The Monarch Butterfly

FINALLY I have gotten to do a little gardening. Not much  - lack of funds and lack of time and too much rain have made it a challenge, but I have added a few things and made myself happy with how things are looking. I was popping some flowers in my bird-bath garden and found a few monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. Nice to have the garden support butterflies AND birds. And since the milkweed showed up courtesy of the birds - it's kind of cool. Circle of life and all that.

All the rain means we have lots of REALLY big mushrooms in our yard right now. We have lots of varieties and they are all over the place. They seem to pop up over night and you can see them from inside the house. They are big and I wonder if smurfs will show up next?

So nice to be out in the yard again!

Summer Days

It's the last legs of summer here in Minnesota. We are warmer than normal for this time of year and I find myself trying to enjoy every moment of it. When I am not studying or working I try to go out and enjoy my yard.

I have been planting sunflowers the last couple years as they make me really happy. They are so pretty and the birds just go bonkers for them. This year they have turned into squirrel feeders and these awesome huge sunflowers are largely getting bent from the weight of a squirrel climbing up it's stalk and eating away like it's some giant buffet I planted just for them. But we have a few that are still reaching for the sun and I really enjoy their smiling faces.

On the knitting front, I am still working away on my Ghoul School socks. I finished the ribbing on the cuff and am knitting away on the sock. I am trying to decide how long I want them to be before I start the heel flap. I am leaning toward making these a bit shorter, partly for speed and partly because I think I will lean toward wearing these around Halloween (since they are pretty Halloween/Autumnal tones) and we really don't need the warmth/length in the fall that we would need in January. And I tend to wear two pair of socks during the winter anyway, so yeah. I am leaning toward these being a bit shorter.I love the feel of this yarn and am really enjoying the knit.

Other than that I have just been working my job ans studying for school. My on-line class has been very challenging in that it is run pretty poorly. The test I was supposed to be able to take this week was not open to me to access, so I studied all last weekend for it and then went in to take the test only to find I could not. When I e-mailed my instructor I got no response. Several students (including me) also left messages in our discussion boards and got no response there either. So mostly my online course has been a study in frustration. I will be starting my third class this next Monday and hopefully things will start to really chug along for me after that.

Time to do some knitting.

Strawberry Goodness!

 

I am off from work today so I can take both my cat and my dog to the vet. I woke early and went out to my strawberry bed and weeded a ton and then pulled a bunch of Strawberries for snacking on today. There is something about eating strawberries while standing over the bed. So fresh and so juicy! Ended up with quite a haul. Num num num!

Health and Happy things

My smurfy nail polish looks awesome next to the first Snapdragon to open in my garden this year

I weight in every Saturday and am still a member of Weight Watchers on-line. I still have work to do in the health and fitness arena, and I am just going to keep plugging away at it. I find myself bouncing between eating in a way that will help me loose weight and then giving up on other days and doing whatever I want. The yo-yo between being "good" and being "bad" is stressful, and I find the scale hasn't impressed me in months as a result.

Yesterday I found myself pretty crabby and feeling a little soul crushed after my weigh in. I had been "good" for two or three days before my weight in so I felt like I should have seen a drop in the scale - not a gain. Thinking back I realized I had been very NOT good the weekend before, drinking high calorie coffee's at Caribou and snacks (brownie and cookie) to go with them. Camping almost always means straying from my diet. And it often takes a couple days to reel myself in from a camping weekend. I wonder what the scale would have read if I hadn't worked harder the days leading up to it. Probably it would have been worse.

So I find myself spending time on the weekends reevaluating how I am eating and exercising, and this weekend has been no exception. I decided to do some pampering things to make myself happy, I puttered in my gardens and I have newly polished toes and fingers. I almost never polish my fingernails as my job wears nail polish off in minutes, but I just really wanted to gussy up my fingers and I went for it! It was fun and it makes me happy to see this vaguely smurfy nail polish on my fingers as I knit or type.

Sometimes little things like polishing your nails or playing with your dog can really make you feel better. Also, it's hard to snack with wet nails!

Garden Hoe

Slowly I am getting my plants purchased and planted (or potted - as the case may be.) I have NO idea what this plant is, and I know I must have been wrecked when I finished planting as I recycled all the tags from the planting I did this weekend. Normally I place all my tags in a baggy and label them, so I know what I put in each year. Not this time. I pretty much showered and then drooled on myself after I finished for the day.

The planters are special to me as my brother made them for me. Recycled siding with cedar tops and bottoms. Love how they look and I put them out every year. It's a garden tradition - and I just love them.

 

This less than stellar shot is an "after shot" is of my peony bed. I pulled all the rotten old wood chips out, surrounded the bed with Salvia (Which I know the hummingbirds are attracted to) and Dusty Miller on the corners by the solar lights. It think it's one of my best gardens yet! The white Dusty Miller seems to glow when the solar lights turn on. Very pretty. Can't wait for the Salvia to take root and pop. Not to mention the Peonies. So very happy it's spring and the flowers are popping out!

And here is one tuckered out Emma. She had fun racing around the yard with my empty pots and tags. She is just the best garden companion. ☺

Second Sock Progress

I AM making progress on my 2nd sock. I keep knitting until I hit 7 inches, and then I can turn heal number two. I am happy to have been working through these socks - but I admit I am already dreaming of my next socks. I dream of skinny fingering weight yarn in CRAZY colors and afterthought heals. I dream of Magic loop and toe up two at a time on two circular needles. **sigh** I think my summer of working on WIPs may fall to the superior force that is sock knitting.

Now that winter is over, I find myself so busy I can hardly think. I have gardens on my brain and grilled food in my tummy. Summer is so brief - that we really try and suck up every bit we can around here. I have been grilling and gardening and even got the first lawn mow of the year under my belt. (And had a massive allergy attack from all the mold and dust and pollen I kicked up - THAT was fun - NOT!)

Slowly slowly I am getting my gardens cleaned up and redone. Here is a photo "Before and After" shot of the Bird Bed.

I have several bird loving perennials in this bed and then I edged it with Snap dragons and Zinnia. Can not wait for the flowers to POP! Also on this bed (not pictured) is my new Hummingbird Feeder. I hung it out last weekend and already have had many customers at it. There is nothing like watching a hummingbird land and drink nectar.

Sunflowers!

I am in love with sunflowers!

 

I planted a few sunflowers from seeds I have had in my basement for years. They said they were mammoth - but I had no idea they would get this big! We measured this guy and it was 10 feet 6 inches (Exactly twice my height!) when we took this picture. That is our telephone line from our house that it's next too. It's INsAnE and I just love it too death. I am plotting more sunflower fun for next year already!

Day 10 Ravelenic Games Progress Report

My shawl is coming along very well now. I am very happy I ripped it out the first time and redid it. I am learning a lot this past month with my knitting. I feel as though I have really stretched and grown as a knitter and am very proud of myself and my work. Nice feeling that!

I am over half way through the yellow "lace" section of the shawl. Once this section is over it's a simple couple rows of knit on the edge and then I can block it out and I will be done! I am hoping the gray doesn't bleed into the yellow when I soak it. That would be sad.

In other news, I have pulled my first couple tomato's out of my garden and a few cucumbers as well. It's always exciting to pull out that first produce.

My hubby and I went out for a bike ride yesterday and I was shocked at how easy a 5-6 mile ride was. Nice to see progress on the health front.

Not much else to report. Knitting, watching the Olympics and the usual chores are filling my days.

Secret Flower Lover

When Emma thinks I am not looking she will go around and sniff the flowers in the pots to see what they are all about. Although she stripped my Cone Flowers a little bit one year - she is really good about not digging up my flowers or eating the plants. I do spend a bit of time on the ASPCA web Site looking at their lists of Dog Safe plants. (Also good for bunnies, cats, horses......) I got rid of my chives and rhubarb after reading how toxic they were.

It's another hot week here in Minnesota, so there is much watering of the plants after the sun dips down everyday. I just plug in my headphones, throw a ball or two for Emma who often walks around with me - staying well out of range of the hose, (Our girl is not a fan of the hose!) and go from garden to garden. It's nice to see what's changed - what's popped up or what is struggling. Plans to transplant or split a plant often happen while I am watering. I will also recite the names of the plants (if I can remember them!) so that I don't forget what they are called. A nice summer ritual.

Herbaceous Flowering Plants

My Cone Flowers (Echinacea) are finally opening up! I love these flowers. A shock of pink that attracts birds, bee's and butterflys. I loved these so much that I picked up some white ones for my front gardens as well.

These pink ones are next to my deck, so every morning when I let the dog out (and the sun is up) I get to see these happy flowers. I also have Spirea and Aster in this bed - so there is almost always something blooming. It's a very happy place!

Emma in Bloom

While I go out to water my plants at night Emma will often join me and hang out in the yard watching me work. It's fun to have her tagging along while I go from area to area.

She is such a clever thing. When she saw Tom and I out in the strawberry bed intently pulling out berries and eating them up she got in on the action, grabbing a red berry and shooting across the yard with her spoils. I often wonder what we could train her to do if we had the brains for it.

Every summer I get lots of pictures of Emma laying outside, just being a happy dog. Good times.

Saturday! Yay for Weekend!

Its Saturday and that means so many things to me. Saturday is the one day a week I sleep in without worry. If I sleep in on Sunday too late (which I often do!) I have a really hard time going to sleep Sunday night and Monday morning is pretty yucky. Monday already sucks without being exhausted to boot! It's also weight in day. I love that too as any sins I committed the week before (Like that donut that accidentally fell in my mouth last Thursday, eh hem) are washed away and I am reborn with shiny new points to start the week off with. I am still bouncing with the weight. Lost two pounds two weigh-in's ago, last week I gained almost as much back, this week I lost almost a pound despite the donut incident.

I had another really busy week, with much garden work and much knitting. Managed three Zumba work-outs this week. I had to skip my Thursday night Zumba as I finally went in and got my hair did! I am kind of blond now. Not true blond - but we really went light for me with the foil work this time. It's taking a little to get used to it, but I think it looks like summer fun. Makes me want to be tan - which is pretty much a no-no, so maybe it's time for some of that fake tan lotion.

I also made some really good progress on my KAL shawl. I know it was supposed to be done in a week (insert derisive snort here) but two months is apparently more my speed. I finished all the knit portion and am now up to the crochet portion. I am really happy with how it's looking. Here is a shot just after I did a Russian Join (which I LOVE!) and bound off all the stitches. It's 22 inches along the center spine and the top is 50 inches across.

Naturally anything I lay out is just a place for Emma to place her furry little butt, so right after I snapped that picture I snapped this one.

She is so helpful with the holding projects down so they don't run off. That's always a bummer when you spend two months knitting something and then it escapes out the fence. Her services are invaluable.

And then there is this. I am still not sure if I am going to make this into a felted pillow or a large bag? When I told Tom I was thinking about making it into a pillow he stared at me and said why? That center bit is scratchy as hell since it's mohair - so I guess a bag would make more sense. This is one of those projects that is sort of getting away from me and I still work on it but I can't see it's final outcome. Huh. We shall see what it turns into.

This morning will be spent watering my plants, then an hour of Zumba. Not sure yet what this weekend will bring, but hopefully some good stuff. I really want to finish my shawl this weekend - so hopefully I will have some pictures of it all finished in the very near future.

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Verbena, Geranium, and Lupine - Oh My!

Emma and I have been working away in the gardens. I have a couple of hanging plants now and slowly I am getting all my annuals planted to give my gardens some POP. I love Humming birds and have been trying to plant things that will bring them running.

It's a bad picture, but that top right hand picture shows a bee that was so large I couldn't imaging it flying. It was like a little Volkswagen!

I got my tomato and cucumbers in this week too - so I will have some fresh veggies in a few weeks/months. Nothing like a garden fresh tomato!

I have thoughts that some day I will use photo's of my flowers to use for yarn dying combinations. If only I had as much time as I had dreams!

Bloomin' Pee on Knee Bush

Every year I wait for our Peony bush to bloom. Our flowers are hot pink and so pretty! Sadly they have NO scent. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Finally this past weekend they bloomed! Just in time for my family to come for a visit too - which was really nice. Rather like having a peacock that only opens its tail up once a year and your family happens to stop by right then and see it.

It's been three days since I took these pictures and the blooms are already wilted and will soon fall apart, but I was quite pleased with the show this year!

Tonight I stopped after work at the flower hut and picked up more flowers to surround the bush so there will be blooms here all summer. It was nice to work on this little bed and get to admire the blooms one last time before they completely fade away again for the year.

Aren't they pretty? I just love the colors. There is a tiny hint of bright yellow way down at the base of the flower that you can only see when you really look. I just love this flower!

Hot and Heavy with a Flower on Top

I weighed in this morning and it wasn't very pretty. Not surprising - but not pretty. I put on 1.5 lbs this last week and actually I am pretty happy it wasn't more! I did half the work outs I normally do and I had a lot of food that is not really on my diet. (Eat more + Work out less = weight gain.) So this next week I will try and bring it around the other way. (Eat BETTER! + WORK OUT MORE! = Not feeling like a sausage in my jeans!)

This week has been a bit stressful. We had to get our hot water heater replaced which cost a pretty penny, and our central air conditioning stopped working as well. Normally if your Air is going to die May is a pretty good month for that, as our average temp is 70F (21.1C). However this week has been REALLY warm here in Minnesota and we broke the record high temp yesterday set in 1911 and ended at 93F (33.9C). Just. Miserable.

We had to have our windows open (sadly we have a lot of windows in our house that DO NOT open!) and the light of our TV at night attracted these charming fellows.

June Bugs. So very gross. I shiver every time I see one of these guys. They slam into our screens at night attracted by the light of our TV, and the cat just about poops herself with wanting to jump in the windows and swipe at these critters. Yuck. I will be happy when the go away!

I have been doing a little gardening this last week. I planted a bunch of viola in a red pot because it made me really happy. I love the red and purple combo.

I also picked up a "Pansy Bowl" which was on special for a great deal. It fit perfectly in our planter and I was thrilled with the ease of just dropping a plant in and not having to scrounge dirt and arrange a bunch of plants I paid too much for. Sometimes instant is thrilling! (Especially when it's cheaper than what I would have ended up planting!)

I got a set of these planters from my brother (who made them from siding and cedar! Clever!) and we place them at the front of our deck every year. They see a lot of heat/sun, so this year I tried a simple geranium surrounded by verbena. Hopefully they will survive and (dare I hope?) thrive in the hot summer sun.

And lastly I thought I would show off the cute little green berries that are popping out of our strawberry patch now. So cute! It won't be long until we have awesome strawberries to nibble on! Hooray!

Alright - Off to get my workout in before the temperature gets too much higher. I have been sweating for hours already - so I am trying to think how good a cool shower will feel when I get done with my workout! :) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

How does your Garden Grow?

Part of the joy of having a mild winter and a warm spring is that all of our garden's have gone insane much earlier than normal. My Growth Hardiness Zone is in the 4 range here in Minnesota. The rule of thumb for us is that you don't stick a plant in the ground until after Mother's Day - which is the second Sunday in May here in the USA.

 It's still getting cold at night here, but that doesn't seem to stop the perennials from thriving. Which is wonderful! I love looking at my gardens and seeing what is coming up and what made it through the winter. The downside is that I am anxious to get in some annuals and my veggies. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday at some garden centers. They are scrambling to get stuff in. I ended up coming home with 10 bags of cedar mulch for my gardens. Got 7 bags down and the lawn mowed before it rained - which just made everything all that more lush looking.

My Lupine is very happy this year and there are lots of babies shooting up all over the place. I suspect I will be having to transplant some lupine out of this bed in the next year or two as they take off.

I have been slowly scattering my ornaments as well. We can't keep them out over winter or they will shatter, so ever spring I get to put the whimsy back in my gardens. And since the plants grow (and occasionally die) every year things are never the same year to year.

I struggle with hitting the right balance in my beds. This bed is a bit more shrub and fall blooming - so I should really plant some bulbs in here or something to get some Spring blooms. Although in the fall this bed looks really great. Balance is tough.

Our Strawberries are looking pretty good this year and we already have lots of blossoms. There are more bald spots in the bed this year that last year - but I suspect the lack of snow is partly to blame. If we don't get enough snow the plants seem to freeze out a bit. I have some plants in my new butterfly garden that I don't know if they made it. One has come back strong - but two others are barely there. I sort of can't tell if the plants have come back or if I am looking at weeds. Time will tell.

In Health News, I am still going strong with my new healthy life style. I am doing my Zumba 2 for my Wii 4 days a week for 45-60 minutes a shot. Still love it! Am still amazed that I can be dripping with sweat and smiling. It feels good to feel strong! I am still struggling with water consumption. I have no problem drinking a lot of water when I exercise, but on a normal day I struggle a bit more. I know it's important - so I am working on it. I have been taking my vitamins more consistently. I have to take them with food and it pretty much has to be my lunch meal. The vitamins really upset my stomach and breakfast is too light (and too coffee rich) to take vitamins with, and I suspect my taking them with dinner been a factor with my insomnia. So I am trying to remember to take them with lunch every day.

I tell myself every week I will track my points on Weight Watchers, and never make it through a week. I am still trying to drop weight and I know being accountable for what I put in my body will make a difference in my weight results at the end of the week, and yet I fizzle off a couple of days in. So that needs some work. I have shown a small weight loss the last two weeks, so that is moving in the right direction.

OK - This is getting kind of long, so I think I will sign off.  Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Sunday Snippets: October 30, 2011

Sunday Snippets: A Snapshot of this Sunday in photo's with no other explanation's.....

Yippie Skippy it's FRIDAY!

Most of my flowers have died out for the season, but I still have a few that are fighting against Old Man Winter. (OK - I know it's fall, but Fall in MN is kind of like Winter anyway....) This sad little white Echinacea has popped up in my front garden and has greeted me everyday when I come home from work. It's dark out in the morning when I leave so I don't get to see it then.

In my back garden this purple Echinacea is still hanging in there. You can see the dried up Aster next to it and a bunch of leaves have curled up from frost - but this one is still hanging in there.

Yeah, I'm hungry too Em.

I am SOOOOOOOO Happy it's Friday! What a long week! Work was stressful and occupied my thoughts a lot. I missed two work-outs this week due to Zombie status (Insomnia) and I just feel like my shoulders are up at my ears. You know that feeling? When you are just so stressed out that you just can't seem to unwind? Argh. My mission this weekend is to get my shoulders down to a normal level. ;)

Tonight I am looking forward to dinner, some Ghost Adventures on the TV, and working on my KAL. I am up to the cable section and Vickie put up this video on Utube which is super helpful. I love doing cables, but about half the time I get confused and cable the wrong way. Very frustrating when you realize your cables or going all wonky. So I will watch the video again and get cranking on my KAL Cowl.

Happy Friday!

For the Birds

I had a little garden bed on the side of the cucumber hut that housed rhubarb and chives. Since Tom is sugar-free and I am on a perpetual diet - it didn't seem to make sense to have a pile o' rhubarb hanging out in the yard. And as for the chives? We never really ate them. I think once in like four years we cut some and put them on shrimp we grilled the piss out of. But mostly they just got huge, flowered, fell over and then I would trim them. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

So I yanked them all out and started over. Ran to Linder's and after much research found a bunch of dog-friendly plants that attracted birds, butterflies and Hummingbirds.

Bam! I have awesome garden! I think I did all the planting at the start of June. (We had a really long cold spring this year.) A few weeks later we got a swing arm and a Hummingbird feeder and put that up. We used a length of fishing line to hang the feeder to help keep some of the bugs/ants out of the feeder. (This last week when I changed it there were a shit-ton of big black ants in it. Yuck. BUT the Hummingbirds have found my feeder and I am really enjoying watching them flit in and out of my garden. They feed at the feeder and then jump onto the rungs of the cucumber hut and have a rest. My next Hummingbird feeder will be this one but with posts for the Hummers to rest on while they feed. Otherwise this feeder has been great. I am following the 1 part sugar to 4 parts water recipe that came with the feeder. My system is pretty smooth. I take my glass 6 cup (or is it 8 cups?) measuring glass and fill two cups of HOT water. Then I take a half cup of plain white sugar and stir it in. Then I nuke it for about 1 minute and stir until it dissolves. (It does not have to boil.) Then I fill the feeder. It's just the right amount - doesn't fill it to the top - but I clean it out about every week to two weeks so it never gets empty.

The birds and butterflies have been happy as can be here too. The birds love the bath and hang out all over the cucumber hut. We have seen lots of Butterfly, bee and moth activity as well. I am really happy I changed this bed out.