Nature: Behind the Scenes*

Stunning!

Tour of Lake Winnipesaukee*

This past weekend, we spent at a little camp on Lake Winnipesaukee.  It's a lovely lake, very quiet and peaceful (this time of year -- don't go up on the Fourth of July, and avoid the hot spots like Weirs Beach and Ellacoya State Park if you want quiet).

It was also Bike Week, so we didn't leave the lake except to drive home.

Okay .... the pictorial tour -- these were taken on my phone, so I couldn't zoom as much as I would have liked on some.

Sunrise -- I was sitting on the dock as the sun peeked over the horizon:

There are ENORMOUS dock spiders here.  Even I, who am not spider phobic, have been taken aback by their size.  THIS is actually not the spider, but the skin he just shed.  The spider was hiding down below and I couldn't get a good picture.  They're about the size of the palm of my hand (including their legs).

A bald eagle nest on Blueberry Island. We saw the male flying quite a bit as the island is near where we were staying. In this picture, the female is hanging out with the kids.

Some folks who own property on the lake actually stay all summer without going home. Hence the need for a post office on the island.



Dakota loved riding on the boat, except when it got choppy -- then she climbed into my lap (and yes, she fits... just barely).



Where the rich folk live: Governor's Island.

You could buy your own place there -- this house is for sale.  It's only $12 million!

I love all the little islands -- most with one house on them.

And thus ends our boat tour of Lake Winnipesaukee.  I suspect you'll see more photos from up there, as we'll be spending a good part of our summer in that neck of the woods.

Have a great day!

Graduation!

Today is a big day for the kidlet... she's advancing out of eighth grade and moving on to high school.  She's excited, nervous, sad, stressed.... I must have been hugged fifty times last night.

It's hard to believe that this is graduating from 8th grade:

The Garden

I decided to try something a little different with my veggie garden this year.  You  see, my garden never has enough room, and after digging up the area for the strawberries this year I was out of steam and had little desire to expand the veggie garden.

It's pretty big, but not enough if I want to plant enough to can and freeze:

So, I took some of the plants that don't grow much in width and planted them elsewhere... in my flower gardens.

I used this place:

To plant six eggplants:

And here along the front of the house I planted beets (which I forgot to take pictures of -- but which have lovely red/green foliage):

And here where I have mostly flowering ground cover, I planted six peppers:

That was a few weeks ago.  So far?  I've lost two beet plants and three eggplants and I have no idea why.  More, the rest of the eggplants and beet plants aren't really growing much.  One pepper got smothered by grass clippings when my DH mowed (for thirteen years, I've asked him to NOT mow clippings into my garden... he still doesn't listen) and may not make it, but the others are going strong and most have actually flowered.

Next year, I'll try something else in the circle garden.  I'm not sure if the sprinklers killed the ones that died or if they weren't getting enough sun.

In my main garden, I keep finding plants "topped". I had two tomatoes that looked like they were broken off.  The first time, I figured it for a chipmunk, the second time I was ready to cry.  I started digged the plants up to make room for new ones (which I realized was a bad move -- tomatoes will come back from being topped), and as I dug, I found a cut worm.  BAD (and now deceased) bug.

So, a week later, when one of my cucumbers suffered the same fate, I dug around the roots and sure enough, I found a cut worm.  I've never really had a problem with them before, so am frustrated.  I do NOT want to treat the place with pesticides, but alternatively, I'd sure like to have some plants survive.

My admiration for the pilgrims grows every year I try to garden out here.

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Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday! 

We had a crazy weekend, made crazier by the fact that I managed to catch a cold last week that knocked me perhaps not flat, but at least sideways.

Amongst other things, DD and Dakota had a Junior Agility competition on Saturday.  It was a very small showing of kids (only three kids and four dogs) so it passed quickly (for which I was grateful).  DD did pretty well. though she had her first "NQ" (non-qualifying) round because Dakota got distracted by something and wouldn't come back on course, and Sarah grabbed her.  You can't touch your dog in real agility, so was DQ'd (disqualified).

Their absolute fave run was the Tunnel Game, because it's just running -- though Dakota missed one of the tunnels (it's actually a handler error, but it was minor):



Her next fave is "Dealer's Choice" because your dog can't make a wrong move -- there is no set course.  It's all about points -- each obstacle is worth a certain amount of points, and the person with the most points at the end wins.



However, between being sick and not at the top of my game, it being the first of the month (which is a nightmare for me), and being gone most of Friday and Saturday, work has backed up terribly, and I'm completely and massively behind.

I'm beginning to think this will be the usual for me anymore -- something that is very stressful for a Type A person. 

The "good" news for me is that it's raining and will be through Wednesday, so I can work on my computer without feeling guilty for not being outside.  It does make the dog a little nuts, but we'll manage.

I should be able to make time to visit blogs for a little while today. I won't be able to get to them all, but will do my best!

Have a great day. :-)