Week 8 of summer

I spent this week in Colorado at a STEM conference, here is an example of mining a side of a mountain near Idaho Springs, CO

It was very rainy, foggy and my ziplining experience was canceled because of the poor weather

a photo of Georgetown, CO, 1 hour away from Vail, CO

Grandma stayed with the girls and hung some of the girl's art work that I left for her

the river of pumpkins...good thing they aren't in the garden this year. I also canned 12 1/2 quarts of yellow beans and 3 1/2 quarts of pickled summer squash.

Seventh week down

The girls last week of summer school. I finished my 24 page curriculum school improvement plan and I am now getting ready to head out to Colorado next week. The girls will be staying home with Grandma. I will be zip-lining, rafting and learning new ideas about implementing STEM . This week was pretty much staying the course.

I have been thinking about how nice this summer has been and I think it is due to Mim and Ve, but especially Mim's visits with the therapist...what a difference it has made.

my rose bush that I received last year for my 50th birthday and now it is blooming again on my birthday.

pickled summer squash from out garden

the house wren nesting in one of the boxes attached to the garden fence

a few more photos

tomatoes are beginning

red cabbage

beets

pole beans

a baby pumpkin that will hopefully grow to massive size

a few more rose photos

Summer squash bananza

This summer we are getting a lot of summer squash and besides making more pickled summer squash and Gluten free Sundried tomato summer squash, blueberry/summer squash bread I also made this yesterday and boy do the girls love this bread recipe...for the obvious reasons..I add walnuts to the recipe:

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD RECIPE

(12)           1 1/2 cups (360 ml) shredded raw zucchini (courgette) (about 1/2 pound or 225 grams)

(8)            1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour

(4)            1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted

(6)             3/4 teaspoon baking soda

(2)            1/4 teaspoon baking powder

(2)            1/4 teaspoon salt

(2)            1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

(6)            3/4 cup (180 ml) semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

(16)           2 large eggs

(4)            1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable, safflower, corn, or canola oil

(4)            1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

(4)            1/2 cup (105 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

(8)            1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. 45 minutes

I altered a few ingredients summer squash in stead of zucchini, used no GMO whole wheat flour, fresh eggs and added walnuts...YUM YUM!!! Made 10 loaves but will probably make more.

Summer is half over - week 6

 Mim helped Tuki and Ve bake a cake and cookies

 bluebird not wanting to move from her incubation when we checked her box

our chickens
Our week wasn't too exciting;
Tuki & Ve went to BB camp every morning and swimming every late afternoon
Mim continued with her classes and finishing up painting the basement
I continued on my homework and reapplied for the elementary school job that reopened when the candidate declined the position
We all went o Noah's Ark again on Saturday, too busy so no more Saturdays
I had a lot of meetings at school and we received the blueberries so we canned jam and made 18 loaves of bread.

5th week down

Mim braided Tuki's hair

side view

fresh summer squash

right to the frying pan with a homemade recipe

it was so yummy that we plan to make more over the summer and I have recored the recipe below

pumpkins taking over the nearby vegetation, thus the reason they have their own garden

another view of the monster pumpkins

cucumbers starting to grow..we more than likely will be harvesting next week.This week we also have been eating a lot of lettuce.

Our week consisted of me attending 4 admin classes, the girls in their summer school classes and Mim continues to paint the basement..this week it finally felt like summer to me and I had a difficult time trying to stay engaged with my class work and the extra work I have been doing for my classroom next year. Two more weeks and off to Colorado I do for a STEM conference....yahoo!!!

4th week down

strawberry picking this week

new garage roof-old one was leaking

my brother Jeff, Darla and their daughter Eden visiting from Louisiana

Darla and Eden

me and the girls at Luke's 4th get together

the wee cousins

Mim (Talyn) and Taelyn

my cousin April, her mother Terry and her two kids Daylynn and Brandon

Girls with sparklers at the fireworks

crazy picture with my new camera

girls with glowsticks at the fireowrks

fire works

more glow stick pictures..like these for some reason...
the garden is growing as well
basement is coming along slowly since it is being done section by section
next week my last admin class starts and my first one will be finished
girls are half way done with summer school
hard to believe 4 weeks of summer is over....where does time go when you are having fun????

Crazy day today

Crazy day today...the new roof is being put on the garage (the old one was found to be leaking), the new stove/oven range was brought today (the old range control panel went out 4 weeks ago (we have been out of a oven that long) and it cost less to replace the entire unit than just fix the control panel), and now the LP gas company (new one for us) is replacing the 250 gallon tank with a 500 gallon tank..(we did this so we can prepay 1500 gallons to get us through a winter if we have a repeat of last winter)...all this replacement and fixing has been happening since 10:00 am. It's funny how it takes weeks and months to arrange all this and then in one day it all gets done...freaky crazy morning!!!