FINALLY........some rain!

A really nice storm, and we needed it, my garden was about dead. Here's some lightening pictures from right before the rain, they are kind of grainy, but that's what happens when you used video to extract the pictures..anyway, it

was quite a light show out there.

Me doing my rain dance...hee hee

I've been outside watching the lightening...we need rain so bad! The storm is heading right for us, even if it's only 10 drops I'll take it! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to do my rain dance....

Even though it was hotter than Hades today, we decided to hit some rummage sales in Mt. Vernon. We went to about 9 or 10 and only found a few things, but mostly we found rummage...however our day was cooled off by these adorable kids selling lemonade. That's a switch, Bill was buying the lemonade, instead of selling it. Then we went to lunch at Bandana's BBQ and ran into some friends from down the street, and some work friends from our World Color Press days. The food was SO good and then we had fresh made donut holes, which was actually on their dessert menu..warm and covered with powdered sugar....yum. We are home now and it's still hot, hot, hot.., heat index is 108...!!!! The real temp.was 97.8 , the highest of the year and an all time record... I hope you all have had a great day!

Word clouds, because I'm bored tonight.

Making the best of the last of the blackberries...

Good afternoon friends! It is another scorching day today, yikes! There's not even any traffic on the road. Bill went to the grocery store for me and all he saw was a big black snake high-tailin' it across the asphalt..and THAT, friends is how hot it is here in Illinois. I got up early and made a blackberry cobbler, I just had some and it was yummy! So I think today would be a good day to either go swimming or catch up on my email.....not sure yet, I'm leaning toward the email...I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Dolphin asks for help from humans...amazing...

For the cheese lovers of the world

Peyton's birthday party!

All of God's Creatures got a place in the choir...

So today is all about the grapes. I can't believe they are already ripe, but they smelled so good every time I walked by the grape arbor, that I knew it was about time. So I'm making juice with some pulp to make jam later on when it's not 100 degrees outside. I'm always amazed at how every year, no matter what, our strawberries, blackberries, grapes and apples grow with no help at all, except from Mother Nature.

Just a few projects that I worked on today.

 This is just an old window we had laying around, I added some metal stars and raffia and put it in the garage sale.

 Bill built this table, but didn't like the way it turned out, so...............

 I stained it and sprayed aqua paint on it, and then took the electric sander to it, really like how it turned out!

And then the FUN begins...

Camping part 2-so we're back to Satruday evening. Bill won the Scrabble game because I got the "Q", and all of the "U's" were used on the board..AND he got a lot of points for the "camping" word. So, the young people had friends that also came to camp. Then another couple showed up, we weren't sure if they knew these other two groups. So the drinking and extreme loud talking began and went on and on...Someone got in a screaming match...we should have gone to the park caretakers then, but it was 11:30, hated to wake them up. However, the last tent people must have called anyway, and the police showed up and escorted them out of the park, but not before the Pit bull tried to attack the policeman....yikes, what a horrible noise that dog made! But then all of the noisy people came back and kept yelling really loud calling "someone" A$$holes...etc..until 2:30 in the morning. Finally they shut up and we got some sleep. We stopped at the caretaker's booth on our way out and they said those people are banned from coming back to the park, and that on top of everything else, they had not paid for their spot, but just sneaked in...such arrogance and horrible kids, and they were the ones that were mad! So, that's my camping story! I hope you have all enjoyed your Sunday!

First night at Forbes State Park......awesome!

Camping part 1- Friday afternoon we headed out to Forbes State park to do a little camping. The weather had been so great, as you all know. So Friday night was awesome. Only the two of us in the primitive camping area. A nice steak supper and only the frogs to sing us to sleep. Saturday, another gorgeous day. Late in the afternoon here comes some young people, drinking beer and a pit bull on a leash. Ok, no problem. The funny thing was the dog owner hooked the leash to their cooler and yelled "work, work" and that pit bull pulled the cooler all the way to their camp site...lol. We drank coffee and played Scrabble. Now what kind of smart alec actually is lucky enough to get all of the letters to spell CAMPING, while you're Camping...well played..Bill Halterman .Stay tuned for part 2...

One of my handsome sons, and his other family.

My name is karma

So it was another gorgeous day today, not like August weather at all, more like October. So, I made 12 pints of blackberry jelly, and finished my penny gazing ball. You remember that huge sunflower head I posted a photo of yesterday? Bill was mowing the grass and it bonked him in the head....if you ask me, that's karma for all of the times he needed it.  :)

Garret's first day of second grade...

Happy First day of school, Garret!

So, mom and I ended up watching "THE BIG WEDDING", which was HILARIOUS! It's strictly an adult film though, so don't try to watch it with your kids, you will be having to answer too many questions..still worth the watch. Thanks for your suggestions, I am keeping the other films in mind, we just wanted something light-hearted today...we went to lunch at Applebee's, and had a really nice day. Bill was gone to an auction again, so I got my supper from the CakeLady, personal pizza...yummy. It was baked in the oven with fresh toppings, $4.50, with a cookie for dessert. Then I was walking around my garden, and hadn't really paid a lot of attention to my sunflowers, ya know, they just grow and grow and I don't bother them....but look at this sunflower seed head, I could hardly hold it up, it was so heavy...some birdies are gonna love those seeds

These are the finished product, but a few weeks back Bill bought a couple of wooden stools at an auction, they were both damaged on top, so tried this thing I saw on Pinterest. I used a really simple design because I painted with wood stain only, and used brushes, and a cloth to blend. It's not the best, and I can see some things I did wrong, artistically, but hey, it's just going back into a garage sale anyway. This is the first one. It's hot and humid and is going to rain, so think I will save the other stool for another day...besides, I have to glue pennies on a bowling ball....you Pinterest peeps know what I'm talking about...