Ode To A Tree

The weeks of Summer are flying by.  It won't be long until we're bidding this month goodbye and welcoming in August..the dog days of Summer!  It's been a much warmer season than last year.  We've had many 90 degree days and much humidity.  That has also led to rain and a good growing season.  Our tomatoes, beans and green peppers are coming along nicely and today we enjoyed the fruits of the garden with fresh green beans and some salsa I made yesterday.   But sadly this month we had to say farewell to the only tree that shaded the house.   Anyone who's followed my blog knows our property is surrounded by pine trees.  When we moved in 16 years ago I was inspired to call our place "Whispering Pines", which also explains the name of my blog.

They are three deep in some places and keep the wind at bay on those very cold Winter days.  They shade the yard as the sun sets, but not the house.  We had a lovely ash tree that did that.  It was a nice big tree that hosted a few parties under it's branches.

Pinatas were known to hang there on occasion!

However, a nasty disease, ash bore, has claimed many of the ash trees in our area.  I'm not sure I spelled that correctly or even know what exactly it is,  but I do know many folks have had to have their trees removed.   We were one of those folks.

This photo was taken a few days before we had it taken down.  Not a leaf left behind.  The middle gable on our house is the computer room.  I've sat in there with the window open many times and watched the different birds that called this tree home come and go and enjoy it's hospitality.

Afraid it would come down in a storm and smack the house, we deemed it necessary to take it down on our terms.

What once shaded us in the heat will now warm us in the cold.  Ode to a tree...we will miss you and are looking for a replacement that will one day grow as tall and majestic as you were.  I doubt we'll still be here to see it to it's full height, but someone will thank us for it I'm sure!

Typical July

It's been a week since July 4th and the weather and happenings are pretty typical for us.  It's been warm and sultry the past few days with  a few severe storms just for good measure.  Monday the city of Ashland lost power in many places including the hospital.  You can imagine the panic of the families who had patients in the OR.   We have back up generators that kick in pretty quickly but it sure seems much longer than 5 seconds when you're in the dark!  Monitors, anesthetic machines and most of our equipment have battery power so no danger there.   Once the surgeries were done we  weren't  allowed to do any elective stuff until we had regular power.  We've had lots of rain and I'm not one to really complain about that.  It means I don't have to water the gardens!  I don't know why that makes me so happy but it does.

My hydrangea bush is flowering nicely! The blooms look pink here but they are really a pretty blue.

This angle makes them look bluer!   I hadn't been on a good walk in the cemetery for a long time so I stopped by the other day.  Thanks to the patriotic holidays we've celebrated all the graves of folks who served in the military were decorated with flags that the Boy Scouts put up before Memorial Day.  One section of the cemetery has many Civil War Veterans and someone donated money to spruce it up a bit.

The stars that mark the graves of veterans were cleaned up and fixed where needed.

Sure looks nice!  But there was another new addition that was super nice too.

This beautiful bench was placed there  by the VFW.   What a nice way to say thanks and honor those that have served and those who are buried here that lost their lives for our country.  Glad I took the time to walk and notice all the changes.  Makes me proud of our community.

This little dude was enjoying the day in the cemetery too.  Lots of deer make their home in the woods that surround the property and they are not very afraid of humans.  Probably feel pretty protected here with no hunting allowed in city limits!  More storms are predicted for late tonight/early tomorrow in our town.  Hope it's a beautiful day where you live and you're able to take a walk around your community.   You never know what or who you might meet.

Beautiful July 4th!

Again the 4th of July finds me at the Pines without even a sparkler to light!  Jack's at Boy Scout Camp and I'm on call today.  But it's all good because we have beautiful weather and so far I'm not working.  I have many projects in my brain and will do a few but will mostly enjoy the quiet and probably take Chubbs for a walk in town.  There's a steak in the fridge with my name on it...with a few tidbits for the 'ol Chubbers too.  We did have a fun celebration early over the weekend.  Sunday we all gathered to enjoy some ribs and to just hang out.

Nothing like a game of corn hole to put some action in the day!  I think Cameron is holding his breath that his Dad's throw won't go in the hole!  Do you see the new puppy in the pic?

Jack and Evelyn got a new pup named Kip.  They say it's really Evelyn's daughter's dog but they all sure seemed pretty attached to the little guy.  He's so soft and cute!  He's only 9 weeks old so you can see how big he's going to get. He's a Golden Doodle.  In my day those were just mutts but now they are a real breed...another name for expensive! But we already love him so welcome Kip!   On Saturday Jack and I headed down to Loudonville for the annual antique and car show.  There wasn't much in the way of antiques but tons of cars!  I didn't even bring a camera for one pic..I'm slipping in my blogging brain!  But I found a couple of treasures to bring home.  One was a big metal red "S"...yes we had tons of 7th grade humor about me and my big red "S"....

Not sure where it will finally reside but I say if you have a big red "S" you should show it off! (hey, that line never gets old! Ha!)  I hope everyone has great day.  Stay safe and enjoy somthing red:

Like fresh raspberry pancakes....or maybe something blue...

Like fresh blueberry pancakes....or maybe something white...or I should say black and white..

An old July 4th pic I showed a few years ago...my sister and I at our neighborhood July 4th parade.  I believe we were celebrating Hawaii becoming a state in 1959.  We looked thrilled!  Happy 4th America!  God bless you!