Since my last post about the dogs, I’ve been feeling a
little low and had the need to disconnect for awhile. There were days that I didn’t even turn on my
computer at all - no e-mail…no Facebook…no anything. Although I have not been plugged in, things
have been happening around here, so here’s a little update for anyone who might
be interested:
Since my previous post, Molly has already moved to a new
home. The Golden Retriever Rescue
Alliance did a wonderful job, and I can’t say enough about them. (To visit their website, click here). Due to a scheduling conflict, Ashley actually
ended up picking her up on a Tuesday and by the next Monday she had been
adopted! Here is the cute little
advertisement they had on their site for my big girl:
I don’t know exactly who adopted her, but I was told that
she went to a more affluent part of the metroplex in which we live. Her new parents are older (one of them is retired
and one of them works from home), and they usually have three Goldens at any
given time. One of their dogs had passed
away a couple of weeks before, so Molly joined the two remaining “kids” for
romping and playing. She is living in a
big house, with a big yard and a swimming pool, so I’m pretty sure that I am
missing her more than she is missing me.
And I would have it no other way.
I couldn’t bear to get rid of her bed right away, so it
stayed in our room for several days:
After awhile, I couldn’t take it anymore, so it was gone, leaving
me with just my memories. It seems I was
not the only one who was missing her; Nestlé used to sit on Molly every chance
she got whenever we were hanging out in the family room together. With Molly gone, Nestlé has taken to trying
to cuddle with Cookie, but it’s not quite the same:
Toffee is still here with me; the Brittany Rescue has not
found a home for him yet:
However, it’s okay because I will only be at peace if I know
that he goes to the perfect home for him, and if that takes some time, then so be
it. Besides, it’s a long walk to the
chicken coop from the porch, and what will I do without Toffee to protect me
from “who-knows-what” as I go out to tuck in Opal Chicken each night?
The really big news is that my mountain man has gone back to
Yellowstone. I thought that it would get
easier the more he comes and goes, but this time actually was the hardest of
all. It was more than just my son
leaving home – my friend was leaving!
The only thing that makes it okay is that he seems so happy. And this time, he actually scored a position
as an Assistant Manager of one of the stores.
He won’t be at Old Faithful this year, but he will be in some other part
of the park. He also won’t be living in
a regular dorm, but instead will be in a little log cabin with a wood-burning
stove. Before he left, he got to spend
some time with his number-one girl:
With spring here, I’ve been paying more attention to the
yard. Well, I say spring is here;
actually, we’ve been having spring during one part of the week, followed by a
quick blast of winter, followed by a little more spring. The plants and animals aren’t quite sure what
to do! I looked out one windy, chilly
afternoon to see two little squirrels snuggled up in the jar in the squirrel
feeder:
Despite the crazy weather, the scrawny little rose bush that
Alan and I transplanted last year has been doing great:
And remember how we had those tents over the raised garden
beds? Well, the aloe vera and lemon
thyme not only survived the winter, they had babies! I have transplanted the main plants to a bed
in the back and put some of the “babies” in little pots to give to friends:
I bought this little greenhouse thing at Tractor Supply
Store for $20 and have been using it for rootings and seedlings. It has done a really good job:
In fact, the lavender and the lemon balm are from some
cuttings I did a little while back:
I also have some parsley growing (at Mom’s request):
Since it has been going back and forth on the temperature,
it has stayed cool enough that my spinach and lettuce are hanging in there (I
think Nestlé has eaten more spinach than anyone):
Here’s a look at the overall garden…some things are doing well,
and some things are struggling against the surprise freezes we have experienced
(as well as my “gan-green” thumb!):
Despite all of my effort, Robert still leaves me in the dust
on vegetable gardening. Before I even
had things planted, he was bringing home more monstrosities from his
community garden (Ugh!):
This year, I’ve added some more stuff to the yard. I bought three rose bushes (and they have
grown from tiny stumps to pretty decent in no time!). The cute little “bug-eyed” critter in the
middle is a little something that my sister bought for me when we were in
Pinedale, Wyoming. A great momento from
that trip!
I’m always on the prowl for new planting containers. Here is a party tub that I picked up at
Wal-Mart for less than $5.00:
I bought three of them; I filled one of them with lemon thyme
and another with moss roses. I put them
on the ground with the idea that they belong to Opal Chicken for her snacking
pleasure:
Robert loves to go to auctions and brought home this cute
little wagon. It sat in the yard, leaned
up against the house on its side, until I snatched it and filled it with some
extra plants:
The wagon is truly a blast from someone’s past. There is an inscription on the bottom that
says,
“To Ryan
From
Granddad &
Grandmother
1978”
We attend a
free gardening education meeting at our local library, and Russell Feed store
is one of the sponsors. There are
drawings each meeting and I won this little cloth pot…my squash plant seems to
really like it:
I was really
thrilled with this little beauty. I have
come up with a way to make self-watering planters out of 2-liter soda
bottles. Even though it isn’t an issue
now, I’m hoping that they help keep my new strawberry plants safe and happy
once the blast-furnace that is Texas summer arrives. I asked Robert to make a box to hold all of
them for me, and I must say, he did a really great job!
A friend of
mine showed up at the house last week with a really neat thing that she had
bought at a craft fair, just for me! She
was excited to give it to me, and I was very excited to get it! Isn’t it cute?
In addition
to planting things, I have been doing a lot of yard clean-up. It is getting a little aggravating,
though. Just as I get everything
perfect, I come out and find small branches everywhere:
The
squirrels are making nests, and apparently they like clipping off more than they
need. But, sure enough, the jar in the
squirrel feeder has been filled with leaves, making it comfy-cozy:
Nestlé loves
the fact that I am in the yard more often.
With better weather and me outside to protect her from hawks and other
predators, she gets to spend more time hanging out:
She also gets
to run around in the large area (with the make-shift fence) that we call the “big
girl” pen when I am outside. The little
pen in the back left area of the picture is her “little girl” pen, and it is
covered so she can be out there when I am not in the yard:
One of her
favorite things to do is to “taunt” Opal Chicken whenever Opal gets close to
the fence. She darts back and forth, and
I swear I can hear Nestlé saying, “You can’t catch me! You can’t catch me!” in a little sing-song
voice:
As for the
rest of our little family, Mandy and her crew are doing fine. Our baby boy will be here in a couple of
months, and Paisley is talking more and more about her “baby brudder”. They recently enjoyed a Texas tradition - bluebonnet
pictures:
Well, there is more going on, but I won’t prattle on any
more. There are more posts coming soon,
including an update on (P)Earl chicken (yes, I got to see (P)Earl today!). I’m also going to be catching up on a little
blog reading, too!
