Tags
backyard, camping, canning, kitchen, landscaping, native plants, Ono, vegetables
We worked our butts off yesterday in the sun and heat, and I have the awkward tan lines and weirdly sore muscles to prove it. In celebration of being exhausted, I’m going to just stick with the pics today. We’ve had an eventful week on ye olde home front.
We started the weekend at Shades State Park, west of Indianapolis, to celebrate Chris’ birthday weekend. BIRTHDAY!
I was NOT all that into the giant black snake CLIMBING UP A TREE that we encountered at the end of one of our hikes.
Phew! The snake did not eat us, and we lived to tell the tale and eat another hot dog.
Have I mentioned lately that I like beets? And canning? Here are the finished pickled beets. Today I planted about 6 more rows of beet seeds!
I also froze some fresh pesto.
As of this morning, many of the lettuces and all the snap peas are no longer. This alien-looking thing is the sign of a well-loved, well-eaten lettuce plant.
Did I mention the outside world kicked our collective asses yesterday? We decided, what with our upcoming housewarming party and the tour de coops, it was time to beautify the side of the house a bit. Where once there was dying grass, we now have coneflower, coreopsis, and blazing star (with a couple of rosemary plants thrown in for good measure).
Mmm, blazing star!
Pretty soon, we are going to be very sick of yellow squash. I’m all for freezing it for later, though!
The girls commiserated with our general heat-strokiness yesterday.
Really, though, the entire point of this post has been leading up to THIS PICTURE – our brand new cedar convertible bench/picnic table!
Seriously, I think I’m in love.
Wow! What a fantastic table/bench. I would sip coffee there and knit every morning. Sigh.
I know, right?! We had dinner at it the first night we put it together… then I did a little art project on it a few nights ago. So far, so good, but we need to use it to its maximum capacity!
Love the dress (shirt?) you’re wearing in the picnic table picture. I need to show that to the boyfriend… see if he can design one…
hmmm… I won’t tell him you sent me.
Ha! It’s a dress from American Apparel, actually – I was placing an order, it was on super-sale (seriously, like, $10 or something), and it bumped me exactly to the amount required for free shipping! I wasn’t sure I’d ever wear it, but I sort of love it.
Oh, sweet – here it is! http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa4308.html
Eeeeek, snake on a tree! I love the rest of it though. That pinic bench is wonderful.
I really do love that picnic bench. We need to seal it… but I honestly don’t remember the last time it rained, so that’s not exactly a high priority.
The snake: Chris and I were walking along, talking, when he just got this LOOK on his face and grabbed my arm. I really thought there was a bear or some other insane creature staring at us from 10 feet away! The snake was traumatic, though. HOLY CRAP, I had no idea they climbed like that.