Rosy Mound Lake Michigan Park July 19, 2018

Rosy Mound Lake Michigan Park, Michigan
 (South West Michigan, 2 hour drive east of Chicago, Illinois)

July 19, 2018

Dickens wanted to help us pack our picnic!

A quick picture before we got very far on the trail.

The metal fence, on the right, is a deer EXclosure.  The park is comparing the amount of green life in the fence to outside the fence, so see how much the deer are effecting the grounds.  There was more green inside the fenced areas.

The hike to the beach consists of going up and down big dunes.  Some of the path is walking up a path, but for the really steep area's there are lots and lots of steps.  

I didn't know about the different terms for the different sections of dunes leading up to the beach.  The parking lot is out back by the "Backdune Forest."  Then we walked through the "Open Dunes & Blowout," "Foredune," and beach.

I thought the information boards along the trail were very interesting.

We finally arrived at the beach, but not before poor Hailey fell going down some super steep steps.  She handled it well, but I felt bad for her.  This is one park that I wouldn't bring people that couldn't handle a lot of walking and a LOT of steps.

The payoff of hiking this ardous trail is that the beach is fairly empty.  I really like to just relax at the beach and not fight crowds.

This is the lighthouse at Grand Haven.  It is one of the more popular lighthouses.  We could just see if from our beach.

Babysitting A Tree Frog
When I opened our umbrella at the beach a TREE FROG from our house fell out.  We'd carried it all the way there!  It would have died at the beach, so we took great care to keep it cool, safe, and wet the whole day.  It went everywhere with us--even in the bathrooms!  I was so relieved to let it out, back in our backyard, when we finally got home...alive and well!

Here is the bench without the girls on it.

Dd liked this tree branch so much we set up camp in front of it.  I even went for a walk and brought back another branch to add to it.  It was a really beautiful spot.  The girls liked their bench!

I found TWO of these huge dead fish.  I'll only post one, one is bad enough.  It was really weird seeing it on the beach, not knowing how it got there or why.

I enjoyed seeing all the different things growing up on the dunes.  

So much beauty to be seen.

I found this broken bottle sticking out of the sand; only the top edges were barely visible.  I didn't see the top half or I would have got it out too.  I also found this old balloon and string that could hurt something.  I think we succeeded in leaving the park in better shape than when we arrived.

Our campsite for the day

Can you see the little poles sticking out of the water?  They have a special section just for swimmers since there are so many boats and jet ski's around.  It's nice to have a safe area.

Notice how you can't see where the beach ends and the sky begins?!  It was just so beautiful.

Since Lake Michigan was SO cold the girls didn't get to swim.  As soon as they got home they jumped in the pool to finally get to swim.

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Garden July 9-14, 2018

Garden 

July 9-14, 2018

Another good garden week!!!

You can see the bare stalks from me breaking off the leaves.

I'm harvesting so many greens this year!!!!  I'm so glad!  I feel awful spending $5- $10 dollars a week buying greens most of the year.  With my garden this year I will be able to use MY greens for months!  Yay!

This year we are trying to grow Tomatillo plants.  They are really doing very well.

The Burbank Russet Potato plants are doing very well.

The green beans are coming in nicely.  In front of the Marigold plants is the Spinach Bed.  I'm letting the spinach bolt so I can collect the seeds for new spinach next year.

Dd's corn is growing well.  I hope it can beat the cold weather.

I've added string for the upcoming green bean plants to grow.  I've tried to spread out my bean planting so I have green beans for longer this year.  

Dd's sunflower plants, outside our garden fence, are getting so tall!

This middle garden is doing well.  A volunteer sunflower has risen above the tomato plants it is next to.  On the other side the section of carrots seem to be doing well.  I can't wait to see if they are getting big under the dirt!

This is the Peony plant G & G brought to us from their yard.  I am SO relieved to see that it is going to survive the move.  Usually, transplanting anything in the excess heat of July is a horrible idea.

The old front flower bed is doing well although I haven't kept up on the weeding like I should. 

The SUNFLOWERS are all getting so close to blooming!  Dd is so happy about that!

Next Week:
I see green beans starting to show--I see beans in our future!  And lots of more greens getting blanched and frozen!  

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