Playing Outside

Kate is an outside kind of girl, despite a new anti-bug problem we have encountered this spring. (Does this happen to every four-year-old, cause it's buggin' the crap outta me, pun intended. I don't approve of being afraid of bugs, even the stinging kind as they only do so in defense.) I first encountered the problem when I went into the garage to get something, and returned to find her crying. Upon questioning it was revealed that a bug had flown NEAR her, and this was apparently unacceptable. I informed the child that crying was not appropriate unless the bug had actually hurt her. Her reply, "It hurt my feelings." Try not laughing at that. Just try.

At least she doesn't burst into tears at the sight of a bug now, but she does that little panicked gasp and freezes. Drivin' me crazy.

Anyway, besides that, we are certainly enjoying this outdoor kind of weather. She starts every day with the comment, "Isn't it a beautiful sunny day." or "rainy day," or "foggy day," whatever applies, but always includes beautiful. Gotta love that kind of enthusiasm. Then, when it's getting late and time to go inside, she gets upset, and even cries because she's sure the snow is coming back and it's back to indoor playing. The other night she woke up in the night crying and when I went in and asked her what was wrong she said, "I'm sad because the sun went down." Needless to say, we are making the best of the weather.

So far this April we've managed to plant seeds, ride our bike, visit the playground, fly our kite, go on safari, drive our tractor,


picnic,


And apparently applied to the ministry of silly walks. No reply yet from them.

Enjoy the spring, we certainly are.

Garden Update

The unbelievably beautiful weather continues. I was sitting in the chair at the beauty shop today and had to bite my tongue as I listened to two women complain that it would be only 50 today. Helloooo. This is NE Ohio in April. People are mowing their lawns. This weather is spectacular. In three months these same women are going to be griping that it is too hot. Makes me crazy every time.

Anyway...

The results of name that shoot:


Hyacinth (just regular, not grape.)



Narcissus (at least what I call narcissus.) Oddly enough I got two 3 foot rows of these and only one bloom.


Peony. I have 4 so far.

In addition:

Volunteer tulips. Never planted them, and the place this garden is located was yard when we moved in. It must have been garden long ago, cause now that the ground's tilled up...tulips.

and for our next round of name that perennial (or quick, save me from the aggressive weed I thought was a flower)

1.

2.

3.

I'm very excited by that last one.

So the lower flower beds have been weeded and are ready for compost. The herb section of the upper bed is done as well, and the lemon balm, speedwell, lavender, oregano and thyme are all looking good. The sage, for some unknown reason is still unhappy after the haircut I gave it a few weeks ago, and the rosemary is beyond help I fear.

Yesterday Kate and I planted tomatoes and peppers in the seed starter, mostly for the library garden, I'll let you know when we have something there, and today we planted spinach for Rick. The strawberries are, as yet, a bust.

We'll keep you posted as things progress.
(BTW if anyone is actually reading this, I have no illusions that you actually care about the state of my garden, this is more of a "when did I do that, and what was planted there?" kinda thing for me. In the coming weeks and moths I'll get all confused and need to check back. Trust me.)

The Easter Bunny Was Here....And There...

We are blessed with an abundance of family all around us, which means each holiday is celebrated several times, often in one day. The Easter Bunny, for instance, had some traveling to do to get all of the Bug's eggs hidden. He started at home.


Where he proved himself to be rather tall and also quite sneaky...


After church we learned that the Easter Bunny had also visited Aunt Chrissy's house. Here he was somewhat less sneaky. Note the three eggs in full view in this picture. Between Kate her twins, it was more of an egg race than an egg hunt.


And finally, before supper, it became clear that the bunny had also made a stop at Nona and Papa's where he was not as tall, but just as sneaky. (And where he forgot to tell Nona how many eggs were hidden, so we all had to participate a little bit.)


And where he apparently had the help of the Easter Moose.
(What, the Easter Moose doesn't visit your house?)

Fun with Captions

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" Mark Twain
The blueberries show signs of life.


In spite of winter winds.


"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple" Jenny Joseph
This is the color she meant.


Mommy, don't you want to put up my trampoline right now?


Do I have something in my teeth?

Garden Log: Day One

It does not escape my notice that my last blog entry concerns a snowman, while this one will be about the garden, but the weather has been so darn beautiful, I just can't help it.

The garden was not put to bed properly last fall, so things will not go as smoothly as should do this spring. Perhaps an early start won't hurt. Rick tilled both the fenced garden and part of the bed by the house, after Kate and I put a stake next to anything we wanted to keep. She and I also spread out the leaves that were meant for mulch in October and instead were dumped in a heap on the herb garden. I then replanted the garlic that had heaved out of the ground over the winter and added a big chunk that Rick dug out of the main garden. (Apparently we also missed a bunch of onions and carrots last fall. Let's consider it compost.)

And now, for your entertainment...a fun spring game...Name That Shoot:


(my guess is grape hyacinth)



(I'm hopin' for narcissus.)



(peony I believe)

Also still alive to fight another day...a hollyhock, day lilies, oregano, thyme, sage, lavender, lemon balm, blue speedwell and a bunch of myrtle. It's too early to tell about the swamp white oaks we planted last year, but I'm pretty sure all four new blueberries are still alive. Things look ok so far.

Kate and I also took on one more endeavor today, a strawberry pot. I found this at Wal-Mart (and can't find a link for you, sorry) a terra cotta pot and 9 strawberry plants with dirt ready for planting. As strawberries are my most favorite fruit every, I've got high hopes. Kate and I assembled it, and will be moving it in and out until the frost threat has passed...speaking of which, I'd better go get it off the porch. Ooops.

I'll keep you posted as the garden adventure continues. Trust me, with my penchant for forgetting things entirely, and my hatred of weeding, it's always interesting.

now that's a snowman...

We've been having quite a winter in NE Ohio. Enough snow fell to last weeks. I got to ski quite a bit, and several attempts were made at snowmen. The problem was, the snow was never quite right for packing when we were ready to do the job. Of course when the snow is right for packing, it's usually too heavy for me to make a really spectacular snowman. This weekend we pressed Daddy into service with impressive results.

After a short and definitive snowball fight that resulted in a load of snow down my neck, we moved on to sliding down the slide into a pile of snow. Look, my new camera caught an action shot...

While inside the house, Kate's Christmas Amaryllis seems intent on making up for it's lack of height with a plethora of blooms.

This would be blooms number 5 and 6 emerging and it ain't over yet. Did you know plants can have a Napoleon complex?

Sailor's Delight

My first finished pair of socks require their own blog entry right?

So here they are. I used the Yarn Harlot's simple sock pattern from this book, and added the Sailor's Delight pattern from this book. I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Lava Heather, part of my Christmas present from the husband, and there's lots left.

The bottom line is, I don't think I would mind doing another pair of socks, but I can tell I don't have the patience for it in sock weight yarn. All those little tiny stitches kinda give me a twitch. I think that's why sock yarn comes in such delicious colors. It's a bribe to get you to knit with dental floss. I'll stick to worsted weight knitting for now, thanks. I gave this pair to my dad to warm his feet during syrup season. Why, you may ask, didn't I give them to the husband who bought me all that yarn? After all, they fit. His feet are in these pictures. I'll tell you why. When I was ready to turn the heel, I put the socks on him to get an idea for the size and he said....."Why do they have holes in them?" No socks for you!