Random Picture of the Day

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Garden Update

I realized it's been a little bit since I did a garden update. I've been trying something new, a water garden. I turned my kids' old sandbox into the garden. Just added liner and water. It's doing ok, lots of tadpoles in it now. It does have a water wiggler to help discourage mosquitos. The plants, once the spread, will help with that as well. Of course, frogs won't hurt either.

My veggies aren't doing as well as I'd like. My bean plants are growing, but not producing much. I've only picked a couple of beans from it, I guess I'll save them for their seeds for next year. I think I'll make this area a shade garden next year instead and move veggies and such elsewhere.

My roses, on the other hand are doing well. This one is climbing all over it's neighbor. When fall hits, I'm going to have to do some serious pruning. It makes beautiful flowers, though.

Dickey's Peaches

Before we headed home on Friday, it was mentioned that there was a peach orchard not far away from where we were. They had homemade peach ice cream and more to be enjoyed.

When we pulled up, this was the view of the front of the orchard. This is actually the processing facility for Dickeys peaches.

Of course, we had to sample the FRESH peach ice cream.

While we ate, we watched the peaches get washed and sorted and packaged.

I have to admit, this isn't something I'd have gone out of my way to go see. But as it was in the same area we were in, I had no problem stopping. We came home with a small box of peaches, some peach fruit spread and peach & vidalia onion salsa. A worthy side trip, in my opinion.

Horses!

We're lucky enough to have a friend just outside of Macon that owns horses. I took the girls down last Friday to get a chance to visit. They were given the opportunity to ride around a small corral on a mare named Ginger. Other than the heat, I think they enjoyed themselves.

After we had lunch on the dock for a small lake. It was already hot, but the girls tried to do a little bit of fishing. The fish, though, had other ideas and stayed out of the heat. Oh well, we'll go back again later this year once it cools down and try again.

Thunder.. Thunder.. Thundershirt!

Our dog hates storms. She doesn't even like rain. As she's gotten older, she's gotten worse about how she handles the whole situation. A while back, after discussion with the vet, we put her on a supplement to help her keep calm on a regular basis and valium to be given before storms. Now, it's summer in Georgia and you can't tell me you can predict when exactly each summer storm is going to hit. So, it's hard to give her the valium 1.5 hrs ahead of time (giving it the opportunity to work).

I'd heard this mentioned a couple of times and finally decided it couldn't hurt to give it a go. We only just got it Wednesday, so I can't say it does or doesn't work yet. I'll have to update you on that later. In the meantime, here's Sierra modeling her new ThunderShirt.

Furkids

My daughter had some donations for Furkids after her birthday party, so we went out there on Wednesday to visit and drop them off. I didn't get as many pictures as I normally do, but I wanted to share them anyway. This first cat is Aurora. She's a very lovely cat, very friendly. Right after I snapped this picture, she meowed in my daughter's ear like she was telling her a secret. It was hilarious to watch. This one was Confetti. Very pretty, very sweet.

My daughter wanted me to mention that her favorite from last time is still there, Orchard. A pretty calico that you can check out on the Furkids website.

Creative Clay House

My daughter wanted to do something different for her birthday. She didn't want to just paint pottery with her friends, she wanted to make it and then paint it. After a bit of hunting around, we found the Creative Clayhouse in Suwanee. We had 7 of her friends (and two brothers) out there for two hours. They were taught how to roll out the clay to make mugs (or pencil holders or..), put in a stamp, make the bottom and handle. They were able to paint the clay while it was wet too. We left their creations there, where the staff will fire the pottery once, dip it in glaze and then refire it. All in all, the kids had a lot of fun.

Noah's Ark

Over the summer, the Georgia Cyber Academy is still having outings and Meet & Greets. Last Thursday I took the kids out to Noah's Ark (in Locust Grove) on a school outing. I'd heard of the facility, but hadn't had the chance to go check it out. It was rather hot in the sun, but most of the trail was actually shaded. We picnicked before going in to view the animals. For those that have never been, entry is free though they do ask for donations.

On arrival and as you go in, you're likely to be greeted by these guys. They were scattered all around the grounds and would come quite close.

There was one of these fairly close to the fence line and my kids were quite amazed at how big they really are.

An oddly decorated duck

When we first arrived, these guys were 'thrumming' constantly. It made an interesting noise to listen to. The kids thought it sounded like bongos in the distance.

On the way out, I was apparently VERY interesting to the male.. he followed me all along the fence line, stopping when I stopped and continuing when I did.

Comfy pigs in the shade

By far the apparent favorite of the kids.. not really surprising.

These guys were actually pretty big. I was impressed.

Museum of Commercial Aviation

I had never heard of this until it appeared on Living Social. Since I had my friend's kids with me, we went out last week to check the National Museum of Commercial Aviation out. It's a very small museum, just south of the airport not far from the Atlanta Farmer's Market. They're also fairly new and haven't been able to put out a lot of things they've had donated. If you go, don't expect it to take a long time, but do TAKE your time to check it out. The man on staff when we were there was very helpful and more than willing to take the time to answer questions the kids had.

If you go, you might consider a side trip to explore the Farmer's Market while you're out there. Due to time constraints, we drove through the market, only stopping for hot boiled peanuts.

It was a Zoo!

I took my kids and their buddies out to the Zoo Tuesday. We got out there before it got too hot and left in time to get lunch back at the house. It was what I'd call a "speed trip", but the kids seemed to enjoy it anyway. A worth while investment since we're members and everyone was "free".

Girls in the Kitchen

This week started "McLure Day Camp". I had a friend's kids over during the day while she was at work. On Monday, my daughter and her friend got into the kitchen to bake cupcakes for my daughter's birthday. Amazingly enough, they didn't make a huge mess. I actually left them alone in the kitchen for the majority of it. I came in long enough to snap photos and make sure they cleaned up after themselves. The cupcakes seemed to have been enjoyed by all later in the day at the pool (they certainly disappeared quickly enough).

Barrington Hall

I picked my kids up Saturday in Kennesaw. On the way home, we stopped by the Barrington Hall in Roswell to see the end of their Lavender festival. I didn't have much chance to enjoy the festival itself, but the house is really beautiful. It's an old Antebellum style home in downtown Roswell. One of these days I'll go visit the inside of it as well as the other two historic homes out that way too.

This one was just because I liked the rose.