Whaddah Weekend

We have had so much going on here lately. First, an update on the bees: The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen." As I suspected, Margaret is dead. And the activity at her former hive was just the few bees who were left behind being robbed blind. I should have robbed the hive first. Darn. And I did not catch the swarm. I have only Queen Margaret and her girls left behind. C'est la vie.

In other news, Amira spent a three day, two night camping trip at a farm recently with her third grade class.










Upon her arrival home, Rex took off for a two night camping trip with the Boy Scouts that was apparently epic. Rex and his friend , Bailey, apparently were short a tent and had to build a "lean to" shelter. By the second night they had apparently modified it to withstand the elements. Oh. The adventure!

Upon Rex's return, Valerie was off to a week long field trip to the Shady Creek Environmental Camp with her sixth grade class.







During all this Michael was off in the Bahamas for a job. He skyped in nightly complete with palm trees in the background for a nice touch. Sorry no pix of that.

Finally the five of us are reunited at home. Michael and I spent the weekend doing chores. He had to chicken proof the grapes and stake the tomatoes. I had loads of weeding, tilling & planting to do. Oh, and coops to clean. And bees to check. And laundry to do. And sleep on which to catch up. The list goes on.

Amira cut some poppies to bring in as I was digging them up and planting my zinnias and portulacas.



While we were home working on our farmers' tans, Rex was partaking in the Wildflower event. This year it was the Flatflower 65. Seriously, that kid rode 65 miles today! We're so proud of him.












Now that Michael is home, he can grill up yummy stuff for dinner. Soon his grill can move onto the patio!

Michael is out playing Marco Polo in the pool with the kids after a crazy good dinner of grilled pork chops, sautéed zucchini and salad. Remember when you would have had to wait 45 mins after a meal like that to get in the pool? Kids today don't even know what is was like back in the day.


Spring is here with the air already giving a hint of summer. There is the promise of fruit on the trees, grapes on the vines and a pergola to cover our new patio!

Should we eat the artichokes or let them bloom? I'm really torn!




Here is a photo of Valerie with her favorite Shetland sheep from a recent 4-H meeting:



Here's Rex making chocolate covered strawberries:





And a lemon merengue:




And his volley ball team:


Life is good. Busy. But good.