Coming Soon: Fruits and Veggies!

We had "issues" with our garden last year, so we're doing it differently this time. We're trying the peat pot method. So, after planting, we lined up our pots by the driveway -- it's the sunniest spot for now. The pots are in alphabetical order: beans, cantaloupe, cucumbers. We should have seedlings ready for thinning and planting in 7-14 days. Will update.

We're still working on "Pride Rock" (the higher part of our yard that's kind of disconnected from the rest of the yard), but it's becoming obvious that any kind of garden in that area will have to wait till next year. Our compost pile is HUGE and needs quite a bit more work. And we still need to prepare the ground -- kill the grass (weeds), etc. In the meantime, we'll continue to use the smaller gardening beds. Still must figure out some use for the dog run. I would LOVE to put some kind of archway between the brick fence and the house and plant some kind of climbing something-or-another to make a canopy. My Uncle Frank used to have a grape arbor out by his house in Ringgold or Goldburg (I seldom know where one ends and the other begins) -- should go out there and see if any of it is left for cuttings. That would make it xxxxxtra special!

I don't always read the fine print.

This was actually Saturday, but I'm just getting around to the blog. Belle and I had a marathon shopping trip to Target. Just, you know ... one of those shopping trips where you basically hang out at the store and buy all kinds of stuff that you never thought you needed. Anabelle's prize was this squid soap that is for teaching kids how to wash their hands. Whatever. The top of the soap pump has an orange ink thing that stains the hand and you wash it off. I will say that on her first try, she did NOT get all the stain off. Anyway ... she came flying into the kitchen playing with the squid. And because I'm completely uptight about *some* things, I was all like, "Well, now you took the squid off and it's just soap. The whole idea of that soap is that it's a squid and squirts ink on your hand." Blah Blah. Etc. Etc.
She protested, "NO! The box says it's a FREE TOY!"
"Whatever, Anabelle. Just take it and go."
"No, really ..." and off she went to the recycling bin to find the proof.


I stand corrected. And you know, I need to remember that some things just are NOT worth arguing about.

Prepare for blastoff!

I finished sorting a bunch of orders today, so have some HUGE cardboard boxes. Belle waited patiently until the biggest box was empty, then she played in it in the living room for most of the afternoon. She colored the "walls" and put books, scarves, etc. inside. Anyway, the box has been taking up the living room for long enough, so it had to go outside. I showed her how to flip it over and use it for a Magic Schoolbus. I set up the game: Get in the bus, close the doors, and when you open the doors, you'll be in some new place. She protested, "But I'll need someone to cut the doors for me!" I showed her how to use the flaps of the box for doors and close herself in -- told her that she could do it all herself -- "It's better if you figure out a way to do it yourself instead of having other people do it for you. That takes some of the magic away." Now I'm thinking about what I said ...

I have monkey eyes.

This morning, Belle hopped on top of me and snuggled. I thought to myself, "Good," and attempted to go back to sleep. Pretty soon, though, I felt the STARING. So I opened my eyes and looked right into her eyes. AND SHE SAID, "Your eyes are big and round, just like that monkey in my dream." I'll let her explain the dream ...

the monkey had eyes that where big really big! it lookd like it was screaming and his eyeballs where about to fall out! i mean they where really big! it was in a monkey hole in the grond so it had a millon bannanas in it and then i saw it the monkey it ran over from its hiding place someware in the hole and lookd up and saw me and ran back.

Screaming Like a Girl!

I've always disliked that expression, but today I couldn't help laughing about it. Belle and I went hunting crawdads down at the creek. Great fun, although we only caught one. After we were done with our hunting, we were just playing around in the shallow water. Belle was in the water and I was standing on a rock when I saw a small snake come out from under the rock -- I said, "There's a snake!" Her eyes went as big as dinner plates and she yelled, "WHERE?" I pointed down to where it was right by me and when I did, it slithered through a hole in the rock and headed into the water. Anabelle SCREAMED and then she took a deep breath and screamed some more, all the while trying to get out of its way. It did look like it was going straight toward her, but made a sharp right turn when he got a little closer and heard all the ruckus. She got out of the water and we watched while he swam along for awhile and then headed for the grass on the other side. That's when I realized what I'd heard and just laughed and laughed while I said, "I don't think I've ever heard you scream like that. THAT is what they mean when they say 'screaming like a girl'." I hate to be stereotypical, but it was REALLY funny. The snake was about a foot and a half long, skinny, black with light stripes going down the sides.

We redirected a stream which was loads of fun. All the water had kind of stagnated in one direction, so we moved some rocks and got it flowing FAST back down into the creek. Anabelle shouted out, "This is FUN!" At one point, she even wondered why we were the only people who were there because it was so much fun. It was like, why were we the only ones who knew the secret? We wish we could figure out what all the little snails are. There are tiny dark snails that are IN the water, stuck ALL OVER the rocks. We also saw regular standard blue dragonflies, but then some other kind of dragonflies with dark markings on their wings.

Found lots of fossils, but also located some small red rocks that we would write with. The one that wrote best of all was actually an orange rock with a red tip. Not sure what that was ... we must FIND OUT!!!

Quote of the Day

I just added this, so it will be changing every day. But I want to be sure to always remember this particular quote:

Quote of the Day
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
James Thurber

Tomorrow is Sunshine Happy Garden Day!

That's what we've decided, Belle and I. After an unseasonable (and mostly miserable) cold spell, the sun came out today and we got to be outside in the yard. I pulled all the big, spiky weeds out of the front yard and she put them all in a basket to make salad for her dolls. Then we went to the backyard and gauged the growth of wild mint, wisteria, etc. since last year. I found a tiny oak "tree" and pointed it out, telling Belle that's what it looks like when an acorn starts to grow. She started digging around it to pull out and replant before Ben mows, and she found an acorn that was just starting to sprout. Maybe I've been sheltered, but I've never seen anything like this -- I think it's amazing and beautiful.

Anyway, we've declared tomorrow "Sunshine Happy Garden Day" and all we'll be responsible for (mostly) will be hanging in the yard -- cleaning up, preparing for the vegetable garden and so on ... YEAH!!!