Bad news. Ms. Mallard was back at the feeder today, but only 6 (of 12) ducklings left. Can you tell how much they have already grown.

We saw this years first ducklings last Sunday. Mom Mallard brought them into the back yard to munch at the bird feeders. I ran and got the camera and very slowly, and I thought quietly, slide open the kitchen window to get a picture. She got spooked, gathered all of them up and as they sprinted across the yard I was able to snap just this one shot. Not too bad, huh?

Jim took this picture, we are calling it "a study of Miss Sadie Mae with flower". We had this building built for lumber storage. It is 16x8. The back and sides are sheeted with T-111, the front is finished with old fence wood. It was sort of ironic, we had to buy lumber to build a building to store lumber. I am a self proclaimed lumber hoarder. I had piles of lumber all over the yard. I was absolutely ruthless when it came time to sort out what to toss and what to keep.

This is what we did with the trees we had cut down. Split and stack the alder to use in the wood stove in the basement. These two stacks alone with the two truck loads of wood we got from brother Al earlier this year will last us several years. I just hope we can use it up before it rots! I put a free ad on Craig's list for the rest of the fire wood we did not want and had a responce within a half hour. All totaled I had 14 responces before I deleted the ad. We had two people come today, both took a full truck load and I think one of them is going to come back tomorrow for the rest. Jim used the chips on our trail system. He first lays down branches and then tops it of with wheelbarrow loads of chips. If not for these elevated trails we would not be able to use over half of our property. We enjoy walking around the trails and looking at stuff. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time this trail has been "done".

We had a wind storm today. It was blowing from the North and when that happens it whips the lake into a white capped frothy mess. Standing on the float is like being on a carnival ride. We were lucky not to lose power or have a tree fall on our house.

My friend Carol, of Lavender Hills Farm lets me include my lavender-flax neck wraps when she particapates in Craft Fairs. Two weeks ago we hauled our stuff to Echo Falls Golf Course for a 5 day Craft fair. I did pretty good, I took 12 and sold 7, at $12 each I made $84. Last Saturday we each had our own booth for the one day, Stanwood ,15th annual Garden Faire. I sold 4 lavender flax neck wraps, one flax pillow, 1 rustic chalet type bird feeder, 3 in-ground feeders, 4 lavender sachets, 2 large note cards, 2 medium note cards and 2 small note cards. I also took 100 of the cute bead bracelets Janice makes, at $2 each or 3 for $5 I sold 12 for $20.
$151.00 money took in
- 70.00 booth fee

- 20.00 to Janice

$61.00 profit

This is one of the lowest amounts I have ever made for a full days work. I did get some nice photos of our setup. The last two photos are Carol's things. The rest mine. What do you think?