WHAT??? Fall Already?

I believe that we may have seen the end of our Summer weather :(((
Don't get me wrong...I can't wait to decorate for Fall. It's such a fun season with fall leaves, pumpkins, corn on the cob, Trick or Treating, witches, ghosts oh my...LOL. But after Fall comes the most longest season of all...WINTER! I HATE winter!!! It seems to last forever. Maybe Mother Nature will be nice to us and we will get a Indian Summer. That sure would be nice.

The last three weeks we have been having unbearable weather. To the point I could not do much without the heat bothering me. I have lots of things that I must complete painting, sanding and staining. So since I could not work outside, I did alot of indoor things. Such as going through all of Abby's clothes and bedroom. That child won't stop growing. I have never seen anything like it and never experienced it with Tabitha. Let's just say for Tabitha, I purchased a school coat in Kindergarden and she wore it right up till grade 6. That was the BEST $50 I have ever spent because she wore the coat for 7 years ;) How many kids can wear the same thing for so many years??? So now with Abby, it's just the opposite. Once we went through everything, I filled a extra large garbage bag FULL of all of her clothes from this past Winter and Spring. She has grown a couple inches. It took us the whole afternoon and once we were completed, Abby was very happy because she was fed up. Poor thing!

I promised awhile back that I would share some pictures from my yard. My poor flowers are really having a hard time. This year we had a really bad case of EAR WIGS. YUCK! At the beginning of July all it did was rain for the whole month, so the flowers were getting to much water...imagine that! And just these past few days, we were getting major winds which damaged some of my flowers, broke branches of the trees and blew off alot of leaves that are acutally cruchy.

I also will share other signs of Fall with some pictures...

Here is our Gazebo that is a must! Thank God for having it because for the last three weeks with our heat wave, the deck was reading 59 which is well over 100. To darn out to be in direct sunlight. And besides, I am not suppose to be getting to much sun.
These chairs and stools are sooooo comfy! Such a great spot for a nap. I have to admit I have taken a few along with my cuddly buddy, Daisy :)
Directly across is the love seat. So we have plenty seating for gathings.
As soon as you step out the patio doors, the table is right there. Holding some of Mikes's spices that he decided to grow on his own this year. You can also see that there is still some decking that never got finished staining :(
Over in this corner, is Mike's large egg. Unfortunately, he did not get to build his table to hold his egg. It just seems this year there was not alot of time on anyones hands. We had to many unexpected things. Hopefully Fall will be much smoother. On the side of the egg is more spices, then below are some tomatoes. The plant is looking really good but those couple of days from high winds, it kept knocking over all of my plants. So the majority of them look pretty droopy.
Now here is our problem...I took a picture to show everyone and wondering if anyone can help us. The stain of the deck now has black spots all over :((( Mike and I are very disappointed, but mostly Mike. He has spent many...many hours staining and we are not even done. But the spots are only on the exposed side of the deck and not the other half that is under the Gazebo. Sadly, we do not know what is causing them and they are almost impossible to remove when I use degergent to try and scrub it.
Has anyone ever experienced this or know's what is causing it? I loved the color so much that I chose and hate to think that I will need to change it once again. I think Mike will cry if we have to change everything.
And now here are some other views of my gardens...this is looking from the steps of the deck towards the front.
And here is our Ugly problem...LOL. This wooden wall belongs to our neighbor and it is the most ugliest thing that is invaded with many...many bugs! We planted at the bottom a plant that crawls but it did not bloom to the fullest that we all thought. So it looks like next Spring, a couple more will be going in to cover the looks of the old thing. Also down in the corner, I want to plant another garden. So that will be a Spring project since I desperately need to seperate and re-do my front garden.
Here is a view from the side of the stairs from the deck. We put in the stairs last year because we had no way of getting off the deck without having to go through the house. And that was one of our best ideas yet. I love it! My In-Laws planted this little garden for me and I love it so much. It did not bloom no where's as much as this year. I have honey suckle growing through the trellis and look another sign of Fall, black eyed susans. I have so many this year.
Going up the stairs, you can see some plants potted. I didn't get as many done this year that I wanted to, but there will be next year. I keep coming up with more ideas :)
A view towards the backyard...
Here is a grape tree that the In-Laws brought over from their place last year. We weren't sure if it was going to survive. It doesn't look as good as my In-Laws. But it did have a few leaves that grew this year, so maybe, just maybe we will have some grapes next year.
Another view of the garden that seperates our place from our neighbors.
Remember this Spring when we were putting stones around the tree and I was going to put hostas in it? Well here is the before picture...
And look at the plants in the background! Here is a after picture...
Much better :) The grass is so green but my hostas are now slowly dieing because once again, another sign of Fall. There was lots of crunchy leaves earlier today, but the man who mows our lawn came and mowed and cleaned up the mess. So it looked good all day. They are calling for rain for the rest of the weekend so I am sure the lawn will be full once again.

Here is a view of different plants that I planted on my extra large pot. I love it! It looked good all Summer long and is still looking super good ;) I inherited this wonderful cast iron bench that is well over 55 years. I have been trying to figure out what color to paint it, other then white. Does anyone have any great ideas? Please don't mind the wood. Hubby brought it home so we could have a fire tonight.
And here is the front of the house from this Spring...the plants were just starting to grow.
And here is the after...It is soooo grown in that it is in desperate need of seperating. So this will also be a Spring project for next year. Mike stuck the extra bricks to start a second row. I haven't decided if I want a second layer or just stay with the one. I guess we will see more next year when we work it. The poor flowers are so crowded!
And yet, another sign of Fall...I call these plants the broccoli plants because I can never remember the real name. But they are getting ready to turn red in which they do when Fall is here. They also attract ALOT of bumble bees. So I am considering moving them next Spring also. Not sure yet!
This is a new look for my front porch. You see in some of the pics that it is wet around my plants. Poor things were as dry as could be, so I had to refresh them. As you can see my neighbor, her door is green. We had the exact same thing. A nice new door with the window opening. Ah...so nice to have because I actually get a cross breaze through the house. We also changed the light. I thought I could have it hanging infront of the door but was not albe to because Mike would have to duck every time. He is just way to tall...LOL So we swayed it over to the side. I still like how it turned out.
And of course the last photo of all is of my little Abigayle with our baby girl Daisy-Roo.
I am sorry girls that I have not been blogging much. Just other things going on and then sometimes not feeling like doing much at all. I haven't had much get up and go lately, I think it got up and went! The Doctor changed the way I take my meds and upped my doses to help me out. I just feel like crying all the time, no energy and can't sleep. Not good because I remember these signs and don't want them back. I can't wait until my body starts getting use to the new doses and the new changes from taking them in the morning and not at night. I have been checking in on you guys to keep up to date with what everyone has been up to but really haven't been leaving any comments. I really like the Texture Challenge that you all have been doing. So I will have to grab my grey little friend and go around snapping pics for my next blog.

So I wish you all a wonderful weekend with lots of sun! So until next time my friends, have fun!