A Crafty Yarn

July is coming to an end and it's HOT here in Arkansas!!! The heat index has brought our temperatures to over 100 every day for the last 2 weeks! I've been doing most of the gardening/yard chores at night to escape the worst of the heat but even at night it's well in the 90s! The garden has been giving us a beautiful assortment of veggies everyday! I've been really concerned about the amount of trash we have every week and as we don't really have a place to have a compost pile...I turned a trash can into a composter and it's been wonderful!...It has already cut the amount of things we throw into the trash at least in half! Did You know that you can compost: Paper napkins/Paper Towels Freezer-burned food Pet fur Post-it notes Wood Hay Popcorn (unpopped, 'Old Maids,' too) Dryer lint Old spices Pine needles Leaves Matches (paper or wood) Hops Manure Pet cage cleanings Grass clippings Vegetable peelings Unpaid bills Hair clippings from the barber Sta

BEHOLD.....el pepino hermoso..... The container gardening is going GREAT! We've had so much rain this year that I was afraid I wouldn't get much out of the plants. I have lost a few to the over-watering...we won't be getting any squash or zucchini...and I lost 3 jalapenos. Obviously the cucumbers are growing!!! I can't wait to make refrigerator pickles!!! The tomatoes are doing incredibly well...as a matter of fact...They are so much taller than the cages and have so much fruit on the vine that John had to put hooks in the fence so that I could tie them up! The peppers are out of control...Bananas, jalapenos, cayenne, and habanero are all big and beautiful! Herbs are fantastic with the exception of the cilantro...I'm not sure why....maybe it feels my negative energy towards it...Uuuuugggghhhhhkkkk!

This beautiful guy is a Tomato Hornworm....we call him The Tomatinater...    He had a delightful time destroying part of the Mountain Pride tomato plant...Luckily we spotted him before he ate the other half!    

I LOVE vacation!  I've never had one before...but now that I've had a taste I am hooked! We were sitting around the house at the beginning of last month and up and decided to drive to Branson, MO for a few days! We made some reservations,packed the dogs in the car and went on our merry way!  First let me just say this....NICE,VERY NICE! I'm a little bit in love with the total freedom of having no real chores or schedule!! WOOT! The vacation was great but the VERY best part was the drive! The scenery is astonishing. There were times when I was speechless and times I would feel like laughing out loud at the beauty of it all. The main strip of Branson seems like a miniature Vegas. We planned on seeing a few shows but were really more interested in really seeing the town.  Driving around we were thrilled to discover the historical downtown of Branson which seemed to have a much more healthy energy than the strip did. The real treasure in Branson though is the natural resour