My Green Beans Aren't Green

Dear Mom,
They're purple.

I've never seen purple green beans before. I can't even tell you what "kind" of beans I planted. The package that contained the seeds was probably especially organic and biodegradable because it fell apart practically before I could get the seeds in the ground. All I can tell you is I purchased them at a local nursery and I was taken in by the charming art on the package and the fact that the seeds were supposed to be heirloom/organic/tailored for midwest gardens.
The plants and beans -despite the pretty purple color- are thriving and healthy.
My Concern, however, is that GREEN beans are one of the few vegetables I can count on the Young Lady (our picky eater) to eat. We never have leftover green beans. But Purple beans?

I gave serious thought to pulling up all the purple bean plants and starting over. Before doing so, I cooked a handful of purple beans as a taste test, in hopes that I could somehow convince the Young Lady that the purple beans were as good or better than green beans.... if you close your eyes.

All my worry was for nothing, as magic happened in the pot of simmering water.
The purple beans turned GREEN! And they were delicious.

I should go out there and harvest some this morning before it gets hotter. Steamy hot doesn't begin to describe how it is out there. In fact, that purple bean picture up there was not taken with some fancy movie star wrinkle-erasing lens filter on my camera. I had trouble taking pictures before the lens fogged over!

My corn is as high as an elephant's eye and I see little ears of corn growing. We'll be having fresh corn on the cob soon.

Love,
Kim

Introducing.....

Dear Mom,
I'd like you to meet Donna.

After spending two full days in weaving class and then coming home to repeat what I'd learned - or at least what I could remember!- on my loom, I knew her name had to be Donna. As in Reed. Because there is a part on the loom that the warp threads go through on the beater called a reed. And Donna is a good wholesome American name for my American made loom. And it makes me smile to know her name. We are already good friends.

In fact, I was beginning to be a little bit alarmed. I hadn't picked up knitting needles for almost a week and the last time that happened was because I'd had carpal tunnel surgery and had no choice. I've been spending all my knitting time either spinning or weaving. So last night I forced myself away from Donna and cast on for July's sock.

In weaving class we made a table runner to practice different types of weave- plain weave (good ole under/over), a twill and a basket weave. I am making coordinating placemats at home to practice and try out different patterns. This is the part that is addicting. I want to see how different things can look, and it is simply a matter of changing how I treadle my loom.

My head is also spinning with possibilities for scarves using sock yarn. And yes. I DO remember saying that I was "only going to weave placemats and dish towels". I have a way to go to get my edges neat, but that is one of the things I am hoping to accomplish on these placemats and I know I'll get there.

As you can imagine, being away weaving for that amount of time on the heels of vacation, and having left 2 dogs and 2 teens at home, things are pretty sketchy around here. My challenge for the next few days is to ignore the Call of the Fiber and tend to the house, shop for groceries, prepare healthy meals and try to get caught up on laundry.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about my garden.

Love,

Kim

Catching Up

Dear Mom,

After a week's vacation where we've touched our toes in the Atlantic and our fingers on a moon rock, sipped Butterbeers in Hogsmeade and mojitos on the beach, sent boys off shark fishing and girls 800 feet into the air on a parasail only to return home to house guests and the annual Cul-de-sac 4th of July celebration, I am slowly catching up and happy to home.

Despite having been  home since very late Saturday night- verging on the wee hours of Sunday morning- I didn't feel like I was truly able to relax and really Be Home until I brought Patsy home from the kennel yesterday. Now the family is all under one roof again and All is Well. (Bumper may feel differently. I think he enjoyed being Only Dog for two days.)

We planned our Florida vacation and the trip to Cocoa Beach in the hopes of seeing the last shuttle launch. As these things go, as soon as the condo was reserved and flight plans in the works the mission was delayed. And I heard this morning there is a good chance that rain will cause another delay and Atlantis may not launch on Friday. We may not be able to cross "Watch a Shuttle Launch" off our Bucket List, but we did tour Kennedy Space Center and got a peek at Atlantis on the launch pad.

Our trip was a very good one; the first family vacation we've taken where our kids brought friends with them, and despite being outnumbered by teens, all went very well and everyone had a buddy.
The buddy strategy allowed My Hero and I time to relax and read. And knit.
I finished June's socks.

And I knit this shawl with my very own handspun.

This is the result of that first bag of dirty wool I brought home. The Bag o'Wool that turned me into a spinner.

I've seen many of these To Eyre shawls on ravelry and Dianne made a beautiful one that you can see here. I wish mine were just a bit bigger. I prefer a shawl that I can really wrap up in, but this one will probably be just right for warming the back of my neck and shoulders while staying put and out of the way. The pattern instructions include directions for modifying length and width, and this was a soothing, quick project, so I may have to give it another go.

And before we left I finished this wrap.

I purchased this pattern and yarn on vacation last summer, so I guess it sort of fits to post it with stuff from this year's vacation. The pattern is Braided Glory, the yarn is Louisa Harding- a silk- I don't remember the name of the yarn and right now I am too lazy to get up and go looking for the ball band. The yarn was nice to work with but I think it may be too drape-y for this pattern. Also, I didn't do all the finishing on my wrap as the pattern suggests. I was ready to be Done With It and omitted some small edging details that didn't impress me. IF I ever make this again I will be making several modifications that, in my opinion, would neaten things up. However, with so many other things I want to make, I really don't see myself making another one of these.

I have weaving classes scheduled for the end of the week. The plan is to work on a loom in class and then come home and repeat the lesson on my loom at home to solidify what I've learned. I think we do placemats or table runners in class. So, whichever I do in class, I'll do the other at home. (I may appear calm, but my Insides are doing that happy dance kids do on Christmas Eve!)

Love,
Kim

I Don't Even Know Where To Begin . . .

Dear Mom,
As a reminder to everyone reading, I have 3 children.  My oldest, The Teenager, is a 14 year old boy who thinks he could--and should be (!)--running the country.  My middle child, The Diva, is 11 and likes to think of herself as the next American Idol (think:  lots of singing to Disney music into a wooden sock darning-thing-turned -microphone!  My saving grace is that there is no Justin Bieber in the house.  Yet.)   My youngest, The Pipsqueak, is a nature-loving 8 year old girl who would rather sleep in a tree house than in our house.  They are all happy and healthy.  And --- in a term coined by other parents who are trying to be nice about my "active" children --- all three of mine are "spirited".

For seven years now, the kids have been on a summer swim team.  Every day during the summer, we all wake up at 7:15 to make an 8:00 swim practice.  They swim until 10:30.  For 6 years now, I have been asking, "Are you sure you really want to swim this year?!"  They beg to swim.  We have made friends with so many neat people; one of them being a family like ours.  The parents are our age and they have 4 (!!!) children, the oldest being a few years older than The Teenager and all of their other kids are my kids' ages.  Due to a very sad circumstance, I have been a part-time mom to these 4 children this summer.  (My friend was in a very serious car accident and was in ICU for about a week.  She broke a lot of bones, tore some internal organs . . . . she is FINE and she is home now but there will be about 8 weeks of rehabilitation and therapy.  She is in a wheelchair, sleeps in a hospital bed in her family room . . . . )  I have been taking her children to my house several days each week so that they can make it to swim practice and swim meets without too much disruption and worry.

When I haven't had children, I have been working.  Starbucks.  And I had a very large photo shoot--the annual swim team photo shoot--team and 190 individual swimmer photos to edit and process.

Yes, I think I am crazy.  The younger girls have washed the dog (several times.  Poor Keeper!), painted rocks, baked cookies, made glitter globes, did face paint and dress-up, rode bikes, picked vegetables and planted flowers with me --- sometimes in just 1 day :-)  The boys have played Risk for several days in a row, made bonfires and roasted marshmallows, mowed the grass (yes, even the boys that aren't mine!), and have played some occasional video games --- sometimes in just 1 day :-)

Anyway . . . . . . . all of that to say this:  we finally had a day yesterday where I didn't have to work and I didn't have anyone else's children.  We did nothing.  At one point I asked The Teenager when he last showered.  This was our conversation:
Me:  "When was the last time you showered?"
Teenager:  "I don't know, Mom.  I swim every day."
Me:  "That doesn't count.  And that's gross.  . . . . Really, when was the last time?"
Teenager:  "Really.  I don't know."
Me:  "Go.  Now."

And because that left me speechless, my little Pipsqueak decided to pipe up:
Pipsqueak:  "Um. . . . . . should I tell you that I lost my toothbrush?"
Me:  "Yes!  When did you lose it?  How have you been brushing your teeth?"
Pipsqueak:  "With my finger!"
Me:  "When. Did. You. Lose. Your. Toothbrush?"
Pipsqueak: "I don't know.  More than a week ago."  (Said in a tone that was meant to reassure me that since it has been more than a week and she has been using her finger to brush her teeth and she's just fine, I shouldn't fret over a lost toothbrush!)
Me:  Opens linen closet, pulls out new toothbrush.  Hands it to Pipsqueak. "Go.  Now."

I looked at The Diva.
Diva:  "Going.  Now."

Ahhhhhhhh, happy carefree summer :-)  I wouldn't want it any other way!!!  :-)

Love,
Wendy

Knee high by the 4th of July

Dear Mom,

My corn is definitely knee high- well before the 4th of July!

And the tomato plants I started from seed are healthy and filled with blossoms.

My cabbage is coming along nicely.

And we have romaine lettuce to eat, the bean plants look healthy.

Can't wait to start harvesting some home grown veggies!

Love,
Kim

Heddles and shafts and tie-ups, Oh my!

Dear Mom,

I (hopefully) put my loom together.
There were lots of pieces.
800 of these things call heddles.

I have an 8 shaft loom. The heddles go in the shafts. So there are 100 heddles in each shaft.

Heddles are thin rather uncooperative metal bits. Even keeping them all lined up properly on their string didn't guarantee that they would stay that way- there were a few that twisted around each other, or one or two completely getting missed which meant backing off everybody else in line to straighten out the rogue heddle.


Then I attached all the tie-ups.
There are 90.
They will be used to coordinate which shafts are raised and lowered when I step on the treadles.

(Don't I just sound like I know what I am talking about?)
.......
(Really, I don't even have half a clue.)

When I was messing with all the tie-ups and they were dangling down and brushing against my arms, they reminded me of Bo Derek's hair in the movie 10. I might name the loom Bo. I'm still thinking about it.
Even though I've had my hands on all the parts, I still feel that we need more time together before I name it.

By the time I was done tying up the apron bars, dealing with the heddles and crawling on the floor looping those tie-ups through all those holes, my back ached, my shoulders were stiff and I was covered in dewy layer of perspiration. In my ignorance, I am choosing to believe that I won't have to do this again and that everything else involved in weaving will be easier. And not so sweaty.

I have classes the first week in July, so soon* (!?) I'll have something on the loom to share.

Love,
Kim

*I will not be defining 'soon'.

He still has spunk

Dear Mom,
An interesting event occurred the other day.  Our leaking ice maker was being repaired- replaced, actually- and Patsy was safely isolated in her crate while Tony removed the iceberg from the freezer and installed the new part.
Bumper, sensing safety and feeling younger than his 12 years, decided to live on the edge for a few moments. He grabbed Patsy's rawhide bone, did a parade lap around the family room in full view of the crated one, trotted through the kitchen and into the diningsewingweaving room.
Pardon the blurry photo here, I had to move fast to snap this shot.

See? I still have it in me!

Bumper was feeling pretty proud of himself and the Young Man and I did some serious gushing over him. He dropped the bone and went back to napping as soon as I finished taking his picture. We figured Bumper probably hasn't had his lips around a rawhide chew since the fateful day that Patsy came to live here.

Happily, he suffered no repercussions when Patsy was freed.

Love,
Kim

It's HERE!!

Dear Mom,
My loom arrived this afternoon, one day earlier than the expected delivery date, but fortunately after I had made a place for it in the dining room. (To be accurate, it probably should be called something else, because more sewing, spinning and now hopefully, weaving, is done in there than actual dining.)

Getting the box off the truck, up the driveway and into the house required the help of the Young Man and a next door neighbor who thankfully drove up right when we needed her to come hold the front door open. The box was a tiny bit heavy, but it was the size that made things a bit topsy turvy as we negotiated the front steps.

Here it is with the box just opened. About now I am still excited, but beginning to wonder what I've done.

When I slid it out this far I started to get just a tiny bit scared.

But I persevered, carefully slid it into close proximity of its new home and started to read through the instruction booklet that came with it, checking off the parts list which was a bit of a joke when parts are listed that I don't even know what they are called or what they are for. Some of them I just went by the count- yep, 3 of those things, so those must be apron bars....and that thing is brass colored so it must be the brass reed hook, and so on. I am taking their word for it that there are 800 heddles.
After removing all the plastic wraps and reading through the booklet, I did manage to get the thing unfolded and attached a crank handle before getting overwhelmed and calling it quits before I break something. I'll take my classes and get the whole thing figured out. I almost feel like I'll be learning how to drive all over again.

Here is is all unfolded.
The loom won't be given a name until we get more intimately acquainted.
I am also reminding myself that there have been weavers for centuries and that I am up to the task.

Love,
Kim

Flowers

Dear Mom,
The past days here have been perfect. Warm, not hot, days. Cool evenings. Gentle breezes. Plenty of sunshine and just enough rain.
My perennials are beautiful this year and my photos do not do them justice. Plus, my camera is malfunctioning and this may be the last good pictures I can get. This really bums me out. Seems an impending vacation always jinxes my cameras. I've got an email into Nikon's support center and I am hoping for a magic fix.
Anyway- here are some of my pretty flowers.
When shopping for marigolds on Mother's Day, I found an Orange coneflower and did not hesitate to put it in my wagon.

My garden is a haphazard mix of easy care perennials, and mostly I let things grow where they want to. I love perennials that will re-seed themselves and spread out- naturalizing themselves in the garden. I could never plan out their locations as ideally as they end up when they've planted themselves. Whenever I can, I take the seeds from favorites and scatter them in new spots, hoping for the best.

The blue delphiniums are blooming for the first time - I think I planted them 2 years ago, but they were trampled over last summer when we had new siding put on the house and never got a chance to bloom. The hot pink flowers are unknown to me, I admired them in my neighbor's yard and she gave me several seed pods. These have a fuzzy sage green leaf and have managed to grow in the best spots. Also mixed in there is some pink/purple yarrow which is really taking over, and way in the back there you can see Stella Day Lilies- another gift from another neighbor when she was dividing up hers.

I realized yesterday that if June's socks were going to get done I'd better get started on them. I've had this sock yarn in my stash for a very long time. Maybe 10 years! These will be man-sized socks.

Hopefully my camera issues will be resolved and I'll be able to post pictures of finished socks and knitting and vegetable gardens soon.  Until then I'll either be forced to blog without adding photos or resort to old pictures to make it interesting.

Love,
Kim

and another and another...

Dear Mom.
More t-shirts. Last summer it was bucket hats.
Now I'm decorating my t-shirts to coordinate with last summer's hats.
Don't worry. I'll run out of t-shirts or ideas soon.

I've also been motoring through a shawl. I keep waiting for the polish to wear off of my excitement over knitting this shawl, but it hasn't happened yet. The pattern is the Dragon Wing Shawl, which I picked up at Earth Guild 3 years ago when My Hero and I took a trip to Asheville for our 25th anniversary. The yarn is from Marr Haven, and I purchased it last summer on vacation. So it's like two vacations knitted together. I suppose I could take it on this year's vacation and really be wrapped up in happy memories when I wear this.

On the bobbin in that picture is 4 oz of yarn I've spun.  It is River's Edge Fiber Arts "Wild Screaming Monkeys" in the On Golden Pond colorway. This stuff is a dream to spin. I treated myself to another 4 oz when we were at Hoosier Hills so I'll spin that, ply them together and have some decent yardage to knit. Don't know what, but I'll figure that out later.
Love,
Kim

Two more t-shirts and a baby gift

Dear Mom,
I decorated two more t-shirts.

This one is a no sew project- I just used my button hole cutter to cut openings wide enough to thread the ribbon through. I marked the locations with straight pins first, making sure they were relatively evenly spaced and that I had the right number of openings so the ribbon would come out and meet together.

And this next one might be my favorite.

I cut 1-inch strips of fabric, sewed a loose basting line down the center to use for gathering up the fabric, and pinned the gathered strips in place, basically letting the fabric tell me where it wanted to go. This is one of those things I have to turn part of my brain off when I am doing it so I don't over think it. I then used a wide zig-zag stitch to stitch down the middle of the gathers around and around until the fabric was attached to the t-shirt. I purposely left the edges raw so they will be slightly frayed. I just might make more shirts like this one.

The only thing I am unsure of is whether I should carry the gathered fabric across the back of the neck. Right now all I've done is what you see here. Any opinions?

One of the nice women I spin with at Tabby Tree is expecting her first baby- a boy- at the end of the month. Since our monthly spin in last Sunday is the last time most of us will see her before her son is born, a baby shower was in order. I made one of my favorite Elizabeth Zimmermann patterns- the Tomten. I modified the design just a bit to add stitches on each side of the fronts to create a double breasted jacket, and used toggle buttons. This isn't the best photo, but I didn't get a better one before it was wrapped and given.

Despite the heat, wool is my fiber of choice. I have a beautimous lace shawl on my needles right now, and a smaller silk shawl/wrap thingy going too, but no pictures of either to show you. I'll do something about that and show some knitting in progress in the next day or two.

Love,

Kim

Supporting the Arts

Dear Mom,
Last Friday we set out for Franklin, Indiana- an easy hour's drive south- for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival, and I came home with more fiber to spin, some shawl pins, happy memories, and most importantly, Inspiration.

The fiber came from River's Edge and the shawl pins from Wool's End.

These shawl pins were priced such that it felt like stealing. I did my best to convince their creator to raise her prices. I've never seen anything like these and they were priced at a SINGLE DIGIT. Low single digit. I honestly would have expected these pins to cost 10 times as much and assured the gentle artist that she should at least put a 1 in front of that single digit.

I didn't take any photos of the lambs that stole my heart, but I took several of this sweet little baby, which I am most thankful was already sold- making it impossible for the Young Lady (or YOU) to bring her home.

Soft. Sweet. Picture perfect little angora bunny.

Those ears just make my heart melt.

Like I said, good thing it was already sold....

Love,
Kim

That first bag of wool

Dear Mom,
Remember that first bag of wool?

Well, a year and a half later it is now this:

Almost all spun- just a little bit of roving left to spin and approximately 1000 yards of yarn! WOW.
Not quite enough for a sweater. Definitely enough for a vest or a shawl.

Since receiving that first bag from my Brother-in-law, I've been given two more, have purchased countless pounds of roving from various sources, have another gifted bag of wool from MelissaWhoHooksRugs and some wool that I need to attend to that is destined for the Sheep To Shawl Contest at the State Fair. (Okay, yes. I am publicly acknowledging that I've been invited to be a Sheep to Shawl team member. Not sure what my team mates are thinking exactly, but I've been assured that I am up to the task. They most likely are desperate. More on Sheep to Shawl another day.)

Little did I know where that That First Bag of Wool would lead me.To be honest, when I took that "free" bag of wool I took it intending to send it off as dirty wool and have it come back to me as yarn. I was NOT going to become a spinner! Rather, it has been spinning classes, a spinning wheel, dye workshops, fiber fairs. A loom.   And even better- learning something new, being creative, spending happy hours and making new friends. Free bag of wool? Priceless.

Love,
Kim

When Denial meets Reality

Dear Mom,

I've been trying to ignore the persistent countdown to the last day of school as reported faithfully by the Young Lady, but I cannot do so any longer.

Tomorrow is the last day.

Thankfully tomorrow is a full day of school, but I am completely indecisive about how to spend my last two relatively alone with my piece of quiet days. Do I whirl through the house ridding it of all dust and dog hair and debris, leaving it all clean at once for one last time..... or do I use the time to fill my creative well with as much knitting and spinning as I can????
I know the answer. I won't be able to relax with knitting in my lap knowing there is housework to be done. So cleaning it will be.

I've got a small knitting project nearly completed and I'll show it to you when it is off my needles. I've also got a couple of  projects going that are not photo worthy yet. And I've done a  decent amount of spinning over the past week which I've neglected to photograph, so I'll save that for another post.

What I CAN show you is the t-shirt makeovers I've done. My changing figure and current fashions don't seem to be complementing each other. When I try stuff on, this is what I see looking back at me in the dressing room mirror:

Yep. That. Except without the fur.

Sooo. In self-pitying desperation, I went to Target and bought a bunch of Men's v-neck t-shirts. (For me, the sleeves on women's tees are too short. Even when I was thin my upper arms were not attractive.) And so far this is what I've done.

I won't be gracing the pages of any fashion magazines with these looks, but at least I don't feel like Harvey Korman when I look in the mirror.

Love,
Kim

May's Socks

Dear Mom,
Started late but finished early, these socks are ready to be washed and put in the gift drawer! I started out with these using a rather complicated stitch pattern, couldn't read the stitches in the variegated colors, lost my place in the pattern and realized that really, when it comes to socks, I just want to knit on auto pilot. Hand knit socks feel good on your feet no matter how plain or fancy. So, simple socks it is again. And again.
Love,
Kim

Weekend Wrap Up

Dear Mom,

It was a busy weekend of good weather and a visit from My Hero's dad. Thanks to their hard work, I had another dozen flower boxes to plant and Patsy has a dozen less escape options. If everything I've planted thrives, the fence will be a show stopper and a Patsy stopper.

I was able to get my garden planted on Friday afternoon. Once upon a time I had the thought of planting rows of beans and corn in succession so I wouldn't be harvesting all at once, but it would seem that thought left my brain once I got out there and started planting. This year I've planted more of fewer things. Except tomatoes. I am hoping less of those will give me enough tomatoes to eat and can without an over abundance. Part of me wants to rush out there and plant a couple more tomato plants for just in case, but that is why I end up with a tomato jungle every year. So this year I'll try being reasonable about them and see what happens. I still have Many Many plants from the seeds I started in March. I've given them to everyone I can think of and still have some left. I'll hang onto them for back ups a little while longer and then... I don't know. I hate the thought of trashing them. In fact I know I just won't be bale to do that. So maybe I will end up with another tomato jungle after all.

When I was planting I realized that I didn't have any new, or enough, row markers. Necessity being the mother of invention, I came up with these, which I think are way cuter than anything I would have purchased ( and could have been way WAY cuter had I taken the time for decorative writing):

This is a small clay saucer stuck half in the ground. I used a sharpie to write Corn. If I'd taken my time and had planned ahead for this, I would have used paint pens to write nicely and added a drawing of corn. I've done the same at the ends of my rows of beans, too. (Except of course, those say Beans.) In the Herb Garden I took the pots that partner these saucers, turned them upside down, and wrote the names of the herbs on the outside of the pots and sat them in the ground next to the plants.

Now comes the waiting part. I go out there two or three times a day and just look at the dirt. Like I am going to see a sprout after 3 hours or something. But I don't want to miss the magic.

And speaking of seeds sprouting...
A finished This is THAT Sweater has been posted on ravelry! The knitter blogs about the sweater, which she made for her Mom (!!), here. It is very satisfying and exciting to see one of my knitting designs "out there"- and especially when the knitter is so happy with the results.

My socks for the month of May are right on schedule despite their getting a late start. With the Dancing with the Stars finale and the Glee finale tonight and tomorrow night, I should have them done with no trouble.

Generic sock pattern, Claudia's Hand Painted yarn- color Toast

This is a beautiful day and I hope to enjoy a bit of it on the back porch. With only 7 more school days left, I need to fill the well with some quiet time.

Love,
Kim



News to share

Dear Mom,

For a long while now I have been denying my Inner Weaver. I kept trying to keep her quiet, telling her that I have enough other things to do, that knitting and spinning (and gardening and housekeeping and family keeping and dog keeping) really should be enough.

Inner Weaver just got a little louder. She was especially worse after Sunday Spin Ins at Tabby Tree Weaver. I had to drive home with the windows down just to blow the weaving fumes off of me and clear my head.

Inner Weaver wasn't fooled.

Before Inner Weaver got b-itchy, I publicly acknowledged her existence. I said that someday I would have a loom. I thought that would settle Inner Weaver down a bit, but it actually just made her more assertive. She knew she was winning.

And now this.

This is a Schacht Baby Wolf loom. It should be arriving on my doorstep in the next 4-6 weeks. The only other weaving I've ever done is this rug in a one day class. Unless potholders count and then I've done LOTS of weaving in my day.
I am scared and excited. There is so much to learn and that may be the best part about it all.

Love,
Kim

What to do?

Dear Mom,
What to do in the middle of May, when the outside temperature is 46 degrees (the weatherman actually used the words wind chill this morning) and it is rainy, too?
Brew some hot cinnamon spice tea.
Start a fire.
Heat up some Herb Bean Soup for lunch.
Listen to an audio book.
And spin.

After the daily housework is done, of course.
And it is.
And I am.
Love,
Kim

Working my Aster off.

Dear Mom,
This string of mostly dry, very warm days has been ideal for getting yard work and garden projects done. I have very little to show for it though. I continue trying to repair the lawn's drought damaged areas and where it was once bald, it is now sprouting up wispy little baby grass. And LOTS of chickweed. I'll deal with that once the grass seed is firmly established. I've been digging it up where I can do so with out disturbing the new grass too much. I do not exaggerate when I say that this past week I've spent more time pulling weeds than I have knitting.
I've also tilled up my vegetable garden the old fashioned way. With a hoe. If the soil had been difficult to turn over I would never have done it, but once I got going I convinced myself that by manually tilling up the earth I was saving the gas the would run the tiller, emitting no noise pollution or engine exhaust, and getting some really good exercise. I'm also hoping that all my hands on attention will be rewarded with the best vegetables ever. But I do have to admit that while it wasn't all easy, I really do like digging in the dirt and planting things. One of the best feelings, for me, has to be crumbling a chunk of soil into fine bits with my hands. And I like the smell of dirt.It's almost as good as the smell of rain. But then I also like the smell of a wet dog, so there could be something not quite right about me.
 After tilling I added some compost and peat, mixed up my fertilizer recipe and worked that all in. I'll give the dirt a few days to settle, turn over the soil again and then plant- probably sometime next week, depending on the weather. I would like it to rain again before I plant. Why do I have the feeling that now that I've planted stuff that needs water the faucet has been turned off and we won't have anymore rain?
My Hero and I have been sidetracked from out indoor spring cleaning with outdoor projects. A big one has been the fence and our efforts at making it Patsy-proof.

I am not kidding when I say we should have named her FloJo after Florence Griffith Joyner. Patsy can run fast and the fence is just a high hurdle for her.
Last summer we replaced the planks on the gates, making them higher. She just found new spots to hop. We tried placing obstacles on the ground along the fence in her new preferred locations. She found new ones. A good portion of the interior of the fence perimeter is landscaped and not jump-able. But there is still a good portion that is wide open. The motion collar is a deterrent and really did cut down on Patsy's jumping habit. Unfortunately, everytime Patsy is in the backyard someone (usually me) has to be watching her ready to press the button that will vibrate her collar everytime she gets near the fence. With the warm weather we like to keep the door open onto the screened porch which has the doggie door, which means that the dogs can come in and go out whenever. We like that. We don't like that Patsy can't be trusted to stay. in. the. fence.
Our next attempt at Patsy containment was based on the theory that Patsy was using the horizontal 2 X4's to get a lift up and over the fence. We decided to put new planks on the inside of the fence, creating a shadow box type fence. We hoped that not only would she not be able to use that horizontal beam, but the dogs would not be able to see through the fence as easily and perhaps Patsy would not be tempted to leave.

Ok. Not.

But it worked for a few days. I don't know how she manages to get over the fence, but she does. That dog is just too smart. And I hate being outsmarted by a dog.

So now it is Plan.... D? And here is what we're doing. ( I know. Some people are  reading this and wondering why we just didn't get a taller fence. Because I like to be able so see out, that's why. To look out into my backyard and see a 6 or 8 foot wooden wall would make me feel closed in.) We My Hero is taking all the pieces of cedar fence planks that we cut to make fence height and using them to make flower boxes that we are placing ON TOP of the fence. We have come up with a simple design that has a rudder or whatever you want to call it that comes off the bottom of the box and slides down in between the fence boards. The flower boxes could tilt if they are nudged, but the rudder keeps them from falling off the fence or tilting over far enough to spill their contents.
He has made about a doxen flower boxes so far and we are placing them wherever we see even the slightest possibility of an escape. And they look really nice, too.

When the first few boxes were completed and ready to be placed, My Hero asked where Patsy's favorite jumping spot is along the back.
Ummm, I think......HERE.

Yep. Definitely.

Here.

So far, the plan is working. We'll keep building and planting flower boxes until we run out of wood or places to put them. I don't want to think about what happens if this doesn't work. Because I don't think this

 is going to blend in with the landscaping.

Love,

Kim