new Bitchypoo logo!
This was yet another one created by the wonderful and talented Aly. Thanks, Aly!!!
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So, we closed on the house yesterday, with no problems at all. The new owners of the house were thrilled to be buying it, and they actually THANKED US for keeping the house in such good condition, how sweet is that?
When they asked if we’d had a chance to see the new colors, I circumvented the not-really-my-style thing by exclaiming “He did a really good paint job!”, which is true – the painter did the best paint job I’ve ever seen. Maybe after 20 years of painting, I’ll be that good a painter, ya think? (Um, no. I won’t be painting every day for 20 years, thank god!)
I walked through the house one last time when I went to pick up the vacuum cleaner the other day, and just felt… nothing. I might miss the location of the house a little (very convenient to lots of stores, it is), but the house itself, I won’t miss at all. I feel a little bad about that, because it’s a good house and it deserves to be loved. I think the new owners, who are moving here from a small apartment in Virginia, will love it.
Without an unsold house hanging over our heads, I hope we can relax a little and just enjoy this house, which I absolutely adore.
Speaking of this house, have I mentioned that we’ve started getting produce from our garden? We’ve had several bowls of spinach, and this past weekend Fred picked a huge amount of sugar snap peas. I like to eat sugar snap peas raw, either by themselves as a snack, or on a salad. The plants aren’t putting out a huge amount at this point, and given that I’m the only one who likes them, the jury’s out on whether we’ll be growing them next year.
The tomato plants have really taken off, as have the summer squash plants (we’re eating oven-fried squash tonight with steak and sliced tomatoes (which didn’t come from our garden – we don’t have any ripe tomatoes just yet) and the pole beans are climbing like mad.

Darn gardeners, always laying down on the job.

The tomatoes, which are not growing fast enough to suit me (I’m sure it’ll be another story when we’re harvesting 63 tomatoes a day in a few weeks).

I’m afraid the weeds are currently winning the battle. I spent two hours weeding this morning, and only got one row (the black-eyed peas) completed. Two hours of weeding is about the maximum I’m willing to do at this point, I think. At least it’s helping me get caught up on my podcasts.
Fred thinks that once we get all the serious weeding done, it’ll only be a matter of maintenance, and we can just out every few days and pluck the offending weeds up and toss them out of the garden. When he said that, I’m not completely sure, but I think I heard the weeds in the garden giggling and bobbing their weedy little heads around.
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And now I have to go out and start mowing the lawn – once the guys who are delivering the wood for the fence gates get here, that is. They were supposed to be here between 8:30 and 9, and it’s now later than that. Why can’t people just arrive on time, whyyyyy?
Oh, they just called. 10:30 or 11, they’re saying. I guess I better go get started on that lawn, rather than wait around for them to get here, first.
Then I have to do laundry and hang it out to dry.
Ah, the life of us country wimmins. The work never ends!
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The lawn is mowed (1 1/2 hours with the push mower, 1 hour on the riding mower – to be honest, there’s so much stuff to dodge in the yard that I think it’d be just as fast to use the push mower for the entire yard), the lumber is delivered, the laundry is hung out, I’ve showered and eaten lunch. I got so much dust on me while I was mowing that when I stepped into the shower the water was nothin’ but mud for the first five minutes.
And of course now that I have the laundry hung out, it’s looking like rain. I’m not going to complain – we seriously need some rain ’round these parts. Plus, clothes that have been rained on and allowed to dry always smell amazing.
I should vacuum the house, but to be honest I think I’m going to grab up Sugarbutt (heh – on Flickr, someone called Sugarbutt “Sugarfoot” and I laaaaaughed. For some reason it reminds me of how, at the vet’s office, they absolutely refuse to call him Sugarbutt. They call him Sugar instead, no matter how many times I correct them. Ah, well.) and take me a long country naps.
We country wimmins, we like to nap sometimes. Especially when we’re not used to all this hard physical labor!
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It appears that Sugarbutt got started on that nap without me.
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Previously
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: Itβs just a good thing the air traffic controller didnβt start talking about the planeβs phalanges.
2003: Anatomy of a Smackdown
2002: No entry.
2001: Lovely ‘do, eh?
2000: I don’t want to sound like a nosy know-it-all.]]>
You are sure lucky that SugarBUTT is very happy kitty. If he wasn’t, he might get crabby with a name like Sugarbutt and then have to retaliate again you. Hairball on Mom’s pillow, or … hmmmm.
Is Sugarbutt’s butt up against the sugar??
OMG I crack myself up.
Yes, country living IS work, but isn’t it great? It is wonderful, satisfying work and it makes you sleep like a baby. I envy you my dear! Oh, by the way, consider yourself TAGGED!! Go here http://bubblesandpurls.blogspot.com/ for the details. I can’t wait to see what you write!
Your produce looks amazing and is really inspiring me to grow some ‘maters of my own.
Question for you or your readers: I’m in Southern California — is it too late in the season to plant tomatos now?
Okay, we love Fred, but he’s wrong about weeding. It’s a lifelong prison sentence. Unless you enjoy that sort of thing, day after life-sucking day π
Are you planning on canning those tomatoes? You are going to have WAY more than you can eat. I started gardening about 3 years ago when we moved to our 1 acre “acreage.” I plant between 30-40 tomatoes and last year I had enough to make enough salsa for our family and several of our friends and enough stewed tomatoes for all winter. I use the tomatoes in soup, mainly, but they are good eaten plain too.
Canning is fun too. π Really! It is!
Don’t even get me started on how yummy my dill pickles were last year…
Man, now I want a garden, when I know what a lazy don’t like to get dirt under my fingernails kind of slug I am.
Hey! I know! I can solve both our problems. You send me food, and I will eat it and everyone will be happy and there will be peace in the kingdom.
Deal?
Fried green tomatoes! Bad for you, but OH, SO GOOD!
Nance, I was going to say the same thing. Those tomatoes sure look like the would be great fried green tomatoes!!!!!!!!!
Great new logo! You are lucky to have such great fans π
Loving the produce shots. My husband has taken to gardening in a big way this year and so far all I get to do is tease him, produce won’t be ripe for a bit π But seriously, so cool to be developing new interests.
1) I envy you being able to hang clothes on the line (how sick am I?)
2) We’re making our first garden (by “we” I mean “he”) – the land is tilled and fenced off and the plants are going in today. Here in the freaky-weather state, we wait until after Memorial Day to plant.
3) I LOVE that cabinet.
That is all π
this comment comes from a city folk but aren’t there non-chemical sprays you can use to kill weeds around growing food items?
(PS-the bug on that one picture scared me)
Hey Robyn!
I had to tell you this is TIGERLADY from livejournal. Livejournal has started deleting people who have things like “sex” or things THEY feel are inappropriate like an adult liking “HARRY POTTER” from Livejournal because they think us adults are trying to be pedophiles or something I suppose. After 7 years on LJ, I decided to leave cause I don’t want my journal deleted because I support a cause or issue that LJ doesn’t agree with. I hope you understand. I have moved to a new journal system called GREATESTJOURNAL. My name over there is womanlikes2rock. I just wanted you to know in case you still wanted to read me or something and figured out that that crazy tiger/cat loving lady is gone from LJ. LOL.
Take care,
Martha
ACK! Your laundry isn’t hung properly! What’s that pair of pants doing in with all the t-shirts??? And what’s that red thing in with the t-shirts?? Is it a t-shirt? And is it rightside-up in with all the upside-down ones?? Real country wimmin know you don’t mix your clothes!!! π (Well, I never did anyway …)
Oh, please! If the clothes are clean and on the line in any fashion and not lying on the ground, then it’s perfect!
You should make green tomato chili… oh, man, it’s so good! it’s a little sweet, a little tangy, and ALL good. I wish we had some tomatoes now. Green or otherwise.
If you want the recipe, let mek now and I’ll send it to you. It uses ground turkey, too, so it’s better for you than regular chili.
Robyn, I was going to ask if you planned to can anything, but Melissa beat me to it. π Seriously, it’s pretty easy. You have to shell out a little to buy some equipment (a big canning kettle with a rack to hold jars, lids, jars, etc.), but the stuff lasts forever, except for buying new jar lids for each batch (cheap). I’m sure Ball has a site you can check for instructions. Of course, if you have a big freezer, you might want to just freeze a mess o’ veggies.