the Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce.

1.What’s something you find extremely difficult that most people would say is simple?

Exercise for the sake of exercise. I can have good intentions but I find it difficult to be faithful in the endeavor.

I do enjoy getting out in the yard and mowing, etc. I do deep cleaning. I’m great at errands and shopping. We walk a lot on trips we take. I’m not a total couch potato. 🙂

2.  “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast in movies I  had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
~F. Scott Fitzgerald
 
Does the season of summer make you feel this way? Elaborate. 
No. Summer is not my stimulating time of year. I look for shade and try not to sweat too much. Life begins again in the Fall for me. 🙂
~

3. Pickles. Love ’em or no thank you?

Love them!

What’s your favorite type of pickle?

Kosher Dill, the kind you find in the refrigerator section.

What’s something you eat that definitely needs a pickle added?

A hamburger tastes better to me with pickles. I also like chopped up pickles in tuna mix and potato salad and call me crazy but I love the combination of a boiled potato with a pickle as a treat.

4. Tis the season…do you know any June brides?

Our Colville kids got married in June so our Jamie is a June Bride.

Are there any weddings on your summer calendar?

No summer weddings on our calendar. We do have a Grand Nephew who is engaged but it sounds like their plans are for a Fall wedding.

What’s your favorite movie wedding? 

Pride and Prejudice and other British series weddings (Downton Abby) where the whole town lights up for the special day and the bride arrives after all the guests are in the church and gets dropped off in a special carriage or car and then the couple leave together in style right from the church to wherever the reception is to be held.

5. June 1st is/was National Say Something Nice Day…say something nice here. 

Thank you, Joyce and Hodgepodgers, for this weekly get together and for all the nice things you say in your comments each week. You are a fun community and I appreciate each of you.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of exercise, we started June off with a return to the Rotary Trail here in Colville for a walk. Woohoo! It’s been well over a year that we walked the trail. That was due mostly to my Plantar Fasciitis. I’m happy to report my feet felt fine after our walk, thank you, LORD!

We enjoyed lots of birdsong and seeing our National Bird, too.

A great start to our goals for June and beyond.

Last Week of May Happenings

At the very end of May on a day without rain, the first camping trip as a family happened for this crew.

Addy had the big catch of the trip hooking a Prize Fish that was registered with Fish and Wildlife. They are working on what she’ll get for her prize.

She now has more fish tales to tell. Both Grands want to go camping again.

I’ve been on the lookout for a nice chess set. Stopping in at a local estate sale I found this Renaissance set from the 50’s in great shape. It was $25 which I thought a decent price.

With all the rain we’ve had lately it seemed a good time to start another puzzle. This puzzle was purchased at a thrift store and I wanted to see if there are any missing pieces. I’ll soon find out!

And as of last night just a few more sections to go.

More May blooms that are thriving.

June blooms coming soon. Looking forward to all that June holds.

May Endings

Spring rain has been a theme here these last days of May. We also had thunder and an epic lightning show on Thursday night of last week. Epic in that it lit up the surroundings as if it was daytime. It lasted several hours and we had never experienced anything like it before. There was dry thunder, too, if that’s a thing.

It hasn’t been easy getting mowing and weed wacking in since we’ve been dodging the rainy days and waiting for some dryness in between the storms.

Plans are afoot to transfer the pergola/patio structure up onto the deck instead of leaving it below. Before that progresses we needed to pressure wash the deck. One thing leads to another.

Hooray for a clean deck. It has been several years and we were happy the pressure washer stayed on for the job after several cranks to get-er-going. We won’t be giving it a fresh coat of stain this year.

Our plants and weeds are thriving! The pink peony bush tripled in size from last year!

The butterflies especially love this bush, a relative to a lilac?

This clematis looks the best in the 8 years we’ve lived here.

Columbines have taken over!

The yellow ones are the hardiest and pop up in new places every year.

Farewell to May and hello to June.

This will be a busy week into the weekend. We have an Irish Dance Recital Saturday and Sunday to attend with out of town overnighters staying here!

How’s the first week of June shaping up for you?

Living Vicariously

Four of ours were able to travel to Kalispell to meet up with many of their cousins over Memorial Day Weekend. There was a special wedding that six of our people were attending on Saturday so the annual ‘Arizona Cousin’s Memorial Weekend’ was moved to Kalispell this year. It was a great accommodation to make.

Their VRBO was on Foys lake close to Kalispell.

Our niece Debbee turned 50 in the middle of May and our DIL Laura was inspired to order a special t-shirt for each of the ‘cousins’ with a special moment in their life with their cousin Debbee. The photo above shows the original cousins with Babushka and Dzeda all together back then and then this photo below of the now.

A re-enactment…

Laura found special photos for all these peeps!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Deb Deb’s birthday.

It was time for these six to leave for the wedding.

These 6 enjoyed a meal out while the others were at the wedding.

Sunday was a full day for all to be together.

 

 

On Memorial Day it was decided that a trip to Glacier National Park and a hike was in order. Donning their Memorial day t-shirts and coats they set out at 5:30 am!

Another meaningful, encouraging and rewarding Cousin Memorial Weekend in the books!

Still Leaning

Many in our little country town are taking note of this beauty leaning more and more each year.

We wonder when the collapse will happen.

We’ve been wondering for at least five years. If and when it collapses, we will document it.

I’m leaning a bit more myself. Yesterday was a glorious upper 70’s day and we worked outside while our hired teens worked for 3 hours on our acreage to clean up as much of the debris that they could from the powerful windstorm that occurred while we were on our river cruise.

This pile is larger than it looks on camera.

I weeded this area while the teens raked and hauled.

We’re continuing with the work today, another sunshine filled day predicted with temps into the 70’s!

My work will be short this morning because I have a massage scheduled for 11am. I schedule these far out and my gal is booked out for months so I can’t change the appointment. Pretty sure after more work this morning that massage will be what my old body needs!

We are tackling large limbs that fell, too.

The windstorm of winter 2026 will go into the books!

Have a good day!

Spring Firsts

On our trip to Spokane on Tuesday we saw the new roadside sign from Williams Valley Mennonite Church as we drove through the little town of Clayton. Such a great verse for Spring!

Speaking of Spring we have a few signs on our property that Spring is springing before our eyes.

The birds have been very busy. Two nests in two of our roadside shrubs.

Greg spotted this mud lined nests on his way to our mailbox.

I wonder which birds made these nests.

Hooray for these sweet daffodils that are finally opening up. They make me smile. We’ve been dropping below freezing the mornings this week but the daffodils don’t seem to mind.

What signs of Spring are you enjoying as we head into Easter week?