Definitely Not Ready for the Home Gardening Network

Sometimes, I fancy myself a gardener. I love planting flowers in the garden, seeing how they brighten up the planters and the view.

Sometimes, I realize that I really don't know what on earth I'm doing.

Yesterday afternoon, M had turned over the little patch of earth right in front of our house, making it ready for me to put in the petunias and diathus that I'd picked up at the store. Now you'll need to know that our earth is pretty much 100% clay - NOT well-draining, hard as a rock when dry.

I must amend this soil. I will add some of the Soil Buster that we've got in the shed and that will help make it better draining.

So, I mixed in what I thought was an appropriate amount and started turning the mix with the shovel. This led to the inevitable clouds of dust in the air.

Too dusty. Let's add some water so that I don't inhale all this stuff.

Luckily, I had P to help me out. He held the hose and I mixed. He added water and more water and more water. And the water was not draining. So I turned off the flow and kept on mixing. And pretty soon, I had a nice slurry that was the consistency and color of...CONCRETE!!!!

Yipes! What was I doing? Constructing the next Hollywood Walk of Fame? All it needed was some smoothing over and it would be ready for my foot and handprints.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!

Husband to the rescue. First, the "I-can't-believe-what-you-just-did" look, then the grin, then he got out a little board and actually smoothed it over, saying, "This should be cured by tomorrow morning." Very funny.

And then he actually helped and poured in half a giant bag of garden soil, handed me the shovel with some words of encouragement and headed back inside. I tried to blend it all together and then dug some holes for the plants. P stuffed them in, I covered them up and watered them and crossed my fingers.

They're either going to grow or not. If they don't, I'll assume that they're all wearing concrete boots. For now, they still look quite pretty.

My Kids Crack Me Up

I've been meaning to write these down before they slip my memory.

"Mama, what are eyebrows for? They're hairy."

"Do mosquitoes bite ducks?"

Also, have I mentioned their obsession with the word 'b*tt'? Yes, it's quite delightful.

Sigh.

The boys are quite inventive. This has led to improvisation on songs that we know and love. We now hear:

Mary Had A Little B*tt
Baa, Baa B*tt Cheek

Who's that Star Wars character that's the son of Darth Vader?

You got it: Luke B*ttwalker.

Somebody save me from 4 and 8 year old boys!

26:17.01

It's not my fastest time, it's not my slowest. But it was today's time for my usual 2.5 mile loop and it felt GREAT!

The wind was in my face.
The sun was on my shoulders.
The blue sky was above my head.
Music was in my ears.
My knees felt great.
My breathing was easy.
I had the rhythm and I could have kept going, and going, and going.

This is why I run.

Hope

Sometimes I seek inspiration in words and tonight I sought it in a poem. I found Emily Dickinson and I'll link to the Poetry Foundation site because I don't want to be violating any copyright laws:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers-

So Far Away

What do you do when you're far away from people that you love and they're hurt?
Or sick?
How do you hug long-distance?
How do you hold a hand?
How do you share a cry?

One of my dad's sisters has cancer and it has come out of remission.

What do I do? What do I do?

I pick up the phone and call because it's all I can do right now.

What else? What do I do?

Packing and Other Lists

Leave at home:

1. DVD player
2. iPod
3. computer
4. work
5. tent (we're staying in a tent cabin, after all)

Bring for sure:

1. camera
2. underwear and socks
3. sleeping bags
4. fleeces and rainshells
5. sunblock
6. water bottles
7. first aid kit
8. kids
9. snacks
10. caps

Not really looking forward to:

1. "Are we there yet?"
2. "He's touching me!"
3. "Well, he touched me first!"
4. "I need to go potty." (at the most inopportune moment)

Looking forward to:

1. hiking
2. stargazing
3. seeing Half Dome, El Capitan and Yosemite Falls
4. first 'camping' trip with our little boys

Going to Yosemite!

Guess what? For Mother's Day and our wedding anniversary, my family is headed to Yosemite National Park to celebrate. Yippee! I've been wanting to go to Yosemite for ages now. Imagine, I've lived in the Bay Area for six years now and still haven't made it out there.

I've heard others rave about the beauty in the mountains, the hikes, the majesty of the peaks and the peacefulness in the views. Now we're going to see them for ourselves. I hope the kids appreciate it, I know that I will.