Men, Fish and Beer...

We were able to bottle the homebrew on Friday evening!  The kids find this whole project fascinating, and I realized that my boys are going to show up freshman year at college already knowing how to brew their own micro's....ooops!  I must admit it is alot of fun and actually is quite fascinating!  Now the freshly capped bottles have to age for about 4-6 weeks, which means I will get the first taste since Charlie will be out on the ship again next week for awhile!

The Chief Bottle Washer

Capping the bottles

This weekend we sort of played hooky from the garden duties.  I was looking at the calendar last week and noticed that even though Sailor/Husband/Father/Farmer doesn't go on deployment until this fall, he only has a total of 6 weeks home with us this summer since they are gone on "workups" (training) so often.  So, I figured the chores like building fence gates will still be there next week and we needed to just make a priority out of spending some time together doing things the kids enjoy.  We decided to take the kids fishing out in Back Bay and ended up eating at one of our favorite restaurants out there, the Blue Pete.  Next weekend I think we will go back out and take the canoe this time a little earlier in the day so the kids can have some better luck with the fish.

Fishing with Dad

Feeding the fish at Blue Pete's

Strawberry Shortcake with local berries, yum!

Other notable weekend happenings around the homestead:  

Pumpkin sprouting...this was neat since the seed case was still attached and the kids can better visualize what's happening!

One of our juvenile doves waiting patiently for mom to come back and feed her!

I am really hoping to get plenty of chores done during the weekdays this week so we can have a little fun again this weekend!  Now I am off to order more beans - this was the first time I planted them outside the raised beds and critters helped themselves to about half of the sprouts!

Don't forget the pumpkins, Mom!

It's a good thing I have kids, or nothing would get planted around here!  Yesterday, my son was perusing (ok, destroying) my new "Garden Manual" and he came across seed packets for pumpkins and wanted to know when they go into the ground.  "Well, I guess if we want pumpkins for Halloween we better get started!"  So it was off to start more seedlings even though truth be told, after the tomatoes and peppers, I don't want to see another seed flat for a good long while!  We planted a few of the classic orange jack-o-lanterns, a few white "Casper" pumpkins, birdhouse gourds, cucumbers and some flower seed.  If you ask Finn he will tell you "We planted pickles and birdhouses!"  Still no idea where the pumpkins will go.  I will probably plant them along the fence bed and just keep kicking the vines out of the yard each time I mow!

Aren't these seeds cute?  

And what the hay is this???  Where do I get to sit???  Apparently the term "Garden Dogs" was lost on them on the way to the living room.

We will be bottling our first batch of homebrew this weekend, and I spent 2 hours last night in front of the TV scraping labels off recycled beer bottles, scrubbing and sanitizing.  Hope Sailor/Farmer appreciates it.  No doubt he will actually notice my efforts this time, since it involves beer :)