Rain, Rain

I'm up too late, but the one good thing about that is that I got to hear the rain come up from the valley and across our hilltop. I was hoping that it would arrive at some point and soak my new plantings. So much easier than lugging the watering can around to the front of the house. One way you have to splash and drip down one set of steps, across a couple of rocks and up another set of steps before watering the plants; the other direction means avoiding the clinging fingers of the beech tree and stepping over the obstacle course of garden, old tree limbs, even older composter (old enough to contain a duck skeleton from back when we had duck friends in the yard) before arriving at your destination. This way the waxy, pathetic looking rose bushes-to-be get a nice soaking and I get to go to bed. Thinking about ducks.

Garden Update

I am still not sure whether I am happy to be able to do more work in the garden this year or dismayed at all the heavy labor that entails. Earlier this year I read (quite complacently, I admit) the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and smiled over her descriptions of working all day and falling down exhausted in the evening. I am finding myself falling-over-exhausted over doing just several hours of heavy gardening. By "heavy gardening" I mean, of course not the genteel and ladylike planting of seeds or watering with a hose or even a watering can, but the kind of digging and soil turning and slogging that leaves your muscles shaking and your head aching.

End result: between the efforts of myself and one helpful child I doubled the length of one bed (soil turned), started breaking the clods of soil with a hoe and raked some of the weeds out. I also planted seven rose bushes in the front of the house, and seeded the bare ground in the front that does get some sun with wildflower seeds. Our goal is to eliminate mowing in the front and have a plethora of decorative plants and flowers. Between the huge beech tree that dominates the front yard and the apple trees we put in a couple of years ago a lot of that is done. Hopefully these roses will help to beautify the front as well.

Rose Bushes

In my fantasy life, I am a great gardener. The kind that remembers to put bulbs in in the fall, deals competently with invasively multiplying perennials and deals out a kind organic death to weeds and pests. Up till now I have had an out in the form of several little people who call me "Mom" and needed constant supervision. Now that they are getting bigger, can swing for hours at a time (OK, minutes) without breaking out into a fight or falling down and getting hurt, or even better, like to "help," I am losing my excuses for why my yard isn't a thing of beauty and a joy forever. So what am I doing on this May morning? Putting off heading outside, drinking another cup of coffee...writing this post. Sigh.

Table Cloth

Since quitting my job at the public library I have been throwing myself into domestic work. Now don't get me wrong. I'm no Martha and while I love to bake, every day I wish someone else felt moved to cook dinner for the family. But the other day I put on an apron to hang out the laundry. I've been taking the kids to volunteer and even joined a month-long quilting class, where I produced half a pillow cover (oh all right, it isn't done yet) and a potholder. And I have started getting really excited about things like putting a cloth on the table and using linen napkins. Go figure. There may be cobwebs in every corner and cat hair on the couch, but at least the dining room table looks really fine.

Creativity with Kids

Somehow, reading bios of successful writers who made it big while raising their families makes it sound so easy. "I kept the typewriter in the kitchen," or "after the kids were asleep I churned out a chapter or two." Or from La Roberts, "I got bored while snowed in with little kids and no chocolate." The fact that they made it at all is amazing to me. I guess I can't walk and chew gum at the same time, but when the kids are up they all talk to me. Constantly. And I can't concentrate on writing one sentence and speaking another one at the same time. By the time they get in bed at night, I'm wiped out. It seems like the only time of day I am able to be productive in this solitary, self-centered business of creative writing is early in the morning before the first little person gets up. Which, considering we have some real morning people in the family, can be pretty early. I guess the other option is to ignore the kids, pass the chores on to everyone else and pamper my inner muse.

So here's hoping I manage to get to bed on time most nights and get up when the alarm goes off.

New Floor

We have been trying to put a new floor in our basement. Along the way, we have been trying to keep cats off the underlayment, trying to keep our dog from marking the floor as his territory, and trying to find time when someone is nearby to keep an eye on our kids while we do the time-consuming and definitely two-person task of laying a new floor.


Since we started, our one dog decided to eat a mourning dove and nearly die, throwing us into a tailspin. Then, our other dog ran on to the road in front of a speeding police car. The car hit her going nearly 50 mph. She's still alive, but very sore. Both dogs are now on a soft food diet which involves cooking them chicken. I'm starting to wonder if this was a big ploy on their part to get royally spoiled!


Needless to say, the floor is not done. All of it is finished with the exception of the last row of flooring which has to be cut to fit all the way down the room. Some day soon we'll have a moment of peace in which we can get it done.

Bunnies

We currently have a lot of rabbits living in our house. It all started with my daughter's awesome rabbit, C.T. (Cottontail). She inspired us to let our daughter try and breed Dutch rabbits, so we got a male Dutch (Wolf). A lovely litter of Dutch bunnies resulted.
However...
We have a Bad Bunny in our house. Notice the evil gleam in her eye and the splayed claws. Buttercup is one mean rabbit. She also snuck into Wolf's cage one night and got herself knocked up. So, we now have another litter of babies around. Two of them have gone to a new home, another one is leaving today, but two of them are still here. Here for your viewing pleasure are Lucky and Spot: