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| Schwabacker Landing with Tetons |
I woke up an itchy mess this morning! Nothing awful, it’s just irritating. I didn’t realize that the mean old mosquitoes
and other biting insects were already out and about. I swear I never even felt anything bite me
yesterday when I was out in the garden weeding. But, I have a big bite right
between my eyebrows that, at the moment, is driving me a little crazy. So, I’m up a little earlier than I have been
in awhile.
Guess it’s time to break out my super duper homemade bug
spray that I make every year! I can’t wear the stuff they commercially produce
as it makes me really sick. I found this
recipe a few years ago, though, for homemade bug spray, that’s made with all essential
oils. Right off the top of my head, I remember
that there’s lemon citronella and lavender in the ingredients. For some reason
I’m blanking on the third component, but let me tell you, it really works. I actually got the formula from a friend who
lives in Texas ,
so you know if it works there, it should work anywhere!
Yesterday, I spent pretty much the whole day, except for a
few breaks, out in the veggie garden, pulling weeds in preparation for Rob to
do the final tilling and seeding this weekend.
It’s a massive job but thankfully, one we only have to do once a year,
if we play it right. I finally convinced
Rob last year to get some of that landscape fabric to lay down once everything
is done so we don’t spend our entire summer weeding out there. Last year, it worked out wonderfully except
for where the corn was growing. We have
this particularly noxious weed here in Wyoming
that is a vine and it seemed to come through the corn, no matter what we did.
That’s the reason I was out there all day, trying to pull that junk up. We fertilize our garden with manure we get
from the local sale barn that they’ve pulled out of the arena after cattle
sales, it’s already mixed with straw by the time we get to the pile and while
it makes great fertilizer, it’s also full of whatever weed seeds the cattle ate
last year.
Luckily, I only have to get out the vine things and the big
weeds and the rest will get taken care of when Rob tills. It was so beautiful out yesterday! My indoor/outdoor thermometer said we
actually reached 88 degrees! That is just amazing for this time of year around here. I was actually sweating while I was out in
the garden. It was one of those great Wyoming days, though, where there was a
nice cool breeze every few minutes so just when you thought you were going to
get overheated, the breeze would come by and cool you off like a natural fan.
A friend of mine who works for the BLM sent me a picture on
email the other day of one of the forest cabins where they keep the weather
monitoring equipment up on the mountain.
He had a picture of the cabin from this time last year, after we’d had
that hard, snowy winter and it showed just the very top of the cabin showing,
everything was all covered in tens of feet of snow. Just the other day, he went
up to the cabin and took a similar picture and there was no snow, not even
around the cabin. That means we got a
heck of a lot less moisture up in the mountains this year. It’s a little scary because we always have to
worry about wildfires around here when we don’t get enough snowpack. The local newspaper said yesterday that we
are not in a drought because of it but you could have fooled me!
I have a feeling we are in for a very hot summer around
here! The first year we moved here, we
had a similar summer where the temps reached around 100 in July and stayed that
way for almost 3 weeks. I sure hope that’s
not going to be the case this year.
Although, the garden would love it, I’m sure, I prefer a little milder
temps. With this forecast, though, I’m
almost tempted to try to grow watermelon again this year. Our growing season is usually so short that I
have to ripen most of the tomatoes indoors at the end of the season. Tomatoes won’t ripen outside once the temp
stops being in the 50’s at night. Most
people think they ripen in the sun but that’s just not true. It’s the warmth of the night that gets them
to turn red. So, every year, I end up
with flats of tomatoes all over my kitchen, ripening under newspaper. It always works out, though, as it ensures we’ll
have fresh tomatoes long after the snow starts flying around here. Something
tells me we aren’t going to have that problem this year!
I got my car back from the shop yesterday afternoon. Geez, I almost fell over when they gave me
the bill. Over $700 to get a new
battery, new cable (that had eaten through) and a tune-up and oil change. The guy at the shop was real apologetic as he
explained that Ford, in their weird wisdom, had made it so that they had to
remove half the top of my engine just to get to the darn spark plugs! Most of the expense was the labor to take my
car apart to accomplish the tune-up! I think I’ll be selling the car before I
get another one, if that’s what it’s gonna cost! I absolutely love my
Freestyle, though, it’s never had a single problem before this and it is all
paid off, but this is a little ridiculous. Hopefully, since I was able to wait
until it had 90,000 miles on it before I got this one, I’ll be able to drive it
for years and get rid of it before it needs another one.
Today, it’s back out into the garden for more weeding. I got about half of it done yesterday and
when Rob got home from work, he worked on it, too. I also have to run out to a friend’s house
who called yesterday and pick up some clothes to take to the VA in Sheridan . Jim MacAdoo has just sold his property and is
moving and asked that I take them since he knows I go to Sheridan a lot. I used to take all my charity clothes to the
various churches but about a year ago I found out they have a homeless shelter
for vets up at the VA and now, if there’s any men’s clothes, I take them
there. Jim has a huge amount for me to
take, so they’ll be really happy! It’s
the least I can do for the men and women who’ve served our country.
I just got through counting my bug bites while I was sitting
here composing this and I have over 30 bites!
It’s weird, they are mostly on the right side of my neck (right around
my jugular, the little a-holes), my arms and some huge ones, right in the
middle of my back. Definitely must lather up with the bug spray today!! Oh and
I remembered, the other ingredient is Rosemary! So, if you want to make your
own non-toxic bug spray, here’s the recipe….20 drops Rosemary oil, 20 drops
Lemon Citronella oil and 40 drops of Lavender oil, mix with ¼ cup of water and
voila, you have a wonderful smelling bug spray.
I get empty glass spray bottles (same place as the oils) and fill them
and keep them everywhere. Because it’s
natural, you do need to reapply it about every hour while you are outside. Not only does it keep the bugs away, it
softens your skin, unlike “Off” or other sprays that dry you out. Also, you don’t
smell all chemically, you smell wonderful!
Well, have a wonderful day!
I can’t believe it’s already Thursday!
May seems to be flying by already.
Good thing, as I’m getting so excited about seeing the family in Alabama for my birthday
and Aunt Becky’s memorial. We leave in
just 13 days!
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