Well, dang

Something is in the air, or the teeth as it were. Poor Alice at Living the Rural Dream is temporarily grounded from her travels due to dental woes, and my friend Karen who was the "dear old friend" I mentioned in the last post never made it to visit me in Columbus due to...you guessed it, a bad tooth! I really missed seeing Karen, but I made hay in the city while I could, visiting my cute little grandbabies and having that cappuccino with my funny, sweet son. And yes, I made it to a thrift store and scored a couple of summer shirts, the best being an Ann Taylor Loft thingy for a buck fifty. I'll be fancy on the porch this summer after the work is all done for the day : )

Big strong husband has been working hard on the garden.

I helped him put the wire fence up before I left. Ain't no deer getting in our garden, man. The thing is over my head. We could only get it about six inches into the ground due to the hardness of the clay. At first I had wanted it sunk about a foot. The best laid plans, though, change when you hit the stupendous clay base around here. It makes you say, "Aw, &^*k it! That's good enough!" If any groundhogs make a go for it, I'll just shoot 'em. (only kidding.) Maggie at Mamma What The might be shaking her head at the relative permanence of the fence, since she advised me otherwise. However, I have felt it smart to let John do what he wants with this project, given that he's doing it. Not to mention that I'm kind of losing confidence that I will be able to grow much of anything around here except my pampered house plants. I planted up some nice containers last week with annuals that I bought from the FPC plant sale and do you know what? They FROZE in the FROST we had out here last week.

You would think I would know by now that it is a good ten degrees cooler out here in the country than it is in the city. I have felt the truth of it many times. Even the hottest summer days cool off to the point where you want a long sleeve blouse maybe to cover your arms if sitting on the porch after the sun's gone down. I guess I was just feeling entitled to frost-free nights given that we passed the Mother's Day mark. And if I had planted those pots in the city, I bet the coleus would still be perky and the tomato plants a beautiful dark green. Alas, they are looking pretty bad right now. Several tomato plants are goners. I pinched back the coleus and I think they might rally.

Anyway. I'm going to direct-seed most of the things I want to grow in the garden this year, simply because if I bought everything in plant form I would have to take out a small loan, and we all know how that's going these days. I sure hope it works. Next year, when I am sure that the garden is there, I can start the seeds early. This year, it's a wing and a prayer. Keeps life exciting, huh?

In the meantime, check out the Japanese iris (planted by the previous owner, and they need to be thinned) growing next to the old red barn. The color combination knocks me out. You can't get that red from a paint can. And the purple, well...