IN MEMORIAM DOLLY PARTON

Wow.  What a loss. 

When our phones started blowing up today with the breaking news, even in my office, we had to stop and take a breath.  Dolly seemed like one of those people who would just always be with us.

She lived a life of many colors, that's for sure.  Singer, songwriter, actress, business owner, philanthropist and just an all around beautiful and kind person.

As a kid, I was obsessed with Dolly.  Loved her.  Had posters, bought every album, watched every movie.  She's been performing for the better part of 70 years.  

The one place we've never been to is Dollywood. 2nd Man said we should add that to the travel list.

Her nephew said it best in the official statement on her sudden passing:

"My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever."

INDEED...RIP Dolly.

TOO HOT TO DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE

Dog (and cat and racoon and everything else) days of Summer are here with a vengeance.

And the toll on the last minute bucket veggie garden has been extreme.

Both tomatoes look like this, despite regular watering.  I'm guessing they were just planted too late in the heat as young plants and struggled to survive.

The jalapenos on the other hand, they did at least produce some peppers.  This was the other day, 5 growing well.

And a week or so ago, we snagged three more!  Not too bad.  It shows the bucket method works, just need the right weather.  And this ain't it!

Check these out:

Saturday at 4:40pm.

Sunday at 4:10pm.

It's those feels like temps that are horrible.  You go outside and start sweating in about 2 minutes.

Mowing and edging just isn't happening right now.  Sure it needs it but nope, no one except us will see it so there is no point in risking the heat for that.

As for veggies, we aren't giving up on the bucket garden, it was just too hot too quick for too small plants.  But a FALL bucket garden, now THAT is doable!  We have about another month of these temps before we get our first cool weather so that will work!

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE COUNTRY

Why did the cow cross the road?

Maybe it was the heat!

Was coming home from work yet again and this time, there was a person standing at a blind curve warning people about this ahead of them.  A cow, exploring life outside the fence.  I asked the man who was warning people (kudos to him for doing that by the way) and he said he had already called the owner and they were coming to guide the wayward cow back home.

It's hot.  We are, for the first time this Summer, under an extreme heat warning this weekend.  Debating whether or not to mow/edge this weekend.  It's been three weekends now. It's tall but not crazy since we haven't had rain.  We'd be ok if it turned beige, ha.

Stay cool wherever you are!

PUTTING UP BBQ PORK RIBS

Last month, we posted about our usual tradition of BBQ ribs for our 4th of July.  We used the extra rack to chop up the meat and used it in a meal the next day.  It was so good, we thought, "let's do this again and put it up for later!"

They were on sale ($1.24/lb) again so I bought two more and seasoned them and cooked them as we always do.  Then I let it cool.

The fun part was sliding out the bones.  Since it's "fall off the bone tender", sure enough, you just grab one and pull it out.  After doing that multiple times, I put the now boneless rib meat onto the cutting board...

I sliced it one direction...

...and then the other direction.  I put on some gloves and tore it up into smaller pieces.  Lastly, I divided it all  into equal portions and...

...vacuum sealed it all up!  We ended up with three bags of a little over 2 cups each.  Enough in the freezer for a stir fry or a casserole or some pulled pork sandwiches!

WOW IT IS HOT

It is hot.  How hot?

Our "feels like" yesterday was 109 degrees.  We have all sorts of heat warnings and alerts telling people to stay indoors.

I haven't mowed or edged in three weekends now. We have had very little rain, just a couple of quick afternoon showers.  Luckily, the grass hasn't grown that much, although...

...it is a little out of control in places, ha.  I thought about mowing this weekend but I went outside to water and it's just insanely hot and humid.  I was SOAKED with sweat from being outside for an hour, and had to come in and take a shower.  I was going to work in the garage clearing some more boxes, but again, just 30 minutes out there is too much.

In a neighborhood, we might have to worry about the HOA sending us a nasty letter about mowing our grass but hey, out here, no one cares, we're the only ones who will see it, ha.

We asked "J" (from 2nd Family) if she had mowed yet (we've been commiserating about the weather) and she said she did a couple of things on the porch the other day and the heat made her feel horrible for hours.

Then she said "my yard is not worth dying for".

Wise words... 🤣

FILLING IN A SINKHOLE

 After all of our rains, we had some settling around the septic tank.

It looks like quite the hole.

I shined a flashlight in there and it wasn't as deep as it looks.  It was also animal free.  And we sure didn't want an animal making a home in there if we left it open.  

The septic tank company offered to come out and fill it in using the pile of dirt we still have, but we said we could handle it...this time anyway.

It took me about three wheelbarrow carts full of dirt and a bit of shoveling but I got it filled in.  We expect it will still settle a bit here and there as we get some more rains, but hopefully that is minor and still easily fillable.

It's always something!

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY RABBIT PALOOZA

This Spring/Summer has been rabbit crazy out here.  

Gotta admit, they are cute!

SO cute!

This was the other morning when I left for work...there were FIVE bunnies running around.  When I drive up and down the driveway morning and afternoon, I have to do so very slowly as they dart back and forth.

We don't mind.  Once we have the garden up and running (hopefully next Spring) we'll have to make sure the fence is rabbit proof.  Of course, when we had our last garden, we never once had a problem with them.  "J" from 2nd Family has one nesting in her planter and she's hoping for baby bunnies.

SHATTERED WINDOW

So this happened...

We were sitting in the living room and heard a noise, but just thought it was a cat on the porch and didn't really think much about it.  Later, I was looking out the kitchen window and I could see through my car windows to the back and saw that it was shattered.

Like, exploded type of shattered!

It was the rear hatchback window, from one side to the other.  Most of it was held precariously in place, but the side pieces were all over the driveway.

Little pieces like this!  After sweeping them up, I moved the truck out into the yard.  Then I very carefully moved my car over in the driveway so I could get 2nd Man's car out and drive that to work.

We're not sure what caused it, I mean, obviously the heat cause it to shatter, but there must have been a small crack there that I couldn't see.  The service tech said it could have been a couple days prior or a year ago, but the heat just cause it to suddenly spread and shatter. We called Safelite and they came out a couple days later and replaced it right there in the driveway.  Super easy and now I'm good as new.

Never a dull moment!

SPRINKLER DONUTS

Sprinkled donuts...

Oh wait, not THOSE kind of donuts!

These are SPRINKLER donuts.

Something we got for our septic sprinklers.  As you may (or may not) know, our new septic system is aerobic...meaning the excess, filtered, "gray water" is sprayed out into the yard.  

This is done via pop up sprinklers.  There are three of them and because they are below ground level, they are very hard to see.  You have to be careful when driving and/or mowing over them.  

We looked online and found some solutions.

This is what we settled on:

They sell them HERE ON AMAZON but they are a bit pricy (but you can at least read more about them and how they work).  I found them online at a sprinkler supply warehouse for half the price.  In fact, the price was low enough that I ordered four (to get over the free shipping threshold) and now we will have a backup should one break.

They are made of a concrete mixed with a fiber to reinforce them and make them very strong.  

The first thing I had to do was find them, ha.  It's easy though, we have a test button on the sprinklers to make them go off.  I found each one and then cleaned out the grass around it.

Here it is when I got the grass cleared and put it over the pop up.  Now they sit more flush with the ground so they don't get struck by the mower blades when I'm doing my thing.

They should look like this once the grass fills back.

Seems like a win/win!

FIGS AND OUR FIRST POMEGRANATE

Our fruit trees struggled this year in the heat (and my lack of nurturing, will do that this Fall with a plan).  But a couple of them have surprised us.

The fig tree is covered in figs! They are all over in various states of growth but all pretty close to each other in size.

I counted them and stopped at a couple dozen.  We're hoping they will continue doing well and we can maybe make something good with them.  2nd Man is not a big fan of figs but I bet I can find something to make that will get him to really like them.

And then check this out:

We have pomegranate!  Only one but hey, we'll take it!  Looking pretty good.  But to make sure it stays like that, we pulled out these that we got a few years ago.

They are mesh fruit protection bags for fruit trees.  I couldn't find the set that we got, but here is the link to Amazon where they have all sorts of different versions.

I put the bag over the lone pomegranate and tied it off.  It will still breathe and still get water from rain, etc but the bag will protect it not only from birds (most important) but also from bugs.  I see some fresh pomegranate seeds in our future!

Not sure when it will be fully ripe and also not sure about the figs but we'll be on fruit watch 2026, ha!

GOOD FOOD AND KITTY CAT SUNDAY

AUGUST!  AUGUST?  Where has the year gone?

It's hot for sure, we are having "feels like" temps of over 100 degrees.

I made some of our favorite chicken, Pollo Asado.  It's a marinate that has seasonings and then achiote paste that gives it the distinctive red color.  This will be wonderful on the grill when we eventually get that set up but until then, we roast it in the oven and it's still wonderful (but we do miss the char marks, ha).  Then we roast some corn in the final 15 minutes when we bump up the temp to 425.  So yummy.

Babygirl likes to sit on the porch railing now.  She discovered the chair in the corner offered easy access to the railing.  Now she loves it up there.  

Hope you have a nice weekend.  Stay cool!

A VIGNETTE

Thought we would start sharing some pictures of the inside of the house.  Here is one.

This is in the master bedroom, just as you come into the room on the left. The black door on the right goes into the master bath.  We used this small table with drawers that we had at the old farmhouse. We thought it would be the perfect spot as you come into the room.

It was something my Mom found once upon a time, it was an older piece that someone had painted with sunflowers.  So it gives us storage (bonus points) and then we put a bowl on the top for our keys so we know where they are when we need them. For a pop of color, we put a yellow and brown vase on there that we had at the old house and added dried branches for height.

I came up with this for 2nd Man.  He loves it.  It shows the old house, then the empty spot when it was staked out for the new one, a picture during construction and finally, the end result, the day we closed.

Under that we put this:

Because...right?  

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY OPOSSUM

 Another night, another creature on the porch.

Bur this time it was a opossum cleaning up the cat food bowl.  They come by regularly and we know it's good to have them around the homestead.

Some interesting opossum facts above.

And not gonna lie, we think they are kinda cute!