What's Bloomin'

The last Monday in July. There are only two new flowers to show you - and they are variations of flowers that have already appeared this year.

First, the gladiolus. The purple ones showed up a few weeks ago, but for some reason, the pink ones waited until now:

Then, the Autumn Colors Black-eyed Susan. This was one of my favorites from last year. I was very sad when I realized that it was grown as an annual here, instead of being a perennial. So imagine my delight when one came back this year!

The Autumn flower is the brown and orange bloom off to the left. Maybe it reseeded itself. However it came back, I am certainly happy to see it.

Hope you all have a week full of wonderful surprises!

Family Pictures

The nightmare known as family pictures has ended, with actual pictures as the end result. Thought I'd share my favorites. First, the dressed-up pictures:

Now for the casual pictures. There isn't one of Collin, because he was being such a twinkie. He was making silly faces in all of his pictures. Oh, well...

The ticked-off Sophia is my absolute favorite. She was screaming at us to stop the picture taking!

And finally, here is the family pic. We'll probably use these as Christmas cards (because there is No Way we're doing pictures again this year!).

The Cubby's Cabinet Doors

Well, Doug finally decided to get some cabinet doors on the cubby in the kitchen. Here is where we last left our dear cubby:

Yes, it was in duct-tape hell. Unfortunately, the heat continually caused the duct tape to lose adhesion, so that cardboard was always falling down. Sometimes, on top of people, though no one was hurt.

Doug and I went to Lowe's the other night and he admonished me to get some hardware so he could put up some doors. Okay, now it's my fault. So I picked out the hardware within 30 seconds right in front of him. We're going for flush doors, so it's pretty simple. Here's the mockup:

He then proceeded to get the wood he would need, and we went on our merry way home. He was as good as his word. That night he plastered the edges of the opening.

By the next evening, he had sanded and added blocks. These are to provide a "stop" to the doors.

Then came the doors themselves. At this point, Doug realized that the hinges I picked out weren't going to work. They didn't lay flat. Grrr. So back to Lowe's I went, and found flat hinges. The only ones that would lay flat were the strap hinges, so I will end up painting them. The object is to have the entire door just fade into the wall.


And now we have a slightly more permanent solution hanging up there.

Now I just need to get to painting. Funny, the list of what I need to paint seems to be getting longer...and longer...

What's Bloomin'

It's nearing the end of July. Only five more weeks of summer vacation. Not that I'm counting.

Luckily, my flowers are still keeping me company. Some are starting to peter out, like the Shasta Daisies. Others are really coming into their own, like the Cone Flowers and Black-eyed Susans.

But what's new? I got an Obedient Plant (no kidding, that's really its name) at the nursery about a week ago, and it has since come into bloom. It is resting on the ground at the moment, but it looks pretty cheery for all that:

The Eunonymous my neighbor gave us last year has come into bloom, any while it is certainly not a traditional flower, I really like it. It's frothy and delicate, and yes, the nontraditional thing is actually a plus for me.

A closeup. There are actual petals on these tiny flowers...

The orange Chrysanthemum is also blooming. I have a few of these, and am surprised to see them start blooming in July. Aren't they a fall-blooming plant? Of course, it may take a few weeks for them to be completely covered with flowers.

Have a happy week...pretty soon it will be August, so enjoy July while it's here!

Warning: Falling Lighting

This is the sign that flashed before my mind's eye today:

We had just returned from our last swimming lesson of the summer (sigh of relief). Malena walked through the kitchen door to see one of the blades fall off our moving fan.

This is the fan running, before it fell apart.

She was the only witness, and thankfully, was not hurt. Then the other kids started running in. Collin ran underneath it, it sparked, and the entire lighting fixture fell, hanging only by its wires. Malena and Collin were quite excited by the whole sequence of events.

I should have gotten a picture of that. It was quite a sight to see. My mind was more taken by safety with all the little ones running around, though, so it was taken down quickly.

So what happened? Here's my theory: at one point or another during the course of the last year, Collin has thrown many things at that fan. He keeps hoping the fan will spin it into orbit, I think. One of those things probably cracked the blade. Not knowing about the new defect, we continued using the fan, which made the defect worse each time. Today was the last straw. After the blade gave way, the entire assembly was unstable. Leading to...an entire fan hanging by its wires. And now we have this:

Maybe I can get Doug to implement my new lighting strategy, since the fan has given us a start in taking the current lights down. What do you think? Huh?

Yah, I doubt it, too.

Dem Coils, Dem Coils, Dem Fridge Coils

Doug has the coolest little gadget that shoots a laser at any surface and displays that surface's temperature. This can come in very handy to, say, check if the thermostat is working. Or if the fridge is staying at temp.

Let's just say, the fridge wasn't working quite so well this week. So Doug decided to pull it out (Argh! Didn't we learn to leave it where it is Last Time we pulled it out?!?) to vacuum the coils.

A few screws later, we could see them...they really weren't that dirty. Neither was the floor underneath the fridge, interestingly enough.

But Doug vacuumed them anyway, and made Bonnie sweep underneath the fridge for good measure.

It helped a little bit. Unfortunately, this may mean that a new fridge is in our future. Maybe that should be "fortunately" since I really don't like side-by-side refrigerators, which is what we currently have. The unfortunate part is the money we have to shell out to get it done, right? And...the notion that Doug will be using that little gadget to obsessively measure the fridge's temperature from now until it really dies. An obsession really shouldn't ever have something to do with a refrigerator, should it? Just the food inside!

What's Bloomin'

Rain actually started to fall last week...and has continued into this week. And it is lovely. Everything has cooled down, we have our windows open instead of the A/C on, and I am much, much happier with summer. At least until the temperatures go up later this week. Argh.

Just to let you know how dry it is here: the paper reported a total of 486 wildfires burning in Utah on Friday morning. That is a large number, to my thinking. And every county in Utah is either in an official drought or in a near-drought. Last year, we had surplus water. There's still a few more days of thunder showers, so I'm hoping for more rain and less lightning...and fewer fires.

Anyway. Here's what's blooming this week...

Gladiolus. Bonnie picked these out last year, and we had both pink and purple. This year we replanted them, and only have purple so far. Hm. They also look like I feel these days...which is due to kids pulling them up after we planted them to ask me (again) what they were. And they didn't get put back in the ground as deeply as they were first planted.

Blue Salvia: I transplanted these from a friend earlier this year. See how brown the other stalks are? That's what most of the transplanted plants look like. But I did get a flower this week - so there is hope!

"Becky" Black-Eyed Susans: These are just so pretty. Maybe it's because we share a name and all, but I feel some serious bonding going on with this flower.

We even had a renegade sunflower pop up this week. We've had so many volunteers from plants we did last year: tomatillos, cilantro, dill, forget-me-nots, black-eyed susans, and now a sunflower. Wahoo. Love that I get more plants without any effort on my part. Wish gardening was like that more often, don't you?

Have a great week - we're half-way through summer vacation! (I know, there are some people not excited that summer is now on the wane, but I'm definitely happy to see school drawing closer...)

Mockin' It Up

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Doug just can't "see" the cupboard doors that would block heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer for that cubby in the kitchen. So it's time to mock it up.

Besides the fact that Doug still has my sewing table as a holder for his chop saw.

Okay, he is still working on beadboard for the hallway. But it does really crimp my style when I want to work on blackout curtains for his garage (See how loving and concerned I am as a wife? It's all about his shop). And it is way too hot to be out weeding, although my garden (the flowers) really needs it (Who really cares about the veggie garden? That's Doug's thing).

Anyway, I got a little carried away with the mocking up.

Fences. This is an idea for concrete blocks, stuccoed to look like adobe walls. Each wall then has a dark wood plank on top. The gates are mission style, with black hardware (I know, the detail isn't so good as far as the artistry is concerned!). There is also a bump-out for the garden in the first picture, since the garden extends much further into the front yard.

From the side...

Malena was annoyed that I was standing in our neighbor's yard to take a picture. Get a grip, M.

An arbor for the front yard, along with board-and-batten shutters for the windows. I also mocked up having different sconces.

Bookcases where there is now a wall between the front room and the dining room. This picture needs some work, it is true. This would give us some more light in the common areas of the home, without putting the kitchen on display for everyone who walks through the front door.

And doors for the cubby in the kitchen. Something flat and unnoticeable. Really, is it too much to ask?

Hm.

He's At It Again

Last winter, Doug gave us a stylish solution to losing heat in our kitchen.

After all, we do have this ginormous cubby that seems to be a doorless window to nowhere. The girls think of it as a place to play Rapunzel. I think of it as a great place to hide/store all the holiday decorations. Unless there is a large, sturdy ladder, no one is going near that place. Perfect.

So in the winter, we were losing heat. Now that it is the hottest summer on record (yikes!), we can actually feel the drafts of heat descending upon us from that hole up there.

And Doug still doesn't really know what he wants to do for a cupboard door. Me, I want it to disappear visually (not in actuality, since it really is a great holiday storage area). So a flat door or two with simple handles seems perfect. Doug is unconvinced.

Which is why we now have a large piece of cardboard duct-taped to the hole. Just as stylish as the paper he used before, don't you think? Oh, man. At least it's not so hot in here.

Right?

What's Bloomin' & What's Crispin'

With the weather being so hot, many of my plants are crisping in the heat. It's a very sad sight. The forsythia is turning brown around the edges...

While the astilbe didn't flower because it fried instead. Sigh.

In other news, the yellow loosestrife is doing wonderfully...

And the echinacea (cone flowers) are doing wonderfully. These are the "Pow Wow" variety, so they are actually pink rather than purple. Did you know these are actually related to daisies? No wonder I like them so much.

I guess this is a lesson in water consciousness. I need to move those sad plants that need lots of water to places that actually get lots of water. Or increase their watering time - these all do have their very own water spouts from the irrigation lines that Doug put in.

Inspiration: Cedar Breaks

Southern Utah has been an inspiration for me most of my life. Colors, flowers, smells. Oh my, there really is no bottled smell that can replicate the pine and aspen smell of Cedar Mountain. And when you come home covered in red dust? You know you have been in a beautiful place.

The family went up to Cedar Breaks and were surprised by all the wildflowers. I never knew that Columbine was a native wildflower in Utah!

The lupines were also a surprise. They were everywhere. And when we found plants that had no flowers, we were enchanted by the "water diamonds" gathering in their leaves. I explained to Jack that these were cups of water for the animals. He then proceeded to dump them out. Sophia was a little more appreciative and just said "ooooh!"

This was a random road that we chanced upon. The road not taken...but it was lovely to look at.

My favorite overlook in Cedar breaks is Chessman Overlook. The park is so small that, really, this is one of the only overlooks. But that's okay - it's spectacular enough to make up for it. The light was also cooperating for taking pictures. Streaming through the clouds, playing peek-a-boo in the woods.

Another picture to showcase the wildflowers against the overlook:

And while we were hiking, we were amazed by all the dead trees. Even amid the destruction, though, there was the promise of new growth...

The best part? Not being hot. The day was not too hot even in the valley, but when we got out of the car in Cedar Breaks, we were cold. So cold that Bonnie dug out a towel from the car to use as a jacket.

Wow, a picture of the whole family. How often does that happen?

When we went on the hike, though, it ceased to be cold. The forest sheltered us from the wind, and it just became the perfect temperature for a walk. This place reminds me so much of family, since it is only a few miles from where we always vacationed as children with my mother's family. This was Doug's first trip here. He was impressed with the views and really enjoyed the hiking.

A wall at the visitor's center, with a wildflower
growing out of the crevice at the bottom

There were even wildflowers at the visitor's center. By the time we were done with our hike, I had ceased to wonder how many were planted by hand. Honestly, it took a long hike in the woods to realize that this was not a man-made landscape. Maybe I'll try planting lupines again. Since they're native, they should be easy to plant, right? Just because they didn't work last year...