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And a quick word from DS

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:55 am

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Well, he's into his last night in New Orleans. His overall impression is that it's very much asleep during the day and only comes awake at night! Got to see the oldest church in the US, loved the stained glass. Wishes he could have done more, the emptyness and destruction of the worst-hit area was pretty overwhelming from what I could gather. I'm glad they had such good weather the last couple of days. And I'll be so happy to have him home again. as he launches into the last several weeks of his gradeschool life (excuse a Mommy-ish sniffle!)
Hope he can adjust back to the cold and rain back here! I'm taking the pooch up to meet him, Max will probably wiggle right out of his hide!

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Great day with DD!

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:48 pm

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Well this will be boring for anyone reading it but I don't want to forget what a great day I've had! I drove into town a little way, as far as my wonky eyesight would allow. Then DD and I walkeda through the rain with our big ol' umbrella, and arrived at a bus stop just ahead of the bus. This is the first time she and I have taken a bus trip together, kinda an experiment. Anyway, we rode it all around town and ended up at the downtown terminal. A very nice lady there helped me get the paperwork I needed to get DD a disabled-person's bus pass, then we walked (the rain had turned to mist now) the 5 or so blocks to the farmers market, which just reopened for the season. We got some homemade blueberry jam, a big loaf of whole-wheat sourdough from a local bakery, and some chicken/spinach sausages from the local butcher. Had bagels for lunch, and just moseyed around the farmers market together. We ran into the lady who was her developmental-preschool teacher 10 years ago, she was so happy to see Becky finally walking! (she still couldn't when she graduated preschool at 4). We picked up some big crunchy apples & walked back to the bus terminal (rain had completely stopped by now). Rode back to the car & stopped at the grocery store on the way home. When we got back and checked the mail, the Stuart Little video I'd ordered for her had arrived. Whoo, I'm ready for a nap, but what a good day! AND, the goat even stayed in!

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More on my son's trip

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:11 am

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Heard from DS again tonight, wow he sounds busy! He got the "servant of the day" award today, that's pretty cool. And they had a crawfish boil. Now, around here, we call them crawdaddies and they aren't big enough to bother eating. But apparently he came in second in how many he was able to wolf down! He's actually been sleeping pretty cold at night, due to a misunderstanding about how many bags he could take with him. But one of the guys in the group managed to round up enough blankets that he's ok now.
Some guys from Michigan (?) brought their guitars with them, so he's been like a pig in slop, playing on those in the evenings.
Looks like they will be through with all they can do to the house they've been working on by tomorrow afternoon. They might get to go see what the rest of the group is working on. Looks like it will be nice out, they might even do a bit of sightseeing. "They" being DS and the builder he's been working with. Who also happens to be the guy who came in first in the amount of crawfish devoured. Wouldn't be surprised to hear that the two of them went looking for more of those!
The weather guy is calling for rain on Friday, it'll be interesting to find out if the Friday plans work out, they want to do some cleanup work in the 9th ward. Trying to minimize the influx of rodents.
Talking of rodents, and back home, DD and I had tea at a friend's house- she lives in a log house she and her husband built when they were newlyweds. The shingles they split for the roof had to be replaced as a result of a chimney fire earlier this year. Apparently, in the 30-odd years since they built the home, mice and birds have been tucking little nests into the gaps in the shingles! Cute to think of all the lifeforms their home has been home to, but with the new metal roof, guess they'll have to find other abodes.
Didn't get anything done in the garden today, hoping to get a battery for the mower tomorrow, and maybe get some pictures snapped of the wildflowers. I did pick up three pots for my tipsy-pot to go on the front porch. But now I have a raging headache and this screen isn't helping so I'll sign off.

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son's first day in N.O.

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:35 am

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My boy reported in this evening, but he was so worn out tired that he didn't talk long. He and another fellow were laying the floors for a family that's been living in a FEMA trailer, with several of the family members having disabling conditions. DS sounded SO happy to be moving things along for them. He wasn't in the 9th ward, but might be by Wed., several members of the group were. He was in an area called Covington (a suburb of New Orleans). He didn't sleep well last night (new place, air mattresses & all that) but it sounded like he will tonight! Guess they did have a rather dramatic thunderstorm, which he really grooves on.
His sister watched videos all day while I worked painting a bedroom. She swears it isn't the same blue that I painted her bathroom with, but it sure looks the same to me and I've been trained in seeing color variances! O well, glad I don't have to sleep in it, it's a little intense for me. She wants me to lay on a glaze tomorrow. Fine with me, it's too cold and rainy to really do anything much in the garden anyway, and the weatherdude says snow at my elevation.
Max is under my feet, sulking about the weather. A guy can't really get out to play when it's like this. definitely giving the rain the doggy version of the stink-eye.
Madame Houdini (the goat) was happily tripping about the yard when I got home from working today. Impossible to be mad at her when she so cheerfully pops back into the pasture, but my patience is definitely running very thin!!!


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Never a dull moment! (could use a few!)

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:14 pm

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Goodness, it's wonderful to see how busy this site gets! No way I'll be able to catch up on posts but I think I'll go searching to see if anything came of the suggestion for Stew to put the logo on t-shirts at cafepress or something.
Well, my boy is winging his way to New Orleans. I guess the homes they will be working on have gone untouched since Katrina hit. How disheartening that must be for the people who lived there! Hope they can get at least a couple of them close to ready for living in. And, I'm wondering if the powers-that-be have thought about flying to the Netherlands or someplace like that, where cities have been below sea level for a long time, and see how they construct their walls? Dunno, maybe it's a different ball game since hurricanes don't hit in that area. Just seems like something could be done...
Tried to mow a bit of my grass this week and, ta-daa, the battery in my mower is dead. I've recharged it too many times, it's well and truly dead. Rotten timing, but O well. It's raining again anyhow so I can't mow anytime soon. And I have some yard work lined up this week so I'll set that aside for a new battery. I don't really make any money gardening, I just recycle it into maintaining my equipment!
A friend gave me some native plants he had potted up, so I get to plant those some time this week. And I splurged on a bleeding heart to go down by my pond, did a mini-landscaping job around that. I am looking into getting a little solar-powered fountain to float in my pond (2 of them, actually) just to keep the water moving. Don't want to run power down to where the ponds are.
So, I've been weeding, pulling dandelions to feed the bunnies, pulling weeds, and, did I mention the weeds? Between that, my daughter having an allergic reaction to a medication (she's ok now) , my son flying across the country and all that entails, and so on, it's been a truly adventurous week. Think I'll go check out what the rest of the Stew is up to before I have to go take a chocolate mousse to a potluck!

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