Summer Gardening Update

Gardening is something that's in my blood. My grandparents gardened, my dad gardened so it would stand to reason that I would garden also. Of course I'm gardening on a much smaller scale than those who came before me, but considering that it's my first attempt and I have a serious lack of space here, I don't think it's going too badly.

I'm already making note of changes that I want to make next year (item #1, buy enough dirt). I didn't get enough this year so one of my square foot gardens didn't get planted and now I'm regretting it because there are other veggies and plants I would have liked to have had.

Another note to self: Find a stronger trellis for the tomato plants next year! Even though my dad and grandparents gardened, I guess I never really paid attention as a kid, so I grossly underestimated the weight of tomato vines, dang those things are heavy! I bought this little wire trellis thing at Lowes and as soon as the plants started growing the poor little thing just couldn't withstand the weight and snapped and is now leaning precariously. The good news is, we have 20 tomatoes!

Here is my sage...I love the smell of sage. It reminds me of my Grandma Kathryn and fall and Thanksgiving. It's not gotten very big but I'm hoping to have enough to cut and dry for seasoning things.

Another note to self: Next year get more pepper plants and in a few different varieties. If you look very closely, you can see down at the bottom the lone little jalapeno on the plant. I sure hope we get more than just the one...there are still several blooms so I'm hopeful.

Excuse me waiter, there's a fly on my dill plant...

I'm happy to report that the marigolds have done well as far as keeping the bugs off of the plants...well except for Mr. Fly on the dill...and the rest of the herbs are doing wonderfully too. I totally messed up the lettuce this year and didn't thin it in time and it choked itself out, so no lettuce crop to speak of. I also have a mystery plant that I don't remember what it was growing so I guess that will be a surprise if and when it produces anything. I'll keep you posted!

Is anyone else growing anything this year? How's it going?

How I Know it's Summer...

I can tell it's summertime at our house because my house looks like a tornado hit it with the little cyclones I have running in and out around here. :)

I also know that it's summertime because of the amount of towels that we're going through...
Another clue that it's summertime in our house is that it seems like the grocery bill DOUBLES!!
But I'm really loving every second of it...
Summer is my favorite season of the year!

Wordless Wednesday

I know "wordless Wednesday" is technically supposed to be wordless, but I can't help but comment on these pictures...

A couple of years ago, the husband and I decided we should get a dog. All kids should grow up with a dog, a dog would provide extra security for the house, all the normal dog-getting reasons...

He wanted a boxer. I told him how I had an immense dislike for the breed (I had one in the past - can you say stupid & stubborn?? Oh wait, that was my ex-husband...). He persisted and one day came home with this:

Cute little booger, wasn't he?? However, ALL puppies are cute at one point... A white boxer is also an anomaly generally considered a "defect"...My handsome, sweet husband felt sorry for him and therefore we ended up with him. Now as he makes messes and accidentally plows everyone over in the house, it's generally US who are sorry....

That adorable little puppy soon grew into this:

Look at the awkward, gangly, all-legs, vision of goofiness we now have residing in our household. There are the two dogs...the other is a terrier named Scrappy, but we'll tell his story another day...normally they are fighting and picking at each other constantly but I happened to catch this rare moment of snuggling so I felt compelled to snap a few shots.

Now for the mugshots...

Mugshot #1: Front view. His name is Buster but I think we should have named him Mugsy...he looks like a Mugsy, doesn't he??

Mugshot #2: Side view. Check out the saggy lips...ridiculous looking silly creature.

He's lucky the kids adore him! lol

Wordless Wednesday

Here is the "way back Wednesday" photo. This is me and my younger cousin and I'm wrinkling up my nose like "what the heck IS that?" You will note my age with the righteous upholstered couch that I'm sitting on....LOL

I searched for a while to see if I could find a picture of the daughterling with her nose all wrinkled up but I got tired of flipping through endless pictures. Anyway, here is my mini-me with a lighter shade of hair than I had. Every time she runs across one of my childhood pictures she says "Oh look, it's a picture of me!" :)