Memorial Day

We had a really nice 3 day weekend. For the most part, the weather was great - the kids and I planted the garden.  We set out our tomato, watermelon, and cantaloupe plants that we started from seed. We also planted corn, pumpkins, onions, various kinds of leafy greens, radishes, beets, carrots, cukes, hot peppers, and various varieties of squash. Oh, and potatoes, because the kids had so much fun digging them up last year.

For Mother's Day,  Cole had given me a recipe holder made of popsicle sticks that he made at school.  He included several recipes, so for Memorial Day, we chose one of those recipes to make - chocolate covered strawberries.

At noon we went to Westlook Cemetery and met up with Peter and Paul, Martha and Chris, and Joan for a picnic lunch  and some flower planting. Cole brought his chocolate covered strawberries to share. Doesn't  Heather look like she's advertising Orange Crush soda?

Time to get to work. Cole and Martha plant some flowers for Grampie.

Heather supervises.

Wayne plants flowers for Elijah Stone, whom he has been researching and learning about for his Storykeepers project at school. On Friday, the 4th grade will present their stories to their classmates and to parents who are able to come.

Elijah Stone

Heather signs her name and draws a picture in Grampie's log book.

The gang.

Later, back home in the early evening, there was a brief thunder shower which left us with this Memorial Day rainbow.

Last year, when our neighbor dug a trench across our front lawn to run power to his barn, a lot of these ledge rocks were churned up. Heather and I gathered them up recently and made a makeshift fire pit for roasting marshmallows.

From earlier in the week, Heather plants our  new baby strawberry plants. They came in the mail as  bare root plants. We put them in the newspaper pots to get them started for a few weeks, until the weather was warm enough to set them out. 

We had to get rid of our rooster. He was just too mean. The two hens enjoy roaming the yard. 

And now we have 4 new chicks to add to the family.

Doesn't Spike look like the Big Bad Wolf? Look at those teeth? If you were a little chick, wouldn't you be nervous? "The better to EAT you with my dear." Actually, he's very good and doesn't bother the chickens at all. We kept him hooked up when the chicks were out just to be extra safe.

I'll close with a picture of my Dad. That's who I was thinking of on Memorial Day.