Almost the Fourth of July

       The gardens are growing.  Jeff got another length of sewer pipe and more 2x4's to set up another gutter garden.  I think this one's going next to the box garden out front.  The greenhouse is full! 

Got tomatoes and peppers showing already and the corn and beans have popped thru the landscape fabric! 

The blackberries are getting nice and fat.  The birds won't go into the greenhouse where they are but the chipmunks....  We'll see who gets to the berries fires, me or them! 
Wally from next door bought a 1940's era farm tractor and parked it across the 

driveway from our garden...his comment on our 'farm'?
   The shop had a fantastic June, the best in our 43 year existence!  Hope July follows!  I started a pin-stripe hoodie yesterday, this one's a size 9months, and should finish it tomorrow.  Then I'll start another one, probably a size 1. 

I should have them both finished by Friday when I work again.  Those little sizes go fast but I lose time when I have to stop and untangle those balls of yarn!

   Today Jeff's sister, Sherry, and my cousin, Ed, came over for dinner.  It was an 'in-side picnic' with chicken, potato and macaroni salads, baked beans and corn-on-the-cob.  I saw "S'more's cupcakes"

at Hannaford yesterday and decided at $6.99/6 I could make my own. Haven't figured out how they 'toasted' their marshmallows, so I used a candle and did OK.  Our guests brought watermelon and cantaloupe.  No one ever goes away from our table hungry!  My poor little refrigerator is bursting with leftovers but that means I don't have to cook tomorrow!!

    We added another thing to Fanny's ever-growing 'But I'm Afraid of That' list the other night  when a lightening bug got in the house and was flying around the bedroom after the lights were turned off.  Boy, that bug lite up the room like a green LED light!  Fanny sat up on the bed, then got off the bed and went under it, and finally, left the room.  When the bug flew into another part of the house, she came back to bed.  Did it chase her back to bed?
   We went out Friday night and of course, left the porch light on.  When we came home, Fanny and Jeff took their time coming into the house and a bat got to porch before they did!  I came out of the house to see what was taking everyone so long and saw the bat flying around, bumping into the laundry room window.  There was a large, clear plastic Rubbermaid tub on the porch that was empty so I picked it up and stood behind the bat.  It tried to fly away but flew into the box instead.  I just walked to the door and turned so the poor creature could find it's way out.  It flew away.  I don't like to kill bats because they can eat their weight in mosquitoes every night! 

But I was glad it was on the porch and not in the house.
     Tomorrow will be the 108th anniversary of my father's birth.  The 4th of July was always celebrated in a big way in our family with a party for him with family and friends...especially at camp!  Hope he's still celebrating.  Happy Birthday, Dad!