Well .. It’s The End Of July Already

 

WOW ! This summer is just flying by .  The best part of the summer we have had very hot humid weather and very little rain  now thankfully we are getting  rain but more like torrential on and off  with thunderstorms as the month comes to a close  . August is our hottest month so who knows what the weather will bring us  now. This is our long weekend our Civic Holiday. The true meaning behind the holiday is to honour John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (then known as Upper Canada). He was also the founder of the Historic Fort York, the birthplace of modern Toronto. Just a bit of history here . Papa has been off of work as a mini holiday since Thursday , nice to have him home with us during the week as well .

With this rain we have been having , we realized our woodstove pipe was leaking inside the house  , Papa went up on the roof when the rains gave us a break and he resealed all the nooks and crannies and hopefully that did the trick  we will have to see when it starts to rain again soon .

On that note  the sun has been shining and I have been busy with the gardens as this time of year they need a boost and a tidy here and there of dead so the new can come through  some what of a  make over  lol .

            And I always make time  to  enjoy and take photos  as there is so much activity going on in this heat and rain   lol !

              Mr Grasshopper was keeping and eye on me as I was walking about . With this humid weather the Cicadas are buzzing up a storm , haven’t seen any down on the ground to photograph as of yet  and the crickets have been chirping up a storm all day and night in the fields.  I love the sounds of them all !

                               The birds have been busy feasting at the feeders and taking much needed baths to cool off !

We get plenty of small aircraft flying about our valley this time of year as the St Thomas airport  for these personal and commercial planes is only 20 min away .

I am pleased to see more Monarchs out and about now as I was a little afraid there were none as previous years  as they seem to only appear in later July through August and early September now .

Swallow tails we have a lot of and a few of the black ones all though the black ones don't seem to stop over as much as these ones do !

                                         My new Rudbeckia or as I know them as Tiger eye are doing well this summer .

We have a total of 4 House Wrens hanging about here as they chase each other about and natter at one another .

One of them seemed to be checking out this little house we have in our big old tree we got from an estate sale we went to a few weeks ago !

                                                                          It has been a busy hot dry month in our yard  .

                                                              Finally and  thankfully some well needed nectar from the sky's !

                      Can you hear my gardens singing ? I sure can  they are loving all the rain we are finally having .

                                                                      Yup even Miggs loves fresh rain water !

All though Mr butterfly wasn't to impressed as he clung for dear life to the butterfly bush as it poured and then dried him self out after the rain had stopped for a bit !

Well this is quite the winded post lol ! I will stop now as there is so much to see and do and photograph in such a short time this time of year and I don't want to bore you all off your chairs lol ! .

                                                        So I will  be off now  , Until next time !

                                                             Country Gal

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

                                                                                    Country Gal

A Putter of A Weekend , Finally Some Rain & An Update On Miggs

 

 

The kind of weekend we like , no have too do of anything just putter about .

It was mind you a very humid sticky steamy weekend with this nasty humidity we had and are still having , and even though we had welcomed rain and thunderstorms this morning  now that that is over the sun is popping in and out and it is making really steamy out there  , walk out the door and the humidity hits you like a ton of bricks BAM !!!

Papa and I were putter about with the idea of our water feature we got from the state sale last weekend , what to do with it first and how to make it work as really it is not a water feature actually is just a decorate pretend water feature but once papa got his hands on it it became a working water feature . His dad had rubber lining from their old pond and gave to Papa and so he went to work on it in his shop and he re built parts of the wood pump and added a real pump inside  .

                                                        Testing it here . Works wonderful and sounds lovely to .

Then we started to through out all kinds of ideas  with a few rocks in it a couple of water plants  would go nicely and yeah it was fun to create in our heads as we looked at it and will hopefully find  that perfect spot for it !

                                           Then Papa saw this and came up with this , looks like it is flowing into a bucket .

                                  It is actually a bottomless stand  we got with another water feature that he also re did !

                                                                                                From this .

                                                                        To this .  I like this set up better  .

I also puttered in the gardens weeding here and there and we took breaks indoors in the cool watched some Netflix and yeah it was a weekend of puttering and in and out due to the humid weather .

  I think these flowers look like they are from the bottom of the sea , kind of a sea creature thing going on here , I love them .

                                                                      Blazing star  most commonly called !

And now my white Globe thistles have bloomed as well ! Very interesting looking blooms I must say ! each and every tiny flower is perfect !

We had torrential rains and wicked thunderstorms this morning , Miggs was hiding as she doesn't like big claps of thunder , but she eventually fell asleep so all was good .  Spoke to Papa from texting at his work  they lost power so he was chatting to me on and off from there lol !

                                                           I could hear the gardens singing with joy with all the rain .

                                 And I got to go out and take rain drop photos after the storms   . Love me some rain drops !

                                     Everything looks so fresh and revived in the gardens after a good rain doesn't it ?!

In my last post I had mentioned about Miggs paw , well the medication is working and she is feeling and getting a bit better now we will have to figure out at her next appointment what to do  , remove the outer toe or not and hope it isn't a cancerous tumor or spreads . I will keep you  all posted as we find out what our next and best step is to do for her !

                                                                               Until next time .

                                                                        Country Gal

This N That

 

WOW ! it has been a hot and humid day today and going to continue through the weekend as well  after  a welcomed cool off  for a few days before . Still not very much rain at all has fallen here but hoping for some into the evening and over night tonight with thunderstorm's  .

Miggs has been on rest as she has injured her right paw again chasing critters  , only last month she did that same injury  we took her to the vets again as I feared it wasn't just her claw that was causing the problem like we thought last time  and they did x-rays this time as it was so much more painful for her then last time as well   and found that her right outer toe that would be like our baby toes or pinky's  the bone  has a small tumor like spot on it  or rough etching as they called it as well  and she is again on antibiotics and inflammatory meds for two weeks  , the vet said that she may have to have that toe removed and  they would have it biopsied to make sure  it wont spread if in fact it is cancerous  and this is the only way they can do it  so we are hoping it doesn't come to that but if it saves her from ill harm then so be it ! But trying to keep a   Bearded Collie / Terrier mix down and not to chase or herd anything is quite a challenge in its self  !

I have been puttering here and there keeping all the watering areas clean and full of fresh water for all our feathered and critter friends as it has been so hot for them as well as keeping my gardens on the go watering them in the early mornings and later in the evenings .

                                                                       Oh and of course taking photos lol !

I had this little  metal watering can with fairy in the house and thought I would add it to one of the bird baths we got from the estate sale over the weekend we went to ! Which we are going back to this weekend as they are only having the sale during the weekend's  and they have tons of treasures  lol !

Tuesdays full moon called the  Buck moon was beautiful . The name "buck moon" is one of three names given to the moon in North America in July because it arrives during the time when male deer, called "bucks," are beginning to grow their antlers . I love a full moon .

This year my new to us from last year  that we planted in our butterfly hummer garden the white thistle globe has grown 4 feet tall and looks soo pretty .

The birds have been scares with this heat during the day as they take shelter in the shade under cover in our cedar hedges where it is cooler  and pop out for a bite to eat later in the evenings and early mornings same with the critters .

Well that's about it for us here not much going on , just all keeping cool the best we can  . I hope we get the rains that are forecasted  , that will help the land and gardens more in this heat wave , I noticed our river is very low to and a bit stinky as it gets like that with lack of rain and the amount of  silt that just sits in it fermenting  PEUW !

                                                                                        Until next time  , stay cool !

                                                                                                

What We Have Been Up To !

 

I have been puttering in my gardens , keeping the yard up and take walks with my Miggs and of course cleaning house and all that indoor boring stuff lol . But I have lots of fun taking photos this time of year as you all are very aware of that , I know more photos    lol !.

The hummers are here and there but don't seem to frequent my feeders like they used to for this summer and I have only seen two Monarchs this summer  , I saw more in the spring when we had that hot spell  . I have seen lots of smaller butterfly's and lots of Swallow tails to and different moths that look like butterfly's  .

                            

The birds have to share their nectar feeders with the butterfly's to even though we have plenty of blooms in the gardens that butterfly's like , I guess this way it  is less work for them lol !

   There seems to be a lot of wasps this year building nests just about every where they can .  Under logs , in logs to and anything that is stacked waiting to be placed in its permanent home  as Papa found that out yesterday as he got stung on his leg , he is ok no ill affects just an OUCHY ! and a sore spot but it stung him right through his jeans on his leg  these are nasty wasps  so I have had to do the not so nice thing and that is spray the nests to get rid of them for if I don't the nests will get soo big hundreds will be in and out and none of us will be able to roam our yard with out getting attacked and stung .

                                                                      But they do make  interesting hive’s 

Papa has been helping his parents still on and off with the move up the road to their new house as they have had this month to steadily move everything over and they are also busy making gardens in the back yard there !

We went to the dollar store , one of my favorite stores , to get a few things and I happen to come across some really cut things so Papa got creative and gave me ideas .  So I got this cute bucket some rocks and these flowers and made a potted display for under our patio porch  to brighten it up a bit .

                 Then I  saw these and thought that they would look cute in the living room on the coffee table .

                  And well …. I have something for buckets so I got these and have them on my island in the kitchen .

Then Papa’s parents told us about this wonderful estate sale just 15 min west of us they were at  . This estate had everything , I mean everything the lady that had passed may she RIP , was an avid collector or as they call them now a days hoarders of what ever caught her eye over the years  as I was talking to her daughters who were having the sale and I am glad we went , we met such lovely ladies and the stuff that was there was fantastic  , all kinds of things from huge pieces of driftwood to spoons from around the world  ,  this place was loaded with treasures  for indoors and out , we loved it and  found some real treasures and brought them home all at a great price  with the odd barter  as the family  wants to just basically get rid of it all . Miggs came with us and had just as much fun sniffing all the new smells and visiting and meeting new people , they  just loved her .

We brought home two bird baths that fit perfectly in our other gardens  and the birds and  critters have already been drinking from them as it is still very hot and humid here and no rain at all  for us  it has all gone up north  so far .

                                            I love these bird houses   and a perfect place to put them in our big old tree  .

We liked the idea of this water feature and Papa is going to get a little more creative with it soon to make  it flow even better ,  it will look great in our new back picket fence garden we are slowly planning  and he is building for next year .

                                                      More cute bird houses to add to our bird sanctuary we have here  lol .

   Papa fell in love with this  below and his mind was planning long before we even considered buying it ! It is hand crafted .

                     He has plans for this to be a working water feature to with a nice plant  flowing over the  end of it .

I saw these cuties and couldn't resist , plus I brought home a few more  different ones , a fairy sitting on a Lilly pad , a little farm  boy with a basket and ducks all around his feet and a frog pulling a planter on wheels . This place was amazing and Papa is going back to get big pieces of drift wood for our hill that we have been steadily clearing by the road to make a garden there to .  There were treasures all over this property and we had fun looking at it all and treasure hunting for that thing or things to pop out at us and say take me home !

                   

                                      So all in all it has been a good week and weekend despite the hot humid weather !

                                                                                        Until next time