Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Cat Blogging

Don't forget to pack your cat!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Almost.

I keep thinking of all these things that I still need to get done and then I watch American Pickers instead.

Oh, every day is a new opportunity to find out what Rocket thinks is a toy - today he thought a plastic package of masonry nails was really cool and earlier this evening he chewed up a paperback. The nails survived, the paperback did not.

I just went and stood in in the rain so I could secure  a sprinkler head. Also it was dark. I'm not absolutely certain that the timer it is attached to works. I keep thinking of little things I should be doing and then I find an excuse to put it off till the last second because for some reason it seems like a better idea?  What am I going to do with it now? I can keep track of this for four days? Right.  I mean, what if I like lose the container of pills? I could lose them! Where am I going to put them until we leave? And I can't deal with my meds because I have one script to pick up and then I can do my thing. I dn't normally do that job until Sunday and now I'm going to do it on the wrong day! I need to hire someone to do this stuff for me. I just can't deal with all these things having to be done counter  to my normal schedule! I am not good at this.

For no reason I separated out S-SU-M meds for Rocket. I don't know why, I'm going to be here Saturday morning and I'm not afraid I'm going to forget them. But, now if I remember, I can take his pill bottles and put them with my pills and away we'll go. So now I have to deal with Fridays pills.

I think overall though I am pretty ready. I've  had these OMG! I must pack all the  ( fill in the blank) right NOW! spasms for three weeks so a lot of stuff is done. I intentionally harvested the potatoes a little early - which was weird, because its not like they were going to pose a real scheduling conflict or anything, but it made me feel like I was doing something. My clothes are packed, and I'm really down to shoes now and that's already been pretty much going to be tevas and  sneakers and I'm mulling flip flops for the car trip. I'm not going to over think my footwear.

I'm going to overthink my footwear.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

DOMA is Done-a


DOMA and Prop 8 are over! Long Live Civil Rights!

Getting Framed.

I'm supposed to be cleaning or packing or generally preparing to leave and I not. I playing with the computer and looking at pictures. And wishing I could afford to go to Michaels and have them framed for real.



 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Garden Day 7


Okay. Time marches on and so do the plants.

The Sunflowers are getting taller

These are the tallest and the strongest, this is despite the fact they are not covered by the sprinklers and pretty much are doing things the old fashioned way, they do get more and better sun though. They should get a couple of feet taller than they are now, right now the tallest is just about six feet.

I thought they would get good sun here but apparently its not quite as much as the other patch. These are getting regular water though. These plants are topping out about six inches shorter than the other patch.

I'm going to miss this blooming! Broskey doesn't know it he's going to be keeping his camera on this guy so I can see it. Its going to be gorgeous.

Speaking of getting tall! Not quite as tall as an elephants eye, but its doing well.

This guy is almost ready to go. I might take him Friday just because it will be my last chance and possibly only chance to get to eat my corn. I don't know anything about corn so I looked up online and learned that the corn is ready to go when the corn silk is brownish-red and dying back. Its getting more brown/red everyday and I don't want it to get over due.

Baby watermelon! I wasn't expecting this! I know that the male flowers appear first and I started to see them here and there for the last few days but I was not expecting to see the female flowers this soon. I only was able to find the one, but if there is one, there is more. I have six plants, which I thought was going to be a lot of padding because they could not all reach maturity. Oops.


Why did I bother with cages?! Its a jungle! I think I should have spread them out more, but I planted them where I knew they would do the best and I did a good job.


And more and more and more! They just won't go ripe! Broskey and Alphagal and the neighbors and the girls at work will be able to harvest all the tomatoes that they want. I on the other hand... Well, there is always next year.


Still looking good, I am so glad I did this.


The store bought honeysuckle is going like gangbusters but I am especially proud of my little DIY project plant.

These still look awesome.

Yay for Bill! He's perking right along.I hope he is enjoying all the bugs he can eat.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Friday Cat Blogging


Dog Thoughts

When I came home for lunch Rocket had pulled the phone book  that I pulled into service in the stairwell  out to the floor in front of the attic stairs -  but he hadn't chewed it. I returned it and when I came home from work it was still in place.

I just taught Rocket a stupid thing. I taught him that he can jump over the baby gate from both directions, previously, he would only jump over the gate to get out of the room.  I just taught him that he can jump over the gate to get into the room as well. I do notice hat he is not clearing it as cleanly as he used to though and  while out on our walks, he is refusing to jump on the top of the black boxes at the bank building that he used to enjoy jumping on. They are taller than he is but he used to jump to the top of them like a mountain goat. I think though that lately he has gotten taller and longer and he no longer the prepubescent Olympic gymnast he was a few months ago. It has also been pointed out to me that he may have developed "fear", something that the very young do not come with.

Waaaaah! He's not a baby anyyyymmmoooore! But if that's so, why is he suddenly chewing on my world? In his defense, he hasn't discovered the wonder of furniture yet - is this because he was locked up as a pup and now  that he's gained his freedom he's going through a second childhood?

What I would really like is for him to be able to spend his time in the office, like Daisy did. Daisy never  jumped the baby gate or barked all damn day.  What she lacked in emotional problems she more than made up with the physical. Which is the harder pet to deal with, the one with physical problems  or the one with a dog shrink?  Which is the hardest to live with? Is a smart dog harder to live with than a dull witted one? Is any animal just one or the other?

Thursday, June 20, 2013

You gotta laugh.

If you don't want to eat  chips, don't keep chips in your house. I'm just saying.

Okay, the funny story about what Rocket ate. I know you have been just breathless with anticipation.  I told you about trying to secure the door to the attic while still having open enough to allow for ventilation and and point of egress for the cat. I also mentioned that Rocket ate the original line I used to hold the door. I then moved up to telephone cable and thus far, it don't taste as good as the plastic rope I was using.

I went off to work feeling smug. And then I came home. The best way to gadge how bad Rocket has been during the day is to see whether or not he greets me at the door when I come home. If he is at the door - He hasn't done anything he feels ashamed off, it doesn't mean he was flawless, it just means that whatever mischief he got into is new mischief, i.e something he has not yet been punished for and doesn't know is wrong yet or whatever it is he did, he did so long ago that he forgot he did it The other option is  I come home and he does not greet me at the door because he is cowering in the living room over whatever he ate this time - Knowing of course, that eating my things ends in shame and sadness but being unable to stop himself from doing it in the first place.

Tuesday I come home and Rocket is at the door wiggling with great joy. The cat will occasionally greet me at the door, but he does not wiggle in joy because I am home.

Finding him wriggling with joy fills me with joy!  He isn't ashamed! I will not have to be Bad Mommy! Yay! Good Mommy! and then I walked into the dining room. And find the book cover to the door stop book on the dining room carpet, torn and not in the stairwell and halfway to ruined and the book spayed out near by and clearly wounded.

 I assumed for some reason that I had the problem solved when I changed out the cord, I never thought he would turn on the book! I didn't know he had that in him. Also I didn't think that he could get the big, heavy thing through the very narrow space allowed by the cord system. He should not have been able to do this,


The book is pulled out to aid is seeing it

 I was horrified and at the same time, a tiny bit proud of his ingenuity and patience and how goal orientated he is. Prior to this I had even began to get a little bit of buyers remorse about shelling out for the store bought door system I got online.The book had been pried out of the stairwell . He had to maneuver it from its place on the stairs, turn it so it could be removed and then get it out. I can not do this with my thumbs, it is a task to do this. Clearly he needs a hobby or  more sedation. He has way too much time on his hands, or paws. Too much time on his paws.





The funny part of this is that the book he chewed up is an etiquette book! How rude is it to chew and book and he chews and etiquette book! Come on! Irony! Ha Ha.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Entry called on account of intermittent electricity

My hi-larious story titled What The Dog Ate This Time will have to wait. Pity.




Changing Up



We're going to see if he thinks telephone cable is eatable. I also think I'm going to move the knot to inside the stairwell because it looks like something that might be nummy to chew. I had to make it longer because the cat couldn't squeeze through! I made a new  slightly longer loop and now he can get up and down and I can get the loop off so I can get up and down. Dog can still not get up or down.

In the spirit of Change Is Good, I also switched out two of my sprinklers as well, one in the front and one in back The dog didn't eat those, but the other ideas weren't working out as strongly as I had pictured. Its important to recognize that your first solution to the problem might need to be re-visited . I am also happy that  these changes didn't cost me a dime - I was able to use sprinklers I all ready had. I still need to hook the timer up to the front, and I can't remember if its cranky or if I need anything else to make it work property. I  hate leaks and since the water will have to be "on" all the time, there is a real risk of leaks and even a little bit of water leaking all day every day turns into a lot of water .

I need to get off the pot with the timer thought because I want my sprinklers to be seen going off while I'm here do the fact that I am not is not so jarring. I want the message to be "She is just too lazy to water her own plants" not "She is not here"

Oh, I found the first blossom on my watermelons, its a male flower but they always come out first and then the female flowers make their appearance.. I am hoping that while I am gone that the females come out and I come home to baby melons

Monday, June 17, 2013

Garden Day 6

In honor of Fathers Day,  I am going to start with some images for my dad.

Last week my sump pump was working but the pipe that leads from it to the outdoors , was not. The problem with the pipe was that it wasn't a single pipe, it was pipes,  a short one from the pump joined with a longer one that attached to the line that went outside - and one of the junctions had come loose. There were a total of three separate pipes in use. This is two pipes too many. Now there is one line.


The new hose is an actual dedicated Sump Pump hose, this is what it was made for and it is a single hose from start to finish. Even better, it was only $22 and if gawd forbid something does happen to it, even I could replace it.

That job I had to job out, the next job I did myself, with coaching from my Dad.


I ordered a high tech version of this, but this will serve for the next few weeks before vacation. I was hopeing it would come to this, but the damn dog ate my shorts! He's escalating! First shoes than shorts!  He's still very young and this behavior is not unusual and it should be expected, but it doesn't make it less irritating or any less frustrating. I thought he was better than this.

But between the two of us, we have a solution and this should at least keep him out of the upstairs and away from my clothes and shoes but without keeping the cat away from his box and food.

Onto the garden update!

First off: We have Corn!


I am so excited! I made corn! I have all ready decided that next year I am going to plant corn in the actual ground.





The sunflowers are getting taller and better every day. I can't wait for them to reach their full height and start blooming. I see the tiny bug but I don't know what it is.

Onward to the beans




The issue that is becoming clear is that not all the beans are "pole beans", most of the beans are  "bush beans", which is not what I thought I was planting. So I have some pole and some bush, the pole beans will produce all season while the bush beans will produce all at once. I can definitely see them producing while I am on vacation. Super.


Still in the yard, next we have the watermelons and the herbs and the morning glories



The melon plants are stretching out and making themselves at home. No blossoms yet. The herbs are doing well and are another new addition that will be back next year. The morning glory plant is growing up but like the melons, not blossoms yet.

The peppers!


Lots of plants, lots of blooms, one fruit.

The tomatoes are doing much better. Lots of plants, lots of fruits. Not all the plants have produced yet, but I have three different varieties so I'm going to cut them some slack because those that are working, are working hard.




Backyard family picture
 
 
 
On to the front deck
 
 

Lots of berries but they aren't blue! How long does it take for them to turn blue?!



Still going strong. HA!
 
 
 
After a rough start, the strawberries seem to be settling in. I have high hopes for next spring.


Thursday, June 13, 2013