Hi Everyone!

[judy]

Happy Birthday Scott! What a busy week you have had! You really have so much energy!

It sounds great that you visited so many people. You and Scott, and Layla are definitely participants and not observers of life!

[Lindsey]

lol I don't have much energy! Everything is stuffed into the few months of summer here though so it's always so busy busy busy! And I'm just exhausted all the time! This weekend I just want to stay home, maybe do some painting, and relax! I'll probably be stuck at the office working though

[DianaB]

Lindsey, you have been busy!!! How nice that you could stay at your Grandmother's house and got to visit with your cousin!!!.......Tell Scott....Happy Birthday!!!

Gayle, peach cobbler and ice cream sound wonderful!! I haven't made ice cream for such a long time!! I may need to get my freezer out!!

Janet, Yay!!!! You got two puppies sold!!! I know that you've been worried about getting them sold......and you'll get the last one sold too!!! I just know it!!!

Well.......we had a good time at the lake!! Several aunts, uncles, some of Mom's cousins, and some of my cousins, were all there. We always have lots of food!! And lots of swimming!!! I spent two hours in the water swimming.......I float very well and don't have to have much movement to stay afloat......and I found out that it was too long.....my blood sugar dropped when I got out so I made sure that I didn't do that again!!!

My cousin decided to keep the bird which was fine.....we really weren't sure that we really wanted it anyway. We talked about going to Branson but had to be home by Tuesday so we decided to just spend the night somewhere on the way home......which was Joplin. The next morning Glen dropped me off at a big flea market there and I got to shop while he ran around to places he was interested in. I bought an antique parlor table to go here in the living room. It was a good trip.

Then....on Tuesday....yesterday.....we went to the lake with our children's church kids. Amy planned a picnic and we went swimming. The lake we went to has a nice sand beach which you don't find normally in Kansas. Dae Lynn even had Baby Dean out.....he was so cute with his little hat and sunglasses!!!!

Oh... and Dae Lynn, Damon, and the kids came out and housesit for us......they also watched the dogs. Karlie was so excited because she was going to get paid for doing it!!! She got $5 and was so excited!!!!

Now we have VBS tonight......gotta' dress like an Egyptian again!!! Lots of fun!!!!

[gja1000]

I have been outdoors much (well some) of the day in the 90-100 degree heat. YUK!

But my sweet honey got me a couple of rose bushes for the pots in our front yard, so I needed to take out the old potting soil and put in new rose potting soil and plant them. I still have one pot to do this evening after it gets into the shade.

I also repotted an impatiens plant. It was completely root bound so I got a new hanging pot for it. We don't actually have it hanging right now, because the location gets too much sun for it now - so it's sitting on my back porch. Hopefully though, we will be able to hang it in the fall (if it lives that long. LOL). I've been to the nursery TWICE!

We are looking for some ground cover for a spot in our back yard that gets total shade and another place under a tree where the grass is almost gone. I think we have found some native plants that will work well, but we'll have to drive an hour and half to get them! I think we'll make that drive on Sunday.

[DianaB]

Gayle, you are such a busy woman!!! I bet your roses will be beautiful!!! I've never had good luck with roses. You're so brave to be out in this heat!!!

[gja1000]

Well, I was Mrs. Green Jeans (for those of you old enough to remember that Mr. Green Jeans was a farmer and Captain Kangaroo's right hand man) for most of the weekend. With the 100+ temps, if you have any outdoor trees, grass, garden or flowers, they need A LOT of attention right about now. It seems I watered off and on all day on Saturday. Then Sunday, I tended to the garden, watered a few more spots and then Gary and I shopped for gutters for the back of the house and started to work on them a bit (no, he really isn't able to do the work, but he wants to try, so I'll help him as long as he can work at it).

We saw some rain barrels at the Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago and we have talked about setting up barrels to catch the rain off our roof, for some time now. Gary needs "projects" , so we bought rain barrels. Here is a link to see them. The pictures all show two barrels together, but we only have one barrel in 3 locations. http://austingreenwater.com/rain-bar...om-green-water

They are nice as they are elevated on the wood platforms and the valve where you hook up the hose is at the bottom of the barrel, so the water will drain out through the hose via gravity. You can use a soaker hose also.

We can get a rebate from the City of Austin to pay for about 25% of each barrel. We have one in the front (or side of the house - it's hidden behind our crepe myrtle bushes) to water our white oak tree and crepe myrtles in the front yard. We'll put two in the back yard, one at one end of the house for the red oak and one at the other end of the house for the chinquapin oak and the garden.

We've needed to put up gutters in the back of the house for several years, but just haven't done it. We have friends who will help us if we can't get them done. We already have gutters in the front of the house, so we just have to adjust the downspout to empty into the barrel.

We are also having an arborist come tomorrow to trim our trees. We have a 3 1/2 year old white oak (Montery oak) in the front yard that needs the lower branches trimmed off. Then we have a red oak in the back yard that is rubbing the roof in places. Hopefully, tomorrow they will look all prettied up when I get home!

[judy]

Those rain barrels are great Gayle! That is one good idea!!! Luckily, we get rain almost every day for at least a couple of hours. It's raining now, and I think it rained overnight. I rarely have to water the plants. I do have to separate my coleus. They are growing fast, and are probably root bound. I forgot to buy a pot, so will have to hunt for one today.

[DianaB]

I saw rain barrels somewhere recently and I think that they're a good idea. It's really nice that the city will give you a rebate for them too. It will be nice to have water that hasn't been treated to water your plants with and they'll probably do better. You could even add some water soluble fertilizer to the water as well.

I know that our temps have been really high and we're in an "extreme heat warning" again today. The corn is drying out really quickly and Glen told me today that they'll be cutting corn early this year. We could really use some rain......Judy, why don't you send some of that rain here!!!!

The yard is looking so brown and dry. I watered my plants and flowers last night but I know that it's not enough. I probably should start running a trickle on some of the shrubs so the water can soak in really good and not just be on top of the ground.