Lazy Days

Another weekend has passed and I still have managed to get jack done. Oh well, c'est la vie, right?! The people in charge of cutting down the corn decided to get their stuff done, however. Ella and I watched from the kitchen window as the silage chopper came by and filled the truck up. She likes watching such things and would get excited as they made subsequent passes. Of course, I decided to snap a couple of pics so all of y'all can be enlightened to silage chopping! Yea! (And yes, that's the screen of the window that you see. Sorry!)

The big shears on the chopper and the chopped up corn getting shot into the truck.

We had our fine friends Angie and Scott over for some adult activites Saturday night and boy, did we go crazy! Played a tough as nails game of Monopoly, we did! It was the strangest thing, the way we all were out to screw the other guy... As a result, there were more hotels on that board than I have ever seen. Of course, I snapped a pic of that too, since I was the grand champeen!

I bankrupted 'em all!

I topped off this jam packed weekend with the first BLT & C (cheese) sandwich of the season. Damn, was it good, too. It made all those hours of weeding well worth it! I think I just might have another one tonight!

Do you remember me mentioning that we got some rain last week? That night was bath night for E and after some of her not so nice behavior, David told her that she was going to have to take a shower outside if she didn't straighten up! Her response to that was "OK!" (anyone surprised by that? Yeah, me neither). So outside she went and had a grand ol' time, asking for her shampoo and some soap! (We didn't let her stay outside long and she did get an old fashioned tub bath.)

Nice job of keeping this PG, huh?!

Footnote: swam 500M and biked 6.5 miles

Smut

OK, y'all. Are you ready for something nasty? It's corn smut and I've got some in the garden. Yuck.

The whole ear and a cross section.

It gives me the willies just looking at it. Corn smut is a fungus that essentially makes the kernels enlarge to a mushroom-like growth. From what I read at Wikipedia, the growth is called huitlacoche and it is considered a culinary delicacy. People eat this stuff?! Ugh.

Eat it or not, this junk is ruining several ears of my corn! My much loved and coveted corn! Thank goodness it's only a few ears.

I feel like I need to take a shower.

Such a cute dress but "Don't take my picture!"

Off to the Fair

When we got back Saturday we had a little bit of time to rest up from the trip and then it was off to the county fair and rodeo!

We met up with Miss Mal and the girls chose the pink Jeep to ride in (of course!).

Playing in the fun house and coming down the slide head first (of course!).

Looks like a Miss Priss, doesn't she?!

Awww....

We had a good time riding the rides and watching the rodeo. Ella liked the barrel racing and told David that she wanted to run barrels... oh mercy. We had better start saving up now if we are going to have to support this habit!

Footnote: The rain kept me indoors. Rain is very good for some growing watermelons!! Yea!

Garden Fun #6

As promised, here is the big news from the garden while we were gone:

The watermelon plant wakes up!

I was beyond excited when I checked out the garden once we got back. (We have 3 new baby watermelons!) The whole plant has grown wild and is attempting to comingle with the pumpkin... gotta put a stop to that.

Before I left I went out to the watermelon and told it, in no uncertain terms, that I was ripping it up when I got back unless I saw some evidence of fruit bearing. I kicked a little dirt at it and sprinkled it with some artful cussing and let it think about the choices it had. Damn straight. I guess we see who is boss! (One other little thing that may have helped: I found some little green wormy type critters on it previous to this so I soaked the poor plant with some serious bug killer after giving the ultimatum.) Whether it be the serious talking to or the fact that I killed the little bugs that were eating my previous fruits, I don't care. Spiked watermelon, here I come!

The tomatoes went wild too, all deciding to ripen at a moments notice.

E in tomato land and the pickin's from two days ago.

I am picking at least 10 tomatoes each day! Ask and ye shall receive, right?! This is making up for last year's failed crop too!

Last night I picked an ear of corn, just to check the readiness.

Lookin' pretty good...

The ear looks pretty well filled out but is still kind of thin. We'll give them a bit longer, if we can keep the bugs off of them! (I sprayed the mess out of the whole garden last night with the same nasty bug killer that worked on the watermelon. Either things will flourish or I killed the whole lot.)

The haul from last night. This doesn't include the 7 tomatoes I had picked that morning!

I told you that there was news to be had!

Footnote: Ran 1.5 miles and walked 1.5 miles

Vacation Roundup

The big vacation is finito and we are getting settled back in. The driving was blah but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?! (Next time we will save our little pennies and fly, even if it kills us!) Thank goodness Ella Grace is a wonderful traveler and didn't mind all that time in the car.

We got to see and do all kinds of picture-worthy things last week so I have a ton of pics to share! Want all the details? You're gonna get them! More than you ever realized you wanted to know!

Here's how it all shook out:

David and E left for Grandma and Grandpa's house early and got to ride Lonesome, Grandpa's horse (who is in fact lonesome now that Scoot is here with us!).

I drove down last Saturday and fortunately got to see my baby girl before bed (and got my first Waffle House fix!). I had been missing her pretty good (um, and David too!). We went to church Sunday and then had lunch with George, who Ella thought was just great!

Sunday afternoon we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and then went to feed the ducks and visit Grandma Lucy's pond.

E tries to hit the ducks with the bread and David and Ken strike the same pose.

Then it's back to the house to do chores.

Feeding Lonesome some watermelon hardly looks like a chore!

Sunday night we waved goodbye to Cedartown and headed south to my mom's house. Going to the beach was first on the agenda so off we went!

E with Grandmama and then chasing down a seagull.

Post-beach, pre-supper.

The next day, second verse, same as the first!

Such a little lady. She must get it from me.

E with Grandmama and Jim and some pretty water.

Looking for seashells.

We all freshen up and head out to supper where I order Ella a strawberry daquiri (sans alcohol, of course!). Big fan, she was!

Lush! She must get that from me, too.

To finish up the evening we go over to Granny and Grandaddy's to say goodbye.

G&G are skilled great grandparents - they keep an arsenal of hula hoops and jump ropes!

E discovers Granny's piano and almost cranks out chopsticks!

Are you tired yet? Eyes starting to glaze and things getting fuzzy? I hate to tell you that these are only Tuesday's pics! I think my mouse is getting a little tired too... but the show must go on!

Wednesday we headed north to Athens to visit with the north GA crowd. No McGraw function is complete without Aunt Allyson and Uncle Charlie coming down the mountain to add some character. We were not disappointed.

Papa, Ella and Uncle Charlie eating (?) seashells, UC's famous bunny ears.

Thursday was the big day of the multi-celebration BBQ. Marisa moving back, us visiting and about 10 different birthdays called for the cooking of a massive amount of chicken in Papa's new BBQ pit.

Yep, the man loves to cook out.

Give him a few hours and 40 halves and this is what you get. Yuuuum!

While all of that cooking was going on, we headed down to the creek for a little dip.

At first Ella wasn't so sure, but it didn't take her long to fall in love.

More creek fun.

Marisa snapped this. LOVE IT!

Marisa and I are definitely cut from the same cloth!

We had to literally drag E out of the creek so we could help with the last minute preparations. Here is some of the faithful help now...

Uncle Charlie getting (as he put it) "dirty side up". I'll second that.

People started drifting in for some good food and refreshing beverages. I was very fortunate that Niki just happened to be in town before her big trip to Austrailia, Kasey had just gotten back into town from California, Katie and Tracy drove up from south Georgia and Greg, Andria and baby Dellaina came over from Woodstock. (Special thanks to Greg, who has a hard and fast rule against weekday night functions, for making an exception just this one time...!) It sure was nice to get to visit with some old friends, meet baby D and have them meet Miss E.

Uncle Rusty sweeps E off her feet and some of the feasting on the porch.

I finally get my hands on Dellaina and her proud parents, Greg and Andria.

Niki, Greg, Katie and Tracy chatting inside while David and Rusty hide outside.

Some irresistable pics of baby D chowing down.

Andria, me, Katie, Niki and Kasey (this ain't nuthin' but an OC party!)

Believe it or not, that does it! Good grief, I'm tired! As pictures from other people's cameras come rolling in I will have even more to share. Yippee!

I'm sure y'all are just dying to know what transpired in the garden while we were away, right?! Don't you worry one bit! There is news to be had and I will update you soon!

Footnote: Unfortunately, I managed to work out exactly zero times while we were gone. Boo. Sunday: bike 4 miles (gotta start back in easy)