BUSY! And some garden photos - woohoo!

We have been so busy. Crazy busy. And while I do try to take a few minutes here and there to enjoy some quiet time for myself, the world doesn't stop just because I am wicked tired.

So, what have we been up to? Let's see. Steve has been working his tail off within the high-security walls of the Marathon oil refinery in Detroit. I don't pretend to understand everything he does. He is responsible for making sure certain contractors do everything by the book and according to the customer's specs and safety guidelines. He has the perfect mix of patience and assertiveness to be a pipeline inspector. I? Would not. I have the "people person" part down, but the patience ... not so much. So mostly I pray for my husband's safety, be supportive when he needs to vent frustrations to me, and try to keep things at a dull roar at home so Steve can focus on his job.

This week was a toughie as far as that "dull roar" thing was concerned. I was unavailable to answer my phone at the moment Sam's school principal called to tell me about some trouble our boy had gotten into at school, so daddy ended up getting that call at work. Hey, it's all part of being a parent, and Steve is great about that, too. I can't be two places at once or available to everybody at all times. But I was sorry Steve had to deal with the initial impact. In the end it was a bit of a hiccup in everyone's day, but you'll have that sometimes.

Sam, I think, will be the happiest kid on the planet when school is done for the year. He has little motivation for school work to begin with, and even less when he makes a poor choice (nothing malicious, just a "bone-headed" thing to do, as I like to say) and it results in revoked privileges and more chores at home. He does have a fire in his gut for other stuff, and will stay up late at night to work on something he loves. And he's been incredibly helpful to me as I've worked on creating new garden spaces at home.

Here he is filling our new raised beds with fresh black dirt. Over the past few weeks we have shoveled and shoveled and raked and shoveled some more.

And he even planted a few of his own plants:

This is one of two pots Sam planted - this one's habanero peppers and he also has cayenne peppers. 

Now what in God's name do you think we're going to do with all those peppers?! I sure ain't eatin' 'em. But hey, caring for some plants and watching them bear fruit is a simple thing that brings him joy. It's all good. (And I do believe he will eat them. He's into this "the hotter the better" kick.)

Rachel has been busy - and has kept me busy - with a little bit of everything. She was so excited for her track and field day at school this week that she was up early that day and crawled into bed with me to wake me up. She had a bag all packed with her lunch, sunscreen, a blanket to sit on, snacks and extra water. I had a chance to stop by the track as I went from one commitment to the next, and I was so glad I did. I watched her win on the last leg of a relay, then watched her take 2nd place in a sprint. She came home with five or six ribbons that day. We might have a runner on our hands!

Rachel has also been helping me in any way she can with my gardens. When we finally started planting I dug up my clump of chives from one garden (which I have given to Rachel to grow flowers for a little cut-flower business she wants to start) and moved them to the new raised veggie beds. Rach had to take a picture of the roots ... I think they're pretty healthy.

To the left there, behind the chives, you can see Kevin. Kevin is a blinged-out garden ornament bird Rachel got me for Mother's Day. She named him after the bird from the movie "Up." Kevin's pretty cool.

I have been gardening a lot. I have built garden boxes, shoveled/loaded/unloaded sand and soil, hauled brick pavers, hoisted and dumped bags of pea stone, built a chicken wire cover to keep the cats out of the garden beds (Oh look!! Giant litter boxes!), and finally got to do some planting. All of that I have done in my spare time when I wasn't picking asparagus for the neighbors, babysitting for another neighbor, tending to my own children, preparing for a trip to Washington, DC with Rachel and about 200,000 other Girl Scouts (have I mentioned that?), nurturing relationships with family and friends, and taking care of all the "regular" household tasks a mama takes care of. It's no wonder I'm tired!

But I do so love these gardens. Last night after the kids had gone to bed I sat on the patio with just the glow of some solar lights, the cool breeze, listening to frogs croaking and crickets chirping ... and I watched the stars appear. I just sat there in the shadows of all this hard work we've been putting in. How often do we take the time to just sit? To just ... be?

I kicked back in that cheap plastic Adirondack chair and thought how nice it would be to have a chaise lounger for the patio. And then I started to think about upgrading the cafe table we have to a nicer set that could seat our whole family ... and more potted plants ... more color ... and a fire pit ... and, and, and ... and I had to stop myself. Reign in it, just like I tell my kids to do. I did, and then I was able to appreciate my surroundings even more. I was able to focus on that feeling of joy, that smile I always smile when I get home after a busy day and see butterflies floating and bumblebees buzzing around the plants scattered all over the yard - and wow, there has been an abundance of all kinds of flying creatures this year. My goal is to enjoy them ... to enjoy the peace they bring me, and savor the joy I feel when I am tinkering in my gardens. And when the light of the day fades, to just sit and know that no matter what happened during the day, tomorrow will dawn bright and new.

Oh! Here are the pictures I promised ...

In my next life I want to be a cat.

Oooh, so comfy.

A little to the left, mama. 

Could you scratch my ears?

Oh wait.

Nevermind. I got it.

Now if you would just stop moving around ...

and get that camera out of my face.

I could go back to sleep.

I just wanna sleep. 

But no. You persist.

SRSLY?

Stop it or I will eat your camera.

 I'M NOT KIDDING!

Now leave me alone.

Nice view.

We had visitors this morning.

This was the view from our back slider, taken with my cell phone through the glass door.

These deer (no bucks - sorry guys) have been visiting us every day for the last few days.

Now, seeing deer in our back yard is not a big deal, but these deer have been coming closer and closer every day. This morning when I looked out the kitchen window they startled me a bit; they were maybe five yards from the back of the house. Of course as soon as they saw movement they backed off a little but they were curious enough to stick around.

Our older cat Whiskers has been very interested in them. Today I was able to slowly slide the door open enough to let her outside while the deer pranced around, twitching their ears at us. Whiskers sat on the back steps just mesmerized. The deer came a few steps closer to check her out, but they bolted as soon as she jumped down onto the ground. It was pretty fun to watch.

A kitty update.

The new kitty Patch went to the vet this week.

Poor Patch. He has ear mites (BAD), fleas (eww), intestinal parasites (ick), a fever, a head cold, and a brewing eye infection.

No wonder he seemed so laid back. He felt like poop.

It hasn't stopped him from making himself at home, though.

 

Look at Ladybug. You know she's thinking don't eat the kitty, don't eat the kitty. Or maybe what have you stupid humans gone and done now?

Ya' know how I'm always talking about simplifying life? Yeah, well, nothing about bringing a stray kitten into your home is simple. For one thing, I detest fleas. And I'm not crazy about having to teach a kitty to use the litter box, to use scratching posts, and that he can't sleep on my face. But I'm sure it will all be worth it in a few months when Patch is curled in my lap purring contentedly.

I can't wait for the first time one of my future grandchildren brings a stray home to Sam or Rachel and asks if they can keep it. Heh.

The good news is Patch is perking up quite nicely after just a few doses of antibiotics. Tomorrow he gets the treatment that will take care of all the pesky freeloaders, inside and out.

See? He's already gettin' feisty. 

Just look at those eyes.

Lord help us.

Seriously?!?

The kitty saga continues.

I had barely gotten used to the fact that we lost Snowbell when Sam walks in last night with an orange tabby kitten in his arms.

Like it's the most natural thing in the world.

Me: "Wait. Wait! Wha?"

Sam: "Can we keep it? Just for a little while?"

As the dog slobbered all over the poor thing I did a quick assessment. Kitty is in pretty rough shape. It had been hiding under grandpa's car and emerged at just the moment Sam walked outside.

Perfect timing, right?

Seriously?!?

I cannot say no. I am a sucker for kittens always, but this one just weaseled his way into my heart.

Meet Patch:

It's been difficult to type this because Mr. Patch apparently thinks I'm his mama. He likes to curl up on my chest, and he won't take no for an answer.

He's had a bath already, but it's going to take a few days to get him thoroughly cleaned up. He has something gray - paint, I think - all over his tail and on his ears. The insides of his ears are nasty; I cleaned them with Q-tips last night and it was not pretty. The pads on his paws are caked with grit, and he has a couple patches of missing fur (hence his name, Patch) where he's been injured or maybe got too cold outside.

But he's a sweet, sweet kitty. He is not bothered by the dog, who seems to think Patch is her new toy. I think he already has the litter box thing figured out.

He slept on my bed last night.

Oh, dear. This was not how I planned things.

Aren't life's little surprises the best? Heh.

Sadness the way it should be: followed by laughter.

Bad news. I found our missing kitty.

Dead on the side of the road.

*sigh*

I was afraid of that.

But like I posted yesterday, we always kinda' know we take a chance with letting our cats outside. When I gave Sam and Rachel the news they took it better than I thought they would. Actually they didn't react much at all. Perhaps they had it in their minds as a possibility since Snowbell had been gone for three days already.

I told the kids I was sorry. Sorry that the story didn't have a happy ending. Sorry that life isn't fair sometimes. Sorry that our goofy, cuddly, beautiful Snowbell is gone.

I don't know what I expected. A moment of silence, maybe? A group hug? Someone to at least say, "He was a good cat?"

What I got was, "Hey, can we get two pets to replace him?" with a reminder that we never did replace the dead goldfish.

The goldfish Snowbell ate - and then puked up on the rug - while we were on vacation a few years ago.

I was processing the pet question when Sam started to chuckle.

"Well I guess he kinda' deserved that for eating the fish," he said.

Oh my. Did my son just say that karma killed the cat? Because it sounded like he just said karma killed the cat.

Now that right there is funny.

Morbid, maybe. But funny. We laughed ourselves silly.

It's a jungle out there!

 "Kitteh sez kool tyle feelz guuuuud."

Seriously. Our back yard is overgrown and it's hot and humid and there are bugs everywhere. I slept with the windows open last night with the hope that some of the cool night air would make its way into the house, but not much of it did. Despite that, I love waking up to the sounds of the outdoors. There were so many birds and frogs and squirrels chattering away this morning, it really did sound like a jungle out there.

At least I think so. I've never actually been to the jungle.

Our house is a zoo, though, so maybe that counts for something.

Anyway.

It's another one of those days when it's too hot to do much of anything outdoors, but that's OK because it forces me to focus my energy on Mt. Laundry and all the other things I have been neglecting indoors while I've been out frolicking in the yard. Oh, and helping the neighbors pick asparagus. That season is back in full swing after a hard freeze obliterated the fields a couple weeks ago.

I need to kick it into high gear if I'm going to have everything done before the weekend. My grand plan is to have the majority of the house and yard work out of the way so the kids and I can enjoy the weekend with Steve.

I might need The Force for this one. Wish me luck.

Well looky here.

I was pulling some rogue ferns out of my hostas when I saw some leaves that were green and pretty, but most assuredly not hostas.

As I picked my way through the hosta leaves to find the base of these other plants so I could yank them out, I realized they were ... could it be? Yep. Sure enough.

Lilies of the Valley!

But wait. I didn't plant any Lily of the Valley here.

Last year I did stick a dead, withered sprig of lilies in the ground about 10 feet away on the other side of the shed. Rachel had picked them for me from my mom's house and since it appeared she yanked them out by the roots I wondered if by some miracle they would sprout this spring.

I had completely forgotten about that until now.

For several minutes I was perplexed at how the little, shriveled up plant might have gotten transferred from one side of the shed to the other. Lilies of the Valley propagate through their roots; there are no seeds for squirrels to carry off and bury elsewhere.

And then I remembered how I have been tripping over the paving stones I placed in front of the shed door because they were pushed up and left uneven by a mole. Said mole apparently does laps under my pavers ... you guessed it ... from one side of the shed to the other.

Hmph! I'll show him. Whiskers The Cat happens to like the taste of moles.

Don't you, Whiskers?

That's right, I said "MOLES!" Whaddaya gonna' do about it?

What's that? You hear one?

Go get 'em! Good kitty.

Be afraid, moles. Be very afraid. I have the Chuck Norris of cats here and I have promised her tuna for every dead subterranean animal she leaves on my doorstep.

I didn't yank the lilies out, by the way. I think I'll wait until fall and transplant them somewhere else, hopefully out of the path of any moles that remain after Whiskers returns from the hunt.