Grace Potter and Nocturnals - Crazy on You (Cover) Live In Studio

Oh! Damn!
This is amazing!
I have always loved this song, and this version is so good!

Creating

I did a bit of harvesting last night,

and then a bit of crafting.

I have had the bug, but haven't been able to fit it into the summer schedule.

But I started carrying around some pearls and pliers and had

a little baggie of "hung" pearls to play with...

and some deer hide, not sure how I decided deer hide and white pearls

complimented one another.....

But I am satisfied with the outcome...

toss in a few garnets and some silvery pearls.

Yeah!

Late July Garden

Some of the spoils I brought in from the garden yesterday evening.

The plant in the middle is purslane, a weed, to most.

It is super good for you and tasty.

In Turkey it is a common vegetable.

One more weed I don't have to pull.

Part of my "permaculture" gardening!

 The peas are starting to come on and My! are they tasty.

 I planted raspberries when we first moved to the property.

They never really did anything, so after years of fussing over them

and trying to get them to produce, I yanked them out.

These are the survivors, {or as many of you know, you cn never get rid of raspberries!}

growing in the fringes of the compost pile.

They are not big, succulent berries like my neighbors have, but they are tasty little devils,

and more permaculture, to boot!

Everyone wants to see a nice foto of lettuce, right?!

Just helping you out!

The garden has a fair amount of flowers.

It just has to!

Clematis is having a really great year.

And these are the first blooms off the rose bushes that I planted last year!

Here's hoping they grow big and wild and cover the arbor like I have planned for them!

Some struggling tomaters in the background!

And poppies are everywhere.

They re-seed themselves like crazy and I have a really hard time

pulling them, so they are sprinked all over the garden.

{well out in the yard a bit too if I am honest!)

Bull Lake Rope Swing

Yesterday i was invited to go out on Bull Lake in the boat with

the Hamers and the Leisz'.

Of course, our first stop was the roap swing.

We boated around and soaked up the sun.

At dinner time we pulled in to the Rod and Gun Club

And Tassia made us enchiladas in the dutch over in the fire ring.

Delicious!

It was a lovely outing!

I am honored to have been invited!

Tractor Implement Road Trip

Lake Kookanusa looking north.

Love the rocks and the color of the water.

The new tractor implements found on cragislist:

then snowblower! Yay!

and the rake thingie.

Heartless Bastards - Parted Ways

And this onE!
Love the puppets!
Oh MY!

Heartless Bastards - "Skin and Bone" (Live at WFUV)

Addicting!

"When I Grow Up" -First Aid Kit

This is SO good!
"First Aid Kit" is Swedish sisters, Klara and Johanna Soderberg.
Animation by Rachael Greenfield.

Deck Lounging

Sunday I did a bit of lounge time on the front deck.

There were periods of warm sun sprinkled with

a few drifting clouds.

The temperatures were perfect and there was a gentle breeze.

Note: the grape-letts!

This was my view from the lounge chair!

This and blue skies with clouds drifting by.

Not at all a bad way to pass time!

And it rarely happens that we just sit

on the porch.

CARD Foundation Fundraiser Concert

or, Now I know I don't ever want to be a "roadie" initiation!

Sawyer Brown
These three fotos were taken by my friend Mary Tevebaugh.
I was working the beer booth,
so I didn't get to take fotos.
The back drop of the Cabinet Mountains is Amazing!
From the beer booth it was even better.

Then I escaped the beer booth at the end of the night

and got to dance a bit and I took a couple fotos from the field.

(I took one foto for Margeaux as this is her HS classmate,Meghan, in the band "Troubadore".)

Mikes volunteer job was to help disassemble the stage after the show.

We had the camper parked onsite, back in the woods.

So I joined in.

We worked till 4 am!

See what I mean about not wanting to be a "roadie"!

It was really fascinating to take everything apart and load it like a puzzle into the waiting semi trailer.

It is quite the process!

Thankfully, there were many volunteers, as there was a lot of heavy lifting!

I was hoping that there was some button they pushed and it would do that

whole "transformers" thing and with a bit of help and a few loosened bolts,

turn into this neat package that wheeled into the truck!

NOT!

There were miles of heavy cables, speakers of all shapes and sizes, Oh MAN!

They were super appreciative of the help, really nice guys, those stage and lights people!

Garden

Poppies!

I have two kinds in the garden this year.

The broccoli was producing perfectly in the rain,

then a couple hot days

AND BAM!

We have broccoli galore!

It's gorgeous.

Random rows.

The all important cosmos!

Bright chard, broccoli, carrots, weeds.

I dipped garden stakes in chalkboard paint

then I used these awesome chalk ink markers that I have

to mark the plants!

The rain hasn't washed the ink off like it did the chalk.

Sweet Mama Squash....Mmmmm!

Love that stuff!

Badminton Night

Mike and I joined a badminton "league".

A local group that pooled $$ and bought a regulation badminton set.

We play every other Thursday in the summer.

Mike and I haven't made every one.

There is a potluck at each event.

Last session, on Thursday, was at Milnor Lake.

Above is the foto, that long thing is a boardwalk through the wetland out to the Lake.

I rode my bike to work that day.

I rode to the Lake, which is only 4.5 miles from town and then swam across and back before badminton.

It seemed like it was 150° Thursday! The swim saved my life!

It used to be that we just played as couples.

I think that some people then thought that they had a perpetually bad partner!

This was Mikes first time.

This was also the first time that they put names in a hat and drew partners!

It was pretty fun!

So Mike and I played against each other rather than as partners.

Next time it is at our house.

The Lumineers - "Flowers In Your Hair" Tour Video

This song, this video, they embody summer, don't they?
It just made me have fond memories of summers past....

Office Garden

 In 2007, when we moved into this office space,

the Troy Chamber of Commerce graciously

provided us with these two oak barrels.

I excitedly purchased plants and got them growing

only to be disapointed in their performance.

 It turns out that oak barrels set upon asphalt against the front of the building

is just too tough of an environment for most blooming things

that you can find around here to fill your pots with.

I have struggled each year to find something hardy/hearty enough to thrive.

 This year I had this "Eureka" moment and decided to try tomatoes!

Check it out!

They are thriving! I wish I had thought of this way before now!

These are amazing compared to my maters at home!

I already ate a grape tomato off one of these plants!

Now I am thinking of making some kind of raised bed to put along

the shop building that is onsite here and having a big, town tomato garden!

Phooey on even trying to grow them at home!

(that is City Hall down the street on the corner)

Not pictured:

The "compound that this office sits on is mostly fenced with chain link and there are two "pole barns",

one houses our field supplies and is home to our field crew and the other has been converted to a labratory for soil samples. I have brought plants from home and planted them along the front fence and part of the front of the shop and I planted a few trees this spring as well.

The "lab guys" are now catching on and have helped turn the dirt patches into a hardscrabble lawn of sorts.

The place is starting to cheer up a bit.

We don't have much for soil and I haven't ammended it, I have enough of that to do at home.

BUT, one of the lab guys was just elected mayor, and The City of Troy is our landlord, so I am hoping/have put in my order for some assistance as far as fertilizer and stuff like that.....overflow from park maintenance... Crossing my fingers!

Lake Livin'

The weather was hot this weekend.

We puttered about the home and yard most the day and then headed

out to the Lake for the heat of the afternoon and into the evening.

We packed food and growlers of beer,

and shared meals with our gracious host,

who shared delicious wine and cheese and other treats.

You can't tell by the above shot, but the Lake was busy

for the most part. It quieted down tremendously on Sunday.

But in Z's neighborhood alone on Friday and Saturday

there was this herd of girls from 8 to 13 years old

and probably 8 to 13 of them (it seemed like).

I did some hair braiding. A LOT of braiding one evening!

While I was braiding hair,

the guys were busy putting together these

gorgeous pizzas!

I was out past the bouys for a late swim after a particularly long braiding session

when they called me in for a lovely dinner on the deck!

How spoiled is that?!

The yard is teaming with flowers.

Yard & Garden

Mike got a "new-to-him" toy, the "brush hog".

Despite the pretty much constant rain

and fairly cool temps

the garden is coming along ok.

This foto was taken a week and a half ago, so things have really gone nuts with some sunshine!

REO Speedwagon

This a 1913 REO Speedwagon.

I got to ride around the soccer field at the 4th of July car show in it!

It is reportedly worth half a million $$!

It starts right up likd a dream and is as comfortable as can be.

These seats are pure luxury!

It is all original.

I guess that part of the drivers seat had to have a bit of work done to it and that is all.

This is the gear that the speedometer cable attaches to.

The car reportedly goes 55 mph!

There is no way to tell right now without the cable hooked up.