Half Way Hodgepodge

Our summertime visitors have been entertaining us here at our country bungalow. I’ll post more photos later in the week.

Time for the Midweek Hodgepodge with thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. The midpoint of summer (believe it or not) is August 7th. Describe a perfect summer day. Have you had one this year? 

A nice clear blue sky with fluffy clouds at 78 degrees or less with no mosquitoes, yellow jackets, or wasps to bother me. Have not had one this summer.

2. What’s one thing you wish you knew before starting high school? 

It was a waste of time, emotions and regrets to have boyfriends. It would have been good just to keep all relationships at the friend level.

3. What’s something that bothers you if it’s not done perfectly? 

I think perfectly is a very high standard that has different opinions attached. I like events that are well planned and that have flexibility if things go wrong.

It does bother me when you arrive to help someone move and nothing is packed or that there aren’t boxes and paper and tape to get the job done.

It bothers me when an event is planned but then there is no one really in charge.

4. What’s the most overrated food you’re convinced people are just pretending to enjoy?

Green Juice.

What’s a trendy food you actually do enjoy and would say is definitely not overrated? 

Thai Food

5. Wrapping it up this week with five fun this or thats…

personal stylist or personal chef? 
Chef!
dance like nobody’s watching or sing like nobody’s listening? 
Sing like nobody’s listening!
unlimited tacos or free pizza? 
Unlimited Tacos!
bookshelf organization-by size or by genre? 
By Genre and within the genre the authors.
ten minutes late or ten minutes early? 
Ten minutes early!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our younger summertime visitors from the animal kingdom.

These two were crying for their mother on Monday night when I got home from VBS. A sad cry I had never heard before.

Our church is having Vacation Bible School, Wonder Junction, this week. I’ll be selling t-shirts and hats each evening.

Catch Up Saturday

We had a nice Independence Day and we enjoyed texts with photos from our loved ones here in Washington, in California and in Texas. I’ll share some of those on Monday.

The rest of these photos are catch ups from the past couple of weeks.

These little Pansies (Johnny Jump Ups) pop up all over our acreage. I suppose you could call them wild.

We had a de-constructed Chicken Pot Pie for a meal. It is a simpler way to enjoy a nice crisp crust and the filling. When we buy a Costco chicken I take the meat off the bones immediately and freeze portions in quart size freezer bags for quick meals later.

This buck caught me looking at him.

A couple Wednesdays ago, Greg helped Dan butcher the last two of the three sheep Dan bought for meat. It was an all day project!

Josh and Laura were proud to represent the colors they stand behind at a soccer game.

Didn’t want to forget the traditional photo for our Colville kids’ anniversary that they take each year and added two more from their getaway at the end of June. They enjoyed a meal at Baba’s (no relation to this Baba 🙂 ).

Our daughter attended a Medieval Castle wedding and shared some photos. The wedding was during work hours so Katie and her friend attended without their husbands (they were able to get time off from their jobs). They enjoyed their time and all the medieval touches.

Our beautiful daughter.

Speaking of castles, this is one of the latest puzzles I completed and it is going straight to the garage sale pile. I love the result but the pieces were all cut into shapes that were too varied and too brain teasing. I bought it for $3.99 at Goodwill and was happy that there were no missing pieces. Hooray.

The lavender plants are in their glory and the fragrance can’t be beat.

Happy Saturday everyone. The weird thing is that every day this week felt like a Saturday to me.

Spring Deer

 

 

The deer are coming around again to nibble and rest in the shade in our back yard. They are welcome as long as they stay away from my clematis.

This male was interested in the female and was chasing her so they didn’t stop to nibble on my clematis.

Here is some evidence of our Spring showers from this past weekend. While I’m typing the dark clouds have moved in again and we have thunder and lightning.

Welcome July

These baby Swallows were around for a few days learning to fly. They stayed relatively safe hanging on to our soccer goal.

A buck came to visit.

The deer that come into our yard have their favorite plants. The Variegated Willow is one of them.

We are headed back to double digits instead of being over 100 degrees which is a relief. We’ll be in the 90’s for several days.

We don’t have big plans for the 4th this year besides going to church. My sister and hubby are stopping for an overnight on Monday the 5th after some time in Idaho. It will be nice to see them. The mayor of Colville has made the decision to not allow fireworks in the city this year. Because our Spring was dryer than usual and we’ve been in an extreme heat wave there is a danger that any little spark could start a wildfire.

Our flags will be waving proudly!

Do you have plans?

The Buck Stops Here…

…this buck did stop by this morning for a nibble here and there in our brush.

I thought his coloring was interesting.

We borrowed our son’s tractor and Dear got a great start on getting rid of some piles of rock and dirt depositing the piles into the drained pond.

We still have lots of room for more dirt in the pond. The piles below are all leveled out now.

While watching the tractor work I zoomed in on some late blooms in the yard that are waning with the end of summer.

It was a hot day on Wednesday and I’ll wait to finish some summer weeding on Thursday morning. Mornings have been very cool here these last days of August. After the last of the weeding we are spreading some bark in an attempt to diminish the huge pile of bark left by the former owners. We are swiftly approaching our 1 year anniversary of owning our Country Bungalow. Now that we are more settled I’ll pay attention to the next four seasons of life here to determine which is my favorite at our Country Bungalow.

My Brain is Full…

Lots of good things weighing on my brain and buzzing in my ears.

I’ll be back next week to fill you in on all the excitement around our Country Bungalow!

Here’s a quote I’ve been contemplating from Spurgeon:

If we believe God’s Word, we are orthodox; if we practice, we are holy.”

The Bible is the great umpire as to conduct, and not the changing moral sentiment of passing generations.

Pray God to order your life according to His Word. To this Word we must be conformed. This is our copy to write by; this is the image to which we must be modeled. 

Sprugeon has a way of speaking the truth that gets under my skin in a good way.

See you all next week…I’m seeing real well by the way! Not one floater interfering with my vision. I’m thankful!

It started with a Crash!

We marked our driveway for our First Baptist Colville Senior Summer Social. When it was time for everyone to arrive there was no problem slowing down and finding our address since a Sheriff was right in front of our property with his lights flashing because of an accident right at our driveway. The person who caused the accident was in a hurry and tried to pass someone who was turning into our driveway. He ignored or didn’t see our guest’s left blinker flashing and came around them and tried to pass while they tried to turn into our drive. No one was hurt but our guest’s vehicle suffered lots of damage and had to be towed away. That was a bang of a start to our social.

Most of the 31 folks had never been to our home before and we only knew a handful by name.

By the end of the evening we became familiar with many more and enjoyed conversations with a few.

Our back acres proved to be an ideal picnic spot in the evening since the sun goes down behind our mountain at 5:30. Since we were in the upper 80’s or low 90’s being shaded from the sun was necessary.

One of the gals from our church walked about our property with me and identified several plants by name. I was very appreciative of her knowledge. Come to find out she’s a master gardener. She told me how to cut back and what I could pull and what are weeds. I wish I had a pad and pencil on me when she pointed out the plants and named them. Our huge bush is a variegated willow. That one I remember.

The morning after when I pulled up the blinds in our bedroom these fawns were just outside our window frolicking in the yard.

And then daddy showed up, too.

He sensed us through the window but couldn’t see us.

I did not turn my computer on yesterday and just turned it on at 3pm today.  We are recovering from last evening. Hope all is well in your corner.

Summer Visitors

This buck that has visited our back yard has an antler out of whack.

I wonder if his deer friends notice?

We have other summer visitors on a smaller scale, too.

Baby quail are getting bigger every day.

There are also lots of baby turkeys in the area that cause some road hazards.

We will enjoy some human summer visitors, too, soon. Are you expecting any visitors or have you already had summer visitors? If you are or have I hope they were or are of the encouraging types.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.