Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Great Sadness & Heavy Heart
I will be stepping away from Life With Boys for the next week or so as we deal with the sudden & tragic loss of Brad's parents, Bill & Nancy. They were killed early this morning up at their cottage by several large trees that fell during a severe storm. We are deeply saddened and utterly numb at this huge hole that has been created in our hearts and ask that you pray for our family as we go through this terrible time together.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Typical Summer Morning...
I took this photo at 7:01 AM today. Yep. Seven o'clock in the morning, and my kids are already up, have eaten breakfast and are now playing "Rogue Viking-Pirate" (please don't ask, I can't explain it!) whilst wearing a MathCounts shirt. The bonus for you is the trash on my deck (keepin' it real, people!)
LIFE WITH BOYS!!!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Teaching A Child About Food Allergies.
Food Allergy Education. It takes parents a long time to learn how to handle their food-allergic child's needs, so how on earth do you teach a child about food allergies?
Bryce was only 7 months old when we discovered his first food allergy-wheat. He was 9 months old when we discovered he was allergic to dairy. By 15 months we knew he was allergic to wheat, dairy, egg, rye, peanut, tree nut and broccoli. How on earth do you teach a baby about food allergies? It turns out there are many ways to teach babies and toddlers about food allergies and really, each family has to sort out what will and won't work for them.
I had joined a group called Kids With Food Allergies and on their message board were parents of food-allergic kids. They all shared how they taught their child about their food allergies. We figured out right away that some of the strategies wouldn't work for us. Some families choose to tell their child that food x will make them sick or food y will give them an owie or food z is bad for them. We don't beat around the bush here-and we don't use cutesy phrases for things like body parts or farm animals (I would cringe when Bryce's teachers at Early On would refer to a horse as "horsey" or a cat as "kitty". Ick.)
I talked to a few parents locally who have older children with food allergies to see what they did. They basically trained their kids from a very young age that if they eat "x", they will get hives, they will get a scratchy throat, they will have trouble breathing. Bravo! Tell the child exactly what will happen. Don't pussyfoot around! Plus, if a 5 year old says to someone, "I can't eat wheat, it will give me hives." then that adult will know EXACTLY what is up with that child. But if a child says, "I can't eat wheat because it's bad for me"--what the heck does that mean?
Since hives are easy to see and Bryce seems to get hives with every food reaction he has, we started teaching him that if he eats "x" he will get hives. We've also started teaching him what his Epi-pen is for. Here's where it gets cute. He's starting to look at red bumps on people and ask if they are hives. I had a few mosquito bites on my leg and Bryce said, "Mama, you have hives!".
The other day Brad was changing Bryce. Bryce pulled his Epi-pen out of the basket and told Brad, "This is my Epi-pen." Brad asking him what the Epi-pen was for, and Bryce responded, "Brycie hives." This was the first time Bryce has offered up this knowledge without prompting. While I admit we have a long way to go with education Bryce about his food allergies, he knows a few of the foods he's allergic to AND he knows what hives are and what his Epi-pen is used for. These are huge strides in the training up of a food allergic child.
Is our way the "right" way? It's the right way for our family.
UPDATE July 23, 2012-- Bryce is now 4 years old. He can properly identify most things that he is allergic to and he can tell us WHY he can't eat those things. He now wears his Epi-Pens & Benadryl in a cute little bag and is getting good at remembering to grab it when we leave the house. He also manipulates a little by telling us he can't try a new food "because it will give me hives." I've been told that this kind of manipulation is normal for any child with some sort of disability. Bryce is also getting better at asking if he can eat certain foods when we are at someone's house or at the store. YAY for progress!!!
Bryce was only 7 months old when we discovered his first food allergy-wheat. He was 9 months old when we discovered he was allergic to dairy. By 15 months we knew he was allergic to wheat, dairy, egg, rye, peanut, tree nut and broccoli. How on earth do you teach a baby about food allergies? It turns out there are many ways to teach babies and toddlers about food allergies and really, each family has to sort out what will and won't work for them.
I had joined a group called Kids With Food Allergies and on their message board were parents of food-allergic kids. They all shared how they taught their child about their food allergies. We figured out right away that some of the strategies wouldn't work for us. Some families choose to tell their child that food x will make them sick or food y will give them an owie or food z is bad for them. We don't beat around the bush here-and we don't use cutesy phrases for things like body parts or farm animals (I would cringe when Bryce's teachers at Early On would refer to a horse as "horsey" or a cat as "kitty". Ick.)
I talked to a few parents locally who have older children with food allergies to see what they did. They basically trained their kids from a very young age that if they eat "x", they will get hives, they will get a scratchy throat, they will have trouble breathing. Bravo! Tell the child exactly what will happen. Don't pussyfoot around! Plus, if a 5 year old says to someone, "I can't eat wheat, it will give me hives." then that adult will know EXACTLY what is up with that child. But if a child says, "I can't eat wheat because it's bad for me"--what the heck does that mean?
Since hives are easy to see and Bryce seems to get hives with every food reaction he has, we started teaching him that if he eats "x" he will get hives. We've also started teaching him what his Epi-pen is for. Here's where it gets cute. He's starting to look at red bumps on people and ask if they are hives. I had a few mosquito bites on my leg and Bryce said, "Mama, you have hives!".
The other day Brad was changing Bryce. Bryce pulled his Epi-pen out of the basket and told Brad, "This is my Epi-pen." Brad asking him what the Epi-pen was for, and Bryce responded, "Brycie hives." This was the first time Bryce has offered up this knowledge without prompting. While I admit we have a long way to go with education Bryce about his food allergies, he knows a few of the foods he's allergic to AND he knows what hives are and what his Epi-pen is used for. These are huge strides in the training up of a food allergic child.
Is our way the "right" way? It's the right way for our family.
UPDATE July 23, 2012-- Bryce is now 4 years old. He can properly identify most things that he is allergic to and he can tell us WHY he can't eat those things. He now wears his Epi-Pens & Benadryl in a cute little bag and is getting good at remembering to grab it when we leave the house. He also manipulates a little by telling us he can't try a new food "because it will give me hives." I've been told that this kind of manipulation is normal for any child with some sort of disability. Bryce is also getting better at asking if he can eat certain foods when we are at someone's house or at the store. YAY for progress!!!
Garden Harvest & Update July 23
The garden is starting to pick up lately. My wood mulch in the paths has severely limited the need to weed, which I totally love! Here's what I harvested this week:
Picked a nicely blanched head of cauliflower & 2 Anaheim peppers:
I have tried two types of blanching, one using rubber bands to bind the leaves together and the other using a stick to poke through the leaves to bind them together. My first 2 heads were rubber banded, and they did not blanch well, due in part to the fact that the rubber bands disintegrated in the heat. This head (above photo) was done with a stick, which I was able to poke and repoke through the leaves as the head grew. I'll stick with sticks from now on. "stick with sticks"! ha ha ha
Friday, July 20:
Three heads of cauliflower (again, the stick blanching method worked best), 2 cherry tomatoes and--our FIRST cantaloupe!!!! Brett is my cantaloupe fiend and he couldn't WAIT to eat this one. I love how home grown (and local farmer's market grown) cantaloupe have sweet, juicy flesh all the way to the rind. And, the rind is nice and soft and honestly, just cuts like buttah.
I spent most of the weekend with my bestie M, shopping at IKEA (twice in 24 hours, but who's counting) and then helping her decorate/clean for a party. Soo, last night I did a quick perusal of the garden and came out with a little treat for me:
The broccoli & green beans are a particular victory as they were mowed down by a woodchuck about 2 weeks ago. I harvested quite a bit of parsley, rosemary and dill for rosemary chicken and parsley/dill pototaes (yum!)
My garden is really starting to produce--soon I'll be up to my elbows in produce!
Linked to Daphne's Dandelions and An Oregon Cottage.
Picked a nicely blanched head of cauliflower & 2 Anaheim peppers:
Friday, July 20:
Three heads of cauliflower (again, the stick blanching method worked best), 2 cherry tomatoes and--our FIRST cantaloupe!!!! Brett is my cantaloupe fiend and he couldn't WAIT to eat this one. I love how home grown (and local farmer's market grown) cantaloupe have sweet, juicy flesh all the way to the rind. And, the rind is nice and soft and honestly, just cuts like buttah.
I spent most of the weekend with my bestie M, shopping at IKEA (twice in 24 hours, but who's counting) and then helping her decorate/clean for a party. Soo, last night I did a quick perusal of the garden and came out with a little treat for me:
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| A lovely handful of tart cherry tomatoes, a few green beans, 3 little side shoots of broccoli , more banana peppers & Anaheim peppers! yay!
Anaheim peppers mean PEPPER JELLY!!!
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The broccoli & green beans are a particular victory as they were mowed down by a woodchuck about 2 weeks ago. I harvested quite a bit of parsley, rosemary and dill for rosemary chicken and parsley/dill pototaes (yum!)
My garden is really starting to produce--soon I'll be up to my elbows in produce!
Linked to Daphne's Dandelions and An Oregon Cottage.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
First Cantaloupe!!!
I harvested my first cantaloupe of 2012 yesterday. It was the first one that formed and I've been watching it and watching it! I touched the stem to see if it would release. The stem was still a tad green, but it gave way. The melon had a bit of green stripe left, so I brought it in and made Brett wait until TODAY before we cut it.
Brett is the cantaloupe connoisseur in this house. I enjoy cantaloupe, but watermelon & honey dew are my favs. So at 8:00 this morning, we cut that baby.
Notice the bright orange color and how you can barely even see an "edge" where the melon flesh stops and the rind begins? You just can't get that in a grocery-store bought melon. Farmer's market, yes. Grocery store? No way.
Isn't it purty? Brett rated it an 8/10. I asked him why he marked it so low? He said, "An 8 is like a "B", and I'm not comparing it to store bought." Fair enough, Brett~~~
The variety of cantaloupe I'm growing this year is "Halona Melon", which I purchased from Pinetree Garden Seeds as it says it's for the North & does well with cooler weather and shorter seasons, good yield of 4-5lb fruits. Well, oops! We've had an incredibly HOT SEASON that is not SHORT and this first cantaloupe was only 3 lbs 1oz.
Yummilicious!!!!!
By the way, this is my 500th post!!!!!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Life With Boys!
I asked Bryce to bring down my glasses the other morning. Yep. I said "glasses." If you know me personally, you know I've had 20/20 for my ENTIRE LIFE and I let people know it =) But I couldn't read books anymore, I could barely skim a magazine, I could hardly see the computer screen and it turns out that I needed reading glasses. Anyhow, I got some sweet purple ones and this is how Bryce "carried" them down the stairs:
Please note the stairs themselves....they are a work in progress & I hope to finish them soon so I can show them off. For now, enjoy the boys cartoon undies on one step, a pile of socks on another, and the general patchy-primery-look of the stairs in general.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Garden Harvest & Update July 15
Heat and critters and pain. That pretty much sums up the past week. It's been hot, we've been battling a woodchuck, and I dealt with kidney stones last week. Fun times. For now, it appears we are winning the battle against the woodchuck and my pain will go away. The heat? Well, there's nuttin' anyone can do about that.
Bryce and I planted some "Kentucky Wonder" beans today along the back fence and in a new spot-along the chain link fence. The woodchuck ate my beans to nubs, so I need another crop.
I've got some harvest photos today-yay! I need to get out my harvest photo basket to make me look good. For now, you get to see my messy kitchen and outside.
We harvested our first cauliflower today, too--over 1.5 pounds! I wasn't so great at the blanching thing, and I think I probably should've harvested them smaller because the heat wave burned the leaves. They are more purple and cream colored instead of store bought white, but they actually have FLAVOR which the store bought kind does not.
We also picked 3 more banana peppers. I'll cut those & freeze 'em, hoping to make some pickled pepper rings (mild) at some point.
I picked & ate my first tomato of the year! That was July 14--earliest EVER for me. I know, I know, plenty of folks have been eating tomatoes in my zone for a couple of weeks. I'm just glad I'm getting 'em early! It was a cherry tomato and it was yummy! I put it by the sunscreen to show it's size.
Here's a shot of the full garden. On the left side low fence are my honeydew plants. They are so green & bushy and they just smell so sweet! On the other side of the low fence are my watermelon and cantaloupe plants. They are going CRAZY in this heat and I have multiple watermelons that are about 5lbs each. (Last year at this time, I only had a few ping pong ball sized watermelons.)
This is a shot of the cukes climbing up the back fence. I didn't grow many this year, no real reason. The brassicas are starting to recover from the woodchuck attack (yay!)
Now for some transparency in blogland. I like when bloggers show what the "rest of the picture" looks like, so here's the back of my house. Brown lawn. Yard waste bag. Assorted perennial plants dying out.
Some pretties:
Click here to see the garden this same week in 2011.
Lastly, my harvest totals for last week:
Total Harvested 2012: 13 lbs 6.5 oz (as of 7/15/12)
Banana Peppers 5 oz
Chives 4 oz
Cilantro 2 oz
Carrots 2 lbs
Cauliflower 1lb 7 oz
Garlic 14.5 oz
Lettuce 2 oz
Peas 8 oz
Spinach 1 lb
Strawberries 6 lbs 2.5 oz
Tomato (cherry) 0.5 oz
Broccoli-ZERO, thanks woodchuck
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Celery
Cucumbers
Green Beans-ZERO for now, due to woodchuck
Onions
Canteloupe
Honey Dew
Watermelon
Bell Peppers
Spicy Peppers (Anaheim, Chili, Jalepeno)
Tomatoes (slicing)
Basil 4.5 oz
Cilantro
Dill
Mint
Parsley
Rosemary 2 oz
Linking to Daphne's Dandelions
An Oregon Cottage
Bryce and I planted some "Kentucky Wonder" beans today along the back fence and in a new spot-along the chain link fence. The woodchuck ate my beans to nubs, so I need another crop.
I've got some harvest photos today-yay! I need to get out my harvest photo basket to make me look good. For now, you get to see my messy kitchen and outside.
We harvested our first cauliflower today, too--over 1.5 pounds! I wasn't so great at the blanching thing, and I think I probably should've harvested them smaller because the heat wave burned the leaves. They are more purple and cream colored instead of store bought white, but they actually have FLAVOR which the store bought kind does not.
We also picked 3 more banana peppers. I'll cut those & freeze 'em, hoping to make some pickled pepper rings (mild) at some point.
I picked & ate my first tomato of the year! That was July 14--earliest EVER for me. I know, I know, plenty of folks have been eating tomatoes in my zone for a couple of weeks. I'm just glad I'm getting 'em early! It was a cherry tomato and it was yummy! I put it by the sunscreen to show it's size.
Here's a shot of the full garden. On the left side low fence are my honeydew plants. They are so green & bushy and they just smell so sweet! On the other side of the low fence are my watermelon and cantaloupe plants. They are going CRAZY in this heat and I have multiple watermelons that are about 5lbs each. (Last year at this time, I only had a few ping pong ball sized watermelons.)
This is a shot of the cukes climbing up the back fence. I didn't grow many this year, no real reason. The brassicas are starting to recover from the woodchuck attack (yay!)
Now for some transparency in blogland. I like when bloggers show what the "rest of the picture" looks like, so here's the back of my house. Brown lawn. Yard waste bag. Assorted perennial plants dying out.
Some pretties:
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| Perennial Candytuft--heirloom seed from Landreth. It's PURPLE!!!!! From seed to flower in just 3 months! |
Lastly, my harvest totals for last week:
Total Harvested 2012: 13 lbs 6.5 oz (as of 7/15/12)
Banana Peppers 5 oz
Chives 4 oz
Cilantro 2 oz
Carrots 2 lbs
Cauliflower 1lb 7 oz
Garlic 14.5 oz
Lettuce 2 oz
Peas 8 oz
Spinach 1 lb
Strawberries 6 lbs 2.5 oz
Tomato (cherry) 0.5 oz
Broccoli-ZERO, thanks woodchuck
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Celery
Cucumbers
Green Beans-ZERO for now, due to woodchuck
Onions
Canteloupe
Honey Dew
Watermelon
Bell Peppers
Spicy Peppers (Anaheim, Chili, Jalepeno)
Tomatoes (slicing)
Basil 4.5 oz
Cilantro
Dill
Mint
Parsley
Rosemary 2 oz
Linking to Daphne's Dandelions
An Oregon Cottage
Friday, July 13, 2012
Garden Harvest Totals, July 13, 2012
2012 Growing Season (zone 5B/6A)
- Goal for 2012 growing season: 350 pounds, use cold frame to plant cool season veggies earlier.
- 320 square feet of raised beds (4-3-2012)
Banana Peppers 2.5 oz
Chives 4 oz
Cilantro 2 oz
Carrots 2 lbs
Garlic 14.5 oz
Lettuce 2 oz
Peas 8 oz
Spinach 1 lb
Strawberries 6 lbs 2.5 oz
Broccoli (well, that dumb woodchuck enjoyed a LOT! we've eaten none.)
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumbers
Green Beans
Onions
Canteloupe
Honey Dew
Watermelon
Bell Peppers
Spicy Peppers (Anaheim, Chili, Jalepeno)
Tomatoes
Basil 4.5 oz
Cilantro
Dill
Mint
Parsley
Rosemary 2 oz
The "I'm Back!" Garden Update
I've been absent from the blog for about a week. Absent from the garden, too. Sadly, nope, we were not on vacation. We've had a series of unfortunate events that have pushed blogging to the back burner. Where to start?
4th of July week, metro Detroit got hit with a series of nasty nasty storms. They knocked our power out TWICE. The first time, only for a few hours. The second time-it was for a few DAYS. Then the power came back. Here's some photo proof of just how hot it was:
You can read the whole skinny on being without power at this post from last week.
Ok, so great. Power's back on, life is good. Until I required 2 trips to Urgent Care and 2 trips to the ER in 4 days. The short story is I had a kidney stone that we thought was my back going out, I was drugged heavily, then the pain moved to my front, then I was drugged heavily, then I couldn't walk due to pain in my leg. I was once again drugged heavily and sent home w/a pulled groin from walking funny due to the kidney stone pain. Fun stuff.
The best part of all of this? (and I use the word "best" in a semi-sarcastic way) is that my best friend was ALSO at the SAME hospital the SAME day as I was for.....KIDNEY PROBLEMS. I can't make this stuff up. She was much sicker than I, and Brad wheeled me upstairs to her room once I was done with ER trip #1. And being hopped up on morphine, I thought it would be fun to take a photo together. Of us. In the same hospital. For kidney problems. Evidently, when you share a brain with someone for 25+ years, you end up sharing body ailments, too. Forgive me, BFF Cher, for this lovely photo of the two of us:
3. The darn woodchuck dug his way under my garden fence and ate.all.of.my.broccoli. All of it! If you look, he left a few bits on this one.
4. Can you see how the woodchuck has topped ALL of my brocc/cauli/brussel sprouts? He ate all the big top leaves. Left the cabbages alone. Hmm.
5. Japanese beetles defoliated my basil. As they had already nailed my carrots, I guess basil was next. AGH!
6. The one head of broccoli that the woodchuck didn't consume is a funny yellow color. Do I harvest it & hope for side shoots?
7. We don't water our lawn. My corner of SE Michigan has received just a scant 10% of it's typical rainfall to date. The green areas of lawn? Yeah. That's clover.
Now for the good things:
1. Cantaloupes! I've found 9 so far!!
2. Watermelons! I've found 10 so far!
3. HoneyDew! I've found 3 so far and they are not as far along as I would think. But the foliage smells DIVINE!
4. Bryce's corn is now over 6 feet tall--and, there's corn! 7 ears so far!
4a. Here's a peek at one ear, doing it's corn thing.
5. Lastly, we have the cantaloupe plant that is out front--it has produced 1 cantaloupe! This was an experiment b/c the soil in that spot hasn't been amended with anything but decomposing wood chips.
Oh, and my harvest this week? Yep. Three cute little banana peppers. They were weighed and chopped and stuck in the freezer for later.
I hope next week's Garden Harvest & Update will be a bit less dramatic and have a whole lot more HARVEST goin' on!!
oh, and ps: MY RAINBARRELS ARE FULL!!!! Too bad I'm not allowed to lift my 2 gal watering can just yet. sigh.
Linking up to Daphne's Dandelions.
4th of July week, metro Detroit got hit with a series of nasty nasty storms. They knocked our power out TWICE. The first time, only for a few hours. The second time-it was for a few DAYS. Then the power came back. Here's some photo proof of just how hot it was:
You can read the whole skinny on being without power at this post from last week.
Ok, so great. Power's back on, life is good. Until I required 2 trips to Urgent Care and 2 trips to the ER in 4 days. The short story is I had a kidney stone that we thought was my back going out, I was drugged heavily, then the pain moved to my front, then I was drugged heavily, then I couldn't walk due to pain in my leg. I was once again drugged heavily and sent home w/a pulled groin from walking funny due to the kidney stone pain. Fun stuff.
The best part of all of this? (and I use the word "best" in a semi-sarcastic way) is that my best friend was ALSO at the SAME hospital the SAME day as I was for.....KIDNEY PROBLEMS. I can't make this stuff up. She was much sicker than I, and Brad wheeled me upstairs to her room once I was done with ER trip #1. And being hopped up on morphine, I thought it would be fun to take a photo together. Of us. In the same hospital. For kidney problems. Evidently, when you share a brain with someone for 25+ years, you end up sharing body ailments, too. Forgive me, BFF Cher, for this lovely photo of the two of us:
 |
| Aren't we cute with our matching purple glasses, matching stoned looks on our faces and oh yeah, matching HOSPITAL BRACELETS?!!
So now we've had power outages, Mom (ahem, that's me!) in the hospital, and oh, what's the third thing? Ya know, things happen in 3's? Oh yeah...our Uverse went out. Uverse is our cable/phone/internet. After 4 days of no phone/cable/internet, AT&T sent us a new gateway and we're up and running. Life is back to normal.
*cue the dramatic music*
Except for my garden. My garden, well, it was not anyone's priority while I was down. I should give props to hubby Brad for at least running the sprinkler on it a couple of times. That really saved it. I have to say that for about 5 days straight, I JUST DIDN'T CARE about my garden. I know-blasphemy, right? Hopped up on some lovely pain meds I just didn't care. So here's a few shots of the heck that broke loose in the garden because I wasn't there babying it every day.
1. My lettuce died. Well, it was over 100 and nobody watered it, so I'm not too shocked.
2. A ginormous woodchuck has taken up residence under our shed. That hole is about a foot wide! We have used those smoke bomb things TWICE and he keeps coming back.
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3. The darn woodchuck dug his way under my garden fence and ate.all.of.my.broccoli. All of it! If you look, he left a few bits on this one.
4. Can you see how the woodchuck has topped ALL of my brocc/cauli/brussel sprouts? He ate all the big top leaves. Left the cabbages alone. Hmm.
5. Japanese beetles defoliated my basil. As they had already nailed my carrots, I guess basil was next. AGH!
6. The one head of broccoli that the woodchuck didn't consume is a funny yellow color. Do I harvest it & hope for side shoots?
7. We don't water our lawn. My corner of SE Michigan has received just a scant 10% of it's typical rainfall to date. The green areas of lawn? Yeah. That's clover.
Now for the good things:
1. Cantaloupes! I've found 9 so far!!
2. Watermelons! I've found 10 so far!
3. HoneyDew! I've found 3 so far and they are not as far along as I would think. But the foliage smells DIVINE!
4. Bryce's corn is now over 6 feet tall--and, there's corn! 7 ears so far!
4a. Here's a peek at one ear, doing it's corn thing.
5. Lastly, we have the cantaloupe plant that is out front--it has produced 1 cantaloupe! This was an experiment b/c the soil in that spot hasn't been amended with anything but decomposing wood chips.
Oh, and my harvest this week? Yep. Three cute little banana peppers. They were weighed and chopped and stuck in the freezer for later.
I hope next week's Garden Harvest & Update will be a bit less dramatic and have a whole lot more HARVEST goin' on!!
oh, and ps: MY RAINBARRELS ARE FULL!!!! Too bad I'm not allowed to lift my 2 gal watering can just yet. sigh.
Linking up to Daphne's Dandelions.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Power Restored....
It's hot pretty much everywhere in the USA. Here in metro-Detroit, we've been shattering records and making new ones. I think the most recent new record is "longest stretch of 90+ degree days" and I think it's at 18 days. The thing about heat here in Michigan is the HUMIDITY. We have such saturated air that while the temp is 98 (which I understand is normal in many places--but not here!) the humidity makes you feel like you just stepped into a hot steamy shower. Except not in a good way.
So some storms blow through metro-Detroit which was a blessing because we'd gone 3+ weeks with no rain (again, normal in many parts of the country, but not normal here). The rain was welcomed, but the horrible storms that accompanied it were not. We lost power TWICE this week. Once on Tuesday for several hours and then early Thursday. Sure sure, we were in good company-something like 325,000 were out. However, it was also 100+ degrees outside. That makes it unbearable.
Here's the thing. We have a special needs child. He has severe food allergies which means he eats mostly fresh food (and some hot dogs, I won't lie) and that food needs to be kept cold AND I have to be able to heat it. I can't just take him to a restuarant. My super awesome neighbor had power and we spent a nice day there, enjoying the a/c and heating up food =) But when we learned that it would be 4 days before power was restored, we packed up and headed to my Dad & step Mom's house about 20 mins from here. (& thanks to all of our awesome friends who offered up their homes as a hotel!)There we enjoyed a/c, wifi, and LAUNDRY. Brad holed up at home to man the generator that was powering our fridge and chest freezer and my elderly neighbor's fridge, too.
Thankfully, our power was only out about 2 days. We had no damage to our home from the storm and didn't lose any food. All in all-we're relieved. Makes me want to figure out how to hook up a solar panel or 3 to run a few simple appliances!!
Here's some photos of the heat yesterday. Ok, they're photos of the thermometer in the car, but you get the idea.
You smartie folks will notice that yes indeed, that's two different cars. The top one is my van and the bottom is my parent's Jeep that we're borrowing while we get the a/c fixed in my van =) (thanks, dad & jean!) Don't send me any hate comments, I took the photos while at red lights =) I don't text or photograph while driving, lol.
Stay safe and stay cool!
So some storms blow through metro-Detroit which was a blessing because we'd gone 3+ weeks with no rain (again, normal in many parts of the country, but not normal here). The rain was welcomed, but the horrible storms that accompanied it were not. We lost power TWICE this week. Once on Tuesday for several hours and then early Thursday. Sure sure, we were in good company-something like 325,000 were out. However, it was also 100+ degrees outside. That makes it unbearable.
Here's the thing. We have a special needs child. He has severe food allergies which means he eats mostly fresh food (and some hot dogs, I won't lie) and that food needs to be kept cold AND I have to be able to heat it. I can't just take him to a restuarant. My super awesome neighbor had power and we spent a nice day there, enjoying the a/c and heating up food =) But when we learned that it would be 4 days before power was restored, we packed up and headed to my Dad & step Mom's house about 20 mins from here. (& thanks to all of our awesome friends who offered up their homes as a hotel!)There we enjoyed a/c, wifi, and LAUNDRY. Brad holed up at home to man the generator that was powering our fridge and chest freezer and my elderly neighbor's fridge, too.
Thankfully, our power was only out about 2 days. We had no damage to our home from the storm and didn't lose any food. All in all-we're relieved. Makes me want to figure out how to hook up a solar panel or 3 to run a few simple appliances!!
Here's some photos of the heat yesterday. Ok, they're photos of the thermometer in the car, but you get the idea.
Stay safe and stay cool!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Harvest Monday--the July 4th Wednesday Edition
I'm a little behind on garden updates, mostly because I've been lazy! My oldest is in week 2 of his 3 week stay at Boy Scout Camp. The first week was camping with his Troop, the remaining 2 weeks he's a CIT (counselor in training). The beautiful thing for us is that while he's not getting paid for his CIT work, the Boy Scout Camp is housing him and FEEDING him. That's like paying me a good $50/week!!! Here's Brendan heading out to camp:
In garden news, all of the melon plants are happily setting fruit. This hot weather we've been having is good for melons, not so good for people (or electric bills!). All of the melons are beyond the itty-bitty stage:
Carrots have been doing well this year. I'm pretty impressed! We had 2 large-ish harvests in the past week:
Here's the kids holding the largest 2 carrots:
The boys have to be closely monitored while in the carrot patch. They both want to pick all of them-it's kinda like a Christmas present or one of those Christmas poppers, you just don't know what you'll get until you yank it outta the ground!
Another nice carrot harvest last night:
I'll let this last carrot speak for itself. If you grow carrots and have any sort of rocks in the soil, the growing tap root will spilt and the resulting carrot will look funny. Even my carrots look like boys!!!
Linking up to Daphne's Dandelions.
In garden news, all of the melon plants are happily setting fruit. This hot weather we've been having is good for melons, not so good for people (or electric bills!). All of the melons are beyond the itty-bitty stage:
Carrots have been doing well this year. I'm pretty impressed! We had 2 large-ish harvests in the past week:
Here's the kids holding the largest 2 carrots:
The boys have to be closely monitored while in the carrot patch. They both want to pick all of them-it's kinda like a Christmas present or one of those Christmas poppers, you just don't know what you'll get until you yank it outta the ground!
Another nice carrot harvest last night:
I'll let this last carrot speak for itself. If you grow carrots and have any sort of rocks in the soil, the growing tap root will spilt and the resulting carrot will look funny. Even my carrots look like boys!!!
Linking up to Daphne's Dandelions.
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