Happy Birthday, America!!

Happy Independence Day!!! Curtis and I both had the day off today and we just toodled (is that a word?) around the house today. We spent a little time in the garden this morning gathering the vegetables that were ready to be picked. That pile of green beans, which can be seen in the picture below, filled a 5 gallon bucket. I was able to freeze 7 quarts and cooked about 2 quarts with some new potatoes, bacon, and onion for our meal today. We didn't eat all of those, mind you, but we'll be able to enjoy them the rest of the week. We have yellow squash running out our ears, so I made a squash casserole today, too. We also enjoyed salads, made using only things we grew in our garden, and some grilled chicken, which was NOT grown in our garden. I'm really enjoying our home-grown veggies. A BIG thanks to Uncle Jim and Aunt Helen for the card table you see in the veggie picture. It has become my official "veggie-picture-taking table".



About a week ago I planted two climbing rose bushes in front of the trellises on the back patio. We had our first rose in full bloom today and we have several more buds. I'm anxious to see what they'll look like next year!



That about sums up our day. It doesn't sound like we did much, but we stayed busy all day long. We did a little shopping late this afternoon and went out to see a movie tonight.

For those of you who are keeping tabs on my training for the MS150, I rode 76 miles last week. So far, this week, I've ridden 46 miles and have plans to ride about 25 tomorrow night. I have also registered to ride in an organized ride on Saturday in Mt. Vernon, Missouri. That ride is a benefit ride for an organization called K-Life (http://www.klife.com/), which is a youth ministry, and I plan to ride 65 miles that day. Thank goodness for those padded shorts!!