Too busy to blog!

I have officially not blogged in over a month... pretty pitiful! Tons have been going on, I have just been busy, enjoying outside more than inside (i.e. posting on the blog), and have been travelling a bunch. Seriously I think I have been gone 3-4 days out of the week for the past several weeks. Combine that with the sun going down at 8:30, we typically don't come in until sunset. This results is late nights and short weeks. I am looking forward to spending time with friends and weekends at home. That being said, there has been lots to keep me busy lately.

Some of the highlights of the past month have included:

1. My sweet and smart sister graduated from Texas A&M. Whoop! I am so proud of her.

2. We have found 4, yes FOUR, snakes outside of our house. My resident snake expert (my cousin Jason) says they are harmless water snakes but I am not a fan of ANY kind of snake. They have all been disposed of property. They have all been about the size of an unused pencil and their tail is red on the underside. The scary thing is I have not seen one of these snakes until Joe has pointed them out and they all all is areas that I regularly walk around (outside the front door, my flower bed, under my old red metal chair and just inside the garage). I am working on improving my attention to detail. Joe is looking for a outside cat we could have to keep these nasty critters away.

3. Joe built me 2 big shelves in my laundry room. I needed more pantry/kitchen storage space so Joe added some big shelves above my washer/dryer for kitchen electronics, big platters, and canned goods (to accommodate my couponing habit). This fulfills that need nicely and I am loving the additional space that I have in my regular cabinets.

One shelf down, (err, up), one to go!

4. I have tried canning. My incredibly generous aunt Marilyn is a great gardener and on one of my trips to Brenham, she gave me a giant box filled with tomatoes and a cooler filled with other fresh veggies from her garden. In order to keep these from spoiling, I canned fresh tomatoes and homemade salsa. The tomatoes were relatively easy but a bit more watery than I expected. The salsa tasted great but after working on it for about 3-4 hours, I only got 4.5 cans of salsa. It was definitely not a good investment in terms of time but totally worth it for the experience. I would eventually like to can pasta sauce with some of my fresh basil but that will have to wait. Also, my Aunt Gay Nell said should would have me over to can pickles. I am pretty excited about it.

Box full of tomatoes awaiting their fate

Canned tomatoes

5. Joe and I have been talking a lot about creating an outdoor living area. We have spent a lot of time planning/brainstorming where things could go and what would look best. Will update you with how this progresses over the months to come.

The outdoor area will be at the back of the house around the covered porch

6. I got a Cricut! I am super excited about it even thought i haven't really used it yet... but I will!

7. One of my chickens mysteriously died. In preparation for Aprilfest this year we started building a big bonfire with tree and shrub branches. Due to the burn ban, the bonfire hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, we noticed that the dogs moved the branches around to make a tunnel going through the pile. During the day the dogs lay in here, their dog house, or in their kiddie pool. When the dogs aren't in their tunnel the chickens take it over. When I got home this past weekend Joe said something must have died in the pile because it was stinking. I jokingly said it was a chicken. Sadly, I found I was correct when I went to count my chickens and found one missing. We shortly spotted the chicken in the pile and got it out. When examining it, it was obvious it had been dead for a couple days but it showed no outward signs of injury. Not sure what happened but maybe a snake bit it? Any ideas?

RIP (the chicken, not the dog)

The bonfire now has tunnels through it and is the (literally) cool hang out spot for my dogs and chickens. This is where we found the dead chicken.

7. We (mainly Joe) have completely re-done our rabbit area. Due to the heat, we have expanded the covering over the rabbit area, installed fans and a misting system in an attempt to keep the rabbits cooler. This seems to be working but it was a LONG processes.

When its in writing it really does not seem like much but it really has been. My sister is getting married in July and that should cut done on some of my traveling (I've been in Brenham a bunch for her showers bachelorette party). I am hoping things will slow down, but honestly, who knows.

New flower bed!

After my wedding I had a left over metal box spring, some small wooden fence pickets and plants that needed a new home. A new flower bed was in my future.

I planned to put it essentially where the metal flowers are in this picture (I (I as in Joe) moved the metal flowers to the opposite side of the gate).

The box spring came from an old business/house that was being torn down. The owner said I could take anything I wanted and I fell in love when I found this cool piece. At the wedding, it leaned against a tree and was used to hold some of the rose petal cones

The fence pickets came from a garage sale. My wonderful Uncle Carson painted and made the pickets stand up on their own. They were on the stage in Welcome Hall. I took apart the fence pieces, added some metal stakes to them and used them to surround the flower bed.

I then placed the box spring against a T-post (and connected it to the fence with wire), and planted a $3 Lowes clearance Jasmine vine in front of it. With a azela on both sides, society garlic in the front, some small clearance plants and mulch, the bed was almost complete but missing... something.
This bird bath was the missing piece. I got this at an estate sale a year ago and it had been sitting by my garden, in my "need to do something with it" section. A bit of paint later and it was the perfect addition to my new flower bed. Its amazing what some paint can do to something!
I am really loving how the bed turned out and can totally envision the plants grown up and blooming in it. I am especially happy I was able to repurpose some goodies from my wedding to make this bed complete. What type of things have you repurposed and put in your flower beds?

String Around Your Finger :: Roses

Its time to prune your roses!



Its easy to remember the time of year to prune because its always around valentines day. I knew this week and next is going to be SUPER busy so I pruned a week early. Nevertheless, please let this post serve as your string around the finger reminder to prune your roses this week.

There are tons of videos to show you how to if you are uncertain or just need a confidence booster. Here is one that its really popular:



The main thing I got from the videos I watched was reassurance that I really can't kill the rose bush and the reminder that they need to be cut WAY back.

Now that my roses are done I need to get on the next garden task, which is... you tell me! What should I be doing in the garden/yard this time of year?

Happy pruning!

Passed Along Plants - Thank You!

If you have spent very much time with me you know that I love good deals, buying things cheap, and most of all, free stuff. I go to garage sales, I coupon regularly, and I happily and thankfully accept passed along items from my mom... grandma... and others....

The plants in my yard are no exception to this rule. When I first moved into the house I eagerly accepted plants from friends and family. Some have withered away but others have thrived. One thing I did not expect with these passed along plants is the happiness and memories that they bring me. These plants are so much more meaningful to me because they did not come from Home Depot and cost me $4.39 a pot. They absorbed the character of their previous home and remind me of their past owners/stories when I water/prune/weed around them.

This post is in honor and thanks to those of you who have shared with me these green vessels of life. At one point you dug a hole for them, planted them, and showered them with love. Then you decided it had gotten to big, you had to many, or you just wanted to share and you dug it out, repotted it, and passed it along to me. I thank you. There is no way I would have bought the variety of plants that I have today from Lowes.

My very first passed along plants came thanks to Hurricane Ike and Joe and his dad. In Joe's parent's neighborhood, 2 young trees were uprooted from the neighbors yard. With their (the neighbors) okay, Joe's dad loaded them up along and headed north to Conroe. At least 2 weeks before I moved in, before the water was turned on, and final papers were signed on the house I had my first two trees. One died, the other has survived to become the funny shaped tree. I cut the other tree down, attached a birdhouse to it and it became home to baby birds. I am thankful.

A couple months after moving in, my mailman told me about someone on his route that was completely redoing their yard. I got the lady's phone number and made plans to help pull out plants the following weekend. I got monkey grass, elephant ears, firebush, some shrubs, and more. Today the firebush is very popular with butterflies and hummingbirds. Speaking of the mailman, Stephen, he gave me a truckload of monkey grass, baby herbs, a tree, and little magnolia plant. Best mailman ever? I think so!

My aunt Marilyn gave me a beautiful rose bush (which by the way is the best looking thing in the yard in the springtime) and some bulbs. I love them! She also helped me pull some plants out of Kristin's yard when Kristin first moved in (Kristin gave us the ok). Marilyn's thoughtfulness is on display in each flowerbed around the house.

Dorothy Maurer gave me some bulbs the same day I picked up my baby rabbits from Doug Maurer. They are a very generous family indeed. My uncle Jimmy sent me some 1 foot tall oaks that were sprouting in his yard. All but one died but the one that lived is not taller than me! (also is this picture is the cut down tree with the bird house and the firebush).

Joe's dad pulled me a flowering vine that has truly exploded. The purple flowers look really cool too... Thank you!

Finally, my mom constantly gives me plants that have really made a huge difference in my flower beds. I love the variety I have gotten from her. Everytime I go home (to Brenham) I take a walk around the house to see what new plants can take a bit of. Thanks Mom, I love you!

There are 3 points to this story. The first is to thank you for sharing your plants with me. I love them, and I think of and appreciate you as I water them and await their blooms. The other is if you have blooms to spare I will gladly make a home for them in my yard! And finally, if you have plants to share with others share them. This passing along of a little piece of you is a gift that keeps giving and it lasts longer than the jelly of the month club.

Arbor Day Came Through!

Recently, I got to enjoy my Arbor Day trees in a very tasty way. My peach tree produced some running down the chin juicy fruit. I got exactly 7 yummy peaches.

This is quite amazing to me because it was only a year and a half ago that I scoffed at the twigs that came in the mail when I ordered trees from Arbor Day. While my complete tree order did not survive, this tree makes the entire purchase worth it.

I did not take this picture but the trees I ordered looked exactly like this one when they came in the mail. Pretty rough right???

In fall 2009, the tree was barely taller than my 3ft garden fence (you can kind of see it behind the tub with herbs in it here) .

This spring I got pretty peach blossoms.

Almost there....

And the most lovely of all, ripe peaches!

And I must give credit to another Arbor Day tree - a red maple that is growing REALLY fast! This was one of the free trees that they sent. Its already over 6 feet tall!

Now Enjoying Christmas Goodies

This weeks beautiful weather combined with my garage filled with Christmas gifts meant for the great outdoors prompted me to get some work done in the yard. I was able to clear the grass along the side of my house (for those of you who have been here, its the side you see when you drive up to my house). I created a new flower bed and hauled in some good dirt because the ground is all horrible clay over there. Last year a friend gave me a ton of monkey grass - so much that I ended up dumping some near the creek at the house. About 2 weeks ago I was really happy to see that the monkey grass made it so I pulled some of that up and planted it along the edge of the new flower bed. I also planted a new Encore Azalia and Camilia plant. I am excited to have this new space to grow things and hope it turns out somewhat in line with what I am envisioning.

The most exciting part of this process was putting out all the fun yard goodies I got as Christmas gifts this year. My sister in law Jamie Hafner (http://snoconesandsunshine.blogspot.com) and her dad made me an awesome bottle tree. I absolutely love this - not only because of how cute it looks but its a great excuse to drink more wine (I have to fill up the tree after all!)!

I will always remember my Granny's cement hen and chicks she had in front of her house. My aunt Marilyn gives Granny's hens and chicks a home today, but I have always wanted some of my own. My parents found me some this year and surprised me with it at Christmas. What a great gift! My version consist of a rooster and 3 hens and they have found a home in front of my garden (hopefully these will be the only chickens near my garden this year!).

My cousin Kristin (http://krenekklan.blogspot.com) and Aunt Marilyn completely look care of my yard this year with all sorts of fun goodies. These little guys are made up of re-purposed tools and are just too cute.

I fell in love with this flower at this past years Nutcracker. My aunt Marilyn took notice and surprised me with it for my yard. I love it!