Around the house

It's really good to be at home right now, at the beginning of June and the beginning of my summer vacation. When I sat down and tried to decide what to write about today, I kept thinking of things going on around the house. Here's a bullet list of random stuff on my radar at the moment.

•  Poppy is growing fast and has assimilated into our household really well. I think she's about housebroken, too, as there hasn't been an accident inside in almost two weeks. (Knock wood). George is like a puppy again now that he's decided he likes her. They play hard all day, with frequent naps in between bouts of pretend-fighting.
• Speaking of growing, my garden is getting big and lush! I've ended up with a total of 14 heirloom tomatoes, 14 peppers (sweet banana, cayenne, and jalapeno), 3 cucumbers, two snow pea vines, and I'm still getting carrots. The lettuce was wonderful but it's gone now.
• I harvested my container of potato plants the other day. When I finally tipped it over, I wasn't expecting much. Imagine my surprise when 7 pounds of beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes rolled out! We ate a few the other night, steamed with butter and sea salt. Oh, were they delicious! I'll be planting a lot more potatoes next spring now that this year's experiment went so well.
• We saw a snake last night. It was a small one, curled up in the street in front of our house, and we gave it a wide berth when we walked the dogs past it. It was gone when we returned from the walk, thank goodness. It looked like a young copperhead but we didn't get close enough to inspect it very well. It's definitely snake season around here and we're careful to keep George and Poppy away from bushes and piles of vegetation when we're out and about. I know snakes have their place in the ecosystem, and I respect that, but I don't want to see them!
• There was also a big doe standing in our neighbor's yard last night when we walked past, and we see rabbits almost every night, too. 
• Bluebirds are once again nesting in the box in the backyard. Yesterday the pair were so busy, flying back and forth with nesting materials. There should be eggs in there any day now.

Poppy figured out how to get up in the hammock, and she thinks it's a good place to nap.

Potato harvest!

Purple Dragon carrots.

So far, so good with the garden.

And finally, my zinnias are starting to bloom. They're so pretty and cheerful!