A Game Changer

Yesterday started, as all do...

as the sun rose above the horizon.

The animals were all fed, watered, and cleaned in short order.

The vegetable garden was watered.

Watering is essential to keeping all of this produce alive.

I found this lovely rose blooming on the garden fence...

just at it's peak of perfection.

Is there anything more beautiful than a perfect solitary rose?

And that smell.... heavenly.

I picked another handful of gomphrena to dry.

I'll definitely be planting more of this in many more colors

in next year's garden!

What a lovely flower for drying... and it retains its color beautifully.

In the midst of one of the pepper boxes grows this 

enormous sunflower.

What a miracle that all of this comes from one little seed!

I feel like Alice in Wonderland, next to this gigantic flower.

I cut another large bunch of the Hopi red amaranth

and hung it in a dark window of Maven Haven to dry.

I am sure within a few days this windowsill will be covered with tiny seeds.

I shall save them for next year's garden.

Much of yesterday morning and afternoon were spent on a trip to town.

Hubbs had a dental appointment, and I had some errands to run.

Because I was gone much of the day,

I took a little extra time out with the animals in the evening before tuck-in time...

sitting on the ground in the sheep pen.

Before this summer, the sheep would have avoided me sitting in their yard.

They used to be extremely shy...

until...

the introduction of graham crackers into their lives.

What a game changer this has been.

Now, whenever I am in their pen, they are as close to me as

possible, on the off-chance that I might have a little treat for them.

They are completely shameless in their begging...

practically climbing into my lap in search of grahams.

They are tolerant of whatever I have up my sleeve...

even placing a cat on their back.

       

Which, I might add, is quite a nice massager...

as Faith quickly found out as Bobby kneaded her neck.

"Mmmmm.... yeah, that's the spot.  Oh yeah....."

As the sun sank beneath the horizon,

the day ended much the same as it had begun...

the sky filled with fiery streaks of orange clouds.

The loud chirping sounds of daytime cicadas were replaced 

by katydids calling to each other in the woods.

These nighttime sounds remind me that there is still a good bit of summer

left.

I am hoping that this heat soon lets up so that I can fall asleep

to the sound of the katydids through open windows.

Saturday begins the week that we had earmarked as our family vacation

week at the beach.

As with most of this year's activities...

we will be forgoing this vacation and staying home instead.

However, we are keeping the farm help that we had scheduled for the week

and giving ourselves a little time off from routine chores.

Who knows... we might even sleep past 5:30 one of these mornings!!

I'll continue to write a blog each day... even though we are 

"on vacation".

I'll chat with you again on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend!