February 11, 2012 - Woe is Me

I got the jury summons just over a week ago, and my term was for two weeks. The first week passed, and I was not called to serve. I thought I was home free, but it was not to be. I called in last night to find I must report at 8:30 Monday morning, when they will select jurors for an upcoming murder trial. That means, if selected, my "two weeks" of service could extend for weeks! Please do not chose me, please do not chose me, please do not chose me......

Woe is me, but woe-er is my daughter. Amy was redoing her kitchen at the same time I was redoing mine. In fact, it was she who talked me into putting the laminate flooring in the kitchen. She just finished hers last week, and it turned out just beautiful. Her floors were much prettier than what I'd installed. Then it happened. Her garbage disposal plugged up, and she kept running water into it to flush it out. It seemed to be working, but what she didn't realize was that she was just pumping all that water into the dishwasher, as it had nowhere else to go. When she opened the dishwasher, the water poured out all over her newly (less than a week) installed flooring. It went behind the dishwasher, behind the cupboards, and everywhere. She threw towels down to try to sop up the mess, which may have even worsened the problem by keeping the flooring wet. Well, it soon began lifting and buckling. At first it ruined about a fourth of the flooring, then expanded to half. They keep pulling it up, and they are still finding dampness. Needless to say, she is just sick about it. She's the one who caught her kitchen on fire last year, now this! We have nicknamed her Fire & Water.

February 10, 2012 - Granny's Rustic Buns

No, no! Not those buns!

These buns! Pretty ugly, huh? Wilderness posts such good sounding meals and recipes, I decided to give her Potato Bread recipe a try. I tossed everything in the bread machine, just as she had them listed (I used 1/2 cup of warm mashed potato), until I came to the flour. Oh, dear.....it didn't look like I had three cups in that canister! Sure enough, I was at least 1/4 cup short, and not a bit more flour in the house. Oh, I had some whole wheat flour, but Mr. Granny won't eat anything but white bread. Well, of course I decided to go ahead with the recipe with what flour I had on hand. It was really soft and runny when it finished the dough cycle, so I oiled my hands and dug in. Honestly, this was as smooth as I could get them.

They were still quite lumpy looking after rising. Oh.....I had a pot of ham and bean soup simmering in the crock pot, so I removed the lid and put a cookie sheet and a cutting board over the top and put the covered rolls on them to rise. It worked great! The cutting board kept them from getting too warm.

Not the loveliest buns I ever made, but they'll do.

Oh, my...will they ever! The texture was a bit course, due to the too soft dough, but the flavor was divine. The recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks, Wilderness!

Mr. Granny was in his Man Cave, engrossed in a movie, so I dined alone at the kitchen counter. Ham and bean soup, Waldorf salad, iced green tea and "rustic" buns with real butter. It doesn't get much better than this.

February 10, 2012 - Thank You!

I am rather late publicly thanking 1st. Man for The Versatile Blogger Award that he presented to me on February 1. Now I have received it once more from Mrs. Pickles Garden.

I had previously received this award from a dear blogging friend, David P. Offut, back in September of last year. For that reason, I'll not bore you with more facts about myself, which you can read here, in my original response.

That being said, I want you to know that no matter if I receive an award once or a hundred times, it's just as special to me each and every time. Some bloggers hate these awards. I have been publicly chastized for passing them on to some blogs that I especially enjoyed. I no longer follow those blogs, because I am shallow that way, LOL! I love getting the awards. I enjoy knowing there is someone out there who appreciates my blog enough to take the time to send me an award. So, thank you to Mrs. Pickles, and a belated thank you to 1st. Man. I love your blogs, too!

February 8, 2012 - Potting Up

The roots of the lettuce seedlings I started for my "windowsill garden" were beginning to grow out of their soil blocks, so I decided it was time to pot them up. I looked at Walmart and Shopko for some lightweight plastic pots that were short enough to fit under the lights and wide enough to hold at least four lettuce plants. I found nothing, just tall round pots. I found exactly what I wanted in a long narrow pot at Fred Meyer, but it was $7, not including the drain tray. My cheap frugal self opted out of that one. Off to the dollar store, and once again I found exactly what I was looking for. A dollar apiece, I bought four of them.

They had no drainage holes, so once again I got out my trusty hot glue gun. I've ruined many pots using a drill to put in the holes, but this glue gun is foolproof on lightweight plastics.

My bathroom has become my potting shed. You know you have a problem when you have to wash the potting soil from your toothbrush before brushing your teeth! Hey, a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do when it's freezing outside!

A plastic fork, with the outer tines broken off, was a perfect tool for removing the small seedlings for transplanting.

Eight Red Sails lettuce plants are comfy under their temporary 2' light. The 4' shop light fixtures were on sale at Fred Meyer this week, for only $8.99 each. Of course, they were sold out. I got a rain check.

I have to buy some cupcakes. I don't want the cupcakes, but the bakery container that held my birthday cupcakes is absolutely perfect for securely holding these small Dixie cups. I can just pour a bit of water in them to bottom water the plants. Daughter Amy said she'll bring a dozen cupcakes for our Valentine's Day dinner......she's such a good girl. Anyway, I transplanted 8 celery seedlings into the cups, and four Mini Gold tomatoes. I wanted one tomato plant for the windowsill, so what did I do? I planted four seeds to make sure I'd get one plant. Yes, every seed germinated. What will I do with four Mini Gold plants?

The green things that are growing in my bedroom.

OK, tell me why. Close to 100% germination on these onions. They are 1-2" tall already. The very same day I took another identical container, filled it with the identical planting mix, seeded it with the second packet of the identical variety of seeds that were from the same company (Mike the Gardener's Seeds of the Month Club) that had arrived in the mail on that very same day, covered it with identical plastic wrap and set them side by side on the same shelf. In other words, there was no difference at all in the two plantings. The second container has failed to germinate a single plant! Beats me!

February 6, 2012 - A New Beginning

Don't you just love it when you happen upon a new blogger, with a brand new house and a garden in her dreams? The other day I had a comment from Christy, at My Garden - Our Life, so on a whim I checked out her profile, which led me to her new blog. I'm all excited about following her and her husband on their venture of making their new house a home. Check it out, maybe you would enjoy the journey.

Speaking of new beginnings, I must admit I'm a hoarder. I think it was about a week ago that I commented on another blog, saying I am NOT a hoarder, but I really am. It's just that my hoard is well maintained and hidden behind closet doors. I have a hoard of genealogy papers. I have a filing cabinet stuffed full of census, land, marriage and court records. I have an 8' (it might even be 10') shelf packed with books and binders, all stuffed full of 20 years of genealogy research. Well, I had to paint that closet yesterday, and I decided it was time to get rid of the hoard. Everything, well just about everything, has been entered on the computer, and nobody in the family is really interested in taking over the collection....and I burned out on it a couple of years ago. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and drag out the trash can. I'm printing out complete books for the two grandchildren who do show a bit of interest in it, and I will retain all photos and copies of important documents, but I'm going to donate the hard back research books and everything else will be shredded and disposed of. It hurts....20 years of work looks like a lot on paper, not so much on a computer program.

I can do this. Yes, I can.

February 4, 2012 - The Man Room

I painted Mr. Granny's man room yesterday. It's kind of fun to look back at the changes, although this room really hasn't changed much since my last child flew the nest and gave over her bedroom to her Dad. It's been his room since the 90s.

In the 90s it was a bit girlie, but Mr. Granny didn't seem to mind.

Around 2006 I "manned it up" a bit with the green walls and the removal of the flowered curtains.

Yesterday the walls turned to a medium beige. So far the valance is staying, as it has beige and green stripes that match the chairs and walls. I'm contemplating its removal, and possible replacement with a brown window blind.

For years he's been complaining about the glare of the light through the window as he's trying to watch TV. I don't know why I didn't just rearrange the furniture to get the TV away from in front of that window. That was where the TV cable happened to come in, but it took me about 30 minutes to reroute it to this wall. Much better for TV viewing! Mr. Granny did, however, call me in from the kitchen to tell me the light from the window was reflecting on the TV and making a glare. Sheesh, I had to drop everything to close the blind for him! You'd think he could have done that himself :-(

The next project will be new carpet for this room. I think son John and I can manage to install it ourselves.

February 2, 2012 - Oh, The Possibilities

I'm definitely leaning toward the garden redo this spring. Barbie asked where the new beds would be in the garden plan I posted yesterday. I'm not planning on putting raised beds in the new area. I've opted for wide rows, intensively planted, instead. Rows that will be anywhere from 2' to 3' wide for easy reaching. I could easily make them up to 10' long. I had already made up my mind to do the same in the old (east) garden, but there the rows could only be 6' or 7' long (and a lot fewer rows). Here is a rough draft of what I could do.



The shaded area at the top left is where the "Kennel Garden" is now. The unused kennel would be moved, and repurposed as a rain/snow free shelter for the dogs next winter, with a tarp over the top, for a place to do their business right off the patio. Spoiled little things just cannot get used to rain and snow! I think the kennel will fit over the lettuce garden behind the shed when not in use. I hope so, I don't want to have to dismantle and then reconstruct it every year, and I don't want to have to mow in and around it all summer. I would use the entire 6' fence line (left, north side of garden) for climbing things, like morning glories, pole beans, cucumbers and peas. The two small plots in the shaded area would work for lettuce and spinach. I'd still have my garden bench in that corner, even though it's a dangerous place to sit when the squirrels start throwing walnuts at my head! The raspberries and strawberries would remain in their raised beds (all the rectangular beds on the left are raised beds). Squash will again be planted in the circle at the bottom left. That gives me room for a lot of 2'-3' wide beds in the new area, with 1'-2' paths between the wide rows. There would also be plenty of room to set a few pots of herbs and/or flowers.

I hope I can stay this excited about it when the hard work begins. The planning is the fun part!

February 1, 2012 - Should I or Shouldn't I?

I approached Mr. Granny with an idea, and he actually didn't fight me over it! What do you think......

This is a master garden plan of my existing "North" and "East" gardens, with the "Kennel Garden" joining the two at the corner. Pay no attention to what it shows planted in the beds, it's actually a plan of my 2009 garden, just pay attention to the spaces. The red line would be the new "North" garden boundary, and much of the "East" garden would be eliminated. This would add about 300 square feet of planting area, and sod removed for the expansion would be put over in the "East" garden. There's a lilac tree there that is a constant PITA with its suckers spreading through the garden. If it were back in lawn, the suckers would be mowed with the grass. I would eliminate the kennel, the welded wire fencing and the plastic mesh fencing, and put in a 3' high chain link fence with a gate wide enough to accommodate the garden cart.


Of course, I might change my mind, but if I go ahead with the plan it will have to be finished by mid-March. It might actually be better to work at it a bit at a time this year, with a finishing date set for spring 2013. I just hate to have the garden in bits and pieces between now and then, but it would be a lot easier on the gardener.


The monster shelves in my bedroom are no longer empty. Under the lights, I have some seedlings that have sprouted. The celery, tomatoes and lettuce are all up. Parsley, which is notoriously slow to germinate, is still a no show. The two containers on the right were planted with about 170 onion seeds yesterday, when my new seeds arrived from Mike the Gardener's Seeds of the Month Club.

Lettuce seedlings will grow under lights, it's way too early to plant anything outside. Of course, a few seeds were put outside in pots yesterday, 'cause there's always a slim chance the weather will cooperate!