Pathetic

I'm weak.

That's all I have to say.

;)

But it looks good out there. For now, at least it does.

Pictures coming soon.

Somebody Stop Me!

The weather is just beautiful and herbs, tomatoes and such summer plants are calling my name. The lows for the long range forecast are far above frost levels and I'm chomping at the bit to get the plants in the ground,

but

technically our last frost free date isn't until April. The rest of March looks good. Could I weather 15 days of April? I did last year and got such a wonderful head start. Dare I try again?

Hmmmm...

Never mind the subject line here. I'm so glad I sat down just now and looked through my pictures to see if there was something I could post about because it reminded me that there is a freeze warning out fo the area tonight. I need to go out there and pull in my seedlings that have been basking in the cool, yet welcomed sun.

We've had four days of good, hard rain in the last week which makes me a bit nervous for the potatoes getting squishy, but yesterday I noticed at least a few of the girl's purple potatoes were looking grand.
Then, I'd like to introduce you to the SLOWEST growing anything in this world. I honestly think I've seen the powers that be mandate the world's atomic clock get shifted faster than this celery grows.

Granted not all cells ever sprouted, but the package said about 70% germination, so I suppose I'll be okay.

Today we had both the boy and the girl's birthday party at Moneky Joe's - a bounce house place in the area. You may remember that last year I threatened to drown myself in the soda fountain at our neighbor's Chuck-E-Cheese party and I swore I'd never do a party like this, but it was very stress free. I think a lot of the problem I had with CEC was the amount of sensory overload with the flashing lights, music and games. Half of the students in my high school work (okay about 15 kids) at the Monkey Joe's. Literally, four students in my third period alone. I always swore to them it would be a cold day in Hell if I ever had a party there, but the kids had a blast. They each invited four of their friends and since I knew all of the employees and they knew me, the dude in the monkey suit stayed in there the entire time with the kids and gave them the extra attention that even the boy and girl noticed not having seen at other parties we've been to there. They, with the innocence of children, thought the world was on their plates, squished next to the pizza and Scooby Doo cupcakes (which I can't believe they agreed upon).

So, I'm sure you've noticed the pictures, or lack there of, of the party. That's what a good mother I am. I left the camera at home. The man took some film, so we'll see how that turns out and if I can post it or not. Of course, as all birthdays go, the girl came home and wanted to sleep with one of her presents so the boy was honor bound to champion the same cause. Do you know what he wanted to sleep with? The fifth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book that his cousin gave him. Shut your mouth! A book beat out a Lego set!?!? Yup.

Reading comprehension is the key to life, whether it's math problems, an automotive repair manual, a recipe, legal brief or medical journal. Does it hurt my feelings he finds a book "the top present of the night?" Not one bit.

The morning comes early, and I know it will because they're under the impression that the earlier they wake up the sooner they get to play with their presents and they just HAD to have a sleep over with each other tonight so one is bound to wake up the other at 0-dark-thirty. Sweet gardening dreams. Dang! I just remembered again to go down there and take those plants in.

What's Happenin' Hot Stuff?

The horseradish has sprouted!!! I'm so excited about growing horseradish. I've heard that it takes two years before you can harvest the roots, but conflicting information on if I can leave it all in the ground in my zone or if I have to dig up the roots and store them during the winter. I've also read up on how invasive it is which is why I have it in its own 3x3 box. It can spread as far and wide as it would like.
The lettuce is looking very good....but do you see in the center where one lettuce bunch was torn out by that rotten feral cat? Look closer. See the gift he left me?

I swear I'll kill that cat when I get my hands on him.

I've been lax with garden blogging, and for that I apologize, but what's kept me busy is well worthwhile. Keychains for a Cause, my side venture to raise money for our school's Relay for Life team, has gotten its first outside of school contract with the Nancy Jo Tennis Tournament. Proceeds from the sales of our new tennis themed keychains (and any other with the tournament name in the instructions to seller) go to their efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

In the three days I've partnered with them, we've sold 19 keychains. Not bad!

The morning comes early. Sweet hot and spicy dreams! *wink, wink*

What? I was referring to the horseradish. Really.

The Bean's Cabbage - Part 1

Yesterday we spent a wonderful evening over at my sister-in-law's house. Her daughter's class did a lesson on the parts of a plant and from what I understand, each child came home with a plant - a cabbage in her case. I told her I'd put it in the side yard where it would get the most sun and then document for her how it grew. It's one of those mondo cabbages. I don't know if we can let it grow to maturity, but she'll still have quite a head of cabbage when it's done.

Here we go! This is week 1. It's a bit leggy, so I planted it deep, hoping it would root along the stem.

Can't wait to watch it grow, Bean! Thanks for letting me share the experience with you.

Keychains for a Cause is expanding yet again to help us reach our goal of 300 keychains sold by Relay. We've added tennis themed ribbon to our selections. There's a keychain to meet every need. Go check them out!

Life, Revealed

Three inches of rain has done a lot to dampen the gardening spirit, but things are still plodding along. You can tell the garlic and onions are putting on weight and the seeds I planted last week are quietly sending down roots. My fear now is for the potatoes to rot in the ground, but as it dries out, hopefully I'll find them healthy and hale.

On a non garden note, last week I began and finished Tim O'Brien's The Things they Carried. I had earlier posted that it was a recommendation from a student and one of the first tenants of teaching a literature course is never turn down a child when they ask you to read.

The book caught me off guard. It's something they teach in AP classes here, so I didn't expect it to be raw, exposed and visceral, but it was. I didn't want to go to bed with it having been the last thing I had read, but then realized that now, this was how I was supposed to go to bed, with it weighing as heavily on my mind as it did. It's not a fast or a skimming read like I'm used to. Each word pulls you in a different direction and demands the merit its author intended. I am wiser and humbled by the experience. The symbolism was mild, yet jarring and the thematic strands enduring, yet too often looked over by other works. I'll most likely go purchase a paper copy in addition to my electronic one so I can write in it and trace the elements as I read through it a second, third and fourth time.

If you haven't read it, I highly suggest it. Your experiences with the novel may be vastly different from mine as you may be closer and with more personal connections to the events of the text than I have - NOT that I'm saying any readers venturing upon this are old and I'm the springest chicken in the world, but for me, the Vietnam War has always been one of those mythical wars in a far off place that warrants less than 30 minutes of class lecture at the end of a crammed semester of World History, and even then I struggled in distancing myself from the insufferable authentickty the book injected upon my psyche. It brought a crushing realism to an era swept under parlor rugs, bed skirts and dust jackets. A time that begs to be forgotten by the populace, yet rages in the indispensible truths of the participants.

Randomly Random

Titles eluded me for this post of random thoughts. Whereas I'd love that the world revolved around my garden, life sometimes gets in the way. For example:

The boy came home last week sad that his team lost a recess play-yard soccer game. Apparently he was the goalie and they lost 2-0 and he felt responsible. I asked who the goalie for the other team was.


They didn't have one.


Poor kid.


That, and the girl is on a three week long campaign for a "wiener." She has gotten to the point of asking Santa to bring her one. She likes the way they pee. Her main point of persuasion is that they are funny looking and make her giggle. My mother and I are of the same opinion and have thus assured her that this is the natural female reaction, however it didn't stop her from asking her prim and proper southern belle daycare ladies to aide her in the endeavor to procure one.

At least that's marginally better than when the boy went there and he wiped his snotty nose on one of their skirts.

Tell me why they keep letting me send my kids there?
On a more hopeful note, I had a student recommend me read The Things They Carried. When a student recommends a book for you to read you drop everything and read it, especially when it's a student like this one that you wouldn't think would pick up a book for love or money. I haven't put it down. We discussed it during class and in the hallway between classes when he came out of his way and risked a tardy to talk about a point and he gave me a goal to read to for tonight so I didn't get ahead of him. Kid's got a better opinion of my self control than I do.


As for that garden, seeds are still on the porch soaking up the sun and I'm still waiting to see which ones of them sprout. Potatoes still haven't broken the surface yet, either, but I remember that being a long process. The waiting is the hardest part.

The morning comes early, and I'll likely be spending it wide awake in bed talking myself out of reading farther. Sweet gardening dreams.