another fun weekend

Kathy and George Garner came for a relaxing weekend with their labs, Dora and Daisy.  The dogs did not even have to be on the invisible fence collars, they were so good.  We just sat around talking and eating and walking on down to the pond to have the 3 labs swim and watch Jim do a little fishing.  He is becoming a fanatic!  He loves seeing how big our little bass have become, and the grass carp are humongous.  We watched the catfish swim around and make circles in the mud for spawning beds from the upper deck.  I meant to get a close up picture of the circles, they are very interesting. 
Jim and George went up to Randy's place in Old Fort to get the bench we had drawn up designs for. (on the back of a napkin, no less)  Randy did a pretty good job interpreting the chicken scratch design.  I will try to load a picture of it on this blog page.  I forget from time to time how all this technology works.....We'll run up to the Black Mountain festival in August to see him again.  Jim said he has made a really neat fire truck. 
The meadow around the old smokehouse is just beautiful with black-eyed Susan's and rudbeckias.  (Probably the same kind, but some of the flower heads are very large, almost 4.5" inches across.)  The meadow over the septic field is not quite as pretty.  We hope to cut that all back again in a few weeks,  (didn't we just do that 2 monthes ago?)  The glads were up though and they still put on a good show.  The knockout roses are not as happy as they should be.  And the butterfly bush by the deck is a good 14' tall with gigantic blooms.  You would think that I nuked it with fertilizer, but I did not.
At home in Weddington, the vegetable garden is going strong.  I was pretty late putting most in because I was traveling.  But the first set of corn already has tassles.  I have gotten a lot of green peppers, some delicious banana peppers, and I picked my first yellow squash today.  We got almost 1.5" of rain yesterday and I have vowed not to be a slave to watering the gardens.  Mulch, mulch and mulch.
Lots of tadpoles in the new ponds, but there must have been a hawk attack on a mockingbird.  Lots and lots of feathers, no carcass.  Still have my 53 fish going strong.  I think I am going to get a heron decoy from The Pond Store in the next few weeks, I am a little worried about future visits.  George and Kathy were saying they had lost all their fish, and they had real koi.  George said every year by Thanksgiving they would have had a visit from one of the herons on our lakes.  I have seen a heron by my little pond at least 3 times and it has been in early winter.  Last time was when he/she put a hole in my little pond liner and took 2 small koi.  The rest of my fish are just Walmart brand goldfish.  Some are orange, some are spotted and some are just plain green.  Oh well, living the life of Riley.....