what we've been doing

Camping: We drove the pop-up down to Louisville SRA, near Adam's Aunt Mary & Uncle Alan's lake house and his Uncle Tim & Aunt Carol's summer cabin, where we enjoyed spending time with family, swimming, boating, biking, and watching fireworks. Grandma Q brought a delicious gourmet chocolate torte cake to celebrate my birthday a little late and Adam's a little early. We are planning and looking forward to another family camping trip at Niobrara State Park at the end of the month.

Gardening: Watering, weeding, harvesting, and canning. These are green beans pickled in a salty brine with dill and garlic and beets pickled with a sweet brine with cinnamon and allspice. We got a surprise turnip in a row of kohlrabi and I want to plant some on purpose so that they are ready to harvest this fall to add to soups and stews. We're still impatiently awaiting RED tomatoes and are sad to see a mystery bug ravaging our cucumber and cantaloupe vines.

Bird watching: Our first visitors to the new feeders were finches. I'm not great at identifying little birds from far away, but I think they are this common house finch. We have also had a pair of American Goldfinches. We have three baby barn swallows in the nest on our porch and we noticed that there are TWO oriole nests in our mulberry tree. The second appears to be occupied by an Orchard Oriole, which is smaller and darker than our Baltimore Oriole. We've seen one baby (Baltimore) oriole out of his nest, being fed by his daddy (very cool). Many species frequent the bird bath, and I hope that by providing water, the birds won't desperately peck at the garden produce (tomatoes in particular) for a drink in the hot, dry months ahead.

Playing: 4th of July fireworks, courtesy of the kids' Uncle Alex (thank you!). Swimming in the blow-up pool that I was sure would pop the first time we used it (two years ago!), running through the sprinkler, and splashing in a tub of water with Stephen.

Working: Housework seems to multiply when you're having all this fun, so I've been washing extra dishes (courtesy of canning) and doing double-duty on laundry and cleaning to make up for the days we've been gone and the extra time we've spent playing outside. Adam is usually in the garage under a vehicle, either fixing or maintaining...at least with his new motorcycle, he can do some of his favorite work standing up. Also, we've been talking about painting the house (exterior), but things just keep coming up...maybe we'll get started next week.