Things are sprouting!

Yesterday, my little sister came to see me. She dragged me out of the house to look at signs of improvement all around the farm. It helped that she brought her kids with her. They brought lots of hugs and kisses and I got to hold the baby and play with him while we walked around.

First she took me out to see the long row of lillies, there are lots of new shoots with buds on them. It looks like we will get to enjoy them this year after all. One of the red and yellow ones is already blooming.

Then we went to Grandma's house. Lots of her flowers are blooming again.

Next, we checked out Danny's grapes. They are putting on new leaves and she helped them along by removing some of the damaged ones. It looks like they are all going to survive.

She pointed out a few new blooms on the sunflowers and a lot of new leaves. The cosmos and daisies and crown vetch are all beginning to bloom too. We even discoved the tiniest zinnia blooming. The plant is only about an inch tall and the flower can't be bigger than a dime, but it's determined to live.

In the garden, we found that a lot of the seeds Danny planted the day before the storm are up. The beans and cucumbers are several inches tall. Even the cucumbers he planted the day after the storm are up about an inch.

The lettuce is growing again. There was enough swiss chard to have some for supper last night. There are even new carrots and radishes. She even pointed out six new blooms on the eggplant.

My mom and dad came a little while after she left and brought cucumber and cantaloupe plants from my uncle. They even stayed and planted them for me. We had to cover them with a sheet of newspaper to protect them from the sun. They are pretty good-sized plants, almost as big as the ones we lost. Maybe we will have a crop to harvest before long.

Oh yeah, we also had a friend bring us some dill and cilantro seedlings on Sunday. The gardens are greening up again.

Gotta get back to work!