Vacation Over, Retirement Set To Begin

My week of pre-retirement vacation is about over and now I'll be officially 'retired'. I hope that means I'll develop a new work-ethic "let things be" but I think my 'to do' list will continue to be longer than ever!

Took Fanny to the vet's this morning. Our persistent chewer made herself sick gnawing on old

leather desert boots and what ever else she could find. The count for the destroyed doggie toys went up again as she destroyed the hard rubber ball around a rope knot. Right now she's limited to a nylon bone. At our $145 visit with the vet this morning, Fanny was tested (negative) and vaccinated for Lyme Disease, given an antibiotic coz she has a slight elevated temp, and given some gastro-calming chews. (Notice how the language has changed to sound more like a human condition?) Anyway, I hope those gastro-calming chews help and she stops eating grass and vomiting it. And the diarrhea can end, too. She was adorable and cuddly at the vet's and has won the hearts of all who met her. (Of course, they hadn't been cleaning up after her all morning.) Right now she's asleep on my bed (which is covered with an old sheet). No doubt planning what to chew next.

Jeff and I are going to go garage sale-ing this morning in Herkimer. It's way too hot to stay out long but we'll see what's available. He thinned and transplanted beets last night but they look rather wilted this morning.

Accent Boxes

These are two of the accent boxes along the driveway side of the garden. There are bush beans, pole beans, tomato, peppers and

squash in them. The garden net on PVC pipe works better than anything we've tried before.
This box (to the left) is the herb garden with a square of annual flowers to attract pollinators. The stevia plant we bought...after trying to start 3 packages of stevia seed...is doing great. Jeff learned this weekend that the stevia stem and be cut and rooted easily...much more so than trying to start from seed!! Our plant has 2 high stems so we'll try to root them. It's nice to be able to pick fresh parsley and basil! There are carrots and onions in the small sections, too.

You can see how well plants grow in this system as opposed to 'farm rows' It may just be how much the soil's been enriched that makes the difference.

My royal and white bb sweater is growing nicely. I think I may have solved the pin-stripe problem. I still want to take it to the shop tomorrow so I have to knit knit knit this afternoon. Right now it's time to go mow some lawn!

Fanny 1, nylon web harness 0

Fanny was working very hard at something last night after supper as Jeff and I watched The Mentalist marathon on TV (too wet & cold to sit outside with a fire). I thought it was a dog chewie but it turned out to be her brand new, 4 day old nylon web harness. How she got her jaw under the strap I'll never know... the attendant at the shelter had sized it to fit her and it was snug...but she did and managed to chew thru it...and quickly, too. Now she has a red nylon web collar that is just loose enough right now that she can slip it off if she tries. She walks better with the collar but I'm not too sure about leaving her tied out on the pulley run with it. (We got her a no pull harness, too, but that's not for use with the pulley run.) The new doggie stuffed animal...a duck...that I bought her needs ' bill reconstruction' as she managed to chew it off already. Jeff got her a braided rope with a hard rubber ball attached that she hasn't destroyed yet. Right now she's attacking an old shoe of mine. Hope that doesn't turn out to be a bad idea. Jeff started training Fanny to walk w/0 the lead...training her to be free in a certain part of the yard. So far.....

Picked peas again yesterday for supper. Much more flavorful than can peas but that was probably the end of the crop. Got to put in more...much more...next spring. The rain we've been having is helping the garden. Tomatoes, beans, peppers and squash have started to flower. Jeff wants to hoe it today but it may be too wet to work out there let alone till and plant the 2nd bean tower.

I ripped out my pin-stripe v-neck sweater. Besides not looking great it was becoming a mess with all the small bobbins tangling together. Now it's a white sweater with royal trim...I may go back and embroider the pin-stripes when I'm finished.

Sherry, Jeff's sister, called last night to see how Fanny was. Max, her dog, was exhausted after their play-date. It was probably good exercise for both dogs!

Day 4...I think

Fanny & Max taking a rest during their playdate (r)
Today is Day 4 with Fanny...I think. She's adjusting as well as an 8 month old dog can. The hard part has been the over-nights, trips out-side and new people. She's sleeping on a pile of blankets and sheets beside my bed...at least she starts out there. After 3 or 4 attempts to get on the bed and a small dog chewie she goes to sleep. When she wakes up we go outside...at 1am, 3am...you name it, and start the routine over again. Last night was different. She fell asleep...exhausted after her play date with Max (Jeff's sister's mini schnauzer)...and stayed on the floor...or so I thought. Guess I was exhausted after her play date, too, coz when I woke up around 6am she was curled up next to me on the bed. Never felt her jump up on to the bed! My bed is on risers so I thought it was too high for her to do. This morning she showed me how it's done. Sit on the floor facing the bed and suddenly spring up onto the bed. No effort at all. Maybe that's the Australian part of her (kangaroo??). Jeff's been chief instructor on going outside to do her business. He just keep walking her until she does it. It seems to work for her when I take her outside, too. Being left on the pulley line doesn't bother her but I can't tell when she's been out there long enough. I've always said I wanted a cleaner house when I retire and I seem to be getting part of my wish...the floors have been mopped a lot in these last 4 days!

It's been lightly raining this morning and the garden seems very green and growing. Hope so. We all have this summer cold/allergy thing and at least the rain means Jeff won't try to work out there. He did the weed whacking at Sherry's yesterday...not a great idea but who can stop him from doing what he deems necessary?....

I finished those 2 v-neck cardigans 2 weeks ago and fought the tourist traffic to get them into the shop for Old-Timer's Weekend but they didn't sell...until this last Friday and they both sold!! So I started another cardigan...this one white with royal blue pin stripes. Those pinstripes have always proved a problem. Some times they make the sweater look like prison stripes and I rip it out. This time I'm purling a single stitch in royal and it seems to be working. I have a MD appointment in Cooperstown on Thursday and I'm hoping to have it done so I can drop it off then.

Oh what a day!

Oh what a day it's been. We picked up Fanny, the new dog after work today. She rode home in the back seat...with me (l, below)...and explored around the yard(r, below) when we got there before going inside to meet Mom. I don't think she liked the pulley run on the deck after she got tangled in a table that was on there and pulled the table off the deck peeling the siding off the door jam.(above) Remember, she's only 22 lbs right now!

Tonight's been a little difficult for her, too. She fits nicely under the bed...oh what she's found under there! And even managed to climb/jump up onto it once or twice. We've been practicing commands tonight...mainly, 'no, down'. She's upset with the dogs on the hill who are howling and barking right now and is laying under the pc table between my feet. Jeff's managed to get my cold/allergies/whatever and has left tonight to me. Gee, thanks! Already Fanny acts/reacts better with him. I think these training opportunities are more for her than me!! Right now I'd like to get some sleep, too.

Heat Wave

These 90 degree temperatures are making gardening a little more difficult. Jeff has waited until sunset the last 4 days (only 2 of them were 90 degrees days) before watering the garden and then he'd really soak each section until puddles formed between the plants before moving on down the row. By the time he had finished half of a 40' row the beginning was puddle free! We really need an entire night 10pm-8am of gentle soaking rain to get things growing. Another strange occurrence...Jeff had started purple peppers from seeds and transplanted some into the ground in the 'square foot' section and some into the raised accent boxes. The ones in the ground have barely doubled in size but the ones in the boxes are have started to flower! The only difference we can tell is the amount of augmentation to the soil that Jeff has done. The boxes are filled with a mixture of top soil-peat moss-manure-vermiculite and while the garden rows do not have that combo worked in they have had compost added. Jeff repeated and changed the 'square foot' sections down the rows trying to avoid large areas of 1 variety so those purple peppers are planted all over the garden...and they are growing at different rates, too. We were talking last night and pretty much decided that in the fall and spring he was going have to work in some manure or something into the garden rows.

We went to visit the dog at the Humane Society Tuesday after work and took her for another walk. She seemed to recognize us..really recognized Jeff-what's this with my dogs and him? We got 'approval to adopt' and today I have to stop and get her dog license. We're hoping to take her home tomorrow after work. Jeff put up a pulley line for her...from the house side of the deck to a tree in the woods but with a stop just short of the tree line. She'll have about a 40x20 ft area...plus the deck. I decided to put a chair and table out there again and I'll have breakfast with Fanny on the deck. Mom chose 'Fanny' as the name. It suits her better than Alana.

THIS 'N THAT

I finished my 2 baseball sweater sets Friday and took them to the shop in Cooperstown yesterday morning. The town was already filling up at 9:30am when I got there. Homeowners with large yards rent parking spaces for the day for a little less than the big organized parking lots..and almost all of the spaces were full. The Methodist church was about the only place still 'open'..they were going at $10 for the day with a 2 block walk to the ball field. I guess if you can get 20 or so cars in your yard at $10-15 each you don't mind having to roll and re-seed it afterwards. On the way out of town I saw a small sports card with a pin-stripe paint job and thought I'd try to do a pin-stripe sweater. I've tried before and it always ends up looking like a prison-stripe. Maybe this time will be different!

We had a very nice visit with family after Fran's funeral. A luncheon was held at Canal Side in Little Falls. Kat & John had put together a collage of family photos for the calling hours and brought it to the restaurant. We had a good laugh over hairstyles! Too bad family get-togethers are happening after funerals more and more.

Jeff's been worrying about the way the garden is growing...or isn't growing. He's been watering it daily, usually with 'compost tea' but even after that soaking rain we got last week, the top layer is dry as...dirt! When he hoes you can see that the ground is holding moisture down a couple of inches but it doesn't seem to be enough for the plants. Plants in the accent boxes are doing well but the soil in them is a top soil-manure-peat-vermiculite-compost mix that is very wet in the beginning and has maintained the moisture. I think he may be expecting too much too soon from the garden...the 1st day of summer isn't until Wednesday!! Now he's looking into getting some horse manure to add to the compost bin. Thanks to his sister's rapidly growing lawn, he's had 'green' cuttings to add but the compost isn't working hot or fast enough for him.

On the other hand, the tenants in the compost bin seem to be happy, growing quite large... for garden snakes. Here's a couple of them basking in the sun on the compost bin. There are actually 2 in the center photo on the spacer collar...Jeff was turning the compost into the other bin. He lets them bask until they get a little too bold then he flips them into the weeds behind the bin and they slither away for awhile. I don't know if they're doing anything to control

the field mouse population but

they seem to be enjoying the bugs!

Friday we saw a young red fox crossing the road. Cute little guy, like a small dog, running on dainty little feet! Last night while we were sitting out by the fire, we heard several of them. A strange bark. They were all around us in the woods and it sounded like they were playing "marco polo"...one barking then another answering. I've heard them before but never knew they were fox.

Yesterday we visited the dog we chose at the humane society and took her for a walk. It was her 1st time in a harness and on lead and she was skiddish. Crossing Rte 5S scared her so I carried her across. After we got onto grass she was interested in what was around her. We met several people and stopped to talk. They had seen us come out of the humane society and had several questions about the place. She was very lovable with plenty of doggie kisses for the ladies. We walked down to the canal/river and again she was skiddish about the water lapping the shore. Jeff got her to drink by putting water in the plastic lid of his tobacco can...and she lapped up quite a bit! We walked back to the humane society and this time she crossed the road on her own feet with Jeff close by. We hope to take her out again on Monday after work. We'll know by Friday if we'll be getting her. Got to come up with a name! She's an Australian cattle dog...probably a mix, what they use to call a mutt!

We went exploring in the countryside south of Rte 5S on the way home. Saw some fancy new houses...and building lots for sale at $49.000.00 and up!...and some beautiful scenic views. We ended up on Rte 168..the Creek Road..and came out at the bottom of Vickerman Hill in Mohawk. We're lucky to have such beautiful country around us. Too bad more people don't take advantage of it. The idea of these excursions is to see if you can get lost and then find your way back home. Jeff and his uncle used to take rides like these.

I'm not sure what we're going to do today. There are potatoes to plant and carrots to transplant...we'll see. I know we got a roasting chicken and are planning to put it on Jeff's
Ronco Rotisserie. Remember tv commercials about that? Again, his uncle liked to cook on one and they wore out several over the years. Jeff was lucky to have one given to him and while it's lacking a few of the fancier accessories it works very well.

THE NEWEST MEMBER TO THE FAMILY???

Today Jeff suggested stopping again at the Herkimer County Humane Society shelter to see what dogs they had. We've been there a couple of times and while the dogs were great they were a little too energetic to have around Mom. Today they had 2 dogs that we both liked: a male beagle mix and a female cattle dog mix. The beagle was very excited to see us...or the treats the attendant gave us to give him...and was a nice small dog. The female was a little more timid, maybe coz she was recovering from being spayed. Anyway, the female won my heart and I filled out an application to adopt her. Had to give 2 references! Took this photo of her... Elena, a name that will change...to show Mom. Now we have to wait for them to call and say I can have her. In the meantime I have to come up with a new name. Any suggestions?

After Fran's funeral tomorrow I'd like to get away for a couple of hours, maybe go to the shop in Cooperstown to restock for this 1st big weekend of the season (Old Timer's Game, parade & golf tourney) but I think my escape may have to wait another day. Mom will be exhausted, physically and emotionally from the ordeal, and will be hard to handle by the end of the day. I think my escape may be limited to sitting and watching the garden grow. Thank God for Jeff. I know I'm not coping very well and without him the situation would be a lot worse. I think I upset some of my co-workers yesterday because I said no to a retirement party of any kind. With Mom the way she is and Fran's death, I'm not in a mood to celebrate. I just want my time at the library to be finished...quietly & quickly... and to go on to the next part of my life.

Speaking of what is finished, I'm ready to bind off my 2nd bb sweater and do the 2 hats to go with them. That's about as difficult a task as I want for tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Rain...Rain!

Today's been a real wash out! We've gotten about 3/4" of rain and with that much rain you'd expect to have puddles in the walkways but no, it's all seeping into the ground. Jeff's been watering the planted rows right along and we've both noticed that the walkways were getting dry and cracked. He hoed the entire planted area this weekend and those plants have seem to grown overnight with this rain. He's had to refill the reservoir for the gutter garden nearly every day, too, and those plants are growing like crazy! Both potato tubs have flowers so we may get some potatoes!! They also have holes in the leaves caused by some larva. When Jeff nudged one off a leaf it suddenly had wings and legs! It doesn't look like the regular potato beetle...kind of like an all red lady bug... but more like a splot of bird dung...that brown spot in the center of the photo. He's planning on spraying as soon as it drys up. I get to continue mowing the lawn...a never ending job this time of the year. I haven't made it all the way around in the same weekend yet! We went to Jeff's sister's yesterday and came back with 5 trash bags of grass cuttings from her lawn. One compost bin is empty and Jeff needed the 'green' to mix in as he turns the other bin. The weather is suppose to be 'great' for the next 5 days...sunny and warm but not hazy hot and humid...so we should be able to get some work done.

Thursday we're going to my cousin Fran's funeral. He died in Greece, where he lived, on the day he was suppose to fly to the States for his annual summer visit. There are photos of him in last year's tomato patch earlier in this blog. Both Jeff and I have been saying 'wait til Fran gets here and sees this' all season as we've worked the garden. Too bad he didn't make it. We will miss him very much. (www.vincenteneafuneralservice.com)

Moving A Gutter Garden

Our gutter garden was the 1st one Jeff built and the more he learned about them the more he wanted to change ours. A couple of weeks ago he built one for his sister...the same size as ours but in a straight line instead of 2 parallel lines. This week we got the 2x4's and gutter parts and Jeff put them together...twicking the design a little. It sat there...empty...along side the old ones in use. Then yesterday was moving day! Jeff transferred all the pails to the new empty gutter... being careful to get the netty cup in the gutter and not crush them. That wasn't so difficult with the 5 gal pails but when it came time to move Potato Tub #1 it was another story. There has to be 100 lbs of soil in that tub and it took both of us to move it. Good thing the tubs are suppose to be laundry baskets and have sturdy rope handles on them. I had to grab my handle with both hands and...holding on tight coz Jeff moved faster than I did...hobble to the new gutter. After Jeff got the old one placed in the new formation and the water system hooked up again he moved all the pails and it was time to move Tub #1 again. This was a longer distance but we made it and all the pails were in their new position. Then it was time for the weekwacker to get closer to the gutters than I had gotten with the lawnmower. Disturbed a lot of mosquitoes in the process, too. The frame for the garden net has to be altered but that's just re-positioning joints and using different lengths of pvc pipe.

Everything is growing well in the buckets as you can see in this photo (r). The light green leaves in the black pail is celery and the tall green leaves in the blue pail is romaine. Jeff's planning on 2 more gutters... parallel to these 2 but with enough room between them to use the lawnmower. We'll stay with one reservoir and just add another 2-way faucet. Gutter gardens are a little more work at first but they're self-watering..just keep the reservoir full...and easier to weed. We've got to improve on the potato tubs but that will be for next year.

We didn't sit outside for long last night...the firewood was too damp...and besides I had bought a wireless mouse and keyboard yesterday (part of my 'mad money' from the sale of camp...no one believes I should spend it all on yarn except me!!) and Jeff wanted to get them working. That task included a midnight run to Walmart to get chips, cereal and AAA batteries to insure the mouse would keep running! The most unusual part of the installation was when Jeff asked for the folder with all the passwords, etc for the router I knew exactly where it was. A real FIRST for me!

This is the herb box with annual flowering plants (ageratum, white begonia and celosia) in the top level to attract pollinators...and to make it look good. The whirajig is to discourage squirrels & their friends...and it works!

After supper last night I sat by the fire

and knitted while Jeff watered the garden with compost tea (compost seeped in water and diluted thru the sprayer). It works as well MircleGro...and a whole lot cheaper! Wally & Dot walked up and sat with us for while. Wally brought up a glass of water from their new well. The sediment has settled completely and they have nice crystal clear... sulfur water...just like us! Wally is looking into purification systems and Jeff's encouraging him to look into reverse osmosis.

These are the potato tubs in the gutter garden with their new 'hill' collars...mesh

laundry baskets from the dollar store with the bottoms removed, split open and wrapped around the potato plants, lined with paper bags or newspapers and filled with dirt

to bury the stems (in reality, hilling them.)

Tub #1...with the brown paper collar...has flowers forming. That's suppose to mean

potatoes are forming underground.

The plants in the gutter garden are doing much better than those in the ground...but they were put in place in the middle of April and lived in a 'greenhouse' for a couple of weeks. The 'square foot' garden looks very good with square foot patches of each different vegetable. It's like a green patch work...all different shades of green! Hope it produces fruit!

The Rain's to Blame

Jeff got more of the 'square foot' rows tilled and planted last week before the rain started. We used up the left-over garden net on the bean tower (also know as the space ship landing gear). He's got melon planted on 2 sides and squash on the other two. There wasn't any catnip ready for transplanting so I put annuals in the top layer of my herb box. A hummingbird made an appearance Friday night...more like a recognissence (?spell?) flight checking out the feeders and what was in bloom. We enjoyed our fire pit eventho we had to play musical chairs to keep out of the smoke's path. The smoky fire did not do anything to discourage mosquitoes nor did the tiki torches with citronella oil. (We got 2 more today at the dollar store in the hope that more will help.)

It was too wet to work in the garden yesterday and since the Town of Herkimer was sponsoring a large trash collection, we cleaned the garage intending to make a trip or two to the town garage with our trash...but there was so much to go thru that we didn't make it over to the town garage in time...7am-3pm wasn't enough time for us. It's amazing how much junk can fit in a 2-stall garage!! We got it bagged and will have to find somewhere to take it...or pay the garbage collector to pick it up. Jeff's brother and nephew called while we were working at it and Jeff gave them directions to find us. When we finished I started a pot of 3-meat chili while Jeff started the fire. Again the smoke and the citronella torches didn't help much with the mosquitoes. In desperation I sprayed around the fire pit with Yardguard and that seemed to tip the balance in the human's favor so when Wally & Dot from next door walked up...Wally dragging a rather large dead pine branch for the fire...and sat with us for awhile the smoke was more of a problem than the bugs. Good thing we had cleaned out the garage and found the rest of the lawn chairs coz when Jeff's brother and friends rolled in on their motorcycles we needed them. Never had about $100,000 worth of motorcycles parked in my driveway before!! Jeff showed everyone around the gardens explaining the gutter garden and square foot principles and we sat around the fire drinking...Pepsi! (Blew my idea of a 'biker' party.)

Again it was too wet to work in the garden today but that was ok coz neither one of us was moving very fast after cleaning the garage yesterday. We were suppose to go to a family cookout at Tim's but didn't make it. Hard work and damp weather caught up with us both. I've started the Great Countdown(27 days to go!)to my retirement at the end of the month and I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time during the week outside so a damp day or a sore back on a weekend won't interfere so much with our plans. I didn't even knit much today cos I kept crawling back into bed to ease my back pain. OTN: a size 9mo, v-neck cardigan, raglan from the neck down, in royal blue acrylic on US8 needles. This is a baseball sweater and will have 5/8" baseball beads as buttons; and the 2nd sock for a friend's wife, from the toe up in violas Serenity sock yarn on 2 US2 double pointed needles. This is my 'in the bag' project that is always in my pocketbook and I work on in the oddest places...like waiting in a drive-thru at the bank or McD's!!