It was good to be home again and in my own bed, my own home, working in my garden!  The best part was my near victory over the weeds, and reclaiming my garden.  I say near because just as I was ready to stake up the last of the plants…… the local stores ran out of and stopped reordering stakes.   Of course.

Now I'm going to have to get creative.  I may send my men out to the woods to chop some small branches for me to use or I may figure out some way to let the plants stay on the ground as they would if they grew wild, but 'train them' along the already established rows a bit to at least keep them in line.  I may even have to tie them up to the fence up back, but I'd really rather keep everything in one area.

If you look at these pictures, you'll see my grand victory!  That last lump in the middle has almost no unwanteds… it is nearly entirely tomato plants that need a new home.  There aren't even many as it looks like, they've just grown quite large and spread really far there on the ground.

My smaller garden plot of winter squash and lettuce seems to be coming along nicely as well!  I sure hope this works the way I'd like for it too!

Once we returned home from the Adirondacks, we had a day scheduled to clean and repack all of the gear, and then just to relax. When I was making the baby hat last week, Vin kept asking me for a new hat for him, and I promised him one so I spent my relaxing time making a new winter hat just for him.  Here in CNY, it won't be too long before he'll get to wear it!  (and of course, it was made from stash!)

As much as I want to be home getting the last bit of my garden in order, next weekend we will be away again.  Mike and his dad are going to the NFL Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies and game, and having the Canton, Ohio experience.  My MIL and I and the two younger kids will be going to explore Amish country.  I'm really looking forward to that!  I expect that it will be lots of fun!

We spent this weekend in the Adirondacks camping.  I'm not a big fan of camping.  When I say camping, I don't mean a little cabin in the woods or anything like that.  That would be fairly doable for me.  I mean a 30 minute boat ride in a boat filled with family and gear to get to an island in the Adirondacks, where you pitch tents and then start fires if you intend to eat, stay warm, and have light after dark to scare off the bears. Food tied up in the trees, the whole bit.

Did you know that New York State has a black bear population of 9,000+ and that the majority of them live in the Adirondack region?  Yes.  It's true.  Now, I have nothing against bears.  I love them at the zoo.  I love them on National Geographic specials.  I would love them from a distance if I had transportation and was at a good distance. However, I must admit that it makes me a little nervous to set up housekeeping in their backyard with only a motor boat to get away from them in, and my entire family present.  That all said, I'm probably being paranoid.  The 2 years we've camped there we've never seen one. My husband camped there frequently as a child and never saw one.  Frank the boat guy, who lives there says he sees several every day though.  Really, it's only a matter of time. Right?

There is also apparently some unwritten rule of Nature that when we are camping there, the skies open up and pour forth all of the rain they've been holding.  It rained Friday night and into Saturday morning.  Not bad.  It dried up in time to enjoy Saturday.  Sunday morning the rain started again around 4 AM or so and did not let up.  We packed up camp in the pouring, drenching rain and then huddled under the trees waiting for it to let up so we could set up for our 1/2 hour boat ride back to camp.  Delightful.

Seriously, I really don't want to ever do this again.  Ever.   As sprinkles on top, there is also nothing like making a 2 hour drive back home with 350 lbs worth of wet dog.  Awesome.

All that said, if you aren't stranded camping in the Adirondacks, it really is a beautiful, beautiful region.  It truly is.  Here are a few pictures I took while we were there… when it wasn't raining:

Vin decided these were his ducks.  "My ducks", he says.  Later, we saw some really cute, fuzzy little ducklings following along behind their momma.  Adorable.

This awaited us at the site we chose to set up camp.  There were lots of these dried up old tree roots all over the area.  I found them really interesting looking.

Just down the beach from us, taken from standing at "our" beach.  See, it really is quite pretty.

We took the boat out Saturday afternoon just to go for kind of a joy ride to enjoy the sites and explore.  Vin said, "Mommy, look!" and was pointing up at the sky.  This is still his favorite picture from the trip.

Saturday night at dusk.  Vin looking out over the water from "his beach", while sitting on the cool tree stump.

And the dogs.  It would be easier to go without them, but then who would fight the bears for me?  Liberty is the brindle and HoneyBlossom is the fawn.  (Hey, my daughter named the fawn when she was like 8, ok?  I know it's silly.)

I was so very glad to get home.  I really was.  The next Monday was a day off for recovery, and I managed to finish the matching hat for the baby clown pants.  Really, I don't know how I'll pull off this outfit for a little boy - even with a black onesie & black socks.  It may never leave the house, or end up being given away perhaps.

We're home next weekend, so I'm hoping to knock out the rest of the garden and move on the the maintenance and harvesting stage!!  See you then, and have a blessed week.    

 So, I finished the baby clown pants this weekend from Stitch n' Bitch (Lil' Devil Pants in the book) and I have to say not only are they larger than expected for a 0-6 months size, but they might just be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen!  They really are pretty crazy!  I think these will be for 'around the house' only - not for outside.  You know what these pants need?  A hat and some really, really big shoes!!

 And I've actually started the hat!!  I'm opting for a shaped rounded top instead of a point with a pompom though. (and the additional red is stash yarn, so I'm still cleaning out my craft closet!!)

I was able to spend some good time out in the garden again and I'm at just about 70% of being done putting it in order.  You see that big clump in the back left corner?  That is a big pile of tomato plants and weeds.  The tomatoes that I extricate from the weed pile are going to go into the empty space that's left once I get it cleared.  (Do notice that the clump of tomato plants that was in the front right corner is gone, gone, gone though!!!)

There's a little discouragement going on though I have to admit….. I'm sooooo close, but on a couple of the days when I had good working weather, little Vin was sick, so I wasn't able to get out there, and this next weekend we're going to be away for 3 days.  Once we return, it will have been a week since I was able to get in there and work… and I'm soooooo close!!  It's frustrating and discouraging like I said.  It's going to feel so good to get it cleared completely and see my garden all in order!

And just look at why?  It's already bursting with promise!  I have flowers and tiny green fruits everywhere I look.  It seems to be mostly cherry tomatoes and a smattering of Roma's that I have out there - which makes sense because those are the ones most likely to end up on the ground at the end of the season.  I'll be surprised if I have any beefsteaks, but that would be nice!

I'm estimating having about 300 plants up on stakes once it's all said and done - with 2 plants per stake.  I'm going to be canning a lot of sauce and I can't wait!!

I have been so inspired, that I decided to start more seeds too!  This is my newest garden plot!  I'm going to be doing lettuce, sowing new seeds every 2 weeks to keep it coming until first frost, and I've also started some fall squash - buttercup and acorn - to have for Thanksgiving.  I don't eat those, but the rest of the family loves them, and I've got room, so I'm going to go for it.

Oh, how I love my garden!!! 

Well, next week I'll see you again but with pictures of the Adirondacks instead of the garden!!  I'm a little sad to lose a whole weekend for being away, but it'll be a nice trip with the family.  With David almost 19, it may be our last family vacation where all of us are present, so it's an important one.

Did you know that New York has a black bear population of somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000?  Did you know that most of them live in the Adirondacks??  Yeah, I'm not a big fan of those stats myself.  It's a good thing we're taking the Fila's!  haha!!