What We've Been Up To

September has been super crazy for us. I was gone a week for vacation, then John was gone for a few days to work in Plant City, we threw a big birthday party for Larry, then I was gone for a week for a business trip, then John worked a few more days in Plant City. So, it's been really, really crazy for us. In between all of that, life still goes on.

This is Drue and Lisa's new horse, Rain. I'm in love with her. She's about 14 hands tall and is super sweet. And, she supposedly drives a cart but we're not sure about that. We've been out to see her a couple times so far and I'd like to go ride her some more.


The kids are also playing soccer which means practice Tuesday and Thursday evenings and games on Saturdays. Luckily, they play on the same team - the Micanopy Six Shooters (6 and under team). Will is getting into it and is starting to understand the game. Kaity really doesn't get it yet, but likes the uniform.


My business trip was to the annual Garden Writers Association conference in Raleigh. It's a really nice conference and the bonus was that I got to have dinner with my cousin Sondra one night. GWA is great because of all the free plants you get. We drove a van up and brought back probably close to 100 plants (free and purchased) between the three of us. Here are some of the babies that I've repotted and am hoping to keep alive. I've got some crape myrtles, aloe, gardenia, and a crinum lily in the little pots. The Earth Box is probably ready to be redone, but I haven't gotten to that. Suggestions on what to put in it? Maybe some mums to greet me with fall color? Or veggies?


The kids and I made a bed while John was gone. I didn't take a before shot so you can't see the drastic difference it made. These were all free plants that we received from various vendors at GWA. I planted a bamboo muhly grass in front of the water softener. There's a lorapetalum, some nandina, a couple aloes, and a daylily. In the pot, is another lorapetalum that has white blooms. The kids helped spread the mulch also. The cooler temps in the evenings definitely made this activity more enjoyable.




Here's the bed John built me a couple weeks ago. It has knock out roses and confederate jasmine. Ignore the junk under the porch. The jasmine should fill in and we won't be able to see that.



The chickens absolutely love digging for bugs in this bed. They keep kicking the mulch out, so hopefully this heavier pine bark mulch will stay more in place.


In the midst of all this, it's been the first month of school and adjusting to a new schedule, Will has more schoolwork (and spelling words that he's doing GREAT at!), we have our normal meetings of cattlemen's, 4-H, Ag in the Classroom, etc, every Saturday is Gator Football, and the house is an absolute disaster! I guess that's what happens when one of us is always gone. I'm looking forward to October! Although it promises not to be any slower than September.