Adventures in Gardening

Greetings from Domelandia,
About a month ago I went to visit the grandkids. Because of the drought, the garden needed daily watering and the Viking was charged with the task. The second day he observed (gasp!) a gopher mound. When I returned I reset his trap, showing him how deep the tunned was by sticking my hand and arm down into the hole.

The next day - BAM! - gopher was caught. I reset the trap in case any of his cousins had designs on my bean patch. I set a 5-gallon bucket full of sand over the hole. A couple of days went by and I moved the bucket. I pulled the chain attached to the gopher trap and heard a snap. "Aw, shoot," I thought. "I'll have to reset the trap."

I pulled the chain out and discovered a 30" rattlesnake caught right behind his head in the gopher trap. I said, "Ah!" (I was too surprised to scream really loud) and flung the trap away from myself. I had to put him out of his misery. I felt bad. The poor guy was only trying to do his job. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The grandson got the rattles. His mom said, "There aren't many grandmothers who give their grandsons this type of gift."

I will try not to do that again any time soon.

Angels vs Devils

Greetings from Domelandia,

I'm from a long line of Good German Girls. We keep clean, organized homes, we're good cooks, we're hellcats in bed, and sweet as pie to grocery store clerks and waitresses (unless they piss us off--then all bets are off).

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden this summer. A couple of times I've looked up from whatever I was watering or weeding or building to discover that the Viking was driving up the road after a hard day's work with no supper even thought about, much less started!! I have been so engaged that I completely lose track of what time it is. Don't get me wrong, the payroll gets done, the checkbook gets balanced, the dishes and clothes get washed, but those things are squeezed in around working (playing) in the garden.

And is it gorgeous! We're being rewarded with pounds and pounds of picture-perfect green beans (three kinds), squash, sweet baby carrots, Swiss chard, etc, etc, all packed with vitamins and minerals and the satisfaction that comes with growing some of your own food.

I looked around my house a couple of weeks ago and thought, OMG! This place looks like hell!
Floors unswept, the Viking's library and our family photos dim with dust, windows in need of a wash. (HOW long has it been since I cleaned the bathroom)? And Sister is coming next week!!

My friend Penny told me about a friend of hers who needs work. So I called Lisa, and she came over and helped me clean my house. As soon as we'd arranged her first visit, I got a bad case of the guilts. Good German Girls do it all, and look good doing it, and certainly do not hire outside help to clean their homes! The very idea.

I had a clear picture of my dilemma using the memory of an old-school cartoon.

On one shoulder, a devil whispering in my ear: You're lazy. You're selfish. You're wasting The Viking's hard-earned money.

On the other shoulder, an angel: It's OK to spend time doing what you love to do. You're providing quality food for your family. You'll be helping someone earn money. Your house will be clean.

I listened to the angel. The house feels wonderful, and I haven't felt guilty at all since I figured out that it wasn't the devil who was talking shit to me, it was my mother-in-law.

Summer is My Favorite Season

Greetings From Domelandia,
This time of year, I practically live outside. Gardening (and all that that implies) is one of my passions. The Viking and I decided that one of this year's goals is to see if we can grow some food for real. So I have bitten off WAY more than I can chew and sometimes feel overwhelmed when I wake up.

Here's what I've been doing: I moved flagstones from an old patio area and used some of them to build a little sidewalk around our new dining room add-on. I had to use ropes, levers, and 2' lengths of fenceposts to move them. I dug out a bushel of old iris--now I need to decide where their new home will be. They are a deep purple color and smell like Grape Koolade. The yellow Dutch iris are in full bloom right now, are 2+ feet tall. They are velvet perfume.

The Viking (obviously, he GETS me) built me a state-of-the-art gopher-proof garden (cross your fingers!) Tilling as I go, I have thus far planted 3 kinds of onions, zuccini and yellow crookneck squash, pumpkin, Italian flat pole beans, baby limas, and Blue Lake green beans.
I planted 3 raspberry plants. For pretty, an assortment of sunflowers and hollyhocks, planted to face the morning sun. Columbines, lilies, delphiniums, and hosta in a shady spot. I've kept them all watered, and applied compost and mulch. I'm expecting to water them through June, our driest summer month. I feed the birds daily and remember to bring in the feeders at night so we won't have bear problems. I take the dogs for their daily walk and keep up with office duties for our business. I cook supper (not culinary triumphs--I just can't get into cooking right now), wash dishes, do laundry.

I make neverending lists for the next day: (Need to Plant: Cukes, carrots, corn, chard, cabbage (?), Anaheim pepper and tomato sets.)

This is the time of year we look forward to. The heat! The green! The wildflowers! The songs of birds from dawn 'til night. The beauty of our little valley.

Those little bags of seeds crammed full of possibility and hope.