Blogging Blessings

I am just loving all the spiritual support in this new transformation of sorts that my life, and my family's life seems to be going through. Just wanted to send out my appreciation and be sure to count my blessings.

• Thank you Beckie for sending so much positive energy and help my direction. I love all the sites and posts that you send my way but most of all for telling me about co-creating and exposing it to me over and over until it finally sank in.

• Thank you to Hope for being so connected with your own spiritual energy that you can create such meaningful and thought provoking posts. It just amazes me how you post on what I am thinking about and pondering at the moment.


• And thank you to the Universe, GUS (Greater Universal Spirit), God, Goddess, My greater self, __________<----or enter the diety of your choice here.... for the enfolding miracles happening in my life and for all the supportive souls that you have placed in my path.

From Lessons From Womon Gathering by Lady Rose

"Just for today I’m going to rememberI have the power and the wisdom within meto deal with whatever the day brings.I will let go of stress, worry, and angerand let healing and love flow through me.Just for today, one moment to the next.~ Lady Rose
To take care and honor self first, this is essential for all of us so we can do what we were meant to do in life as well as what we want to do each day and in order to nurture our loved ones and the planetAll emotions are welcome and honored within sacred space.I am valued, useful and needed, regardless of age or physical ability.I can laugh and cry and be wholeI am a healerI am safe, loved, nourished and empowered to set my boundaries."

OHM SHANTI

Some Shraddha time!

Good Morning! and Welcome!

It was early in the morning when Shraddha decided to start taking pics of Mama!



Time to go out and hold her babies! This little bantum chicken's name really is Baby.

No, she isnt being treated badly... actually she is in chicken heaven!

Baby loves when Shraddha holds her, even if on her back, not only will she put up with it...

she falls alseep there too!

I never realized how much fun we would have with chickens. We are always so excited to run out and feed them leftovers and they jump all over us in excitement whenever we come to visit...especially when leftover oatmeal is with us.

Working on a badge there somewhere for Spiral Scouts.... We are noticing and taking pics of all the wildlife that wanders in our yard (at least for those that wait around for us to take a picture!)
This white butterfly loves our lavendar spearmint flowers. I wonder if the nectur is minty?

And THIS cute little guy a juvenile cottentail finally hopped close enough for his props too!



Just one of the many beautiful sunsets we watch in the evening!

Things that make the mommy laugh!

5. Come on it's funny - first patty pan squash.

4. Blues rendition of three little pigs...

Madhava's kindergarden graduation was so cute! I can't believe kindergarden is over and that he is 6.5 yrs old. He is reading so well! I was holding back the tears ... being so happy for him and proud of him and just smiling at the same time because his performance was so fun!

3. Sweat pea scented diapers... Roger was wondering why I am hanging the diapers out on the gate when he made a perfectly good laundry line for me. Well, because I love the smell of the sweet peas that only live by the gate.

2. Do I have to eat ALL the cake on my plate? Madhava and Danielle at Shraddha's birthday party. Thank you Beckie for all the awesome ideas and making the party run so smoothly... you are THE Party Mama! Thanks Mom for financing the castle. And thanks to everyone for making Shraddha feel like the Birthday Princess!....

1. My daughter's favorite white hen, Shirley...crowing just like a rooster.

Blueberries are here!

The blueberries are getting blue! And there is just something about homegrown blueberry goodness. They have a kaleidoscope of fabulous flavor that you just can't get from the ones in the store and not even from the farmers market. These are Misty Blue. I am not sure exactly how big they can get because Shraddha loves them too much to wait... or share for that matter LOL!

We also found many beautiful red Pomegranate blossoms and almost ripe cherries! We know they are almost ripe because the birds haven't stolen all of them yet.

And is it just me or does it seem that animals follow Shraddha around like she is Snow White? If she could just get them to help out around here that would be FABULOUS!

This is Buffy and Puffy, they are Buff Orphington chicks. The other two New Hampshire Reds, are yet to be named and one of them is growing a comb. Highly suspicious of maybe not having the egg laying capability....

Those flowers lasted forever mom, thanks!

Top 5 strangest things in our garden this week.

5. Now this is also one of my favorites! Black Hollyhocks! Yeah they finally bloomed and I love them. They are striking and weird and gigantic at 8-10 ft tall! Only took almost 2 yrs to see so enjoy! I am already planning where and how many more for the next couple of years.





4. Check out this brown fuzzy hairy caterpillar! I figured out from http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ that it is the larva to a ....



Giant Leopard or Tiger Moth as seen on BugGuide.net



I remember we had quite a few of these giant leopard moths....in November... here is the pic of one laying eggs on the side of my house on 11/04/07











3. Alligator Lizards! I thought this was a skink! but on closer look... it seems it is not. We do have skinks and blue belly lizards but I have never seen a lizard that big up on our house! This guy was huge at about 16 inches long. But all skinks and lizards are very welcome here!


more on Alligator lizards.










2. What the heck! Is it a spider? Is it like a potato bug? ugh! Whatever it was... it was crawling toward me while I was folding laundry....EWWWWW! But you can be relieved to know it wasn't squished. It was gently placed back into the garden.... for us to find again later I am sure.


Here is what we learned from WhatsThatBug.com:


"The Solpugid is not an insect, it is an arachnid. It is related to spiders and scorpions, hence its common names Sun Spider or Wind Scorpion. In some places they are called Sand Puppies, but they are not related to dogs. Unlike Spiders and Scorpions, Solpugids do not have venom. They are harmless unless you are small enough to be considered food, in which case gram per gram, they might be the fiercest predators on the planet. We are lucky they don't weigh 150 pounds. They will eat anything they can catch, which is a benefit in the desert. "



1. Top strangest thing found in our garden this week!!!! AHHHHH!


Opossum with a huge long nose and huge long tail...eating out of Sadie's dog dish in the middle of the night. That thing was almost as big as our 16 lb cat Chamois! Now we know who made a huge den at the edge of our play yard. This seems to be an unusually fat Opossum, with a HUGE head! Must have been munching in Sadie's bowl for the past couple of years! Would that make it our pet? EWWWW!









This is one I found in the front yard on 5/26/07 wonder if it is the same one? Here it is in my hat... i was just too chicken to hold it in my hands. It was so cute when it was tiny!

Counting baby pumpkins

Counting pumpkins…..
Are these little baby pumpkins?
Wow! This little plant is taking off!
6 little ones all together


And an unexpected little bloom! Of course the plants that I didn't plant will grow beautifully! - Well, I had high hopes for that little weed I was watering. LOL!
I believe this is a purple aster. Ok time to get my aster back to folding clothes!

Varmits and fall planting!

Ok so I started my late summer planting a little more towards early fall. But next year I will be more with it. I am excited though! We finally have the invisible fence up to keep Sadie dog out of the planting beds. She thinks we are making fun digging and sleeping beds for her!

We planted pumpkin seeds a few weeks ago and now have some decent size plants... they might actually make it....IF the varmits don't get them. GOPHERS why don't they eat the weeds? Why do they want to eat my plants? Well, we have great drainage in our play yard, thanks to the myriad of holes.

I found a great site to buy seeds from gardenguides.com and they listed all types of flowers for late summer planting. AND there is free s/h. I can't wait! I ordered...

Basil Custom Blend
Amaranth Burgundy
Blue Flax Seeds
Delphinium Pacific Giant Mix
Verbena bonariensis


Ok back to folding clothes.... Note the pics of Madhava watering the pumpkin seeds in his shorts, baseball cap and yes..... cowboy boots ( squaw valley style LOL!). Shraddha watering the Sweet Basil plants between sips of water for herself. It WAS hot when we took these photos a couple of weeks ago, but now we have nice cool weather....ahhhh finally!