Buddy Bean

Our yard is still mostly dirt, specifically clay, from the septic work.  Buddy Bean still likes to do his walkabout, though.  He's quite a character.  He hops and runs and does the "binky hops" that supposedly only young rabbits do.  We've had him for at least 5 years, I think, which puts him at a pretty old age for a rabbit, but you'd never know it by his activity.  He loves to move his tunnels around on the deck.  He re-arranges and runs through them daily.  He jumps into the rocker and sits there in the morning.  He likes to hide under his little water table.  He's a lot of fun to watch, and he will beg to be petted like a dog.  He learned that after we got the dogs, and he has imitated many of their actions.

 

Family Camp

 

 

Every September, we get to go to Family Camp!  This beautiful Catholic camp is in the Nashville, Indiana area.  This year, they had re-done the rockwall, and Lydia and Emry both flew to the top.  After the first try, anyway, for Emry.  He was nervous the first attempt, but after that, he had no issues!  By day two, he was racing a friend to the top while being timed.

We tie-dyed shirts, kayaked, hiked, and did archery.  The kids were excited to ride the horses there for the first time:

The weather was perfect, just right for camping/outdoor activities.  Gyunay spent a great deal of time at archery.  On Saturday, he used the adaptive bow, but on Sunday, he figured out how to use a regular bow with his little arm.  And he made a bull's eye!

August Garden Totals

 Beans, golden crescent - 1 lb

Cucumber - 1

Peppers, Bulgarian - 13

Peppers, jalapeno - 4

Tomatoes - 7 (3 KY breakfast, 4 San Marzano), plus some cherry tomatoes (not many)

Herbs - parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, nepitilla, oregano, basil, lemon balm

Needless to say, the garden has been pretty much a bust this year.  The peppers are doing well.  The squirrels ate most of the tomatoes, even while they were still green.  The deer ate nearly everything outside the fence.  The herbs did great, mostly because the deer don't eat them and they aren't fussy about things like water.  

In other news, I finished dealing with the peaches just an hour ago.  I've canned honey peaches and jams, and we are having peach shortcake later.  

Peaches and Fun

 Naturally, it is the end of peach season, so my kitchen looks like:

Cue "Millions of Peaches".

I bought 2 bushels of seconds yesterday morning, so I've been busy canning.  So far, I've canned 2 batches of peach cinnamon jam and 3 batches of honey peaches.

  We also enjoyed a peach glace pie last night, and I have plans for more peach desserts.

Friday, the kids were off school, so we took a field trip.  The younger three and Lydia's friend headed out with me.  First, we picked up Malachi so he could spend Labor Day weekend at home.  Then we headed to Big Bone Lick State Park.

There's a newborn baby bison under that pavillion. 

We had a very nice walk in the woods, especially down by the creek.  We also enjoyed the little museum and gift shop.  We've passed the signs to the park for years, but we've never stopped, so I decided we should.

Outside

 The chicks love the first yard!

They've been going out to explore for most of each day this week.  I haven't let them out first thing in the morning, because it's been in the low 50s!  But it warms up to the 70s, and they haven't had any issues.

Note this one's neck.  It's the turken.

These three meat chicks mostly stay in the coop:

The rest of them, however, have a ball out in the yard.  They run and flap and scratch.  

Mexican Sunflowers, the Zoo, and Chicks

The chicks are doing great.  They are very active and lively.  I still haven't let them outside into the first yard, but I'm thinking maybe Tuesday.

My Mexican Sunflowers have done fantastic this year.  They are by far my most productive plants.  This is just 2 plants:

I have four more out front, and they are now blooming and attracting their fair share of hummingbirds, butterflies, and bumble bees.

It has been so nice to have cooler weather.  (And who would think that I'd call low 80s "cooler" weather?!)  So today, we went to the zoo.  This orangutan came over to see us, and he spent quite a while studying Gyunay out of the corners of his eyes.  (Orangutans, like most apes, don't look head-on at you, because it's seen as aggression.)  He also waved at the baby next to Gyunay!

We had a really nice time!  Lydia was with us, but no pictures of her because she was walking with her friend instead of staying with us the whole time.  They also enjoyed the day.

 

 

Milan

 I never posted about our quick visit to a cathedral in Milan.  When we took the train from Turin to Zurich, we had a brief stopover in Milan.  I do mean brief - it was only about an hour between trains, so we had to pick something near the train station.  This cathedral was built in the 1950s, and it is not Milan's main cathedral, but it was beautiful.

We only had to walk a few blocks to get to it, and it was nearly empty, so I was able to wander around everywhere and light candles and pray.

There were stained glass windows of saints throughout.

This mosaic was really beautiful.  It's another one of St John Bosco.  There were several large mosaics in the church.