Catching up....

Has been a few days...OK months.... since I posted something new here.   

Was a busy summer... hubby was gone a few times for his Logistics Chief duties on Incident Management Team #5.  And he missed a couple fire trips in order to attend the annual family reunion, and a special trip to the Oregon coast.

Had a great summer of gardening.  Hubby did most of the work, and I got to harvest the goodies.  Love it!!

I planted a crazy row of Zinnias.  You don't have to harvest them; 

we just get to enjoy the colors!

Volunteer sunflowers grew 10-12 feet high. I love the happy sunflower faces!

Looking west in mid-July.  Pumpkins in the foreground, 

with zucchinis next, sunflowers, tomatoes and more!

We enjoyed a great few days at Seaside with our daughters and granddaughters.  For hubby's 60th birthdayr, our girls booked a nice rental home a few blocks from the ocean in our favorite area on the northern Oregon coast. 

The weather wasn't great, 

but the time with our kids and grandbabies was marvelous. 

Both the little girls love to read, 

thanks to mamas and daddies who read to them every day.

We used to camp at Ft. Stevens, and had to make a nostalgic trip 

to the south jetty.  Was WINDY and cold, but still a wonderful place.

The day before we left, the weather broke and we got to dig in the sand, 

walk the beach and enjoy the beauty of the Oregon coast.  Awesome!

Now the holiday season is in full swing, and I have several fun projects queued up.  Can't share cuz someone might see... :)

My outside white lights are up, but not turned on. I do think it must be time!!

And we had our first dusting of snow... snow shovels are out and firewood is waiting on the front porch.

Thanks for visiting!!


  

Blooms

Despite the chilly weather...my flowers are looking good. 

This is a rose that D's grandma planted, and we moved to our house.

The pink blooms welcome visitors at our back door.

This is a gazania bloom.. they fold up if the sun is not shining!

Looks like I am leaning toward pink this year!  :)

~Melinda

Garden's turning green....

Things are looking pretty healthy out in the garden.  A few little tomatoes, and a couple baby zucchinis. If we had a few days of warm sun.... we'd could be harvesting!

I started zinnias from seed back in mid March...First bloom! Yay!

Potatoes catching the last of the evening sun!

Potatoes in the foreground, then onions and leeks, then a few more tomatoes,
swiss chard, tomatillas, and zukes, cukes , cants and Big Mac pumpkins.
Three rows of tomatoes, peppers and zinnias were behind me when I took this pictures.

Up close at Wild Horse Windfarm!

We had a mini-adventure today.  


We drove east of Kittitas on the old Vantage Highway, and toured the Ellensburg Wild Horse Windfarm. Learned a lot and even got to inside one of the towers.  


Pretty impressive view from the visitor center... elevation 3,500 feet - higher than Snoqualmie Pass!

Pretty futuristic!

You could see for miles!

The shrub-steppe vegetation included flowers like these and some cacti!

The blades are 120-some feet long, and each weighs seven tons!

Looking up from inside the base of the tower....220 steps in the ladder!
We could see the top section of the tower flexing in the wind!
A computer read-out tells you the wind-speed and how much electricity is being delivered.

Worth the trip!  Bring your jacket, though! Was windy - duh!! - when we were there!

Sunny mother's day...

Got tons of things planted today... temps were in the high 80's, and I am pretty tuckered out!


Here is the view looking through our ash tree at the bright blue sky.  I was lying on the deck bench, taking a rest.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!

Fun app!

Here is a "sketch" version of an apple blossom photo, using my PS Express free app.


I think I like it :)

Getting dirty!

The vegetable gardening is in full swing!


We have planted two rows of Walla Walla sweets, a row of red onions and leeks (first time for leeks!), and three rows of potatoes - red, white and Yukon Gold.  No weeds yet :)


We have four full flats of flowers and more tomatoes than we need that we take out in the morning and bring in at night  Two days ago there was frost on my windshield when I headed out to work at 6:30 a.m.  Brrr!


The days are warm and the spring temps means the flowering trees and the orchards are bright with color and buzzing bees.  


.

The Golden Delicious apples next door are in full bloom!

When you duck into the orchard you can hear the  bees, 

busy doing their pollinating thing!

Later!!

~M

Optimistic!

Post-frost planting time in Selah is the middle of May, so today I started three different kinds of flowers in a little seed-starting kit.  I may order some specific flower seeds from Burpee or Nichols.... but at least I got them started.

The rainbow coleus seeds were TINY - and I know I dropped more than one in each cell.  The cosmos seeds were long....at least half-an-inch and very skinny.  The zinnia seeds were different shapes and sizes, since the seed packet was for a mixed variety. 

They are sitting in a southeastern facing window...waiting for the Selah sunshine to warm them up.

Amazing to think that the gorgeous healthy flower plants I enjoy in the summer come start as such little tiny seeds! 

In a couple weeks I will start two varieties of zucchini and a short-season cantaloup!  Yum!

~M

Time passes...spring is around the corner!

Has been too long since I spent a few minutes on this blog.  Grandkids are healthy - hooray!  Daughters and hubbies are healthy - hooray!  Grandpa and grandma are noticing they have slowed down a bit.... but we still keep moving!

Snow again in February. 

A path shoveled to my car so I can drive off to work!

Daffodils showing  up under the trees.  Hooray for spring!

Days are getting longer... I no longer head off to work in the absolute dark.

And I have been having great fun making one-of-a-kind crib sheets for my two granddaughters!  This is one of Ada's. The owl fabric was the end of the bolt, and I couldn' figure out what to do with it.

Added some pretty green on each end...and now she has a cute new sheet!

I will try to stop in more often, with bits and pieces of what's going on.

~M

Seasons.....

Spent most of today doing our "summer is over" thing in the yard.  A beautiful sunny day... warm enough that I shed my jacket within a few minutes. 

Looking south  - trees still have lots of leaves left!

Such a pretty day! 
Interesting that the one birch on the left and the one behind the weeping birch are still green!

Here is a "before" shot, taken on the walkway to our back door, the end of June.



Here is the "after" shot - four months later - as I load the cart on the right
with the frosted and dying plants from the containers.



Empty and ready to wait through the winter to be replanted.

Nice.

Still looks like summer...

Last year on Sept. 24 the daytime high temp was 60 and the low 38.  This year is got to nearly 90. Missed setting a new record high by one degree!  Zinnias are happy to keep growing!



I am preserving summer by freezing tomato soup...yum!  Found the recipe on SouleMama's blog.

It's hard to tell, but there is a fence in the background.  The birdhouse gourds have taken over half the garden.

They start right behing the zinnias, and have gone up and over the fence, and across the woodpile.  Some of the gourds are as big as basketballls...

WHAT are you going to do with them, you might ask.... hmmm.. not real sure!

summer blooms...

A couple asters brighten up my containers on the back walk... 

Sunflowers - at least 12 ft tall - silhouetted against the evening sky.

Even the hostas take their turn at blooming!