it's been a month

a lot has happened and been accomplished in the past month. most noteably, i have gotten to know my two nieces, mckenzie and elysia, and my nephew kenny better. they are amazing, crazy, brilliant and totally clueless all at the same time. elysia, who is four, can do a front flip on the trampoline!!!! she shocked us with that one a couple of weeks ago. kenny won the end of the year spelling bee for his second grade class, and mckenzie has a lovely shower singing voice.

and then there is my sister katie. i commend her for raising three beautiful children and building her childhood dream - a horse farm. we just gotta make sure she stays on the horse. a couple of weeks ago she took a pretty nasty spill. luckily nothing was broken. i watched the whole thing and man did it bring back memories. when you fall off a horse time seems to slow down, and you just watch, watch, watch the ground get closer until BANG. now that we're older it just hurts more. by now, she has healed up nicely and will be back in the saddle this weekend. let's just pray the weather is permitting.

for the past couple weeks we've had very severe conditions - either terrifying thunderstorms (a lightening bolt struck a tree next to the house, peeled the bark clean off) and tornado warnings or cloudless, humid, 100 degree days. i've been practicing my yogasanas on the river deck and i sweat just as much out there as i did in a hot yoga class. but the humidity is what i relate summer with and can't imagine it any other way.

while i don't wish for any more thunderstorms (i'm talking very scary, blinding, deafening) i do pray for rain... for the garden. everything is growing and looking healthy, but i'm not holding my breath. there is no knowing until the plants bear fruit. and if the yield is high we are in for it!

14 beds:

a gillion radishes

2 broccoli

2 cauliflower

4 peppers

3 cantalope

2 cucumber

2 eggplant (ichiban & green)

1 zucchini

3 straightneck squash

3 watermelon (might get rid of one for space)

9 tomatoes

2 thyme

1 parsley

1 dill

1 spearamint

3 basil

4 green beans

lots of corn

yet to plant:

8 swiss chard

2 spinach

and finally, i'm going to plant some beet seeds

now that things are growin' the bugs are a-comin'. i'm picking squash bugs off my zucchini plant everyday! so far they haven't done any damage, but they stink and they're mating. in addition, little black fleas (i think that's what they are) are eating up the eggplant leaves. i put a cheese cloth over them the other day and yesterday i didn't see any bugs. so far store bought and home remedy (garlic, cayenne, hot water) bug sprays aren't working very well. luckily i see ladybugs in the garden everyday.

my next concern is whether or not the zucchini (above right) is being pollinated. so far two male flowers have bloomed but it looks like they are not opening all the way for the bees to get inside. this, however, is all speculation because the male and female flowers have not bloomed at the same time yet. last year my friend had trouble with pollination because she had no bees. so she had to handle pollinate with a q-tip swabbing the male and then the female flowers every morning. i've got the bees...

while i am extremely proud of the work that's been done in the garden, i'll show you some work that proves i'm a real artiste...

sk8r

the do was all his idea. he says he wants a mullet next, but i just won't do it and his mom won't allow it. now were he a city boy, i'd consider it, but here in the sticks it's just plain redneck.