Greenie Happenings

Today I made Banana Nut bread for the very first time. It's funny, I never thought about it much, but it's so easy to make, I guess I just never bothered before. I know that all those over ripe banana's are going into freezer bags from now on. No more compost for them.

Tonight's dinner was composed of mostly home grown veggies and that in and of itself was very gratifying. I sauted onions and zucchini with Kosher salt and black pepper, finished off with a fat dose of parmagiano-reggiano. Yummy! Especially those carmallized onions....soo sweet and flavorful.



I think that I have fully enjoyed my new raised beds now...even though I have yet to eat my first tomato (picked them today). I'm savoring that moment for another day or so, letting it finish off on the counter. I dug another hill of red potatoes this afternoon. Only 3 left. All and all, it's been pretty bountiful and worth all that labor to haul in those yards and yards of soil. I still have pole beans and cucumbers coming (soon). Other than that, it's all on the tomatoes to get started and they usually do here around the end of August and the first of September. I hope we can manage to get more warmth between now and then.



One of my goals in the garden here from the time we moved in, was to entice Hummingbirds to the yard. Growing up, my grandmothers garden was always filled with the sharp chirp of male hummers dive bombing rivals. Hummingbirds really add a sense of wonder and magic to my garden and for the last two summers I've managed to have one lone female as a visitor. Well, this summer I got my wish, I had 3 of them outside my office window on the clothes line battling it out. I feel like I've achieved something huge. I know to some of you it may seem odd, but trust me, it's like a kind of acceptance, that my garden is worthy. When I see them, I can feel my heart slow, my mind relax...they make you stop moving so that you can just take them in for their brief moments of hover and dash. Right now, their favorite plants are the Monarda (Bee Balm), Phygelius (Cape Fuchsia) Crocosmia, Abutilon (Dennis, Jackie O's Lipstick, Red Gumdrop), Agapanthus (Storm Cloud) and the Clarodenderon tree. It's also fun to watch them bathe in the fountain, dip, dip, dip.



Also today, Lucy got her stitches out. She's got a bit of irritation where the some of the stitches were, but other than that, she's healing up well. Vet wants to keep the cone on for a few more days, keep her from licking. She's still going to be on restricted activity for another 10 days or so, she's still healing on the inside too. I'm just glad to have the worst behind us.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. Greenie out!

Pooper Friday!!!

Well, it's been a whole week since Lucy got her Hoo-hoo Haa-haa'd. I have to say that we have gotten our share of amusement out of this, as well as frustration. As you can clearly see, Lucy does not appreciate the comic genius of the cone, in fact, it is the quickest way to subdue her. Every time you put it on her head just sort of goes limp and the cone and her face are on the floor. You have to physically remind her that her head is not being pulled down my some mysterious force by gently lifting her face to you. That usually does the trick, at which point the hillarity insues, like getting stuck in the hallway or on the dining room table. Too, too, funny. On the down side, the edges of that plastic cone really hurts like a bitch when she rams the backsides of your bare legs with it.

All and all, she has been a great sport about everything. She's healing and feeling better all the time, so much so that we are sedating her with drugs. She gets a little carried away and wants to do the Daytona (whatever number) in the backyard with Harlow. That's still going to be another week before that's legal. Drugs do add another facet of humor though, as Drunk Lucy is pretty darn hilarious too, especially when she's trying to focus on you or something. You can totally see her trying to get there as if she's chanting "don't move, stop moving, stand still" to what ever it is she's trying to focus on.



You may notice that when you click on the photo's now that you are directed to my Flickr site. Apparently I'm in violation of my user agreement by not using this method. It says so on the site where I snag the code. Oops! You can still see larger sizes of the shots on Flickr, just click on the "All Sizes" option at the top of each photo.

Have a great weekend everyone, I'm going to enjoy the cool down that moved in over night. I love the heat, but too much too fast is just too hard to take.

In Memory of....

The thousands of unwanted dogs and cats who are sadly cast off like garbage. In honor of the many people who DO something everyday to make the lives of those who find a home so much better. In honor of the many people who find themselves putting an end to those lives daily, I would not want to be in your shoes.

If you click on the image below, a video will be opened, a slide show of sorts that will be both touching and graphically heartbreaking. I encourage you to look at it...it is something we all must do. We go about our lives pretending that things are as they should be, when there is so much more wrong happening than is necessary. There are hundereds of other causes that could be highlighted in this same way, but today, in honor of my pets and in honor of the thousands of others who will never know the kind and gentle touch of a friend, I choose to do this in lieu of Pooper Friday.



I watched this and wept, and then I held both of my girls and let my tears run onto them and let them know how much they are loved and appreciated. Every day they give me so much joy and love.

Spaying or Neutering your pets is a responsibility that we have as stewards. This is not a privilage and carelessness in this regard should not be tolerated. Help end the cycle of death, have your pets spayed or neutered.

Pooper Friday!!!

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Do you think she's over the whole picture taking thing?



Happy Friday Everyone!!! Have a great weekend.

Fresh!!!

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Our first haul of the summer from the new vegie patch. Yukon Gold and Red Pontiac potatoes, yellow onions, and zucchini all roasted in the oven with garlic and olive oil. It was Deeeeeeelicious!!!!

The Fountain...Exactly a Year to the Date.

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It's in!!! The fountain is FINALLY in it's place. Do you remember the story of the Buddha Fountain? No? Well, let me recap it for you. July 10th is Nick's birthday and for his birthday last year I bought him this Buddha fountain, something that he has/had admired for sometime and had said on numerous occaisions that he wanted it.

You have no idea how hard it is to find a gift for this man. One that he will get totally excited about, to the point that his voice goes up an octave and his hands do the clappy clap thing and then cover his mouth. It's that hard people, because usually he just goes out and buys things like that for himself. This I understand, because my economic standing in our house is substantially less than his and I unfortunately lack the buying power that he does. I get it. But last year I was employed at the Wireless company making nominally more money than I do now, plus, I was working weekends at the nursery too. Well, June is the month of the big sale and I saw my opportunity and took it. I bought the fountain and arranged for it to be delivered on his birthday so that it would be there when he got home.

Here's where I fell short...the place that the fountain was to be set up was no where near ready for it to be put there. The place was picked out, ideas were in the works, but the preperation had not begun. Little did I realize that that part was going to take this long. All the same, he was giddy and excited when he relized that the odd looking rectangular pieces of cement in our drive way was in fact the Buddha fountain.

A year later, to the day, I arranged for two of the boys from the nursery to come over and help me move it into place. I made sure that I had a pump and tubing, all things needed to make it work. We finished before Nick got home. Even though he knew what was going on, it was still nice to have it running and in place with out him seeing it happen.

Lesson learned: How to really milk the giving capacity of one gift and still get the reaction you were looking for. (Okay, so maybe the reaction was a little more restrained this time, BUT, there were two very cute straight boys standing there with us.)



You can see recent photos on Flickr

Pooper Friday!!!

Progress has been made around the back patio this last weekend. Preparations to FINALLY move the Buddha Fountain into place are almost complete and should commence on the 10th of July, making it one year to the date that it arrived in the front driveway. As you can see, bamboo was planted in a permanent spot with barrier installed around it to try and control its eventual attempts at world domination in our back yard. That black vinyl will be trimmed once the soil has settled more.



In other news, my masculinity has been recently affirmed by my purchase of the iconic grill. It dominates the space, not unlike the 62" Projection TV does our living room. The old grill sits now at the back of the yard, cast away and unwanted. Poor thing...oh well. Hello shiny 4 burner goodness. I love you, yes I do. My big, strong, black and stainless steel fire breather.

I suppose you've had enough of me, so here's your Pooper Friday. Have a great weekend everyone!

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You can see recent photos on Flickr

Slut Red Raspberries

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Growing up, my grandparents always had an abundant supply, if highly gaurded one of fresh Raspberries. At anytime during the early summer I could walk out to the fenceline and crawl under those seemingly giant canes and underneath would be this mother load of red lucious fruit. My patch that is now 2 years old is nothing of what they had back then, but this year has been bountiful for the two of us (as witnessed above). So far, I've picked this many twice and there are still more coming. It almost makes me giddy.