The Garden That Was - Summer's End 2010

Above is a pic of a salad I made using Zavory peppers from my garden. They are my favorite pepper. They have the flavor of a habenero, without the heat. They are yummy! Usually they don't make it into the house before I eat them.

The following pics were taken Sept. 7th 2010.
The garden doesn't look anything like this right now.
First of all, the flower beds are gone and in their place I have a huge swath of black mud.
Yay for rain, not.
Second of all, most of the garden was hit with frost a couple days ago, so everything is wilted over and dead.

2010's tomato walls were bigger than ever.
However, next year I will plant fewer plants.
I promise.



Flower beds and Catty and Tibby.

More of the garden.

Next year, I will be taking out the bed with the blue chicken in it.

I think I might move the arch.

Once the morning glory started to grow on it, I couldn't see my pond from the house.

Flower beds. All gone. Goodbye flower beds.

Closer view of the tomato walls.

Back view of the tomato walls.

Middle of the garden. Tomato walls.

It's a jungle!

Side view.

Tibby in the jungle.

Chinese 5 color pepper.

Amphibian Attack

A friend collected some salamanders, frogs and toads from a window well at her house.

We brought them to my garden and put them near the pond.

There were a lot of them!

"What is that?!"

"Can I eat it?"

Wonderful camouflage.

Tibby's Graduation

Tibby graduated from beginning obedience training last night.

I was so excited and nervous. She did really well. I was really proud of her!

We didn't win any ribbons, but I thought she was the best puppy in her class.

Tibby saying "Hi!" to Pearl's mom.

And then "Hi!" to Pearl. She was pretty distracting to the other dogs!
Tibby loves everyone!

Ready? Heel-sit position.

Go! Heel, heel, heel.

Sit.

She loves to work. Even though she doesn't always listen to me.

Distance sit-stay.

Stay.

Down-stay. This was the hardest one for Tibby. She loves to pop up from her down to a sit, because she's figured out that I have to give her another treat to get her to lie back down.

We are going to have to work on that one.

She is too smart!

My Mom and Tibby!

Tibby Tilling and Garden Moving - again

So, the garden is on the move again.

I'm moving my flowers out of the raised beds and putting them into 2 beds on either side of the garden.

The raised beds just didn't work with flowers. It was too hard to see the flowers and the path upkeep was daunting. It's hard enough to keep up the veggie garden paths. Now that I have a fab electric lawn mower I'm not afraid to mow. In fact, I've really enjoyed mowing my front lawn this year.

Ok

So maybe, maybe, lawn is not the total evil of gardening.

Hey, I obviously can change my mind.

I keep thinking my neighbors are saying, "Huh, it must be Fall, she's ripping up her yard again. Huh, it must be Spring, she's ripping up her yard again." Well, I don't care. People move around their living room furniture. The garden is my BIG living room.

Tibby helped with the tilling.

I can't blame her. I was digging holes, why shouldn't she dig a few.

The dirt was so soft and fluffy too.

Dig, dig,dig.

Ha!

"Ok too tired. I'll just take a little nap right here in this handy hole."

Some of the beds are removed.

I had to do everything in stages. Move a bed. Plant some perennials. Move another bed. Ect.

Fluffy black dirt.

These are parts of my yard I've never really taken pics of, because I was so embarrassed of them. Hopefully they will look better next year.

Back to work.

"What's a dirt mustache?"

I'm Baaaaack

Hey everybody!

I'm back!

New computer and tons of pics and stories to show you.

Just as a side note - I did not buy a Dell, because they tried to bait and switch. They offered me one computer for a great price, then canceled my order and said I could order a different (not as nice) computer for twice the price.

Ha!

I bought an HP instead and got some really nice free upgrades.

The moral of this story for Dell is: Don't mess with a Blogger. Remember the Cupcake Nazi?

Waiting for Dell

Well, my laptop finally gave up and refused to turn on, so I had to break down and buy a new one. Dell says it will be done "building" my new laptop on Oct. 20th.

That is a really long time!

I have sooooo many posts to write and tons and tons of pictures.

Hopefully, with the new computer it won't take 3 hours to write one post.

Seriously. It was S-L-O-W.

Welcome to the Family - Tibby!

Last Monday I added a puppy to my animal family.

This is Tibbet the Tibetan Terrier. I call her Tibby.

She is the sweetest dog I have ever met.

She loves to play, but is also calm and laid back.

Nothing phases her - we've jumped off docks, swung in a swing, slid down slides, walked near whistling trains, had cars honk at us, ect.

In a week she has learned how to - sit (100% on this command), lie down and fetch.

However, we are still working on potty training.

I'm keeping a log of when she's gone and when she should be ready to go again, so I don't have to guess when/if she's about to pee on the carpet.

She is doing much, much better.

After all, it's only been a week.

And she is a baby.

She will be 4 months old on the 28th. She weighs 12 pounds right now. Last Monday she weighed 11 pounds.

If she keeps gaining a pound every week..........she will be a big dog!

~

I have to say, in a week we have come a long way. This is the post I wrote last Wed. Notice the hint of desperation.

I have never had a puppy before. I've always adopted older dogs.

Puppies are exhausting.

I'm really tired.

I have spent hours and hours outside with her, only to come inside and have her poop on the floor!

She hates going in her crate for bedtime. It's the only time she barks, but she barks and barks and barks when she is in her crate.If I go into a different room where she can't see me (I have pet gates between the kitchen and living room and the kitchen and hallway/bedrooms) she whines and yips.The good things: She is very, very sweet. She wraps her paws around my arm when I pick her up. She learned how to sit, walk on a leash and climb stairs in 2 days. She doesn't pull on the leash. She isn't scared of anything. I took her swimming yesterday and she jumped off of the dock into the water all by herself.I'm happy that she loves me - I just wish she didn't love me quite so much!Unfortunately, I can't take her everywhere with me!I just keep telling myself - she's missing all her siblings and this is only day 3 of a 20 year relationship.

Well, things are much better now. If things keep getting better and better every week........life will be perfect!

Where Did August Go?!?!

Wow!

I can't believe August is almost over and I haven't posted a single thing!

There are so many posts that I want to write - Pie Day, Stingers baseball, county fair, Amaze'n Farmyard, new puppy.

Did you miss that last one?

NEW PUPPY!!!

As soon as I can I'll post pics of the new family member.

Promise.