Nothing Says “Independence” Like a Pumpkin

When life gives you pumpkins, you decorate.  No matter the holiday.  I suggested Jeff carve an inspirational portrait of an outstanding American, such as Toby Keith, for our table centerpiece.  Since we were short on time before our cookout began Jeff decided to keep it simple.  We can always carve Toby later when we scoop out the seeds for roasting.

Our sizable garden pumpkin patch was a spring surprise from our fall composting efforts.  We decided to let it go au naturel and ended up with a pumpkin for the 4th!  We think this is the next big decorating craze, so remember us when you too have a patriotic pumpkin in five years or so.

We celebrated the Fourth at the Farm with friends, food, and Jenga (wish I was kidding about the Jenga).

In honor of our friend Kyle returning to Abilene, we ate cake!

We love having reasons to celebrate.

I set the table outside, but it was so hot we ate inside instead.  Jeff and I led a focus group on where our fictional pool should be installed.  The group decided that the pool should go right next to our fictional outdoor kitchen for the ultimate Independence Day experience.  HGTV’d anyone?

Rufus vs. the Squirrel

Now I know that chasing squirrels is a right of passage for being a dog, but Rufus and his squirrelfriend have taken things to the next level.  Rufus has been staring into the trees and tree houses for weeks now, intently studying his new BFF.  Rufus has discovered his “mini-me.”

Before June, I am not sure that Rufus knew that squirrels existed even though our yard has been the social hot-spot long before the summer hit.  But now, after a month of prolonged romantic gazes, Rufus and Mini-Me have progressed to barking contests and playful chasing.  It’s like staring into a fun-house mirror for the two of them.

Rufus will do anything to get closer to his squirrelfriend, including sitting on top of shrubs to get just a little bit closer:

Our Lantana is less than impressed.

The deal was sealed on this new relationship when Rufus actually caught the squirrel yesterday.  Squirrelfriend jumped out of the pear tree and was dazed long enough for Rufus to put the whole squirrel in his mouth.  No big deal, he just wanted to see if his squirrelfriend would fit.  Rufus loves practical jokes.  So then he let her go and they continued the chase.

I think that is how dogs and squirrels become best friends forever.

Summer Solstice Celebration

We kicked off the solstice with a beautiful sunrise run (Jeff not included).  It was 70 degrees with just a gentle breeze.  Last night we had rain, so the dust had settled and I could breathe through my nose again.  Rufus ran through the puddles with his tongue hanging out so he could catch the water that splashed as we ran.

Tonight’s sunset made the air glow orange, which just happens to be my favorite color.  The clouds were spectacular.  We sat out front with our neighbors and watched the day end.

A very merry start to summer from the Farm!

Early June Harvest

This summer has already been a scorcher.  It’s been over 100 degrees every day this week.  Our young veggies don’t stand a chance!  Jeff has been diligently hand watering the garden every morning to combat the summer sun.

And I have been combating the weeds.  Since our garden is so well watered, we have inherited the weeds from the whole neighborhood.  They will regret their relocation though, these weeds, because I am an aggressive organic weed eliminator.  Watch out weeds, I am coming for you! (I spy Rufus the manager in the background).

After work every day Jeff goes straight to the garden and spends time checking on his plants.  This year’s summer crops (so far) include a pickling cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, popcorn, sweet corn, a variety of tomatoes and peppers, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, nasturtiums, dill, basil, cilantro, bush beans, and especially okra (Jeff’s favorite).

In our second year of vegetable gardening we are tweaking last year’s garden plan.  Instead of gardening in rows we are gardening in beds that are interplanted and layered with several types of flowers, herbs, and vegetables.  We have also tried to spread out the crops so that they aren’t all in the same place.  For instance, our tomatoes are planted in three different beds in the garden and are layered with cilantro, peppers, basil, and marigolds.  Planting like this is supposed to “trick” insects that can feast on a single crop.  Since we are not using any pesticides we are playing practical jokes instead.  Anyone else into bug trickery?  We will let you know how it turns out.

The other change we made was to use succession planting.  This will hopefully keep us from having 500 ears of corn in one week. Hopefully.  We are trying to stagger the planting of all of our vegetables so that we can have them well into the fall.  Last year we peaked in July when we had a huge vegetable eating party, and then our garden looked like a barren wasteland in August.  Let’s hope for the best into the fall.

So far we have enjoyed 4 zucchinis, 3 peppers, 1 cucumber, and a dozen tomatoes.  Success already!  Happy gardening!

The Great Divide Part 2

This is one last time to look back at the bathrooms before the split.  Pictured above is the sink/laundry room that led into the toilet/shower room.  I wanted to show you a few more pictures of the oldie moldy bathroom before I show you the sheer bliss that is the new “master bath.”  Here you go:

Notice the washer on the far right side.  This is where the toilet is now located.  Right behind the door is where the shower wall now resides, so most of the new bathroom pictures are taken from sitting on the toilet (party on!).  This first pic is from the doorway to give some comparison of the layout:

Ahhhh!  So fresh.  So many long hot showers have already happened in here!  You can gaze into the vegetable garden while you bathe (more on the garden soon).

We salvaged the toilet from the other bathroom and used it in this one.  The new fancy-pants toilet went in the other bath since you can see the toilet from the entryway if the bathroom door is open.  What’s more welcoming than seeing a new toilet as you walk in the front door?  The next two pictures are stitched together to make a bathroom panorama.  Our friend Paul parked it on the toilet to take the shots.  Thanks (aloft) Paul!

I have had trouble keeping posts updated because we have had the pleasure of having many many guests over the past few months.  Our new bathrooms have endured many flushes from family and friend visits.  I don’t know what we did before we had two toilets!  The only bathroom to-do left on my list is covering the windows somehow.  I don’t think the neighboring high school football team can spy us showering, but either way a curtain would be nice.

 

Saturday the Fourteenth

Saturday the Fourteenth: you really outdid yourself this time.  You proved to be exponentially more terrifying than Friday the Thirteenth.

While Rufus and I were painting one of our many sheds in the backyard, this guy (above) was stretching out on the fence trying to digest his lunch.  No sir!  Not in my yard!

As soon as I saw this five-foot beast, I went running for the back door.  Not to be outdone, Rufus ran inside with me.  We locked the doors (just in case the snake knew how to open the doors) and I checked the window locks too.  Whew!  Problem solved!  Except that there was still a giant bunny-eating beast in my front yard…

So I got out my camera and zoomed in on him from the front porch to see if I could identify what kind of snake he was.  But I don’t know anything about identifying snakes, so this was a wasted step.  Then I made some phone calls.  Normally I would just kill the beast with my bare hands, but seeing as this particular snake was my size and we had no witnesses aside from Rufus, it was decided that my neighbor Aaron was the man for the job.  As an added bonus, he brought his friend Tim.

TaDaa!  A snake free front yard.  Thanks guys for your valiant shoveling/hoeing efforts!  If anyone knows what kind of snake this is, let me know.

Also, stay tuned for an adorable post about our new kittens.  We don’t have any yet, but I think Jeff will finally agree that it is time.  I already have names picked out: Kingsley Zissou, and The Dude.

The Great Divide: Turning One Bathroom Into Two

Oh yeah baby!  Remember the brown and yellow bath we started with?  Blah!  I barely can recall these days now that I have two fresh and clean bathrooms to choose from.  They are so good I am breaking them into parts.  Each bathroom gets his own feature post.  Today’s feature bath is the guest bath, also known as the Devonshire Bath (named after our fancy-pants toilet).  Let us review the before:

Whew!  I am sorry I had to do that to you.  All that dingy, dark brown and yellow!  Moldy and oldie!  All of the plumbing remained in the same place for this room, we (Roger) just moved the door so it had a hallway entrance and added a sink.  Who wants to go to the bathroom in one room, touch the door knob to open the door, and then use the sink in the next room?  Not me!  I was wiping that handle down all the time.  Feast your eyes on the new bath:

The verdict is still out on whether or not we paint the medicine cabinet.  We can settle that argument  (I want to paint it, Jeff wants to leave it) reality-style if you cast your votes in the comment section.  Remember who writes the blog (and designs the bathrooms, for that matter) when you cast your vote!

The Great Divide Part Deux is coming soon!