"Tomatoes! And other news, too....."

I took a few photos of some of the potted plants that are out front on or next to the deck. I had just recently potted them up and then got the call to go to Michigan. Don did an excellent job in taking care of them. So good in fact, that we have many, many tomatoes on both plants, one of which is a cherry tomato (in the front of the photo) and the other a larger, meaty tomato, behind the green pepper plants, which are on the step. Unfortunately, the green peppers still do not have any flowers on them, but seem to be growing very well otherwise.
The tomato that will be the first to ripen.....or so I think. :)
We found this planter that the orange impatiens are in, at America's Best Flowers, the nursery in Cottage Grove, WI. Neil, our deck architect, had given us a gift card to this particular nursery, and we are very happy that he did! We have looked at other nursery's since, and have not seen this type of planter anywhere else. The plants have just done extremely well.....of course, it is because Don took such good care of them while I was gone, eh? :)

Other news from today....Don went on another training ride with his recumbent. This time it was up to Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, WI, sister cities along the Wisconsin River. It is around this area, that many American Eagles nest. I, again, did the sag wagon thing, taking lunch up and meeting him as he came over the bridge into Prairie du Sac. Unfortunately, the picnic area that I chose (the only one I could find with a parking spot nearby), was right on a busy 4 way stop corner. The noise from the many, many motorcycles taking off from the stop, and other vehicles in dire need of new mufflers, made it a poor choice for picnicking. Next time, we'll head further towards Sauk City and go to the park along the river there.

Also this morning, I met a woman, Becky, from the Mount Horeb, WI area, that brought me a young chicken to add to our poor, lonely Buffy out in the coop. It, too, had been the butt of many vicious pickings and needed to be re-homed. She is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, which we have had before, and Don named her Heather. I had named Buffy (so original since she is a Buff Orphington) so it was his time to do the naming. So far, the 2 girls (both of a similar age, too!) are getting along beautifully, walking near each other and not being fearful or aggressive towards each other. Both walked into the coop on their own tonight and I haven't heard any squabbling about who roosts where yet. :) Hopefully, we are now going to have a very peaceful coop with hen laying eggs again.