July 31, 2021

We think this is a monarch caterpillar.  It was eating a milkweed plant in our potato patch.
 

July 30, 2021

I'm still getting a lot of squash.
 

July 29, 2021

 

July 28, 2021

My husband got a trellis set up for our grapes in the back yard.
 

July 27, 2021

I have been getting a hummingbird moth at my butterfly bush.  It's wings move so fast I didn't notice they are clear in the center until I took a photo.
 

July 26, 2021

I have been seeing a variety of butterflies the last few days.  We get the orange monarchs, a yellow butterfly, and this one.
 

July 25, 2021

I've got a lot of summer squash.  Today I grilled a lot of marinated slices.  Later I added ham slices and mozzerella cheese and rolled them up.  I froze what we didn't eat.
 

July 24, 2021

We worked on some stuff at my mom's.  My son got to part out an old mower deck.
 

July 23, 2021

 

July 22, 2021

My mint is blooming and attracting all sorts of insects, including this large, hairy thing.
 

July 21, 2021

We saw directions for pole beans to put a pole horizontally and hang string down for the beans to climp up.  We're going to try that method this year.
 

July 20, 2021

We're working on poles for the pole beans.  Today was hazy again.  It's strange to see the sun as an orange ball long before it meets the horizon.
 

July 19, 2021

The western US is on fire (again, like last year).  Today our sky is very hazy because of the smoke.  The sun looked very red going down.
 

July 18, 2021

We've gotten about 7 inches of rain in the last week.  I now have a problem I've never had before- some of my plants are wilty from too much water.  It's my brussels sprouts, purple cabbage, 2 out of 3 cauliflower, and a broccoli.  It stopped raining for now, so hopefully they will perk back up.
 

July 17, 2021

I looked out and thought my trees are turning yellow from all the rain, but it was just the sun hitting them at an odd angle. 
 

July 16, 2021

The wind yesterday knocked some of our veggies over. 
 

July 15, 2021

We had small thunderstorm roll through this evening.  This one had a strong wind.  It looked nice while it approached, however.
 

July 14, 2021

I froze some of the zucchini today.
 

July 13, 2021

During the heavy rain we noticed the gutter was drooping at the end.  We found out it was missing some screws so my husband put some new ones in.
 

July 12, 2021

We got 2 inches of rain very quickly this afternoon, which led to flooding.  Our land slopes enough the water does not stay, but we had a good sized stream running through the yard for a while.  We went out and waded around after the thunder stopped.  In some places it got 9 inches deep with a current as it flowed toward the back.
 

July 11, 2021

We planted three rows of field corn.  The rest are sweet corn.
 

July 10, 2021

We got stakes put in for the pole beans.
 

July 9, 2021

I made zucchini relish.  Good canning lids are impossible to find- I haven't seen any at the store for a year.  Online I can find the off brands which may or may not work.  I am trying reuseable ones this year.  There are two brands.  When I made strawberry jam, the only three which failed were the three I used from one brand.  So, I'm using  the other brand and haven't had a single failure with them yet. 

July 8, 2021

 

July 7, 2021

 

July 6, 2021

The squash are ready- in mass quantities.
 

July 5, 2021

This is what's left of the fireworks boxes.  I never knew they made such a mess.  My husband is going to help clean it up.
 

July 4, 2021

My neighbor bought a bunch of fireworks and set them off tonight.  The kids and I stayed in the yard and watched while my husband went over to help him.  They're already making plans for a better system to set them off next year.
 

July 3, 2021

We went to the farm today.  It sure looks different with a well pad on the ridge.
 

July 2, 2021

 

July 1, 2021

These are some of the cabinets we bought at the school auction- the other two are in the basement.  We got the countertop for them, which has a stainless steel sink on the other end. 
 

June 30, 2021

My mom needed a new ceiling fan so we helped my brother-in-law work on it today.