Charlotte!  Woohoo!  We made the AP wires with the story about a crazy old coot woman using 911 to complain about pizza.  Grrrrreat.

9:16:30 AM     trackback [] Comments? []

 

Update around the House

 

The garden is really getting going.  We’ve had quite a few dinners and lunches with the lettuce.  We planted the “heatwave” lettuce variety from Cook’s Garden, which is basically just regular green leaf lettuce.  It’s not as exciting as last year’s lettuce variety, but I’ll take it anyway.  Monday night, we had our first Swiss chard sausage and bean stew.  The absolute best thing about having chard in the garden is being able to put as much as I want in that stew.  I need to pick our English garden peas today for our first meal of those.  So far, the pole beans, beets, cannelloni beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, peppers and most of the eggplants are doing well.  I’m not thrilled with either the arugula or the watercress.  Both are a bit too game-y.  The strawberry bed is growing and the asparagus looks healthy. 

 

The paper as mulch is working well as long as there is no huge wind.  Then we’ve got paper flying all over the yard.  I have to add a bit more out there in places which have already disintegrated, but I like it.  It’s kind of ugly though.  That’s the only real problem with lining one’s garden like a birdcage. 

 

We finally got our encore azaleas over the weekend.  We’re nervous about planting them because they need good draining soil.  We really want them to grow well because the kind we ordered grow up five feet up and out 4 feet, and they would do a good job at screening the shed in our neighbor’s yard.  I had to tackle some ivy though in the trees around where we planted them to give them some more sun. 

 

There’s always something to do in the yard and garden.  That’s the amazing part.  I can sit here and think of 10 things I could do this morning, but I want to work on my research.  Next year, if there’s a new one on the way, the garden is going to be much, much less. 

 

Food Strike

 

Our little monkey pig has started on a bit of a food strike.  Whereas before, he’d eat anything we’d set in front of him, now we’re getting a tight lipped shaking of the head no for everything that isn’t Cheerios.  My call is that we offer it to him and if he doesn’t eat, we stop.  He’ll eat when he’s hungry.  However, I don’t want to keep offering Cheerios to get him to eat instead of real food.  We’re going to have to find something for them to give him at school other than the Cheerios.  I may be sending rice cakes and other healthier finger food to him.  We keep hearing that food refusal is a sign that he’s learning how to assert his independence and sense of self.  It’s hard not to worry though that he’s not eating enough food.

 

8:36:58 AM     trackback [] Comments? []