Poor Honey Locust

Damage to the chicken coop

One of my favorite features of our property was the large honey locust tree in the center of the back yard.  This spring Jamey and an I enjoyed learning all about this species of tree.  There are so many uses for both the seeds, seed pods, etc...  From making coffee with the beans to the many medicinal uses of the pulp we were excited to harvest and experiment.  Even when deciding whether to get a pool or pond the largest factor was that we did not want to loose this tree. 

Landed just short of our pool.

Last week we had some strong straight line winds that may have put an end to all of that.  We came home to find roughly a 1/3 of the tree sprawled out across the yard.  The large section graised the chicken coop roof, sheared off the a door and smashed a portion of the chicken run.  Our new pool narrowly survived the wrath of its many branches.   There is a large crack in the remaining trunk.  We will hopefully get a hold of an arborist from the Maumee Forrest to come out and give us their advise about keeping the rest of the tree or cutting it down.  We spent the better part of the last 3 days cleaning up the mess.  Luckily honey locust is a very hard wood and we will be able to harvest it for firewood next year. 

Hopefully it will live

Gardening




Tomatoes



This year we had high expectations for a grand garden.  We spent a long time trying to decide the best place where to plant but, with all our other plans up in the air we could not settle on the perfect area.  Despite our indecision, we did manage to get several varieties of seeds in the ground.  The warm weather in the spring gave us a great start but, a HOT dry summer has challenged even a veteran farmer.  All this being said, we have been harvesting quite a bit over the last several weeks. 

Corn

Summer Squash

We planted several varieties of squash, tomatoes and peppers.  We are also growing corn (far less than desired), carrots, collard greens, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, garlic, and broccoli.  We have had zero luck with our lettus, peas and beans.  I guess the soil is too sandy or too hot.  I am thinking about starting a planting journal so we can be better prepared for next year.  We also want to work on green  house or something similar to start our garden early next spring. 



Broccoli

Hanna Open 2012

2012 Leader Board

 The last weekend in June the Hanna family came together for our annual Hanna Open Golf outing and Family Reunion.  As usual we had family travel from all over the country to partake in the festivities.  This year was special because Nancy and the boys made their first trip in 8 years.  Emma and Hannah joined them for a fun day at Cedar Point.  We also made the rounds to several of the families homes during the event filled week.  The highlight is always the Golf outing and the swim party at Mark and Terri's house in Maumee.  This year was special since I was on the winning team (Tim, Brad, Teri and myself).  It also seemed like this year's volleyball was much more intense than in the past.  Either Nancy required us all to step up our games or we are all just getting older.  Regardless, I felt it for many days after the event. 

Packed pool at Mark and Terri's house

The kids and Uncle Ron enjoyed the fireworks at Belmont.

June 2012

June continued to be a busy month.  The kids all finished up school and looked forward to the break.   Unfortunately for Hannah, school continued all summer.  She was trying to free up her schedule at TSA next year so she could take more electives by signing up for 3 summer classes.  Emma was excited to be casted in one of a few lead roles in the Toledo Young Reps production of,  "Once on this Island."  You can see the show August 16th-19th at the Rep's 10th Street Theatre. 

June 23rd: Mak (4), Grace(5) and Caleb(11)

We celebrated several birthdays in June.  We had hosted Josie's 1st birthday at our house and Mak, Grace and Caleb's birthdays at Mary and Brian's house. 

Last month we also had our new pool installed.  The kids have logged several hours already.  With the HOT weather we have had it was much appreciated.  Especially since we do not have central air in our new home.   It was also just in time for our visitor's coming in town for the Hanna Open this year.  Since then we have removed our fence and are trying to agree on a design for the surrounding deck.