Lots of catching up to do! And lots of pictures :)

 The last few months have been crazy! So much has been going on! 

My Aunt Nancy moved in with me the middle of January. She has had to step aside from the ministry due to dementia. It's somewhere in the beginning to middle stages at this point. It's going quite well! The one thing with dementia is stability is needed and moving from one place to another makes it very hard. I am enjoying having her here and I sure hope she's enjoying it as well! 

I took a trip to Arizona the end of March! I was so awesome to see a very dear friend that I haven't seen in many years. She took me to a lake near Mesa and we went on a boat around the lake. There wasn't any wildlife to see that day but it was a gorgeous tour! (pictures below!) And the cactuses! Fresh grapefruit off the tree. YUMM!!! Wonderful fellowship! The one part I may never forget is meeting the guy my mom mentioned a few times over the span of her life. They were close but he went into the ministry. When I went to a dinner he walked in and said I looked like a Layman. Then he said I looked like Alma. I told him that was my mom and his response was 'I was the guy she wanted to marry but my heart led me to the ministry'. Got to say it was pretty awesome to actually meet him! Turns out I do know some of his family but wow, that was a crazy coincidence to go to a dinner all the way down in Arizona and meet him! I'd love to sit down and hear more stories. He had some to tell that I'd never heard! I think it was a couple of years after that that she met my dad.

Erika had a baby the first of this month (May). And it's a boy!!! He's sooo sweet!! And very strong! He's already half rolling. They said he did that the night he was born and has continued to do it! We went over to see them the week after the birth. It was so awesome to see all of them! The last time I was over there was the end of September. The weather was beautiful so we got to spend time outside. Jameson is quite the character and I love him dearly! He climbs on EVERYTHING! We went out and around the property every afternoon for a bit. It's been a long time since I trailed a little one everywhere and thoroughly enjoyed it! Teagan and Scarlet are doing good! Scarlet now has a pump to help handle her diabetes. The technology is so amazing anymore! They both are doing awesome with their gymnastics. I'm looking forward to the next visit!! I also got to see a very dear friend (who sent me home with lots of garden goodies!)! Aunt Nancy got to stay with her sister in Vancouver and get a visit with her! It was a really good week all the way around.

Christina went through basic training (Air Force-picture below) and has now graduated and is now an airman and, as of yesterday, is at her new spot. She did really, really well on the PT (Physical training) testing and on the EOC (academic) testing. She'll be at tech school for around 6 months and then we'll see where she goes next! She's come a long way this year and I'm very proud of her for persevering! Her FLT got the virus during basic training and the whole unit ended up being quarantined for 10 days so they got bumped and ended up graduating May 20th instead of May 6th.  They also ended up having to bunker down for a tornado! She said it was quite the experience. 

This week I'm hoping to get the garden planted! So far nothing has been put in. The weather has been up and down and all around. :) Technically we can still freeze for the next two weeks but the next week looks good so I'm hopeful that the freezes are done! The cold frame did AWESOME! The lettuce and swiss chard are being picked, the onions and carrots are growing well. I've got lots of flowers reseeding. Lots of calendula and in the wildflower area. All the perennials are coming back quite well now. We've had some days in the 80's but have also had days in the 40's this month (for high's). I did lose a few that don't appear to be coming back but that's to be expected in this growing zone! The rhubarb and asparagus have also returned! I won't be able to pick them until next year though. I'm going to try a new method of composting. My thoughts turned to the possibility when the poppies and Iris's, next to the pile of pulled weeds and corn husks that I started a couple of years ago, got huge compared to the rest of the poppies that have reseeded. The poppies are a good three feet tall and are absolutely loaded with buds. (picture below) I can't wait for them to bloom! So I researched it and since I have a fair amount of compost scrapes in addition to weeds I'm going to start digging foot deep holes depositing my compost into the hole (4-6 inches worth) and then covering it back up. According to what I can find that 6 inches of dirt is enough to contain the smell so that it doesn't get dug back up. All going well I should have really good soil in a couple of years. My soil is very sandy so it needs to be well amended at this point.

Aunt Nancy arriving!

Middle of February snow

And 10 days later it's all gone and back to brown winter lawns

Cold frame growth the end of February!

They say this cactus is possibly 300 years old! Northern Flickers go into the holes!

On the lake!

It was actually pretty cool that day!

Fresh grapefruit!! 

Evening in Mesa

First bloom the end of March!

First bloom the end of March!

Daffodils 

Daffodils 

Tulips

Rhubarb survived it's first winter!

Primrose in full bloom. I can't say I've had one bloom so prolifically before!

My project this year! Clearing along the fence. By Fall it'll be all cleared out. (But hopefully sooner)

The pile of grass/weeds that came from that small area!!! 

Hello Greyson!

One week old!

Love!

Auntie with her great, great nephews! 

Love!

Erika and her boys! 

That expression! LOL!!

Reading time!

Love this one!

And love this one!

And this one :) Teagan and her baby brother

My favorite of Jameson 💓

Scarlet 💓

Teagan 💓

💕

Me and the grands

Family!! 💖 (Jameson was done with sitting still :) ) 

Christina at graduation. It was virtual so I was glad they had photographers there!

Maybe I'll get gooseberries this year?? 

Bachelor button

Onion bloom and greens blooms

Bachelor button

Bachelor button

Daffodil 

Garlic end of April

Garlic today!

The are mentioned in the blog. Growth and blooms the perfect combo!!

Sunset last Wednesday

Lilac buds/blooms 

The upward growth of the lilac begins! It takes about three years to grow roots below and then it shoots up the next couple of years.

Lettuce in the cold frame

Carrots and onions in the cold frame

More onions in the cold frame (swiss chard to the left)

Full view on left

Full view on right

The buds on the poppy 

Iris blooms

Iris bloom

Volunteer lettuce/swiss chard next to the garlic

Time to get those red rocks out so we can get some strawberries!

Volunteer sunflower

The wild flower patch! Lots of sweet william will bloom this year!

Lots of wildflowers sprouting!

Sun rays!

Just before the thunderstorm and rain yesterday! 

My other hobby! Cross stitching is done and backstitching starts!

10+ years now, a bit of soul baring

 Hard to believe we're into our 11th year of Dave being gone. To be honest the last couple of months last year were hard. It's been a while since the anxiety was that prevalent. And with anxiety comes hot flashes. I suspect the anxiety triggers hot flashes for me. There's a lot of change happening in my own life this year that's connected with other people and I think it triggered a subconscious fear of big change. That has actually just occurred to me as I type this. I KNOW what big change does/means and my body is saying, NO! Not again!! But that's where depending on my Father to help comes in. He has helped me through many, many things and this will be no different! As always I find it super interesting how we can react so subconsciously to begin with. 

The huge change for me personally is I'm going to be caring for my Aunt. She has been in the ministry for many, many years and now needs to step aside. Some may know that her mom had dementia and it looks like she's headed down that path as well. She loves being outside and I have a decent lot for her to do what she'd like come Spring! I'll need to have her pick some things she'd like to grow! Luckily there's a very good support system here, it's just more the huge change it'll mean. I just found out last week that she'll be here near the end of January so its coming quick. Thankfully, my work is allowing me to switch to working from home more then not once she's here. Another big change is Christina has signed up for the Airforce. She'll go sometime in March. She's hoping to figure out exactly what she'll do this next week. And the third I'm aware of is Erika is due in May with her 4th child! This one is a boy as well so the two boys will be 18 months apart as well. (Her two girls are 18 months apart also) That's the first half of the year, we'll see what the second half brings when it comes around! :) 

So far I've managed to avoid Covid! It's made it's way around the office at work. Several have gotten it but so far so good! We're living in some truly historic times. And really historic in every which way. My belief is that things will happen as they need to and no matter how hard we try to change them; it will be what it needs to be. I just need to be close to my Father and that brings peace amongst the chaos. 

I will add this. I am so ready to know what happen with Dave, to know where he's at, to try and understand all that happened. There's so many times that I've looked back at what I was, at things I did, things I said and just want to kick myself. Would it have changed anything, no clue, but there were so many ways I could have been so much kinder. We never know what the next day will bring, we don't necessarily know what is going on inside someone else, what they're trying to cope with and how what we say will affect them. Dave didn't express struggles for the most part so I was clueless just how bad things apparently were. Looking back there were some things that I now realize were clues of issues but at the time I was beyond clueless. Anyone reading this, we often get comfortable in relationships and just start assuming everything is okay, or if they're not that they're there for the long haul. There's snips and snaps at each other as you get on each other's nerves. Are those snips and snaps solved at day end or do they carry on? Be aware that there may come a day when someone suddenly throws in the towel and is gone. I loved Dave then and I'd say now I at least love him as a friend. We had a lot of years together and had two wonderful daughters and, although he's never met them, we have 3 (soon to be 4) wonderful grandchildren. I'm sincerely hoping that one day soon it'll all come to light. Some days I feel like it'll be soon and other days not so much.

It was COLD - Fog is clearing away reveling a gorgeous scene

Love, love, love the sunsets here!!! This was leaving the farm last month.

I'm still trying to grow things! :) In the cold frame from about a week ago!! Hoping it last the winter and gives me greens come Spring time!

Snow makes things so pretty!

It gets cold enough here that the grass goes into hibernation. 

Life Update!

 It's been a long time since I updated and boy has a lot happened!! The COVID restrictions in my area haven't been too awful. Idaho tends to allow people to do what's right without a lot of mandates at this point. We did have some lockdowns at the beginning as a lot did. But they lifted the worst of the restrictions by June. We've been going to our church meetings on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening since late May (or early June?). We've split our fairly small meetings into smaller meetings just to be safe and have worn masks as well. Technology has been amazing since we can listen to our G.Meetings over the phone for those unable to be there physically. I've ended listening in a few times due to there being exposure from the office (two different times). I'll be very thankful when the worst of this pandemic is over! However for now the infections are on the rise again so it may be a long winter! 

My yard kept me quite busy this year and made it very easy to stay home. The video I posted earlier this summer gives a pretty good idea of my yard. I added three more flower beds this Fall in areas that will make it easier to mow. It's hard to believe that just two years ago my place had no fence, no shed and was basically all grass!!! I'll post some pictures below. I got a lot of the produce canned/froze. Beans and peas got froze. Tomatoes got canned (salsa, tomato soup, diced tomatoes). The peppers and onions got added to the salsa and tomato soup and I also froze some of the bell peppers. Cucumbers got used for bread and butter pickles and summer squash got turned into squash relish (super yummy cooked with chicken!!). I also got some apricots from a friend and made some apricot jam for the first time. It's super yummy plus 'low sugar'; a perfect combination! It was interesting figuring out how to spice things up without garlic! I think there was success! This winter will tell the story as everything starts getting used. Carrots are just being used to cook with, I didn't plant my large planting of them soon enough in the Spring and didn't have very good germination. Lesson learned!!! Winter squash did pretty well all things considered. I brought in new dirt and there was some chemical in it and it caused things to get off to a VERY slow start. Once the chemical started dissipating some they started growing much better but it made fruit set happen way later then typical. However most of them got far enough along to cure properly when I picked them. I didn't realize that the skin would harden AFTER harvest. The butternut squashes did that luckily. I love butternut but there was only a couple out of 12 that were technically ready when I had to pick them. I've used a few, they're so good!! I got lots of herbs saved as well! Lots of basil, sage, rosemary, parsley and some thyme. I didn't get near as much thyme saved as I would have like. There's also some Agastache saved for tea. I have some liquorish flavored and more a citrus/mint type as well. I want to grow some Chamomile next year to dry and have over the winter. I also got some calendula petals dried. I've read that it can be used for tea. By tables and counters were covered this summer with everything laid out and drying/ripening. But they're finally empty (until next year!). I ended up tossing the last few tomatoes. I was so done with it! :) The first part of August I managed to break my little toe. So my flip flops got lots of use and the last part of the fence area I was going to dig up and prepare didn't get done. Was quite bummed! I do have a cold frame that has some radishes, greens, swiss chard, shallots, onion, carrots and lettuce planted in it. So far they're still living. I planted it about 3 weeks too late so if things manage to live through the winter I probably won't really get a harvest until mid-spring time.

Christina is on a different path now. She's working at Target in Portland now and will be headed to the Air Force boot camp in January or February!  Although that could change! She's with her grandma (Dave's mom) in Vancouver. Things seem to be going okay for her.  

Erika and her family are doing well. Jameson turned a year old last Sunday! Teagan is 8 and Scarlet is 7. Time sure does fly! And then there will be a fourth come May! I never dreamed I'd be grandma to 4!! I did get over to see everyone the end of September. Made the birthday party for Scarlet and birthday dinner for Bobbie. It sure was good to see everyone!!!!

Also got to see my dad this Fall! He is so done with being cooped up. Since he's in a foster care home in Oregon he's pretty locked down. I was only able to visit him outside for 1 hour each day. He's doing okay overall but it really seems like to me he's going down hill a little bit.

Per usual this time of year has been hard. For some reason it's been a bit harder then the last few years. But I am very thankful for the help the comes from my Father. The odd thing is to begin with it's totally subconscious. I've always found it so intriguing how the body just knows when special dates are near without me even thinking about it. I very much felt earlier this year the need to be strong spiritually. This year has proven why in every which way. It'll be good a Thanksgiving to go to some friends for dinner. I'll bring green beans and bacon. YUM!!!! I've an offer for Christmas but for now am getting a don't go signal. Not sure why though! It'd be seeing an old friend that I knew in Klamath. It would be good to see her and maybe some cousins. I'll see if I get a different signal a bit later! I've had to face results of not listening often enough to listen now!  

I'm very curious where this next year will take us. Between COVID and politics it could be a very rocky/interesting year. Something tells me even mores so then this year. One thing that is a given is that whatever happens is what is supposed to happen. It'll be used the way it needs to be. Who would have thought we'd be living through a pandemic and everyone the world over would be wearing masks. Times are certainly crazy!

Gorgeous sunrise!

Crookneck Squash. This plant did awesome!!

This was my winter squash patch.

Harvest time!!!

Another amazing sunrise!

A loaded pepper plant!

Broken little toe :(

Main Garden

Main Garden continued

Main Garden continued

Harvest, found this basket at a thrift store

The other side of the harvest basket!

Winter squash harvest!! Whew!!

First snow fall!

First snow fall from another angle

This snapdragon still hasn't died off! We've had 9* and several teens and 20's and it's still green!

Gladiolus bulbs with lots of babies. Hoping to save them and plant next year! 

Tonight's sunset. This was taken as I left work.

Mekvold Garden 2020 7-21

It's been a long time since I've posted. This is what I've been working on since March!! It's getting so close to being done but what's left will take the rest of the summer and will hopefully be cleared for the bulbs that are coming the end of August into September.