Guess Who's 20?

Yup...you guessed it!  Lauren!!! How can this be?  Wasn't she just playing in a sandbox the other day?  Having tea parties with her friends and playing dress-up? Wait...how old does that make me?!?  Let's not dwell on this.

Yesterday was her birthday. She wanted hiking gear and we threw in an IPad Mini. She was very happy.  We went to brunch at the Bluebird Cafe in North Liberty and then the afternoon and evening she spent with her friends camping at Lake McBride.

While she was gone, I made a cover/holder for the IPad Mini.  She may or may not use it. but I think it turned out pretty cute. I bought the pattern off of Craftsy.  It was pretty easy to put together and it has a few different sizes in it.

 This is the front.  I appliqued a squid.  Those are whales and narwals in the background.

This is the inside.  The squid fabric makes a pocket on the left with a velcroed flap.

This is the backside, when closed. The button is a smiley face..
This size also fits the Kindle Fire and a regular Kindle, I think.

We have been having some pretty dry days here for a while.  Temperatures haven't been too bad but we could really use some rain. Evidently it is ALL south of us in Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennesee.

In the mean time, our 2 tomato plants have actually lived!! Lauren wanted to plant some tomato plants in the back but the deer and other critters devour everything so we settled on ONE plant by our front door and a potted plant on the upper back patio. I thought for sure that the dinky little plant from Maple Ave. Nursery would not survive but it did.  The deer nibbled on it for a while but then they stopped and now it is humongous!!

There are lots of tomatoes but they are very slow to ripen, so we haven't had any, yet.  Here is one that will be ready soon.

The potted one on the patio is from Costco.  It was quite large and developed when we bought it. But now it looks kind of scrawny compared to the front plant. We have had 2 tomatoes so far from this plant.

That's Cooper looking over the rail.  The other pots are basil, parsley, and rosemary.
That's the farm report for now.