Happy July 6th!

After the non-stop work of June, July 4th weekend was a powerhouse of activity around the house. We got a lot of landscaping done. Only 5 little catmints to plant and in a week i'll have 6 nice sized russian sage to plant too.

So the rock border went in, the mulch was laid and that portion of the herb/flower garden that borders the house is complete for this year. I'm done!

We built the 2.5 flower beds this weekend also. Moving rocks is hard work when your as round as I am.......lol But it looks so good. The two larger beds have catmint in them. Next year they will be big and full and beautiful. This year they're cute :-) Bordering the little fence completed the look and made it just wonderful. A nice layered look because the fence area is lower than the beds.

Our newest neighbor

Rocky here is HUGE! We saw him last weekend when we arrived home late after the festival. This morning Phil found that he had broken into the sunflower seeds. He waddles he's so huge. I said he was at least 45lbs..... Phil says over 50. Did I mention he's HUGE!!!


Here he is for perspective how high he waddled up the tree.

He slept in this tree all day. Changing positions on occasion.

Look at those feet and hands...LOL Sooooooooo CUTE!!





I didnt realize he was watching me while I was taking his picture. What a face huh? Look at those feet....LOL!! Did I mention he's HUGE!!!!!?



Yes he's cute, yes he's huge. No I dont consider him a pet. Wild racoons are dangerous. Wild animals should never be considered pets. But i'll enjoy him while he's with us :-)

VRaz60 you are absolutly right. It definately gave me something to build on and next year will be even better. I'm actually amazed at the support i've gotten over this event. I expected it to be a money maker and everyone else expected it to be what it was. So, i'm really the only one hugely disappointed and i've pretty much gotten over that part.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!


Sooooooooo, for Memorial Day Monday this is where we stand.

Parade was good! Even the different route didnt keep folks away. All a good morning.

Then onto the yard......... la la la la la la la


The new phlox



The work in progress corner. We didnt get to finish it before we plain pooped out.

We got some lattice that was around the property and anchored it between the apple & pine tree and then took a second peice over to the corner of the house. This is a "dead" zone for anything except weeds so we decided to put down a ground cover and then fill it in with mulch. On the other end of the porch we're going to continue the herb garden around the corner from the front over to the end of the porch.

We did manage to get the herb garden mulched in and bordered with the stones.

Look what Phil made me!


This is for the upside down tomotoes, peppers and pickeling cucumbers.





I just love these pots! I got them at Rite Aid for half off. In person they look like wood. I had to touch them to make sure they were ceramic.


We used the parot cage stand to hold flowers :-)


So it's 8pm and i'm pooped. Gonna get off the PC and relax. We both worked hard today. It was a good day :-) Happy Memorial Day!

Sunday Salutations

So the energy fair........ didnt go as well as I'd hoped, but it's still in the black. All my vendors are happy and were very happy when I told them that they would get free booth space at the 2010 energy fair. 3 have offered to advertise next years event as soon as I pick a date. The common census was that it wasnt huge busy, but they got more quality out of this event than others. They loved that I got the kids involved and gave me ideas for next year on ways that the kids can participate. Overall, i'm not going to slit my wrists over the event, but it didnt pad the bank account the way I expected,eeded or wanted it to.

I did discover this weekend that I am not solar powered. My face is beet red. Even with the clouds, rain and my straw hat I managed to get one hell of a sunburn on my face. When I went to the drug store last night I picked up 50 spf lotion and face lotion. Of course the smartass clerk had to point out that I thought of this a little late......lol

Today my office manager is opening the fair at 10:30 and giving me the morning. I'm not showing up until noon. It ends at 4pm and I should be home by 5 I HOPE! Phil is going shopping for that black ground cover stuff and tonight & tomorrow we're digging up the green stuff (hardly any of it is grass) and doing some landscaping. Update on Monday night.....lol I'm hoping to get the part around the house done this holiday weekend. Wish me luck!

Apple Blossoms

Our apple tree is in full bloom. I wanted to make sure to get a couple shots before the petals fell off.




All kinds of bees buzzing around. It sounds like the whole tree is buzzing!



My bright moment for the weekend :-)

Update

Did I speak too soon?

Got to work, started printing off the programs and 1/3 of the way through we ran out of ink. This is not your typical ink and can only be ordered from certain places and of course none in time for tomorrow. Call a local printing company, it's gonna cost $360 to print 500 more only to find out that when the printed them the graphics turned out completely different and shitty. GREAT!!! Then my truck starts acting up. Apparently it's the U joints. Goody!! On top of all that, it's 88 freaking degrees!!!

Ok, I have 500 shitty programs to assemble tonight so I likey wont be back on.


BREATH DOE BREATH

Thrilling Thursday!

I find myself surprisingly understressed considering the event coming this weekend. I dont know if it's survival mode or just giving it up to the goddess knowing that everything will turn out the way it is supposed to. *shrug* But i'll take what I can get at the moment. The latest and greatest weather update is rain on Saturday. That will seriously screw up the biggest day of this event.

Last night while running an errand for work I picked up 4 more creeping phlox for the yard. Im hoping to get those planted on Sunday or Monday. With any luck I can pick up a couple flats of flowers for the barrels in the courtyard and for the window boxes at Phils office. I am dying to get my hands in the dirt and get creative with the property!

The last weekend of May we decided we're going to paint and finish the bedroom. I dont think we'll get new carpeting in, but all the rest will be completed. Should keep us out of trouble for the weekend. I'm also working up a design for a cheap, attractive headboard for the bed. Currently we have a wicker headboard that just doesnt go with our plans. We'll likely freecycle that.

I have so much to be greatful for this Thrilling Thursday morning. Sunshine, employment, the man I love and the cutest damn cats in the world, for a start.......lol

Today looks like a repeat of yesterday weather wise. Beautiful day and a busy one. Have a super day!!

Windy Wednesday

Rumor has it we're going to hit a blustery 80 degrees here today! Couldnt happen this weekend....... nooooooooooo *eyeroll*

I sat down last night, pen & paper in hand and made out a grocery list and a fresh new "to do" list...lol I am a computer person through and through, but my lists always feel better on paper. Nothing quite like pen & paper.

I've always had this mindset that only old people watch birds........lol And then Phil & I hung up bird feeders in the yard and I find myself watching them endlessly. Now we have hummingbirds and I love watching them! I realized the other day that this officially makes me old...ROFL Do you remember any perceptions of old that you had that you now embody?

Doe oh Doe, and how does your garden grow?

With one heck of a lot of luck!


Herbs are taking off!

May 19, 2009

Yesterday I finished at the office half an hour later than I was supposed to, promptly went down the road to ensure that our guests from Lansing made it to their cabin and had the correct directions for dinner, went to the resturant and met Phil for a beverage before the meeting started. Then poof it's 9pm, im exhausted and on my way home for the night. Thank the goddess Phil did laundry for me so I have something to wear this morning.

I have to be at the office an hour early for a board meeting and then to the yacht club (trust me, sounds better than it is) for the big coastal meeting with the folks from lansing. At 11am I have to excuse myself from the meeting to go do a phone interview on our local radio station regarding the energy fair, poof back to the meeting which i'm hoping will finish by 1pm.

In the mean time i'm still trying to get hold of the trash company to make certain they'll be at the energy fair collecting segregated trash and finish designing the program that is being handed out at the fair. That part has to be completed today because I have to print and assemble 1000 of them Wednesday & Thursday. We have a ribbon cutting on Thursday that I have to attend and I am certain i'm forgetting something tomorrow....lol

Looks like I frosted my pepper plants and a couple flowers, but other than that we made it through the last hard frost here. I'm hoping it is really the last. So far it looks like mama nature is on my side this coming weekend *whew!* and i'm trying not to stress too much about any of it. The problem is, i know i'll take it personally if it tanks.......lol

Memorial Day I have to be up early to help line up a parade and then i'm home for the day! It's sad when the next day i'm looking forward to is a week away....LOL With any luck mother nature holds out and it's nice that day too. Cuz after the parade starts i'm walking home and spending the day in the yard.

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Home from work now! Yeah!! I'm admittedly a bit tired today. The handyman who does work around the property here gifted us with some "made today" farm fresh eggs. I'm posting a pic of them, one cuz their so purty, two cuz one of them is HUGE! That poor chicken........ROFL

My giggle for the day.

May 6, 2009

It's been one of those weeks! Seems like Pre-Mercury Retrograde. First I tick off my mother, then I tick off my sister and then I alienated a friend of 5 years.
Fa la la la la

Last Thursday the office was hit by lightening. Killed the phones, fax, modem, 2 routers and a pc network card. We've been dealing with 2 half working phones in one office, none in mine and then my cell phone dies!

Tonight we went to Wally world and picked up a new phone. I dont have a clue how to work most of it. But at least I can make and receive phone calls on it. I'll get it figured out and then I may even be able to post photo's from it :0)