A Long Holiday Weekend

We enjoyed our visit with DD#1 and her boyfriend. I don’t think they wanted to leave. He has just started his fourth year of dental school and it’s been a long haul. DD#1 likes her job, but neither of them particularly likes being in the city. This weekend was an opportunity for them to rest and relax. They toured all of DD#1’s old stomping grounds, went to Glacier Park, and did some hiking with the husband.

The husband got out the brush mower on Thursday and mowed down the pig pasture and two sections in the garden that weren’t planted. The weeds in those parts of the garden got ahead of me when I was gone for 10 days in May. Hopefully, we can get some black plastic down on them before winter and kill the weeds there altogether. Peas are ready and I will start picking those today to get into the freezer.

And despite the weeds in the strawberry bed, those plants are still producing:

We had strawberry shortcake for dessert one night.

There was a bit of a mishap with the huckleberries: Our neighbor has been helping the husband clear the trees on the sides of the easement that runs between our property and our rental property and gives access to that neighbor’s property behind us. That neighbor and his wife raise and show horses. They often haul large horse trailers down the easement and the husband told this guy that he could take down a small stand of trees near the road to help with visibility. Unfortunately, this neighbor piled the logs and branches into a burn pile right in the middle of the huckleberry patch.

I might be able to get a few berries out of there yet; I’ll have to go out and assess the damage. I could go across the road and hike into state land a ways and pick there, but I am not sure I have the enthusiasm left to do that anymore. I know the neighbor didn’t know the patch was there, and neither of us was home at the time to stop him, but I’m still disappointed.

I did a mending project for DD#1 while she was here, and she helped me mark my pants so I could hem them. I also made new cushions for the glider rocker:

I couldn’t find a green print that I liked—the frame of the rocker is dark green—so I went with red and brown. I took apart the old covers and repurposed the ties and the padding because there was nothing wrong with any of it. Making these took a whopping 15 minutes per cushion, and most of that was the cutting.

We let the baby chickens—which are pretty much full grown now—in with the big chickens. They spent the first day working out the new pecking order. I’ve lost track of my little Buff Orpington rooster because he hasn’t really hit puberty yet and blends in with the Buff Orpington hens. That Black Australorp broody hen is trying again to set. I give her an A for effort, if nothing else.

The kids didn’t fly back to Seattle until yesterday evening, so in the afternoon, we went to an arts festival up in Whitefish near the ski resort. Our friends Tom and Marcie had a booth with their pottery there. We visited with them for a bit and then walked around. I found these cute keychains:

They were made by Compass Moon Creations, which seems to be a fairly new outfit located in Coeur d’Alene. She had sewing and knitting-themed keychains, earrings, and stitch markers; carded batts for handspinning; some hand-dyed yarns; and needle felting supplies. Her Facebook page indicates that she teaches at the Hook & Needle Nook in Spokane, which is also a newish store—they’ve been open for a year—but one I haven’t been to yet. I know where it is because I’ve driven by it several times, but I’m usually going the wrong direction or don’t have time to stop. I’ll pop in there one of these days.