Sunday, October 10, 2010

You Just Never Know . . .

. . . what you might find on your camera.

My daughter worked as a nanny both days this weekend. Today I made a brief stop where she was working to drop something off for her.

This sweet little girl cherub wanted a story read to her before I left so, of course, I had to oblige. I knew Chicken Mama had snapped a couple of pictures but I assumed they were with her camera.

I was surprised to find the pictures on my camera (snuck it right outa my purse, she did) when I sat down at my desk tonight.

This little babe is just shy of two years old and didn't have any hair (other than peach fuzz) until very recently. You can't see it by the pictures but the whole back of her head is now full of beautiful blond curls. I think the long wait was worth it.

Most of my weekend was spent working outside. Isn't it funny how you can work and work and work on a project and not see much of any progress for the longest time?

Today (hooray and finally) it looks as if I'm getting the raised beds under control. (Although I am having trouble ripping out that one flower bed on the left and my herb bed on the right is still going strong.) The majority of the beds are now ready for an application of compost which we'll let sit for the winter and then till in in the spring.

Have to say the soil in the raised beds is really good. The soil is FULL of earthworms. Despite my phobia regarding worms (how the heck can I be a gardener with this irrational fear?), over the years I've come to terms with earthworms. Earthworms are good. Earthworms are our friends. But I gotta say today when I was removing weeds and spading up the beds, I came across some that were so big they bordered on being classified as snakes. Now that bothers me! (Don't worry. A little more therapy and I'll be fine.)

Tomorrow's Monday again; the start of another week. Laundry day for me, but I'm also meeting a friend in town for coffee and conversation in the morning.

Then back out into the yard/garden. Although it seems as if this gorgeous, warm weather will last indefinitely, one of these mornings there will be heavy frost covering everything and finishing up outside won't be nearly so easy.

So watch out blueberry and raspberry patches, it's your turn tomorrow!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love those photos:) Good on her for sneaking them!
I need to do some work in the garden area we will have next year (tear out the landlords left over dead stuff, and work on breaking up the ground before it freezes), but we are still in the midst of unpacking. Might borrow my parent's tiller to make quick work of it.

Leigh said...

What a precious little girl. I love it when children want to be read to. It's such a good way to introduce them to books and a love of reading.

Your raised beds look really good! Tomorrow I need to tackle my garden and get ready for fall tilling and planting of a winter cover crop.

Erin said...

Who doesn't love being read to?!! Cute pics! Your fear of earthworms is like my fear of snakes. I have a bed of brown and dying zinnias I keep faithfully trying to deadhead and keep going myself. Have a great coffee date tomorrow!

Sue said...

What a sweet surprise! You have a very thoughtful daughter.
My garden ick is grasshoppers-I hate the way the jump all over the place, and occasionally tangle in my hair. GROSS! I'm hoping to add chickens to the mix next year to help with that problem.
And I'm so amazed that you haven't had a killing freeze yet! You're supposed to be in the "icebox"....
It's been a bit over a week ago that we had ours.....and my raspberries WERE LOADED. Sigh.

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - Why is it that we all seem to have too much to do in too short a time?! Boy, if you could possibly get your garden area tilled up this fall yet, your soil would be so much better for next summer's garden.

Leigh - We planted winter wheat in our pumpkin patch and can't believe how fast it germinated and how lush it looks already. Eager to see what it looks like in the spring!

Erin - Maybe I should send you some of my giant earthworms. They might scare all your snakes away!!

Sue - We were lucky enough to see only a couple of grasshoppers this year. Way back when we were just starting our gardening here, we lost nearly everything one year to the little buggers. Made me think of a plague of locusts!

Last year we had our first killing frost on September 30th so we are really living on borrowed time this year. Sure can't count on anything, can you? You just never know . . .

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Just when I was thinking we should get everything torn out, we get this heat wave and stuff is stilll comin'!! Your look so good, if you get bored, come on down! You know the way!

Cute photos of the kiddie!!

Susan said...

What a doll! Such nice pix. I worked yesterday on my huge three raised bed garden. Ahem. It took me most of the afternoon to clean out two beds, handpick the over ripe cherry tomatoes out of the one bed so I'm not innundated with volunteers next year, plant my garlic and haul the mess to the compost. How in the world do you manage all those beds!!?? It always looks so nice and neat, though, doesn't it? Have a lovely time this morning.

Mama Pea said...

Apple Pie Gal - If we didn't live 600 miles apart(!), it sure would be fun to spend a couple/few days together workin' in the garden, wouldn't it?? I'd like that.

Susan - I guess you just do what you gotta do. But I definitely have been thinking a lot this year about the fact that we don't need as much garden space as we have anymore. Now if someone will just perform an intervention on me next spring . . .

Mary said...

Sweet pictures of you and baby together.

I laughed when I read about the worms... I suffer from the same phobia. Oh my, worms the size of snakes! We once found one, it was at least a yard long and 1/2-3/4" diameter. Can you imagine that?

-Mary

Mama Pea said...

Mary - Okay. That would do it for me. A worm that big might just put me off of ever digging in the dirt again! Eeeeuuw! Shudder, shudder, shudder.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Well, we know at least one bed you'll HAVE to let lie fallow next year due to the wire worms. Right???

I say you lease a couple of the others out to people in town who want a garden but have no space :)

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Except the potatoes were grown in a full one-quarter of the field garden. Ooops.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Hmmm...do chickens eat wire worms??

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Boy, I have no idea. Is a worm a worm a worm?

The Sassy Butterfly's Chaotic Musings said...

blehhhhh! Worms give me the willies!! *shudder*

I do agree they are very important in the garden beds.. but I also know that I don't have to TOUCH them for them to do their job!

(I've even figured out how to bait a fish hook with a worm.. without touching it!) Kids always laugh at me but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do! :)

~Wendy