Fun In Osceola, Wisconsin

My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren come up and visit us every year during the 4th of July of week.  It is always an exhausting, but fun filled week.  We always do one little staycation where we go somewhere nearby for the night.  This year I picked the sweet little town of Osceola Wisconsin because of their train ride and waterfall.  My husband and I went there for a winter weekend getaway a few years ago, and thought it would be the perfect place to come back with the grandkids because they love trains and it's only two hours from our house.  I'll share more about the train ride next week;  this week, let's talk about the waterfall!

The waterfall is called "Cascade Falls" and what is unique about it is that it is located right smack in the middle of the town of Osceola!  I mean, how often does that happen?  No need to drive hours into the country side and hike three miles to see a beautiful waterfall.  Nope, just look for this American Indian statue, and walk down a crazy amount of stairs and you will happen upon the most beautiful waterfall you ever did see!  Or, if stairs aren't your thing, the falls can also be viewed from the back deck of Osceola's famous restaurant "The Watershed Cafe".

The most unique, fun thing about this waterfall is that you can walk right behind the falls.  The water isn't deep so you can have so much fun wading.

Here's a short video of me standing behind the falls.  My hubby is trying to encourage Elisha to run through the falls.

A handsome pose by my son.  Isn't that water cascade just breath-taking?  The falls are 25 feet tall.

Even little Lazarus was able to get his feet wet;  the water was shallow enough in spots.

Here's a short video of the front of the falls.

The falls are located in Wilkes Glen where there are some lovely hiking trails.  See THIS POST when my hubby and I took the trails in winter.   On this day, we didn't have any time to hike the trails as we had a train to catch!

It was an overcast day, so we sure got some great photos!  I framed the one below of this little guy.  What a cutie!

The next day, we returned to Osceola for a picnic lunch and to stroll their cute streets.  They have some really nice shops.  One of our favorites is this old antique shop where they also sell ice cream!

You know it's good ice cream when your face is covered in it! 😊

Next week I'll share all about the real reason we went to Osceola:  to ride a REAL TRAIN!  

See you then!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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I Painted A Birdhouse!

I purchased some inexpensive wooden bird houses for the grandchildren to paint for their birthdays, and while they were painting theirs, I decided to paint one myself.  However, my birdhouse wasn't a thin birdhouse you'd find at a craft store.  Mine was made by my son when he was in high school and he painted it a solid black...it was his goth years, what can I say?  😂. If ever I wished I had taken a "before" photo, this was it.  I remember being so upset with him that he painted his beautifully constructed birdhouse black.  I put it in my garden shed, always planning to someday repaint it a pretty color as all birdhouses should be, and fifteen-eighteen years later, the day finally arrived. 

Unfortunately, as always, I do not have a step-by-step tutorial for you.  My creative process just doesn't work that way, especially with painting.  I did start with a picture on Pinterest.  I can never just pull a creative idea out of the air.  I always have to start with someone else's idea and then take off from there. 

To paint my birdhouse, first I sanded the high gloss black paint to rough it up so it would accept new paint, then I applied primer to it, and a coat of teal paint to the house portion.  I used all those little acrylic paint colors you would find at a craft store.  You can see them in the photo below.

I really liked the faux door idea I saw on the birdhouse on Pinterest, so I did that almost exactly, but I changed almost everything else:  the colors, the roof, etc.  I did keep the window idea on the side, after all, if your going to make a birdhouse look like a house it needs a window, right?

I made the roof by just painting on rectangles to look like shingles, but then adding many shades of brown to make it look more realistic.  Acrylic paints are super easy to blend when wet, just don't let the paint dry out.  And don't worry about making a mistake...you can always just add more paint.  I added lines with the darkest shade of brown when I was done painting the rectangles.

To make the window I just painted a rectangle with yellow and waited for it to dry.  Then I added a black frame around it and painted in some violet curtains.

Like the original photo on Pinterest, I added a window box with some vines growing on top of the window.  To do this, I just keep adding several shades of green till I get the look I want.   The flowers are easy, they are just four dots of colors with a bolder dot of color in the middle.  On the bottom of the birdhouse I added grass...just more of different shades of green.  The biggest tip I can give to any amateur painter like myself, is not to paint with just one shade of color;  always use multiple shades of that color for a prettier look.

Now I was left to to decide what to do on the other side of the birdhouse.  I didn't want another window so I just decided to do a flower garden.  I did this the same way I did the window side.  First I just added green grass, vines, and stems, then I filled in with my flower dots.  

It really turned out pretty if I do say so myself.

And in case you missed Sunday's Gardening Post, here is my birdhouse in its new home.  My hubby hung it in my vegetable garden so I could see it from my screened porch.  A wren moved in only two days from hanging it up.  Now when I sit on my porch, I can see and hear the wren going in and out singing its beautiful song.  Wren's have the most beautiful song!

I hope you like my new birdhouse.  What about you?  Do you paint at all?  I'd love to hear from you.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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How My Veggie Garden is Doing

The weather this summer has been so different than last summer which brought new challenges and successes.  Last year, it rained constantly.  I had to replant a lot in the spring, because all the water just drowned everything.  This year, we've had a decent amount of rain, plus HEAT.  Plants that love the heat thrived and plants that struggle in heat did not do as well as they did last year.  And that is the life of a gardener;  one year you can have an abundance of cucumbers and the next year, barely any.  

The pictures in today's post were taken about the middle of July and already I can see a big difference in the garden, which made me wonder if I should have waited to take pictures.  But the garden is ever changing, ever evolving, and the pictures I take today could look nothing like the garden tomorrow.

The spinach, pictured above right and below fed us from May till yesterday. It bolted about mid-July but I kept using it till it was gone.  Now that spot is empty in my garden. I reseeded more beets, you can see the little sprouts poking up in the middle in the photo above.  And I will probably reseed more spinach in the fall.  Spinach loves cooler weather, so I will reseed at the end of August.

My lettuce plants have blown me away this summer.  No matter how much we eat, every time I go out in the garden, there seems to be more.  I can't believe it hasn't bolted in the heat yet!  The dark green lettuce in the mix is just starting to bolt, but everything still tastes yummy.

The basil growing behind the lettuce has been such a disappointment this year.  It's growing well, but it keeps getting shredded by slugs.  I keep putting slug bait down, but it doesn't seem to be working.  I really want nice, beautiful basil leaves, not leaves with huge holes in them.

It is getting harder and harder to walk this path everyday as the plants keep encroaching on it.  It's even worse now as the cucumber and zucchini plants have gotten so much bigger since this photo was taken.

The plants growing over the edge are beans, with potatoes on the right.  Cucumbers, zucchini, and summer squash are in the foreground.

A close up of my bean plants with broccoli behind them.  I learned the hard way to plant my beans in a raised bed.  The first year I did not and I had to crawl on my hands and knees everyday to harvest them.  Now, I can just walk along the path and harvest the beans standing up.

A little broccoli head just starting to form a head.  I've already harvested many heads of broccoli.

Here are my insane, out of control cucumbers.  I'm trying to get them to grow up to save space, and it's working, but they are so large and healthy this year that they are sending out vines every where.  The vines are also spreading onto the brick path today.

My son went out onto the roof of our porch to get these photos for me.  It's pretty safe, as safe as a roof top can be.  Someday I need to get a drone.  These photos were taken a little later than the photos above, so you can see how the cucumbers and potatoes are growing onto the path.

I know you're all anxious for an update on the never-ending hill project my hubby started last fall.  You can get a glimpse of it in the photo below.  The boards are peeking out beyond the white fence.  It has been such a slow process, as he only has one day a week to work on it.

This is an aerial view of the other vegetable garden.  This one has mostly potatoes in it, along with carrots, sweet peas, peppers, and eggplant.

I just have to chuckle when I look at these photos because it's only been a week or two and I can't even see the ground now.

I planted sweet peas where I have normally planted tomatoes in previous years.  Hubby thought we needed to move the tomato plants for crop rotation reasons.  The sweet peas are doing very well here, and the tomatoes seem to like their new spot too.  I'm gonna have so many peas this year.  And yes, I'm still picking peas every day.  I know they are supposed to be a spring plant, but mine came late this year.

I still have carrots left over in the freezer from last year, so I only planted one row this year.  

The peppers have been loving the heat we've had this summer.  I've already picked two sweet peppers and multiple jalapeño peppers and I usually don't pick any till fall.

I tried eggplant for the first time last year and they did not do that great because the weather was so cool and wet.  This year it's been so hot that they are thriving!

On the back patio I grow cauliflower and kale.  They love this cooler, more shady area.

A tiny little cauliflower head.  I've harvested three heads of cauliflower already.  It's been a good year for cauliflower.

I'm growing more kale in another bed on the back patio along with a shrub raspberry bush and some herbs.

Ugh! Cilantro!  Does anyone else struggle with this herb as much as I do?  It bolts almost as soon as it's starts growing.  I've tried cutting it back, but it just keeps bolting anyway.  My daughter says, "Oh, just let it bloom, it makes such a pretty flower."  So I did.  I also reseeded it so I actually have some cilantro when I'm ready to make salsa.

Lemon balm growing underneath the hanging basket.  I never use my lemon balm.  I tried putting it in tea once and I couldn't even taste it, so I thought "What's the point?"  Do you use your lemon balm if you grow it?

Here is the new bed we planted our tomatoes in.  Those are onions in front, which aren't growing well at all.  I cannot grow onions to save my life.  I think I will give up on them as I have tried everything.

My cucumbers are producing so much I can't eat them fast enough.  I've been juicing them, making every cucumber salad I can find a recipe on, and I've also dehydrated them making "Salt and Vinegar Cucumber Chips". Yum! They are so delicious!

Some of my sweet peas!

This is about all the raspberries I ever get from my raspberry shrub 😆. Someday I need to dig this shrub up and toss it as it is so useless.  It's not raspberry canes, it's a raspberry shrub, so it doesn't produce the same.

I get so tired of picking and processing beans by this time of the year.  But they feed my family all year, so I keep going!

I harvested a ton of kale so far.  Kale is a cut and grow again plant so I will harvest a lot more before the gardening season is over.  I freeze mine to use in soups and smoothies.

The tomatoes are growing beautifully.  So far, I picked at least four this size and a handful of cherry/grape tomatoes.

I painted this birdhouse and my husband hung it up inside our vegetable enclosure.  Two day later a wren moved in.  Wren's have the most beautiful songs! Now I get to hear him sing every time I'm out there.

 My radishes did great this spring!  Aren't they gorgeous?  I only wish I could grow them all summer long, but they only seem to grow well in spring.  I've tried reseeding them in past years and never got good results.

And that is how my vegetable garden has been growing this year.  If you vegetable garden, how has your garden done?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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