Late summer sliding by

Today is beautiful! It's in the 90's here, I sat on the back porch this morning in a comfy recliner and watched the hummingbirds and finches buzzing around. The garden is in decline, but I'm still getting peppers, green beans and cucumbers. There are a couple cantaloupe on the vine, I hope they ripen before it gets cold. The sunflowers have faded, leaving tons of seeds for the birds to forage. They flock to the garden, and then drop into the chicken pen for scraps of corn and other leftovers. The tomatoes are pretty done- although there are a few stragglers in there. I gave up picking fennel seeds- I'm hoping to have a bumper crop of free fennel next year from it as the seeds scatter about. I've let the chickens back into the garden- grasshoppers had taken up residence in the tomatoes, and the best bug killers are those fluffy little hens! I figure if they want to eat old vegies that have fallen under the plants, it's a small price to pay for their efficient hunting skills.

Yesterday we watched Dakota play soccer- it's so fun to watch little kids play! They know they're supposed to follow the ball, but don't always know what to do with it when they get it. She's doing well and having fun, and I love watching her activities.
The past 2 weeks have been spent painting and working at the rental. The kitchen was in need of a new paint job, and the bathrooms have never been painted. They still sported the original paneling. The kitchen had a very 70's wall paper- orange baskets full of flowers and greenery, and took a primer and regular coat to cover them. While it was lovely in the 70's, it is pretty weathered now. We are painting everything with a semi-gloss 'decorator white'. I know it's bland, but it works well in a rental; the new people benefit from the brighter look, and it fits any color scheme they may have. Unless it's all beige- hopefully they're not beige people....

I painted all the cupboard doors from the kitchen and bathrooms, and worked myself right into a cold. It didn't help that my helper Norm came down with it first, and I was picking him up for work. But I know it's mostly from doing too much. My immune system leaves much to be desired. It doesn't seem to matter that I take supplements, vitamins, etc to strengthen it, when I overdo things it kicks my butt.
Now that the painting is done, I turn everything over to the men- there's still toilets to replace, David is building a wall in the master bathroom in order to install a shower. It's a nice room with a garden bathtub, but the lack of a shower in there is a problem, so we're fixing that. Norm will lay the tile, and the carpet layers can come hopefully in 10 days. Man! What a lot of work, and I know we can't rent it for any more than we did before. But, the house is in need of repair, and we're not slumlords, so the work will be done. I'll sure be happy when it's done and the place is rented.