21 cubic feet

Apparently, a Miata can only carry 21 cubic feet of mulch at a time. This is as far as I could get after one trip to Lowe's.

I love my car, but having a pickup truck would be nice at times.



While at Lowe's, I picked up a few more shade plants for the side of the house after I noticed that they were on sale.

Punkin

Morgan and I went to a pumpkin lot at a local church to pick out a pumpkin and I carved a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Isn't it cool?

Morgan says he's a cannibal and that reminds me of a joke.

A baby cannibal says to his mother, "Mom, I don't like the missionaries."

"Then just eat your vegetables," says his mother.



Morgan painted the first coat on the street number of the house a vibrant, neon reddish orange, which I think is fitting. We'll add flowers and stuff later.

I'm still here

Hamburger Bun - he is quite bold and unapologetic about it. I heart him for that. He is also a little piggy and hugely curious all the time. He wouldn't get out of the way so I could take shots of the rest of the dudes.

Hamburger Bun - me scolding him to quit hogging the lime light.

Pork Chop - isn't she pretty? That's Hoho in the background. He is the runt of the tank.


Starvin' Marvin - he is a little grumpy now because he thinks this shot makes his butt look big and poor little Ho Ho, he just looks anemic.

Pork Chop - still unsure what this is all about but happy as a pig in a poke to be in a nice large tank and to have a family of her own now.



Twinky died about a week ago. Apparently Hostess products DO have a shelf life. We were a little sad at his demise but the newest addition to our family has helped fill the gaping hole Twinky left behind in our hearts. Please meet Pork Chop! Isn't she beautiful? It's really hard to get a good shot of goldfish for a hack photographer like me and I'm afraid I didn't capture her best side but still.....she is a beauty. I think Hamburger Bun (who is a major camera whore) has a crush on her. Starvin' Marvin is a little leery of her and Hoho is too little to think much one way or the other - he doesn't like girls yet.


Next up, I spent two days repainting this chest. It was green with gold hardware. I painted it to match this extremely cool table we got for Tad's bedroom. The table has a stainless steel top and black legs. Yes, another piece that weighs a blinking ton and that Andy had to repair some and then disassemble to get through the bedroom door. Don't tell him, but I do this on purpose. This chest has been in my family's home for well over 30 years. It's been resurrected in a rainbow of colors. It might not be worth a dime and look a little time-worn but you couldn't pay me to give it up. It's a piece of my home, my history. Now it's a piece of Tad's. That makes me smile in these days when it seems like there is precious little to smile about.





We had a visitor on the back deck last night. A giant disgusting possum. Lord how I hate those creatures. They are like rats on 'roids. Gross factor of a bazillion. So of course I had to snap a picture of it and then try to figure out how to kill it. Because it's disgusting. I decided, when it was off in the far corner of the deck that I would open the sliding glass door and get a better picture of it. I figured I would be about 12 or so feet from it and ready to slam the door shut should it attack as Andy kept telling me it surely would. I figured, hell...where is it going to go off in that corner? The stairs were on the opposite side of the deck. I opened the door, the ginormous bundle of disgusting grossness turned, saw me, and jumped off the deck! I quickly announced that I hope it died from the fall and slammed the door closed. I'm still plotting how to ensure its untimely death.

I have finally finished the bathroom in our bedroom. I stripped the wall paper. That was fun! Not! It had to go though. There were light houses for crying out loud. On my wall. Lighthouses on my bathroom walls. Next I painted the popcorn ceiling. Naked as proven by Andy's post and photo. I loathe painting popcorn ceilings. I've painted a ton of them in my time. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to just scrape the popcorn off but it didn't, at least not until it was too late. Then the fun part! Painting the walls in this very cool treatment that makes the walls look like they are covered in suede. I could use a little more practice but they turned out pretty nice. A drastic improvement over what was. We also picked out a new light fixture to replace the Hollywood glamour lights over the mirror. Andy installed that. All that is left is to con his father into making us a shelf for one wall and to pick out and install some towel bars.





I think that about covers it for now. Sorry my pictures aren't nearly as good as Andy's. I could blame it on my incredibly cheap camera equipment in comparison to his but I could shoot with his equipment and still not come close to getting the results that he does. We all have talents I suppose. Fortunate or otherwise, one of mine seems to be an ability to ramble. Enough of that.

Take gentle care, people that I love.

The color of dirt

After spending my weekend digging in the dirt and pulling out so much English ivy, Maackii's and Japanese honeysuckle on the heels of weeks of rain, I am covered in mud. Yet, the side yard is looking very good.

I trimmed up the four Azalea under the bathroom window and removed all of the multiflora rose, Ailanthus and whatever else that had decided to grow in and amongst them.

Since I drive a Miata, (blush) Morgan is working out the details of having someone come haul the ever growing pile of limbs to the city's composting facility and bring back a load of compost for the flower beds.



The Hedera and Lonicera are nearly gone from the fence row just across the yard from the Azalea. I am beginning the process of moving Vinca from the places that it has escaped from the various beds around the house and planting it where all of the unwanted plants were.



Lastly, I planted the myriad bulbs that Morgan bought last month and cannot wait for her to see how good this bed in front of the house will look come spring. There are Crocus, Hyacinth and Narcissus to the right of the tree and Iris to the left.

Is it spring yet?

Wet paint

Morgan has made some great strides in painting our bathroom. We picked up a really cool light fixture to hang over the vanity. After she removed all of the wallpaper, she is patching the Drywall and preparing to paint the walls a light, tobacco brown with a paint that finishes in a really cool suede texture. I helped with a little caulking around the shower and bathtub.

I would show her painting the ceiling and around the skylight, but she tends to paint, um... naked so...



My job was to continue to remove all of the Hedera and Lonicera from along the fence and the northwest corner of the house. It was this thick everywhere after so many years of neglect.



The fence row looks good now. It's too shady for grass along the fence, but we need to plant something. Perhaps some lily of the valley and Nandina would be nice along here.



I made a big dent in removing the Hedera and weeds from around the house, but pooped out after filling five yard waste containers with the vines and weeds that I pulled up.



I finished planting the Hydrangea and the Hosta in the bed on the east side of the house and cut in a little more horse manure. The soil was rather barren before I started, so it could still use some more organic matter. We need to pick up some more compost and then mulch around the plants. I would love to add one of my favorite plants, Polygonatum, a dwarf crested iris or two, perhaps some more Hosta and a few cool ferns, but it already looks really good to me.

It makes me so happy to see this bed. I love shade-loving plants quite a bit. Every time I round the corner, I am reminded of the plants that Mom and Dad used to have around our house. That makes me smile.