Two months!

June 27th was our two month anniversary of when we moved in, and nearly five months since my heart became set on living here in Weston, Texas!  We still love it and we have made so much progress!  Some of our accomplishments are not as grand as others, but clearing brush, and stacking wood, and mowing and edging and waging war on the poison ivy makes quite a lot of difference in the overall appearance of a place.  For as much progress as we have made though,we have a hundred more projects on the list!   We're planning and researching how we're going to do our fall garden.  Traditional or raised beds, what crop rotation, compost methods, etc... Kevin's actually doing most of the research on that and then we talk it out, but I've found quite alot of great information in a book called _A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables, Fruit, and Herbs_ by Richard Bird.  (More on that in the future.)  We also started working on the chicken coop this weekend.  I will post sneak peeks and some of our discoveries in the coming days.  

The front flower bed has filled in nicely!  It's been fun to see what will spring forth!  So far it's Lantana, Iris, Yarrow, & Purple Hearts in this bed. 

 

One eleven year old boy moved and stacked this pile of rock as payment for a much coveted blue tooth that was not being used.   I'm thankful Kevin was willing to part with it because I got my rock moved so it was easy access for finishing off the border to the shade garden!

The munchkins left us for the first of two summer visits to their other set of parents.  After they left, we sat by the pool, watched a gorgeous sunset, and enjoyed the outdoor lighting until the Super Moon came into view - I love how close everything appears in the country - the moon and stars, unadulterated by city lights.

It's Crepe Myrtle season here!  They are in full bloom and quite spectacular!

Kevin and I were taking a stroll, picking up deadfall when we came upon this most unfortunate squirrel.  It would appear he got his head stuck in a hole and perished.  The first thing that came to mind was the story of Winnie the Pooh becoming stuck in Rabbit's front door.  (See the mini version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDm3NlSSJyg This short version excludes one of my favorite parts, where Pooh Bear tries to convince Gopher to give him "just a shmall shmakeral of honey" and Rabbit posts a rather large "Don't Feed the Bear!!!" sign.)  But, I digress - I will forever be curious as to how this creature came to be stuck - did he cram his cheeks full of nuts and stubbornly refuse to let go?   Did he fall into the hole from a higher branch, become stuck and suffocate?   Was there some critter in the hole that attacked him?  Did he get bitten by something and die with no warning? 

 

Tonight we let the chicks free range for the first time.  They are growing up so quickly!   I was pleased they stayed fairly close and when dusk fell, several made their way, unprompted, back into their coop.  The ones who did not couldn't figure out yet how to make the hop up so we placed a board to use as a ramp.  It only took a few moments for them to walk in on their own.  I was a proud chicken mama! 

We have been fighting grasshoppers in almost plague like proportions.  They ate all my herbs as the delicate seedlings broke ground.  I made a solution of baking soda, dish detergent, and water and Kevin has been spraying everything regularly.  Today he was chatting with someone and learned that guineas are great for keeping the grasshopper population in check - I think we are going to look into a few of those! They may very well become some of our best friends!  ;-)

Another sneak peek at the kitchen!  My talented hubby made my vision come to life!   The space to the left will house a trash bin on casters made from some boards we picked out from the old homestead.