Thursday, August 30, 2012

She is five

In my journey into digital photography.....





Saturday, August 18, 2012

Grasshopper Incident

Last evening Catie and were I were enjoying a foray into the garden just before dark. We were delighted to see a rather large grasshopper and stopped to look at him for a moment. Catie assured me he was not there to eat my garden. With amusement I admonished him to find greener grazing grounds and encouraged him to simply fill himself with one meal before moving along. No greediness allowed. We chuckled and continued our discussion. I bent over to inspect couple of plants and before I knew it our resident, and rather large, grasshopper had decided to hitch a ride in my tank top. (GULP) It took a few and Catie still could not believe he was in my shirt but I did manage to send him on his way. That incident convinced me that I have had so much excitement from my family that I tend to under react. There was a time that such an event would have caused me to put a break dancer to shame.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Perfect Eggplant

I planted ONE eggplant. I like eggplant parmesan. I like the color of the plant. We thought it looked cool. Turns out that this has been one prolific plant. I have gotten a number of the little purple egg shaped things and have not made one eggplant parmesan! I did discover a recipe that is easy and delish!

Simply take the eggplant and slice thinly. Spread on a cookie sheet. Preheat over 350 degrees
Sprinkle with olive oil and sea salt and cracked black pepper and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. I also added some peppers and tomotoes.

This is yummy! My kids loved it too.

Enjoy.

Fresh Veggies!

Here is a picture of my favorite veggie farmer and some of the goodies we picked last evening.
We have picked some of it while it is still in it's smaller stage because the bunnies and squirrels have become more and more resourceful in finding a way into our ever growing wire enclosure. That is at the top of the list for improvements for next year.

The garden is just two 4x4 squares plus 4 odd plants and a few bean plants haphazardly next to one of the bunny pens. We placed barriers down and piled on our heap of compost and soil. We have not weeded all summer. We have had gardens of various sizes but this one has been the most productive.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Joy of the Domestic Duchess


Lest my royal title fool you I feel it only fair to tell you that the Duchess is Domestic because she does not have a staff. I do work hard at training my two ladies in waiting. Also, the castle is a fifty year old brick rancher with a myriad of projects calling my name. My best advice to unmarried women everywhere is to see the love of your life wield a hammer and a paintbrush before saying "I do" because love is surely not going to paint the kitchen!

I am not complaining, mind you. It is a crappy economy and we have a roof over our heads at a decent price. It is not falling down by any means. It does need work. I have tiled the kitchen and painted. I have more to do. There are the questions of money and ability. There that thing about a willing and able partner rears it's ugly head again. Mark my words! Counsel your daughters.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Pictures!

My original photography.



Rabbits!

The wild rabbits in the neighborhood have been behaving in a most unneighborly manner. They have taken to visiting my garden patch and taking one bite from a tomato and leaving the remainder. Now, I do not mind sharing even the ripest of my veggies but I do take exception to such wasteful behavior. I left several on the edge of the garden in the event that some mommy rabbit would come along and encourage those young'uns to clean their plates. For the first time in my life I find myself identifying more with Mr. McGregor than with poor Peter and his brothers and sisters. Wasteful bunnies!


Speaking of bunnies, we do have some new additions to the household. Earlier in the summer we had a tragedy when our heavy bunny hutch was knocked over during a storm. Sadly, one of our bunnies died. This week we decided to replace him and to be honest we went a little nuts!

This is Marshmallow. She is a Lop mix. We have had her for awhile.

A new baby! This is a little mixed breed bunny. He is named Dash in honor of the Olympics.

Here is Dash again with our new Californian baby. She is named Cali. Dash and Cali are about eight weeks old. Cali will get up to 9-10 lbs.

The rabbits are an excellent way to provide fertilizer for the garden. My girls enjoy keeping them and taking care of them. After we got the two babies, we ended up bringing home another Mini Rex male. his name is Peter. I will post pictures of him later. He is a very tame fella who was slated to be a pet in a daycare center. They said he was stressed and I am sure that is true. Call me crazy but I am guessing an animal that is prey for nearly every meat eating animal everywhere is not going to be comfortable around a lot of noise and activity. That is one of the reasons our rabbits are housed outside and in secure cages away from the dogs. We don't want them stressed and unhappy. So here is to beautiful plants and flowers next year!





Sunday, August 5, 2012

Recent pictures

Hydrangea


Hydrangea
This one is located at the home of my aunt, Nancy. 
I believe that it is actually two bushes but still
 find it interesting that the colors are so varied.

Japanese Maples from the garden of Aunt Nancy.

A fading rose from my garden.

Catie--Age 9 and Gus--Age 15 months.

Drenagh--Age 16 months

Drenagh

Gus practicing being our guardian angel. :)

"Dogs are not our whole lives but they make our lives whole"


Dream Big!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagine."--
Henry David Thoreau

I started typing tonight with a completely different spin on this topic until I realized I have been a lifelong come from the back of the pack under dog! Yep, I am that girl. I've never had a thing from an A at the top of my paper to my name turning up on the cheerleading roster come easy to me. Most people will tsk tsk and say that they worked hard for everything they have ever gotten too. I know that is true! I believe we all work hard. 

Between varsity and junior varsity cheerleading I think I tried out six times before I finally made majorettes. Granted, we really didn't have majorettes but I was finally something! The following year I was a cheerleader. Grades were hard and I was suddenly in a very academic atmosphere coming from  barely making the grade. Summer school! That was just the beginning.

I'm still at it. Training and titling working dogs without close resources. Another time of learning from the ground up, making mistakes, and being the underdog. Wish me luck!