Solar Lights and Visitors

 I ordered a case of Solar Lights...they brighten up the night time.  

They glow orange and the light dances like a flame.  Pretty cool if I don't say so myself. 

We had a busy day.  We got the steel parts of the old screen door to my other baby brother's steel recycling bin and the glass from the old screen door to the transfer station.  I watered the tomato plant as we are in a hot spell.  Part of the plant got real heavy and flopped over in the wind...I will see what lives and what dies and trim accordingly. 

We had company in the afternoon...our Nephew and next door neighbor Josh and Missy stopped by and then our Niece Ellie is here with her three children from Oregon.  The kids are growing like weeds! 

What's Cooking:  Salmon and roasted potatoes for Far Guy and a Hobo dinner for me...cleanup was easy...just throw the tin foil in the garbage and wash the forks:)

Minnesota weather: High 90F or 32C  Low was 69F or 21C.  We are in an extreme heat warning until Tuesday. 

We are thankful for air conditioning!

Far Side

Muffins!

I baked!  Well first I cleaned out a cupboard in the kitchen and found a partial bag of Bran Cereal that I was supposed to use for muffins.  Saw it and threw it on the counter...that top cupboard is awfully tall so I have to use a step ladder to clean out all the corners real good.  I recalled the tart dried cherries I had in the deep freeze...would they still be good? 

There were more bran flakes than the recipe called for...so I didn't measure I just dumped and added more of everything....I could not replicate the recipe to save my life.

They turned out just fine...another baking success!  I found a bunch of corn meal...that will wait for another day.

Years ago I used to make muffins for Far Guy every week, he would grab two out of the freezer on his way to work...he would thaw them out on the 90 mile drive.  Back then he took coffee with him but he had a small coffee maker that plugged into the cigarette lighter so he could warm up his coffee or make some fresh.

It was a nice day here yesterday...in the evening it turned cool with the wind coming from the East across the lake. During the day Far Guy woodcarved outside and I cleaned up the solar light garden.

There is still about five inches of snow at the snowstick. We may get rain on Thursday.

Goodbye March....you were not a real pleasant month for anyone.  BUT I am thankful we made it through the month.  Stay safe everyone!
Far Side

Hopeless Garden

I have a hopeless garden out in front of the patio.  It was a miserable failure this past summer.  Years ago it was a Daylily Garden and then believe it or not one year they froze out.

This was it on its best day this summer. PATHETIC  The bird feeders hang directly above this garden.

The last day of August it should have looked better than this. I know I have lots of junk in there…solar lights are my weakness.   I love seeing all the lights at night. This garden did not lack for water or fertilizer.  The Pansies are the only flowers that looked good and the tree rats cute little squirrels ate some of them.

I have slowly moved a few decorations out. Yesterday after a shopping trip for a few more solar lights I cleaned and repaired the ones that worked and cleaned up this garden for winter. Most of the lights will get covered with snow but sunny days the snow will melt and the lights will shine again.

After

Next year I may change my flower shopping list to : Impatiens, Coleus and Pansies.

If I couldn’t control my OCD this garden would have the same kind of solar lights evenly spaced…instead it is just a mishmash of lights styles and colors placed haphazardly throughout….perhaps I should call it a colorful patchwork!

I have enough solar lights purchased for next spring…hard to pass up a sale. For now I tucked them and extra parts that are still good in a file cabinet in my garage.

I could not bring myself to uproot the Pansies.  They will bloom a few more days until a really hard frost.

Solar Light Butterfly

I bought a solar butterfly light.  Strangest thing it just lept off the shelf into my shopping cart.

It is bland in the daytime.  Not much to look at.

At night it changes colors.  I head outside with Chance just as the lights surrender to the darkness.

I find the changing colors calming as I watch them transform from one color to another. Never blinking…working non stop from color to color.

Chance is bored with me watching, he plops down on the patio…he totally misses the bunny that shows off it’s cottontail as it scampers through the woods.  The birds have gone to bed, far off a dog barks, it must be Odda or Putz.  I finally encourage the old dog saying I will walk with him so he can get down to business.  It is totally dark as we head back to the house guided by the solar lights in the yard.

We cannot have flower gardens this time of year…but a solar light garden is the next best thing.