Bigger than we thought

When last we left our intrepid gardeners a bed had been made and dirt dumped in it. Good black rich dirt as the primary gardner's hand shows.

Then a second bed was made and they sort of looked like weird oversized graves...

Or huge litter boxes depending on your perspective and needs.

Yarn grids were established and slowly plants began to get planted. The thought of planting things in March warped the midwestern gardeners mind but not enough to stop her.

Not bad. Plans are forming and ideas flying everywhere.

Wee lettuce and mesclun mix sprouts. 

Not so wee kitten inspecting my efforts.

Yeah I think the guide wires (yarn) will hold.

It is even more impressive now. But I was really behind on blogging so here's where some of my time has gone. Oh and I've been knitting too. Three pairs of socks on the needles.

Weekend Project

A couple of weekends ago Hubby and I were busy people. We did the thing I've been wanting to do for a while now. We put in raised beds to plant a garden in.

We looked at the home improvement store and decided a kit would be too easy Drill Sergeant! Concrete blocks that you can slide the wood into that looks easy enough. But then we brought the wrong car and were not sure how we could get the wood to fit. So maybe just the blocks and rebar and we can plan it out...

Yeah I think this is the best spot for them.

We headed out another day to get the Cedar. Now I have bought wood before, I've been to lumber yards. I've never bought lumber for a raised bed. So we bought rough 2x12 Cedar. It smells amazing!!

Guess the concrete blocks were made for planed wood because our rough cut did not fit in the notch. and oh yeah we were not planning on getting 12 inch height either. Rework the plan again, if you could call the way I do things as planning. Shh Hubby, no comments from the peanut gallery yet.

We borrowed a belt sander to smooth the area we needed to fit and oh yeah wet wood does not sand as well as dry wood. Hubby had the brilliant idea the maybe we could just stack the blocks to make it look like we planned it that way. He's pretty smart that way and quite handsome too, don't ya think?

Not too shabby, looks like we made some good decisions. Oh you can see my nice Lemon Thyme plant too. Planted it last year and I still love it!

We had that bed for a week or so, and put the remaining wet wood in the garage to keep it from getting even wetter. It is the rainy season in Oregon, you know. My garage never smelt better!

Now we have two beds and I've planted chives and bought seeds. I need to plant some lettuce and cool weather things but hey look it is raining again. I do still love the rain.

If the garden produces anything I'll be happy. I'm looking on it as an experiment. I've never tried to garden in Oregon, but I'm on my way to learning now.

Kitty Antics

My boy Burt decided he needed to accomplish something the other day. I was sitting upstairs and saw a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye. 

Burt what are you doing in that window Momma told you not to get into? It is too high for kittens...

Momma, just because you shouldn't does not mean you can't. I resisted the urge to give it a go for over a year. Sometimes I need a Mellie break.

Yes Burt sometimes we need a break from each other. Mellie took hers on my lap. (I think she is part leopard with those spots.)

You can also enjoy outside and picking your grass fresh. 

But Momma you say Mellie can't be trusted outside.

But I can!!

ps: Can we plant a whole bunch more grass? We did manage to keep it growing all winter. Nothing tastes as good as a nice fresh salad in wintertime.

Knitting in March

Well would you look at that I have been knitting! I've had this lovely yarn with me since NY. I'd been holding off knitting it waiting for the right pattern to pop up. I knew I wanted something more than plain socks. But I finally gave up and started knitting a plain sock. Then right before the heel flap my brain said I should knit some purple Monkeys. I ripped back to the cuff and sure enough they did want to be Monkeys. 

And look what Hubby brought back from a nice little yarn store in Pennsylvania. I just love seeing what colors (and brands) he picks out. I think he does a great job.

Last Halloween time a coworker brought in a cat shaped soap that he had made. We did some negotiating and decided to trade our skills. I got some handmade Star Wars soap for Hubby and he was supposed to get slippers. You know like his grandma made him in the past. A quick and easy knit...

Never send a muggle to the yarn store unsupervised. He bought sock yarn, but he did buy enough for his bigger-than-mine feet. So yeah, I'm making a pair of socks for a coworker, how did that happen again? Oh, he did get a great large tote bag with a fun kitty on it, like sweater size bag. I didn't have a knitting bag big enough to hold a sweater, but I do now, and I'm making socks.

In other news I found a wee bit of time to spin some yarn. I got up to check on the laundry and next thing I knew I had lost my spinning seat. Don't worry he gave it back not too much later. Good thing my spinning has so much supervision.

Finally it is hard to be a kitten in this house, you have to share everything. 

I think they may just love each other a tinge.

Trying something new

I've been sick and every time I'm sick it gives me a big urge to bake. It is something about being home and wanting to give comfort. What's the best comfort? Baked goods of course. I usually can resist the urge till I'm on the mend and no longer contagious, like this time. Good thing my body planned ahead and demanded I buy frozen blueberries beforehand. So I tried my hand at making some mini muffins using a new recipe. You're supposed to layer the berries then batter, but then I missed the multiple layers item. So I had to convert them to upside down muffins. No worries they still taste great. 

It's new sock Friday! These little buggers are finally done. I started knitting them way back before D's accident in 2016. I got halfway through and thought they did not want to be socks, but I didn't know what they did want to be. So they sat on the needles and they moved into the new house and sat some more. When I finished knitting D's new socks (pictures coming) I wandered into my Rhinebeck room and none of the yarn called to me. I know right?! Then the half finished sock said "Uhm maybe I do want to be a sock, and another sock. Yes being two socks would be nice." So I took up my needles and now socks!

 This is Bumblebirch Heartwood in Celestial.  I bought this in 2015 in Portland on a visit before we decided to make the big move. Full circle and what not.

So now I need some different socks on the needles. I'm thinking this pair needs to be called Your Mother was a Hamster. You all have seen Monty Python's Holy Grail, right?

Burt says, I know how to keep my socks clean. Will you knit me a new pair sometime Momma?

Dreaming

I've been dreaming about my dad a lot lately. I'm always surprised when something I think that I have dealt with keeps popping up like a whack-a-mole game. Do you ever really deal with the death of a parent?

This time I think I know why. I'm forming a plan for the backyard, it involves garden planning. I keep hearing dad's voice in my head discussing plants with my mom. I know he wanted clematis and columbines. He always liked bachelor buttons. He planted snapdragons for me, because I loved playing with their little flower mouths. We had a huge strawberry patch in the middle of the garden.

I loved walking behind Dad as he tilled the garden. I always tried to step into his foot tracks in the dirt, never quite managing to do it with my shorter legs. Guess I'm still trying to do that now.

Last summer I faced the same issue with trying to figure out what to do with our backyard. I started small. I found a local nursery and bought four or five single plants, based solely on if I liked them, no plan to speak of. Ok fine I bought a few to plant in teacups but that was not really planning more of a random idea. I bought some containers a few weeks later and some Snapdragons and Marigolds. And some dianthus because that was the first flower I could hear Dad and Mom discussing in my head. I remember thinking what an odd sensation it was to be remembering decades old conversations.

Again I had no real plan other than I wanted them to surround the back patio. So that's what I did I plopped them in the ground or container and wished them well. It was interesting to watch them develop. The marigolds didn't get planted that first day and dried out. One of the six showed stunted growth from the trauma but they really did fine. My snapdragons made me smile each day I saw them. I made sure to test a few dragon mouths, you know just in case. 

 

I now know that I want to put this lovely lemon thyme in around the porch. Lovely green and it grew so well, hey it is still green and growing in January. I think it is supposed to be a bug repeller which is a big plus for me. I'll have to check on that. Also who doesn't want more thyme in the garden. 

(See it is even good for bad puns.)

Burt is campaigning for his own grass allotment. He solemnly swears that he will keep it trimmed back. Now there is a plant that I thought was dead, so I plopped it in the ground, gave it some water and wished it well. Sure enough the green shoots popped back up and Burt found he likes to garden too. 

I'm fighting off the tendency to add too much, too soon. I'm thinking of a couple of raised beds of veggies and adding a few more flowers. I'd dearly love to finally have a clematis for Dad. I'm looking into lavender too. I've always admired CrazySheepLady's lavender garden, although I don't know how much of an effort I want to make. Again if I start small with a plant or two...

An acer, Japanese Maple, is one thing I said I would have if I ever moved to Oregon. Have you seen those things? They are beautiful! And Bamboo is on my mind too, how can I grow it without having it takeover and without it costing me oodles of cash. Ferns, we have a nice shady corner that I bet would grow ferns.

But mostly right now I'm thinking about what veggies to plant. As a farmer's daughter, I really should be growing things to eat. And we all know Hubby will eat any and all tomatoes that I can grow. I'm going to try my hand at lettuce too. I think I read somewhere that they are companion plants. I should plant some peas and Swiss chard too.

Oh and an herb garden, and a tea garden, I know they sell camomile plants here...  The garden I'm growing in my mind is huge and wonderful. If I can manage to get one percent of it planted in real life I'll be doing all right.

Now if I can manage to not put my name on every seed catalog list. I remember how Dad would pour over those when we lived on the farm. Surely a catalog or two won't fill the mailbox too full or be too tempting for me...

Little Sisters

Burt and I were trying to take some sock pictures. Burt says part of the reason he picked me was to advance his knitwear modeling career. Momma's trying to update her Ravelry projects. 

Somedays little sisters can be so nosey, and knit model horner-in-er-y.

No Mellie! This is my career.

Quick Momma take the picture before she comes back and horns in again.