Did I tell you about... The Chair?

All afternoon was spent on it.

The fervor and ambition of two boys.

Some figuring, some building;

Dad's new cordless screwdriver...

It was a quiet afternoon for me, to say the least!

A little trying it out.

Ah..... not bad for a days work!

Those beaming faces say it all.

 "It's for Lina, Mom"

Unfortunately "Lina" wouldn't sit on it for her brothers.  She insisted that she already had a chair.

Bryce liked it though.  

I'm sorry I didn't have the camera for that, 

but in actuality it took all my too-few hands to prop little brother in this fine creation, 

er...

safely.

Don't you just love BOYS?!!!

It IS a little like the Taj Mahal of Gardens Heather!

Good call there :-D  That's because AJ made it.  I am VERY sure that it's a "thrown together" affair for him, but for me?
In defense of my extravagance, I've been waiting for this garden 12 years.  My heart is full!


































Brenda, it IS a darling layout!  Not planned, but quite an impressive use of space for being "thrown together.

We took a trip to the Nursery after all our hard work on Saturday, and today planted some of our starts.
We planted Onion starts and Onion sets, Red Potatoes and Kennebec Potatoes, a few Mixed Greens and some Leeks (I don't even cook with Leeks, but it's all a grand experiment and some little boys really got into it!), We bought five varieties of Tomato's, one of each.  When placing all these little pots today we counted 11 Pepper plants!   
ELEVEN!
That was not my doing.  I like a few Bell peppers and I chose ONE tiny Jalapeno for salsa but I am not a hot pepper kind of gal.  That was those boys o' mine.  I hope they like to eat them as much as they enjoyed choosing them.

Katie, I'm sorry your plants froze.  It's true we have a shorter season here but we are in a banana belt here in the panhandle.  We have VERY long days in the Summer getting light at 4 in the morning and not fully dark until almost 11 at night.  Plants LOVE IT here!  They love it.
I am very eager to find out what grows, what I like, and what likes me ;-)  I've heard that tomatoes shouldn't be set out until mid June, but we put ours out anyway.  It's not freezing right now, but I guess we're not totally safe from that yet.  We'll see.  I am planning to sow a lot of seed directly into the dirt.

Suffice it to say I am full of guesses and much speculation.  Hopefully you'll get to witness what this gardening thing ends up being for me.

Goal #1 this year:  Salad garden.  Experiment with anything that catches our fancy.  Can we keep critters out?  What critters want to get in?  Will the plants stand the Buglet traffic? ;-)

Personally, I have high hopes of making this garden beautiful.  AJ read the Square Foot Gardening book and I'm afraid I can't get too excited about gardening that way. 
Too much Math and calculating involved.  I'm more of a Free Spirit when it comes to gardening.  I like to imagine plants "sprawling" and "spilling over..." and getting into each others spaces.  I like a little reckless charm!
(Don't tell anyone, but I envision some Morning Glories and Zinnias somewhere in there too)


P.S.  I earned two blisters on my hand!  (Should I be excited about this?)  I didn't know if I'd get to participate in the garden construction since it is a full time job just keeping the hired help happy.  Alas, there's always room for another dirt-shoveler.
Next time I should wear gloves though :-)

Dreaming ip a Garden: Elbowgrease and Dirt

It started with a fence the Deer couldn't jump (or so we hope-with-all-our-heart!)
*This garden venture had a LOT of help from Uncle Wyatt and also Uncle Char and Auntie Hannah

Turning the soil and building boxes.

A hard worker!!  Who needs sunshine when you've got a smile like that hanging around?


































A boy and some mud.

A LOT of mud.

Is there any mud left in the mud puddle  son?

Sweet cousins doing their part and looking darling.

\

Going to fetch some soil from down at the creek.  I mean... "crick".
It's not necessary to wait for Autumn and a hay ride when you've got a trailer, a quad, and some dirt to fetch at the crick.

And an Uncle.
 

I guess there was a sale at Sportsman's Warehouse?  So cute, guys!

One last thing, you can just get so much more done when you have a face like this around.
















It's true!

Baby is Motating

What is more enticing to a Man-in-the-making than all this paraphernalia?

Don't know.  Just appears to be highly motivating in the "learn-to-mobilize" department!

Spying on you Dolly

She looks like a little Doll, doesn't she?

This is my Book Girl.  She literally pours over them.
I love it, and I love to catch her at it when she doesn't know she's being watched.

Carolina's been talking up a storm recently and says some wonderfully fun things, for instance she calls her Chap stick: "Precious Lips"  Perhaps that means beautiful.  I don't know.

Yesterday I asked her what she wanted for lunch.  "Pah Corn!"  Says she.
"Pop Corn?" I respond.  "How about I make pop corn for a snack later today."
"No," she tells me without hesitation "Pah Corn for LUNCH!"
And she got her way.  That's what being the baby is all about; in fact I suspect that if we have ten more children Carolina will always be "the baby".  Or at least one of them.  Around here we call it "the cuteness factor"  and she does it well.  Very well!
Thing is, no one minds and we all look at each other and shrug sheepishly "She sure is working the cuteness factor!"  you'll hear the poor sucker say, and whomever is looking on nods in pity and grins with understanding.

It's a hard pill to take.  Just look at the picture again, you'll understand.

Forest People and the construction of a tree fort

Take a good look at the line-up of rubber boots.
As Auntie and I were looking UP at the soles of these six feet, we realized that two girls were wearing one of each others shoe.
That explains a lot because the other day Sue was telling me that one "didn't fit quite right".
Auntie told me that Cousin E complained of the same thing this morning.  How many size 11's are there laying around anyway?

I guess it's time to mark every pair of boots.

I've actually gotten outside this year (as opposed to last year when I was 7 months pregnant and as big as a beached whale) and started building a tree fort together with the Buglets. If I may boast, it looks to be an elaborate affair.  Those Forest People are hard workers when the air is tickled by sun:-)

Other news in the life of Me: I joined the ranks of the Old (notice that's spelled with a capital O?).
I received my first (and Please Lord, my last) Root Canal yesterday.  Can't say I'd rather be in labor, but if I WERE in labor, I wouldn't rather have a Root Canal.
I think.
My dentist and his staff was wonderful.  It's just that I have lots of ways I'd rather spend three hours alone. Combine that with scraping your nails on a chalkboard for that length of time...
I'm pretty sentimental.  I wasn't prepared to part with that tooth - I mean, it's been a part of my life for nigh on 30 years!
Picture it this way:
If I had been handed 1700 dollars and given three hours ALL BY MYSELF to spend it any way I wanted,  I believe I can say with certainty that a Root Canal wouldn't have been at the top of my list.
Scratch that.  It wouldn't have been on my list. Period.
Now that I've complained sufficiently I have to add how thankful I am that I am not a dentist, and that there is someone else willing to fix my teeth before they become serious problems, topping that with an amazing husband who watched six children for over three hours and BOUGHT me that Root Canal.  (I bet he could think of some better things to do with that time and money as well).
Thanks Babe!

On a side note, you girls that are having babies: TAKE YOUR VITAMINS!  My cavities showed up all of a sudden in the last two years and my theory is that babies are hard to make.  I think my body put up a protest about using any more Calcium for teeth when those Buglets needed it more.  All in all I think my body made the best decision and put it where it counted most.
So that's my plug for prenatals.  Take them.  Root Canals are not fun. ;-)

Rainbow before the rain

This is a lovely sight.

But it is very hard to get your clothes dry on a clothesline when there are sudden cloudbursts that cast forth every variety of precipitation!
(Which is exactly what occurred for two or three days before I grabbed them while damp and finished them off by the wood stove.)

Wherein the Forest People discover the thrill of four wheels and an Uncle

Quads are AWESOME but a good Uncle is pretty hard to beat!

Wherin the forest comes alive.

The Forest People have finally begun emerge.

They hail not from the moss blanketed depths of the woods (strangely enough) nor the lush glades where sun sparkles cheerfully; rather, their kind originate from within four solid walls. A rustic (though not uncomfortable) cabin of humble proportions is where they bed down at night, and dwell for the barely-endured school hours of daylight.

However despite their docile indoor existence, the Forest People have highly adventurous hearts with which every beat throbs for the untamed outdoors; and as soon as weather and schoolmarm permit, their merry feet take them into that part of the world for which they are named - firstly the forest and after that, any wilderness which attaches itself and for which a conquering spirit is prerequisite.

The Forest People, mostly smallish,  blend in with their mountain-colored surroundings. 
They can be seen climbing on rocks and trees of large dimension, or mucking through snow run-off and mud.
Especially mud.
Boots are worn at nearly every season for obvious reasons:
Forrest People like mud.

People of the Forest tend to run in bands of two or more, their group often as large as seven in number.
Though I fore-mentioned that Forrest People are "mostly smallish", it's true that larger versions can regularly be spotted where mud and tree abound.

In Summer the Forest Peoples appearance comes alive in vibrant hue, almost as if to compete with the wild Strawberry and native flowers in every happy color. At that warmer time of year a bluish stain around the mouth is a tell tale indicator that you that you are face to face with a Forest Person in true blood.
It is also at this time that you must be most careful, because if introduced by the Forest People to the Mountain Huckleberry (from which the blue stain hails), one has an almost certainty of falling in love with the forests of the far North and the endearing People who dwell within.

Baby Blue Eyes