Blogging the Bolin Brigade: Springtime...in June!

Well the flowers are blooming here now that it is finally springtime. I am not sad to see the winter go away and have some resemblance of warm days...although it has been 48 a few mornings in the past few weeks (which would not qualify as warm if you were asking me a year ago, but after 30 below wind chills seems pretty nice, except if you consider the fact that it is JUNE!)

I just figured I would share a few of the blooms that are on display around our house.

Dandelions- seem to pop up over night. Noah was going around smelling them until the camera came out, then he had to ham it up.

Tulips- I planted the bulbs back in November just before the hard freeze for the winter that didn't unfreeze until around April. Only two came up at first, but then four more bulbs came up, but have not bloomed yet, so we shall see what happens with those...

Sandy stops to smell the...irises?

Leftover Irises- I call them this because they have been here for about 15 years or more. Matt was mowing them down last year, until I discovered what they were and promptly put an end to that. I was worried they would never bloom and all of the weeding I was doing would be for naught, but low and behold they are covered in blooms now.

We planted a garden with our friends Ben and Amy Dau. We put in Roma and Beefsteak Tomatoes, Green and Jalapeño peppers, Sweet Potatoes, Romaine Lettuce, Sweet Onions, Collard Greens, Cucumbers, Asparagus, Basil, Oregano, Mint, Cilantro and Mammoth Sunflowers. We are looking forward to the harvest and if it is plentiful, we have been invited to sell at the local farmers market.

Besides our attempts to buy local produce and hopefully have some of our own, our cloth diapers and composting, and our commitment to recycling, our new green venture is to ride bikes when possible. Right now, we only have one bike that is terrible disrepair and so it makes it hard to do this. But this past Sunday, Matt determinedly rode the bike to church, 12 miles I might add. After the service, I rode it home. The bike's brakes do not work and the gears are very hard to shift and not all of them will catch, but nonetheless we are making our attempts at being more green. We looked into new bikes yesterday, but will definitely need to save up for that investment. This all comes with the news I got at a health fair I was participating in that I have Osteopenia and I need to exercise more. Besides being green, I need to be healthy so pray that we can get into an exercise routine to help curb the possibilities of osteoporosis for me!

Another fun thing that we did this week was a HUGE, and anyone who knows Matt's grandfather and the way he builds a fire knows I am not exaggerating, bonfire. After discussing a bible study group at Jay and Becky's, the weather was finally right to light the fire of a pile that would not have fit inside our apartment in Gainesville. Becky, Jay, Emily, Jenna, Andrew and Jon all came out for the event, and an event it was! Becky and Jay brought the Grahams and chocolate to pair with our jumbo mallows and we had ourselves s'mores. They were delicious! A burning tire rolled off of the pile at one point and through it all, Noah slept!

See how high the flames were compared to the silo!

Taken off the edge of the barn behind our house.

Our friend Jay standing about 100ft from the fire, I am about another 100ft from him

Becky and Emily

Jenna and me being crazy!

While we were gone, now almost a month ago, a little Robin built her nest just outside of our front door. She had one little egg in the nest the first day we were home and then a second one the next day. Unfortunately, another bird came and attacked her nest and ate her eggs, but I got a picture of it before the second egg was laid. I was really heart-broken for the little bird!