I suck

I have been doing some blog strolling. I was getting mad because no one is updating their blogs anymore. Then I realized I have a blog. My blog hasn't been updated in over 1 year. Lame.

Summertime Malaise

I had to beat it. I had way to much time on my hands and absolutely no will to do something creative. So I took a second job. I am officially an afternoon dog walker! It’s pretty cool. I go to people's homes and take their dogs for walks while they are at work. Big dogs, little dogs, nice dogs, grumpy dogs (just one)…it’s fun and great exercise. I walk three bull dogs that give my arms a nice workout along with my legs. Best of all, it gets me out of the house and out of my head for a while. If only I could walk around with an artificial cloud. Summer in San Diego does absolutely nothing for me anymore. I'm sick of the sun. It's hot and makes me sweat. But the dogs are great.

The backyard is about the same. I did notice this little shroom showed up for a day. I don’t think the gnome liked it. Look at his face in this photo, he is giving it the evil eye. He killed it, it know it!

My Budget Cabana

I’ve spent a lot of time relaxing & reading on this swing latey. It is great except that around 4pm the umbrella is useless. That is usually the time I want to be out there so I have “installed” curtains to block out the sun in the afternoons. Gotta love Ikea and their cheapo $20 curtain sets. I think it turned out cute. The dogs like it too.

Back from Vacation!

We had an amazing time during our 2 week trip up the coast. We borrowed my aunts T@B trailer and headed to Portland Oregon. T@B campers are super rad, we need to get one of these for ourselves. We camped up and down the coast stopping at Morro Bay, Half Moon Bay, Redwood Forest, Port Orford (great fish tacos), Santa Cruz & a couple other places I know I’m forgetting at the moment.

Portland was fabulous. Our gracious hosts Nancy & Matt showed us around town. It's a very cool place! Portland is very high on the list when we decide to move somewhere else.

Here is a shot of our campsite in the Redwood forest. I’m not sure where Don is but perhaps you can find Elvis in the photo… Hint, he isn't very fond of nature.

The backyard is coming along. I decided on English Ivy under the hammock. It needs to grow in but it is supposed to be very hardy so hopefully I won’t kill it. Actually, Linus is the Ivy’s enemy right now. He has already dug up 2 of the patches I planted. I replanted both of them but only one survived. He is now on notice!




The pond is doing better now that the raccoons have stopped coming by. There are only a few tiny fish left but the plants are coming back.




Here are my orchids, I’m very proud of them. The two in the front are doing extremely well. I have already cut off 6 stems to give away. I confiscated the three in the back from my parents house since it is too hot for the orchids at their house. All 5 plants belong to Grandpa so I am doing my best to keep them alive. The climate at Grandpas old house is just like ours here so I think they should be here. : )




Here is the swing that I bought. I think it was a good buy. Perfect for afternoon naps; especially if you have jetlag like Don here.



Here is my tiny fern, someday it will be big and strong.



And here is the next area I will tackle. This will be a potting area with a small shed for tools.




Still much to do….

I don’t want to let another summer go by without being able to enjoy our petite backyard. Ultimately I would like to put up a new fence, move the pond, rebuild the deck & basically redo the whole darn thing… But that’s not going to happen so now I’m working on new low cost plans. I have bagged up 7 full size bags of leaves & poo so far. This week I’m going to concentrate on this area. Here it is yesterday.



And here it is today minus leaves & dog poo, plus a hammock. It’s a really peaceful spot for the hammock. I want to put some sort of moss or shade tolerant ground cover all around the hammock and some ferns at each end. There will be stepping stones to get to the hammock. I’m reading up on what sort of plants grow here but haven’t been able to find any of them at the nursery or Home Depot. I’ll try again tomorrow.




Next I need to clean up the side of the house. It looks like our neighbors have been dumping their trash bags on the side of our house. Classy, eh? Ugh….I realize this neighborhood was kinda ghetto before all of us DINKS moved in but that’s still tacky. Oh well, that’s why I’m creating a little sanctuary in the backyard.

Turtle Race!

In an effort to bring awareness to the endangered Leatherback Turtle, a turtle “race” is beginning from their feeding grounds in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands. I’m betting Champiro is going to win! She is clearly motivated to help save her species. She has nested 12 times this season! She’s one of the largest as well!
You go girl!

Here is a link. It is a 2 week race starting April 16th

www.greatturtlerace.com

More info on the leatherback

www.leatherback.org

Our turtles will be snacking on food pellets while they wait for the results. Should we ever have a race here at home, I bet Mud Turtle would win. No one would see him during the race, he would just magically appear at the end. With only his 3 little legs, Craig would come in 2nd. Big Momma & Sick Turtle (who is no longer sick) would be the last two only because they are afraid to pass up Craig (he bites).

PSA

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Don’t order from thepubshoppe.com

The company seems to be run from the inside of a barrel of monkeys (ordered 6 items, sent me 5, 4 were the wrong item). I returned them but now they are trying to hang on to my shipping money. I’ve already contacted my CC company on principle. Add lack of response to emails & rookie spelling errors on their invoice and you have a bad company to deal with.

Update...the bank forced this guy to give me back my money. I bet they charged him a chargback fee of about $20 for the pleasure. What a maroon...

No Gnews is good Gnews

I really don’t have much to blog about lately. All is well. The dogs are happy & the pond is recovering from hibernation & various raccoon attacks. I was amazed to see that the frog is still living in the pond. I want to get a few more tadpoles so he will have company. We are about to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, it’s been a good year!