August Produce, Pickles. People-Puppy, Poppins

 I found this great recipe for "Easiest Dill Pickles" at Smitten Kitchen (great pictures on that site!).  The recipe is left wide open for possibilities so this is what we did, since we had some pickling spice on hand and I wanted to use it up, so as not to waste it.  We just took quart sized jars and put in 2 cloves of garlic and a tea-tablespoon of pickling spice in the bottom of each.  Then we stuffed them tightly full of thinly sliced cucumbers and onions. Pour in 1/2 c vinegar and shake.  Place in the fridge for as little as 1-2 hours. During this time on occasion just go shake them up a little.

 Even the onions are SO delicious in this simple brine.  Enjoy!

 Splendid find at St. Vincent de Paul store! A brand new Timberline GT bike!  And just my size. We had been looking for bikes as they help my knees.  Not that I'm a biker by any means, but I at least am working on trying to get to the neighbor's driveway and back up mine... haha.

 The corn ripened in recent weeks. It was a little smaller than other years (probably due to the lack of rain!) but it was sweet and tasty while it lasted.

 We spent a Saturday picking and hauling, of course after it had rained a little so it was nice and wet and slippery....

 That's where these intensely ugly, ridiculous looking shoes come in handy.  I had said I'd never wear such silly looking shoes, but if you garden or farm or do anything wet and the like, they are so handy as they are actually pretty comfortable (even if you have bad knees) and they clean like nothin' at all. So next to the wellies, these are great for all around outdoor messy jobs.

 The outer row of corn in one section looked a bit like Green Acres corn (hahahahaha)

 Piling, piling, piling.

 The indoor crew was busy slicing corn off the cobs, apparently it has a crippling effect as the boys could barely move their hands afterwards.

 The outdoor crew was busy shucking. I actually like shucking corn, just one of those things I enjoy for some odd reason.

 Helpers come in all sizes and ability levels around here. Someone has to hold the little picnic table down after all.

 Pepper likes eating the corn raw and off the cob.  Truly... odd puppy.

 We don't cook the corn, just cut it off the cob, mix in a little sugar/salt water, and place it quart size ziploc freezer bags. Freeze and we've got corn twice a week for the next year.

 Our 2 oldest boys in their personal ideas of gussied up.

 My SIL K was Mary Poppins in an absolutely spectacular performance of the play Mary Poppins

 Here she is with her husband (Aragorn's brother).  Lovely couple, absolutely splendid play! Such a blessing to get to attend!  We loved it!

 Frodo found a wild bunny while mowing the lawn.

 After a leak from the little sink we dug up the dining room floor, it had some cracks anyway so needed some repair anyway.  Here Marigold is trying to help lift the tiles faster than pounding out each tile. The boys actually did get the tile up in about 4 large pieces.

 We found another leak under the floor where a nail had gone into the flooring heat tubes. Oops.  Simple repair job for Sam.  We ended up pouring concrete down and are still trying to decide what to put down over it.  I like the idea of solid concrete that is finished, it's indestructible, can be bleached and cleaned, but we'll see what happens. One just never knows around here.

 It was a very busy week as some of us were going to sing for the Bishop's Mass for the Assumption. There were 3 rehearsals for it and then we ended up blessed to sing for a Requiem High Mass which added an extra rehearsal and High Mass. It was a beautiful funeral and the family was very happy and consoled through the Mass.

 "All God's creatures gotta place in the choir"... even toads.

 Just fixin' the low tires.

 When I'm excited about a "new-to-us" manure spreader, you know that the stuff had piled up pretty deep.

Here's our people puppy pepper.

 What's important is for our dogs to be able to taken on toddlers and children of all ages and enjoy it.