Catching Up

Well, it's been several months, winter has past, spring has almost left us, and summer is a short 3 weeks away. Though it feels more like fall today. It's raining and cold, but the robins are loving the worms that are showing up in the garden. We have a nest that was home to two baby robins; they seem to be all grown up now, or at least they're out of the nest, but follow mama around the yard, anxiously awaiting the next bite.

Did you notice I said "garden"? I did! Ken and I actually have a garden started this year, first time in about 5 years. So far we have onions, lettuce, spinach and four kinds of tomatoes. We still have a couple varieties of peppers, eggplant, zucchini and butternut squash to plant. The "lasagna" garden experiment was only marginally successful. The cardboard didn't break down the way we thought it would. The stuff that did seems to have made good compost.

The driver's evaluation scheduled for the end of January went well, in my opinion. I didn't cause any accidents at least, or bang up the instructor's van. The simulated part of the eval was a bit tough; he kept saying, "Step on that brake as fast as you can. As fast as you can." But the actual drive was OK, and he said I did about as well as could be expected given my Parkinson's. Ken was disappointed. He wanted my license revoked.

He, in the meantime, has been working to get his license reinstated, which I will admit would make my life easier. He has taken the remedial course, now just has to take the driver's exam.

In March, I had my stimulator batteries replaced. This is set #3 I've had now. This set was put in about a year before I thought they would. Ken also had surgery to remove his cataracts. He says it's amazing, now he can see again.

I'm sure there's more to be written to catch up four months of inactivity, but I'm getting tired. So I'll say, "till next time..."

Beautiful Autumn Weather

The weather today and this past weekend has been glorious. Lots of mild temperatures and tons of sunshine. I am really going to hate it when the first flakes of sn** start to fall.

So far, the experiment with bringing the garden indoors has been a success. I haven't looked at the peppers, but the tomatoes have two red ones on the vines. That's twice as many as we had all season! We are going to try something new with the outside garden this fall and winter; it's called a lasagna garden, not because of what's planted, but for the layers you put down. It's all about going organic. The first layer is cardboard to kill off the grass and weeds that grew there all summer. It's been rather amusing watching Ken scrounge the basement for enough cardboard to cover the garden. It looks like a patchwork quilt. Next is a layer of fall leaves, so I've been out with the rake, doing my best to keep up with Mother Nature. The next layer will be compost, in part to weigh down the leaves, then kitchen scraps and more compost. Hopefully, by next spring, after the autumn rains and winter snows,
 we'll have a nice plot of land, no weeds, and wonderfully rich soil to start planting.

I started a new knitting project last week. I know, with four afghans in various stages of completion, as well as numerous cross-stitch projects, why start another? Because this one has to be done before Christmas. I'm making Christmas Tree hats for the two youngest of Ken's granddaughters. It remains to be seen whether the two older grandkids want a hat of their own.

Enjoy your autumn. Till next time...

Already, I'm falling behind

Well it is officially autumn now. Time to dig out the sweaters, the rakes, the Halloween decorations. A friend of a friend on Facebook insists it isn't really fall until it's cold enough for her to wear socks. I'm still walking around in flip-flops myself.

With fall comes Election Day. Being an odd year, there probably aren't any national issues to decide. Ohio isn't voting for governor, but Cleveland is voting for mayor. Also on the ballot is the Metroparks levy, Issue 80. Ken and I sat at the Metroparks table last Sat at the Ingenuity Fest, encouraging voters to pass the levy. (And, yes, I wore socks! It was cold!)

Looking back on my original blog, it seems like I was falling behind then too. But the seasons were nicely reversed. Thinking about spring then...

Spring is Coming! 3/9/10

After what, for some, has been a brutal winter, it looks like spring is trying to get here. Yay! Here in Cleveland, we’re on a roll with the sunshine – six days in a row! Though I haven’t seen a robin yet (where are they? I always see one before the end of Feb.), the flowers are bravely sending up shoots out of the snow. And Daylight Savings Time starts on Sunday, another herald of nicer weather.

One of my Facebook friends is excited about the pending arrival of spring – the local ice cream shop opened for business. Of course, this is the same friend who dreamed last night that we were hit with one last snow storm; this one dumped six feet (that’s 72 inches!) of snow on us poor unsuspecting souls! He said he’s glad that not all dreams come true. Amen!
My thermometer sits in the sun at this time of day. Too bad; otherwise I could convince myself that it’s 60 degrees outside, instead of the actual 46. I’ll take 46 though; it means the snow is melting. Maybe the drifts will be gone before July after all!
Happy end-of-winter!