Up to .35 inches of rain so far, and hopefully more to come. It's a cool (for July 
) 77*F here, with a nice breeze blowing and clouds covering the sun to go along with it; I had to let my hair down and pull on a light sweater to be comfy sitting out on the porch with my coffee this morning. It's supposed to be cloudy most of the day, so I will likely go out and plant some clearanced bright pink Monarda (bee balm) that I picked up at WM the other day - the purple Monarda I have is drawing tons of butterflies to compete with the honeybees.
I drove the buggy (Mule) around the farm yesterday after I was finished mowing; 3 of the beekeeper's hives look strong, but the other two appear weak; I hope that they are able to make enough honey to survive the winter. The persimmon trees have only a light crop this year, and the black walnuts have already dropped a lot of nuts, likely due to the hot temps we've been having. We have rural water service; and we do have storage capabilities - 1000 gallon tank, 2 - 250 gallon tanks, stock tanks; plus all the inside storage and 3 wells; but I still have concerns about a drought situation.
The cousins were down on Friday to mow and check the game cams; they took turns on the tractor and cutting down some dying trees. They got the wood cut into rounds, split, and stacked down by their hunting cabin before returning home - it made a face cord; with the small size of the cabin and efficiency of their stove, it looks like they are set for deer season.
The grocery store and other store sales have been pathetic lately - mostly junk food and convenience type frozen foods; the drug store sales are also nothing much. I do need to re-evaluate our med storage since the kids are getting older - rotate out the liquid/baby meds to friends before they expire, and watch for sales on age appropriate versions of acetominophen, ibuprofen, diphenhydramine, etc... I also need to figure out where my rubbing alcohol stash disappeared to - not sure if it got used or I just can't find it. I had a feeling that I was getting a touch of swimmer's ear last week so went to flush my ear with the usual 50/50 peroxide and rubbing alcohol mix but ended up having to substitute Bacardi rum for the rubbing alcohol
It did clear up the ear ache, and the doc I work for said it wouldn't hurt anything, but I still think I'll pick up a few bottles of rubbing alcohol for the med cabinet...
Think I'll head out and fill birdfeeders, then work in the flower beds for a bit; might be able to do some hoeing around the edges of the gardens as well if it doesn't rain for a bit. And if it does rain, I can still clean the porch, or sort tubs of boy clothes (weeds, those boys grow like weeds, I tell ya!), work in the pantry, read some of Kathy's older stories, nap......
Take care all; wishing you all a blessed week!
) 77*F here, with a nice breeze blowing and clouds covering the sun to go along with it; I had to let my hair down and pull on a light sweater to be comfy sitting out on the porch with my coffee this morning. It's supposed to be cloudy most of the day, so I will likely go out and plant some clearanced bright pink Monarda (bee balm) that I picked up at WM the other day - the purple Monarda I have is drawing tons of butterflies to compete with the honeybees. I drove the buggy (Mule) around the farm yesterday after I was finished mowing; 3 of the beekeeper's hives look strong, but the other two appear weak; I hope that they are able to make enough honey to survive the winter. The persimmon trees have only a light crop this year, and the black walnuts have already dropped a lot of nuts, likely due to the hot temps we've been having. We have rural water service; and we do have storage capabilities - 1000 gallon tank, 2 - 250 gallon tanks, stock tanks; plus all the inside storage and 3 wells; but I still have concerns about a drought situation.
The cousins were down on Friday to mow and check the game cams; they took turns on the tractor and cutting down some dying trees. They got the wood cut into rounds, split, and stacked down by their hunting cabin before returning home - it made a face cord; with the small size of the cabin and efficiency of their stove, it looks like they are set for deer season.
The grocery store and other store sales have been pathetic lately - mostly junk food and convenience type frozen foods; the drug store sales are also nothing much. I do need to re-evaluate our med storage since the kids are getting older - rotate out the liquid/baby meds to friends before they expire, and watch for sales on age appropriate versions of acetominophen, ibuprofen, diphenhydramine, etc... I also need to figure out where my rubbing alcohol stash disappeared to - not sure if it got used or I just can't find it. I had a feeling that I was getting a touch of swimmer's ear last week so went to flush my ear with the usual 50/50 peroxide and rubbing alcohol mix but ended up having to substitute Bacardi rum for the rubbing alcohol
It did clear up the ear ache, and the doc I work for said it wouldn't hurt anything, but I still think I'll pick up a few bottles of rubbing alcohol for the med cabinet...Think I'll head out and fill birdfeeders, then work in the flower beds for a bit; might be able to do some hoeing around the edges of the gardens as well if it doesn't rain for a bit. And if it does rain, I can still clean the porch, or sort tubs of boy clothes (weeds, those boys grow like weeds, I tell ya!), work in the pantry, read some of Kathy's older stories, nap......
Take care all; wishing you all a blessed week!
