Day Five...

...still on the island.

Checking out the local flora and fauna: 

Lovely ripe tomatoes and fresh-grown basil

went into a delicious caprese salad...

served in our fine china

This creature skulks about the island eyeing us warily.

She is a great huntress and could be the key

to our survival. So far only our dog "Friday" indulges

in the tidbits of mouse innards she leaves for us.

But if this marooning goes on too long...

who knows what we may resort to.

I Know You've All Been Dying to Know...

...how the GARDEN's doing!

I finally got the camera battery I ordered from Amazon...the same day I gave up on it and bought one at Best Buy. So I am back in business.

And look how the garden has been growing:

The pear tree blossomed--looks like there might be pears in the fall

Cheerful sunflowers...

I kind of love to overdo it when it comes to sunflowers

Luscious tomatoes...

It is very soothing to water the garden while munching on ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes. 

The corn is ready to pick.

If you plant pumpkin seeds in February in SoCal,

you get ripening pumpkins in June.

These are strawberry plants. You don't see any strawberries because Gunner thinks the strawberry patch is his personal snack bar. It took me awhile to figure out what was happening. We don't have any varmints like rabbits or moles raiding the garden because we have Gunner and Ninja on duty keeping them away. So I guess I am paying Gunner in strawberries.

Fast Forward

I enjoyed some time last week with these two little darlins:

"My parents are going to find me a unicorn house." Bailey informed me when I told

her that Mom and Dad were looking for a new house in New Jersey.

We had fun at the park and enjoyed building a fort out of the couch cushions.

"Can you help me?" was the sweet request of little Norah many times a day.

And Nana was happy to help.

One night Norah couldn't get to sleep so I got her up and rocked her and sang "I am a Child of God" to her.

She laid her head on my shoulder and relaxed and then she said:

"Go bed now, Nana. I go bed now."

When I laid her down in her crib she rolled over and went to sleep.

Awww good times.

In the meantime, things have been snowballing on the homefront. 

We put our cabin on the market just to see if there would be any nibbles.

And it sold within the week.

I was hoping it would at least take as long as the California house to sell.

But no, that vixen of a cabin lured in buyers the minute they saw her alluring pictures on Craigslist.

The Pollyanna in me is trying to play the Glad Game and be happy about that but I'm not quite there yet.

Then, we FINALLY got an offer on the hacienda here in Cali. 

I had to do some long-distance paperwork but we got everything agreed upon and

now it looks like the waiting game is over.

We are in full packing mode.

Bring on the chaos.

And that means I will bid farewell to another garden.

To top it all off, my baby girl grew up and left home.

Shayla is off to Washington to have an adventure restoring her 1971 Nova with Grampa Gale.

Then from there to Provo to fulfill her BYU dreams.

She left me outnumbered--even the dog is a boy.

I don't remember giving her permission to grow up.

A Long-overdue Garden Post

Little purple pansies touched with yellow-gold...

Oranges! 

Well...the tree came with them. 

Peas...

...and corn

The promise of another bountiful tomato harvest...

...and maybe some pears this year.

An Addendum to the Annotated Alliteration

Garden...

Here's what's popping up in the garden lately:

Gunner...
I never considered myself a "dog person". When I was growing up we had a dog here and there. I liked them enough to feed them and care when something happened to them but that was about it. Since then,  I would politely acknowledge people's dogs when they came bounding up to me--licking and smelling with reckless abandon--only because I know people love their dogs and I would not want to treat them with disdain. Or disgust. But that was before I decided we needed a dog. I thought Shane needed some unconditional love and companionship. He got left at the bottom of the pecking order in our big family and he had no one to pester and play with. It was strictly a motherly, child development decision.

 I didn't plan to get attached. But, somehow he became my new best friend--I followed the Dog Whisperer's instructions so well, I have become the Alpha to our puppy friend. He follows me everywhere and when he looks up at me with those puppy-dog eyes, it kind of melts my dog-indifferent heart. So now my favorite workout is taking Gunner for a "walk". I think we are going for a walk, he has his own plans. He used to charge up the driveway and tear through the front gate with me doing my best to keep a tight grip on the leash. He was so excited about the change of scenery, he was running and sniffing and yanking my arm with abrupt starts and stops. But this is not the way of the Dog Whisperer. I am to exude "calm assertive". I am to make my dog respect me and walk beside me. And after some hard work and a pocketful of treats, I did get him to stay near me and walk forward. But that got to be old and boring. We get to the top of the driveway and he sniffs the air. "Been there done that" is his attitude and he turns around and heads back to the house. I am determined to get him some exercise so I persist. I tug and pull and cajole until I get him a few houses down the street. Suddenly, he picks up the pace so I jog a little thinking he's ready to go. Then, the leash pulls taut and I look around to see Gunner sitting on the curb. Sitting. Like a human would--he looks so nonchalant I expect him to cross his legs and say "Let's take a little breather, shall we?"

Since I am not a giver-upper, I have continued to take him out for a walk each day. He seems resigned to it and comes along without too much trouble now. Of course, the down side of walking the dog is his need to heed nature's call. I used to watch people picking up after their dogs and feel gratitude that I didn't have to do anything so demeaning. But, now I do. I clean up after my dog because I am a decent human being and follow the rules of polite society. This means that most of the time when I am heading home with Gunner surging ahead--he gets excited when he gets back to his own territory--I usually have a nice little bag of "stuff" in one hand and a tight grip on the leash with my other hand. This sometimes causes a bit of an etiquette dilemma when one of my friendly neighbors waves at me. The hand holding the leash is not free to wave so...do you think it's rude to wave doggie doo doo at your neighbors? Or if I don't wave at all will they think I'm snobby? I guess I'll ask the Dog Whisperer.

A Lotta Tomatas AKA: A Shameless Garden Post

The Tomato Jungle

The Lurking Tomatoes

(They are trying to hide from the hungry rabbits)

The Harvest

The Grand Finale

I Beg Your Pardon, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

But I did promise you an update on my garden! True to my word, here it is...

After two weeks away, I wasn't sure what would be left of my garden--what with the rabbits and the moles and the birds and the snails. I came home to this:

The mist was a little mysterious this morning...

The giant sunflowers got so top heavy, they hung their heads wearily toward each other.

These just keep popping up randomly--some kind of mum.

A fresh batch of sunflowers!

The tomatoes are ripening by the bushel
 (Like any good produce manager, I carefully arranged them so each one is showing her best side!)

Just the big ones--I'm not that OCD...

This crazy squash got a little carried away

Seth is the arm model here--we really wanted you to

see just how big it got and the tomato wasn't doing it justice!

This was my favorite surprise when I got back:

CANTALOUPE!!

And lots of them--I had to replant them three times in

my battle with the bunnies.

I win.

Knee-high By the Fourth of July...

Or SKY HIGH by the Fourth of July!

And the sunflowers are just out of control...I guess they really like the sun...

Tomatoes anyone?

Yes, this another post about my garden.

My apologies.

You Never Know Who Might Take an Interest in Slugs and Snails

I was feeling a little guilty about  ANOTHER post about my garden. That's how exciting my life is--what can I say. But, take a look at the comment on my last post. You may or may not know her. After she shared her experience, I was sorry I hadn't included the oft-told story of our little slug-eater who shall be nameless. 

I'm sure she would have found it amusing.

On The Rampage

It's war. It's on. Bring it!

The snails have stepped--slimed over the line and I'm not going to take it anymore!

I spent all those years in the Northwest dealing with slugs. Some the size of my forearm--I am not exaggerating! I kept up on the latest strategies for battling slugs and had my arsenal well stocked. Some of the recommendations from experienced gardeners were a little odd:

"Put out cans of beer, buried up to the rim--slugs love it!"

(This does not mean I had my 'arsenal' well-stocked with beer, I'm just saying it was a suggestion!)

So the old slug is a lush--and what do I do with it once it's tipsy? Take away its keys?

Or:

"Put out crushed nut shells around your plants--the slugs don't like that."

Actually, they considered it a minor inconvenience--easily overcome with copious amounts of that charming ooze they produce by the gallon.

I had boys who were more than willing to give them the salt treatment. In fact, we went through many salt shakers as they were continually left  forgotten, out in the rain after the combat mission was complete.

So, eventually I turned to the strong stuff: Slug Bait. Simple, straightforward and effective.

Now I am gardening in new territory. I got off easy the first year because I had my garden boxes built out on a desolate, dry ledge. It took the snails awhile to realize there was a new oasis in the desert. Then it took them a year to migrate there
Because, you know, they move at a SNAIL'S PACE...

I had begun to delude myself into thinking that I would be an 'organic' gardener here in sunny California. I stuck with it through the first snail sightings in the corn stalks. I bravely plucked them from their contented perch and gave them the old heave-ho over the ledge.

They were cast off to wander in the desert.

But I had to face the fact that I am outnumbered. They invited all of their friends, neighbors and closest relations to my garden of snail delights.

 It has became the Denny's of the snail world:

All you can eat and open all night.

 (Wait a minute--I think that's an insult to the quality of food available in my garden--but we'll let it go.)

My organic garden fantasy turned into a shredded leaf reality. Apparently organic means:

    "Just the way the snails like it!"

Well, no more sister nice guy! This morning I gave the snails notice and the ejection began.

I was Rambo in the vegetable garden.

My weapon of choice?

Slug Bait

My old stand-by.

When it comes down to it, slime is slime, in or out of the shell.

Kinda Like Watching Paint Dry

I admit I'm a bit like an old lady when it comes to my garden...

I like to putter around pulling weeds and looking for any new growth.

I'll even admit that I used to watch the PBS show

"The Victory Garden"

on Saturday mornings.

On purpose.

So the 10 days I was in Utah gave my garden a chance for a big growth spurt without me

there to observe every change.

After:

Before

Before:

After:

I'm sure you are all just riveted by this exciting development...

I can hear you now:

"OK...her garden grew. Yeah, gardens do that. You plant seeds, stuff grows.

Big whoop-de-doo."

I know.

But I still can't help it.

A Little Gardening Bliss

Just have to say, California is great for gardening!

Once you figure out a good watering system.

 We are big on sunshine and short on rain around here.

Left-overs from last year's flowers sprouted up again--a nice surprise!

Nature/Nurture

Strawberries courtesy of the Garden

Crepes courtesy of Seth