Festival of the Lakes is our local annual festival and runs from July 15 - July 20, 2008. This year’s entertainment includes:

• The O’Jays - Opening act Together
• Lonestar - Opening act John Michael Montgomery
• Live - Opening act Nicole Jamrose
• SugarRay - Opening act History’s End
• War - Opening act Greg Rolie

Things to do at the fest:

• Pontoon boat rides
• Carnival rides
• Fireworks show
• Car show
• Fishing derby
• Beer garden - Lucky for me I have connections in there.

Alright, alright. So I have to pay for my own beer. But I know it goes to a good cause.

Saturday morning is the kids fishing derby sponsored by my friends at Mik Lurch Fishing Tackle Outlet. I will be there reporting for The Hunter’s Wife and taking pictures for a few post next week. 

This is actually where I was first introduced to Mark over 15 years ago.  Oh, those were the days when he bought my beers.

Have a great day everyone and don’t forget about the contest to win a $50 e-card from Kohl’s at A Frugal Housewife. Blessed gifts she is giving away and here at The Hunter’s Wife.

Kristine’s post on Monday regarding Could You Live Without the Outdoors provoked this post about being outdoors and enjoying your surroundings. One of the things that attracted Mark and I to our house was the fact that just beyond our backyard is the bike trail in the picture. Most of the bike trails in our county are the result of a project called Rails to Trails in which they converted old railroad tracks into bike trails.

Just after we moved in I walked the trail a couple of times a week by myself or with a neighbor.  Then our lives got busy and we never had time to get into our routine again.  I’ve walked the trail a few times by myself but it gets very boring.  I’ve tried everything; walking, biking, ipod, etc. I just felt lonely. When spring comes and the bike trail gets very busy I see a lot friends out walking together.  A few weeks ago my niece was over and her BFF (best friend forever).  We were out in the backyard watching all the walkers when I said “I need a BTF”.  They were like “What?” I said, “I need a BTF … a Bike Trail Friend.”

I haven’t found one yet so I guess I will just enjoy the outdoors watching the BTF’s from the comfort of my lounge chair.

Have a great day all! 
 

Having your own vegetable garden isn’t as hard as you might think. All you need is a sunny area for planting, lots of dirt and you can use plants or seeds.  And with the cost of living rapidly increasing, having your own vegetable garden can be a great savings to your grocery bill. 

Here is our garden before planting:

Our garden is about 18′ x 20′ .  During the fall and winter months, when the garden is empty, Mark will put leaves and grass clippings into the garden.  He then will turn the garden over a couple of times during the fall and spring prior to planting.  All of our plants were started except for the green beans.  We use seeds.  The packaging should state how far apart to plant.

We planted:

Once your garden is in, give it a good soaking.  About once a week or every other week you will need to watch for weeds. 

We use no sprays and never seem to have a problem with insects or critters. 

If you are thinking about starting a garden and have never done one before, start out small.  Maybe try a few tomato plants.

In our weather zone it is usually the rule of thumb to wait until after Mother’s Day to plant.  Mother’s Day isn’t until this Sunday but seeing that it was a beautiful weekend we decided to go ahead and do some planting.

We added some perennials to a few of our boxes we have along the back of our fence.  

We added a few more perennials in our landscaping on the side of our house.

We also planted our vegetable garden and I will be posting about that this week as well. 

I have yet to purchase our annuals for our privacy fence and for my baskets.  Hopefully we will have the same beautiful weather this coming weekend as we did this past weekend. 

Have any of you started your planting? 

P.S. - I ended up with a blister and 2 splinters.  One of which I can’t get out.  Mark, of course, has the green thumb and I, of course, have the red finger.