HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Back in May, we did a little sprucing up of our landscaping, and knowing that I would be spending the summer here, while Craig team drove, I planted some vegetables.  The two tomato plants, one pepper, and one squash plant looked like this:

Well, almost three months later, this is what they look like now:

There isn't a day that goes by, when I'm out watering, that a neighbor doesn't stop by and admire the little garden, or the flowers in front of the house.  I have to give credit to my neighbor across the street, who after we had planted, advised us to get "Bloom Boost" and "Miracle Grow".  A once a week feeding and all of our plants are thriving.





I have to confess, I planted this pepper plant and I don't have a clue to what type of pepper it is.  This is the only one that has grown so far on the plant, and I sure would like to know what to do with it.  As far as the other plants, I have about 4 small squash and oodles of green cherry tomatoes, which everyone is anxiously awaiting for them to ripen.

So with the mini garden doing well, I'm going to turn my attention over the next couple of days to painting the upstairs loft area and hobby room.  I'll be sure to post pictures of Craig's "Man Cave" as he calls it when I'm done.

ODDS & ENDS

Craig had another run into Colorado last week with no up close and personal encounters with any fires, thank you very much.  They are presently sitting in Jerome, ID resetting their driving hours and waiting to make a delivery of beer tomorrow morning.  As warm as it has been up here in Usk, I would like to put in a request for a nice cold one myself.

Thank goodness for air conditioning.  Although not as hot as the summers when we lived in Central California, July and August get pretty warm here.  It helps that as soon as the sun sets that the temperatures drop into the low 50's.  It also helps that there is an indoor pool not more than 20 yards or so from our door.  This summer, I'm learning all about keeping your flowers and vegetables well watered during these uber warm days.

On the decorating front, yes I am ashamed to admit that this is a picture of my craft area.  This room is destined for a makeover.  We plan to make it a guest room and I have a few ideas floating in my brain, which could be a good thing or bad, depending on how they turn out.  First course of action will be to paint, as the white walls are just too uninspiring.

There are about 5 pallets that have been sitting by the dumpster for a few years that I will  hopefully be carting home when Craig is here to help me.  Those along with some vintage cameras will be the starting off point for the redo in this room.  I'm anxious to get started and see where the journey takes me.

I'll do a post soon on Craig's "Man Cave", (the open loft area upstairs).  He commandeered that area recently with a very large screen TV and I have been putting the finishing touches on the walls over the past couple of months.  Here is a sneak peak of two of the pieces that have been put on the wall.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Craig's run into Colorado would have him being too close for comfort on a fire that was started by a lightning strike.  I had casually mentioned to him, when he got this run into Colorado, if he just might be hindered by the fires there, but with the main fire being battled in the Colorado Springs area, he was confident his run into Denver would be problem free.  Little did he know about the lightning strike Pine Ridge Fire burning near De Beque, CO.

When he called me on the phone, he said he could see the fire off in the distance, and that Interstate 70 was being closed down.  The Department of Transportation was having the big rigs stage while they had passenger vehicles take an alternate route.  Craig was the lead truck in a long line of trucks that had backed up behind him.  Finally the DOT employee hopped onto his running board and had Craig get on his CB radio to instruct the truckers behind him to follow him.

The DOT truck escorted them onto the alternate route, and Craig could see, even in the darkness of the night, that this road was going to get interesting.  He told me there were times he wasn't sure that his trailer was going to make the turn as the curves were that tight and with it being so dark, he wasn't able to track his trailer as he normally would.  As usual, I'm always glad he tells me this stuff after the fact.

Even with the delay of the fire, they made their appointment time in Denver and were quickly unloaded.  They were then sent to Holcomb, Kansas to a Tyson meat plant for their next assignment.  It was in the middle of nowhere, and instead of car dealerships in the small towns, there were John Deere and farm equipment dealerships.  They ended up being there a day waiting for their load, which allowed Justin to get a reset on his driving hours as they headed back towards California yesterday afternoon.

The trailer was loaded a bit awkardly, light on the drives and heavy on the tandems, but Craig was confident with a few hard brakes, that they might be able to shift the weight a bit more onto the nose of the trailer.  For their sake, I hope they are right, as they should be back in the company yard in Bloomington, CA sometime this evening.