Game Night @ Nolan and Alex'

The girls were invited to join the youth from MAG to hike the Butte and then have a BBQ afterwards. It was a beautiful day to hike, and they had a great time. 

I spent a few hours in the garden, did a few housekeeping things, fed GG. 

We ended the day at our family monthly game night. The kids began meeting to play games, it sort of firmed up and settled into a monthly family game night. Hosts alternate, pizza is provided, snacks are brought by guests, and fun is had by all. It's just another way to intentionally connect. We've all been much more intentional to connect since last fall.

This month we converged on Nolan and Alex at their home. KrUke are busy prepping for their upcoming vacation. Carrie and the girls were at the lake - perfect weather for the lake!  Izaak was on call - but Bre and the kids walked over. CoRielle attended. Larissa and Noah are in TX, but Jared came, as did Jamin and Jenni. 

Nolan, Jamin, Jenni, Allie, Ellie, Stacia, Arielle

GG and Jared

Alex set up Mario Cart so that it was "impossible" for the kids to lose. They had fun! 

Bre sent this photo later in the evening! Can you believe it? Gideon and Annie BOTH lost their first teeth this evening. As Bre said, "The tooth fairy is running a 2 for 1 special." LOL 

📷by BreAnne

I love those smiles!!!

FRIDAY AT LAST!

This morning began with baking 2 loaves of sourdough. I continue to play with fresh ground sourdough starters and rounds.... obviously there are benefits to using bread flour instead of fresh ground whole wheat. 

left = bread flour, right = freshly ground whole wheat - 100%

Allie kept busy with her 2nd full day of training at her new job!

I had a counseling appointment today. Stacia went into town to run some errands. We met up and did a quick run through the Friday Fling.  She continues to look for employment and so I am making the most of our times together before that happens. 

We got home to discover Michael and Cory attacking the back meadow. Michael has several piles to be burned...when it begins to rain, he'll get a permit and burn some brush back there. The devil's club is TERRIBLE. As we pondered WHY it's taking over when the woods were originally so nice to walk through (a selling point for the property even) ...we realize the HORSES made the difference. They kept the weeds down. I can't seem to talk anyone into the idea of a horse. Goats are hard to contain - at least that's what I've observed. I'm not sure what other animal options we may have. I've thought of renting someone's goats for the summer.  ANYWAY....the guys tackled this corner...the devils club has taken over the woods and are advancing on our yard. We've tried everything suggested to us. One expert told us he doesn't understand why folks try to get rid of it. In his view it provides "color." Ye'gads...and it stings and hurts if you bump into it!!! Maybe he was a city summer hire.  This meadow has so much potential - if we can get the devil's club under control. They made great progress - the clubs were taller were taller than me. 

One pile of devil's club 

Unfortunately, I'm writing from four days later and Michael is STILL covered in angry, red welts from the devil's club. 

I jumped into the garden, determined to get a row of potatoes and 2 beds weeded, and the beets thinned out. I also enjoyed some refreshing tears in the garden. I'm learning some of the best gardeners actually do enjoy tears and tea in their gardens. This may be the missing ingredient from past attempts at growing gardens. 

I'm still not 100% sure if I have ANY potatoes poking through, but I can weed the green around the rows and edges as I know that is not where the starts should appear. 

2 rows down

Time to thin out the baby beets

There is a LOT of grass in a couple of the beds. I think it's because I was doing the lasagna method and used a lot of hay in them. Did YOU know straw and hay are not the same? Hay can result in lots of grass in your garden.  This bed has two chocolate spearmint plants at the top left, our lone zucchini plant, I direct sowed all the beet seeds I had left from 2022, I started the swirly beets in the foreground inside and transplanted them, and two Brussel sprouts round out the bed. 

I know this seems like crowded spacing, but I grew two beds of beets in 2022 using this method. I use the spacing from square foot gardening. 

More room to grow 

The chickens get 1/2 a Rubbermaid tub of weeds a day! They also have planters filled with grass to enjoy. 

I picked up Papa Murphys while we were in town, so dinner was easy. Allie got home with fun tales from work. We were all ready for a restful evening after the outside work. 

The weather continues to be unbelievably gorgeous, and I love being OUT in it. With Michael's health being what it is just now, and Dad not loving being out....I am not getting out for walks, bike rides, hikes, walks around the lakes or to the swimming hole...but I AM still making the most of the weather...soaking up Vitamin D and it's great. 

A Very Full Thursday

It was a busy Thursday at Wibbly Wobbly Acres! Michael had to get up and out of the house for his weekly chiropractic appointment...these are vital in postponing his back surgery. The VA docs would like to wait until he is 70 for surgery. I'm wondering if that is possible. In any event...he was up and out of the house for that appointment, and a few errands he likes to run while he is in Wasillla. 

Stacia is teaching a couple of fellow students Japanese this summer. They had thought to meet at the public library but discovered our study was better suited to lessons. 

Allie had her first day of training at her new job. I'm not trying to be secretive, one of my blogging boundaries is to be sure I don't overshare from others' lives. 

GG and I stayed home. He read and worked on puzzles. I cleaned, gardened and played! 

Arielle and the boys took us up on the promise from the above banner. They came to play when Cory came to work. This was a welcome break to gardening and sitting in the house for me. 

I remembered we had bubbles! Larissa bought us a little "bubble machine" a few summers ago. It's a lot of fun for the younger crew. 

I brought tea and a snack out. I'd been trying for hours to sit down. The boys spared me the calories by quickly eating my snack. They're thoughtful that way. 

Auntie Stacia joined us.

Stacia & Lyra (or Ellie)

Bachan & Ellie

Cory's task today was to deal with the stinging nettles and such in the part of the garden plot we are NOT using this year. He used the weed eater to get the grass down and then burned the nettles and such.  We discovered it goes much quicker if you have a full tank of propane and if you run it full bore - we learned from watching Michael. ::snort:: 

We're making progress. If you look closely, you can see the t posts and electric wire that mark the garden's boundaries. BTW there is old carpet where the grass is lush and green - it obviously did nothing for long term weed suppression but has now grown into the garden.  From past work in this spot, we know it takes a truck to pull the carpet loose. Beware of the internet advice. LOL We are putting the manure and shavings from the chicken coop here. It will be a year before we plant. We'll till it all in.  I'm not sure I have the stamina to keep up the whole garden plot but it needs to be tamed and at some point, I may truly have a community garden. 

I woke this morning knowing it was JENNI DAY. We maintain we've not seen Jenni for WEEKS, though she maintains she only missed one Thursday. This is true but as this is Thursday it HAS been two weeks since she was over. She had a great time with past roommates, and we don't begrudge her that experience, but we are happy to have her over tonight.  She arrived before Allie and Michael were home. I suggested we run over to the pool and catch a bit of swimming lessons. I've been trying to do this for weeks and keep forgetting. Tonight was the LAST night of this session of swim lessons. We grabbed GG and Stacia and headed out. 

Annie, Gideon, Benny, Bella 📷byBre

Benny & Annie were in the same class 

Gideon jumped off the diving board 📷byBre

I think Trudy was surprised to see us. 

Arielle, Jenni, Stacia

Bre & Josiah (Jojo)

BreZaak's home doesn't have a bathtub. The kids havaen't had a lot of experience with being in water, which is why Bre is so good about swim lessons. They went to Seward a month or so ago and stayed at a hotel with a pool. Jojo jumped right in but wasn't prepared for the sinking, water in the eyes, nose scenario. He's not wanted to go into the pool since then. Tonight, he got TWO feet into the pool. I told him how proud I was of him and he told me he has cookies at home. I didn't see the connection until Bre told me he was told if he got wet he could have a cookie. ::snort:: 

We zipped back home and grilled salmon. I had done this a lot in Japan and forgot I did it when Michael was deployed. I couldn't figure out why he didn't' remember how to grill it. Everyone deemed it yummy - maybe our favorite way now to prep salmon. We also had asparagus and greens from the garden. 

Jenni and Stacia played cribbage. I tried to figure it out. Allie got home from her first full day of training. We watched an episode of All Creatures - I fell asleep. Hmm. 

This post is long enough so I'll skip the garden photos. I continue to sit with a cuppa daily...and I work a couple of hours a day out there. I've put the whole thing on a rotation. If I weed 2 beds and 1 row of potatoes a day, I can hit the entire garden in 5 days - once a week. 

Voices, Flowers and Fires

I was outside in the garden, with the GG monitor, when I swore, I heard voices. I looked around and saw nothing. I went into the greenhouse and again - I SWORE I heard VOICES!  Sure enough - Cory and Danny were around the corner. Danny was out for a day with Cory. He was asked where he'd like to go and what he'd like to do. He wanted to go for a walk and check on Bachan's garden! I.love.it!

Danny - I must remember the smile prompts

It should be noted Danny is NOT a fan of the motorcycle. He agreed to let me take a QUICK picture, but told me it "doesn't work."  There you have it. Kids who ride on battery powered cars and horses that make sound, will not be interested in wooden rocking toys. Not to worry - it still makes a great garden statue. Danny looked around, jumped on the trampoline and was saddened to discover Dad didn't want him to use ANY of the water toys. Cory lined out the soaker hose in the hoop house and put tomato cages up.

All set - supports, dirt, irrigation

I didn't weed in the garden today. I did weed in the front rock/flower garden alongside the garage. The kids had planted a bunch of flowers for me on Mother's Day. As they grew, the pot looked crowded. Carrie gave me a bunch of garden pots she didn't want and I'm cheap.  I separated the plants from one pot to several pots. I also planted some geraniums (maybe, I think) for the front. 

$25 basket

I took a box of transplanted petunias and moved them up front. 

Basically, my flower seeds got mixed, I planted them all and we'll see what we get. I can't recognize from the sprouts what all of them are. I think there may be zinnias, dahlias and petunias. I transplanted the starts and put planters in front of the green house, the deck, up front and in the garden.  The electric fence will protect the flowers in the garden. I suspect the moose will make quick play of the flowers up front.  I moved three of the six Japanese glass fishing floats to various places in the garden, installed a sign and moved a couple of other things from around the yard to the garden. 

Front of sign 

Back of sign

Japanese floats - such fun memories of beach combing in Northern Japan.

In between yard and garden work I visited with GG, roused Michael and then ran to the lawyer - AGAIN. It seems there was one spot in 30 or 40 pages where I didn't sign what needed to be signed.  

Since I was out, I ran a few errands: picked up GG's meds - OUCH, went grocery shopping and to the library. 

Allie enjoyed what may be her "last day" of relaxation before the routine of summer classes and a new job kick in.  Stacia continues with her Japanese classes through the summer and also had a counseling appointment today. 

Michael has been toying with various designs to extend our deck and move the HOT TUB, which we bought used when Jamin moved from his Wasilla home this winter. The tub currently sits in our garage and we'd like it moved out as quickly as possible.  The project has had several twists and turns. It was going to be a simple slab of concrete by the greenhouse...then Michael thought we'd build a huge oven, outdoor area and incorporate it into the hot tub slab....then we opened it to the kids for designs. Cory suggested one with it coming off the deck...and a few other features...Aaron came by, and Michael and he liked the idea of extending off the existing deck...then Carrie and I began to discuss the pros of Trex over wood...and Michael began to draw plans. Today he marked it out with spray paint so the more visual of us (me) could visualize what he was thinking. 

I THINK we can get away with one set of stairs, a platform about 1/2 way down to the 2nd level of the deck which will have built in benches around the hot tub. They will put an external plug at the side of the house and THAT WILL BE AN IMPROVEMENT. We are going to see what Trex would cost...we may just do the flooring with Trex for now and leave the railing as wood with the idea of changing it out at a later date? Ideally, we'd change the flooring of the original deck too...This deck was built by the previous owner right before we moved in, and the wood is already warping on the railing and such. We have sealed it annually. We'll discuss all that with Aaron. He'll put in all the posts and such to make it much more earthquake ready. I still think a twisty slide off the deck is a good idea, but I suspect I've been vetoed. 

We had a quick dinner of wings in the air fryer, salad and such....watched an episode of Scorpion and GG headed for bed. The rest of us headed for the fire. We don't mind GG coming out with us. We enjoy spending time around the fire with him. However, honestly, he insists on playing with the fire, walking around the fire without his walker etc. It makes for a terrifying over relaxing experience, so most often we wait for him to drift off to sleep before we light the fire. I was trying to take a sweet selfie of Michael and I around the fire. This is what I got. 

Smore kit has been with us in so many places! Always prepared!

I love this photo of the Allie vibe. 

My sugar-free s'more. Maxmallows and Lily's milk chocolate bar. 

Something magical happens when you sit around the fire with friends and family. Yes, sometimes the phones come out...our we all read our favorite books, but most often we share, talk, read a Patrick McManus chapter, dream. I also remember other times around the fire...friends from past assignments, mentoring in AK around the fire, laughter, tears...and those two years of Rving full-time...blogging and eating and hospitality around the fire. 

I'm glad we unbarricaded the fire ring. We need to invite more people over for a summer fire and s'mores...or apple pie in the fire...or maybe we could even cook dinner around the fire....