Roses

My William Baffin roses are thriving this year.  Far Guy cut them way back in the early spring.

This is the only rose of the Explorer Series that was developed at the Morden Research Station in Morden Manitoba. I understand that even if they no longer research roses that they have display gardens. William Baffin is a wonderful rose, he is kinda a climber, he will climb to about twelve feet.  Mine are not nearly that tall because I have this pipe dream about them climbing up the metal wagon wheels.  I think they get too warm next to the metal, and their growth is slowed.

  I could move the roses, or I could give up on the metal wheels..or maybe I could try some extra water and some fertilizer..I hope they don’t croak from some attention:)

Calm Waters

I went kayaking the other night. The water was really warm..like pee..that doesn’t happen very often in Minnesota.  Usually our lakes are cool and refreshing.  I stayed near shore.  I am not an idiot. One of the major rules about kayaking is don’t get too far from shore because you may have to swim back!  I found the kayak to be more tippy than a canoe. The double paddle felt strange so I will probably buy myself a canoe paddle.

I stayed dry..it was peaceful and calm out on the lake..quiet too.. only the squawking of a Great Blue Heron and the sound of Chance splashing in the water interrupted the silence:)

Wild Gardens

The flowers in June are so different, it seems like they are full of promise..all colors of the rainbow. The Lupines are the Stars of my June garden.

The flowers of July are like spent fireworks. The Lupine have formed their seed pods and start to re seed sometimes quite explosively. The Gaillardia begin to show off..

The flowers of August are warm and comforting..they signal the start of the end of summer.

Far Guy mows the pathways for me all summer, so I can walk amongst the flowers and take photographs.  Sometimes I have lots of dog company.  I started this planting a long time ago with just a few flowers..and fewer weeds. 

They are what they are…beautiful and wild and no fuss no muss only a little mowing and lots of photo taking.

 

I don’t weed, I don’t water, Chance and his friends fertilize frequently. The Wildflowers have formed root systems deep and strong that will withstand drought and heat in the summer and the forty below zero in the winter.   Deer and Turkeys wander in and out of the yard…they munch here and there..I am past getting upset about what the bums eat..I just share. After years of perfect gardens these Wildflower Gardens are now just perfect for me:)

Kayak Lessons Learned

Do not try to do fancy paddling in a backwards motion. 

Your kayak will dump you out in the water slicker than snot on a doorknob. 

You should really watch the video on the Internet half a dozen times. “How to get back into a kayak in the open water.” 

You could try the old canoe trick to get some of the water out, even if it is futile.

You  might just as well give up some days..because your Mother In Law will capture it all on film.

Two kayaks is definitely better than just one.

It promotes togetherness.  I did notice that my daughter likes to use the paddle to lob water at her husband occasionally.

A family photo out on the water..this was my best shot.

Yup lessons learned, the boys were soaking it all in just like little sponges…the next time we go out we will do some practicing close to shore.  We will practice getting in and out of a kayak in the open water.  I have a Boating Safety book for the boys to read..and if they don’t read it by themselves..I will read it aloud to them,  after all once they are out on the pontoon and we have left shore I have them trapped :) 

Wistful Wednesday: 1992

This is a photo from nineteen years ago.  The summer of 1992. These are my parents granddaughters…all lined up according to age.

My two girls are the oldest.  All my siblings have daughters, my baby brother has one daughter and my other baby brother has three daughters, and that little girl baby that my oldest daughter is holding is my sisters daughter.  Who would have thought that nineteen years later they would be three Nurses, a Bank Teller/Accountant, a Supervisor in a Grocery, a English Professor and one still in College (the littlest).   These girls are the mothers of eleven children. One is married but has no children.. yet.  Two are unmarried. BUT that will change this weekend.

The little gal with the blue slacks and the white shirt and the bow in her hair will be married on Saturday in Oregon.  I wish we were going but it just did not work out.  So it goes..my baby brother will send a photo. 

This photo was taken at my parents resort high on the hill on the north end of Straight Lake…how could all of these girls have grown up so fast:)

Chance: On Kayaks

My sister was here for the weekend, she brought Miney and Elvis to visit.   My sister likes to shop..and shop she did. She came back with a kayak…a blue one.  Then all kinds of kayak talk broke out at the supper table, two would be better than one..more people could go.  Fantastic idea!  Far Guy has wanted a kayak all summer.   So Far Guy and Far Side went to town and came home with a Banana Boat..or a yellow kayak.

I got to go for a ride..it was a little tippy.

 

I am not so sure I am a kayak kind of dog?  What do you think?  Far Side says I need a life jacket…or my own tube to float around in. She said maybe I should just watch..

Miney wanted to watch too..I am taller because I put my feet up on the railing…I was almost ready to jump in.

Far guy..come back..

My pal is out there on the high seas all by himself.  I  hope he doesn’t  fall in or anything. ( He did later..and nearly choked to death because he didn’t keep his mouth shut.)   Wanna see the photo? 

 

After he accidently fell in trying to get out of the kayak and onto the pontoon..Far Side suggested he zip up his life jacket..so he did, she mumbled something about  “It makes the body retrieval easier.”  :)

Summer Chairs On Bad Medicine Lake

These are Jen’s idea of Summer Chairs..she said “Mom get ready here come the Summer Chairs.” 

I like their reflections in the water.  The blue stool between the red and green chair doesn’t belong..but other than that they look almost perfect.

We went over to Bad Medicine Lake.  We were very impressed the water is very clear and such a beautiful color.  It is the cleanest lake I have ever seen in Minnesota.

There are some islands on the lake..

We all liked this one.  I believe that this is as close to waterfront property as you can get in Minnesota without actually being in the water.  In recent years the water in this lake has been rising.   Bad Medicine Lake has no inlet or outlet it is entirely spring fed.

I remembered this lake years ago when it had weeds,  the crayfish went nuts in this lake in the late 1960’s and they ate all the weeds. 

It was almost a perfect lake day in Minnesota on Sunday, temperatures were in the seventies and we had some sunshine along with some clouds:) 

One Summer Evening

The sweet smell of fresh cut hay assaults my senses in the mornings.  We have had enough rain so the hay and grass are having a good year.

The other evening we saw a family of Turkeys..technically a rafter of Turkeys.  There were little ones, but they are not tall enough to be seen in the photo.

It is usually turkeys in the straw..except for my photo it is turkeys in the hay.

Some of my favorite flowers are blooming.

These are Rudbeckia or Black Eyed Susan’s.  They self sow themselves all over the wildflower area.   Far Guy is trying to get wildflowers to grow out by the sauna.  They are a little sparse this year, next year they will be better:)

Warm Weather

The other night we headed over to Shell Lake to play in the water.  The lake temperature is way up..the water was really warm..not cool and refreshing..but warm..just like a bodily fluid.

We have been having very warm and especially humid weather.  The weather will break soon..possibly this weekend.  It has been so warm that I have been dreaming of swimming every night.

Chance loves the water.

He jumps after water that Far Guy lobs into the air with the flinger..it is Chances favorite water game:)

 

Poison Ivy

I have a spot of Poison Ivy that is stubborn and slow in going away.  Sometime someone or some dog brushed up against the ivy with their pant leg or their furry leg and then rubbed up against the bench in the kitchen..the bench sticks out enough that I routinely bump into it..hence the Ivy.  Far Guy washed down the benches with Dawn dish soap..

I needed some Jewel Weed.  It is in the Impatiens family.  It is also called Touch Me Not.  The seeds shoot off into the distance if you touch them when they are ripe.  

The stems is what you want to harvest, we usually pick a side branch.  Open the stem and spread the watery goo on the ivy..in a few days it will be gone.  I have noticed an improvement in my Ivy with just a few applications. Of course I am using Far Guys Jewel Weed soap too, he special orders it off of the Internet. 

This is something Far Guy came up with years ago..during his research into native plants…he dabbled into home remedies..he has never had poison ivy on his skin.  He did have it in his eye once back in 1994, using the weed eater without eye protection. (He went to the eye doctor and got special eye drops.)

I hate the ivy and this is my second bout with it this year.  I used to be able to get shots for it.  A series of three shots in March.  The FDA took it off the market..I was a real unhappy camper.

Minnesota has an over abundance of Poison Ivy…it grows wild everywhere. 

Do you have Poison Ivy where you live?  What do you do to prevent it, and what do you do to stop the horrific itching?:)

Tour De Quilts

The Art Gallery upstairs is awash in quilts.  The stuffy “Old Masters” have to share their space with the quilts. (Ha!)

You can touch if you wear gloves.  There were women coming and going all day long on Tuesday.  Many were disappointed yesterday because they came from nearly Canada to see the quilt show.  I don’t make the rules..or the hours.  The Gallery Upstairs is only open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday. One lady was so mad I thought she might stroke out on me.  I pleasantly assured her that the historical part of the museum was open for her viewing pleasure..and would she like a Tootsie Roll?

Later I had an altercation with one of the “Artsy Fartsy” people..she said “I drug my daughter here to see the Old Masters..how in the world can they be closed?”   I replied  “Because it is Wednesday, besides that I have seen those old paintings and to tell you the truth I was not that impressed.”  She about fainted,  she spit and sputtered and finally said “My husband is an Artist, you have no idea how wonderful it is to see 16th Century paintings in such a small town.”  ( Whoopee doo)  All the while I was getting a fine arts lecture her daughter was rolling her eyes.. I finally said “Well, we have many wonderful objects in our museum too and we are not closed today.” ( Her daughter had a wonderful time in the museum..and stopped by my office to tell me so too! )

Tess (my volunteer extraordinaire) and I toured the quilts on Tuesday.

 

They are all beautiful. I love all the colors in this quilt!

This one was my favorite!  There are oodles more:)

Wistful Wednesday : 1924 or thereabouts

I have this photograph.  It got me to thinking about Grandma Tracie’s brothers..she had four brothers.  She didn’t talk about them as far as I can remember.

This is all the “menfolk.”

I can only identify five people in this photo.  I think this photo was taken about 1924.  Grandma wrote on it “Stuve Family.”  All these people must have been important to her. 

In the back row the old guy is her father Louis, next to him is her husband James X.  The three guys on the left are unknowns ( One could be Great Uncle Rupert.) I will guess they are all married to Grandmas sisters as I see no Stuve look to them at all.

Let’s try the middle row.  Smack dab in the middle is her son Marvin ( Far Guy’s Dad.) The other four are unknown.  However I think at least one of these men was her brother.  Ferd would have been 36 that year and Fred 34…her other brothers were older..Albert was 41 and Charles was 40.   

Front row: I will guess her son James, unknown, her son Ronald, unknown, unknown.  ( Both dark haired boys shared the same barber)

In 1924  Marvin would have been 10 years old, James (Uncle Jimmy) would have been 3, and Ronald ( Uncle Ron) would have been 6.  The other little boys could be cousins Earl or  Orville..etc..

I wish the photo was marked.  Sadly it is not.

I am not sure I will ever get this entire family straightened out.

Mark your photos!  With a date if you know it and the peoples names..first and last.  I  know the location of this photo..it was taken in Park Rapids, Minnesota in Grandma and Grandpa Stuves front yard.

I found some notes.  In 1913 Great Grandpa Louis Stuve farmed. He grew vegetables and sold them, he was quite wealthy, he owned land just south of the hospital in present day Park Rapids.  Because his boys needed to farm he sold his farm to help finance the purchase of three farms.  Albert and Pearl bought the old Becker place, Fred farmed in Straight River Township, and Ferd farmed two miles south of Osage.  They lost everything in the Depression, and the boys disappeared.  Someone heard from them in the 1940’s they wanted some family history.  Great Grandpa Stuve died a pauper in 1932.

Not exactly a happy family history, but a bit of history none the less:)

In the pink

Pink is not my favorite color, but I do like me some pink flowers.

An unknown rose..it may have had a name..I would have called it Pink Perfection if I were in charge of naming roses.

Sunday I saw this flower bed.  Perfection! This was my favorite planting.

It had some huge grass in the middle..Prince Pennisteum, then Sparkler Rose Cleome with a border of Alyssum the one called Snow Crystals and a Sundial Fuchsia Moss Rose. Just the Alyssum and the Moss Roses would make a striking border if you had a small area to plant.  ( Note to my daughter Jen..this would work in your little bed by the back step.)

 

Here is a better photo of that grass.  Perhaps when the grass goes to seed it will look better. 

I like Cleome..especially the variety Sparkler..it doesn’t get as tall as the regular Cleome.   Planted in mass it is impressive…my photograph taken in full sun doesn’t do it justice.  I had a blast walking around taking photos, so many flowers ..so little time:)

Pretty Pairings

I like display gardens, for one thing it will give you ideas for great pairings. 

How about a spiral of perennial plants in a circular garden?

This was Creeping Yellow Moneywort and a low growing Sedum.  I should have taken the photo from a different direction…but it is still a cool looking garden.  I wanted to sing “Follow the yellow brick road !”

How about a checkerboard..

This is Irish Moss and Scotch Moss planted in a checkerboard pattern.  The big grass in the middle was strange..King Tut Grass  with Parsley all the way around it.  Sometimes all green works..and in this case I thought is was a very calm cool garden.

This one was very pretty. The outside circle is Creeping Yellow Moneywort ( a Perennial), the blue is Verbena and then a tall blue Ageratum, the taller yellow is a new Coleus and a Gold Elderberry is in the center.

I took Saturday off as a comp day.  The Grand boys and their dogs were here while their parents were on the west coast for a few days.  We went up north to a carving show, we were both disappointed..not much new for carving but there was lots of fru fru other crafts that you see all over in the summer. 

We had a late lunch/early supper with all the grand's and then headed back to take the boys home. They were both happy to be in their own home, it worked out well..a few days with us and a day out and about and a day at home.

On the way home on Sunday, Far Guy and I stopped at the display gardens at Bergeson Nursery near Fertile Minnesota.  They display annuals and perennials so well, it was a pleasure to tour their gardens.  There were a few clouds in the sky, I would have liked more clouds for really good photos...It was about 90 degrees yesterday.

Bergeson’s is a very friendly place. They have updates on their gardens and what is planted where..and “You are welcome to view the gardens anytime.  Feel free to use the restroom after hours or to put money for pop or ice cream in the little basket on the counter.”  Now that is Minnesota nice and friendly:)