Happy Day

Well, it seems as if summer is well on its way. We've had more hot sunny days already this spring than we had all of last summer. It's looking like we're going to have a good year for gardeners. My Mom likes to garden but she has a relatively small yard in a pretty populated neighborhood. She gets plenty of sun in the front yard where she keeps a couple beautiful perennial gardens; but it would be too unconventional for her taste to plant our vegetables in the front of the house by the road. Oh, how the neighbors would talk about us then!

So we have our vegetable garden in the back yard in the space she has allotted for us. She probably would have planted a small veggie garden whether we were here or not; but I believe that us being here lends some excitement to the task for her. So I'm hoping the year will be a good one, with plenty of sun and just enough rain. My Mom ordered some rather cheap siding for raised beds and Mikey assembled them in the back yard. For some reason, though, my Mom insists on them being in a location the doesn't really get full sun. Maybe it gets about three-quarters of a day of sun, but that's about it. And almost all veggies need a lot of full sun in order to produce fruit. So hopefully we'll have enough sun for all the stuff we planted.

There is a decent herb garden in one bed with all the typical herbs present: parsley, basil, oregano, dill, thyme, sage, chives, mint, rosemary, and savory. Among the herbs we've planted nasturtium which is supposed to help keeps the pests at bay. And in addition it has beautiful, bright orange and yellow blooms. The second bed is filled entirely with types of squash. Of course we have zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers. But we also have lots of acorn squash. My mom must have figured we would need a lot of squash this fall. We didn't get any pumpkin plants, but I think we should. And we still have time as long as they are started already in a six pack. I like ti carve designs or names into green pumpkins and when they are grown the scar remains. The third new bed is filled with cold crops, like broccoli, cabbage, and kale on the upper level, and peppers on the lower half of the bed. We have some decent patches of rhubarb and a fledgling bed of asparagus. And we couldn't go without a small raised bed, constructed two years ago, filled with tomatoes. We have mostly cherry varieties but also a couple big beef types just in case. I'm sure our neighbors, however much they despise us, will gladly accept gifts of vegetables come mid-season and we have more than we can possibly eat. I'm sure we'll have plenty to jar after giving too.

One of the things I'm most anticipating is the growth of our morning glories. They have taken to dropping seed every year and we don't even have to bother with them and they come back fierce every spring. They are practically six inches high and twining amongst themselves already. They grow so lush that they almost cover the two sides of our screened-in deck. They twist up both sides and over the top of our front door, cream centers glowing in their deep purple halos. I hold a certain regard for plants which are both beautiful and dangerous. And morning glories fit that bill with their gorgeous flowers, heart-shaped foliage, and psychedelic seeds.

It will be interesting, as well, to see if all the work of dead-heading the supposedly ever-blooming lilac bush will pay off. Apparently, if you remove the small, browning flowers that appear at the end of the spring, this variety will produce another couple rounds of fresh, scented blooms. Here's to hoping.

I've always been into gardening myself, and so I don't mind helping out. Most of the time it's pretty enjoyable. But it's a lot of work and a lot of time. It takes a couple hours just to water the whole shebang. And we had to fill each new bed. I filled one, my mom filled one, and Mikey filled one. And we all planted a bit of each. But it takes constant care to keep them kept up and producing. We still haven't even come close to mulching all our existing beds for the summer. I believe mulch does a great job keeping moisture in. It's worth the effort alone in the amount of time and water it will eventually save. But it's a big job. And my Mom is away a lot, so it pretty much falls to me. My brothers are finally working, which is great. So they're gone on weekdays and sometimes Saturday. So I don't mind doing house jobs since I'm not working. But there are just so many. My classic complaint. I can't get a single post written without bitching about housework.

Anyhow, my Mom also rented a dumpster for "spring/all the crap since she moved here" cleaning. But we only get it for a certain amount of time. So she's been on me to get everything thrown away before it's too late. But most of this stuff isn't mine since I just moved here. So I don't really know what I should throw away. I want to have a huge yard sale too, before just throwing stuff away. But even with just throwing away stuff I know for sure is crap, I've half filled the thing. And it's enormous. Since my Mom couldn't care less about any of it, I'm hoping I'll be able to keep any money I make from the yard sale and save it towards buying my own car. Once I actually, finally, get my license straightened out that is. I've been tossing a ton of stuff from the basement. And that's been making it better to stay down there. It's opening up the space and I feel like I can breathe. Getting rid of all the crap will cut down on the cost and the labor of having it remodeled. I'm trying to talk my Mom into having the basement re-done before the fall. It would be pretty nice if it were just me down there and it was just re-finished.

Well, writing of all this work that needs to be done is making me feel guilty about just sitting around blogging. The day is more than half over and I've been taking it pretty easy since I woke up. I had to drive to the clinic first thing, of course. But even that hasn't been so annoying ever since I found out about the clinic that is much closer and discovered I may be able to go there instead. It would cut down on my travel time significantly.

I hope all is well with everyone. Have a great Memorial Day. That is the holiday we're celebrating, correct? I can be a little spacy sometimes. Until next time......

Summer in November

Wow. It was almost like summer today, it was so warm and sunny. I planted some bulbs in my yard, I don't think it's too late, they should be okay. Some crocus, tulips, and daffodils. I love flowers, how typical is that? Does anyone actually dislike flowers? I mean, really, what's not to like?

Another super long night at work. I want a new job, but man, it is hard to find much out there these days. Especially for someone who does not have extensive education and piles of degrees. I really need to finish/continue school.

I have a serious lack of places to sit in my apartment. I think we have, maybe, three chairs. And the dogs take over the bucket chair and it smells like dog and no one wants to sit there, understandably. I've been looking into getting some new chairs because I think it would make all the difference. I want big, cushy, super comfortable, could-fall-asleep in them chairs. You can find some okay ones for a couple hundred bucks online, maybe after Christmas. I've noticed that as I get my apartment organized and livable, Mikey and I get along better. It's really distracting and stressful living amongst massive clutter. Because it seems to be having a positive impact on my life, it makes me want to make it nicer and nicer.

Up until I got really addicted to dope and thought of nothing else, my apartment/living space was always clean and organized. obsessively so. Then I guess I just stopped caring and it became a nightmare. the worse it got, the less I wanted to deal with it. So it went on like that for about five years. And then I got "clean" and I was embarrassed to have friends over and it was clearly making me crazy and constantly stressed to have my living space in such disarray. And so I've been systematically throwing away everything that is old or I no longer use and it's awesome!

So tonight I brought the last of my piled up bills with me to work. I have so much down time I figured I may as well utilize it for my own benefit when possible. Maybe then i won't resent all the time I have to spend here quite so much. I figure I may as well fill up their trash with discarded envelopes, eh?

Can't wait.

It's amazing how simple things like good socks and shoes and the proper snacks and lots of variety make a night of work seem not so crappy. Maybe I'm just pathetically easy to please. Food and shoes, how lame.