Trying to grow a green thumb

This is my humble little greenhouse that Tom built for me.

I love it!

I have plans for this place.

Lots of plans - muuuuaaaahahahaha!

Take a peek inside.

I'm thinking it needs a little chandelier?

Maybe some 'sky blue' paint?

The green tub inserted in the counter is filled with my potting soil and is removable (per my request) so I can take it outside if I need to pot something outdoors.  Just one of the little perks I came up with.

A little extra light to speed things along - spring can be so finicky around here.  In these pots I'm growing cabbages, peppers (jalepeno and sweet), watermelon and cantaloupe.  They've had a nice start so we can plant them in the garden when it gets warm enough.

The south-facing windows with lots of sun exposure.

The light is wonderful in here, and it's so warm.

The red bin has Tom's corn that he insisted we start early.  I thought he was crazy, but everyone else around here thinks he's genius.  The plants on the lower shelf are some a friend started for us:  more peppers, cucumbers and zuccini.  The little pots on the sill are cilantro and basil.  We're hoping to get some of these put in the garden next weekend.  Maybe a little early, but we're thinking positive!

Elsewhere on the farm...

Shelvin and Spice taking a stroll around the pond.

Henry the fish.

He's the only goldfish that survived the winter in the pond.

He's a bit lonely - we'll have to see about getting him some friends.

Winston's after school time with his best friends.

Birthday Doubles!

It was Preston and Rachael's birthdays last week.

Here is how we celebrated both of their special days last weekend...

We had pizza for dinner and I baked a 'Zebra' cake (chocolate and vanilla because Rachael's favorite is chocolate and Preston's favorite is vanilla).  We put 41 candles on the cake for them to both blow out together. (Preston turned 21, Rachael turned 20).

Then they opened their presents!

Preston and Rachael,

Thanks for being such great kids

and for sharing your birthdays with us!

Then on Preston's 'real' birthday it was one of those crazy busy days that I previously wrote about, so he had to make do with a store-bought carrot cake.  It was still pretty good.

I still can't believe he's 21!

Funninz with Cuzinnz

Over Spring Break we had a visit from our northern Chickies.  It was a great cousin time together.  Then they took Winston to stay with them for a few days.  While they were here we went to a local park to have a picnic and soak in some sunshine.

Winston, Lilie and Vi, trying to keep balance

Hazel and Winston playing at the hobbit-hole

Elsie does some light construction

Clara and Vi getting some swingtime in with Mom.

I love the look of sheer joy on their little faces!

Hazel and Winston playing in the sand

While they were here my skunk lilies were growing but not blooming yet.  Rachel asked me what they looked like when they bloomed.  This isn't the best picture but, Rachel, this is what they look like.  I kind of like them because they're different.  The only bad thing about them is that sometimes they do smell like a skunk.  But they only last a couple of weeks and then they die back, so we tolerate the smell for the short time we have them.

Have a great week, Y'all!

WHEW!

Been crazy busy with work lately and haven't had much time for posting.  Been working with Winston on preparing for his MSP tests that are coming up.  Preston and Keaton are busily getting ready for the end of the school year exams too.  We had Preston's 21st Birthday, which we celebrated on Saturday with Rachael.  Her birthday is the day before Preston's, so we had a dual party.  Tom's been very busy too - a week-long trip to Seattle the end of last month.  Since then, he's got the plumbing done in the barn and built a greenhouse for me!  I'm hoping things will slow down in the next week so I can actually post some pictures of all these crazy busy things we've been doing!

That's it in a nutshell... have a great day!

Winston's new desk

Last week, during the early part of Spring Break, Winston and I went thrift shopping.  He loves to go thrift shopping.  He's been on the lookout for a desk that he could have in his room.  On this shopping trip we found one for  $14.  He's was happy as pie about it!

It was pretty rough all the way around.  This picture actually looks pretty good.  It looked a lot worse in real life.  We decided to spray paint it to hopefully make it look better.

 

I think it did the trick!

 

Watch Out!

Spring Break

Loose-leaf English Afternoon Tea - with a bit of lemongrass added.

Add a little bit of ice and this will keep me going today.

Thanks for the tea, Melyni!

We had a visit from our Chickies from the north yesterday, and Winston got to go home with them for the rest of spring break - lucky dog!  I'm sure he's having a blast with his cousins.

Thanks for the invite, Rachel!

This is what I'm supposed to be doing with my spring break...

...working on the chicken run.

But it looks like rain today, so I guess I'll clean my house instead.

The reason for so much industriousness on the chickens is that Shelvin the rooster has been very naughty.

Something has been getting into their pen and leaving holes in the fence, in which Shelvin and Spice keep sneaking out.  Then when we walk anywhere near their coop, Shelvin defends his territory.  He took a chunk out of poor Rachael the other day.  Not a good thing, especially when we often have little cousins running around.  So I'm re-engineering their run.

Things are starting to green up around here.  The wheatfields are all getting that spring green, and the trees are budding.  Our apricot trees are blooming, but won't produce fruit because we'll still have a freeze or two before things really get warmed up.

My flowers are starting to pop out too!

(Big Smiley Face!)

Tom put in a lot of work on the raspberries the past couple of weekends.

He's been clearing out the rows and stringing them up so we can get to them when they produce fruit - instead of having to hack our way into the jungle.  Tom's done a great job and they look awesome!

He doesn't look too bad either, in my opinion!

In other news - we got the deer fence up around the garden.

It doesn't look like much from this angle, but that's a six-foot tall fence.  Hopefully it will work and we won't have to sacrifice our produce to the long-legged rabbits.  (Speaking of which, we haven't seen Hope for over a week now.  We think with all the wheat coming up, she's enjoying the free food and maybe even made some friends.  Maybe she'll show up again this fall.)

That's it in a nutshell...

...now where did I put my broom?

Since Easters!

The Moores

Easter Sunday 2013

We had a nice quiet Easter weekend.  Tom spent the last week in Seattle on college business, and flew back home at about midnight Friday night.  He was pretty tired and glad to be home, so we just puttered around the place for the weekend.  Rachael came to spend the holiday with us, and we enjoyed her company.  Winston wanted to color eggs, so Rachael helped him out with that.

Being creative

Preston and Rachael with some of the finished product

Rachael did some cooking and baking for us.  It was all yummy!

She and Preston made meatloaf for dinner one night

And she made cookies!

 Easter morning...

All the goodies!

(I did real good and didn't even eat a one of these tempting treats!

Although it wasn't easy)

Keaton, perusing his 'Avengers' comic book

Are you awake yet Winston?

Then we had family pictures...

This is my favorite one of Preston and Rachael.  It's not Preston's favorite because his tie is crooked.  If you want to see Preston's favorite, you'll have to go to facebook.

All dude-ed up!

 (Winston calls this his 'cartoon' smile)

This is just plain crazy

Mom & Pops

Winston's great adventure egg hunt

On your mark, get set...  GO!

This one we shall call Herbbie

There's an egg around here somewhere?

Are you jokin' me?

All accounted for - minus one.

We'll let Daisy Dog figure out where that one was hidden.

We couldn't find it.

Happy Easter!