The Pond

The first thing to know is the pictures are in the wrong order, start at the bottom to see the proper sequence. This is a picture of Mel's African Rhubarb. We saw this plant at the Butchard Gardens last year and decided to give it a try. That it is still alive is amazing. If it thrives the leaves can get as big a five feet across.
This is Zoe being a helper dog with the retaining wall. Of course when she got out she stood right next to me to shake herself off.
Michael figured out a way to get the tractor down the hill.
This is pouring the rock into the pig wire cage that dad and Michael build. Under the pump house is the only place we have erosion. We only have about another foot before the pump house falls into the pond. Go figure.
A lot of the rock had to be unloaded by hand. Without the tractor the rock would have been hauled down the hill in buckets.
This is Michael driving down the hill. It made me a little nervous the first time but he handles the tractor with a lot of confidence.
Loading some of the rock by hand to make sure the load was even. They topped the retaining wall off with dirt and will plant grass. Hopefully it solves the problem.

Nothing trendy but CLEAN

I cleaned the frig this morning, it's so nice to open it. Impressive huh?

Hey Josh!!! Yup new chickens.

So what happens when Grandpa remodels the chicken coop? He needs to get more chickens. Sister Grover gave us four new hens and this very handsome and conceited rooster.
Here is one of the new Ladies. She has feathers on her feet.
Here's Grandpa. He really does love his chickens. He just got back from Home Depot so he could buy a light for the coop.

The AMAZING Chicken Coop!!!

Inside the new expanded chicken coop. Dad and Michael built a large shed door that will slide the snow.
We will not dump things here anymore. We thought an old tire would keep things contained but the girls couldn't scratch at it so they didn't eat all that tasty stuff. So out came the tire and the food will go down at the shed end in the dirt.
Here it is opened up. The base is removable so the tractor can drive right in.
Here are Dad and Michael lifting the door. The bottom picture shows it from the outside. It really is amazing and will be much nicer. They also fixed the automatic waterer, half of it is inside with a ladder going to it. The garden produced eight pints of beans, six delacata, and there was a cucumber plant hiding in the zucchini, two cucumbers. Yummy. Off to the lake to cool off.

For the beauty of the earth

Paul Tillberg brought me three boxes of peaches from the food bank. He had a whole truckload that no one wanted. I got fourteen quarts a was able to save some really nice ones for eating. I had to give about a third of a box to the chickens. The pickled beets are yummy, nine pints. Lot's more to mature in the garden. Another ripe tomato. The apple tree in the hay field is loaded, we will have lots of applesauce.

Dad is upgrading the chicken coop. I'll do a virtual tour when its done.

Grouse Creek Falls

Monday after Michael got off work we decided to go swimming even if was probably a little cooler than we would have liked. You can't see them very well but a group of people build a bunch of carrion on the river, some of them were really fun.
This is the natural water slide.
Dad wasn't really excited about the cold water so he chose to take pictures.

more summer

A hike to Snow Creek Falls. This was great day and the hike is definitely kid friendly.
These kids were great hikers, we had Katie, Diana, Emily, Nora and Issac. There wasn't a word of complaint. M and M's are always a good treat to keep spirits high.
Ryan was able to come for a day and half. The kids were sure excited to see him.
Dianna walked on the 23rd of July. It's a great accomplishment, she will be in Arizona with Marian and Ryan for her student teaching. We got to meet the newest family member to be. Matt Funk. We already love him.
A new barn roof. President Kimball would be pleased. Michael, Colin and Matt are risking life and limb. We are trying to talk dad into an improved chicken coop. I want to be able to drive the tractor into it to clean it out.
Nora was Aunt Mel's sidekick this summer. She came with us to pick huckleberries, worked in the flower gardens, and know quite a few flowers , even their Latin names.
Katie and Aunt Di on the big red tube. The summer has been fabulous.

Our hike to Grouse Creek Falls. This was a fun surprise, there are a couple of great swimming holes. Next summer we'll go prepared to swim and do hot dogs.

Mel working on a donkey head for Mid Summers Night Dream. Jessica, Marian and Melani have spent hours working on her show this summer. Mel has roped Dad into building her trees. They are up to their ears in planning. Dad loves the challenge.
The garlic harvest for the year. We have had two whole tomatoes and a couple of handfuls of beans. If the weather holds we'll do O.K. but it is cool today. The berries have been fabulous. We probably harvested 10 gallons of strawberries, twenty gallons of raspberries, four huckleberries. The blackberries were winter damaged this year so none of those this year. We will have bumper crop of apples. My walnut tree is doing well but I lost one of my hazel nut. The peach trees have a new set of leaves that are healthy, we thought we had lost them to a disease this spring. We will continue a vigorous sulfur spray this fall and next spring and see if we can save them. This is not Dad's favorite job.
My first successful year with onions. I should have a bumper crop of delicata squash, I love this variety. They are hardening then I will put a thin layer of oil on them for storage. Michael was able to mow the fields after haying and they look great. Melani has spent days rearranging the flower beds for maximum color. England really inspired her.