Kitchen & Garden. . .Garden & Kitchen. . both are looking good!

What a handy guy!

It's been a while since my last update and the kitchen is really starting to come together.  Steve got most of the lighting installed last week and it looks great.  After taking down nine florescent fixtures we were worried that the six can lights and three pendants wouldn't give us the light we've been used to, but we really like the new look.  
Last week we went to pick out our slabs of granite and the backsplash tile.  They are scheduled to be installed next week then it's just fixing the sheetrock, a little paint and getting everything put back together.  Oh and the floor, I bought the stuff to 'refinish' the slate floor on one of our many trips to Lowes, so that will probably be the finishing touch.  I can't wait. 

Last week Steve and I took a break from working on the kitchen to trim up the trees around our property.  It was an all day task that really gave the yard a 'face' lift. We decided to trim up a large cedar tree back by the barn that we have said we wanted trimmed up for years.  'Papa' Steve cut the branches on the back side of the trunk longer than the others so the grandsons could have a 'ladder' to help them climb up the tree.   It's a great climbing tree for growing boys. 

If you haven't figured it out already, I think I'm in love with the greatest guy EVER!  And, if the kitchen project and hours of tree trimming weren't enough, he recently bought me the greatest gift a garden-girl could ever want.  It's like one of those Mantis tillers you see on TV, but this one is a Sears Craftsman tiller with a 4-stroke engine. . . yee haw!  After the nice rain we got last week the garden really began to grow, as did the grass and weeds.  So today was weedin' day.  Usually, this time of year I'd take on several rows everyday and hoe, hoe, hoe.  This morning I mini-tilled 70% of the garden in just over an hour.  Yea!  It was incredible!  Thanks, baby!  I love my new toy!


The plants really like the rain we got last week and has begun to look like a real garden.  The potatoes are getting tall so I've mulched them with lots of hay, along with the tomatoes and peppers.  I've been picking peas, radishes and spinach.  The onions are beginning to make bigger bulbs and the late plantings of melons, cukes and winter squash are all poking their head out.  Late last week I planted another row of okra and soybeans so the harvest will be a little longer, even though I'm not sure what I'll do with more.  I just can't stand to have blank garden space.  Here's a few new pictures so you can see how it's grown.

Potatoes, beets and asparagus

Brussels Sprouts

New lighting.  I don't know how this wound up down here?! 
Someday maybe I'll figure this program out. 

Peas ready to be picked

Pretty Day for Working in the Garden

It's May so I need to spend quite a bit of time out in the garden.  This morning it was such a beautiful morning, I hurried out right after breakfast.
  Over the weekend Steve bought me a handy-dandy mini-tiller that is just about the best gift ever!!!  I love this thing!  It's small and easy to handle between the rows in my garden without harming any of the plants.  Steve and I made quick work of all that tiny little grass that was growing in the aisles and between the rows of corn, beans and the like.  Yea!  Weeds gone in a fraction of the time.  I love my husband!!  

Potatoes and Leeks

Transplanted corn plants

This morning I planted gourds and mulched tomatoes and peppers with hay.  Then I did one of the hardest jobs in the garden. . . thinning.  I am so bad about planting too many seeds in a row.  I guess I'm afraid some won't come up or something, but they always so.  Then I have to go back and thin out perfectly good plants and them out.  Some of the corn plants had really gotten tall so I tried to be careful as I thinned them so I could transplant them somewhere else in the garden. 

Exciting Weekend with the Grandsons

'Papa' Steve and I drove to Texas this weekend to watch the grandsons play ball and to take Leyton his birthday kitten.  Leyton is now eight years old and quite a good little ball player.  Friday evening we went to watch him play a make-up game from earlier in the week and then he had  a regular game Saturday morning.  Saturday was the first game where they allowed the kids to actually pitch a couple of innings, then the coach finished out the game as usual.  Leyton got to pitch one of the innings and was so cute.  It was just like watching a major-leaguer in miniature.  He's growing up way too fast for his Grandma's liking!!!

Leyton loves his kitten 'Stormy'

Friday evening I went to watch Maddox practice with his TBall team and, as you'll see by my story, I'm so glad I did.  We expected to go watch Maddox and his TBall game after Leyton's ball game Saturday morning.  And, we were so looking forward to it.  He and his team are so cute. . . and funny.  They don't pay attention to the coach very well and spend most of their time in the field looking around, playing with their buddys or, like a little kid at the practice, picking a flower for his Mom then yelling from the field "I love you Mom".  Four year olds are so cute!!   Anyway, back to my story, Saturday morning after Leyton's game we were all getting ready to head over to Maddox's game when he ran around the back corner of their car just as the tailgate was lowering and smacked right into it.  It was totally an accident, but the corner of the door hit him directly in the forehead.  So, instead of getting to watch Maddox play ball, we got to go with him to the ER for six stitches. Poor, sweet boy. 

After lunch, Steve and I headed back to Oklahoma.  Later that evening I called to check on him and how he was doing with his stitches and he was playing at a birthday party.  Trin said he was doing fine and having fun showing off his bandaid.  In true Maddox form, nothing keeps that kid down for long.