Two Days In A Row - Don't Die Of Shock - PLEASE!

We have spent a lot of time at the pool.  Well, actually, Emily has spent a lot more time at the pool lately than I have.  I think she's got her eye on a cute lifeguard.  She's volunteered several times to take Grace and Grant to the pool when I've been unable to take them. 

We Shupes try to cram entertainment into every minute of our day...even the obligatory ten minute rest break each hour.  Grant fills his rest break with remote control toys.

His favorite is a remote controlled shark that swims and dives under water.  He can control it across the entire distance of the pool. 

We celebrated Father's Day several weeks ago.  David received the usual less-than-useful-but-really-cool gifts.  Included in the gift lineup were such winners as crawfish and duck jerky from Grant, a hand painted frame with a picture from Grace and an Eggstractor from us all.  The Eggstractor is pretty neat and incredibly fun to use though it totally qualifies for the 'less than useful'  gift title.

Why did he get an Eggstractor for Father's Day, you might ask.  Well, he's fascinated with them.  Each time the commercial comes on television, he tells me we need one.  

Doesn't he LOOK like he's pleased with that gift??  That's a real smile too...not a fake one.

The important part is that David knows his kids love him.

A lot.

Here's a bit of a farm update....

Our orchard is doing well this year.  We have lots of apples and even a few peaches.

I am embarrassed to admit someone in our subdivision planted peach trees along each side of their driveway.  They have a hundred times more peaches than we do this year.  But hey, at least we know where peach trees should be planted! 

Here's our garden a couple of weeks ago when we were finished weeding it....

 I've picked the first two gallons of green beans.  Onions are ready to start harvesting a few.  Tomatoes are green but doing great.  Potatoes....oh well, maybe next year....we didn't get them hilled soon enough.  So we will get about a third of a crop from them.  At least we will have some to enjoy for a couple months this fall!

Of everything we are trying to accomplish in the orchard/garden, the blackberries have been the easiest to grow.  Not that that should be surprising.

 Our crop is pretty good this year.  We should get two or three gallons.  That's more than enough!

  

And because we are very impatient people, I made a blackberry pie (sort of) out of the first crop of blackberries.  It was a lot more crust than pie, but everyone enjoyed it anyway.

 For some reason, I have found raspberries to be more difficult to grow.  This is the third year I have planted new starts.  SOMEONE might have mowed off my first raspberry starts a few years ago. 

(Ahem, JOHN)

I tried with new starts last year.  They did well last summer, but none of them came back this spring.

So I bought plants for a third time.  Maybe third time will be the charm!

Grapes are doing great.

My plants are starting to reach maturity.  They are loaded with fruit.  Now I have to manage to get them sprayed at the right time so insects and fungus do not steal my entire crop.

When we live an hour from the farm, this proves to be a significant hindrance to having a good crop of anything we have discovered.

So.  Two posts in a row.  Amazing.  I know.

Come back tomorrow.  I might even get pictures of the new machine shed uploaded!  It now has walls and a roof!  Progress!!