Powdery Mildew

Waaaah, my squash ended up getting powdery mildew. I read somewhere to cut the leaves that have it off, and then to try to keep it at bay with some different sprays I could make at home. Set to work hacking off leaves.... my poor plants!

Except, we ended up cutting off a ton of leaves, and then when we started picking the squash that were big enough, noticed that some were definitely getting gross as a result of the mildew... there were babies just starting to grow so I hated to do it, but they would have probably just rotted anyway, so we pulled the plants out. A few of the squash were still good...I have a basket full sitting on my kitchen counter.

So, I planted another zucchini but not another yellow squash since I think over crowding didn't help the problem. Hopefully it grows enough to get a little more harvest and I guess I'll just be buying my yellow until I can plant again. I'd like to put two smaller beds in next year...or in the fall and just not use them until next year...we'll see.

"tiny" little guy that was still good to eat.

Cuke! So far I've only picked one... there are two or three growing right now on the vine. One looks like a ball, it's funny. I wonder if it'll lengthen or just keep getting fat...not sure why I didn't snap a pic of that one.

I ended up letting a couple radishes go to flower. They're pretty :o) Maybe I'll plant some out front, haha.

The last two yellows before the plants got ripped out... ::sniff, sniff::

A Moose!

This, is a moose, you know.

See?

LOL

Fresh Veggies

Why pay for veggies when you can just walk into your backyard and get what you need? :o)

Picked these earlier today...

The next two pictures, were from last week. I loooove all the zucchini and yellow squash... and the girls are quite enjoying being able to pick peas and just eat them outside, lol. With all their help, I doubt I will end up getting enough at one time for a meal :o) They are a tasty little snack though, nice and sweet.

I'm really just playing aroud this year, I've never planted a veggie garden before so it's been a fun learning experience. Next year I'll be able to plan better now that I have seen first hand how big some things get and how much space they need and hopefully I'll get more return. I'd like to add in two (or more? lol) more raised beds. I have the wood for one, but I'm a bit ocd about having things even so I need to get enough for another before I bribe the husband in to putting them together. I guessssss I could put them together myself... if I have to... buuut I keep him around for a reason, you know! For playing with tools and taking out the trash. ;o)

Ugh

Good thing I emptied my camera onto the computer this morning.

I decided today would be a good day to fill up the kiddie pool and just spend the day outside. Got the pool filled, kids were playing and having a good time...put the slide in it so they could have water slide. Made them lunch to eat out... good day. Set my camera on a chair for a second so I could turn the hose on and water my garden. Baaaaad idea... Charlotte ran over and grabbed it, I told her to put it down and she did. She went back over to the pool to play. So I'm watering and all the sudden I hear Charlotte squealing "Wook! Camera swimming!" Sure enough, camera was at the bottom of the pool. It had been probably 5 seconds... got it out, dried it off, turned it on...it came on, but the screen was realllyyyyy dark... so I turned it off, took the battery and memory card out...shook it out and dried it off again and let it sit for a bit. Still won't work :o( Won't even turn on at all. Destructo baby, while I was dealing with my camera, decided to fill a bucket of water and dump it on the picnic table and was juuust about to dump some on my "outside bag" which had the house phone in it, lol...thankfully I got to her in time for that. A minute after that? Ava dumps out an entire box of crackers onto the grass. I had just opened it for them to have some with their lunch. ::siiiiiiiiigh:: I need a vacation, lol...so I decided we were coming inside "for a rest," and they are taking a nap. Probably more needed for me than for them, but they fell asleep quickly enough so I know they were tired too. I promised we'd go back out to play later, and we will. I'm so sad about my camera though. Really, it's not the best quality camera anyway (my older model actually took better pictures!) and it had been giving me some problems lately anyway so I guess I should just take it as a sign that I need to get a new one...but I don't want to fork over the moolah for it. I had some cute pictures and video from today too :o( Hopefully the memory card isn't ruined.

No Naps!

It's hooooooooooot. ::whine:: I don't want to turn on the A/C yet. Girls aren't acting like they're hot so it's probably just me because I don't think it's really all that bad out today. Their cheeks usually get really red if they're at all hot and they look fine.

I'm starting to wonder about our mail service here, because something is wrong with either it or me, lol. Seriously, I swear I remember writing out checks for things, putting them in the mailbox, and then being told later I never paid something? Just yesterday we got a notice from our homeowners association about a storm repair they contracted, they paid, we paid them... it was like $40, I specifically remember writing the check, telling Mike I was paying it, and mailing it off. Waste of a stamp!! Need to go through our bank statements to make sure they didn't just make a mistake on that one. But then today, I got a notice from a tax attorney or somesuch saying that I didn't pay my per capita for 2008. Now, it's only 23.xx, but I don't NOT pay my taxes, lol. I either didn't get it, or sent it off and they didn't get it... I always write the date I wrote the check/mailed something off on the actual bill before I store it away, but of course our "filing cabinet" is really just one of those 3 drawer plastic things and papers are just thrown in...no particular order. Need to fix that... but now I get the joy of later going through every single paper until I find (or not find) that tax statement/bill/whatever. I already started (and started separating everything into like piles for a start on real organization) but then Ava kept trying to wake up Charlotte...so she finally did and now they're playing and I'm here because I have a headache and I'm procrastinating fixing dinner. Mike will hopefully be home at 6:30ish so I have a little time... and the kids ate two lunches today and plenty of snacks so they're good.

I was working on my grocery list too so that's somewhat productive I guess... heh.

Mike called me earlier and said they found a huge yard sale (yeah, great "work" guys, haha) and asked if I wanted to go check it out tomorrow. He said they both wanted to buy a wheelbarrow but didn't think they could get away with stashing them in the ambulance. They talked to the guy who was doing the selling and he said he'd be out there tomorrow to so that works.

So aside from that tomorrow I want to get some paint mixed up because I used almost all of the "house color" to paint my garden bed and we got the wood to make a smaller one for strawberries only so I'll need to paint that to match...and get the shed trim sanded and painted. And while I have the sander out hopefully sand and start painting the jelly cupboard my mom gave me...either for the garage or the kitchen... I have high hopes for tomorrow. We'll see if any of it actually gets done, lol.

I guess Saturday we are having a cook out. My mom called me the other day and said "are you having a party this weekend" "uhhh, no?" "well, you are now." LOL. Sounds good I guess. She said spread the word...but I don't really know anyone that would actually come up, especially last minute like that. I figure most people already have plans with it being a holiday weekend, so I'm just letting Mike invite who he wants. I might facebook/myspace a status about it...maybe, lol.

Uh oh, Ava's starting to try to take a nap. Must go disturb her!! LOL. No naps after 3:30pm!!

Kids Say

lol, so today Ava was eating her second lunch (yeah, lol) and she made a mess on the table. She said "Look mommy, I got my sour cream ALL OVER the table!" I asked her why she did that and she replied "Um. Because I don't like you." Stifling giggles I asked why she didn't like me and says "I do! I do like you!" All I could say was "well, good... 'cause I like you." She's funny.

The other day she was eating dinner and she had asked for an ice cream cone, I said sure if she finished her dinner. She asked for seconds and I gave them to her, but she hadn't eaten her noodles at all yet. Now, I don't really expect her to always finish her plate, but if she's hungry enough for ice cream, and she asked for seconds of one thing, and I *know* she likes what's on her plate, I do expect her to at least take a few bites, so after she kept begging for the ice cream I just said "Not until I don't see anymore noodles on your plate." And she said "okay." A few minutes later she asks for ice cream and says "There not anyyyy more noodles on my plate." I go to look and she's right...'cause she scooted them all off on to the table. @@ LOL... Yes, I gave her the ice cream. I should have chosen my words more carefully.

Kids Say...

Ava: ::chewing on a care bear fruit snack::
I can't eat Care Bears!
::looks at the fruit snack pack:: I sorry I eat you.
::kisses bear on the pack::
I so sorry I eat you.

LOL...she was really concerned.

Playing dress up, she comes up to me wearing a play stethoscope.
Me: Are you a doctor??
Ava: Yes. I'm a doctor. A REAL doctor. But... not a REALLY real doctor.

LOL