I finished moving the sod today! WoooooOOOOOOooohhhhooOOOOOOooooo!




Quite an accomplishment!!!

I feel really good to have gotten this part done.  The next step will be mixing in some compost.  I could go crazy mixing in all sorts of additives, but then it would cost silly amounts of money.  I think we'll just get things planted and see how it goes!





Kitty wasn't terribly interested in a wheelbarrow ride, I don't know why...




I found that little yellow truck while I was digging around.  I found an old battery, too.  I feel like an archaeologist!  It was so fun to think that some little kid had been playing around out there in the yard, and left behind a little truck that was eventually covered over by soil and grass.  I've been digging and digging, and all of a sudden this little guy was unearthed.  I wonder if I'll find more interesting things as I dig through the yard?

I hope so.

After all of my garden work, I sat down for a while and worked on my garden journal.  I'm keeping track of the things we do, and writing a bit and doing little drawings - you know, BY HAND?  It's strange, but I like it!  It will be great to look back and see how all of this came together.

I think it's important to keep track of everything, as we are learning little lessons along the way.  I can read through it all next year before we get going again, and not make the same mistakes twice.

As I was thinking about what we want to plant, and the space I've cleared, all I could think was I need to clear more!!!!

Crazy, but true...

Spring is showing herself everywhere now - despite some early morning frost today I think she's here to stay!








The hyacinth coming up in the yard were a pleasant surprise - living in a new location means little things like this to brighten the day.  They popped up by the front corner of the house, and out by the lamp post.  I'll be clearing that bed out to make way for more flowers soon, but in the meantime we can enjoy these lovey, aromatic flowers! 

As for the cherry tree - that's in the neighbor's yard, but will soon be showering its bright color over the fence into our yard!  And I can't wait for the lilacs - the were just ending their bloom when we looked at the house and decided to move in last year.  The yard is going to be one big smell good fest!

I love having a yard to putter around in.  I look around, and think of all of the things we can do here to really make it special.  Sure, it's just a rental, but I hope to be here for a good long time...




There's no accounting for the cat though.  She's just a freak.

I am so glad it's Friday!  I only had to work half a day today.  Whew!  Of course, it was my 7th day in a row...

This full time stuff is crazy!  But I love my job and am so very grateful for it.

It just get a bit tiresome at times.  Working with the public as a librarian is interesting, frustrating, maddening, and very satisfying!

So with that in mind, here's a video of Artis the Spoon Man!





That's right - a complete non-sequiter.

Moving on...

I had a great day today - work for just a few hours, then the afternoon to get some things done.  The weather was not quite conducive to gardening, but I did get out and pull a few weeds.  I'm really hoping for a couple of good days this weekend to

a.  move the rest of the sod
b.  dig in some compost

We'll see!

We saw some lovely yard, um... art - yes, that's right - ART - today.




Then we went shopping, wheeeeeee!






It's always tragic when the produce leaps to its death, and even more tragic when you catch a cabbage wishing it could reverse its decision...

When we got home, the sun was shining and I got out into the yard for a little while.



That's the cat, actually looking like a cat you might want as opposed to her current pathetic self.




The earthworms were in fine form today - squiggling all over the surface of the dirt!  I put one on Kitty's back, but when she started licking at it I decided I had better save it from a horrid death.

After a little while, the clouds rolled in...




And it started to rain, and I headed inside.  I got a little bit done, so that is good.

That's all!

I hate when that happens.

I had a nice little blog post going, and was almost done - then one bad click and

POOF!

Gone.

I blame it on the cat - she seems like a good scapegoat.

Anyhow, what I was saying was I'm patiently waiting for SPRING - just a few days away!  Will it magically be sunny and 65 degrees on Saturday?  I can only hope.

Today I had to work - one Sunday a month is required.  It's pretty busy, but with two librarians there we can usually handle any craziness that might occur.  The first hour or two is pretty busy, but after that we have an opportunity to get things done.

When a section of the library gets a bit crowded, we have to spend a little time there and look for books to send on.  This may mean duplicate copies that go to another branch, books that are outdated, or books that are damaged and shouldn't be on the shelf any more.  Today I spent a bit of time in the craft section - several shelves were just stuffed to the brim, and because crafts is one of my "pet" subjects it made sense for me to look through the books.

I have a pretty good sense of what might be outdated.  There were a few things with vaguely tacky photos - bye bye!  And a few things with writing in them, or with water damage or broken spines - bye bye!

But this.

It isn't out of date.  It isn't damaged.  So there's no reason to be rid of it.  I can't get rid of it on the basis that it

FREAKS ME OUT!!!!!!








So, rumor has it there are women out there that obtain these "reborn" dolls and treat them like real babies.  Here's a quote from the book:


Art for certificates are available from stores that sell printed papers and also online.  It can include the doll's name and statistics like the length, weight, and date and place of "birth." The most important information is the name of the doll's creator - YOU!

These dolls have even caused emergency service crews to respond to "rescues."  Talk about a waste of time and money.

I was reminded of another photo I took -




That was at Archie McPhee's - need an arm?  A leg?  They've got 'em.

Then there's the song by Hole, Doll Parts ~



I want to be the girl with the most cake...

Indeed.

On Friday I finished the digging part of my garden preparation.  Wahoo!




Here you can also see my lovely new - FREE - wheelbarrow!  I did have to have the wheel fixed, but that turned out to be about $13.  So it wasn't completely free, but much better than the $100 + of a new one!  And it works just fine.

I moved most of the sod you can see in this picture, too.  And now I'm sore.  Go figure.  That's all right though - I don't mind!  It means I've been working hard.  And the progress is so visible and so satisfying.




So bright and cheery - unlike the weather today!  Believe it or not, it's actually snowing out there!  Snow mixed in with our rain, but I guess people to the south of us are getting significant amounts.  Crazy.  Of course, it is still winter...

Well, off I go... work today, so I suppose I must get ready.

Intelligent, well spoken, thinking teens do exist!

Wow!  What a wonderful day today.

I don't make a fuss over my birthday anymore, but I must say today turned out quite nicely.

I had to get up VERY EARLY to wake Nolan up so he could get ready for his snowboarding ride.  Not too bad, because I got to go back to bed!  However, I'm sure Nolan is now ruing his choice to go because they are stuck waiting for another ride in Bellingham.  The car they were in broke down.  Boo!  Fortunately, one of the other dad's is driving up there to pick them all up and get them home.  But it's going to be a late night for the kid.

But after he left this morning, I went back to bed and had a niiiiice sleep-in!  At first I was surprised that I slept in until 10, but of course it was really only 9 o'clock.  Heh.

The morning was quite relaxing, and we finally went out to do a bit of grocery shopping.  When we came home, I headed straight for the garden to do a bit of weeding.  I probably could have finished the digging of the veggie beds, but decided to work on the area around the lilacs and the back fence.  There were a lot of dandelionesque things that needed to be pulled up before they flower and go to seed.  I still have a bit of the are to go, but made a good dent in it today.  I would like to plant some herbs there, and maybe a few flowers - and I discovered today that the soil is wonderful!  Full of worms, once again...




Oh wait - those aren't the worms!  Those are the caterpillars living on the tree in the corner...

I didn't get a picture of the worms.  But here's what the back fence area looks like...




Those are lilacs along there, by the way.  I can't wait until they bloom!  We'd like to make use of the space between them - probably for herbs, and a few flowers.

I even saw some ladybugs back there today!  They seemed a bit sluggish, but they were there.  Such a wonderful sign of spring.

The odd thin was - the weather forecast for the weekend was snow!  We didn't get much, but there's still a chance of a little bit through tomorrow.

We'll see.

But if there's one thing, only one thing you remember this week - don't attempt to spell the word leprachaun!




Argh.

Oh yeah - I did get a great birthday present... a wheelbarrow!  And it was free, thanks to Freecycle.  It needs a small amount of work, but that will cost much less than buying a new one!

w00t!


Springtime - Pylon

Spring Rain - The Go=Betweens

Wow!  So much got done today!  It's amazing what you can accomplish when you just get up and do it!

First I dug another section of the yard.  I didn't move any of the sod around, just turned it over.  So that meant I covered a lot of ground, and don't have much left to do in that stage.






And that was all before breakfast!!!

Okay, so we ate at 11:45...  but still - that's quite a bit of work for a Sunday morning.


Next, we went for a hike!








Last but not least, we got some things so we can get our first seeds started indoors!




Whew.

Time to sit back, relax, and look at some gardening books...

My new project is our garden - no reason that this sunny yard should just be lawn!




The area by the fence gets sunlight all day.  Sooo... I started digging.




And digging...




And digging...




That's just the start - my plan is to dig all the way to the end of the fence.  Tomorrow should be another good day to get out and dig, as long as it doesn't pour rain.  I think we'll be okay.  I can't wait to get some things into the ground!  I visualize a row of sunflowers against the fence, and blueberry bushes in the corner...

Tomorrow I shall also plant some seeds inside to get them started - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts...

Then, as if that wasn't enough of a project last week, I decided to dig out the front bed, too.  It was full of St. John's Wort.  That might sound like a good thing, but NO!  It is EVIL!!!!




Those nasty roots go everywhere!  I managed to dig most of it out, but I think I'll be battling it as long as we're here.  However, I plan to plant nice things like lavendar, and rosemary, and borage, and sunflowers in this bed...




Looking pretty good!

Now, if only I had a wheelbarrow for carting around all the plant matter...

I am so glad it's Friday!  This past week at work has been a bit crazy, to say the least.

Tuesday was a nightmare, what with adult men nearly coming to blows (and cursing at top volume), and the most challenging teens at their most challenging...

Peace, people... have you no concept of peace?




The sad thing is - I don't think they do.  I think that the tension level in the library is just going to keep going up, as the economy tanks and more and more people seek us out for whatever needs they might have.  Crowd more people into an already overcrowded space, trying to use the computers from everything to job hunting to MySpace to porn, and VOILA!  Stress meteres peg out!

Yay.

I've seen the local police at the library/college area three times in the last four days - signs of the times, maybe?




Speaking of signs of the times, rumor has it spring is on the way.  Last weekend we saw the first sunny day worth mentioning in quite a long time.  I started digging up a patch in the back yard for a garden.  Hooray!  No pictures uploaded yet, but they will come soon!




I'm off work tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be good, and I've got a shovel and turning fork - digging fun!  I'm really looking forward to it, not to mention deciding what to plant!  I am terribly excited for this garden!  Not only do I like the fun of planning, I love the digging...

One last thought - what the hell is this kitty doing with a stick?





Hmmmm....