Our First Garden Plant.....

It rained in the night and this morning the cloud cover and cooler air made it really nice to sit on the front deck with our coffee and reading.

We were listening to the mockingbird sing over a dozen songs and watching the hummingbirds come to the now full feeders of fresh nectar when Louis Dean noticed what he thought were new weeds in his 'garden.' The garden is all dirt right now. Regular ranch soil and then a load of sandy loam soil that was dumped and then Sherry spread it out for him. Next time he will work the two together with his tiller.

So far now he is determined to keep the weeds out.

Funny how all the 'weeds' were called wild flowers before he got his fence up.

I used my plant finder app on my phone and discovered we have an accidental planting of musky squash growing right out of that sandy loam soil!

Dean must have thrown a stray seed over there or perhaps the birds picked a seed up from his garden and dropped it in ours!

You can see it there in the foreground.

Louis Dean  hopes to plant a fall garden in the back corner.

We will be planting trumpet vines along the fences as well as a row of sunflowers.

Can you plant those now?

We need to do some research.

It won't ALL be garden.

He wants a patio with a two seater swing or glider.

We ordered a preformed pond shell which will be in soon.

And he wants to rebuild the fire pit and make a stepping stone path to and around it.

The pond will be to the right of the Crepe myrtle bush.

He will keep the grassy area over on the right.

We accomplished a lot this trip.

I decided to paint the deck boards that show Colonial Red.

I love this paint and have used it for everything I have ever painted red in the last 15 years!

I also bought a can of white to paint around the camper door.

One of Louis Dean major accomplishments was putting up the top part of the wall along this side.

I was thrilled about this as we had stuck insulation and plastic bags all up in there. Not pretty. I had just told him a few days earlier that I was thinking about making a denim skirt to hang up there since I AM the Queen of Cover Up!!! That might have motivated him some. Plus it was too hot to work outside.

He will use his Rock Hard putty which he mixes with the sawdust he saved (that man saves everything but fingernail clippings!) to fill in the cracks, let dry, sand it smooth and touch it up with paint.

I am the clean up crew.

He had a LOT of sawdust on everything along that wall - because - he tried to saw a little off a board to make it fit - and it didn't work but left a real mess! But that's my job!

I cleaned up my art table. I started to leave it but thought it would be best to start all over in setting it out and try to keep it neater since I will only be working on three canvases when we come back.

Another thing Louis Dean did was put down the artifical grass carpet.

I painted the table and two chairs with my trusty red paint.

I also painted that big trunk you can see in the photo.

I bought that for him 3 or 4 years ago at a garage sale in Mart.

It was taking up prime real estate in his work shop and he kept so much stuff piled up on top of it that he never used the inside part. He put rollers on it and now it lives under the ea

ves on the extended front deck. I have my own little corner of plants. The mint is SO hardy!!! I bought the Citronella plant at HEB for $7.99. The one I have at home was $17! Bee and Butterfly seed are in the middle two planters and what I think is a trumpet vine is in the front.

We loaded up and were ready to go.......now where are those kitties???

Hanging from the rafters!

They do love to climb!

These are the best little kittens!

We tucked them in their carrier and they rode home without a single peep!

They were happy to get here though.

They made straight for the food and water.

I went out to see what I could harvest from our garden here.

I didn't tell Louis Dean that you could barely SEE the plants for all the high weeds.

We left here 8 days ago and it rained 5 times while we were gone.

We have very healthy and hearty weeds!

Louis Dean is already in bed asleep as I write this journal entry.

We stopped for Subway sandwiches and ate half on the road home and the other half tonight while we watched Mountain Men. The last load of laundry is in the washer so I have one load to fold from the dryer and the dishwasher to empty and coffee to make before I go to bed.

But I am enjoying some alone time and listening to some beautiful music on the stereo.

I am so blessed to have a city home and a country one!

I am in love with HOME!