Year: 2009

A Day in the Life

I’m dreaming of a white… OCTOBER?

Keira
Wait, it’s not supposed to snow the first week of October. Doesnt it know it’s supposed to be beautiful until October 30th, so we’re all excited thinking this year we wont have to freeze going trick-or-treating, just to be disapointed the night before? It’s tradition!
I started watching conference at my house, on my computer. But my computer’s old. And it didnt like the streaming video. And although I have a tv, it’s downstairs, and it doesnt get any reception down there. (I REALLY HATE that there’s no spell check on the new layout. I’m really tempted to go back to the old post-thing just for that. I could type my posts in Microsoft Word, but that’s so much work. So y’all are just going to have to deal with the fact that my spelling’s getting worse and worse.) Anyway, no conference downstairs. And a pain to watch on my outdated computer. So, Saturday night, I went to my grandma & grandpa’s house. And stayed there ’til monday morning. And lo an behold, monday morning, I wake up and look out her window. And HOLY COW! For those of you who don’t know my where my grandparents live, they have the PERFECT view of the Tetons outside their kitchen window. Artists have set up shop in their yard, just to capture the perfect view. But … well look for yourself…

What happened to the Tetons? They’ve vanished! And although the Tetons have disapeared, this pic doesnt do the snow justice. Check out my car!
 
 About 6 inches. And this was 8 in the morning! And it was still snowing. By the time we left at 11, it was completely covered again.  That’s my dear ol’ Grandpa. I think he’s having fun. We got B all bundled up to go out to “help” and he just laughed.
It’s kind of an irony having Grandma’s cacti in the foreground…
And of course, with this much snow (and it being fairly wet), you just have to make a snowman! So, we’d like to introduce B’s first ever snowman. ‘cept she’s a woman. see the long hair? (it’s a small garbage bag)

She’s got little marmalade sample bottle lids for eyes, and the marmalade bottle for a nose (afterwards, Grandpa pulled out carrots we could have used. oh well) And what else would you use as suprize snow snowman arms? Corn stalks left in the garden, of course!

B wanted to make more (of course! there’s a whole yard full of snow. What else would you do?) but I had to get home so I could get back to work.

The snow didnt want to roll into balls. It was a little too powdery for that. So we had to use the piling method. WE made a mound and then just kept building it up. we tried to make a ball for the head, and man, it took work! But for a first snowman, er, woman, it’s not bad!
I was smart enough to make B bring a coat, but I didnt think she’d need gloves! It wasnt supposed to snow. And of course, when it snows you have to play in it! So these are some of “Great Grandma’s” gloves. They didnt want to stay on. But with the excitement of the first snow, B didn’t care!
A Day in the Life

my poor, poor garden

Keira

So, remember this post? (about my garden). Ever wonder how it went? Well… let’s just say I’m not really that good at growing things. Well, I take that back. I grow things, but it’s usually on accident. Somehow things grow, even with my negligence. For instance, I have a plant in my kitchen that probably only gets watered once a month… but it’s still alive. perhaps not thriving (because I don’t think it’s really growing) but it’s green. And it looks healthy. And it’s not just plants. When I was 14, we had this fish. There wasn’t anywhere to put it in our house, so I got to keep it in my room. And I was in charge of feeding it. Poor thing. I meant to, I swear. I wasn’t negligent on purpose! But that fish only got fed about once a week. And the thing lived! for a whole year. And then we moved and it (“mysteriously”) didn’t follow us. I did feed the cats, though. Didn’t neglect them. … and they died. hm…. I’m starting to worry about my sweet child…

Anyway, better get back to my garden… like I say, I didn’t do to well with it. But I knew I’d be busy this summer, and I didn’t have any high hopes for it, because, lets face it, I was proud of myself just for PLANTING it! I didn’t think anything would actually GROW!

But it did, and I showed off my pics. And then the peas were ripe for picking right as I headed up home for Jake and Sarah’s (My bro and now-sis) wedding. So they didn’t get picked. And same with the Green beans. I picked ’em when we got back, but they were all over-ripe, hard, and wrinkly. Mom calls ’em grandpas, but they were more like great-grandpas. So, no peas, and about a serving of green beans were salvageable. We had TONS of lettuce. TONS. Problem was, we also had TONS of nasty disgusting earwigs IN the lettuce (the lettuce was fine, just washed REALLY well. And the earwigs met their demise. As for beets and carrots?

This is it. The biggest carrot’s about 3 1/2 inches. (there are more carrots than what shows up, they’re just on the bottom.) And the biggest beet’s about 2″ in diameter. Maybe 3. And this is our ONE squash. It’s supposed to be a summer squash, I think, but I just barely picked it. It’s tiny. OK, not bad. Normal, even. But Compared to the HONKIN’ zucchini and squash I’ve been given, it looks kinda pitiful.

The cucumbers never grew. The bugs ate the starts, and they never grew after that. And the peppers never even sprouted. Neither did the onions. Probably too cold. Or not enough sunshine. And the radishes grew… they just went to seed before they ever got bulbs.

Here are our pumpkins. They’re still green. But It’s freezing now, so we’ve decided to let them ripen in our house. The one didn’t like it’s stem… oops.

as for our tomatoes? well, they’re still on the vine. I’ve been covering them every night. I should probably just pick them and let them ripen in the house, too. but they’re all still green. Mom says pull the whole plant up and bring them in to let them ripen, but I’m leary of that… I’m sure she’s right, I just don’t want to.
so my notes to self: next year, plant sooner. And actually WATER the garden! (I’m a genius. To think, it took a whole summer to come up with that…) And if I have a wedding, either pick the garden BEFOREHAND or have someone else pick it for me. And I’m not starting my tomatoes outside. I’m gonna either start ’em in the house, or buy the starts. And probably the same for the peppers. And I’m not gonna plant so much lettuce. maybe more beats, instead. because I didnt even have enough to bottle. Course, if they GREW, maybe there would have been enough… Also, I liked the Ruby Queen beets over the Detroit Dark Red, because they actually bulbed, instead of staying like straight sticks. I liked the combo of both lettuces together, so I’ll still plant both of them next year.
Oh, and next year, don’t let the Priests mow over my rhubarb. That’s on the list, too. ;c)
A Day in the Life

Pioneer Day

Keira
I love being in places that embrace their heritage! not many places celebrate Pioneer Day. For those who don’t know Pioneer Day is a memorial occasion of when the pioneers (finally) made it to their destination in the dear old west: Salt Lake City. It’s celebrated most often by simple, kid-filled parades, “western” food and fun, and the occasional cotton dress and bonnet. Our Parade was lots earlier, and we didn’t go to it, but the rest is right on. Although the western food this time consisted of a sandwich, a brownie, a bag of chips, and an apple. (come to think of it, I put my apple in the car to eat later and never took it out …I bet it’s still in there… somewhere … baked apple, anyone? Now I KNOW you’re all dying to ride with me some place, aren’t ya?)

 

We rode horses, we ate dinner, we played in the de-fished water (they let the kids “catch” real fish in a little pool made by tarps and hay bails. Needless to say, I DIDN’T want a fish. But once the fish were all gone, we let B. and her friends play) I have pics but I haven’t asked their mommy for permission to put their cute faces online yet.

And then Mommy had to go work, so we had to go…

B. had a great time, and is STILL telling anyone who will listen that she rode “the little horses, but not the big ones, because they were too big. but I rode the little ones.” (except repeat that line of thought 4 more times…)

A Day in the Life

Mary, Mary

Keira

I am so proud of this little patch of earth. This is my first year growing a garden. The first year I was married, I was in an apartment. Then I was VERY prego, Then …well, I picked out the spot, but it never got tilled. Then the next year, I bought the seeds, but it never got tilled. And this year? There was no other person to till it and wait on to get it tilled, so I did it myself. With a shovel. For 2 days. I figured if I asked someone if they had a tiller, they either wouldn’t, or I’d still be waiting. So it was worth it. And I got a nice tan… for about a day afterwards, darn fair complexion!

We were kind of late in planting it (had to find a day it wasn’t freezing and it wasn’t raining. There weren’t that many days like that), but we got it in on memorial day weekend, which is the end of the recommended planting season. And don’t pay attention to the patch of weeds to the right. I planted my garden in the “weed patch”. It means for more weeding, but at least I’m using the space, and I’m not wasting yard space.

I’ve got beans and tomatoes in this front patch (the pic right above these words), with peppers (if they ever decide to pop up, they still don’t show yet, so there probably ISN’T peppers), pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash behind them. (with a small onion patch behind them, but they havent come up yet, so maybe I dont get onions either.) the pumpkins are doing WELL, but the bugs got to the cucumbers, so I don’t know if they’ll survive (speaking of bugs, they apparently LOVE my beans, beets, and radishes. I was going to grow it all “organic” but I just couldn’t do it. or I would have NOTHING. I figured non-organic was better than non-existent.) Then I have a row of beets, then lettuce, then more beets, then radishes (if there are any left) and carrots, and then 4 rows of peas (since they’re B’s favorite. but by the time we get any, she’ll be so sick of her Grandpa’s peas, she probably wont eat them. Grandpa is getting LOADS and LOADS of peas.) Don’t tell “the man” but my pea supports are his garage light covers… they work beautifully, and if he doesn’t come back, I doubt he’ll want them. But if he does come back, I might get into trouble…

B’s favorite part of the garden? Her “flowers.” The Dandelions  Mom lets her pick them whenever she wants! How fun is that? ;c)