I’m watching my husband and oldest daughter in the garden today. They’re planting some aloe vera we bought the other day. I have fond memories of aloe vera from my childhood, as my skin has always sunburned easily. My kids tan like their father, but aloe is still good to have around. We also have some swallows nesting on our house for the first time ever. I’ve heard that can be messy, but they’ve picked pretty good spots so far as I’m concerned (not near any doors), and will hopefully help control our hornet problem.
It’s a good start to the summer.
We have a lot of plans this summer. Camping in Yosemite is the big one and I can hardly wait for my kids to see it. Yosemite is very special to my husband, and it has been far too many years since he has been there.
I’m preparing the kids for all the hiking by taking regular family walks. Now that school is out, I want to take regular walks in the morning to the local park, about a mile each way, and mostly uphill on the way there. Given summer temps around here, these have to be in the morning. I don’t want to do a lot of walking in 100+ degrees F weather, and that’s what we get pretty often here during the summer. I bought some Blue Lizard sunscreen
That will also be a part of their tradeoff for TV/computer time. They have to play outside to earn time sitting in front of a screen.
I’m working on Mylar covers for some of my windows. Now Mylar is rather ugly, so I’ve added some white tissue paper on the parts visible from outside, so the homeowner’s association won’t give me any trouble if anyone notices. It’s mostly back windows anyhow, but with the white facing out, it’s not that different in appearance from the white backing of some of my curtains. Or so I hope. I can really tell which windows I’ve done, and even with the tissue paper, the Mylar seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the heat out. From the inside, of course, the curtains hide it.
You must live in a far more temperate climate than I do. All of my aloe vera plants died when I moved them outdoors, since they can’t take full sun. Which is weird, because I figured that since they’re succulents they’d do best in it. Apparently not. They all turned brown, shriveled up and died. Ugh!
We get pretty hot here, over 100 degrees F some days, and we’ll have to see how the aloe does. We’re crossing our fingers that it will be fine, and it’s doing okay so far. Winter may be more of a problem depending on how it copes with colder weather, as we get snow about one day a year, and freezing temperatures more often than that. Our first year growing it here, so I can only hope. It grew well enough for my mother, although she doesn’t have any anymore, and her climate is definitely more mild.
I wish we had a green thumb, we did plant 6 fruit trees this last spring! I am sure it will save us a ton of money with 5 children! 🙂
We are also heading camping this summer. Twice in fact. The kids are looking forward to it. Enjoy your summer!
Blessings!