A C. HANGE IN WEATHER

It's Friday, Aug 27. The last few days have been nice and cool -- 60's in the morning and high temperatures in the high 80's to low 90's. There has been a fall chill in the air in the mornings. Andy and I drove south to Quartz Mountain State Park and we were very pleasantly surprised when we got there. The Lodge is a large conference center with over 118 room and cabins. It was rebuilt in 2001 after a kitchen fire caused the original lodge to burn down. The center also includes an Oklahoma Arts Council facility . The center sits on the edge of Lake Altus and really is a beautiful area. We brought back with us some ideas for mosaics and outside benches made of granite.

AUGUST news

We've put up several quarts and pints of bread & butter pickles from the garden this year and gotten good "reviews". The cucumbers are about played out from the heat, but we may get another harvest. We've also gotten lots of cherry tomatoes. I made an antipasta salad for our church potluck lunch, with our tomatoes, basil, onion, capers, garlic, some goat cheese, and summer sausage. Very easy and delicous. We've also made pesto with the basil we've harvested. The regular tomato plants haven't produced anything, but I think they have suffered from the heat and lack of rain, even though we water the garden regularly. We know the garden area is getting plenty of water because the castor bean plants are thriving and blooming. We are also finally getting a good crop of okra and plan on pickling some today. Andy also made some wild sand plum jelly that turned out good.

In the front garden we have rose of sharon blooming, crepe myrtles, white hostas, black eyed susan, some canna lily, and 4 o'clocks. The grasshoppers have been voracious and have eaten some plants down to the ground, but then there are areas where I've got the same plant and the grasshoppers leave them alone. I planted two burning bush plants and only one of them has survived.

Andy and I helped with the grape harvest for Whirlwind Winery last weekend. We haven't heard yet about the amount harvested but should get an email report this week. It looked like a good harvest, though it was earlier than last year because of the heat -- the grapes were starting to dry up. One of the best wines we like from Whirlwind is the Wild Sand Plum and we're looking forward to that vintage this year.

I am chairman of the Cheese Festival Art Show this year and am busy organizing that for Oct. 8-9. I'll write more about that later. In the meantime, September is a good time to come visit us. Give us a call -- /linda

It's hot, hot, hot

It's mid-august and the hottest time of the year here. We've had over a week of temperatures over 100 degrees. Yesterday's temp of 104 was a record. But we are looking forward to a break in the heat by Sunday evening. If we can just keep the grass and gardens and trees alive until then.

I saw a snake in our yard for the first time this year. It was just a baby, about twelve inches long, and was curled up in the dirt, not moving. Andy killed it quickly. I usually walk in the yard with a stick, and fortunately this snake was in a flower bed where there is nothing growing right now. I just happened to throw a banana peel into the bed and something caught my eye where the banana peel landed. This time of year we have to be extra watchful and careful. Where there is one snake, there are others . . .

We have been busy with guests off and on in July and earlier this month, but this weekend we have no one at the B&B. September is a good time for friends to come see us -- before the "busy" season of October and the temperatures will be cooler. We may even get a hint of fall colors in September.

WE'RE IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER

This past weekend (on Saturday), the temperature got up to 100 degrees. On Sunday it was 102. We are expecting this entire week to be above 100 degrees, but they say it will be a dry heat most of the week, so it won't feel hotter than it actually is. We've had a little rain so haven't had to water daily, but we do have to water a lot!


We picked up a kitten from outside our church on Sunday. It is pretty young, is skinny, but otherwise looks healthy. It hung around the front of the church the entire morning, and when we left at noon, at the urging of many of the congregation, we took her home. We spent a little time letting her and Skeeter get acquainted. Skeeter wanted to play, but Kitty didn't want to have anything to do with a big dog. After just a short time, Kitty let her guard down a little and tolerated being in the same area with the dog.

RAIN AND A BREAK IN TEMPERATURES

From the first of July until last night, we've had several rain storms that have really refreshed and replenished the yard and gardens. Andy and I have enjoyed sitting on the front porch and watching the rain fall through the trees. Water comes out of one of the gutters and falls like a fountain on some rocks below that corner of the house. As we watched last night, we both came up with ideas of how to place a small water feature at that corner of the house that would catch the water and be used as a bird bath in addition to a kinetic water feature.

Andy is finishing up on installing a wheelchair ramp for access to the New Mexico bedroom.

The grasshoppers this year are voracious. They eat everything down to the nub, and I'm really tired of it. They have nearly destroyed one of our wysteria, several basil plants, hardy hibiscus, and okra. They don't seem to get on the thai basil or cucumber vines. I won't say what I'm doing to get rid of them, but it's somewhat organic. The only trouble with using organic is that I have to reapply about every other day.

Since I've been "well", I've really enjoyed working out in the yard. I got so far behind in raking up leaves and pulling crabgrass while I was incapacitated this past spring. I think just about the time I get the garden beds cleaned out, it will be fall again and the leaves will start falling again. Oh well.

I had a visit from two good friends earlier this month. Jana works in a flower show/garden center and gave me lots of ideas -- too many to implement right a way but lots of wish lists! Sandi seemed to enjoying walking around and see all that was blooming. I have some "manicured" areas and some wild areas on the property. It rained most of the weekend they were here, but we did get some pleasant time to be outside. We drank coffee on the front porch and enjoyed the breeze and the singing birds.

HOT SUMMER !!

We've already had several days of temperatures in the high 90's and even 100 degrees, but this week it is cooler -- lows in the 60's (mornings) and highs in the upper 80's. We were hoping for rain this week but it looks like it all went south of us -- Drew said it flooded in some places in Dallas.



Once the New Mexico room was finished, Andy replaced the front door and raised the ceiling a little so that it would accomodate a transom above the door. Then he replaced the floor tile in the entry way, and put in a mosaic of our logo -- we are both pleased with the way it all turned out. The additional lighting and different tile really opened up the entryway and made it look bigger.



We are still working on getting grass to grow in the front and back yards, but overall the yard and gardens are coming along. Lots of things are blooming and the view from the front porch is lovely. Andy is starting on the handicap-accessible ramp leading to the New Mexico room, and when that is finished I can start landscaping on the south end of the house. We've enjoyed sitting on the patio off of the New Mexico room in the late afternoon and evenings. Last night the owls were very active -- it sounded like there were several out in the woods, hooting. Andy has also put up a bat house in a tree on the south side of the house.

I spent all of last weekend working in the yard, pulling weeds and raking up leaves and transplanting flowers -- the first time I've been able to do that in months. I finally got an answer to my medical problems and am on the mend, am feeling good and am so glad to be able to get back to doing the everyday things that need to be done and the things I enjoy doing, like working in the garden. I wonder how long it will be before I get tired of drinking a glass of wine, now that I "have to" have a glass a day!?!

We are looking forward to guests coming in July and in August, and we're trying to lure friends to come visit in September, before the rush of Cheese Festival, class reunion, Dr. Barrett's 90th birthday celebration, and all the other activities that come with October.

LOTS OF ACTIVITY!!!

It is a HOT summer already! We've had a few days in the 90's already.

Andy finished the New Mexico room and we began unpacking things to decorate the room. We have lots of New Mexico "stuff". He also replaced the front door and raised the ceiling to make the entryway brighter. We had the entire house open and ready for a busy Memorial Day weekend. All three rooms were rented on Friday and on Saturday nights, thanks to the Watonga Alumni Reunion being held that weekend. We met new people and made new friends. The weather was perfect. The gardens are in bloom and I enjoyed walking through them in spite of my illness. Then, on Tuesday, we provided a breakfast for a group of ladies from church and we talked "gardening". Next week we are hosting a reception for our state representative, Mike Sanders, and looking forward to meeting many more people from the area.