End of Summer

As we come to the end of Summer, we are so thankful, considering we live in Texas where Summer temperatures can be brutal, this year we received rain often at the beginning of Summer and temperatures were milder than usual, that is until the last couple of weeks.  Now we are just hanging on, drip-watering the garden and flowers and shrubs, knowing that Autumn is just around the corner.

Tom's hobby, the garden, which is a lot of hard work for him, is still producing a little and he has planted a limited fall crop.  We have filled our freezer and are now eating veggies as we pick them or else sharing veggies with friends/coworkers.

Still growing is a row of purple hull peas, 1/2 row of asst. peppers w/ 1/2 row of pumpkins, and a row of tomatoes.

We do a lot of cooking with peppers.  We are also sharing a lot of peppers!

We heat our entire house with our wood stove, so we gather a lot of firewood during the year and cut and stack it.

 We also gather, cut, and stack a lot kindling.

Our "backyard park"  that we created last year is such a peaceful place to relax.  It is almost always shady and almost always has a nice breeze blowing through.

 

Everyone has lost some trees on their property the last few years with the drought conditions that Texas has suffered.  We lost two more trees in our backyard, one of which was holding up our hammock!  So Tom dug out the stump of the dead tree and dug a four foot deep hole and cemented in a ten foot long 4X4 post to remount the hammock. 

Thank you Sweetie!  I love my hammock!

 

Another surprise of this Summer is our Turks Cap bush.  Several years ago my friend Mary Ann gave me a cutting off her Turks Cap, which I planted here in our yard.  For years now it has barely stayed alive, with only a few little twigs growing back each year.  This year Tom went around it with his tiller, breaking up the ground a little, we gave it some Miracle Grow, watered it more, and oh boy it really began to flourish, so I even placed a white stone border around it.  

 

I no longer ride my horse, but my friend Gill asked if she could have her Thursday Ride on our trails.  So this past Thursday there were seven women here to ride our trails.

 Left to right: Lanette, Lisa, Jackie, Mary Ann, Evie, Gill, Donna

 It was a nice day for them to ride!  By the time they got back it was pretty warm so Lanette was so nice to spray water on each gal's horse for them. 

No, I do not miss riding my horse at all.  I do however enjoy the friendship of these gals still!  We enjoyed lunch together on our deck and were blessed with a nice strong breeze blowing as we sat there eating and visiting.