The Howell Blessings

We went to Chillicothe recently to visit family. This trip I took pictures of the pets. They are part of the family, but often we overlook them when thinking of family pictures. This is Cody, Larry and Billie's dog. Bear was too shy to pose for the camera, but he's their other dog, and yes, he looks like a little black bear. This is Cass. He has lost a LOT of weight believe it or not. Cass is one of those "curious" cats and loves to investiage anything. In this case, he wanted to know what was in my purse. Dad and Laurie get a kick out of watching his many antics. This is Sam. Sam is beautiful and he knows it. Not in an arrogant kind of way, but he is one self confident cat. Sam is older than Cass and becomes quite annoyed when Cass wants to play with his tail, or just reach out a "touch" him as Sam walks by.

The anticipation is building. Tomatoes are popping onto the plant almost daily and the first ones to appear are getting bigger! The green beans are beginning to bloom. You know what that means!!! Soon there will be beans! And our first strawberry is beginning to ripen, ohhhh, the anticipation is so exiting!

Growing season is in full bloom! I love planting a garden and reaping the harvest it produces. Last year we planted fruits and vegetables in the garden at the edge of our property near the woods. This plot backs up to a landscaped garden of our neighbors. While I enjoyed having a plot of land all ready for planting, there were many issues that arose in the location of last year's garden. There wasn't enough sun to produce some of the vegetables and fruits, and due to it's proximity to the woods, it seemed the deer thought we had planted the garden just for them! They even ate my jalapeno' pepper plants, peppers and all!! So, this year, I decided to rely on knowledge gained during our years of land deprivation and planted a deck garden. So far we haven't had any deer brave enough to walk up the steps to our deck and help themselves. Grant it, I can't plant near the variety or amount of vegetables we did last year, but I dare say, we will end up with more harvest ...