August... REALLY? It's August already? Where does the time go?

It's been a busy few months around the Schwark house. A new puppy is like having a newborn & and toddler all wrapped up into one little body. I can put my little newborn/toddler in a crate and leave him however! Ringo is sleeping through the night which has helped. Of course the "personal summers" I experience during the summer haven't necessarily helped my sleeping habits! That's another story for another time!

So the Dog Days of summer have settled in like a guest who has overstayed their welcome.  I have to say it's been miserable here in Indy.  Yesterday was the hottest day we have experienced in three years!  96 + degrees w/ a 115 degree heat index is just plan HOT!  I had to laugh this morning when Chuck Lofton (my morning weatherman) said we were in for a "major cool down".  His major cool down - 87 degrees!  Muwahahahaha!  Oh, and boy do we need some rain.  My backyard is getting crunchy and the earth is cracked.  My garden has produced a good crop of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, cabbage, garlic, onions etc.  However the hot temps make it difficult to get out and enjoy toiling in the soil.  The sad thing... when it's this hot I can't enjoy a cold glass of lemonade on the back patio.  I have to enjoy it from the A/C cooled house.  By the time it cools down it will be time for hot cocoa or warm apple cider.

So what's been going on besides puppy rearing?  Work - July proved to be a better month and our real estate biz picked up a bit. We are thankful for that as winter will soon be upon us.  The economy still is rough as is the real estate market, but God continues to provide!  We are in the midst of a small kitchen remodel.  Cabinets will be painted, a beadboard ceiling will be installed, a new light fixture and I am removing a bit of wallpaper... 3 layers of wallpaper on a bulkhead.  Uggh!  We haven't picked out new counter tops yet.  That will be a task completed after the cabinets are painted.  Oh, and I have some lovely new drawer pulls and cabinet hardware.  I will share pics soon!  We are putting in a lot of mileage on the bikes even in the heat.  Although we did not ride yesterday.  My mother in law told me that our decision to "not" ride was good evidence of us using our God given brains!  Ha Ha!  She's 88 and still hilarious!  Jim and I both have birthdays coming up as well as our 20th anniversary. 

I hope to visit blogland more as the summer months fade to fall.  I have been absent from not only posting, but catching up with all of you!  I have to say... when you are absent... you lose your blogland followers and friends!  I miss you guys!

I pray your summer is going well.  I keep reminding myself of Romans 8:28 ~
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  All things include miserable heat! 

Looking forward to catching up with all of you!

Wildaire All You Need is Love... aka: Ringo

We brought home our newest addition on Sunday! We decided to get another whippet!
Ummm... I forgot how much work a pup is. But it's worth it. Whippets are easy to train. Jet is loving his new little buddy. They play a lot and I am sure will drive me nuts as Ringo gets older and can keep up!

Sunday night Ringo fell right to sleep in his crate. He woke up at 1:30ish. I let him out and he took care of business. I brought him back in, put him in his crate where he proceeded to whine... no, not whine... HOWL for 1.5 hours. I don't know if I fell asleep firts or he did??? Last night was much better. He slept until 3:30am. I took him out, and he went right back to sleep when I put him in his crate! Praise the Lord!

I left him at home for a few hours (in the crate) yesterday and will do the same today. I don't want him getting separation anxiety if I were home all the time. Thankfully I am self-employed which allows me to be home!

Here are a few pics of my little guy and his big brother!

So Long Insecurity Week 2 -

In just a few short moments the gals will be arriving for our second week of SLI! Before they arrive I wanted to write a quick blog post thanking those of you who prayed for us last week. Our first discussion was amazing! Every single gal shared! God is so good and He is going to be BIG in our group.

This past week's reading included 2 Chapters on the roots of insecurity. I had a good cry I have to say after reading these words... "Simply put, if you didn't get to be a child when you were young, you suffered a loss of innocence." and "When they are forced to grow up too quickly, they lose something that no one can give back." My heart ached... for me. I was so sad for the little girl whose parents divorced when she was in the 5th grade. Yes, that's when I lost some of the innocence of being a child. I recall with such fondness my life prior to my parent's divorce. I think I was always happy back then. Those warm memories of Christmas, summers, swimming... after their divorce I had happy times. But I remember so much sadness. I remember worry - worrying about my mom when I was with my dad and worrying about my dad when I was with my mom. In essence, I grew up when I wasn't ready to take on those types of feelings and responsibilities. Of course those weren't what my responsibilites were... but nevertheless it happened. When I cried about that loss, I did not feel anger toward my parents. My tears were those of compassion for a little girl that was me. The Lord had and has that same compassion for us. He loves us and never leaves us! I am thankful that Jesus has been my rock... my security. That he continues to love me... I may have lost a part of my life when I was young, but he sure is blessing this portion of my life abundantly! I can't go back and change the past. But I can live in the freedom that the past was used by the Lord to work for the good! I am clinging to Romans 8:28!

I better get going... 15 minutes until start time!

Love you all so much!

OK... so I seem to be lax on my blog posting as of late! With the Memorial Day holiday, work, a charity golf outing I chair and my nieces in town I have been swamped with summer activity and fun! My sister and I have vowed to remember a bumper sticker she saw when we start seeing our schedules as "too full". The bumper sticker reads: Too Blessed To Be Stressed! I love it! The Lord has certainly been showing me His many blessings!

I am excited as next week I begin leading a book club in my home! We are reading Beth Moore's "So Long, Insecurity  you have been a bad friend to us"
8 ladies will be gathering in my home and we are following the format that Beth  used when the Siestas read through the book!  I am using Beth's questions to encourage thought and conversation!  It's going to be wonderful & I would covet your prayers!  Especially for 2 gals joining us as one for sure does not have a personal relationship with Jesus!  The rest of the group are very good Christian friends of mine who will be wonderful as we journey with my unchurched friend!  I will keep you all posted about our journey!  I for one, as secure and confident as I seem... battle insecurity and anxiety A LOT!  We are going to do what Beth did in 9 weeks in a 4 week time period!  I was afraid that some of the gals wouldn't want to commit to that long of a group! 

The garden is really coming along!  We are going to be harvesting the broccoli this week!  Here are some updated pics of the garden!  Oh the bounty we will have!  Can't wait to share with my friends and family!

We already have tomatoes growing on some of the vines (can you hear me clapping?)

Love Zucchini!  But gotta pick fast or they grow from tender, yummy squash into mammoth, scary veggies overnight!

Broccoli is ready!  It's going to be a good week!  After we harvest the main bunch, we will get little shoots throughout the summer!

We put straw down in the pathways to help with weeds as well as keep our feet from getting muddy after rains!

How lucky are we that our neighbors have strawberries in their garden and that they share!  We actually shared some of these with friends!!!!

We are also anticipating bringing home another whippet puppy!  We have picked our favorite, but we won't know until the couple in front of us (they get first pick) decides.  So far their favs are different than ours.  I am not going to post a picture until I know which little guy is ours.  So... even if it's crazy... could you pray that we get the little guy we want?  We are smitten with him.  When we went over to visit this past Friday he was the first pup to come up to me when I leaned into the pen... and he was the first to trot over and plop in my lap when we had them on the floor in our breeder's family room!   That anxiety I told you about above... well, when I think about our wait to find out if we get this little guy... I get anxious!  As soon as I know I will post pictures!  Jet's going to have a playmate!  We will be bringing him home around the 4th of July! 

I got to visit with my nieces and my great nieces and nephew this last week.  It's been wonderful!  As close as kids and grand kids that I will ever get and I couldn't be more proud of my girls and their families.  They are all doing so well. Unfortunately I forgot my camera EVERY time we got together!  Bad Auntie K! 

Of course cycling takes up a lot of time when I am not enjoying my friends, family and work!  But alas... the rain and t-storms are keeping me off the road tonight.  (can you hear me crying?)   So I am hoping I can catch up with my blogland sisters this evening since I will be snuggled up in a comfy chair, Jet at my feet and hopefully something decent on TV!

Random Musings...

Mr. Drizzle has hung around long enough... Mr. Drizzle - you are like fish & company... after a few days you begin to stink. How I long for Mr. Golden Sunshine to make an appearance!

OK, so we got very spoiled her in Indy during the month of April. Temps were unseasonably warm. This past week - which is MID MAY - has proven damp & cold. Now I know God has His reason for this weather pattern here in Indy, but it is bumming me out a bit!  I did get out in the garden on Sunday to weed. The damp soil did make it easier to pull out those weeds. OK Lord, you helped make my labor a bit easier. We did have a tiny bit of firewood left on the front porch that Jim didn't want to move back to the wood pile so the cooler temps afforded us to enjoy one last fire in the fireplace. OK Lord, You know I love a cozy fire and You knew Jim didn't want to move that wood. I did get the winter & summer clothes swapped over. OK Lord, You knew I wouldn't do that on a nice day full of sunshine!  Lord... I got that stuff done... can You bring on some sunsine! (grin)

I did get a nice 66 mile bike ride in on Saturday morning before the rain moved in... but the drizzle is keeping me off the bike tonight and placing me in the Y on the treadmill to run. Ugggh! OK Lord, You are protecting me from getting hurt out there on the road - Right?

I wanted to get out and get more pics of the garden, but these will have to do. These photos were taken a few weeks ago - everything is really bigger and fuller now. So the rain is good - right? We should have a lot of great, fresh produce this season. I can't wait! Fresh veggies taste so much better than store bought. We are trying potatoes for the first time. So far we have tomatoes, potatoes, lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, garlic, brussels sprouts, radishes, zuchinni, several types of peppers and many differnt herbs planted. We will have more tomatoes than we will ever eat or can, so our friends will be quite happy. I will can banana peppers & jalapeno peppers this summer and I will also make jalapeno jelly to share. Once the radishes and lettuces are done we will put in beans a beets. I am going to put more onions in soon and we will harvest some potatoes early as to have "new" potatoes and put more spuds in for harvest later in the fall.

Jet guarding the yard from squirrels. 

Garlic... it actually had seeded itself from last year's harvest.  I had to dig up the garlic and divide.  I am happy to say they look wonderful!  I was a bit worried when I took this picture!

Lemon Boy tomato plant - just one of many varieties of tomatoes we have planted this year.  We have plenty of romas for canning & making sauces.  Nice Big Boy tomatoes for slicing.  Cherry tomatoes for the nieces and nephews! Some Mr. Stripeys and a Granny Smith tomato plant.  The Granny Smith is a new plant for me... I will be interested to see how they taste!

Broccoli plant!  I believe we have 8 broccoli plants.  Each plant will produce a large stalk of broccoli.  After it's harvested tender shoots of broccoli will grow out of the plant so we can enjoy broccoli for a while.

Chives are just one of the many herbs we grow.  I actually have 3 chive plants and they are all in bloom right now.  This picture just shows this plant budding out.  You can eat the flowers - we toss them into salads.  I have 2 of the 3 chive plants that need divided.  We also grow marjoram, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, italian flat leaf parsely and rosemary.  I love using fresh herbs in my cooking!

This is one of the many potato plants.  We planted reds, yukon golds & russets.  I can't wait!  We tried two different styles of planting to see which works best.  This particular plant keeps getting top soil mound up over the foliage. 

Bibb lettuce... once the temps warm... the lettuce will bolt and become bitter.  We will plant more at the end of August!

Oh... and we got a rhubarb start last year.  It looks great!  I think I will have enough for a pie this summer!  Oh... and we also put asparagus in this spring.  Next year we might be able to pick a few stalks.  Asparagus takes a few years!

I will get some more updated pictures in the next few days so you can see how much the veggies have grown!