Crafty Shelby

Shelby is not normally my craft kid - she got inspired by Pinterest & wanted to make a holder for her necklaces.  She saw a few cute ideas & then this one came along - it seemed to be the best choice especially since we had plenty of old horseshoes out in the barn.  We found her a good piece of wood & she started in painting both.  Then came the nails & we even contemplated some old barbed wire, but haven't gotten back to that just yet.  Turned out pretty cute - need to get a picture on her wall added.

Pretty cute Shelb - be careful, someone might just think you are crafty!

Hummers & Blooms

I have these 2 cheap little hummingbird feeders on the back porch every year:

I have had 5 to 6 birds through the year & fill them every week or so, but the middle of August was a new story:

It is hard to get a good photo of the cute little guys here with my camera, but they came in the big groups - I think we counted 17 on the day we took these pictures.  They came so fast that we were filling both feeders every day...sugar bucket was emptying fast.

I just love to watch them out my kitchen window...that is when they are being nice.  We had a couple of bullies again this year. 

They are just so tiny...makes me wonder how they fly south, but they are gone again & I took the feeders down on Labor Day.

My other favorite summer activity has been watching these bloom.  The flowers had a good year...no frosts until just a couple of nights ago.  I'm afraid the snow in tomorrow's forecast will be the end of my gardening, but that is good because the weeds have taken over since harvest started.

I'm really not ready for the birds to leave & the flowers to freeze, but what can you do when you decide to build a home at a 6500 ft. elevation.  Gotta love Idaho!!

Huckleberries

Ahhh....my favorite place to go - headed toward the huckleberry patch.  The picking came early this year... first time I think we have started in July.  I didn't even go out after Labor Day this year.

As you can see from the stains on our hands...the hunt was successful:

We spent a little time scoping out some new patches this year...Mara went to extra effort down the steep bank & over the creek to find....nothing....haha!  You don't know unless you try.  We did find a new good sized patch that we will keep an eye on for next year.  It is just as you go up......LOL you thought I was going to tell your right?  I might take you there next year if it turns out to be good pickin!

Success...not as many as some years, but we picked enough to keep us in berries for the year.

As long as I don't make any more huckleberry pies for the ward auction!!!!!

Countdown!!

O.K. I know I'm a dork,but I couldn't help myself.

Plus I'm super excited about blogger's new update to their app - I will actually be able to use my Ipad to post now - YEAH!!!  Get ready for a ton of posts!

just look at that though 83 days!!,