This beautiful homemade pizza just came off the grill. Shrimp, onions, tomatoes, basil, cheese, homemade sauce, pesto, sundried tomatos, a food explosion.

It was a work of art.

I knew the minute I walked out into the garden I had a problem with one of my tomato plants.

I brought a leaf inside and used the internet to investigate.

I discovered Early Tomato Blight.

earlyblt

I pulled up the entire tomato plant. A lot of it was covered by this illness.

So we set fire to one of our tomato plants. I have learned that my plants are stressed. All I need is stressed plants. Ha! This weekend I guess I will play therapy and prune out branches and allow air to circulate.

Everyone on the farm misses you! See you soon.

Chuck’s cousin, David, was married in Vegas this past weekend. But it wasn’t a “Vegas Wedding” it was a wedding in Vegas. David is a music teacher in Las Vegas and directs several choirs. Needless to say, the church wedding had a wonderful choir. It was a beautiful wedding and we were happy to be part of it. However, I didn’t have pockets or a purse, so I don’t have any actual wedding photos.

The trip to Vegas was also a Martin family gathering and a great time to celebrate Chuck’s parents, Cindy and Clare’s, 50th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations to you! One of our family adventures was a trip up into the mountains that surround the city.

A very special thank you goes to Cindy and Clare for making this all happen. It was a wonderful visit.

It is really peaceful and quiet out here. Quite the opposite of the Vegas strip.

Here is a photo of the Martin kids and their parents.

The girls on the hike: Cynthia, Cindy, Susan, Lori and Diane.

The boys: Clare, Mike, Chuck with Caleb as an attachment, and Bill.

Mother Martin and her children.

Grandmother and granddaughter.

Caleb and Chuck.

Cynthia, Chuck and Bill.

Cynthia, Cindy and Susan.

Mike and Diane.

Cindy in the wilderness.

Diane thinking about a new home.

Here is a Ponderosa Pine. They have really pretty pinecones, different than ours at home. Unfortunatley I picked one up and got sticky fingers.

Here is a beautiful desert flower. I meant to take a photo of the sign that identified this plant, but I didn’t and I thought I would remember its name, but, again, I didn’t. I’ve tried to find a match online and although I’ve come up with some amazing sites about yellow desert flowers, including those specific to Mount Charleston, Nevada, I don’t have a real answer. The flower itself looks like a Bear Paw Poppy, but the plant does not.

After our hike we had a picnic lunch and then headed back to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and the dinner very tasty. Once the evening turned to night, Chuck, Mike Diane and I headed to the strip to see the botanical gardens at the Bellagio.

Look, there’s a giant flowering frog.

It is almost like a chia pet, but seems to be covered in straw flowers.

Amongst the red flowers is a big lady bug.

One of my favorite things was this beautiful water ball.

So we took turns standing in front of it.

Here’s Mike and Diane.

We also discovered the world’s largest chocolate fountain.

Below are a few cakes — inspiration for my friend Rebecca.

Next we went outside where I found my next calling.

I want to be a water choreographer for fountains like this one at the Bellagio. Chuck is going to have an interesting project building me a practice fountain.

Here’s a photo of Dale Chihuly’s glass art in the Bellagio. While in Vegas we happened to see parts of Ocean’s Eleven on t.v. and saw the stars walk under this ceiling.

This final photo is for my daughter, Maddy. I thought you might like this.

We had some incredible thuderstorms last night. The lightening was nonstop. Early this morning, Duke and I went outside to our flooded roads and pasture. I’m sorry I didn’t bring the camera, but these are some photos from this afternoon.

Chuck, Duke and I joined Athena out in the pasture to check out the results of the storm. As you can see the river has not only widened, but it has created a new channel. the river splits and leaves an island in the middle.

Chuck and Duke are checking out the new branch of the river.

Athena follows us to all fo the new ponds in the pasture. This one came via the road, which is why is is so red. The road is a mixture of sand and gravel.

She really seems to enjoy the water.

Her mother waits in the distance, making sure she doesn’t get too close to the river edge.

Here is a photo of where our waterfall once was. The water is a little too high to even realize we have one.

Athena is enjoying the water clover.

The road by our house also has some water issues. Many people have been turning around.

Duke jumped into the ditch on the side and suddenly realized it was over his head. His instinct was to run into the woods where there was green vegetation. He continued to remain in a deep swamp. Eventually he leaped his way back to dry land and ran home.

The frogs couldn’t be happier (or louder). I just love these colors.

In addition to graduating and having a party. Maddy left the next day for 17 days in Germany. Here she is with her German teacher Herr Brandel and her friend Linda.

I dropped her off at the Memorial Union where she caught a bus to O’Hare Airport in Chicago.

So far this is what I know of her trip….

hello,
im good, very tired, but good, haha, we do a lot of walking it seems. I will be meeting my grandma on saturday as well as an aunt, which is cool. She will be cooking for us, haha, their food and drinks are weird and i figure it’s better not to ask what i am eating and just eat it. My host family is very nice and have such a cute house. everything is very cute and pretty here. im glad my horses and ducks are doing well love you and miss you too!
Maddy

I didn’t have my camera out a lot during the party. Which is probably why I don’t even have a photo of Maddy at her own party. But here are a few.

Aaron was a hit. Here he is sitting with his great grandmother.

Aaron was also very interested in the chickens. As were most of the kids.

Here are Evan and Alex guarding the ducks in the pond.

Some of the folks from my work. Again, I didn’t have my camera out much and many of the people have left.

The Amos-Landgrafs

Some of the Tisch kids.

Aaron with his Aunt Kathy.

A few of the barn kids…Tori, Erin and Taylor.

And some of the crazy barn adults.

Jamie, Paul, Joe and Lori…you crazy kids.

Graduation day finally came. For awhile it seemed as if this date would never get here and then suddenly it is all over. It is hard to believe my baby has graduated from high school.

Check out the great graduation shoes.

The proud family, including Maddy’s grandmother.

Maddy and Linda

Maddy and Katie

Maddy and Kelsey

Maddy and Tim

Maddy and Jennifer.

Enough with photos. It was a long day and time for dinner.

A story in pictures…

As you can see, both the ducks and chickens are really growing. They have become too big for the brooding box and need to share space in the coop.

We thougth we’d put them all in the chicken tractor (a moveable cage, so the chickens can move around the pasture and eat all the bugs without becoming prey themselves) and see if they could just get along.

They both seem to be afraid of each other and are not all that happy about sharing living quarters.

Meanwhile, Chuck has updated the lower condo with roosting posts, a swimming pool and various “bars and grills” where the poultry can dine and wine.

They seem to enjoy the new pad, but still have issues with each other. In time, perhaps they will dine at the same table.

The upper condo is undergoing some major construction. We’re looking for a little bit of that stimulus money and perhaps we’ll add some solar power or just plain composting poop heat.