Around My Yard

A couple of weeks ago, as I drove across the bridge over our creek, I noticed something surprisingly beautiful that I wasn't expecting.  It was a feathery-like extension growing out of a grass that had been transplanted twice on our property.  The grass originally came from my parents' old condo and my dad put in in a pot and brought it out to me and planted it first behind our house.  Then, we decided it needed to be moved, so my dad was nice enough to plant it down by the creek (he planted 2 of these grasses, but only 1 survived).  To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of this plant because the grass is sort of like a razor grass that can give you a cut as bad or worse than a paper cut, but now that I see it in its full glory, I've decided it is definitely a keeper.  This time of year in inland southern California is rather dry and naturally brown (unless you irrigate which is costly), so this was a welcome sight when I came upon it.

30 day photo challenge: day 12 - close up

I was wishing for some National Geographic-like inspiration and that zoom lens my hubby has his eye on buying, but alas nothing that dramatic came out of today's challenge.  Although,some things that are part of my enjoyment are also some of the simplest.  So here they are, up close.

My sweet baby.

Morning light coming in the kitchen window.

Lilah's nose.

My hubby's pumpkin growing in the garden.

Highlights of Our Past Week . . . The Good, The Bad, and The Hilarious

- Last Monday, after planning for quite some time, we finally bought four hens for our newly built chicken tractor (a movable coop and chicken yard).  The next day, my hubby went back and got one more hen- four just seemed incomplete, considering we have five daughters.  The girls have all named their hens, except for the baby:  #1's hen - Clucky, #2's hen - Sharky, #3's hen - Chicken Little, #4's hen - Kit, and suggested for #5's hen (by #2) - Coco (I like it, maybe it can be short for Coco Chanel as a sort joke since hens are so opposite of all things high fashion).  They have laid 24 eggs so far, not counting the ones I will find when I go out and get the eggs this morning.  We are endlessly fascinated with these creaturs who have a brain the size of a pea, and yet are so fun to watch at their daily habits.  The eggs actually do taste better than the ones bought in a store, and as #1 pointed out, it is nice to go and get eggs that are fresh and haven't been sitting in a carton in a store for who-knows-how-long.

 

 

- This past week, we dog sat my parents 11-year-old standard poodle with the hope that possibly he would mate with our female standard poodle who just happened to be in heat at the same time, thereby making it relatively easy to have our first litter of puppies.  Apparently, this was not to be.  Peluche, my parents' dog, is first of all old, which is not in his favor for fathering puppies, and secondly, is completely inexperienced in this area of realm.  Needless to say, despite the many valiant attempts on Peluche's part,  it would seem that Delilah is not pregnant (unless of course something happened without our knowledge).  The more hilarious side note to all of this and getting the hens during the same week is that our children are now being exposed to farm life (on a small scale) and observing first hand elements of the "facts of life".  I  had already been receiving many questions in regards to the dogs' behavior, so, amid much laughter and mortification on my part, I gave a brief, yet adequate explanation of the "birds and the bees" to my oldest 3 children (ages 8, 6, & 5).  

-Watching #5, who recently turned 16 months, finally take off and begin to walk (she is very proud of this new accomplishment) has been a joy for the whole family.  All the sisters are thrilled with her and keep exclaiming at "how cute" she is.  Of course, we are all completely biased and she is the baby of the family, so this is just the way it is and we love it. 

 

- Listening to #4's speech improve (just turned 3) and hearing her truly expressing herself through sentences and words is so much fun!  She says sweet things to me like, "You the best Mom ever"; and, also makes observations on things I don't even think she'll notice (for example, my hubby was painting the back of the house and #4 comes around the corner and says, "That looks better!"). Even the extremely dramatic is funny such as when she doesn't get her way and exclaims, "Mommy/Papi you broke my heart!".  

- Being a parent is challenging and rewarding.  Thankfully, there were some very rewarding moments this week.  My hubby has been going back to work for the last few days in preparation for the start of another year of teaching (1st day is today for his school).  On the first day that he was gone, I came into my livingroom mid-morning to find that my daughters were folding 2 large baskets of laundry for me without being asked.  Even the 3-year-old was pitching in!  When I exclaimed at how wonderful it was, they just said, "We knew it would make you happy if we helped with the laundry, so that is why we did it".  The next morning, I woke up, realized my hubby was already out the door and gone to work, and then heard mysterious sounds coming from downstairs.  About a minute later, the girls appeared with a bowl of oatmeal, toast with peanut butter, and cherries for me so that I could have breakfast in bed.  Then, my oldest who is 8 and has just learned to make espresso, made espresso for me and fixed it up with sugar cubes and half n'half just the way I like it.  Then, we all proceeded to the bathroom, "The Salon", and I was given a pedicure and manicure, as well.  Wow, talk about a great start to the morning!

- And lastly, going out to the garden yesterday and coming in with a bag full of yellow crookneck squash, tomatoes, a beet, and an abundance of Swiss Chard made me really happy.  We have battled the squirrels, gophers, and rabbits for our produce and lost many a battle, but despite that we are still left with enough to enjoy (not an over-abundance like I had anticipated, but definitely enough to supplement our grocery store purchases).  And, a huge side benefit from this is that the girls are much more interested in eating and trying new veggies when they help with the gardening and are able to go out and pick them fresh.  #5's favorite veggie at present is sauteed Swiss chard. 

Fresh, Bright, and Beautiful . . . Just Like Summer

Kicking back in the garden wearing Mommy's floppy sunhat.

My middle child, #3, and I went outside this morning to capture a few moments of her on camera.  In her white sundress and glowing, blond hair, she just looked like breath of fresh air to me.  At that moment, she seemed to embody the meaning of summer. 

 

Striking a pose.

That's my Arianna!

Deep in thought.

One last smile for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday 8-10-11

Wordless Wednesday 7-27-11

Poor Mr. MacGregor

Me, filling in a hole made by a ground squirrel.

The girls and I have always loved "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter.  We went through a phase several years ago where they had me read it to them several times a week for months on end.  When reading through this story, I always acknowledged that Peter Rabbit's problems were a consequence of his naughtiness and disobedience to his mother, but I also felt badly for him when he came home sick at the end of the story.  That sentiment has come to a screeching halt!  Now I feel that I must commiserate with Mr. MacGregor who is constantly plagued by the pests sneaking into his garden and stealing his vegetables.  I even understand how Mrs. MacGregor was able to happily cook up Peter Rabbit's father in a pie for dinner.

Lilah, hunting a pocket gopher.

This year, with limited time and many other household projects to accomplish after having bought our house out in the country, my hubby and I decided to take a chance, experiment, and plant small garden plots with vegetables right in the ground.  That was about 3 - 4 months ago.  We keep attempting to comfort ourselves that this is a learning year and that it is okay if half of our plants are falling by the wayside, but I have already determined that NEVER AGAIN will a plant a vegetable garden that is not in a raised bed lined on the bottom with 1/2" chicken wire (fenced, too, of course).  The first persistent pest that we encountered were the ground squirrels that like to come along and just lop off the top of a plant, or sneak in to put teeth marks in a cucumber (thereby ruining its perfection).  Then, we noticed that the rabbits were populating our yard and eating off the tops of entire vegetable seedlings, such as broccoli and brussel sprouts.  In fact, rabbits also at two rose bushes of mine as well, and only 1 has managed to recover now that all my rose bushes are encircled with rabbit fencing.  Finally, when all seemed to finally be looking up and the plants were growing into beautiful, medium sized vegetable plants, along came the worst of the 3 pests - the pocket gopher.  On several occasions, my hubby and I literally sat there and watched a tomato or cucumber plant begin to wiggle and then be pulled down a hole in to the ground by and unseen gopher (followed by many strong emotions on my part, including the feeling of being incensed at these little, annoying animals invading my garden plot).  I have attempted to combat them with Ex-Lax and gopher traps, to no avail.  Hence, my determination to only plant in raised beds in the future.  Yesterday, the second of my 3 cantaloupe plants was eaten and today, yet another tomato plant was limp and dead upon my arrival to water the garden.  I will continue to water my remaining plants and glean the little produce I can from them, but I certainly am not getting my hopes up for a grand harvest this year.

Mourning the loss of a recently destroyed squash plant.

So, I will live and learn and remember to have more sympathy for Mr. MacGregor the next time the girls and I read "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" together.

Busy Bees

Well, it seems I've been slacking off a little on the blogging.  I need to get in gear and post a little more often.  We've been staying busy here at the Garcia homestead.  Here are a few of our goings-ons recently.

-the hubby getting a colony of bees and starting the hobby of beekeeping (which he is loving!).  Surprisingly, we haven't seen any increase in the # of bees near the house or in the yard.

-Putting in new kitchen cabinets from IKEA, little by little.  This is a project that is very much in progress at the moment, but it has to get worse to get better.

-Putting up an above ground pool where the previous owners already had one.  It will feel really great on the 100 + degree days throughout the summer.

-Tending to the vegetable gardens which was very fun at first, but has recently become frustrating as we realize we have pocket gophers in several parts of the yard near our garden plots and roses.  They are vegetarians, so all plants and roots are very attractive to them.  So, hopefully we'll find a solution to the problem that doesn't cost too much $$$ and still have some plants left in the end.  We haven't had much time this spring to be very prepared in our gardening so it is more of an experiment the first time around, but I definitely want to put in raised beds next year and chicken wire under all new beds and plants to start combating our underground pests. 

-We were treated by friends (and babysitting grandparents) to a night away at a local resort and given tickets to see the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) the next day.  Gotta love a mini-vacation!  It was the first night away from #5 who is now 13 months, and she did marvelously!

Off to check on my tomato plants now and do some watering.  I sure hope they are still there . . . and alive!  :-)