New Dog House

David leaves on the 11th, unless the Air Force changes its mind. Again. So we are trying to finish all the little projects he needed to get done this year. The most important project for me was the dog house. I can not go anywhere while he is gone without a dog house.

It was a family project and took all weekend to complete. I LOVE it. David even agreed to let me paint it purple!

Alex helping Daddy with the drill.

David being silly. 

It is huge, but we have a Great Dane, a Golden Retriever, and a Poodle. It took four people to lift it over the fence and get in place. The Dogs love it and I think it is great! 

Turtle Rescue

For some reason a lot of people think that taking a turtle out of the wild and putting it in a cage is "rescuing" it. I promise you, the  turtle crossing the road did not need to be rescued. He was just fine. His new "owners" then think that turtle care is easy. They throw it a cricket and think everything will be just fine. It does not work that way.

They need special lighting, special heating, special cages, and special food.  They were not meant to be in a little aquarium. They need space to roam and dig and hunt and swim.  Basically they need to be a turtle. So come winter, when they should be getting ready to hibernate, the poor turtles are starved down, have vitamin deficiencies, and many other medical problems. They are too weak to be released. That is when I get them. After the fun has worn off and the animal is about to die.

This year I have four box turtles. All of them were "RESCUED" from the wild. I still don't understand that.

One is very small, probably only three years old, and was kept in a shoe box on some one's desk. They gave him lettuce to eat and sometimes water to drink. (Box turtles don't like lettuce.) He  was so weak when I first got him that I was afraid he would die.  He wouldn't open his eyes. He wouldn't walk around his new box. He just sat there.

Eating a Strawberry and Meal Worm Salad.

I have had him for about four months. He is still very underweight and is not a great eater, but I am sure that I will be able to release him in a couple of months.

Number two and three are both pretty healthy. They were underweight and dehydrated by the time I got them. They are both looking great after a soak and a few good meals. They will have no problem returning to the wild.

 

Turtle Four is my special baby. I thought I was going to loose him several times. He came to me 4 months after he was taken from the wild. He was so sick. I spent three months working on his eye infections. Every time I thought he was better they came back. One eye was so infected that I could not get the puss cap out of his eye. Finally I was able to remove a dried down cap of puss the size of a pencil eraser. He now has his vision back and is a mean little thing. He tries to bite me every day and will chase me if given the chance.

I will miss him. He has been such a challenge and I love his spirit.

 

I know they are just four little turtles and saving them will not change the world, but for them, the world is a better place. Once spring is here and the nights are warm, my four little rescues will get returned to the wild. I will take them to a place that is far from people and has everything a little turtle could ever want. I will undo what other people did to them. They will be free once more. 

Tomato Worm

I have only had one tomato worm this year. I guess you need to have healthy tomatoes to have tomato worms! When I saw the damage to my plants, I asked Dallas to help me find the 'little monster'. It only took him a few minutes to find it and then came the question I hear every year.

"Can I keep it?"

Photo retrieved on Aug. 24, 2012 from Wikipedia.

 I now know how my Mom felt so many times. I should have him kill the thing but how can I say no to him. Out came our 'bug jar' and in went the worm and a few branches from my tomato plant. Dallas took care of it and tried to feed it fresh leaves every day. My poor plants started to look a little thin. Then the day before our Anniversary trip, Dallas' worm went into its chrysalis. He took it with him to Granny's just in case it came out.

Last night, while cleaning up the kitchen, I heard something strange. The moth had finally emerged. It would do this at 10 pm on a school night. I woke Dallas up and we went outside to see what his little pet had turned into.

Dallas carefully opening the top.

Our 'little' moth.

Dallas playing with it. I think he was as surprised as I was with the size of this moth.



 

The silly little thing stayed around. It was on our fence today. Dallas just had to play with it one more time. I know I will probably see its offspring in my garden in a week or two but it is totally worth it.

Harvest Monday - 2 July 2012

I don't really know what I am going to do with all the squash I am picking. I know I need to figure it our really fast. It has taken over my kitchen! I did harvest the first of my peppers and cucumbers this week.  

Yellow Squash

Zucchini Squash

Tam Jalapenos

Early White Bush Scallop Squash

Marconi Pepper

Sweet Banana Pepper

Broccoli (side shoots)

Zucchini Squash

Yellow Squash

Eggplant

Armenian Yard Long Cucumber

Early White Bush Scallop Squash

And to finish it off - Tank playing in the water sprinkler and stealing a bite out of a broccoli plant.

 Be sure to stop by Daphne's Dandelions to see what everyone else is harvesting!

Schools Out!

I can not believe how crazy the last week has been. I usually have my summer figured out and know how we will spend the next three months. But not this year. The Military is taking their time on our hardship orders. It may be the end of next month before we have an answer. It is torture. So we will do the normal summer things - swim lessons, park lunches, and messy crafts. I love the summer!

I took very few pictures this week of my garden. I do have lots of pictures of my boys - so I think I will share a few. 

On Monday, Alex and I were in Texas with my parents. PawPaw had to work so Alex got to be a "Crew Leader" for a little bit. 

Alex and PawPaw driving one of the Rollers. He was taking his job very seriously!

Dallas had a wonderful school year. He tested really high on his final exams in both English and Spanish. He even tested higher than many of the Spanish speaking kids. I am always so excited to see how smart he is. I don't really know where his intelligence came from but I thank God he is so smart.

Dallas with his group at school. He was the only English speaking child in his group.

Dallas and Mrs. Encinia - His Spanish teacher.

Alex at school - Look at those blue eyes!

It seems like everyone is growing up too fast. Roxie is now 10 months old. She is over 100 pounds and just keeps getting bigger. Almost every night I take her to the empty field behind the house and let her run. She sounds like a horse as she runs by me. Every now and then she gets her feet tangled up and rolls across the ground.

17 April 2012

It seems like every time I finish one project, I start two more. I decided today that it was time to plant our grass in the backyard. I chose to plant Buffalo Grass since it is native, drought tolerant, and stays about 6 inches tall without mowing it every week. All of that is great, but the main reason I planted Buffalo Grass is for Tank. Tank is my 75 pound tortoise who mows my back yard and keeps me company when I garden. I have had him for about 8 years and can not picture my yard without him. 

This is an older picture. He was about 55 lbs at this time.

So I started to till and level the east side of the back yard. I only finished a spot 12' x 20'. It took a while to remove all the rocks, roots, and trash from the soil. I could not believe all the trash that was buried in our yard. After broadcasting the seeds, raking them in, and spreading a thin layer of compost over the area - I built a little fence. I did not want to hear Dallas saying "I forgot" when I caught him on the new grass. He is the King of "I forgot." 

East side of the yard.

 The front flower bed is now covered in two inches of cotton burr compost. I ran out of compost with only 4 square feet to go. At least it is behind the bird bath and my garlic! Next I need to finish the path. Maybe next week.

 I went home for Easter and brought back a huge, over crowded pot of Aloe. I dumped the Aloe out on the porch and started potting it. It was all plant and very little dirt. It took a couple of hours to finish but I ended up with more Aloe than I planned. Two large pots will be put into the cactus/rock garden for the summer and I guess all the others will find new homes.

I am really wondering if I will be able to sit back and enjoy my garden anytime soon.

4 April 2012

The last two weeks have been crazy! I don't really know where all my time has gone. The garden is almost finished but the last two beds are on hold. David leaves on Sunday for over three weeks. We did get almost everything built and I have started to work compost into the soil. I am looking forward to next fall/winter/spring when I can focus on fixing the soil and not building beds and hauling dirt.

The East Side.

.

The West Side.

My Patio - I am almost finished with it. I just need to finish about ten rocks and I will be able to call it done!

My seedlings have out grown the garage and I have spent the last week carrying them out to the front yard to harden off. They spent the first five days by the house. They only received four hours of direct sunlight in the morning and the rest of the time in shade. I have keep moving them further out from the house and they are up to 6 hours of direct sunlight every day. The last two days they have been indoors because of the wind and cool nights. I am hoping to they are ready to plant into the garden next week. I am starting to get tired of hand watering every little cup.



Tomato and Pepper Plants

Now an update on the plants already in the garden. I found two blueberry bushes last weekend and just had to buy them. The larger one is the Bluegold Blueberry and the smaller one is Duke Blueberry. They were the same size but Roxie (the Great Dane Puppy) decided they needed to be pruned. I am not sure how she was able to get her 100 pound body under the fence, but she did. So I installed a temporary puppy guard until I am able to find a better solution. I planted the bushes along her fence to help give her and JD a little more shade and a wind block but I may have to move them. 

Blueberry Bushes

The Wild Plums are starting to put on leaves. It looks like three made the move without any damage but the larger ones are still trying to decide if they want to put on leaves.

Wild Plums

 My first group of lettuces are almost ready to pick. They have really started growing in the last two weeks. I have several more transplants to move out here but I cannot decide where to plant them. Plus everything has to wait until after Easter. I don't want to ask my neighbors to plant sit along with checking on the dogs. It might be to much for them.

The onion transplants are really growing slow. I am afraid they are not going to get big enough to harvest. I decided to buy some onion sets. We use a lot of onions and it is the one crop I really need to produce. So I am going to keep my little ones I started and plant the 300 onions I bought in the next bed.

Texas Sweet Onions - I bought and planted these last weekend. If you look closely you can see my little ones at the bottom of the picture.

I am trying to grow a lot of new plants this year but I am really excited to grow potatoes. I ordered Yukon Gold and White Superior seed potatoes and planted them in one of my 4x4 beds. As they grow I will add more soil to the bed and hopefully get a decent harvest from the little box.

Potatoes - OK...This is a picture of the dirt were the potatoes are planted.

As I mentioned earlier, we are going home for Easter. The real reason for my visit is to see my Mom. It is her birthday on Sunday. I usually miss it but not this year. I started telling everyone in October that I would be home. Of course - the US Air Force likes to have their say in everything we do. Instead of staying until Monday, we have drive David to the airport on Easter. Now I just have one more picture to show you. It is Alex, my little helper. He loves to help me with the 'baby plants' and to play in the dirt while I work in the yard. Yesterday he decided to where Daddy's boots and I had to run for the camera!