Garden update!

Time for a garden update.
136/365


Seedlings, starting to get ready to move to the garden.  The bigger ones in the front are pole green beans. The other side is bush green beans. The middle egg carton are tomatoes, and the back carton is cucumbers.  I really like how the egg carton is working out.  I planted some of the pole green beans Saturday and the roots had grown through the bottom and the cups came apart fairly easily.  They were still holding together, but not much so they will compost down nicely.  I'll finish planting the rest this week, and start another round. I want to do successive planting this year so I can get lots of green beans to can and put in the freezer, tomatoes to can, and give a go at pickling cucumbers.



Potato tower.  Still thinking about putting more soil on top... might just leave it be.



More potatoes.  The small plant on the left is red potatoes.  The right is yukon potatoes, same as the tower.



Store bought marigolds. I'm going to try to plant some from seed myself, but needed to be sure to have some flowers.  I'm using them to help with pest control.  I don't have a lot of pests, but I like the idea of using marigolds to keep some away.



Speaking of pests, this shiny windmill (from the dollar store) helps keeps the birds away.  Unfortunately, it doesn't keep the slugs away.  These are my radishes.  I get to harvest 2-3 at a time every few days, and they last about 5 minutes after washing.  Robert likes them, a lot.  And he says they are SPICY, especially the little ones.



FINALLY the carrots are starting to come up.  They sure did take their sweet time. And not many are up...yet.



Garlic is looking good.  There are a few that will be ready to harvest really soon.

Tiptoe through the tulips

135/365

On Mother's Day I received a bouquet of tulips from the in-laws' in-laws, and they are starting to open up.

The look prettier in person...

Meeting Jasper

A few months ago, my neighbor friend (neighend, fribor?), lost her horse Wynston. She still had Starlette though.  (I rode Starlette before. And then I fell off.)

About a month ago, she heard of a half brother of Wynston was relinquished by his owner to a boarding facility and was available for adoption.  Long story short, she got him. He was a little thin and unloved when he arrived, apparently. But not anymore.  (Well, still a little thin, but getting there.)

Meet Jasper


I finally got to meet him last evening and he is so sweet and loving.  Seriously, he is my new favorite.



Starlette and Jasper



Jasper



Starlette in her stall.  Because she is a bit of a drama queen.

Robin Red Breast

I think this is the only robin we have in the neighborhood.  We have one blue jay and about 5 million little finches and probably that many doves.

I used to like doves. They're pretty and all, but the cooing. Ugh! The cooing just DOES NOT STOP!

And it's not just in the spring. It's year round, non-stop coo coo coo.

Driving me a bit coo coo.  (Like I wasn't there already...)

Happy Mother's Day

We went to a BBQ at the in-laws house for Mother's Day linner (lunch+dinner) and I heard several comments on my blogging, or lack thereof lately so...

HERE is my new blog post Barb and Eula. Don't think you can boss me around now.*

Not a 365 (but sharing anyways), my first garden harvest.  A lone little radish.  Robert and I split it and it was good, and a little spicy.  I harvested 3 more tonight that Robert ate within 5 minutes of me getting them washed.  The littlest one was really spicy apparently as he had to quickly get a drink after eating it.


Now to the 365s.

(127/365)
Rhododendron. They're the neighbors, but I still enjoy them. They are much pinker in person.


(128/365)
Another flower of the neighbor's yard, a clematis I believe.


(129/365)
Sun beams through the sprinkler, seen while watering the garden at sunset.  Making rainbows.


(130/365)
Sunbathing Simba.  It's a hard life being a cat.


(131/365)
Carus - new bangs and new shirt and shorts.  The kids are growing so fast (I know, right?!) and have outgrown yet MORE clothes! I just bought them shorts last summer. GAH!

I'm really having a hard time keeping Adam in clothes that fit; he's outgrown things as quickly as a month after purchase. Since I had to buy them clothes again we went to Goodwill and Salvation Army to find things for cheap - and we did.  Carus got this shirt for $6. It's a brand name silk shirt. I'm a little bit jelly (jelly=jealous).


(132/365)
For Mother's day I made breakfast (I really wanted biscuits and gravy and no one can make it like I do) and did some laundry (I don't mind too much and the kids need clean clothes for school) and then went out to my in-laws place for the aforementioned BBQ and socializing.  The food was good, conversation better, and fun was had by all.  I borrowed the dogs for a bit wanting to take a nice photo of them.  They were not cooperating too well as the treats were in my pocket, not next to them, but I did get this one.  Coco is on the left and Lady is on the right.


*If you can't tell, that sentence was said teasingly and with lots of love. Barb is my mother-in-law and Eula is her mother-in-law and my sort of adopted grandma.

Still a'slackin'

(122/365)

Yep, I'm still a slacker. Still feeling a bit blah.  I think I'm ready for the kids to be out for the summer, well sort of. It will be nice when I can sleep in a bit but at same time they will also be home all the time.  Probably bickering at each other, which they do a lot of lately.

Last week Robert and I went over to Carus's school for the science fair.  She tested which surface a tennis ball bounces higher off of.  She dropped a ball from 12 inches on to carpet, cardboard, tile, and plywood (the floor in Robert's shed if you're curious where she found plywood).  The plywood won; by 1/2 inch if I remember correctly.

There were a few projects that we've seen before at science fairs over the years, but there were a few new ones.  Smart kids give me hope for the future.


(123/365)

Dance is also coming to a close with the school year.  Carus's recital is June 21st. If you want to come, let me know so I can order you a ticket.  All tickets have to be bought in advance.


(124/365)

Saturday we went to Faire in the Grove, and had fun.  Robert and Adam wimped out early, mostly because it was hot (we seemed to have jumped into late spring/early summer)(I'm not complaining).  I'll be uploading more pics from that day soon, and they'll be in this set on Flickr.


(125/365)

Sunday was hot again and we did a whole lot of nothing.  I decided in the afternoon to go hang out in the shade under the tree in the front yard and read.  Simba wandered over to harass me and that got the attention of this snake who was sunbathing nearby.  He stayed put while I ran to grab my camera, but it wasn't much longer until Simba noticed him and then he had to take off for I dunno where. One minute he was there, the next he had disappeared into the grass.


(126/365)

Filling a pan with water, to make dinner, and needed a photo for the day.  I like how it froze the water falling...

Things are growing!

(120/365)


(121/365)

I was expecting all the seeds I planted to come up at the same time, all of them.  Of the 18 green beans I planted - 3 are up. Cucumbers are doing better with 5 of 18.  The tomatoes?  Maybe 1.  Maybe.  It's tiny and I'm not entirely sure if it is a tomato or if a weed seed got in there as I put them outside during the day to get the most sun.