THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER THING...!

Jeff has been busy turning our 1st gutter garden into a greenhouse with kale, romaine and peppers in 5gal pails. Just in time, too, with the return of rain and snow in the forecast. The gutter system is self-watering so right now there's not much to do except put the 2nd gutter together and transplant more of the seedling from Jeff's grow-lite system. Hopefully, flowers, tomatoes and potatoes will join the pails this week. And maybe strawberries. We bought a heat gun (Jeff didn't think my hairdryer would be hot enough) and made a strawberry planter out of a 5 gal pail with roomettes for 24 strawberry plants. If this all works we'll be picking our 1st harvest in June...about the time our in-ground garden starts to blossom!

Dawg has made herself sick from drinking standing water...in the gutter, on top of cans, in the lawn chairs...and has been burping up (vomiting) water...but no food. This morning she burped up blood so this afternoon we'll be taking her to the vets.($$$) There is so much for her to get into out there! Jeff thinks the compost bin is secure enough to keep her out but we let her roam whenever one of us is outside so we don't know where/what she gets into. We don't use chemical insecticides, either, just natural formulas that Jeff finds on line but she does go next door, into the woods, etc. She got a dose of flea and tick stuff Saturday and she may have tried to lick it off...if she could reach.

The library is closed (April 14-May 6) for renovations, asbestos abatement, new rug, paint job, etc. With the help of some great volunteers ALL the books, tapes, dvd's etc were boxed up and stored away. We'll be busy putting everything back where it belongs starting May 1st. In the meantime, we're 'on vacation'! Would like it a lot better if the weather had stayed the way it started with sunny, blue skies and temps in the 70's.

In the meantime I've been keeping busy finishing OTN projects to put in the shop. My little girl's shrug looks great when I displayed it with one of the cotton sundresses. They seem made for each other! Also got some baby socks finished...self-striping wool blends look so sharp!...and baby jacquard...another self-patterning yarn...knit up into some very nice baby sets.

And I've been reading! Got caught up to the newest Deborah Crombie murder mysteries with Duncan & Gemma, the British cops, getting married in the one I just finished. The next one in the series is waiting for me at the Ilion Library (where 'Holds' for Herkimer patrons are being dealt with). That give me 2 reasons to go to knitting group over there tonight...depends on how Dawg does at the vets.