We had a good weekend: some work, some chores, some walks, some play, some smoke, some gardening and some ice cream!!

A smoky, hazy sunrise. There are no fires close to me, but the valley was smoke filled this morning from Western fires. Every day, I pray for the fire fighters who work in crazy heat and dangerous conditions to control the fires.

It is scary dry and the woods is starting to reflect that…

Although the lupins turn to seed pods normally and dry a bit, you can see that the foliage is also drying out.

The woods grasses and bushes are starting to dry and die also. Typically, we do not get much, if any rain from now until mid-late August or early September.

On a somewhat brighter note …

I made another trip to the nursery. My local nursery issues “Swan Bucks” (Swan River Gardens is the nursery) that are redeemable as the season goes on. July 1-15 the “bucks” can be used for vegetables and annuals. I am feeling all (mostly) green-thumbed with the tomatoes doing well in their cloth containers … in the wheel barrow … so I bought 2 pepper plants: sweet bell and a jalapeno. Both have several peppers already! Hopefully they and the tomatoes get along in the wheel barrow. I had enough Swan Bucks to kind of make the veg plants free!

The spinach has been struggling and kind of looking like it was not going to make it so I bought some herbs: thai basil and tarragon, an impatiens that likes a bit of sun and some autumnal fuchsia (no blooms, but gorgeous leaves) … to fill in the rolling planter.

I had enough potting mix to move the spinach to what is actually a disposable cat litter box, but I thought would be ok as a planter vs completely giving up on the spinach.

So … some replanting, some shuffling of position in the tiered planter and we will see how it goes. Note to self: the tiered planter seems best for herbs and flowers vs vegetables. The spinach container is maybe not that aesthetically pleasing, but if it grows food, I am good with that!

It is a bit hard to see, but there are 3 tomato and 2 pepper plants in the wheel barrow. When Emmett and I go out, I move the wheel barrow into the sun, if needed so it gets full sun all day long. So far, so good!!

Bonus: I am having so much fun planting and watering and keeping an eye on things … plus enjoying the front porch. Some years, it has felt like a chore. I am not sure what is different … maybe it is the new (and RED!!) front door :)

I made strawberry ice cream on Saturday. And ice cream cones were on sale this week so HOO RAH and YUM!

Emmett gets a “puppy cone”!

You can see that he is still a bit damp from the latest play in the sprinkler outing … and ice cream!!

We had a good weekend.