what have you been up too????

I sure hope all the Daves Gardeners have a great summer.. We have had a very busy end of the summer at our house. Our son arrived home from Iraq, My daughter Keri got married. Our dog got very sick and we found out he had cancer. So we had to have him humanly uthinized.... Now we have anew dog. Her name is Gracie she is a Plott hound mix and a real lover. She like to lay on the laps and relax. Walks are always great also. This all happened in September!!! I would love to hear about what you have been up tooo!!!! Ronna

This is my very handsome son, Matthew

This is the bridal party (ladies any way) My other daughter Amanda is on the left of Keri the bride.

I really hope you have the time to post with what you have been up too. Thanks, Ronna Photos of anything, the yard, yourselves, family events. Would love to see them.

Those are wonderful pics. Thanks for sharing them. I know how happy you must be to have your son back home from Iraq. Your daughter made a beautiful bride! Congrats on the new addition to the family. I hope Gracie is with you for many many happy years.

Nothing too exciting going on here. We're in the middle of putting the veggie garden to bed and I bet I washed and processed a billion tomatoes. Feels like it anyway. :) I'm enjoying them too. They were a long time coming this year.

Our chickens are our newest venture. We have a dozen we raised from one day old. They are now giving us about 10 eggs a day. They are more like pets. We let them out to free range and they follow us around and run to greet us flapping their wings. When they get to our feed they just sit down. I don't know why. Maybe it's a submission thing. They are very happy and we're happy to have them. They are the recipents of a lot of our excess vegetables. They love everything especially broccoli.

It's cold out today and the leaves are falling fast. It won't be long before winter is here. We have a lot more chores to do before it gets here. THe wind would knock you over today.

Here is a pic of our little granddaughter, Stacey. She is 3 and we have a lot of fun with her.

Happy days for your family!

I worked a lot and have now headed back south for the winter to NC. I did what I could in the gardens before I left. Here is the new iris bed.

Ronna,
Your son is indeed handsome and I hope you thank him from me for the service he is giving to our country. My husband is retired from the Air Force and I am sincerely grateful for the men and women who protect us. I know what a sacrifice military wives and mothers also give.

My son got married in June and I know what all a wedding entails. He is my third to get married ( I have two more to go). The blessings of the new children (in laws) and later grandchildren (I have four) make all of the work well worth the effort. Only problem this summer was that I ended up in the hospital for a week and it took several weeks more to get back my strength from a bacterial pneumonia that took a lot out of me. I'm good now, just didn't get as much done around the yard as I would have liked. The wonderful thing that did happen was that I discovered several vendors from DG in the classified ad's and the DG marketplace. I bought some great plants, bulbs, rhizomes etc from great people with excellent advice. I learned al lot thru the website while I was recuperating and put that knowledge to use when I could get out again. I even started a DG journal. Now I'll have something to do while I anxiously await the blooms on my new stuff over the winter.

My family at the wedding.

Your daughter's are lovely. Wedding pictures are such fun.

love that Gracie what a face!!! Its been a cold short summer here I dident get much of any thing done that I wanted to do I was given some tobacco to plant What cool BIG plants they are I dident know that they had such nice flowers !!! now what to do with them ??? I know I have to dry them but I'm not all that sure I want to smoke them;0) have a great night
Gloria

Seems like i have been busting my butt for months and im still at it!!!
I have decided to sell all the daylilies and iris my next summer-keeping just one fan of each!
I do love making gardens but the upkeep is getting way out of hand and i really want to enjoy the summers and my
families more. Looking forward to winter for some down time(doc order a month ago) i go to therapy 3 times a week but its not helping with me working like a DONKEY!!!

I still have plants and plugs coming-what was i thinking!!! sigh
still have all the garden decorations to put away too. We better get a indian summer next month or a cowboy one or ..................a TROPICAL one that no one can explain!! :)

Gloria bring that tobacco over and lets roll it up and try it--grew it once but had no idea what to do with it!

Glad to see so many happy weddings and family photos-CONGRATZ to all!!
I will be around more soon i hope!

MISS YOU ALL LOTZ!
dori

here is a pic of one of the reasons i want to down size
kayle back from vegas and growing fast!
jazzy-note the hair color!!! :)

Gloria,

I heard the weatherman on channel 25 say he'd raised tobacco in the weather garden and he seemed to know what to do with it. Why don't you email him and ask him. Here is his contact information.

Mark Torregrossa
Chief Meteorologist
markt@nbc25.net

Dori, your granddaguther is adorable. I don't blame you for wanting to downsize the garden. I was wondering how long you'd be able to keep up the pace of that huge endeavor. When we moved up here I downsized a bunch because I knew as I got older the less able I'd be to keep it all up. Now I indulge in trees. :) Lots less upkeep.

Flowergirl, that is a super huge iris garden. Are you planning on selling them or something? I bet it will be beautiful when they're all blooming.

Brenda

brenda thats my grandson! wink wink!!
kayle caden mclellan pushing 10months!!

shopping in Marshall Michigan!

Wow everyone thanks for all the photos it makes me feel good to hear for all the busy DG's. We are a special group. Loved seeing the wedding, grandbabies, gardens, and hearing about the tabbaco! I know nothing about that... Gardengirl that is some Iris bed. Dori what a sweetie your grandson is! Loon three? Wow I have been on Daves for three years, I can remember when she was born. So cute you two. Grammie... Love the wedding phot thanks. You are so right the wedding photos are fun. Good luck with the tabbaco plants glevey. Have a great week. Ronna

Dori,

Sorry about the mixup on little Kayle's gender. He's pretty enough to be a girl though. :)Love the red hair!!

Brenda

taking a short break here got the little mister off to deer camp the house cleaned tabacco choped down and hung went and got food now I have to go clean flower beds MAN IS IT COLD OUT !!!! I have a truck load of tomatoes that are not ripe going unless some one wants them or has a better idea ;0)
have a good afternoon every one
Gloria

Gloria.....FRIED GREEN MATERS :( Yum, Yummmmmmmmmy :) I just cut up medium slices green maters, dip in beaten egg, dredge in seasoned bread crumbs, fry in small amount olive oil, lil S & P, fry til light brown. Big glass of milk, WOWOWOW :)

Take your green tomatoes and lay them out on a table indoors or in a garage and they will ripen pretty fast. If you don't have time to can them up you can wash and dry them and put themin freezer bags and throw them into the freezer. They will come in handy in the winter in soups, stews and chile. We gave a lot of our tomaotes to the chickens. They love tomatoes. :) If you really don't want to fool with them put them on freecycle and someone will be happy to come pick them up.

We've been outside working all day. It's so cold and windy. Hubby got all the asparagus ferns cut down with the DR machine. We have everything cleaned out and he tilled the garden up. Tomorrow we'll suck up leaves and put them over the garden to blanket it for winter. I sure wish this cold weather had held off for at least another week. Oh well, at least the sun is shining. :)

Brenda

thanks Patty and Brenda I'll give it a try I have a lot of them sitting out to get ripe them I'll pawn them off on any one I can ;0)
Gloria

Wow I know it is really wind here also. We got a whole lot done today. All the outdoor furniture is put away. Was worried about the glass table with all the wind. I will really miss not sitting on the deck anymore this year ;( I have enjoyed that so much. Coffee and singing birds first thing in the morning. All the garden "art" is put away. Clay pots and such. We took the new dog for a walk she loved it! We went for pizza buffet at our favorite resturant for lunch. Yummy. Well chat later thanks for the posts. I like hearing from everyone. Ronna

Well today not to much going on. We have to got o a wedding in Spring Lake. Almost two hours away. Not to fun in the rain. But hopefully the food will be goood!! The wedding is outside I guess if it is not raining. Both of our daughters are in the wedding that is the only reason we are going. Should be a fun time.... Ronna

Well it did not rain in Spring Lake the wedding was outside very chilly all the guest had there coats on. Thr place was really pretty. The food so-so. The recption hall was chilly too. Was glad to get in the truck for the journey home and some heat. LOL. Ronna

Ronna thanks for the update!
Where did you get that cutie hound dogger from?
As for me I'm busy as usual with family, work, gardening & critters.

Fall ducklings piling up to stay warm
on yet another gray, chilly Michigan day.

We got her from the SPCA. She is such a sweetie. She is starting to guard us now. That part I do not like so much. She growls when we walk by someone. Kinda scares the passersby! We will work on this problem. Finally got all the yard stuff picked up the husband finished yesaterday. Now I have to put plastic on the windows.... Really helps keep the drafts out of the rooms. Have a great day I have the day off. One of my daughter and feance are coming to see Gracie and have dinner tonight. Good time. Ronna

Ya you better nip that over protectiveness in the bud right away.
Good luck!

Believe me I will. She is a sweetie and want to keep her that way! ;) Raining again! Have a great weekend. Ronna

Hi Loon,
I had so many maters that were just GREEN! I remembered you mentioned bringing them in and setting the on the table to ripen. I have made quite a few soups, chile, and stews, with the red maters in the freezer., your other wonderful idea :) Just take out of freezer, and put them in the pot!!
Thank You,
Tootsie

You're welcome. I don't believe in wasting anything and I'm kind of lazy. My mom always froze her tomatoes and I got the idea from her. You don't have to skin them either. After you cook something long enough it seems like the skins sort of melt in with everything else. Or, I don't notice them. :) We gave a lot of our excess produce to our chickens too. They love just about everything but tomatoes and cabbage are their favorites.

Yesterday and today were just beautiful to be outside. Hubby and I both worked on our old barn fixing it up for our two new barn kitties. Right now they're living in the bunkhouse. We have everything done now. They have work to do too. I saw a mouse and screamed so loud I about gave my half deaf husband a heart attack. ha ha ha Hubby made them some shelves to perch on and I took an old antique wood cradle and put an old blankie in there. This is in addition to two other beds we've made for them. They'll have their pick. We even put down some shees of thick styrofoam insultion over the concrete floor to block out some of the cold and dampness.

We also made a warmer for our chicken's waterer so the water won't freeze. I knew there would be a use for that old wood dynamite box that I found up in the rafters. :) I hope it works. I plan to try it out before freezing water weather hits here. Heck, I even put the snowshovels by the back door and my bucket of salt. I think it's supposed to be nice tomorrow so I'll finish up the last few things on my "to do" list and then we'll just hunker down and enjoy being alive. :)

Brenda

Well you have been busy also Brenda! We have all the oustide stuff done also. Leaves are raked for the third time and bagged and gone. Yeah. Thats always nice to get done. Lawn mowed one last time hopefully. Anti freeze windshield washer stuff in car. Yuck am not looking forward to this once again. I am going to a Pampered Chef party this evening. Have never been to one. Sounds like fun! Well chat later... Ronna

I got all I HAVE to do out side done yaa so now I'm training a new puppy ;0) hes so cute !!! I'v had so many friends die in the last year I thought we were done but an other one yesterday ;0( I'll miss her lots she was 59 and died in her sleep viseting her daughter in Florida how sad cuz her DD is batteling the big cancer thing I'll miss her a lot
Gloria

Ronna, don't tell me you threw away your bagged leaves? I wish I was your neighbor. I recycle my leaves into the beds and chicken coop.

Gloria, I'm sorry about your losing another friend. I hope her daughter will be OK. How terrible.

We moved the kitties to the barn today. They were having a blast running around. Got the garage all cleaned out and organized. I'd like to clean out and detail the van before winter. Might as well while it's still so nice outside.

Here is a pic of one of our kittens. This is Ethyl.

thank you Brenda what a cute kitten !! we took Chewy to the vet yesterday for his shots he weighs 3.2o lbs of pure energy ;0)
Gloria

Glevey I am sorry for your loss. Brenda I have no where to put the leaves once they fall off the tree here. So really can not save them. Do you want to pay for postage??? LOL. Cute kitty. I really would love a nother cat but mu hubby has a hard enough time with the two we have! Allergies. Ronna