Summertime drying

Last year Jeff installed a clothesline in our backyard for us. I absolutely love it! Clothes fresh from the line smell so good. As an added bonus, our backyard is a wind tunnel, so they look like they've been ironed, too! Our backyard isn't huge, so Jeff designed the line to be removable should we need the room. So far it hasn't come down once, but I like having the option. It's a double line, which I love because I do a lot of laundry at once (I'm a procrastinator!)



These are my cloth napkins and kitchen linens (pic taken last summer).

Some other things to consider about clotheslines-
1. Energy savings- sunshine = free!
2. More energy savings- dryers are hot and heat up the house which bumps up air conditioning usage
3. Sunning helps remove stains from clothing!

Does it seem like our system won't work for you? Check out different options here!

Happy Summer!

Farmer's Market

One of my favorite activities is going to the Farmer's Market. There are quite a few in this area, but my favorite by far is Boggy Creek Farm. It is an organic farm smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood in downtown Austin. Free-roaming chickens add to the charm of this little white farmhouse. It is small, but it is ALWAYS busy. I've gone both on Wednesdays and Saturdays at all different times. There is never a dull moment! Check out my Wednesday morning haul!



Fresh okra, peppers (bell and sweet), long beans, andive, potatoes, jarred tomatoes, and smoke-dried tomatoes (I wish you could smell these! YUM!!!).

Not too shabby, right?! So far we've made fried okra and used the potatoes in a casserole. I'm pushing for soup to use the herbs, beans, and tomatoes. Maybe a pepper in there, too, though I'm not a big fan of bells.

Fresh veggies, grown 25 minutes from my house, picked the morning I bought them! The flavor is amazing!

Do you have a Farmer's Market near you? Now is the perfect time of year to check one out and support your local farmers! Check this site for quick info!

And just for funsies:

Daisy

Yeah. So I'm not good at keeping up with this blogging thing. At all. But I get the blogging bug occasionally, so I thought I'd give y'all something to do to kill time! :)

Let's talk puppies. Well, specifically, our new puppy Daisy! I've gotta tell ya, she's the cutest, sweetest, smartest, craziest pup out there, and I'm in love!! Her parents are both trained assistance dogs for the hearing impaired, so she comes from good stock! She definately is learning fast! She's mastering sit and stay (we still need work when she's crazy hyper!), and she's working on come, heel (heal?), and drop it. She's got get ready down. She sits and looks straight ahead waiting for you to throw her toy!

She was the tiniest little thing when we got her (on Dec. 7th). I weighed her yesterday and she was 17 1/2 lbs already!! She's growing like a weed!! Her legs are so long, and her paws are big, so she's really in the floppy faze. It's precious! She loves to have her belly rubbed!! As soon as you start petting her she rolls over to her back so you can rub her tummy!!

She's a trickester, too! She knows what she's allowed to play with, and what she's not allowed to play with. If we're not paying enough attention to her (like when we're getting ready for work), she grab something she's not allowed to have, run over to us and shake it and growl, and then run like crazy so we'll chase her! If we gave her an unlimited supply of qtips and ponytail holders, I swear she'd never come near us unless it was time to eat!!

No lead in like that can come without pictures, so to all of Daisy's adoring fans:

This is Daisy at 6 1/2 weeks. She was so tiny!! Look at that sweet face!!

This is Daisy and Lenny the Lamb. Look how clean Lenny is in this picture!! Man, you can tell it's old! Hahaha!

This pup can eat!! We had her small bag of food in this basket, and one afternoon (shortly after she ate) we walked into the dining room to find this!! Look at those pleading eyes saying, "Mommy, I'm still hungry!!"

This is her first trip to the 'lake' a couple of weeks ago (ha ha- those silly Texans- calling a pond a lake!) She got in the water up to her belly, and it was 41 degrees outside. That's a heck of a lot closer than I'd get!!

This is her on Tuesday after we took her to the nursery with us. I now love all places where she can come with us!! She's a giant compared to those first pics!! (Sorry it's blurry-we were driving!)

Okay, okay. I'm done for now!! I hope y'all get to meet her soon! Pictures just don't do her justice!!

BTW- her birthday is October 24, and we're having a party. Be there, or be square!!
(j/k, j/k!.......sort of!)