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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Garden Garden Garden!!!

So I have been pretty busy the past few weeks. If you see me on a regular basis or if we have our weekly phone calls, you are well aware I have been busting my behind to build my garden. It started when I saw a few photos online of raised garden beds. I thought they were beautiful, with sprawling plants and huge tomatoes, and filled with wonder and imagination. I know. I can be a little corny, I don't care. 

 So Jake and I went to the hardware store and he bought me some wood. I have built small things as a kid, but I'm pretty good at following directions. I got the plans off of www.sunset.com. The power drill... kind of intimidating. I tried it at first without gloves, until I really burned my fingers grabbing the drill bit after it just came out of the wood. Once I got the gloves on, it was pretty smooth sailing.
 And then there were two. The large bed I planned for a small garden. Peppers and tomatoes, maybe some peas, green beans, and cucumbers. I thought it would fit, just do one or two plants of each. The small one for asparagus, because I LOVE me some asparagus!
 So out I went again to the store. No where exciting, just Target. I saw a little garden section when I was shopping for Easter candy for my hun-bun Jake, and I decided I really needed some seeds and some seed starting trays. If I am going to do this garden thing, might as well start from scratch. So I had a small tray of seeds for tomatoes and peppers.  But I felt like it wasn't enough.
So back to the store I went. Again. But this time to the garden store..... wow. There were so many choices!! So Many seeds!!!! SO MANY THINGS!!! OMG GARDEN!!!! I discovered heirlooms, and of course I needed more heirloom tomatoes... and heirloom beans, snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, onion, beets, carrots, and corn. Yes. That much. And when I came home it was raining and I looked at my little garden plot and it hit me.
 I am never going to be able to fit all of this in my little 4x8' garden plot.
 So I got more wood! And built three more beds! And then I needed a fence! And then I read Square Foot Gardening by Mel, and decided I was going to square foot garden. And that required a grid and more planning. Which is fine, nothing I couldn't do.
 And then I read a book called Vertical Gardening. It's available on Amazon. I'm not sure of the author right now, but I have it and it was great. So then I needed trellises, and bean teepees, and tomato stakes and cages. I ordered the cages too off of Amazon, so those haven't come yet.
 But yay! I built it! It took a lot of time and a lot of effort, including three yards of quality topsoil and mushroom compost.
 Funny thing, we don't have a wheelbarrow. So I had this massive pile of dirt, and I'm shoveling it into a tupperware bin and dragging/pushing/pulling/carrying it to the beds. My back was killing me, I'd been doing it for two hours, and only had one bed built. My neighbor who lives across the street that I had not met yet came over. Nice older gentleman named Dick. He brought his wheelbarrow and said to me, "I saw you struggling, and I assumed you didn't have a wheelbarrow. Here's mine, use it as long as you like, put it back in the driveway when you are done." Wow, what a God-send, seriously. It went so much faster with a wheelbarrow! So much! Omg! Sooner than later I was done with the dirt, then constructed the fence, then built the teepees and trellises and set up my few little containers outside. There is my garden! See! I built it mostly on my own. Jake wielded about three wheelbarrows of dirt and taught me how to work the drill. And he dug the holes to put the beds in the ground. Other than that, I did it myself. Super proud, if I do say so myself :)
But I did walk away with several bruises, as you can see, and a pretty nasty sunburn on my face, neck, and arms. But that's okay, it was totally worth it.

Now I just hope something grows!!!!


This message is Bruno Approved. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Quick Snippet Update

Don't have a lot of time to write, but here are some fun photos for you're viewing pleasure!

I went to the local farmers market here on Saturday and bought Señor Bruno an awesome little scarf. Or so I thought. Until Jake told me he looks like a "gay cowboy." Personally, I like the scarf, but whatever. So this is Señor Bruno, modeling his new doggy scarf. He's more fashionable than I am now!
 And this one... well, we sprung a leak in our boiler's pressure tank (yes, you read correctly, we have a boiler and not a furnace) so we currently don't have heat. We came home Sunday and Jake wanted to take a nap, and of course wrapped up in the blanket because he was cold. Well, the animals must have been cold too, because they all flocked to him. Aside from Vin because he was pretty sick and exiled to the basement. Exiled for his own good. He's now better and back to the group.
I've been doing a short series of Señor Bruno waking up in the morning. This one didn't turn out amazing, but still ridiculously cute.

More to come!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Crab butt.

It's no secret. I've been a huge crab butt lately. I'm sick, a little swamped at work, and I feel like I have 100 things to do all at once and all I want to do is research canning stuff and tinker with my garden ideas. I don't want to do anything else right now. I certainly don't want to blow my nose or sneeze anymore, which seems like the only thing I can do lately. My sleeping has been off, my throat has been sore, and I've had a constant headache. And realistically, I can deal with all of that, I really can. What I have a hard time dealing with is how out of it I have been. It makes me feel like I'm not productive, which makes me frustrated, and then eventually behind and upset.

So here are some cute Bruno pictures to make this post happier.
 This is Bruno looking like a seal. Taken in the morning when we woke up.
 This is Bruno pretending to be sick with me. Although he's not sick, he does a good job of pretending with me.
And here is Bruno trying to fit through the cat door.

Ahhhhh, Vin also has a UTI, poor cat. Needed to go to the vet, Jake had to take a urine sample from him (interesting process), and also has to have two pills each night with dinner. And if you know me, you know I'm not really a cat person. I don't clean the cat boxes, I don't let them sleep in the bed, and I don't let them lay on me very much. I feed them because they need to eat and because I am generally up earlier than Jake. BUT! I am a freaking CHAMP when it comes to giving Vin his meds. Pure champ status. That has been my small success lately.

 Well, that and ALL of my seedlings sprouted. Yay!

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE our engagement photos. LOVE.

The End.