Turkeys Can't Fly...

...but they can hop. This is what we've been waking up to since we moved a rabbit hutch next to the tool room a few days ago.

Problem is....he can't quite figure out how to get down. I had to climb up and drop him onto the bunny cage; at least he figured it out from there:)

ps. we will be moving the hutch....soon!

What's up.....

...at the Garvers?

First day of school for dad and Annie...and last 'first day' for our high school senior.

Kitties are ready to go....now.

Steven next to the surviving tomato plants (he's 6'2").

New (for us) car....we love it!

(nice to have A/C, working windows and no deer hair in a broken headlight:)

Home-made catsup....the best ever!

Dad and Wilson trying out the new toy at the shooting range. (note to self...bring EXTRA ear protection next time)

...and painting Annies room.

Tomatoes!

I posted about our tomato woes on our other blog, and considering we are pulling out a sick plant pretty much every other day, we are harvesting quite a few tomatoes.....good thing we planted ALOT!

This one is called Gold Medal....or at least that was what it was supposed to be. This is NOT what we grew last year, and not what the seed package promised....but hey, it's big and was delicious.

Huh?

The comment button has disappeared.....not sure why....not sure anyone cares.....sigh.

(bit of an eeyore today, aren't I?;)

Peaches

Welcome summer! I think I can safely say that peaches are our families absolute favorite fruit (strawberries a close second:) We have planted several different varieties so that when they mature we should be able to eat tree-ripened fruit from June thru August. This is the first real harvest from our 4 yr. old Sun Crest tree, and we are thrilled. This is the peach made (relatively) famous by David Mas Masumoto in his book Epitaph for a Peach.

Sun Crest is one of the last remaining truly juicy peaches. When you wash that treasure under a stream of cooling water, your fingertips instinctively search for the gushy side of the fruit. Your mouth waters in anticipation. You lean over the sink to make sure you don't drip on yourself. Then you sink your teeth into the flesh and the juices trickle down your cheeks and dangle on your chin. This is a real bite, a primal act, a magical sensory celebration announcing that summer has arrived.

The family still farms organically on 80 acres south of Fresno and David Masumoto also writes a column for the Fresno Bee. Ironically, for a peach developed and grown in the Central Valley, we had to drive to the coast to find a tree to purchase. But we've not been disappointed; they are absolutely delicious peaches. Definitely worth the wait... and the drive!

Gobble Gobble...

Isn't our Tom Turkey quite impressive? He rarely goes into full macho mode but apparently today he felt like showing off.

It's been a busy couple of months, what with son's wedding, Mom in the hospital, visits from relatives, working in the garden, cars breaking down...you get the picture (and probably have a similar busy life). Anyway, hopefully I'll have a moment or two this week to sit down and write something a bit more substantial (like how many mentally ill people there are on Facebook;) till then... happy summer!

Happy Day!

Just one of the reasons I've been neglectful on this blog lately....our oldest son Bradley got married last weekend to a lovely young lady....and we are thrilled. Brad and Laurel will be living in a cute little fourplex just a few blocks from us (we've promised no pop-ins) .

Photographs by Heather Chandler Nickell and Jamie Nickell

Our Hero

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. -- George Orwell

Come Home Soon

Take Care Son...

...we are so proud of you.

Our son Sam surprised us last month by coming home for a visit during Easter vacation. He hadn't planned on coming home until sometime mid-deployment so we were thrilled to be able to spend some time with him. He ships out to Iraq in the next few days and tho we've known about it for months, I find myself in tears at odd times during the day lately....a good country song will do it every time, or a commercial that features a soldier, or a random memory about him that a friend posts on Facebook. Nothing in particular and everything in general reminds me that our son will be in harms way for the next 365 days. When he walked in the door last month, our world brightened ...and for just those two weeks our worries subsided.

Playing our favorite family game....

....that's not a word.

Wilson and Sam playing with the toy gun...

...and thankfully shooting at targets, not my glass candle holders.

(oh yeah, they can't ....he shot them all when he was 7!).

Easter lunch at the other Garvers.

Laurel and Brad.

Never too old for an Easter egg hunt!

Annie and Abel.

The Garver Men.

Playing Rock Band...

...fixing an old bike...

...and sitting on the roof.

We miss you already Sam.

Container Gardening

Ignoring the mess...this is our back patio/slab that we poured many years ago so the kids would have a place to play basketball in the winter and where we set up our pool every summer. The hoop has since been retired but a smaller version of the pool will be up and cooling us off in a few weeks time (replacing the mound of one-gallon tomato seedlings in the center of the photo) .

The slab has become somewhat of a negative as we look for more growing spaces around the Garver homestead. Because it is one of the sunnier spots in the yard, and we don't want to jackhammer it out (just yet) we've been doing a lot more container gardening and are always on the lookout for castoffs that we can use to pot up a couple more tomatoes etc. The wooden box pictured above was a garage hutch that I spotted going into the neighbors truck headed for the dump. Placed on it's back with a few large drainage holes in the now bottom....ta da...a raised bed! Tomatoes in the deeper back section, peppers and butternut squash in the front/lower half.

On a side note ~ I found something to do with all those used canning lids I've been washing and saving. I've forgotten where I saw this idea or I'd give them credit:)

Where I need to be....

In The Palm Of Your Hand"

If I could have the world and all it owns
A thousand kingdoms, a thousand thrones
If all the earth were mine to hold
With wealth my only goal

I'd spend my gold on selfish things
Without the love that Your life brings
Just a little bit more is all I'd need
'Til life was torn from me

I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees
Your grace provides for me

If I should walk the streets no place to sleep
No faith in promises You keep
I'd have no way to buy my bread
With a bottle for my bed

But if I trust the One who died for me
Who shed His blood to set me free
If I live my life to trust in You
Your grace will see me through

I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees

If I could have the world
If I could have the world and all it owns

In Which I Send you Elsewhere.....again.

I've decided to stop writing a blog and will hereafter just keep sending you here...she says what I'm thinking but infinitely better and definitely funnier.

Thank-you Aldra....again.

Just Because....

...I thought they were pretty.

No Sweetie, we Cannot get ANOTHER dog.

Despite the incredible cuteness of our neighbors new puppy (a Maltese) we shall wait for one of ours to....ahem....depart before bringing another canine into the house.

But he is adorable!