Seriously?

Gypsy has gained a bit of weight during the past year.

We found this 'slow feeding' bowl.

Gypsy doesn't need to speak English to communicate

her true feelings about her new bowl!

Liars!

We planted 5 tomato plants in May. Due to our altitude, which brings early and late frosts, we have a short growing season, so we select varieties of vegetables that mature quickly. (And, boy-oh-boy, the squash is maturing all over the place!) One of our tomato plants indicated it would be ready to harvest in 62 days. Today is the 62nd day the plant has been in the ground. And sadly, we won't have a harvest tonight. 

June 2, 2014

I suppose we should give the plant some leeway since we have had cooler nights than usual, and hail, and wind….

July 23, 2014

Regardless…. we do have tomatoes! We have tons of tomatoes! On this plant, alone, I counted over 18!

But… they aren't ready yet. Perhaps they meant 62 days until harvest - if you like green tomatoes!

In the Jungle...

We didn't quite make "knee high by the 4th of July", but we came close! Perhaps if I were a bit shorter….
Do you see my elephant? I first put him in the same spot I had him in the previous photo (taken a mere two weeks before), and he was lost. I think I heard him trumpeting for help in negotiating his way out of the jungle rain forest. 

We have an irrigation system!! Woohoo!! I am dancing with joy. I am so tired of dragging hoses all over the place, and then trying to get them back in a nice, orderly coil. To water the trees in the back yard one needs almost 200 feet of hose. That gets heavy when water is in it!

The irrigation system isn't exactly new. When we bought our home, which had been vacant for over two years, we found a variety of systems that may or may not have been functional. The irrigation system was one of those. We could see that several pipes and valves in the manifold were cracked, and we noticed many pipes in the gardens around the house that had been chewed up by critters. We knew from previous experience that the manifold valves were very expensive. We wrote the system off, and proceeded to haul hoses around and use sprinklers as needed… until now.

We invited several irrigation system companies to come by and assess the situation. The fellow we selected seemed to like the challenge of seeing how much of the existing system he could use. Within a few hours he had 4 of the original 7 zones working! Wow! Were we ever surprised… I think he was surprised, too! It didn't take too much time and our system was up and running. Hooray! 

The Corn is as High….

The Final Stretch

West Wall Before:

After:

Front Corner Before:

After:

24 feet to go...

Our house is surrounded by rock beds. I wrote about them earlier. I am determined to get the beds back to what they once were, years before we bought the house.

See No Evil

Gypsy pretends she is an Ostrich during a recent storm, burying her head under son's bed. She is a great predictor of afternoon storms!

The Conversation Went Something Like This...

Dreaming: Honey, I'm thinking of getting an electric string trimmer.

Mr. Dreamy: Why would you want one of those? We have the gas one already.

Dreaming: I've never been able to get the weed wacker started.

Mr. Dreamy: Oh, it's easy. Let me show you…
First, you have to make sure it has fuel.

Dreaming: OK. I see.

Mr. Dreamy: Then, you pump this little bulb until this little fuel line has no more bubbles in it. See?

Dreaming: Oh, OK. I guess that's what I have done wrong in the past.

Mr. Dreamy: Then you push this switch all the way to the top. You grab it here, on the handle, holding the trigger. Then you pull the cord. Like this.

Dreaming: Yes, I see.

Mr. Dreamy: Well, sometimes you have to put this switch back toward the middle. Then pull a few times.

Dreaming: Uh huh.

Mr. Dreamy: Well, if it still won't start, then pull the switch all the way back. Then pull a few times.
I think maybe I've flooded it. I'll have to try starting it later.

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Maybe I should rethink the whole thing and get a goat!

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