Wow...

Things have been REALLY crazy. Last week was Camden. I got one day with *B* between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, then we had family stuff to attend to for Father's Day. On Monday, I started one of my summer jobs. At 6 am, before I walked out the door, Hailey ripped the fur off of Evie's tail. It was a huge lump of fur. And my baby is little. My friend, who originally owned Hailey, picked her up until she can be placed in another home. At the same time, another friend (from Oklahoma), showed up at my door. See, I knew she was coming here for the week, but I sort of kind of forgot that she was staying HERE for the week. On my couch. And she brought her fiance. Whoops. Oh well, we enjoy the company. This weekend, we're going on a camping trip, then Monday through Wednesday I'm going to a conference. I can't promise any posts for the week, but I'll try.

Distress

When we got Hailey, about two months ago, we said it would be a trial run. We just never said whether or not the trial was over. It hurts to say it, but I don't think we can keep her.

On Friday, the seniors at my school released a hamster in the hallway as a senior prank. Someone took it around asking if anyone could take it home. Being the softy I am, I did. We put her in a bucket in our bedroom until we could get a cage from *B*'s mom. Hailey slipped through the bedroom door while I was in there, and before I could even think, her head was in the bucket. She had the hamster in her mouth! I screamed and pulled back her head trying to get her to let the hamster go. It seemed as if she killed her. Miraculously, the hamster flipped over after a few seconds and started running. This was the beginning of the end.

Hailey has been biting our cats for a while now. She chases them all times of day and night. They're very stressed out, and their hair is falling out. Hailey went to the old owners overnight while we were gone, and we got back, the cats seemed much, MUCH happier.

She won't listen to us. I've tried doing commands, screaming, asking, everything you can think of. I've even tried retraining her with treats. Nothing works.

It looks like the only option I have is to ask her original owners if they can have her back. The stress level in the house when she's here is astronomical. What would you do?

Distraction and The Joy of Promoting Life

No matter how hard I've tried lately, I have not been able to write a good post. I've got 3-4 started posts that I just haven't been able to finish.

Today has been wonderful. Mind you, it is way hotter than it should be (~90 degrees), but things are really coming together. We even put in the air conditioner:
To keep the water that drips off the air conditioner from ruining the deck, *B* threw a plant under there. Now, originally, that plant was slated to die. But judging by the lovely purple flowers, it doesn't mind sitting, bare-rooted, in an old kitty litter box. We'll see how that one does.

Wednesday, we got a new refrigerator. Our old one wreaked of rotting meat. I could deal with that (with some baking soda) but it turns out that the automatic defrost was not working correctly, so every few days, a deluge of water would flood the refrigerated compartment. Besides that, it was older than I am, very loud, and not very efficient. We found a great deal, and decided it was in our best interest. It's a lovely Frigidaire, with much more storage in the refrigerated section.

We did notice, however, the freezer was much smaller. I have been begging for a separate freezer for months now. Given the deal we got on the fridge, and that it would be a good investment, we went out and bought a freezer Thursday night. It showed up yesterday, and it is gorgeous. I'm now able to buy meats on sale and store them for future use. I can (and did!) make pizza dough for quick meals. I'm very excited :o)

Friday, *B* made a fence for us:
Hailey, though we love her, was destroying my plants. So we portioned off the back half of the yard for gardening only. Believe it or not, it makes the yard feel a little bigger. I keep waiting to take a picture of the backyard until the hose is reeled in, but that will never happen, so here you go:
Today, I have a chicken roasting in my oven. My parents and brother are coming over for a Sunday dinner reminiscent of Thanksgiving. We're having the most magnificent roast chicken, which I once chronicled here. The gravy that comes from that chicken is amazing, so we'll have mashed potatoes, peas, and cranberry sauce. My mom's bringing dessert, but I don't know what it is.

This morning, I worked really hard on the garden. I put in the ever-bearing strawberries, and all we have left to plant are sunflowers, nasturtiums, and marigolds:

Maybe I'll get to them later today. Check out the progress on the garden front:

We're finally starting to produce produce :o) Our strawberries out front are all bearing fruit, green though they may be:

The lettuce is almost ready to be harvested. I finally got my garlic and onions planted alongside my shallots:We have one stalk of asparagus! That's great because they are apparently hard to get started.

We've finally gotten a meal plan made for our week, and we're going to stick to it. Our dinners will be:

Sunday
Roast Chicken
Potatoes
Peas
Cranberry Sauce

Monday
Chicken Fried Steak
Yams
Spinach
Corn Bread

Tuesday
Pineapple Chicken Curry (from Ready.Set.Plan)
Rice
Mixed Veggies
Mango Smoothies

Wednesday
Tacos
Baked Apples

Thursday
Beef Stir Fry
Rice
Mandarin Oranges

Friday
Pizza
Salad
Applesauce

Saturday
Cheeseburgers
Baked Potato
Baked Beans
Grilled Peaches

It Never Fails

It's been a little while since I've posted. Things around here are crazy. On Friday night, *B* and I had rotisserie chicken for dinner, and we ate all the white meat as usual. I put the chicken on the stove to pick, but I had to make a cake first because I was having all of my department over for a barbecue on Saturday. I eventually forgot about the chicken.

The next morning, *B* asked if I put the chicken away, and I realized I had forgotten. It's not on the stove anymore. It's not on the floor. In fact, it's not anywhere. Hailey must have pulled it off and taken it somewhere. So we search the house, four hours before my colleagues are to come over, for a chicken carcass. It was no where to be found, until we saw it: the one piece of string that held the legs together in the middle of the living room floor.

She ate the WHOLE chicken! Bones and all! Can you believe that???

Since then, we've been feeding her rice as well as her normal dog food to help cushion the bones. But she decided she needed more than that. She has gotten into the trash at least four times in the last four days: baked beans, potato salad, and the same dinner roll twice. I need to find a different trash can.

So until further notice, I'm on poo patrol, making sure that she doesn't have permanent damage from the chicken. I would be really angry at her, but just look at that face...

Backyard Harvest

Last year, I read about dandelion digging from Choosing Voluntary Simplicity (CVS) here. At the time, I was so excited. I SO wanted to do that, but we were living in an apartment, and I have no idea what was on our lawn there. So I vowed to dig dandelions our first spring in our house.

Here it is, it's spring. Had I done anything with the dandelions? No. I was hemming and hawing, and pretty much wrote it off. On my way home today, I saw a field with blooming dandelions and I sighed to myself. I'd have to dig dandelions next year when they're not bitter.

Then, I read Momzoo's post on dandelions here. I didn't know they were so good for you. And that was that. I was digging dandelions - tonight. And here we are!

While it's not 8 quarts like Shirley at CVS talks about, I think that's a fair amount of greens for my first pick. When I picked them, I grabbed them at the base and twisted, which gave a fair amount of the root. I washed everything and separated out the good stuff from grass, dog hair, and dead leaves.

I chopped the roots off and held them aside. I have to do a lot more research on what to do with dandelion roots. I don't trust them as much as I trust the leaves.

Speaking of leaves, I washed these for probably about 20 minutes. Call me paranoid. We've only had the house for 7 months, so I don't know if and when they were last sprayed. But I'm pretty convinced that we'll be okay.

So there you have it. My first harvest of the year is dandelion greens and roots!

On a similar note, I identified another feathered friend frequenting our feeder. Say that five times fast! This little guy is a tufted titmouse:

His Face

His Side

I only remember seeing him once, but lately I've just been letting Hailey out the door without looking first. Hailey LOVES to chase anything moving: my cats, birds, and especially squirrels. I'm at least trying to break her of chasing the cats, but at least she gets exercise in the meantime.

Simple Pleasure Thursday Plus

My simple pleasure today is a BIG one. It's the first day of spring break! I started to read a book in bed round about 8:30 last night and passed out two chapters in. I slept in until 9:30 am. It. Was. AMAZING! I haven't felt so good in so long.

Though I will say...

This morning I made myself a really good breakfast - two waffles, a fruit cup, and a raspberry yogurt. Very healthy. I even ate it outside on the picnic table. It was wonderful. I went to let Hailey in after I was done eating, and it happened - Evie got out. AGAIN! Hailey chased her down and kept her busy under the picnic table. I couldn't get a hold of her. I stepped back, and Hailey managed to chase her straight into the house.

Okay, I thought. The one bad thing for the day is done. So set about washing up dishes, and documenting the garden's progress (which I'll post about later). I heard this very distinct sound coming from the basement. From my experience with rushing water and our basement (see posts here and here), I ran down the steps as fast as my little legs could carry me. The cats had knocked Shamrock's return tube out of his tank such that the filter was pulling dirty water out of the tank and dumping clean(ish) water on my carpeted basement floor.

While I was cleaning up the soaking mess that was my floor, Evie hopped up on the edge of the turtle tank and started punching Shamrock in the face. I've seen this before; it was Wicket's favorite pasttime as a kitten. Then, it was funny. Now, it was infuriating. It was her third strike for the day. I swatted her ever so gently straight into the tank. I've never seen a cat clamber so fast. I'm hopeful that she won't do that again.

Now, after a very delicious, very healthy salad lunch, with laundry in the washer and hanging out on the clothesline, things have settled down. I'm going to have my siesta, then, back to the spring cleaning extravaganza.

Introducing...Hailey!

We have added a new member to our family. Welcome, Hailey!

A friend of mine wasn't able to keep her dog when she moved, so we volunteered to take her. She is a 4-6 year old mutt (maybe golden retriever and shepherd or hound). We'll be getting her papers soon, so I'll know a lot more about her then. Right now, both our cats are hiding down in the basement. I'm hopeful they'll come around soon.

Before we got Hailey today, *B* and I started work on our garden. We decided to go with a square foot garden made of cinder blocks. This way, we can plant herbs and flowers in the blocks without taking up space in the garden itself. With our cars, we can only bring home 16 blocks at a time. So right now, we're going in stages.


Our compost pile from last year is doing all right, but it hasn't really turned into soil yet. We need some more creepy crawlies I think. *B* has been trying to balance out the greens and browns, but I don't know if it's quite working out: