Musings on.....Summer (so far)

Oops...I haven't been posting.

How do you folks do this everyday?

Here is what we have been doing....so far

More walks to the river and swimming in the rapids.
Taking Bosco to the dog park.
Finally getting down to planting the pots and enjoying the back yard before we need to move.
Attending a golf clinic.
Finally getting our passports.
hanging at the pool
Yoga
Camping at Rock Creek.

Our campsite

Camping was wonderful.  We were going to go back to the same spot as last year, but the sites were full.  We drove a little farther and ended up at a place called Rock Creek.  Sweet spot with a view of the lake.  The lake did not look the best for swimming because of the lake weeds.  There was one spot on the dock that was good for jumping.  We did most of our swimming at Cultas Lake.

Morning mist

Girls on the dock

Late night swim!

The best thing about camping is making the meals that we used to make on our canoe trips at camp when I was a girl.  I love passing these traditions to my girls.
We made Pocket Stew and Egg in an Orange.  Everything tastes better when you are camping!

Pocket stew

Pocket Stew
tin foil
butter
vegetables - potatoes, carrots, broccoli, onions
ground beef
salt and pepper

Layer everything in the the tin foil.  Potatoes on the bottom, meat, and the veggies.  Seal it.  Put it in the coals and let it cook.  There are many variations...use your imagination.
Take it out and enjoy a warm meal!

Egg in an Orange

Egg in an Orange 

Slice off top half of an orange
Scoop out and eat the inside of the orange as you first course
drop an egg into the empty orange skin
salt and pepper
put the lid back on
wrap in tin foil and put in the coals and let it cook
take out and enjoy!

My girls wondered about this one. They were curious, and had to try it.

Musings on ....a sunflower house....part three

Today went down to water our little plot of land and were prepared for the worse.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the seeds we planted were indeed coming up!  The seedlings from the bird feeder were not looking great, but much healthier plants look like they are coming through!  Yea!

I met up with the neighbor next door and she told us that we could use her hose to fill our water buckets.  That will be quite nice.  We have been lugging everything down and back to the house with our wheel barrel.  I am happy to know that it will be a lot easier to give our plants water!

The other lovely thing is that she gave us a dozen fresh eggs from her chickens! 

Musings on...strawberries

Strawberry Blast!

We have some strawberries growing in our tiny garden.  My daughter picked some yesterday.
Looks like she got a tart one!

Musings on ....a sunflower house...part two

Planting a sunflower house may prove to be a challenge.  The deer have decided to eat the seedlings.  I think if this project was done in a controlled environment, we would have more success.

We will continue to water and tend to our house...despite the harsh high desert conditions and nibbling deer!

I was reassured to receive a comment from Sharon Lovejoy.  She is the author of Sunflower Houses and most certainly an inspiration to me.

Musings on....a sunflower house

This year I was part of a wonderful group of women and a discussion course through the Northwest Earth Institute.  The course was called Healthy Children Healthy Planet and it addressed how the pervasive effects of advertising, media, and our consumer culture can influence a child's view of the world.

One article we read was about growing a sunflower house.  I decided that was something that we were going to try.  We decided to pick an empty lot next to a neighbor's house.Unfortunately I picked the hottest week in the summer to start this project.

Armed with shovels , a weed whacker and a bag of seeds, we walked down to the lot and started our project.  I also had a bunch of sunflower seedlings that had sprouted beneath our bird feeder.

Now we just need to keep watering and hope that the deer don't eat everything!