Heat Wave!

It must be summer. :-) I feel as if I've been slacking in my posting. And I do apologize if you come here often for an update, and aren't finding them. I've really just been busy enjoying summer and enjoying time with my kids. It's wonderful. Yesterday was the conclusion of our county fair- and both kids really enjoyed themselves. They especially love walking through the barns and seeing the animals. Abigail enjoys riding some of the rides- Zander not so much. Although he did enjoy the motorcycle ride.

In addition to the fair it's been hovering around 100º around here- so it's been pretty darn hot. We are so grateful that we have A/C. I remember sweltering last year- making trips to the mall just to sit in the air conditioning. It's so nice to be able to stay in the comfort of our own home. Although, the heat can move on now. Zander would spend all day outside if I let him, and it's just too hot to do so. I will let him go out and play with the sprinkler or the pool, but he really doesn't last that long. With any luck though, today should be the last day of extreme heat, so we'll be cooling down a bit over the next few days. Here's a picture of the kids in the sprinkler, having a blast.

Another benefit to having air conditioning is that I can still be in the kitchen if I want to. And though I really haven't, I did have some bananas that were going brown, so I made a couple of loaves of banana nut bread to take with us on our upcoming camping weekend. I'm thinking about making some blueberry muffins this morning... we'll see. One of my things to do today is to finish making my lists for camping this coming weekend. We're looking forward to it. We actually bought fishing licenses and gear, so we're going to try and do some fishing too. But we have a lot of stuff to remember to take with us, so hopefully I can get it all down on paper today so I cna check things off as I go.

This past weekend I became the proud owner of a new computer. I love it. We've always settled for secondhand and used computers- having a brand new computer makes us feel like royalty. It's not quite top of the line, but it is sooooo nice, soooo fast, and there is so much more that it is capable of doing, that I'm looking forward to using it more and learning how to do everything. Even more exciting is the fact that we now have two computers. It did take me a little while to figure out how to network them and get them both online at the same time, but they are both working now. It's kind of fun to be able to sit next to Abigail and look up a recipe while she is playing games. It's also fun to be able to pull up a chair next to Andy while he's reading the news online, and I want to check the goings on on the bulletin boards I frequent.

And finally this morning was an exciting morning when I went out to check my tiny little vegetable garden. Here to the right is one of my tomato plants. See the little green globes? I'm so excited! Fresh tomatoes are right around the corner. I've also been reading up on seed saving and gardening on Gardenweb and I'm really hoping my tomatoes are wonderful- because I would love to be able to save some seeds and start my plants from seed next spring. That would be so exciting! There are also tons of blossoms on all three of my tomato plants, so I'm hoping I will have enough to do a little canning this year. There is nothing like opening a jar of home-canned tomatoes in January for a tomato-basil soup. And if anyone has any tips for seed-saving, I'd love to hear them! I'm also hoping to pick up some heirloom varieties at the farmer's market- and I'll save some seeds from those as well.

Over here on the left now you will see one of my bean plants, loaded with blossoms. I should have plenty of beans. I planted both green beans and wax beans- and all three rows of plants are looking great. I do have three plants that are ahead of the rest, as they were the lone survivors of my first planting. And you can't see it very well in this picture, but one of those blossoms has already made way for the beginnings of a bean- which means in a week or so, I could have my first few beans. I can't wait. My pea plants are also looking okay. They've finally taken to the trellis and the blossoms are beginning to fade and turn into tiny pea pods. And that is my garden. The radishes we've plucked and enjoyed every last one. And my lettuce fizzled out on me. I have one teeny tiny bunch of three leaves and that's it. I'm contemplating planting some beets in my bare patch and seeing if I can produce a crop yet before the first frosts. I think if I can still find some seeds, I may just do that.

I guess that's it for this morning. The kids are busy playing nicely, so I think I may take this pleasant opportunity to make those blueberry muffins and then hop in the shower. I hope everyone is staying cool.