Thursday, August 11, 2011

Around Home....

The late bloomers are coming out to play this summer.  I 'm always bothered by people who think that late blooming children are "slow."  But no, they aren't.  They bloom when they are designed to bloom just like my gladiolas.  This is the first glad to blossom and I have several more to go.  They are so cheery in the veggie patch.  My mother-in-law always planted a row of gladiolas in her veggie garden, and I sometimes plant them in my veggie patch in her memory. Gladiolas remind me of her.

 The coneflowers, sometimes called Mexican hat flowers, are very abundant just now.  I especially like the red and yellow ones.
Then there is the purple prairie coneflower, also called Echinacea, which is just beginning to bloom in my garden. I like how the center of it starts out spikey and orange.  Who would have thought to put purple and orange together?
 Friends --very nice friends--offered to let me pick their cherry tree last Sunday, but instead, I "picked up" the cherries that they had already picked for me.  (See, I told you they were nice)  They gave me five gallons of sour red cherries.  Aren't they just beautiful?  They also loaned me their cherry pitter.  Oh my, what a nice device!  It's every bit as good as my apple peeler/slicer/corer which I adore.  My friend said that the cherry pitter is worth as much as a husband.....in help, that is. I am definitely ordering one of these for myself. Find it here.

I made six quarts of cherry pie filling and then froze the rest of the cherries in quart sized bags.  I turned out a cherry pie that was deeeeee lish eous!

The Fourth-born, S., had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Wednesday.  Things have sure changed since 20 years ago when our First-born went in for his tonsillectomy.  The tonsillectomy was a whopping 15 minute procedure.  Within two hours after the surgery, we were gathering up our stuff to drive home.   Many say that having tonsils removed as an adult is much harder to bear than it is for young kids, but our 21 year old is doing just fine -- eating lots of ice cream, drinking cold drinks and eating fairly well for a guy with a major sore throat.  (Pain meds sure do help.)  We had smashed potatoes and hamburger gravy for supper and he did quite well eating it.  He even tried a little popcorn this evening.  His doctor said he could eat whatever he felt like eating.  So far, so good.
The adjusters came to look at our homes and buildings here on the ranch and decided we had more loss from the hail storm than we thought at first.  The roofs will need to be replaced among other things.  Sounds like  lots of work to me.  We had another big cloud come through tonight and the weather folks said we were going to get another round of hail, but no.  I'm sure glad it was nothing but wind and a little rain.  It likely hailed on someone out there.

Summer sure seems to be flying by, doesn't it?  I hope you are enjoying every minute of it.

11 comments:

  1. G'day. Lovely photo's. Those cherries look delicious.Take care. Liz...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow -- I'm so surprised that your coneflowers are just now blooming. Mine bloomed about 4 weeks ago (maybe 6?) and they're just about done with by now. I love them so much. That red and yellow version is just stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some summers I have picked cherries, came home to pit them, cooked up and made canned cherry pie filling. It was a most-of-the-day job, but so worth it on a snowy day when we had cherry pie for dessert! Now I just buy a bag of pitted and frozen cherries. Not as much work, and I miss seeing the canned filling on my shelves!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I do envy you those beautiful cherries and the ready to use homemade cherry pie filling!!!

    We planted a couple of cherry trees two years ago, but they haven't started producing yet, though they are very healthy, so hopefully soon!!!

    When I start getting cherries, I'll come asking for the pie filling recipe :)

    blessings,
    Niki

    ReplyDelete
  5. It all looks very nice, I have never seen a cherry pitter before. I imagine they would be really nice. Your cherries looks so pretty and I bet the pie was fantastic.
    I am glad you son is doing okay after his surgery.
    It looks like you are having a very nice summer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oooo, those cherries look so good. Won't you be happy to have all those in your freezer and your pantry in the coming months? The peaches I got on my way home from the river weren't very good. I peeled them all and put them in the freezer anyway, but I'm afraid our pies and cobblers, etc. won't be quite as good as usual this year. You mentioned ordering peaches from Colorado. Do you mind sharing your source? I might order some too if it's not too late.
    Have a great weekend!
    GG
    Oh, pretty flowers too ;).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Smashed potatoes and hamburger gravy sounds real good and it's only 7:23 a.m. here! :0)
    I'm glad the 21 year old is doing well!
    I'm really impressed with that cherry pitter. I can see why you'd want to order one. I'm thinking I'd love to borrow your apple thingee as I'm looking at a basket or two of apples I need to do something with.
    Glad the 2nd hail storm passed you by. Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  8. They cherries look so delicious. That cherry pie sounds good, too. My glads are just green still. I think I planted them late. I used to make smashed potatoes and hamburger gravy, and my mom did, too! I like it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your flowers are lovely! I've tried to grow glads but had a problem with earwigs.

    Glad you didn't get nailed by another bout of hail. That happened here a few years back. You thought you came out unscathed and in came another blast!

    Modern medicine... so glad I don't live in the dark ages. Of course, then I could have afforded the surgery!

    Blessings, Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your raised beds are just beautiful! And what great neighbors -- I'm drooling for those cherries. Yummy! The summer feels over for us. School starts very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yum! Love cherry pie filling! Glad S is mending quickly!!!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments. Thanks for stopping in. Sorry, but due to spam, only registered users can comment.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...