Explore. Dream. Discover.

Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain

Who am I not to listen to Mark Twain? Exactly, nobody. So we have been very busy exploring, dreaming and discovering.

Friday, the kids had their last day of school. They came home and helped weed the garden and then we all went swimming. We spent a couple of hours each day this weekend swimming. It takes me a couple of minutes to work up the nerve to get in as it is still cold but then I don't want to get out.

#2 son spent even more time in the water. He went on a raft trip with his Boy Scout troop....6 miles/4hours. He had a blast but even with sunblock on received a sunburn from his shorts to his knee. This did not deter him from fishing Saturday evening. #1 Daughter and her boyfriend (for blog purposes we will call him Sir T ) came to visit and wish the man a Happy Father's Day. Sir T is a fisherman like the man so we had a picnic by the river while they fished. The man showed Sir T how to do some hookup with a hellgramite and Sir T caught one of the first cast! #2 daughters friends were put to work locating hellgramites! Isn't that what you would want to do when you go to a sleepover?! Well they did it because they thought Sir T was cute. So far as Sir T, the man has lots of fishing holes to show him, if he can keep up!

It was not all play and no work. I was trying to finish getting the last of the seeds and plants in. I am happy to report it has been done! I may plant some things closer to the fall but for right now, it is weeding and harvesting. I did get one bonus while working in the garden. I saw a movement in the field between the garden and the woods. At first I thought it was a neighbors dog but it turned out to be a fawn. A much better companion to have watching you than say this...

The white-tailed hornet lives in a balloon

That floats against the ceiling of the woodshed. ~ Robert Frost

And indeed it does look like a hotair balloon. If it had been on the ceiling of the woodshed it could have stayed but it was on the garage door. We thought it best to get rid of it now before anyone got stung. We waited until the hornet left and then the man knocked it down. I wish getting rid of another insect was just as easy. I am talking about the gypsy moth.

DCNR says it "completed aerial spraying to suppress gypsy moth, targeting 221,221 acres in 27 counties." Our county was one of them but I don't think it did much good. This is my apple tree. The sound of cicadias and crickets are welcome. The sound of gypsy mothes munching away at the woods around you is not. It has been years since we have had them this bad....they were not missed.

We are hoping that this week will be slow paced as June 23-27 is going to be hectic. There are no appointments planned, the garden is planted and most of the weeding is done. It looks like it might happen!