Garden... the Middle

Shouldn't this be "the after" you ask?  Maybe.  But that would be such a silly name for a garden post in late June since really the garden is just getting started.  Of course, had it not been for Chuck & Family I might be gushing about how many snap peas we had, or how wonderful it was to have all that lettuce and spinach before it got really hot.  Unfortunately, we will not see those posts this year, though, will we, Chuck?!?!  Ahhhhhhh, bitterness. 

This morning I will look on the bright side!  After that abominable mess discussed yesterday, Bigstrongman and I went to work.  I think it actually took longer to decide what to do and shop for materials than to actually build it.  My sketches of how it should look scared him so badly, at one point he suggested that I might just not have a productive garden this year.  WOW, I can hardly explain how well that went over with me.  I'd like to be able to say that I took it like a man... well... I will admit that there *may have been* tears [read: tears of devastation].  Lucky for me, he's actually happy with how the fence turned out!

 We made the fence a bit bigger than the last to give me additional working room.  And look!  A gate!  Now I won't have to fall in or out of the fence!  (Yes, I did say it was 2 feet high... what? you don't have feet that catch on things???)

So far the lovely fence has completely baffled Chuck and we're pretty confident it'll stay that way.  In other news, now we're battling japanese beetles in our herbs.  Argh.

Healthy basil:

Japanese-beetle-attacked basil:

Garden... Before-only

Well, Bigstrongman used the camera over the weekend and ran down the battery.  I told him that I'd charge it (since you need pictures, don't you!) but I didn't... *sigh*... so I'm still posting without pics.  Sorry about that!

My garden got a very late start this year.  Not because I was busy, or because the weather didn't cooperate, or because I just didn't prioritize it... nope, none of that.  The hangup was...

WOODCHUCKS.

Here in Pennsylvania they call 'em groundhogs.  I grew up in the midwest where we call 'em woodchucks.  Whatever you call them, they are sooooooooooooooo cute!

(annarobertson.com)

Ordinarily I love to watch them play in the yard.  They're goofy little buggers, especially when the babies are young.  But then they found my garden.  Then they became bad, bad woodchucks.

The woodchucks made me do THIS to my garden:

As if the little 2' chicken wire fence wasn't ugly enough.  All I had to work with was scraps, so I pieced them together and went for broke.  I bet the neighbors were thrilled!  And since those damn little chucks decided to come in on the other side once I artfully blocked off this side, I had to do THIS:

And this:

And when the camera battery is recharged, I'll post the solution!  Because THIS is nonsense, and THIS doesn't let plants grow!

Confessions, Take 1

Confessions already?  It looks that way!

I have changed the blog title about 37 times.  While that IS my usual go-to number for all random exclamations, I think I may have ACTUALLY changed the title 37 times.  Blogspot keeps tracks of these things, no?  So I should be able to prove it?

Actually, I really wanted to call this blog “my morning coffee” but SURPRISE!  Someone already had that name.  Unfortunately it was started in 2005 by a 13 year old girl who posted exactly 3 times.  Doesn’t blogspot monitor this stuff?  Anyway, I first got the idea when I spotted a Mozilla add-on by the same name.  It’s fantastic.  You can set exactly one button (in the shape of a cute coffee cup, of course) to load all the sites you would ordinarily go to when you first sit down in front of your computer in the morning.  For those of you who are thinking “yeah, but can’t you just set Firefox to bring up all the tabs you want every time?”  Well, yes you can.  But I don’t actually want all those tabs every time I open it.  I just want them the first time.  If I open every news and email site every time I go on the internet I would… quite literally… never get anything done.  Never ever.

To make a short story long, Living Real, Living Well seems to be the name I'm sticking with for now.  Any other rockin' suggestions?

Figuring it Out

I’m mildly addicted to blogs.  Why?  I love a good story.  Long before the age of the internet my guilty pleasure was soap operas.  Not for the quality acting or story lines, but because I’m fascinated with the story of people, beginning to end.  Not in a gossipy way, tho… I am honestly interested in the general "what happens?"  I like to get to know people by finding out what is going on inside their head.  I also love the way they let the blogger chronicle life's adventures.

Obviously I have interests other than people, so there are other things I love about blogs.  Photos of DIY projects, knitting (which I love to do, but am not very good!), ideas of how to make better homemade pickles, how to keep those damn snails from eating ALL my strawberries, and tips for organizing my closet.  The best posts come from experience… trial and error, if you will. 

I write a lot for my job.  Actually, you could say that writing is my job, punctuated by the occasional phone conversation and face-to-face meeting.  But court documents and memos to my boss don’t quite serve as the creative outlet that part of my brain needs.  

So THIS BLOG is my chance to work out the kinks in my brain.  Just like muscles, when parts aren't used they get rusty and cranky.  I really don't want any more rusty, cranky brain parts than are absolutely necessary.   I also want to chronicle MY life's adventures.  I love the part of my life where I'm a lawyer, but the other parts are just as important.  The parts of me that are wife, pet-mom, daughter, homemaker, and friend.  "Homemaker???" you ask?  Yes.  Just because I have a job outside my home doesn't mean that I don't take pride in creating a comfortable, beautiful home, so that's what those non-lawyer hours are for.