Sometimes life is sweet as honey...

Sometimes unexpected things happen and life is just a little sweeter. That's what we discovered yesterday when Don left for work. On his way out he stopped to check the box we have at the gate to see if I'd gotten a package in the mail. Turns out the box was full...of honey bees! Can you see them on the box in the picture above?

I've always had a knack for attracting (or finding) stray animals, but this is the first time I've had a swarm of honey bees find me! Don and I have always felt that we must have invisible signs floating over our heads that say "STRAYS WELCOME HERE" but we're quite surprised to find that bees can see those signs as well as a cat or dog.

Research and posting on a beekeeping forum shed some light on the situation. Don wants to move the box since it is so close to the driveway gate. Turns out he needs to do this at night...dusk actually. He needs to block the bees entrance into (and out of) the box with screen. He also needs to wear protective clothing.

At first we thought about contacting a beekeeper to come get the box of bees, but now Don is thinking it might be really cool to set up a hive and have our own honey in the future. How sweet is that? Free honey for the taking! Seems like Mother Nature has offered us a sweet deal that we'd be nuts to turn down. Hmmm...or is it nuts to think about keeping a swarm of bees at your house?

Goodies from the garden...

Every Spring Don and I have grand plans for the garden that we never quite achieve for one reason or another. Last year we ended up not having a garden at all because Don had shoulder surgery and wasn't able to use the tiller.

This year we planted a huge garden and are now struggling to banish the weeds that threaten to take over. We've found that it's very difficult to convert pasture into garden...miss a week of weeding and it's pasture again! So now we have grand plans for this Fall to heavily mulch our garden in hopes of killing off some of the grass and weeds.

Still, it's fun to go out every evening to see what the garden has in store for us. We both get excited over garden "babies"...new and tiny veggies like the baby cantaloupes and tiny new butter beans we have right now. There's also another game we play where we put all the day's harvest together and figure out what we could prepare if this was all the food we had to eat.

That's what the photo above is...one day's harvest from our farm which consisted of two eggs, an onion, the last bit of broccoli and squash - yellow and zucchini. We decided we could make a squash casserole with a broccoli/cucumber salad on the side. Doesn't sound bad, does it?

It gives us a sense of security in knowing that we can provide for ourselves should we ever need to do so. Of course, we'd probably get really tired of eating squash every day!

Teddly the Garden Toad

I'd like to introduce you to Teddly, my little garden toad. A few months back I discovered him all snuggled into a nice little toad hole in my new strawberry bed (above). Unfortunately it didn't take long for some fire ants to build a big nest there also and Teddly vacated the premises.

I really missed the little guy. We had some nice chats while I was pulling weeds and preparing the garden for planting (he was a great listener). It was quite a delight to find him living under the cucumber vines recently and our afternoon chats have resumed. Mostly they consist of me promising Teddly to be careful not to step on him while I'm picking cucumbers...something I've been doing a lot lately!

Teddly isn't the only toadie in the garden. While preparing a flower bed in the front of my garden this Spring I found a very unusual toad...a small red toad with black spots and a pointed nose. I thought this type of toad only lived in rain forests! A bit of research revealed that I had found an Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad. They are secretive (which is why I've probably never seen one before) and like to hang out in their underground burrows, which is where I found this one.

I'd found another one in the garden a year or so ago when I busted up a rotted piece of log that my frog statue sat on. It was black, but I suspect it was also an Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad as they can change color based on their environment.

Teddly and his shy little friends are most welcome in my garden as they eat insects. Anything that helps cut down on the insects devouring my vegetable plants is going to get a hearty welcome from me!

Mother Nature's Fireworks...

Happy 4th of July! We've been having quite a fireworks display here, courtesy of Mother Nature. The storms moved in around 2 p.m. and so did all the dogs! We have several dogs who are terrified of storms for one reason or another. Poor little Tadhg, our bluetick beagle, was shaking like a leaf and Katie immediately tucked herself under the computer desk (as you can see in the photo above). I don't know how she crams herself into that little area under there, but today Conan finally managed to cram himself in there with her!

I'm late posting today because the power kept going off and on so I had to turn the computer off and wait it out. Plus, it would have been very difficult to type with the beagle that was in my lap and the eight or more dogs crowded around me!

There are two quilts on the clothesline, but I didn't get out there in time to bring them in. I guess Mother Nature thought they needed washing again! Did manage to get the windows up in the Yukon before the interior got very wet and I closed the garage door so the backyard dogs, Guinness and Finn, could weather the storm in there. If I hadn't let them in the garage Guinness was determined to claw his way through the back door!

The weather and the dogs have settled down now so hopefully I can accomplish something today. From the looks of the photo above I need to sweep floors and reupholster our old footstool!

Summer Sundays in the South...

Hermione relaxing on the back of the couch.

I'm so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open. Just a typical summer Sunday here in the South...drowsy, slow and relaxed. Even the dogs are sprawled about napping. Drake's snoring isn't helping my eyelids stay up one little bit either!

Growing up in Alabama Sunday afternoon in the summer was my favorite time of the week. There were no chores to do and the whole afternoon was mine to do as I pleased. Mornings were spent at church, then home to a big dinner (that's what lunch is called in the South) and afterwards I could usually be found somewhere comfy with my nose in a book.

Things are different now. Don works on Sundays so it's just another weekday in our house. However, the afternoons still retain that easy going Southern atmosphere that I felt growing up. The whole world seems so still and quiet. The low droning of insects lulls everyone into a stupor and honestly, I think I'm going to head upstairs and take a nap!

Run, run as fast as you can!

Late yesterday afternoon I was on the front porch watering the flowers when I noticed a piece of broken glass on the porch. There is a tub that's been sitting on the back side of the porch for over a year. It contains canning jars. I picked up the piece of glass (it was from a jar) and went to get the tub and bring it into the house. I was planning to wash the jars since I will need them for canning this year (not sure why Don put them on the front porch in the first place).

BIG MISTAKE! When I moved the tub red wasps swarmed out and I was stung once on the right ankle and once on the calf of my right leg before I could get into the house. Oh my! Red Wasp stings HURT like the dickens. I immediately put some Benadryl cream on the bites (the one on my ankle was bleeding) and took two Benadryl capsules. I am mildly allergic to stings and was concerned, but other than having chills, swelling, redness and pain I'm okay. I did a little research online and ended up making a paste of baking soda and water to apply to the stings. That really helped make the swelling go down and I highly recommend it should you get stung.

This morning the pain and swelling have subsided, but the two areas are extremely red. I'm just glad they no longer hurt. Last night I kept having bursts of pain that felt like I was being stung again, which was very annoying.

This afternoon Don went out armed with a can of wasp spray and a long stick. He discovered TWO nests in the tub and quickly took care of them. I stood inside at the window and told him where wasps were so he could spray them. He also took care of two more nests he found up in the eaves of the porch. Hopefully we are now wasp free and the front porch is a safe haven once again.

Welcome July, month of celebration!

Granny (me) with my daughter and grandson.

Ahh, July, the month that starts off with a bang and ends with one! Does anyone have big plans for the 4th? In years past we always had a big celebration here with family. There would be horse back riding, burgers on the grill and lots of fireworks in the evening. It was great fun to set up lawn chairs in the front yard and watch all the spectacular fireworks the guys had bought earlier in the day. The photo above is from a couple years back. We set up a kiddie pool in the front yard for my grandson, Jude. He had a blast while we were grilling. Unfortunately, jobs and distance have put an end to that so we will celebrate quietly this year.

However, there are still lots of celebrations this month. My mother-in-law's birthday is in July and mine is at the end of the month. Don usually takes me out to eat and to a movie. I'm not sure we'll do that this year. We both have doctor appointments on the 13th and will probably go out to eat then. We've pretty much stopped going to the theater...the price of tickets is outrageous and we much prefer to just watch a movie at home.

Did you know July is National Ice Cream Month? Don and I are ice cream fanatics. We always keep several cartons of Blue Bell Ice Cream in the freezer and enjoy a bowl every night at bedtime. Sometimes Don will stop on his way home from work and get me a pint of my favorite Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream - Chunky Monkey. Isn't that sweet?

I was quite surprised recently when Don told me he's never had homemade ice cream. I'm looking for a good, old-fashioned wooden hand-cranked ice cream maker now. Dang, those things are expensive! Wouldn't it be great fun to make Don some homemade ice cream in celebration of Ice Cream Month? Guess I better start looking harder!