Grandpa's Dahlias

 It's October and until today we were still having temps in the 70's and even 80's and no rain.  Here's the sunset out our front window last week.  We woke up today to our first rain in a long time.  Kind of strange to have to put on a second layer of clothes and wipe the dog's wet paws before they come back into the house.  I am very excited to say that my Grandpa's dahlias made the move safely!  They bloomed at the old house just before we had to dig them up and haul them over in 100 degree heat in the back of a trailer.  All the blooms died and the plants looked pretty beat up.  I replanted them a few weeks later and this week... 

they're back in full force!!  This is from the bulb that my grandpa gave us from his garden about 5 yrs ago. It was important to me that these came with us and continued to grow. 

The Return of Grandpa's Dahlia

YES! It made it back for another summer! Some of our Dahlia's did not and we were so hoping this one would. It's the one we got from my grandpa's garden the Spring before last and KN planted it. Grandpa said the ones at his house didn't make it this year. This one now has 6 blooms on it - all are dinner plate sized. Might have to kick some bugs out and enter one in the community fair coming up.

Our Jack O Lantern Dahlia also made it back. They always look a little tattered and worn but the colors are nice and this little honey bee is very fond of this flower. Isn't she cute with her little fuzzy head and antennae looking like those deely boppers you used to get at the fairs?

Rawwwrrrrr! Little J likes me to make the Snap Dragons roar at him.

Oh yeah, and we got berries. We came home from camping to find tons of strawberries. They prefer us to be gone I guess?

It's only fair that the berry pickers get to eat them with angel food cake and whipped cream.

Dump, Dahlias and Doctors

This post is basically just a bunch of updates. Remember the stuff that had been stored up in the attic of our creepy, old garage for over 20 years? Well, we finally got it all out when my husband decided to just do away with the ceiling all together and have a more 'exposed beam' effect. Here are the 'treasures' we discovered up there: ( in photo above ) 2 old stereo speakers, a hanging lamp on a chain, a bandanna. ( Not in the photo ) A disassembled recliner chair, a car speedometer, a Coleman camp stove, wine bottles, canning jars ( empty ), paint trough, another large chair and an army cot. So, what we really found for ourselves was a trip to the dump to dispose of it all. Okay, we kept the canning jars, and Coleman stove.

Remember this Dahlia bulb we got from my grandpa this spring? We weren't sure it would come up and bloom. It did!!!! And look at the flowers on that thing!

Why, they're bigger than my head! See, look! Here's my head next to one of the flowers! And the plant is PACKED with flowers that big and still growing. We love it.

Speaking of my head, that brings me to my last update which is to say that I had my head CT done ( quite possibly the strangest thing I've ever experienced, the whole laying there while having dye injected into you, a strange smell and this space like contraption whirring and spinning around your head. ) Thankfully, all looked normal in my head so off to the ear, nose, throat doc they sent me where I got my sinus passages numbed and a long, rubber scope run up there. All looks normal there too other than some small signs of allergy. Yay! Whatever was causing me all the pain, pressure and dizziness for the past 6 months gradually went away on it's own and it was believed to be just a viral infection that took it's time.

Great Grandpa's Dahlias

( 2005, MN, CT and KN at Great Grandparents yard by Dahlia plants )

We planted some new Dahlia bulbs last week. This will be our second year growing Dahlias in our kid's cutting garden. My grandpa has grown Dahlias for years. He stopped growing them for awhile and then started back up again when I had kids. I try to stop by my grandparent's house for a visit and to see Grandpa's Dahlias every summer. KN, our little gardener, has always LOVED flowers and took a special liking to Great Grandpa's Dahlias.

After a visit to see the Dahlias in August 2005, Grandpa cut this big one for KN to take home. It's bigger than her head! In 2006 my parents encouraged Grandpa to enter his Dahlias in our little community fair. He did and won Grand Champion for one of his flowers.Grandpa is trying to cut back on his yard work so a few weeks ago he gave us some of his Dahlia bulbs. He says it's from the same plant that he entered in the fair. KN planted Grandpa's Dahlia in her cutting garden yesterday and hopefully - if it grows well, she'll enter some Dahlias of her own in the fair this summer.