Stinking animal!

Some animal decided it didn't like our blueberry bushes (newly planted this year, you recall). It chewed or tore through our fence (two sides...for entry and exit, I suppose) and completely dug up a bush, leaving the roots exposed after it tossed it aside. Who knows if it will survive the replanting. Another bush has most of its leaves chewed off...though that may have been a deer. What kind of animal terrorizes blueberry bushes? And why is the one bush that is outside of the fence the one doing best? I guess that hostas and day lilies are better protection than a fence. Clever marketers should pick up on this..."Aggressive hostas! Put these around your cherished garden plants to ward off intruders." Seriously, I'm not a big fan of any type of animal, but I can co-exist as long as they leave me alone. In this case, I feel like the animal needs to back away from my goods. And Steph, I'm sorry to see your garden woes...the corn didn't make out so well. It certainly makes one appreciate the small farmer who toils to bring food from seed to harvest.

Update: I've added pictures. The first one is the healthy bush...in front of the hosta and day lily. Next, the hole (my foot added for perspective.) Sad looking bush (this is the one with leaves chewed off, not the dug up and replanted). Finally, the garden as a whole...

Psst...you wanna buy a...

Dave and I have accumulated a lot of stuff. We are both frugal (meaning we don't spend much on accumulating it) but we are both savers (that is to say, we love to rescue usable things from going in the garbage). A dangerous proposition when you have two story, four bedroom house with full unfinished basement and large garage. The basement has been filled to the brim with things that we deem useful (even if not for us). We took advantage of my maternity leave to post a bunch of it on Craigslist. So far, we've gotten over $750 from selling our things. If you want to satisfy your curiosity with this remote sale, you can find out what's left by searching "roseville cleanup" in the Minneapolis/St. Paul section of craigslist.org. And if you want some of it real cheap, we won't hold you back. No, really....I know someone in the biz...we'll make you a good deal...real good... :)

How does your garden grow?

Ours is doing ok. Everything got a late start, just like the big farms, due to the colder spring. I planted 10 tomatoes, and 9 are growing. The tenth mysteriously disappeared- the WHOLE PLANT was just gone one day. I have no idea what happened to that. Last I knew, there were not a whole lot of natural tomato predators. My rhubarb plant is huge, and Dave put in several rows of lettuce and spinach and those are growing pretty big now. However, I'm wondering if some animal got in and rolled around, because several plants were upright yesterday but now are sort of on their side.


We also have several fruit trees- a cherry and two apple- and we just planted 5 blueberry bushes this year. The strawberry patch is growing great, but never a strawberry do we get to eat...the rascally animals always eat them first. Same with our raspberry bushes we planted which they have chewed down to the nubs three years running. Fortunately, our next door neighbors have some and share the picking rights. The cherry tree was disappointing this year- just a handful of cherries. The rest never showed up or else were eaten by the birds. And our apple trees just went in last year. There are about 5 apples on each tree, but we'll see if they actually make it to eating stage.


We also have about 5 containers of herbs, like basil, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, and chives. Yum! Problem with those is I usually forget to use them.


We're trying to plant a lot of food on our lot, especially things that are on the dirty dozen (those fruits and veggies that have the most pesticides in them). or are terribly expensive in stores but easy to grow, like the herbs. It's going to take a few years to get it all up and going, but hopefully we'll be in pretty good shape 5 years from now.


We want to get another cherry tree and maybe a pear...and I would like to get a fence for our raspberry and strawberry areas...after 4 years, I think I deserve more than one strawberry!!

Mirabel stats

We went in for M's 2 month appointment today- she's up to 24 inches long (at the 88th percentile), weighs 11 lbs, 11 oz (54th percentile), and got rave reviews from the doctor and nurse for her developmental milestones. Despite having an upper size head at birth, it’s only at the 39th percentile now, but she manages to do the most with the brains she’s got! She's a little charmer- I uploaded some new pictures.

Ham? How is ham a theme?

So when Dave and I were dating, we planned a New Year's Party. Dave had a list of possible themes written out, and in reviewing them I said, "Ham? How is ham a theme?" Well, it turns out I'd started looking at the food list....but we did pick ham as the theme of our recent Canadian vacation. If you look at our photo album, I've uploaded our vacation pics and you can see our little friend Hammy in nearly every shot. Play along...it's like "Where's Waldo?"

Our trip went well- Mirabel was a good traveler and we got to take in Canada Day on July 1 (like our July 4), explore the Canadian Mint, Assiniboine Park, taste some delicious gelato, walk through the Forks shopping/gathering area, see some living historians (including a little 2 month old baby), eat a delicious meal at a cafe run by Christians living in community (see http://www.twelvetribes.org/) and stop in Grand Forks, North Dakota on the way home. If that's not living on the edge, I don't know what is. :) Seriously, we enjoyed some yummy co-op food and I got to sit in a hot tub for the first time in over a year.

We're glad to be home but it was fun to get away for a little while. I think I actually get to relax more here, though- when you travel, the baby is yours 100%, but when you are at home there are visitors and events where others hold the babe for awhile. Now it's off to catch up on laundry and the immense clutter that seems to be taking over the house.

I love a good deal...

Ah, summertime. One of its joys is the garage sale. I love driving down the road, seeing a sign (or stuff laid out along the yard) and having the time to pull over and check it out. Since I'm home for the summer, I've been able to indulge much more than usual and with a new baby in the house, it's the perfect time to search for baby bargains. I've purchased a bunch of stuff for cents on the dollar. Now I'm just searching for transitional shorts (its really hot here right now and I can't fit into my summer wardrobe just yet....but I don't want to put out a lot of money for things I'll wear one season.) Wish me luck!

Happy Father's Day!

Dave is a great dad- the thing I most appreciate is him taking Mirabel in the middle of the night for those multi-hour wakeful times. He also changes diapers, incorporates her in regular life (see mowing photo- we have an electric mower so not a noise issue), wrestles with her, and teaches her judo (they are up to lesson 57). :) He cuddles, sings, and is infinitely patient. Organized, loving, focused, knowledgeable. What a dad! Happy Father's Day, sweetheart!