Happy Father's Day to all those dad's out there!
And, a very special Father's Day to my Daddy.
So many fond memories of my childhood with Daddy - from standing on the tops of his shoes dancing with him, picnics at Pumpkin Creek, many camping trips, riding on the sled while our German Shepherd pulled us down Southland Drive on the snowy street to now sitting on my porch watching the traffic go by, dinners out and at his house or mine, playing with Lily (my four-legged sister).
I am so fortunate to still have my Daddy. January 10, 2013, Daddy had a heart attack. In fact, he was a Code Blue (see post here). We've been given these extra years so we could be in close proximity again and enjoy being together a little while longer. He won't readily admit that he likes it here in Ohio; but I'm so thankful that he's nearby and I get to see him frequently. I wouldn't trade it for the world!
Happy Father's Day today to my husband, Andy, and our two boys, Brian and Taylor. We get to end this week by celebrating Rachael and Taylor's wedding so we have quite an exciting week ahead.
The last time I posted was Mother's Day. Time flies and never ceases to amaze me. This week, we'll be halfway through 2015. So hard to believe!
I've been back in the soap pot since I last posted. Speaking of time flying, when I went to record the first batch of soap I made in May, I was shocked that it was the first batch for the whole year! Since then, I've made up for lost time. Three batches for Rachael and Taylor's wedding reception favors and more than I can count for sale. The rose bud soap is probably the most stunning I've made recently. I made this using a new silicone mold and I love it! This soap is fragranced with what else but Fresh Cut Roses.
I've done a ton of garden work - weeding, planting, and mulching. We have had rain every single day for the past week and everything has jumped up! The heat has helped, too. The flowers are blooming like crazy and the vegetables and herbs have grown quickly.
I didn't cut the clematis back last year and this year, I had to tie it up. It's HUGE! There are hundreds of blooms on this plant! It has been simply gorgeous!
The coneflowers and daisies are blooming now and will be throughout the summer. I love cutting them and bringing them inside to put in a vase. The peonies were also
beautiful this year - I just wish their blooms would last longer.
For several weeks in May and into June, I watched and waited. A Killdeer built a nest in the gravel area in back of our house. They build the oddest nests - they shallow out a circular area in the gravel right out in the open. They have done this for several years now with no success. The female usually lays four eggs and every year, they've disappeared. I suspect courtesy of raccoons.
The eggs look like someone took a marker and scribbled all over them. The babies resemble fuzzy pompoms.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the eggs hatched and thought we were done for this year. I was wrong! Last week, I sent out back and heard the adult Killdeer going crazy! When they sense danger, the bird leaves the nest and wanders away acting like it has been injured. I tell you - it's an Academy Award winning performance! I knew there must be a new nest. I was right. After searching for it - they are soooo well camouflaged - I found it. The nest and eggs are hard to see even when you know you're looking right at them. The female had laid one egg. Now, there are three eggs and that may be all for this go-round since a day has gone by with no addition.
Here's a picture of the parent with two of the babies from the last set of eggs. I hope these fair as well. Both male and female share nest-sitting duties and I've had felt so sorry for them this past week. The rain has poured down and I do mean POURED. The bird hasn't moved from the nest. At one point, I thought maybe I should take it a life preserver or, at least, an umbrella. But the rain stopped, the bird got up and walked around a bit drying off and all is good. Now, I'm back to looking through the binoculars every morning to see if the Killdeer is on the nest. If it is, it means parent and eggs made it through the night. Sigh......
We've had a few spectacular sunsets lately so I'll end with one.
Until next time --- thanks so much for reading!
