It's ON!!

I spotted a ground hog today. In my yard. Going under the Groundhog Love Shack (more commonly known as our shed). Seriously!?! The games have begun. Me against the groundhog. They have a terrible history of mowing down my garden in short order and if there's anything that can irritate me quite like that...well...I don't know what it is. So, what shall it be? A motion sensing sprinkler? A Bear Grylls-inspired snare? Razor wire? Specially trained attack chickens? Ground hog burritos???? Time shall tell...

And speaking of animals (aren't my transitions oh-so-smooth...ha!) James has always been fascinated by snares and wants to catch an animal. A month ago he made a clever squirrel snare, making a wire loop and putting peanut butter and Craisins in it. He rigged it up in such a way that the loop was nearly invisible and right along the path a squirrel would take down a branch. The squirrel took the snacks, but left the snare. James was miffed. This week, he rigged up a little rabbit trap. We have a rabbit we call our 'pet' because it sits in the same exact place in the yard every day. I don't know why he wants to catch it or what he would do if he did. I think it is more of a challenge for him. He dug out one of the termite traps the previous owners had installed. It left behind a narrow hole about 10 inches deep. He laid a cloth napkin over it and made a trip wire out of a piece of twine and two twigs. His idea was that the rabbit would run along, perhaps attracted to the lovely pumpkins printed on the napkin, and then couldn't proceed past the trip wire. It would thus step on the napkin and fall through into the hole. Never mind that the hole was sized more toward a small mouse, or realistically a few over sized crickets. But I've got to hand it to him! He is clever, and determined. I hope someday he catches something someday.

Our Weekend Of (Not) Camping

So instead of camping this past weekend, we stayed home. The heat was outrageous, hotter than I ever remember around here. One day it was something like 107 degrees with a heat index of 120! The humidity adds the special twist that makes it pretty much unbearable. The good news is, we survived, the chickens survived and our air conditioner didn't burn itself out. We gave up trying to cool the upstairs down, and it was so hot the thermometer was tapped out at 120+. Eeek! I can't believe the computer didn't melt. These old L-town houses have slanted walls upstairs, so that the ceiling/wall is in direct contact with the roof. The insulation is 60 years old and has degraded to the point that I don't think it does much of anything. But I digress. Wait! That's right, I wasn't going anywhere with this post anyway, so how can I digress?!?! That brings me to my next point. (Mrs. Haffly, my 7th grade teacher, would be cringing right now at my lack of transitions!) The chickens...they are coming of age. They are 18 weeks and starting to show signs that maybe they will start laying soon. I am officially on egg-watch, even though they probably won't start for a few more weeks. I emailed my friend and chicken expert, Linda, and she confirmed that the time is near. So exciting! And the burning question that keeps me up at night (not really)....will Big Martha lay blue or green eggs????? Any bets? They advertised blue, but apparently the breed can crank out blue, green, or occasionally pink eggs. (Not all colors from one bird) The rest will lay nice brown eggs.

In other random news, I have officially surpassed the 60 pound mark from my garden!!! Yesterday I picked a 16 ounce Brandywine tomato...not too shabby. I finally decided to put all the ripe cherry tomatoes in a dish where Katie can access them. No more trying to reach them on the counter. Now she has access to her 'candy dish' whenever she wants. This girl and her tomatoes. And speaking of tomatoes....guess what? Much to my dismay, the Groundhog Love Shack has yet another resident. Argh!!!! Seriously!!!!!!! I think this is about the millionth groundhog we've had. Of course, the little garden terrorist has taken bites out of at least three of the biggest tomatoes in my garden. I found where he was getting in and blocked it off. Do you think I could train my chickens to bark at it whenever it comes out???

We're Still Here!

Gee whiz! I didn't realize I hadn't blogged in almost a week. We've been busy playing outside, working in the garden, taking walks, finishing the chicken run, etc.. On Friday, Jeff took the day off and we all went to Longwood Gardens together. We got free tickets to go and that is a hard price to turn down. When we went in January, I was amazed at how beautiful it was. Well, May is equally, if not more beautiful! Everything was open, including the fountains and tree houses. There were entire long walkways flanked by tons of tulips and foxgloves and allium. Trees were in bloom, and the gardens in the conservatory were completely different than when we were there a few months ago. Gone were the Christmas trees and decorations, and in their place were a whole new set of plants and trees. It was quite amazing. We didn't get to see everything (not even close!) because the kids ran out of good humor all at the same time. They went from 'I love this place! This is awesome!' to 'I want to go home! Waaaaaaaa!!!!!' in about two seconds. We did have a lovely time, though, and here are some pictures:

This tree house is made from wood from an old barn and a toothpaste factory, based on the design of a Scandinavian (?) church. It was really beautiful! There were two other treehouses which were also really cool.

Garden Recap 2010

Delicious Amarillo Carrot!!

This garden year started with a bang. Remember the notorious skunk incident of 2010?? How could you forget! Yes, I started out trying to evict the pesky ground hogs from the Groundhog Love Shack that is our shed. I ended up accidentally capturing a skunk. This triggered many events, in no particular order: panic, despair, calls to the fish and game department, trusty internet research, more panic and despair, long debates about whether I should try the sheet method recommended by the F & G guy or try and, uh, 'dispatch' it, my brother-in-law requesting front row seats for said event, calls to various pest control operations, Dog the Bounty Hunter showing up to remove the skunk, an unhappy husband at the cost of removing said skunk, and Dog the Bounty Hunter going AWOL with my borrowed trap, which he returned after over a month of incessant calling. We later got rid of our groundhog problem which has been nice! I only found one tomato with teeth marks the entire season. After that saga, it could only get better, right? Things went well this year in the garden. I planted cabbage for the first time, and I got a few heads of cabbage out of it. Next year I will plant it earlier so that all my plants will produce!


The tomatoes and peppers did pretty well this year. I planted orange, yellow, purple, green and of course, red varieties. I have discovered that the Green Zebra tomato is one of my favorite tomatoes ever. I babied a Brandywine plant that didn't want to grow, and it produced one lone, but incredibly delicious, tomato. Violet Jasper? Well, they look cool and taste gross. I won't be planting them again. Now my freezer and cabinets are full of roasted green chiles, pickled peppers, salsa, dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, frozen tomatoes, and even my very own.....homegrown and homemade ketchup! (I realize making my own ketchup from tomatoes I grew myself puts me in the 'that-lady-needs-to-get-a-life' category, but I really wanted to a) try it, and b) have ketchup that doesn't have a ton of sugar/corn syrup) Its been a fun year of experimenting with new things. I have tried fall planting this year, with kale, cabbage, radishes, and spinach. We'll see how those go. Last year, I grew 117 pounds worth of veggies. This year, my goal was 200 pounds. So far I am at 214 pounds!! (Yes, I weighed everything. And yes, I am sort of nerdy that way) Next year I think I might hope to hit 300 pounds. I better start planning now. That's half the fun!

Apparently Skunks Like Strawberries

....and I need a nap.

Below is the long and dramatic saga of my morning escapades. You really can't make this stuff up, folks. Better grab a cup of coffee and settle in.....

This morning started like any other morning, but quickly turned out to be the most ridiculous drama-filled ordeal. If you've read the blog for a while, you probably know that I have a shed that I like to refer to as the 'Groundhog Love Shack.' We have trapped them, relocated them, and a new one always moves in. I don't want them taking up residence in my yard for two reasons: A) They can be mean and I have three little kids who like to play in the yard, and B) They eat whatever they please in my garden. This year, I thought we were home free, until I put the ducks out in the backyard. Two hours later, the groundhog made his first appearance. I have been setting the trap out for him the last week or so with no luck. Last night I set it again. This morning, I looked out the window to see something in the trap. But alas, it was too small to be a groundhog. I walked out the backdoor and walked a few feet toward the cage. It turned to me and at first I thought it was a possum, but quickly ruled that out. It was a skunk, but without the stripe. I made a beeline back into the house and told Jeff. His kind response went something like this: 'Well, what are you going to do? How are you going to get it out? If you shoot it (with an air gun) it will spray. You better call Animal Control or something.' And as he walked out the door to work, he generously said 'Call me if I need to bail you out of jail.' Thanks, honey, thanks. I tried calling Animal Control, though I was pretty sure they would tell me I was out of luck. They only do cats and dogs. I could never get a hold of them, so I tried the Department of Fish and Game. The conversation went as follows:

Me: Hi, I managed to trap myself a skunk. What should I do?
F&G Guy: What'd you trap a skunk for?
Me: Well, I was trying to catch a groundhog, but I caught a skunk instead.
F&G Guy: Well, groundhogs don't come out at night, but skunks do. You shouldn't set the trap at night.
Me: Well, yes, that may be my problem but how am I going to get the skunk out of my yard?!?
F&G Guy: Well, we don't help with that. Here's what you do: get an old sheet, and hold it in front of you. Approach the skunk very slowly. Slowly and gently lay the sheet over the skunk, and then, very slowly reach down and release it from the cage.
Me: So is it going to spray me?
F&G Guy: Well, if you go real slow it **shouldn't** spray you. (emphasis mine)
Me: OK, thanks.

In the meantime, I am calling my sister back and forth, lamenting over my predicament. Mostly, I was doing the lamenting and she was laughing hysterically at me. What should I do? I mean, there seem to be so few options. All the while, I watched from my kitchen window as the skunk ran back and forth in the cage, madly scratching and digging, trying to get out. Clearly Pepe Le Peu was a little peeved at this point. At some point, the conversation landed on actually paying someone to come out and take care of it. Well, there are several reasons I was opposed to that. First of all, if you know Jeff and I, you know that we are DIY sort of people. Jeff's motto is 'why pay someone to do something you can do yourself,' even if it means spending 453 hours repairing a lawn mower you found for free only to see it explode in flames in the middle of the yard. Not that I'm saying that's happened to us. The second reason I didn't feel like paying someone is that we all know it would cost an arm and a leg. Who wants to remove a skunk? Not me, that's who. But, at Rachel's insistence (and her joking that if I got sprayed Tyler would be weaned in a hurry and that they wouldn't get anywhere near me til I got done stinking), I called a wildlife removal agency. $229!!!!!!! TWO HUNDRED TWENTY NINE AMERICAN DOLLARS!!! But, as Rachel said, can you really put a price on not smelling like skunk for two months. But still. I couldn't do it. And even if I could, Jeff would have a myocardial infarction and that would cost a whole lot more than $229. Yet the option of me taking care of the skunk removal didnt' seem too thrilling either, though I could've charged Rachel and Phil admission to come over and watch the show. Did I mention that the trap is borrowed? Another reason I don't want the skunk to spray all over it. The trap is an $80 trap. So, the saga went on. Call a professional??? Try the sheet method??? Shoot the darn thing with a pellet gun and hope it works? That I was not too keen on for a multitude of reasons: first, we live in a neighborhood, second, a pellet gun is not made for that and I didn't want to end up injuring it, and third, while I used to be a pretty good shot, I haven't shot a gun in ages especially at a moving target. And thanks to my online research (what did we do before the internet?) I found that skunks usually spray when shot, unless you can get them in a certain spot. And then we would be paying $80 for a trap anyway. Not to mention I would be shooting into a cage with 1/2" openings in the cage. And it was in the shade, hard to see. Annie Oakley I am not. I called a few more places. Some people won't even mess with skunks. One cantankerous guy told me 'Well, we won't touch 'em. Call the township.' I told him the township won't do it. He said, in a heavy Jersey accent, 'Here's whatcha do! You cawl the township, tell 'em you gotta heart condition. Tell 'em you're real scared. (pause) And tell 'em you not gonna pay ya taxes til they come and get rid of it for ya. That'll get 'em out there!' Well, thank you kind sir for the information, but somehow I just don't think so. I called a few more places and finally got a quote of $100. Still seems like a hundred bucks I don't want to spend, but I scheduled the appointment anyway. Jeff still did not want to pay to get it removed when we could do it ourselves, but as I watched the skunk run back and forth inside the cage I felt that there was no stinkin' way (ha, ha) that I'd be able to get it. In the meantime, the phone rang and lo and behold it was another wildlife control place calling me back. He told me he'd do it for $75 and that he could be over pronto. So, I called the other place and canceled the appointment. About ten minutes later a guy who looks like Dog the Bounty Hunter's BFF shows up, sans mullet. Before I could even get to the door, my animal-loving neighbor shows up on my lawn and asks the guy what's going on. Poor guy. I explained to her that I was trying to catch the groundhog to relocate him and accidentally got a skunk. I got the evil eye, along with 'well, that's where they live!' She told me groundhogs weren't mean, but fortunately the skunk wrangler told her that, yes, they can be mean, they can sometimes go after humans. I got the whole 'That's their natural habitat and how can you even think about moving them somewhere else speech, about three times. I was nice, and I told her that I am not trying to kill the groundhog, just move him. I know that we humans keep encroaching on animals' natural habitats and it is reasonable to expect that there will be problems. I just don't want the groundhog in my yard. To end the conversation I asked the guy if he wanted me to show him where the skunk was. Once around the corner I apologized to him about the neighbor and he said as soon as she started walking across the lawn he knew what was coming. As soon as I came back around she came back and kept telling me how I just need to leave them be and how she hopes I've learned my lesson. I should have told her that I learned my lesson alright, that next time I'll use the 3-S treatment. Anyway, it was interesting to say the least. She was not happy, all because the poor skunk walked into the trap instead of the groundhog. After fending her off, I went back into the kitchen to watch the Bounty Hunter capture the skunk. He took a couple sheets and two long poles with pinchers on the end. He snuck around the shed and covered the trap with the sheets using his extendo-arm pinchers. Then he carefully carried the trap out to his truck. He'll do whatever he does with it, and bring the trap back. I can tell you one thing, I am not going to be trapping anymore groundhogs. Now I must come up with a new plan to keep them from multiplying under my shed. And the saga continues....

Crazy Weather

Here are a few pictures from last week. It got up to 90 + degrees. Now it is back in the 50's and 60's. The weather was so warm we were able to break out the swimming pool! I like this backyard weather.

(Note the beginnings of my garden in the background....the rhubarb is growing good and my spinach is up too!) Unfortunately the nice weather has brought out the groundhog too. Yes, the groundhog. I believe he is the fourth one. Hopefully he falls for the strawberry I put in the trap and I can relocate him far enough away that he won't come back. I have heard they can be mean, and I know they eat whatever they want in my garden if they find a way through the fence. And although they are vegetarians, I don't know if it would go after my ducks. I am seriously tempted to put concrete or something under the shed! What is it that is so inviting to them??

Its That Time of Year Again...

The weather has warmed up quite a bit, and I have been spending lots of time dreaming about and working in my garden. This year I am expanding it in size quite a bit, and trying some new things. The rhubarb I put in a few weeks ago is already up, and I put in asparagus, spinach and beets this week. I plan to add strawberries and a blueberry bush this week. Despite the fact that I am expanding the size of my garden, I still don't know where I am going to put everything. I did add another section solely for cut flowers, herbs and strawberries. Here are a few things I am planting this year, in no particular order:

• Cabbage
• Mexican Sour Gherkins
• Titan Sunflowers (for the kids)
• Pasillo, Anaheim, Jalapeno and Tobasco Chiles
• Radishes (James' request)
• Violet Jasper, Brandywine, Jersey Giant, and Green Zebra tomatoes
• Yellow and Red Pear tomatoes
• Ground Cherries and Tomatillos

Jeff does not mind me taking over the yard for my garden, as he does not care for mowing! I am seriously interested in some chickens, but I have to figure out the logistics of that first. Hmm....

Oh, and so far I have not spotted the groundhog, but I am not holding my breath. I am just waiting for him to show up right when the beet greens are up. We shall see!

And now I'm back...

All looking at the camera? How can it be!

Playing with my new camera...taking creepy pictures of myself

They love to 'hold hand' with Tyler (as Katie says)

A finished project! For my friend Jenni

More finished projects, one for Tyler, one for my friend Jenni

Delicious babyness!

Noisy little party animals

They don't sit still

James 'helping' me make goodies for the shower; you should have seen when he stuck his head in the bowl to lick the batter out

And yes, my arch nemesis is back, or one of his cronies. Jeff has set a snare trap for this critter...he's going all Bear Grilles on me.

Looooong busy weekend.....it included a really fun Friday night visit from Rach and Phil, a girls' trip to the flea market, more fun with the family, a last minute rush to make birthday cakes, shower treats and sew buttons on some jammies, a birthday party, church, and a baby shower. Phew!! Glad its all over.

Garden Surveillance

Now that Groundhog Numero Tres has moved into my yard, I am on the warpath. That spawn of Satan decimated all five of my bush beans in one day. He nibbled the leaves off my pole beans. He ate my carrot and beet tops. All of this, in the course of two days. This little rodent has caused me to take on the paranoia of a drug dealer fearing he is under surveillance. I peek out the window all day long to make sure the beast isn't pillaging my plants, or munching on my marigolds. I have put mothballs under the shed (supposed to deter them), and sprayed the pole beans with an evil stinky brew of egg, cinnamon, pepper and garlic. I have checked and double checked my fence situation and blocked any holes bigger than a baseball. So far, he's still in the yard (at least I spotted him on Tuesday), but he has not made it into the garden since the weekend as far as I can tell. Little booger. I really need to get my own trap, seems how my shed seems to be some sort of Groundhog Love Shack attraction.

On a happy note, while performing my daily foliage check, I found that I have some (still green) Yellow Pear tomatoes, a few little lantern-shaped husks on my tomatillos, and a plethora of squash blossoms. Hooray!

What a weekend (Wait...don't I say that every weekend lately?!)

In abbreviated form, here's the low down:

Had to pick carrots and beets early due to a mystery rodent breaking in to the garden. Later spotted mystery rodent frolicking in the grass. Identity: another blasted groundhog! This means WAR.

Jeff frosted his hair. And every other part of his body. All while painting at the house.

I am huge. See photo on left.

The stuff we had for the yard sale. Sold approximately 4% of it. Made a whopping $68.50 for all the effort. Had a 'lovely' customer who lingered forever smoking a cigarette and asking obnoxious questions and prancing around in her undersized tank top and too short shorts and lack of a certain necessary supportive undergarment. Here is a sampling from our time with her:

Lady: When was this book written?
Me: Uh, you're going to have to check the copyright date.

Lady: Oh, a scanner, where's the other one?
Me: Its a scanner, not a walkie talkie. It doesn't have an 'other one'
Lady: I know its a scanner, but where is the other one?
Me: We don't have it. (Why argue at this point?)

Lady: Do you have any small clothes?
Candi: Uh, lady, you're only fooling yourself! You are a size ten wishing you were a size four. (***She really didn't say this, but that was what we were both thinking! We may have exchanged a few eye-rolls while the lady was busy picking through our stuff***)

And after the whole ordeal, which apparently included her putting her cigarette in my lawn (good thing I missed that!), she spent a whopping 50 cents and then asked for bubble wrap.

And a few miscellaneous pictures from last week.

Backyard Intrigue

It was brought to my attention last week that there were not one, but two pesky groundhogs cavorting around the neighborhood. After I trapped the first one, the only one I knew about, I saw the second groundhog exiting the burrow beneath OUR SHED, a big fat manly-looking groundhog. This meant war, boys and girls. I set the trap and hoped for a quick catch. It was time to break up the groundhog Love Shack once and for all. This morning I was disappointed that the big guy hadn't made his way into the trap yet. However, whilst eating our breakfast, the fat lad rolled out of bed and smelled the delicious and drooled-on remnant of Katie's banana and went for it. Snap! I looked up and there he was, wondering what just happened. He soon discovered he was trapped, and is now trying to burrow his way out. Operation Groundhog Relocation Phase 2 Completed. Maybe he'll be reunited with his little lady friend when we release him into the woods. They can have their little groundhog babies far away from my garden, thank you very much.

Kids' Shenanigans and S-C-O-R-E!!!

It was warm enough yesterday to play in the hose!; James and his outfit of the day

Katie in her cowboy gear; Saying Cheese!

Orange Smile!; Sharing an orange

And cha-ching! We caught the groundhog that plagued my garden last year. He actually stayed away from most everything, except my entire crop of peas and several cilantro plants. Who knew groundhogs liked cilantro?! He will be moving on to some greener pastures far away from my garden. Coming to a neighborhood near you! (Just kidding! I think.)

Hello out there....

After another full weekend spent at....you guessed it....the rental, our list of 'to-do's' is finally getting very short. However, we have the added ISSUE of being told that the township has decided to mandate that we replace our perfectly fine stainless steel chimney liner with a new welded stainless steel chimney liner, to the tune of about $1200. I want to scream. And cry. Anyone want to a buy a house? :) I can't wait till I have my life back, and I can blog about fun and bizarre things (not like how I cleaned out the vanity at the rental this weekend and found that although there was a perfectly nice toilet right next to it, they managed to deposit both the Numeros Uno and Dos INSIDE THE VANITY CABINET! What the heck!)

Anywho, this week is hopefully the week I will plant my much anticipated garden. Its been raining, so that's why I say hopefully. My seedlings are busting at the seams and need to be planted. It is also the week I plan on relocated our pesky groundhog to some greener pastures, far away from my house. He'll have to find somewhere else to forage this summer, because if I catch him in my garden it ain't gonna be pretty. Have you ever seen a ginormous pregnant lady chasing an evil groundhog out of her garden? Me neither, and I don't want to. This years plan includes:

• Rutgers tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes (can't remember the variety)
  
• Yellow Pear tomatoes
• Green Zebra tomatoes
• Orange Banana paste tomatoes
• Poblanos
• Anaheim chiles
• Some sort of roasting chiles
• Red Belgian bell peppers
• Green bell peppers
• Eggplant, if I can ever get some to sprout
• Tomatillos
• Cosack Pineapple Ground Cherries
• Cucumbers
• Jack-Be-Little Pumpkins
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
• Purple podded pole beans
• Christmas Limas
• Black Turtle bush beans
• Sunflowers
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill (already outside)
• Purple Dragon Carrots (already outside)
• Chioggia Beets (already outside)
• Green Onions (already outside)

And to think this is the abbreviated 'I'm pregnant and due in July so I probably shouldn't go too overboard' list. There was so much other stuff I wanted to plant, but that'll have to wait till next year when I can double the size of my garden and reach down to pull weeds without bumping into a human being inside my ever-growing belly. (which, by the way, is garnering a lot of 'wow-you-really-popped-out' comments lately)

Skunks Apparently Like Peanut Butter

Who knew? James and I collected a few pine cones yesterday and made little 'treats' for the squirrels. Yeah, I know, its totally out of character for me, and no, I didn't bait a trap with the treats. No, for the sake of my son's education, I thought I would let him feed one of the lowliest in the animal kingdom: the tree rat. We coated the pine cones in peanut butter and rolled them in sunflower seeds. It wasn't 5 minutes before a squirrel found the treats and had a nibble. James watched him from just inside the window, which was quite exciting! The squirrel apparently didn't have a family to feed, because he left a majority of the goods behind. It didn't really get that exciting in the wild green yonder that is our backyard until sometime between 3:00 am and 5. Katie was up a countless number of times last night. At one point, I wandered in my sleep deprived stupor to look out the kitchen window. Low and behold, there was a skunk, directly outside the window, munching on the pine cones. Apparently, skunks have a sweet spot for peanut butter smeared pine cones. This morning, there was nothing left. It even appears that he dismantled one pine cone piece by piece to remove every trace of deliciousness. Now we have spotted, in the wild and untamed reaches of our suburban yard, a groundhog, a opposum, various rabbits, assorted tree rats, and a SKUNK! Next up, a moose! Now wouldn't that be the berries?

On a semi-related sidenote, what is the world coming to? I used the handy Google Image finder to look up a picture of a skunk of James. And what did I find? Well, for every picture of a skunk, there was a picture of skunk. If you get my drift. Skunk weed. Mary Jane. You can actually order seeds for skunk weed from various overseas seed vendors. One place even described the flavor and the type of high it gives you. Wow. Now that's the internet at work for you.

A Wee Irish Lad

This phase seems to be coming to an end, but I have been wanting to write about it before it disappears forever. James started using 'me' instead of 'I' or any contraction thereof. His sentences began to make him sound like a little Irish fellow. Here are a few examples:

'I need me sippy tup!'
'Me go in ba-yard'
'I need me pants, Mommy'

He is finally figuring out how to use 'I' and 'my' now, so the 'me' is slowly giving way. His new misuse of grammar is the use of 'our' instead of 'we.' Case in point: 'Our go in living room, Daddy. Our play in living room ri-NOW!!!'

In other kid news, Katie is starting to be able to sit up on her own for a few seconds at a time. She can sit up pretty well with some support. She forgets herself after a bit and starts her perpetual kicking and knocks herself over. She loves the music in church, and yesterday she was squeeling, screaming, kicking like crazy and as happy as can be.

I am getting ready to start a vegetable garden. Our neighbor came over last night and offered to till it up for me. That will be so nice. Now I need to figure out how to keep the varmits out. Groundhogs, squirrels and rabbits. Any suggestions? Garlic, scarecrows, plastic snakes???

Enough of the rambling update. The natives are getting restless. Ta, ta for now...

Have you seen my mommy?

We found this poor bunny in our yard today. It is obviously lost without its parental units as it sat in the same place all morning. We don't really know what to do with it, so we just put it in the backyard flower garden. Hopefully it finds its way in the world, before the groundhog finds it! May the force be with you, little bunny!