Sunday, June 21, 2009

We Have a New Granddaughter

Kate Laney Comeau arrived on June 17th at 11:07 am. She weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. We are so grateful and excited she is here and look forward to meeting her in person in August.

Brooke with her new little sister

Giving Thanks In June

"Inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, . . . the fulness of the earth is yours, . . . Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards; Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment . . ." [Doctrine & Covenants 59:16-20]

Here are the latest photos of our garden and the ongoing harvest. We have already eaten & given away a prodigious harvest of peas and took out the plants to make room for the beans that we planted yesterday. Yesterday also saw the initiation of our third attempt of the season to grow carrots as well as of our pumpkin patch - consisting of one plant.
We also dug up some of our potato plants because they appeared to be dead. Instead, we found some nice spuds which will become a part of a father's day dinner after Church. On some of the plants we dug up we found more, smaller potatoes that appeared to still be growing. So does anyone out there have any advice on growing spuds? Is it time to get them out of the ground so they don't just sit down there and rot? Or do we need to leave the plants there so they can continue to produce? It is odd because some of the plants look really sick and dying, while others look very healthy.
In other garden news, our squash and zucchini plants (one apiece) are kicking into production - and how! The leaves on the zucchini plant are about 2 feet across! We have peppers coming on, lots of onions (so peppers & onions are also on the menu tonight), and corn coming on. The tomato plant is healthy, but devoid of fruit at this point. And we have eaten almost all of the lettuce we planted. It turned out very good.

And moving to the less edible portion of our garden, here are a couple of photos of the portion meant to please the eye. It never ceases to amaze me that for all the work I can do, things just don't seem to look very good without the good looking one of us shows up and puts her touch on things.

A Happy Father's Day

Wow! I can't believe it has been well over two weeks since I have posted anything. I guess since Anne has begun to post I have slacked off. We have had a pretty busy week since she came home, getting some things shaped up and moving forward with home improvements. She has painted my office, and it looks nice. I would have put some photos up, but we don't have any yet. That's because we haven't finished it yet - it still lacks the chair rails (my job). They have been purchased and stained, but await cutting to fit and installation. Which brings us to my father's day gift:
As you can see, it is still mostly in the box. In spite of my best efforts to get it put together, I could not get my act together to do so this weekend. I burned out the motor on my hand-skillsaw by trying to use it for a purpose which may not have been envisioned by the manufacturer. Anyway, in my search for a replacement, I found this on sale at Lowe's and it was just about the same price a something much less in value, so we got this instead. Once I get it put up, I'll have to show you some of the stuff I make with it - beginning with the office.