It's a dirty job...

Yesterday, I was 'forced' to hold this little bundle while his mommy took a shower. And then he was still sleeping so well, I had to hold him while his mommy watered her flowers. Oh, the burdens I bear for my children and grandchildren! I must say I really like having them living so close! It is so fun to see the changes in him each day!

This afternoon after work I ran some errands. One of those was to pick up some bird netting to keep the birds away from my blueberries and gooseberries. After finding the netting I took a peak at the plants and found some that I thought would work in a 'new' planter I have so I picked them up along with some garden soil to add to the planter. 

It was hot today but I was excited about the plants so I went out and cleaned out the planter, added the soil and some compost and added the plants. This planter used to be in the greenhouse that was attached to the garage but it was old and decrepit so it got torn down a few years back. Since the planter was part of the foundation and that didn't get taken out I decided I would put it to use. 

After getting things planted I was inspired to clean up the rest of the greenhouse space which meant pulling a lot of grass and weeds out. Luckily they were easy to pull. As you can see from this picture there are some portions of the cinder block foundation still in there but they can stay until we decide how to proceed. Meanwhile, we can enjoy the Black-eyed Susans, Mexican Heather and the other perennials I planted as we sit in the chairs and watch the puppy play.

Quilt Exchange And So Much More

It may have been a while since I have posted but at least this one will have lots of photos...and not all will be of the new puppy!

We will start with the quilt reveal at the neighbors. Here is the quilt that Cindy made for Linnea. 

This was the one I received from Sally. You can't tell from this picture but the black and white blocks are a print of women with purses and various adult beverages. It is all flannel and very snuggly. 

This is Nadine's from her sister, Linnea. The main print is a shoe print in red and black and white. Nadine does love her shoes!

Mary wasn't able to be there that night but I got word that she did like this blue and yellow lap quilt that I made for her.

I think you can tell from this picture that Sally was pleased with her quilt from Mary. It was the only really big quilt that evening but it seems Mary doesn't know how to make a small quilt!

Sally just wanted to cuddle up in it!

Last, but not least was Cindy's quilt from Nadine. it was the third with the red and black theme!

Little Ginger slept through most of the reveal on my lap. (I said they wouldn't all be of her, but there has to be a few!)

Last Sunday, we welcomed my new grandson, Karl Andrew into the family. We didn't care whether he was a boy or a girl but we all were hoping for red hair and we got that! 

Here he is shortly after he got home from the hospital, stretching out.

This one was taken when he was a couple days old. A request from a friend's 2 year old for a picture of the baby with me.

My eldest daughter and the grandkids came for the 4th of July and here is my granddaughter holding her little cousin. She thought he was pretty awesome!

My oldest holding the puppy back. Ginger gets pretty excited about the baby.

I made tie-dyed shirts for all three of the kids so here is that photo op. The baby was awake and happy for the occasion even!

Mandu and Ginger wanted to be a part of the excitement.

Kissing Cousins!

We celebrated Clara's birthday last night since we won't be with her for her real birthday. She was pleased with her birthday cake since she is very interested in plants.

Here is the picture from the end of May next to a picture I took this morning before the kids headed home. See how much Ginger has grown!

Our final baby/puppy picture was take this morning. I was cuddling the baby and Ginger really needed to get up close. She really wants to play with that little baby but no one will let her so she has to be satisfied with some snuggles, albeit restrained snuggles.

I have been enjoying being able to get back outside again. I have even roto-tilled the garden twice. The first time with our old roto-tiller that hubby repaired a couple of weeks ago and then with the brand new tiller. The garden isn't weed-free but I think we can tame it still. The strawberries are about done and the raspberries have taken their place! I bought a couple of boysenberry bushes last year and discovered this week that they are actually very healthy raspberries! So a little later this fall I will transplant them into the raspberry row and I will have to look for boysenberry bushes elsewhere!

Yesterday I decided it was time to prune the 'jungle' across from the deck. It is an old planting of lilacs, beauty bush, mock orange, forsythia, and a couple of other types of bush. I usually prune them to some degree each year but the last two years it wasn't too drastically due to health issues. They are done blooming so it was time again and I did about half of it yesterday. There are now three distinct bushes of lilac, beauty bush and forsythia on the right side. It looked a lot like the left side before I got started. 

Clearing out allowed us to see a bunch of junk at the end of the garage so hubby was inspired to clean it up a bit and put that gate there to hide the propane tank that is used to heat the shop. Through the bushes you can see the chairs we've been sitting in watching the puppy play and also the garage shed. Once I finish the pruning we will look into getting bark to spread underneath. We might have to pull the old bathtub out of there also and put it in a better spot. My vision for that is for it to be a water feature with a shower head spraying down.