Plants out Day Warm

The deck really looks nice with the hole filled in. They did a great job on fixing the deck

And I decided to plant the tomatoes and such. Here is one plant. This year I put the tomato cages in right away. I waited too long last year.

As you can see, tomatoes are planted. Most of them are big - purchased that way. I went mostly with smaller tomatoes that produce a lot of tomatoes but small tomatoes.

And on the lower deck, I am trying beefsteak tomatoes. Now I planted no "food" plants here last year... so this is a first.
We are really happy with the way the deck looks. And, I don't want to do too much stuff - I had too much last year.
I will be planting tomorrow and need to now focus on flowers as I'm done tomatoes and herbs. It was up into the low 70's today and while we didn't get to do work out in the garden, the weather was great. We were at the library as we had sooooo much to put away. People are really cleaning out their books and donating them to the library. While that is GREAT it sure keeps us busy!

It's May Day!! YEA

It's been a busy week or so. We had the deck repaired. Many boards were soft and a few were down right rotten. Then the deck needed sanding and some other things repaired including the benches. And finally, the tree stump that stuck up in the middle of the lower deck needed to go.
It turned into a week long venture. After they completed the upper deck that wraps around the house, we hit WalMart and Home Depot for some plants. Rather than play "earth mother" this year, I'm buying the majority of my plants. But as we enjoyed the tomatoes so much last year, that was one of the first things I purchased as I wanted to get the good selection. We will have several kinds this year and I'm going to put the tomato cages in as soon as I plant. I left this go too long last year. I also got parsley, thyme, oregano, basil, sage, dill and rosemary. I also got some flowers including coleus, which I had trouble finding last year. Of course, being in the Norther Tier, we got frost the past two nights. I covered them up but as you can see in the picture above, the coleus got a bit frost bit. We went back to WalMart today to get some mulch and a great many of their plants which were outside were black from the frost. Hope that is the last of the frost! It was 27 this morning.....BRR!!

As you can see, the middle deck had boards replaced. They then sanded everything and gave it two coats of stain. Now the stain is another story. B tried several kinds before finding one we liked - others were too light or too dark or just "not right". The stain came from WalMart and when he went back to get some, they were out. By last Friday the guys had used all the stain we had and we knew we had to find some as our WalMart was not expecting a delivery in for several days. So B called around and we found 4 cans in Mt. Pocono which is not around the corner. But we took a drive there, got the 4 cans and then stopped at the Shop Rite there as we don't have one around here. Monday it rained and Tuesday, when they started on the decks they clearly were going to use up all the 4 cans and need some more. BACK TO THE PHONE. B located another 5 cans in Milford and went for a drive to get them while I remained home. When all was said and done, we had 2 cans left. We will be staining the deck railings ourselves and he is going to also stain the railroad ties we have so I'm sure we will finish it all. Today, while at our WalMart, we picked up 1 can so we are hopeful we have sufficient for the rest of the job we will do. The deck is finished and the benches and such looks great. It's nice to walk along and not zig zag to miss soft spots. This week, if the weather cooperates, I'll be planting the tomatoes and such. I mean it IS May!

And while all this was going on we had looked at Test Kitchen on the local PBS channel and they were making a "modern" Coq au Vin. Really did look good. So, I downloaded the recipe and here it is, bubbling away. I made it Monday and boy, it was good. There is a little left so we will have that tonight. I'm going to take the chicken off the bone, heat it in the sauce and serve it over mashed potatoes. Yum yum!

A Beautiful Day

What a beautiful day we had! The temperatures got up to 80 - hard to believe it was only April. Again we did some work outside... I finished cleaning the grill and it really looks good. So, in honor of that, we had steak cooked outside though we ate inside as the tables and such are not set up.

There were boats on the lake - you could hear them. Our docks are not in yet but several neighbors are working on their boats to prepare for boating season.

Tomorrow is to be cooler with temperatures in the 60's. Then rain which is a good thing. There is a "burn ban" for the area and it really is dry so rain will be welcome.

Spring Has Sprung!

Yes, a daffodil has bloomed!!
I planted these when we first bought the house and they have come up every year. The picture above is the garden by the house. The picture below is the garden at the corner of the driveway - you can, if you look quickly, see these as you drive up the road.

While B has been out with the leaf blower, there are still lots of leaves to blow..ah the joys of spring.
It has really been beautiful out this week. Today we again have sun. I have been putting away winter things and getting out summer in anticipation of the warmer temperatures they are calling for later this week. Not as warm as you guys in the Philly/South Jersey area but lower 70's which is great for up here!
And, here it is Wednesday and I've posted. I guess my targeting a day to post by is working.

Yea, It's SPRING

It’s interesting how some things never change…. Doing things you know you should and deciding what to have for dinner!
What should I do??? Well, post on my blog more regularly… and I know that but I find I get busy and don’t. So I’m going to try this.. if I haven’t posted on the blog by Wednesday then I must blog on Wednesday. We do an email to the people in our “community” about 100 homes and town houses most of whom have email addresses. We do this EVERY Friday. It’s just what we do. So, if I can be good with that, I am going to say I will post once a week and if not then I must post EVERY Wednesday.
Having said that, I HOPE I do.

It was warm today – got up to the low 60’s. We took a drive to Jersey as I needed to get a bone scan. I take extra calcium and am not overweight so I don’t expect a concern. Home by around 3:00 and the sun was out and it really did seem like spring. When we drove around to the back, a motorcycle… Ronnie?? Ron is B’s brother and B had been talking to him on the phone just yesterday about this really neat stainless steel sink we got at Sam’s that we could not get out of the SUV as it was too heavy. So, Ron showed up to visit on his Harley. They got the sink out and we had a chance to visit. Then, as time ticked on, Ron decided to head home as while the temperatures are warmer, it’s still quite chilly on the cycle!
So then to dinner… what to have. We had purchased boneless chuck for swiss steak but no way was I doing that today. OK, what’s in the freezer? In a “stupid” moment (as opposed to a senior moment which I feel we are entitled to claim and is an OK thing) I purchased a 6 pound Stouffers lasagna. And why would I do this… I REALLY DON’T KNOW. It seemed like a good idea at the time…something to serve to the gang. But really, I would never sever Stouffers to company,,, or at least I can’t think of any time I would. So what to do with this??? So today, I thought, well, microwave it to thaw it a bit and then cut it into thirds. The directions, which I may add are in both English and Spanish, say DO NOT REFREEZE. So does thawing a bit and then refreezing the other two pieces constitute DO NOT REFREEZE?? Well, if I don’t die, you will know it’s OK.
So I hacked the large piece up… packaged and refroze two and the third is in the oven and, as B just said, “it doesn’t smell too bad”. We should be so lucky.
So, on that note, I sign off… with a picture of the flowers that are finally appearing. The daffodils are starting to raise their little heads but it’s the blue crocus that’s really making it look like spring. I took the picture with my Blackberry as I was concerned that the deer would eat the flowers before I got out there with the camera. You never can tell with those suckers!!!