Big snow flakes!

I winter wonder what the drive to work is going to be like?? This is our Valentines gift.

Snow, real snow and lots (for Texas) so it seems. Tomorrow is reported to be an icy one, I hope not because Pudd has her school Valentines party tomorrow :( Right now Im thinking, I hope none of the trees outside are going to die from this weather. The little twiggy trees in the picture on the right is actually our apple orchard. Apples thrive up north so Im guessing this should be... good for them? Pudd's cherry tree in the front yard should love it! Its strange to see the little birds hopping around in the snow...

This morning we have been looking at Garlands rabbit rescue site. As much as I would love to find a Flemish Giant rabbit, it seems more sensable to adopt a couple of rabbits that need homes. Actually, most of these rabbits are already littler trained which is a huge bonus! From what I have read, the rabbits will mainly be indoors with us unless we are outside with it because of the preditors, pests, and weather. We might end up with a dwarf rabbit and a big rabbit because hey seem to be good companions. The little ones have sassy, aggressive personalities and the big ones are gentle giants. Im really checking everything out before we commit to this. I feel like we will have rabbits soon though.

I feel like I need to post a little something about this thing I read today. Come to find out, there is a large portion of people (if you can call them that..) who hate redheads?? Yup, they met a person with red hair, didnt like them, and now hate (really deeply hate) everyone with red hair! And its not only accepted, its encouraged and a big fun fad to hate them for fun. They call redheads "Gingers". I have read over this stuff and here is my opinion: Get a life! Get a job, family, hobby, whatever! Stop thinking about redheads because they are not thinking about you. Ignorance at its worst. I am a redhead who has never had the issue of being made fun of or being picked on. I didnt even know these pathetic souls existed until like an hour ago hahaha. It must be a really miserable life, having to hate as much and often as you can. Good luck with that!

Ladybug visitor

Not much to report the past few days because I have been working and the weather has been winterish. All I can say is, I have the next three days off and I will be busting my butt cleaning! I am so pumped and ready I can hardly stand it. Because when the weather is nice I want the inside to be done so all extra time can be spent outside working on the garden.






I would love to end up with a room like this ! I found this look at this address : www.homesandgardens.com/decorating/simple/Yellow_living_room_article_281301.html
There is a nice how to I plan to follow, I must add the color scheme will be different.

In other news, Pudd is much better and will be returning to school tomorrow. When I told her she was not exactly excited but when she sees her buddies she will get over that, I hope :) . As we sit here a lady bug had made its way to the bathroom upstairs (this happens alot here for some reason) and is diving into the can lights on the ceiling. I have been meaning to rescue it all week but have yet to get around to it.

I smell like coffee liquer.. mmmm...

White Russians are my favorite drink mmm. If you have never had one, they are deeeelicious and go something like this :
White Russian 40 ml vodka
20 ml coffee liqueur
20 ml light cream
Build (shake). Rocks glass.

Anyway, I have not had one in about 7 years ( I know- Im such a party animal) and the thought was brought on by dumping my starbucks coffee grounds into the raised bed. I was surprised that it had such a strong smell. The worms will love it >:))

And today's great news is Pudd is much better!! The shot really did the trick, she is soo sore but better. She didn't clear the 24 hours for the fever so no school. She coughed literally allllllllll night long.

I go into work at 3:30 this afternoon but I feel like I just left. I hate to think Im being taken advantage of- I really cant stand that. Thank God I have my Mom to take care of Pudd or I don't know what I would do.

Well.. I hear my name being called. More later :)

Sesame street, keeping it real!

Pudd and I are watching Sarah Jessica Parker help us learn to count on Sesame Street! And guess what were counting..?? wait for it... wait for... Pink high heels! It caught Pudd's attention :) Its raining and cold outside, all plans for today were shot when her fever reached 104.6 last night. We made our second trip to the Dr. today and got a big fat shot of antibiotics. It feels so wrong to help hold your child down and see the desperate, panic in their eyes. Knowing its going to hurt like a b*tch, what can you say? She is already better and that was only about an hour ago. On the way home I asked Deedee (my dear Mother) to stop at Starbucks. I wish it was for a warm, creamy, caffinated bev but it was for the dirt. Time to start picking up used grounds. And yes they do probably think Im a cooky, eccentric, hippy. But they are very kind, its free, and I feel like Im winning a prize when I pick up two big sacks of grounds. In case you are just getting into the whole repurposing vegetable matter as fertilizer, lemme break it down for ya! Anything vegetable (vegetable leftovers, spoiled veggies, old newspaper, hay, old leaves, coffee grounds, junk mail, weeds, saw dust) not cooked with any animal fat or animal product will break down into nitrogen. Most vegetable plants and other plants love nitrogen! Here is a helpful link : www.Starbucks.com/aboutus/compost.asp
Now we are watching a purple sheep doing Irish folk dancing! Sesame street has always been so diverse, and thats why it has stuck around. Its all about different people, places, and ideas; accept differences!!

Lets go buy... Poo?

Today is a typical cold February day. Pudd is home sick with a virus/cold and getting caught up on her Max & Ruby shows. A dear co-worker friend called last night and asked if I would switch work days with her, so Im off today! This will be a quick post since I have a friend coming with his truck to help me get some things (compost, manure, hay and a pecan tree) that are too big to put in the back of a mini suv. Did the groundhog see his shadow today?? I understood that Spring is almost here! Maybe I hear what I want to :)

F words? Figs Flowers Frog and Fawn!

So, lets start with Figs! We love em :) We have a total of 17 trees today. All different kinds like dark, light, green, purple, striped, big, small, open eye and closed eye. They are all treasures to us, some gifts from friends in different parts of the country and some from W.M. and everything in between. If you have never had a fresh fig you need to. And thats hard unless you know someone with a tree because figs spoil very quickly. The taste changes quickly after picked and if you put them in the fridge they go bland. Our trees are finally out of the baby stage and should be pretty much set this year. Fresh figs for all my friends! What you see in that picture is a baby fig growing on the tree :)
Now for the flowers in the pictures, Im not a flower gardener and I cannot take any credit for those blossoms. They belong to my Dads wife and their neighbor. Though they let us have both blossoms. Yay!
The frog was ours, lucky us! He lived in our potted marigolds. At night he would come out onto the front porch and eat the junebugs. It was his little ritual (or hers Im thinking)and he was always there. Last spring and summer we had a tiny version of that frog living in our front porch post. I will post him soon.
The fawn was spotted on our little vacation to Turkey Texas. There were lots of them but that was the best picture. These pictures were all taken in June of 2008. Fun stuff!

Thank you ladybugs :)

Rabbits! Ladybugs! Spring Storms! Its taking over!
The rabbits adopted us :) Tons of cotton tail rabbits still here to this day. They are pretty socialized and expect our regular weed pile donations. Plus they distroy my trees and small shrubs every winter. The fuzzy critters chew the trunks and chop off new limbs like a new pair of sheers. At first we thought the weed wacker was to blame. I like to think they do my winter pruning :)
Pudd and I had a ladybug adventure: We had aphids and there is only one good thing to do about that... buy a container of ladybugs. It goes like this. You buy them (not cheep) put them in the fridge (yes this feels wrong when you doing it) and they rest. That evening you sprinkle them in the garden and they scarf down all the bad bugs they can hold. WEll.. we were not patient enough to wait until dark so we started at dusk (btw they fly away if they see ANY sun)lost a few, put the lid back on. At dark I opened it and they swarmed out on my arm, how cute huh? Nope! They freakin bite and it hurts! So that was good laughs :)
Storms cause aphids and mites to really take over, along with mushrooms and leaf mildew. Neem oil helps with the mildew and mites. Mushrooms you just pull but keep your face away because they have spores! And as you can see by the first picture-- the garden grew and grew. Its so rewarding and educational. Have you ever seen a baby cucumber? I was practically looking right at one before I figured out what I was seeing :) *I will add that pic to the next post if I can find it.

They grow up!

Things did well in pots and we were so proud! Tomato plants and the eggplant were perfect. We ate tons of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and onion that summer! It was a slow start with the tomaotes though. They had a ton of blossoms, that would just fall off?? So I came across this stuff called blossom set spray. It was amazing stuff, cheep and you could get it most places. I did not bother getting it last summer and most of the tomaotes got blossom end rot :( (shown in the first pic) Not only is it nasty, the tomato looks awsome on the top. So you go to pick it and get a hand full of rotten tomato..

Easter 08

Easter came and the beautiful flowers were overflowing! I had to take some pictures because there is nothing easier to get a great picture of than a big blossom. The day was full of egg hunting at Papa and Kathy's house. Plenty of candy and coins (Pudd's fav. collection is coins) You have to take a look at these beauties!

Make fun of my spelling :)

So, I know everyone loves a good laugh! Its good for the soul. That said, feel free to count my many spelling errors in each post! Im a awful speller and always will be :)
On to the pictures above, these were later that day or maybe the next. As you can see Pudd was helping me by planting easter eggs in pots. It was near Easter and who can resist glitter eggs? Were moving right along! I took a ton of pictures in 2008, maybe because it was all new to us. 2009 was another story, we had some family crisis happening that started in spring 09 and the weather last year did not produce many prizes in the garden, so you won't see much of that. This year will hopefull go more smoothly. I gotta say, I hate being sweaty and dirty but in the garden I could not care less :) We call it garden yoga because its such a great work out. Since starting my new job I have gained about six pounds that hopefully will not turn into ten. I need some garden yoga in a big way for some stress relief too.. Im off to look at exotic fruit trees.. I really want a kumquat tree this year!

April 2008- Alot to learn

Anywho.. This was the day, you know... the day I was over confident in my ability (reminds me of the days of planning for my Daughters arrival.. not nervous at all. haha). This day we really thought we had it all set and bought and WOW were we mistaken. As you can see, Pudd, (thats what I call her) was holding a cute pack of baby carrot seeds she would later plant carefully in a pot as the start of "her" garden. Anyone who gardens is already probably thinking "carrots in a pot??" yea.. I know. It was just the beginning of many, ahem, learning experiences! I think we started with about 9 pots holding a few tomato plants, carrots (ha ha) garlic (another ha ha which turned into garlic soup. spider mites loved it!) cucumbers, melons, eggplant, and peppers. Making mistakes is the best way to learn quickly. The first blunder we got into was with a gypsy sweet pepper, which happened to be the plant we wanted to work the most. It woke up one morning looking a little pale and wimpy :( By that afternoon it looked like it might be heading toward the "long sleep" if you know what I mean. It was shocking and suprisingly quick! I dug around looking for a big bug and put it in the shade but nothing helped. So, I put gypsy in the sun and pulled it out of the pot, and to my disgust.. uuuugh.. there were about, I dont know, 100,000,000 tiny spider looking things (barf). So naurally, I screamed and threw the plant in the grass like a quarterback.

Start!

Ok! This is about as country as it gets for me (age 3 me and nephew). I have always been.. lets say a girly girl. Dont care for running around barefoot, getting in the grass, being bit by bugs, or getting dirty. About three years ago, we had a picky eating two year old on our hands. I always wanted to grow thing but had the tendancy to love my plants to death with too much of everything (water, fertilizer, sun). That spring three years ago, during a typical trip to W.M. we went from looking at herbs to planning a full blown container garden. It was pretty instantly an obsession. Im going to start this blog with exerpts and pictures from the first two years and then pick up on the present :)) Im so glad to get this blog going.. We are extremely excited about this spring since we already have our cinder block beds set up from last summer and they just need some compost and topsoil. The only thing we have ready to put in the garden is romaine lettuce (six babies!)