The heat of day tempered by the cool of night

I wonder how I would fare if I lived in a climate that not only had the heat we do but was also humid. A friend from Arizona who was visiting recently told us that the temps we have during the day (90-100) are what they were experiencing at home at around 3 am when he would be taking his work break. I think that Nancy would probably have to just carry around a rag and mop up the grease spot that would be all that was left after I'd melted completely away.

Fortunately our evenings turn nice and cool.

Here are some pics of our back yard and some of my raised beds (made with ye olde waterbed frames of course!

This is my pink hibiscus that is blooming for the first time.



In one of the veggie beds just directly to the right of the hibiscus is planted our lemon cucumbers. I must have put steroids in that bed because those little buggers have really been growing aggressively. The cucumber vines have completely overrun the raised bed and now have a stranglehold on the hibiscus:



And not only have the little rascals reached out on the ground, they have grown up into my neighbors grape vines which share the property line with the cucumbers. You can see part of the grape vine amidst the cucumber vines and flowers:



Then don't miss out on my neighbors grape vine. She planted these several years ago, took care of them for a few years but for the past4-5 years has pretty much ignored them. I have to periodically check out some of my Austrian Pines to make sure the grape vines aren't growing up into them. Here you can see that the grape vines have pretty much grown to the top of one of her fruit trees:



Just at the fence line, you can see the yellow crook neck squash plant that provides enough for grandson's Jaedan's request for saute.

I've completely filled the composter the kids gave me for Father's Day. I wasn't thinking and put it together in the house, then had to take it apart to get it outside. I jokingly refer to it as my child containment center since it has a latching lid.



If you've looked at some of my previous posts, you'll recognize this reclaimed wooden bench I took from a neighbor's trash pile. Nancy and I took the kids down to the Snake River where I had each one collect the rocks they liked best and put into a basket and those now sit on the bench.



I've got more pics of the back yard and of some of my crafts that I'll post a little later. Thanks for stopping by!

Recent family pictures

The church recently updated it's directory. We volunteered to print the directory with the caveat that the pictures of each family unit would be printed in color. These are the pictures as they appear in the directory.

Jamie and Jason, who are expecting our third grandchild in late February, and Jaedan and Ashlynn who left with their paternal grandparents this morning to go to visit their auntie and cousins in Wyoming.



Nancy and I with our baby, Joshua, who will turn 23 in just a few more days.



We feel so fortunate that our children haven't gone to far away. We all have a great time playing the card game "Rook" together. and Nancy and Jamie go to the yard sales most saturdays. We are blessed!