Gardening, Let's get to it!

The patio 2009, I've got a thing for this bright orange red color this year.

Gardening is hard work and it's never ending! I've posted lots of photos from previous years of how pretty the garden is, but never any of all that needs to be done, almost all the time. Sometimes, I can't enjoy our yard because all I see are things that need to be done. I'll show you what I mean.

Lets start with bunnies. I get so ticked off........they are extremely destructive, so I have wire around lots of plants. Here, it's protecting variegated iris and bee balm. With these barriers and spray repellent I think I have a fighting chance. But it's an on going battle.

Here's part of the perennial garden. The old basket is another bunny guard, I cut out the bottom to give a little coneflower a chance. The clematis, another 1$ find from Lowe's, needs to be protected soon or it will be a feast for the bunnies too.

Last fall I really thinned out this bed. It was too crowded and the bigger plants were over shadowing the smaller ones causing them to become straggly. Now it looks bare!

Around the light pole in front, a well established clematis that's suffering, I think from all the rain. I'll soon cut this back to nothing and it will start to grow again and probably give more blooms. Fingers crossed on that one.

This spot breaks my heart. Our pretty ornamental pear split and blew over. We sure do miss the shade it provided. I have no idea what to do here, the stump is huge and it's still in the center of the boxwoods. It looks stupid now! You can see some of the branches piled up near the shed. I'm hoping the pile disappears soon! Who's going to paint the birdhouse?

Here's the edge of the patio......you can see the big box that we use to hold cushions and there's the bunny trap. Sometimes we'll get a bunny and take it out to a field and release it......lot of good that does!

My husband insists on putting this lid over our tiny pond because he thinks it helps keep the water clear....I don't know.... but it looks ugly. This rose needs to be trimmed and that is quite a job.

More unfinished jobs, tanbark that needs to be spread.....

ground covers that need thinned.....

a bare spot in front of the shed........everything stays too wet in this spot because it doesn't get full sun. The shed needs spouting and a rainbarrel.......

divided plants waiting for a new home.

a vegetable garden that needs tended....

paths that need weeded, plants that need cut back and deadheaded.....

shrubs that need trimmed ......Are you tired yet? If I had it to do over would I plant so much.....NO.

But it is pretty and certainly keeps us busy. In the heat of summer I need to get out early before it's too hot and if I do that I can keep up with it!

Next post I'll show you my favorite tools and how the garden looked when we started. You'll be surprised.

Then later I'll be doing a post about the patio pavers and awning.

Happy gardening!

Thrify finds

I managed to get out on Saturday and do a little yardsaling. Here's what I grabbed. A p** pot....actually I've been looking for something like this for the patio to hold fish food. It was 4$ and of course the seller had to say something like, now she doesn't have a pot to p.......in!

I got 2 microfiber pillows for a buck, 5o cents each! A steal and one still had the original tag.
At that price I can keep them on the patio.

A couple weeks ago, Lowe's had hanging pots of Martha Washington geraniums on sale for a buck! They were water logged from all the recent storms. I know they were very heavy to carry. All I did was deadhead them, made sure they got plenty of sun and didn't water them again until they were completely dry. I popped off the hangers and plopped them in these old pots. Look how pretty they are now.

I found these plates at the thrift shop. The big one is a cake plate from the Butlers Pantry line from Lenox and was 5 bucks! The smaller ones were 5o cents each. Aren't you loving square plates these days?

More goodies are, a folding chair, like new, 4 $, canisters just 1$ and a cute litle plate, 75 cents.

That's it! Mid July our town is holding a celebration and is urging people to hold yard sales! I won't be, I'll be out there having a blast hunting for treasures!

I'm joining Rhoda's thrifty party, you'll see lots of thrifty finds there!

Summer reading, What's on your list?

Our ladies group at church is reading a set of 5 books by Francine Rivers. So far I've read Unveiled, the story of Tamar and Judah from Genesis 38. These books are fictional based on the outline of the story from the Bible. They're easy to read novellas featuring women in the lineage of Jesus. At the end of each book is a study guide and a seek and find section.

I'm almost done with Unashamed, the story of Rehab who hid the spies when they came to Jericho.

There's also Unshaken, the story of Ruth, Unafraid, the story of Mary and Unspoken, the story of Bathsheba.
The studies at the end of each book are thought provoking and can cause some emotional conversations.
*********

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I think I've mentioned that before.... I've just started Mercy and am anxious to really get into it. Have you read any of her books? My Sister's Keeper, which was my favorite, is now a movie starring Cameron Diaz. I'll definitely be seeing that, but the books are always so much better than the movie, do you agree?

She's written several great books so you might want to put at least one on your reading list.
Have a great day!

Tasty Tuesday, What's for Supper

Fresh from the garden! Tasty spring onions and leaf lettuce will make a simple salad for supper.

It's leaf lettuce and spring mix, which is a couple kinds of lettuce seeds in the same seed pack. After a good washing, into the salad spinner they'll go. Love that spinner!

I added my favorite garbonzo beans, some onions and beets and dressed it all with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. Sure wish we had some tomatoes. Along with a juicy grilled steak, that's some good eatin!

For lots more ideas and recipes, check out Jen's Tasty Tuesday.

My Road Trip Adventure

Last week I traveled down I 81 south to daughter #2 and family in Tennessee. Yes, I went by myself...it's not a big deal because it's just route 81 the whole way, about 8 hours.

Well not this time! Route 81 was completely closed going south at Hagerstown MD. I just followed the traffic in front of me along the detour until I realized that there weren't many cars on the road.....uh oh...what happened to all the cars???? How I missed the detour completely and ended up on my way straight to Washington I'll never know for sure. I think it was because there were trucks in front of me and I couldn't see all the signs.

I fired up my GPS and the dern thing took me straight back to 81, but at least I found the detour this time.

So it took about 3 1/2 hrs to go 50 miles....I'm not kidding. Bumper to bumper and moving about 2 mph! When I finally got back on I 81, I traveled for about 45 minutes before it got black and started pouring. The kind of pouring where you put on your flashers and follow the lights of the car in front of you.

Ok, enough. That's it! I still had about 5 hours to go....not......I stayed at Days Inn. It was dark and storming loudly and I slept like a baby. The next day I was refreshed and ready to go.
I spent the week helping to put together my daughter's house. She recently moved and needed help getting the place together. It was a downsize to a smaller rental house and she was overwhelmed with stuff. I was happy to help her get it all together.

Here's my grandson eating ice cream. He's a sweet lil guy....mostly...sometimes stubborn.


What could be more fun than a mud hole after the rain?

Mud between the toes looks like fun!

If I ever lived in the south I would need a personality transplant. The people are so chatty and nice. In the north, a store cashier would never say she hopes you have a blessed day and all the cashiers say something nice. You wouldn't hold a conversation with the person in line behind you and you wouldn't stand so close either. That bothers me....when someone stands so close, I feel like they are in my space and I notice it every time I'm in the south. But, I do like all the friendliness and probably need to be more friendly myself.

Anyhow, her new neighbors were friendly and welcoming and I was happy to hear that they are looking out for her. She's going through a very hard domestic situation and needs lots of prayers, so could you please remember her in your prayers? I thank you for that!

The detour was because a tanker truck rolled over and spilled some sort of hazardous material.

The Winner is.....

And the winner of the Ethel gloves is ........drum roll please.............



Random number between 1 and 52, 29, Zoe.

I've sent you an email with details.
A great big thank you to all who entered the giveaway and to those who purchased gloves at a discount! I wish I could give you all a pair of these great gloves! You can visit the Ethel blog here to read fun stories about Ethel gloves.

Gardening Gloves Giveaway

If you like gardening as much as I do, you’ve probably gone through several pairs of gardening gloves.

Some are so thin that they last only a few times before your fingers are poking through the fingertips, and others are so thick that you can barely bend your fingers and you find yourself yanking them off to do light work like deadheading.

With that being said, let me introduce you to Ethel Gloves. Recently I was contacted by Ethel Gloves and asked if I would be interested in trying their gloves. Well, of course I was!

I got the medium size and the fit is perfect. This is the Jubilee pattern, with fleur de lis on it. They’re almost too pretty to use.

I wore these for hours while working outside and didn’t pull them off once.

Delicate work like deadheading wasn’t a problem while wearing these gloves, but I was also trimming shrubbery, raking it up and working in the tanbark. My gloves got really dirty but they’re machine washable. They’re rugged, durable and designed to fit women’s hands.

Boy did I get sweaty and dirty, I even have dirt on my teeth, but my Ethel gloves washed up beautifully and look new again!

I’m very pleased with these gloves AND happy to be able to offer one of my lucky readers a pair of these great gloves. Just leave a comment and on Saturday June 20th , I’ll use the random number generator to pick the winner. If you’d like to purchase a pair at their website you can get a discount of 10% by using the code BUNNY10. The discount code is good until July 13th.

Have a great day.

It's a garden PARTY at KIMBA's, A SOFT PLACE TO LAND, lots of gardening going on over there!

Turmeric and Curry

Curry and turmeric, do you use these spices?
I'm don't much, but I'm trying to eat more of these and also trying to develop a palate for hot foods because of their health benefits. My husband loves hot and spicy food and puts crushed red pepper on anything he can. Sometimes it irritates me when I've cooked a nice meal and he puts hot pepper on everything. A little hotness is about all I can handle.


I came across an interesting article recently that stated that older people in India have the lowest rate of Alzheimer's disease. Could it be because their diet is high in curry which is a componet of turmeric?

It's possible that turmeric may be able to protect the liver, control cholesterol, serve as an antioxident and reduce inflammation.

It resembles a sweet potato before it's in powder form.

I added just a little to some chicken salad and it was good. Not what I was used to, but still good. Guess I'll be doing that more often. I figure it can't hurt. Right?

Are you a spicy food lover? What's your favorite way to spice up your cooking?

Welcome

Yes, if you're thinking this is-was, ~the Bunnies Bungalow~, you're correct. We've received a makeover a la Joanna Southern Girl Blog Designs.
It was a fun experience seeing my ideas become reality. Joanna was easy to work with and very knowledgeable in blog design.


I've heard too many people say that the bunnies bungalow brings to mind something that belongs to Hugh Hefner. Don't like that, no way, we are not that kind of bungalow.......so now we are just Bungalow with a few bunnies here and there. It's still the same old me.

There are still some links that are under construction, but I'm working on that. I'll be away for the next week so it will get done eventually. Hope you like the new Bungalow!
Feel free to grab my blog button.... we could exchange buttons... and I'll be updating my blog roll so please let me know if you'd like your link there.

Coming up on Tuesday the 16th, that's next week, look for a great giveaway! Hint...it has to do with gardening. If you like working outdoors you won't want to miss it.

Have a great day.

Trying a new Spray Paint

Move over black and white, there's a new finish in town!

I tried this multicolor textured spray paint. Ok, I was persuaded by the free 25% more.
The original finish on these sconces was similar to this, I couldn't find the right picture.
In the dining room is where the sconces are and since that room has undergone a makeover, I decided to makeover the sconces too and change them out to something that looks more current. Now they look good against the creamy walls.





Here's a close up of the finish. I like it. There are so many new spray paint finishes available, I hear there is even one the looks like oiled bronze.

Try something New!