Company, Strawberries, and World's Greatest Dad

                                                     The man behind most of the pictures

I am sorry it's been so long.  We have been so busy.  My mother was here from Nevada and my brother and his family were here form Georgia.  We had a good visit and lots of good food.  It seems like the summer is already flying by and we have barely gotten started.  My garden is coming along pretty well.  I am really having to fight the weeds.  I read the other day that if you can keep weeds out of the perimeter of the garden you have won half the battle.  We have this grass that just wants to creep in from all sides.  But I do not want to use chemicals around my plants.  I could till but they say that robs the soil.  So what do you do?  

  So far I have put up approximately 26 pints of strawberry jam.  Some are freezer jams, some are sweetened with sugar, and some I tried sweetening with fruit juice.  We have tried them all and they all taste good to me.  The fruit juice sweetened is not as sweet as the sugar kind but still good.  I also froze about 5 galllons of strawberries.  Yes, I went picking.  We went to "Uncle Al's", which is about 15 miles from our house.  And when the whole crew goes with me, we can pick a lot in a short amount of time.  I am hoping to get blueberries next.  We love blueberries. I have three bushes left (after Daisy got done with the others) and they have some blueberries but not enough to freeze. Maybe next year.

  Now, I want to say "Happy Father's Day" to my husband.  He truly is one of the best dads I have ever been around.  His family always comes first and we know it.  He is loving, kind, patient beyond words(he puts up with me and three girl teens), a true leader, encourager, faithful, trustworthy, honest, and all round good guy and did I mention smart?  I know I am slightly biased but God truly blessed me when he brought us together.  He is my Ebenezer. I know ,"gush, gush, gush".  Happy Father's Day , Jeff.  

  I am going to be spending a lot of time in the garden this week and a lot of time with my washer and the clothes line. LOL  They are feeling neglected after all the company!  I hope everyone has a blessed week.  

~Angie~ 

  It's seems like forever since I posted.  Thats how crazy it has been.  We took a trip to Holiday World this past weekend.  It was so much fun.  The children had a blast.  We spent 11 hours in the park Saturday and the weather was perfect.  We came home Saturday night and had a flat tire at 11:00 that night.  We called the state trooper , not because my husband doesn't know how to change a tire, but because we needed some lights.  You couldn't see anything except cars and trucks rushing by on the interstate.  Very scary when your husband has to lay on his back to get the spare out from under the car.  You just pray that the other cars will see us.  God was with us though and the state trooper got there in minutes and flashed his big lights.  It did take a while to get the tire changed though.  We didn't just have a flat, we completely lost the tire.  There was nothing left of it.  

  Caitlin and Jonathans big sister is visiting with us this week. I picked up my mother at the airport last night and my brother and his family are coming on Thursday.  My mother was going to stay with us but Olivia has some kind of stomach flu.  So my mom is staying at my sister's.  A whole mile away! LOL I am so glad she is here.  I don't get to see her often enough as she lives in Nevada.  

  My garden is looking great!  I think we are going to have to put a fence around it though to keep the dogs and chickens out.  Of course the chickens can fly over.  But maybe it will deter them.  Speaking of chickens, we found one of the Barbies (buff chicken) dead behind the small coop.  It looked  like she got her head stuck in the fence. Very sad.  Now I only have one Barbie left.  

  Yesterday I spent disinfecting the entire house and washing towels and sheets.  Anything that Olivia came in contact with.  Towels and blankets take forever.  I do love the way they smell after hanging on the line though.  Today I will be doing more laundry and hopefully baking.  I got my grain mill back this past week. Yeah!!!  Bread, here we come!!! I hope everyone has a great day.  

~Angie~

p.s. Just a few pictures from Holiday World.