Monster Update #3 and Katrina

Bet you thought I'd forgotten about my monster chore list. Now that we've been able to "stand down" from the full "Julie Alert" and are back with a green light and also since I'm not working, it has been reborn. So, this week, the carpet got cleaned. Yippee! Another major chore completed, at least for a while. It's funny - the carpet went from the nice, light tan to an elephant grey!! It is beautiful! Next - washing woodwork and curtains. Ugh! Once these are done, it will be cooler and time to spend some time outside weeding and trimming.

Also, dug up my tub of potato plants last weekend. It is hard to believe, but all that was in there was DIRT! Not even a nub the size of a pea! That's it - I may be done gardening! Just not enough sun in my yard. This year, combined with the drought, I got absolutely nothing. Sigh. All that hard work!

Also - please keep thinking good thoughts for Hurricane Katrina victims. My friends Julie, Bill, his son, and their friends, Julie's co-workers at PWC, and everybody else affected - the damage is unbelievable, now made more difficult by the actions of some of the victims. I am just pleased that the people I know who live there or have property are safe and dry in other areas - but I know that it will be a long way to normal from here. New Orleans is a great town full of history and fun, and we can only hope that its best aspects are salvageable. I know it is constantly in my thoughts as I watch the news.

Summer Update

Well - things are going . . . . . going . . . .

Yeah. Anyway. Looks like the job I've been working at will be ending sometime in the next week or two. Been looking (as ever) for my next gig and hoping for a "keeper." Hopefully everybody who knows me (and some who don't) will be keeping their fingers crossed for me, too!

Big event of last week: Actually noticing when the car rolled over to 111, 111.1 miles. What a deal! Kinda fun, in an odd sorta way.

Biggest event in the yard this week - the wren who found the perfect place to nest - enclosed with a HUGE picture window! She built a lovely little mud/moss/stick/leaf nest in my barbeque pit! Of course, I'm too soft-hearted to move her out. Besides, she'd probably peck me!

Potato Update! The potatoes were planted in a half-barrel and grew out of that, so I installed a 24" chicken wire cylinder over that, and they've grown out of that, too! I just tucked some leaves around the edges and kept filling it with dirt to encourage more tubers. Can hardly wait now until I get to harvest them. Just about everybody I know is curious what will be there - including me! I will update with pictures when the time comes.

The garden is growing it's head off! The chicken wire fence still has not been breached so I now have eggplants, tomatoes, green beans, purple beans, cucumber plants, lettuce, beets, and squash and some mystery stuff (not sure, but is growing in a straight row, so I must have planted it!). All I ask for is just one meal with purple beans and cheese sauce!!!

For Father's Day, just couldn't get up the excitement to bake the "traditional" butterscotch pies, so managed a butterscotch cheesecake, instead. Think it was a hit - it's pretty well gone now! Grace fixed lasagna, Wendy made a salad, and Kelly and Jason supplied the entertainment - in the form of six month-old Lindsay. I also FINALLY got some pictures! Am thrilled and had to show those off at work today. It was a very nice day!

More pictures will be on the way soon!

This Week in Flowers

Ok - what a surprise!!! Yes, the cherry tree is bearing fruit!! So, I took this lovely picture of it - the ONE cherry on the whole tree! Considering the tree is only about five feet tall, guess this is quite an accomplishment!

Needless to say I'm thrilled! Anybody got a recipe calling for just one sour cherry???



While out cheking for growth and surprises, found this lovely rose hidden in the underbrush by the back fence. It is from a rose planted by a previous owner, and maybe bloomed because I pruned it this spring. Before that, didn't even realize it was there! Quite pretty!



And last but not least, some new Wave petunias - the bunnies ate the last ones I planted under the birdbath - I went looking and found they'd eaten it right down to the dirt - leaving only a few wilted crumbs behind. At least the garden fence hasn't been breached yet!



Hope everybody is having a great time in their own gardens this year! I know mine is doing pretty good, and I'm always learning new tricks. Soon, the hydrangeas will be in their full magnificence, so plan to see some of those pictures here soon!

Busy Spring!

Yes, it's the busiest time of the year here in Susan Land - been planting grass, flowers, vegetables, and a new tree! So far, the malicious, evil bunnies have not been able to breach the veggie garden fence. They eyeball it, run circles around it, sniff it, but so far have not reached the tender new bean and lettuce shoots they crave. Sad, sad bunnies!

I plan to take "before" and "after" pictures of the garden stuff. So far, it has been a beautiful spring. My new cherry tree has exactly 3 cherries on it, and I am searching high and low for a recipe requiring only that many for something wonderful. The azaleas put on a spectacular show, as did the lilacs. The showy irises are coming out now - those bronze things that are on stalks about 4 feet tall. Amazing! And the peonies are popping out all over the yard smelling heavenly. All the new additions seem to be doing well, and even a few things I planted in past years that I thought long-dead have reappeared - like some shasta daiseys that came out of nowhere. Think I planted those a couple years ago.

Also, am experimenting this year. Bought a couple Japanese eggplant plants, and seed potatoes. The potatoes went into a half-barrel I have and as they grow I'll add more soil and perhaps a chicken wire topper to make it even deeper. Should be interesting!

Also, as a Mother's Day gift, Michael and Angela came over last Saturday and hung the "new" kitchen cabinets - you remember? The ones I painted, stenciled with hydrangeas, then antiqued - for about 8 months??? Yes, they're finally on the wall!! I will post a picture as soon as we get on the new countertop. So far, it looks pretty amazing! Next - a new floor! Perhaps something ornate . . . .

Anyway, things are going pretty good. Still employed, everything outside is screaming green, and I've been able to hang onto the house. So far, so good! Hopefully, this job may become permanent. Would be awfully nice! Will keep you posted. At least some things are looking up!

My Busy Sunday!

As you can see, the irises are beginning to bloom in a kind of "knock your socks off" display!

This year, am trying something new - a pot of flowers on the front porch. So far, they're looking pretty good. Hopefully, they aren't planted tightly enough together to kill each other!

Also, this is the year I've finally decided to do something about the horrible "bunny" problem in the garden. I have fashioned a fence around the entire thing, small as it is, with chicken wire that I staple-gunned to tomato stakes.

Then, you might be able to just pick out about 6 tomato plants, and I put in seeds for beets, Blue Lake pole beans, butternut squash, cucumbers, spinach, leaf lettuce, and the purple beans that seem to be a particular favorite of the above-mentioned bunnies.

Hopefully this year, I will thwart these menaces to backyard gardening and come away with more than just a couple tiny, measly tomatoes to show for all my efforts!

Will post another picture sometime late this summer, when the tomatoes are hanging in huge bunches on the vines, the beans are growing up into the tree, and the cucumbers are taking over the entire west end of the garden!