This is what I came home to.

yep this is box after box after box. and still were more up in the office.

Life is what it is... and it never stops! So I'm getting it undercontrol little by little.

below I will attached a few photos from the first day of my trip.

a herd of horses used by the park... but as you can see although in the truck, no matter where you looked it was beautiful.

a herd of buffalo/ bison...

The typical LOADED biker.. cycliest...

my first up close sighting..

Rivers, creeks and waters were the real show.  Supporters of life, a welcome mat for all the animals...

Hot or cold... water was the center of everything.

The Garden...

I have allowed the sunflowers to take over HALF of the garden! Why because as the birds eat the seeds the seed hulls KILLS everything on the ground.  NOT to mention they don't allow much sun for the weeds to grow either.

There are several types of sunflowers in my little collection..

The Garden from the back porch...

As you can see they are thick and TALL and bountiful... I'll have to save LOTS of heads for the estate... wish me luck.

A flower in the garden area too be... on the estate.  Wish me luck in saving these guys... Although I have no idea what they are they were beautiful... but I have not had the time or the camera with me in order to show them to you.

it was a little TOO snakey???? in order for me to stick around and walk around with no shoes in order to get the two shots I have.  I'll try again on a day I have on boots and long pants.

When I get back from Yellowstone, it will be time for me to brake out the tiller once again and start in on my fall and winter gardens... wish me luck!

Expectations for my B Day...

While today is just another day, I have had wonderful cards and gifts arrive today, I am thankful for them all.

My goals for the day are 1/2 way done.

fly retardant for the horses,
cedar for the birds,
chem spray on the pasture again.

and cutting apples off my poor young trees.

 While I love having these apples I only planted the trees last fall, and the tiny limbs are bent from the weight of these (could be... lushious) apples.

One must sacrafice at times and this is one of those times.

It is the Heirloom varieties that I planted that are abundant with apples.  The graphed / bred standards are fruited but not as weighed down.  All of them have to go TODAY!

The back yard... as you can see has been  all a buzz with hay production for the year.  But again the weather makes it another bad year for horse hay.  This hay will pickle and has been rained on each day, cattle will be fine but this would kill a horse.  You have to know what you are getting and thus far, most the local hay is NOT going to be good, clean, dry for horses.  Hope it is better where you are!

More HOT days in June, well above average

Considering everyone is suffering the heat, here are some shots I thought I would share... as it was just cool enough to get out in the due this morning and take a few pictures.   Hope this brightens your day, spirits, and cools the soul.


This is the first sunflower I got this year, I am hoping to have hundreds this year, but only a few have opened their eyes to my house, thus far....

I just about have my side area to where it re-seeds itself each year... I am experimenting with several types of sunflowers but we shall see what does best.

Borage... one of my favorite flowers to put in a salad. It taste like a cucumber but looks so pretty on top of a crisp multi green salad. You should try! They are beautiful in the garden and great for eating!

no one likes onions in their flower garden, except me... I enjoy the tangle, mangle, strange beauty of the wild plants.

A bee on its morning borage run... wet sweet cool time of the day.

Dill, some things just don't change, tomatoes, Basil and dill are all a MUST even if no real garden is in effect this year.

Lavender, I use this for EVERY THING... cleaning, medicating the birds baths... making tea for myself and sprinkeling it on food.... anything you put Rosemary on Lavender works just as well!

the BACK of the barn... not a good picture but everyone is asking for updates more often now that it appears to be a building with a purpose.

only the outside of the barn is on... but I will get to the inside soon enough...

by 9am Karl is hot and eating to keep up his strength!

a HOT day in June.

For the longest I was wondering if spring would ever come, then the weather almost passes over spring and throws up into a deep humid summer heat.

Today Sunday there is a plow day at a near by farm and while I have no pictures, I did take the camera only to find out there was no card in it.  I just have to laugh at myself sometimes.

A dear young relative of mine has been in Singapore as of late and I am eager to hear of her night time andventure with animals, but we had a little adventure here as well.

Remember this is not a zoo, this is my front porch, front bedroom but I loved it!  Some of you will not like my pictures but I am happy to share.

We were so excited to see THREE bats on our front porch.  It must have been the heat, here they were hanging out on the window screen in the shade of the front porch.  Our house is ROCK, solid rock and with the sun as bright as it was yesterday I can only imagine how hot it was up on the cornice of the roof.

There are THREE... MOTHER with all her red hair, baby ONE is on the RIGHT of this picture hidden under her left wing... you can only see one foot from this angle.  baby TWO is on the left of this picture and you can see it pretty well, meaning you see a part of the head and one little ear.   

Why didn't I number them left to right... because baby one has more hair than baby two.  Two has no hair at all while one has a nice coat, one is older!  Want a better look?

This is baby TWO! see almost pink ... no hair.

This is baby ONE... see it is a nice brown color not as pink...

The mother was attentive, but apparently allowed me pretty close.  Her ears would twitch... but she appeared more worried about the babies than me.

At any other rate... my barn is coming along pretty fast... here is the latest picture of the roof, the padded flooring, and the back outside wall being up.

Roof is a neutral color, unlike most barns but this is what I wanted... Jerry wanted RED... but he liked this color as well which worked out good for our marriage! ha ha ha...

I swept the floor and laid other pads on top of it to allow them to flatten before applying them outside the barn, you will see as time goes on, but all is necessary in the plan.  

Another Day... in the life of Amber?

Broccoli is incredible this year... Sweet perfectly developed with... the morning (mountain)  due still present.

                                                             

Basil is doing well ... I have to have at least one plant for every tomato plant this year I have 6 of each.

Tomato plants are doing well if I can keep the bugs away and the water regulated...

I added Poppies... to the garden this year as a test subject... these are the ones that are standard on the side of the interstate systems in TN and NC (at least)

Ending with my poor boots.  I hate spending money on boots but if I keep up at this pace I will need another pair of boots for the winter.

While the picture is old... Life here is all the same. 
I have taken the day off.
This may very well be the first day in months I have not been to the estate.

There has been much work done, and more to be done this week, but I am in need of a rest. 

While I had planned on taking yesterday off to ride, rain, wind and general weather stopped me, then a nice person offered to get the large rock out of our way so we could get the rest of the barn up next Sunday.

If anyone reading this wants to do hard labor... just show up Sunday! We are planning to put the 6x6x20's in the ground, shoot the area level, get the band up and some of the rafters.

I have not taken the horses over today and hope not to.  I don't want them running on a wet pasture with new grass and the rest of the good grass eaten down.  I will take them over tomorrow and lock them in their little pen. 


My list for the week...
Hook up the last of the electric fencing, and make it hot.
Paint off the end of the 20 footers and have them dry to be set by next Sunday.
Fence off three little pastures and spray two out of three of them with poison for broad leaf issues.
Plant grass in the shaded areas already fenced off
Get water and feeders set up in the pen.
Spray the rosabunda???? wild rose bushes that are a pain the the tuckus....
Start the research on replacement trees, as a nice little area of the property is now been ridden of the horrible poplar trees growing like weeds... I have left several GOOD size poplars but... wish to start the replacement process with real trees that belong in the area and will be beautiful to walk, eat, and live under.

Spring has arrived, BUT could fade soon.

Everything is in small areas, quanities and color.....

So are the containers of TEST plants I will move over to the property later in the year.

I am testing things... seeing if they can survive the zone as well as seeing how fast they grow, spread and keep out weeds.  So I can later choose plants to use in a pattern for the area next to the road.  Less is more... and the least amount of water is the name of the game... thus the suculants.

These three items are going well ... The first a mound of grass that blooms TINY pink blooms...
Second ? a sedum of sorts
Third another sedum and both with hen and chicks...

and other things in the yard... just to make the page pretty to look.

the OLD peach tree in the yard...

The quince bush in the front yard.  also a VERY large one at the barn.

These little things are all over the yard... so much so I refuse to cut the grass till they are gone.  These too are at the barn... as well.

Trillium at the front door... these I would love to have all over the estate...

the typical yellow of spring...