On a lighter note

Mel - Mel, thanks for reminding me about the humor in my life! (Referencing comments from previous post) Like I aluded to before, I do have lighter, even funny, stories that happen almost everyday. They can easily slip off the radar, though, when the "stuff" hits the fan. Do you find that true also? It's nice when a good friend (my sister) gives you a wider perspective. You can thank HER for now being subjected to my trivial ramblings of the lighter side of life.

Morgan's garden is taking shape on my lawn. Today Dennis and I spaded up a 10' X 12' patch for veggies. I suppose Morgan's garden really began weeks ago when I started seeds indoors. On my little incubator window sill my tomato and pepper plants are doing great! I just hope they will thrive outdoors as well. I'm like a protective mother sending her child to school for the first time! So many dangers they'll have to face like wind and temperature and bugs, but if they are to grow and reach their full potential I must push them out the door. So young. So fragile.

While we were spading, we noticed dozens of white grubs in the soil. Gardeners will know exactly what these little guys are. I didn't until I looked them up and now I'm bummed. They are pests of common proportions known as the Japanese Beetle. Dunn -dunn - dunn. It's not good. But it also does not mean my garden is doomed. After reading my options, disregarding chemicals at this time, my plan of action is to hand-pick the buggers and place them in soapy water (that suffocates them). Their buddies from the rest of the lawn can certainly come over and replace them if I have stuff in there they like. Which might be the saving grace here. The veggies I'm planting aren't on the list of things they love. They love roses and grapes particularly (which may be what happened to my rose bush the mother in law gave me). I'm planning on planting the tomato and peppers, obviously, as well as string beans, beets, carrots, spinach, rosemary, basil, and a rhubarb plant my neighbor is giving us. If I don't get totally discouraged from pests or bad crops, I'd be up for expanding the garden next season to include more herbs, berries, and squashes. For now, this is all I can handle. One step at a time. Who knew gardening had parallels with cancer treatment?

Our pup, Sadie, has been a pest in her own right. In the past month she's been skunked and quilled. I was away on a trip to Washington D.C. when the skunking happened and Dennis had to deal with it by himself. I heard ALL about it as it was unfolding and I tried to be sympathetic by not laughing my head off, which I safely did in between his calls, but I had my own horrific night to contend with. We had just gotten a parking ticket of $50, I proceeded to scratch the rental car (Shhh. We'll never speak of it again.), it was late and our hotel room was not what I had booked through Orbitz. I am still fighting for compensation. BTW, I highly recommend NOT booking hotels through Orbitz or any of those other "third party" dealers. Their customer service sucks. The deals are attractive, but no one will help you if it goes wrong. I'm off track, but thought I'd throw in a buyer beware based on my experience. Anyway, Sadie....

I come home and all I smell is skunk - on her, the bed, the bathroom, everywhere. Even after a bomber clean, the house still smelled. Dennis and I stunk up wherever we went. Does anyone smell sunk? That would be us, we'd say, and explain. The incident was April 21st. We have since stopped smelling, I think, but Sadie still smells like skunk when she gets wet.

Just a week ago, I took her to the forest for a walk and she disappeared. Not unusual for our dog. She always comes back. This time I backtracked to find her because I had an inkling. As I was walking back calling her, I hear her excited barks. They are in between barking and crying. I've heard it only three times before and it only means one thing. I locate her and she is sticking her nose under fallen trees after this poor little porcupine. She is so excited that at that moment I did not exist to this dog. Even as I was pulling her away and leashing her, she kept trying to get at it. When removed from the stimulus, she turned her attention to the quills in her muzzle, mouth, and front paw and was freaking out. I took her to our vet, luckily only minutes from where we were walking, and $200 later she was good as new. What are you going to do? Shrug and get over it, hopefully laughing one day in hindsight. Sadie's tally is now 0 for 6 : 4 porcupines and 2 skunks. Stupid dog.

My parents have sold their house in Auburn and will be building their retirement home next to my grandpa in New Hampshire. Amazing that it only took a few months to sell in this economy. They are so excited and I am very happy for them. Of course, I should be protesting. They are moving farther from me, we are losing our halfway house to the mountain to snowboard, and it's farther to drop off Sadie for babysitting. I can't pull the sentimental card because I don't have any attachment to that house at all. We've lived in so many houses growing up, it's just the last one in a series, and I moved out of it in 1993. As part of the process, though, they are making me take my junk home. Bummer, no more free storage:( The boxes will just stay stacked in the basement until I muster the ambition to rearrange, DISCARD (the biggie), and organize, oh, just about everything.

Stay tuned for photos including a hair update soon!