A day in the life...

So I haven't posted in a few days. That happens sometimes with me. It gets overwhelming trying to keep up with everything but I do tend to stay away from the computer on the weekends. Well here is a synopsis of what I have been up to. Thursday afternoon dear husband brought home this little girl who's name is Millie. I told him no all week but here she is anyway. Once I saw her and got to know her a little I could no longer say no. She is a tri-color beagle that is 5 months old (born 1-5-10). I can tell she was really loved before she came to be with us. Unlike the other two dogs she doesn't seem to have suffered any trauma and lacks the "issues" our other dogs have---which, if I may speak frankly is actually very nice. Don't get me wrong, I love my other dogs, it's just nice not to have to pup for a change that hasn't come to us with damage, both physical, behavioral and psychological.

Millie is very very sweet. She is most defiantly a puppy, and has her shenanigans, but they are normal puppy behaviors. She has a wonderful and pleasant personality. Loves to play, loves to cuddle and already has everyone wrapped around her little paw. I am going to start rabbit training with ASAP.

Friday it absolutely rained all day. I stayed inside and did housework. I wanted to dig my hostas Friday as it was my one day off from work but the rain and thunder (and not to mention one adorable new puppy) kept me busy inside rather then outside. It's a shame it was so rainy, as that would of been the perfect day to work outside otherwise.

Saturday I had to go to work. It was too wet and soggy to work outside in the morning. There was a very thick fog. Dear husband went to work in the morning, but was home before I left so the new pup and the dogs did not have to be home alone. I was on call all night long after my shift.

Sunday I slept in until 7, which is pretty late for me. My inner clock...and the dogs....usually keep me from getting my 8 hours in. I'm used to it though. I got up, made a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and bananas added to it then went outside to dig my hostas.

I must of underestimated the heat and humidity and overestimated my tolerance for it. I got some of the hostas dug. I really had to pry them out and saw them apart. Most of my hostas are 4-5 in width at the bases, so they are huge. Also they are in a heavy clay soil that was wet. It was not easy work and after a while I felt sick, dizzy and ready to vomit. I dug just enough up for a good start and went in. I tried my best to cool off and just couldn't for the longest time. The heat index with the humidity was over 100 degrees.

Monday has been even hotter, if you can believe that for May. Weather here in Indiana has been wacky this spring. Today we broke heat records. In 1921 the record high was 93 degrees. Today, we broke that by 2 degrees. Add 70% humidity and that makes it tough to work outside.

On a bright note, I sold 7 hostas--all the ones I had dug up- 1 white edged, 3 big greens, 2 big yellow edged, and 1 Blue Angel and made $23 and I have an order for more, which I will dig up next weekend when it is (hopefully) cooler.

Ferns

Trying My Hand At Something New.

Over the weekend I wanted to try my hand at doing something new. A while back I'd bought myself a little booklet on making home crochet and home knit dish clothes. I tried my hand at it this weekend and made my first ever crochet dishcloth. I did pretty good, though it's not perfect and I had to pull it out several times until I understood what the pattern was trying to tell me. Reading a crochet pattern is like reading another language to me. So this first one was not perfect but it works and I had to give it a go with a few dishes. I love how it scrubs. So I had a little yarn leftover from making the first and I used that to practice, practice and practice the stitches I had learned---V stitch and Shell stitch until i have them down pat now. When I get through making myself a whole set of them I can start making them to sell and barter with or to give as gifts. Who wouldn't want one of these? They are very sturdy and I can make them in any color I want. And on top of that, it really did not take that long to make. I'm sure the next one will be faster as I know the stitches now.

I LOVE teaching myself new skills.

Other then the stitching, my weekend was filled with running errands and working in the garden getting it weeded and more things potted up for future plant sales. I found some fun things while I was weeding--the best were seedling liatris and seedling daylilies. I couldn't believe my luck. I love how nature makes propagation so easy sometimes. So I potted up the seedlings I could find into 3.5 inch pots with potting soil. Where they were they were getting shaded out by big daylillies. The daylily seedlings will probably look like stella d oros, but they may have crossed with other daylilies so who knows. The liatris are purple native ones I winter sowed a few years ago and planted around my native tulip poplar. I let them go to seed for the birds, not that I've seen birds eating them. Seems the wind decided to deposit some of those seeds in a favorable enough location for germination.

I also split up a giant lemon balm plant and put several large pieces in gallon, 1.5 gallon, and 3 gallon pots. Boy do those things have root systems. No wonder it's so hardy and impossible to kill. I moved one on over to my herb garden for myself and I KNOW more will come up in the spot I dug it up from.

I've started digging up shasta daisy divisions as well but I'm running out of containers so had to get creative using cut plastic milk cartons.

I planted another old pair of shoes with Sempervivum 'Emerald Empress' and noticed ants have moved into my tire planter rock garden where I grow my hens and chicks. They are not doing any real harm that I can see and though I have an ant phobia I will leave them be and just use big ol gloves when harvesting hens and chicks.

When I mentioned that I was getting plants ready for a plant sale at work, I had several co-workers jump up and ask for hostas. So I agreed to split the hostas and sell them. This is something that would give anyone nightmares and something I keep meaning to do but keep putting off every year. I have gigantic hostas. One plant is over 5 feet wide and devouring it's neighbors and has obliterated the little path completely. It started innocently enough a few years ago with 3 leaves.....If that weren't bad enough, the dirt they are planted in is always dry and rock hard and a difficult spot for digging. I plan to attack it on Friday, my day off for the week as I work the weekend so I'm sure I will have my hands full indeed and will be getting my exercise in. I'll be selling them chunks of Hosta (mixed kinds) for $3, and chunks of the Blue Angel hosta for $5. I am not selling any of my seed grown ones yet. I want them to get a lot more size on them though I think the yellowed leaved one is "mini" as it gets no larger then a dinner plate in full summer.

Other then all that, I did not do too much during the weekend.

Cataloging my Garden.

Can you tell I am cataloging what I have in my garden? I am trying to make it easy for myself to be able to look up anything that I've planted here. I want to try to get everything eventually photographed through the seasons so that I can better plan my gardens from year to year to see what works, what's worth propagating and selling and what's worth tossing into the compost. I intend to use this blog not only as a sounding board for my ideas, but as a place to make notes about my garden and life. I plan to keep track of what I do with my plants and how I use them. And maybe someone can learn from my notes as well.

Anyway, I am starting with the current season and will update each page as something worth of noting catches my eye. In my old blog I started new pages for every day but I think if I just update the "iris" or the "strawberry" or whatever page to keep everything in one easy click to find it will be SO much easier for me and probably others to go looking for information on a certain plant. So if I make a million and one new posts at first, don't fret. It will slow down eventually as I re-use posts. I'll change the date on each one as I update a subject so that the new information can be seen.

What is my purpose?

I used to author another blog but I grew tired of it. The blog had run it's course for a good 5 years. So why start anew? I don't know except that I was suffering from a lack of motivation and direction. Plus, the old blog had become huge and unwieldy. Trying to find old posts or information I wanted to look over again was next to impossible. But A new blog is like opening a brand spanking new sketch pad to the very first blank page. A blank page is full of exciting possibilities just waiting to be given shape, form and texture.

My old tired and now retired blog had started with the intention of tackling head on the American Dream-specifically my vision of it- that became more of an eclectic day to day wandering thing that eventually tapered off to basically just photos and few words. Photos are dandy but without a story with them what's the point of even blogging? But the blog I suppose had served it's purpose to show me that the American Dream is just that, a dream. What I blogged about was LIFE. And life is far bigger then me or anyone passing through reading this blog and it's very real. Life will often hit you head on right in the face if you are not watching where you are going or it can wither away slowly or it can even be ripped away from someone violently in seconds...All the while the American dream you keep grasping for but it alludes you, it lures you on but do you ever reach the destination you've dreamed of? Can you ever reach it? I think not. We all evolve everyday and so the dream ever evolves as well.

I was a lonely transplant to Indiana when I started the old blog. I felt like an alien invader, lost, plopped into a strange and mystifying culture and landscape. In a way, the old blog helped me to feel more connected to Indiana and this new life. What started out as an American dream quickly became a case of American survivor. And so as an American survivor, I wonder day to day if my job will disappear, hope that I can get the bills paid on time each month, and I do what I can to enjoy what I have even if that means living in a trailer park, just surviving.

Once upon a time I thought that one needed to seek out the real America. Take a long walk across the country, perhaps. You hear stories of folks who do this once in a while. I listened to Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and other songwriters that sang of the real folk's struggles and experiences. But really, how far do you need to walk to see and experience the spirit of America? The spirit of America is in every home, and every American...no matter the economic standing they should find themselves in. But it's especially noticeable in these uncertain economic times which will either break someone or build their character in surprising ways.

So that is what my new blog will focus on. Just life. Life around here as I enjoy the little things and keep my eyes open so that I miss none of it. I will talk about my garden. I will talk about the woods. I will talk about the struggles of my neighbors and my town. I will offer plants and crafts for sale or barter that I've raised or created with my own blood, sweat and tears in hopes of maybe helping to make ends meet, or at least to partially fund my plant addiction with. But most importantly I am talking about my story.

Welcome to just a single-wide trailer, one of many, in an Indiana town.