Full summer days as an emtpy-nester! Gardening, grooming, and quilting

This is the first summer of true 'empty-nester' life.  Although child #3 still remains at home before heading off to school in the fall for Finance, she's working full-time at the bank literally makin' bank 🙌 .  Last summer was a bit similar, however since I was still coaching and she was still an active athlete heading into her Senior year, we had athletic events from time to time that filled the schedule.  

#3 heading to say bye to Dad before heading out, with beau 💓

 

Although a few more than a handful of years remain before retirement can hit, these summer days give a pretty good insight to what many say about retirement: "the days simply are full and fly by."  Pre-sunup to post-sundown lately, there hasn't been much downtime.  And trust me when I say: NO COMPLAINTS! The days have been filled willingly!  The weather played so nicely these past couple of days, so spending time outside with hubby, organizing and expanding the garden, was where you could find us.  Together.

Miracle Grow gets a bad rap on many gardening sites, however it's what we've used for years in the garden (any my houseplants).  The tomatoes, peppers and beans were 'fed;' Paul fertilized the corn with nitrogen; I watered and weeded the rows.  He then worked to relocate some huge heavy-tread rug/tarp/thingies away from the torn-down softball batting cage to a spot that has had a heavy growth of thistles.  Naturally, the hope is that the thistles will get choked out by the end of the season.

When moving tarps, we all know to look down nowadays! 🐍

I was faced with an Eastern Hognose last week when moving a tarp while mowing, and this little guy was who we spied under a tarp by the garlic.  It wasn't very big.  If he would have uncoiled, he may have been 10" long or so. 

Red-bellied snake - our best guess.

 

Then this morning, after chatting up this idea with Paul last night, shortly after 7-bells, the outside tasks took over.  A couple swipes were tilled up-n-down the previous batting cage spot, and then the area prepped for the plan to transplant a row of raspberries.

It's not much to look at yet, but let's check back in a year after these transplants have a chance to grow.

And yes, yes... yet again, this is NOT the ideal time to transplant raspberries, but we are patient and have additional plants up top in our overgrown location in which we can always 'borrow' a few more to fill any bare spots.

The red currants are nearing readiness, so I'll have to add that to Tuesday's todo list; maaaaybe Monday.

And theeeeennnnnnn there's Bella girl.
Bella will be turning 14 in August, and YES, that is how she sits!  

She was new to us two years ago when we rehomed her from an elderly gentleman needing assistance with her, and his family wasn't able to help out.   Never having had a German Shepard before, we had NO IDEA how much they shed 😱
She hadn't been brushed in a while, so the de-shedder was grabbed and outside we went.

The yard showed the Bella-snow aftermath

She has been slowing each year we've had her, and recently has shown signs of deafness.  She no longer responds to the normal speech of voices, but she'll alert when I break out my whistle.  The vet is surprised she's given us this last year because of her deteriorating back legs, but... we assist her and keep her as active as she allows herself to be.  Every now and then, a little hop-in-her-step will surprise us all.

And NATURALLLLLY, there's been progress on Dawn's Early Light.  Ironically so, most of my active time on it truly has been at the break of dawn lately before the rest of the day unfolds.

Prepping HSTs doesn't require the machine, so while awaiting Candace to wake yesterday, the scrap bins were pretty much emptied of neutrals and reds.

I think this will be the last of the Cars fabric received from Nancy, a fellow quilting-blogger from years ago.

And now, with the day warming up, I came inside for some lunch, to upload this post and to catch the Indiana Fever while allowing myself to take a breather for a bit.

Still on the todo list (sometime in the near future):

 - transplant questionable plum tree

 - transplant volunteer pines to create a windbreak

 - keep tackling the wood pile

 - figure out a plan to net the blueberry patch

 - pick cherries (?)

 - finish the red/neutral HSTs for DEL

 - get rock-tumbler up-n-running

POV: putting the sun to bed on the mower last night

Happy GLORIOUS Saturday!