Red Handed Bleeping Thief

I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was stressed out over school and was just remembering things wrong. A week or so ago, I noticed that one tomato in particular was about ready to be picked. I left it on the vine and when I went back out the next day to pick it, I couldn't find it. In fact, all of my plants looked like they had less fruit on them. But surely not. I figured I just must be remembering wrong about how many were there the day before. Yesterday I went out to check on it, and saw a pepper and a tomato on the ground, with one bite out of them. Rabbits I wondered or squirrels? Both are highly populated in our neighborhood. Anyway, I didn't worry about it too terribly much because I figured they must have taken a bite and not liked it, since there was just one place with teeth marks, and the fruit was left behind. Then tonight I went to check on the garden and it's starting to become a depressing place for me. I have gotten to pick one of each plant that I planted, which means one bell pepper, which we all know was quite sad looking, one tomato, which was quite small, and one jalapeno, which was also small. So anyway, this afternoon I was bumming out in my garden wondering if ever I will get to pick the fruit, and thinking "Gosh, I'm either going crazy, or it still looks like there are less tomatoes out here than even a couple days ago..." Whatever, on with my day. Eventually, the dogs want to go out, so I open the backdoor and what to my wondering eyes would appear, but a squirrel running from my garden into the tree, and lo and behold what's in his hands?!?!?!? A pretty green tomato...sniff sniff..... Jesse got hard proof.

That's right, Mr. Squirrel, you better run.

One Down, Two to Go

Okay, Sociology final is done and tomorrow I have my last two exams. I think I will be about fifty pounds lighter tomorrow evening. This semester has been cruel and I am eagerly anticipating it's end. (I think Jesse is too.)

On a happier note, Jesse finally got accepted into BBBS. There were all kinds of issues with getting his work reference and voicemail mix ups and things like that. So, now that it's all cleared up, that means we can finally start the matching process. I had nearly given up that we would ever even do it since the application process became so drawn out. Now that things actually seem like they are back on track though, I am excited to get going again.

Just Can't Win

Okay, so last night I weeded the garden and cut off some leaves of the tomato plants that I think had a fungus. It has been so hot and humid, I think one plant in particular got some funky junk. Anyway, after the pruning and the weeding, things were looking good. But those dang ants - I have had this ant problem for a couple weeks. I was researching all these ways to get rid of them, and trying my best to have mercy on them, but when I saw them crawling up one of my plants, it was go time. I chose the seemingly least cruel way to get rid of them - poison with Borax. (Although I admit I did still feel guilty sprinkling it down.) Anyway, now the ants aren't the problem, well, actually they still are, because I just sprinkled it down like fifteen minutes ago...but the utmost of problems right now is the Borax. Apparently, it kills plants!! I didn't know this! Why would people tell you to sprinkle it down to protect plants?! Apparently, you have to put it in a bowl or something, which I did not read until after I sprinkled it all over my garden! Ugh! And I even have a new pepper growing! I can't lose another bell pepper!! That brings us to the plant of action, namely " Jesse with the Shop Vac in the garden". I guess I have to put a bowl with the borax/sugar solution in there so that the ants can get it, but the ground doesn't get any. Well, at least I am learning some good lessons about gardening this year. I just really want to be able to eat something from my garden this year...please...anything.

Break Time

Alright, I had a full day of working on school yesterday while Jesse worked a double and have been working on it this morning as well. Now it's break time before I go insane. I have lots to do, but thankfully my finals are at the end of next week and this semester will be OVER. That will be a happy day. I plan to have another long day tomorrow and can hopefully get some things wrapped up. Mainly a big paper and getting organized for finals....like trying to understand stats....duuuhhhh....

We had a very good week full of Canadian candy and I am not even going to try to spell roll---you know the word. Horton had company at night and Abe sniffed each and every bag to be sure that Jesse's mom wasn't trying to import any illegal goods. I think she passed the test. Otherwise, it was blazing hot here. The kind of hot where the air is so thick you can hardly breath it. It was 100 or up nearly every day. Ugh. Thankfully, it rained two nights ago and it is much more comfortable now. It was even cool enough to take the dogs on an evening jog instead of walk.

Jesse and I are going to a wedding this afternoon, and for once, he's not the photographer!! I think this has only happened one other time. Abe is laying behind me barking in his sleep. It is too funny. He sleeps with his eyes open sometimes, like right now, and I can watch his eyeballs rolling around and his face and legs are twitching all over the place. He must be protecting his property no doubt! Oh, wait--the beast has awoken. He must have barked a little too loud and woke himself up. Man, dogs sleep an awful lot. I guess all of those belly rubs really wear on them. Must be tough.

In any case, I should get some lunch ready and then run out and find a wedding gift before we leave! Yikes!

Poor Little Bugs

So I was reading about different remedies for garden pests. My tomato plants have a few holes in the leaves and I think maybe ants are getting back there...not too sure. Anyway, so I started looking up home remedies and they read like medieval torture techniques. I wish I didn't know how they worked, because now I feel too bad to actually implement them. For example, one said to lightly sprinkle self-rising flour around and on a plant to get rid of worms that eat your plants. That's all I really needed to know. However, the enlightening article goes on to explain that the worms eat the flour and then explode. As the day heat comes on, the flour rises, and the poor little guys blow up! Now, I can't do that knowing that I'm blowing up worms. Not like it would even kill them fast and painlessly, but slowly rise and then bust. Who thought up this stuff?!?!! In any case, today is cleaning the office day so that Jesse's mom has some space while she's here. I have a feeling Horton is going to make himself very comfortable sleeping in here with her. He loves visitors, especially ones that give him attention. Not too sure what Abe will do, but we are excited that he gets to finally meet his "Abuela". I imagine he might think that the bed we lay down for her is for him. Abe doesn't normally hesitate to make himself comfy, especially if that involves getting in your way and laying down exactly where you hoping to lay something else down. Whatever the case, we will soon find out!

Observations on Marriage

I thought this was an interesting paragraph in my sociology book:

In premodern Europe marriage usually began as a property arrangement, was in its middle mostly about raising children, and only in the end was about love. Few couples in fact married "for love", but many grew to love each other in time as they jointly managed their household, reared their offspring, and shared life's experiences. Nearly all surviving epitaphs to spouses evince profound affection. By contrast, in most of the modern West, marriage begins being about love, in its middle is still mostly about raising children (if there are any children), and in the end is - often - about property, by which point love is absent or a distant memory.

One of the most unexpected things that I have realized since being married, is that a great part of the joy of marriage isn't a feeling of love, but rather, a sense of commitment. Through the commitment, comes a deep sense of connection, regardless of whether or not romantic feelings are or aren't there. I don't know why that surprised me. I guess because all you do hear about is love...weddings are about love...and love this love that. I mean, nothing against love, it's obviously a very great and powerful thing, yet love in the romantic sense that our society uses it in, is not at all what marriage is about. The feelings may come and go, and certainly add a sense of excitement to a relationship, yet it's no wonder that relationships based upon this kind of "love" don't last very long and so many people wind up hurt and disillusioned when "love" fails them.

Anyway, so here's to my husband, who pulled the stinger out of my butt in Nicaragua when that bee crawled into my underpants and who never lets me clean up my own puke - your commitment to me brings freedom and joy that a thousand roses could never match.

Miracle Pepper

The Lord has put an anointing upon our garden. Never before has such an amazing and bountiful harvest come forth from a single bell pepper plant. As a one time offer, TODAY ONLY, you can purchase the anointing for only 2 installments of $59.99. Yes, folks, this package comes complete with holy water and miracle soil. Act fast. All you who are weary, all who are burdened, place your hands upon the screen and touch the pepper. Feel the power. Feel the anointing. Then purchase via C.O.D. my miracle garden package.

Mission Monger: Accomplished

I just got off the phone with my cohort (aka Jesse). Let's just say my mom now has not just one, but two rather large fake trees. Jesse did the dirty work under the cover of darkness.

Calling All Bird Experts

Can birds be stunned? Like so they just stay still for a very long time? Last week, there were two dead birds in our yard. Very dead birds. I didn't think too much of it, I mean, it was sad, but it didn't look like the dogs had gotten them or anything like that, so I just figured natural death. Anyway, then just now I was out back with the dogs trying to transplant this vine thing. I notice Horton is sniffing something on the ground, which he normally doesn't do in this manner. So I went over, and it was a bird. And I guess it's dead. But, it has no anything that would indicate it's dead, besides the fact that it didn't move at all when two big dogs came to smell it, or when I picked it up to move it away. No holes as if shot, no broken wing or neck that I can tell, and it was just in the middle of the yard, not like it fell out of a tree or something. Maybe it was on the cable wire and then died and fell off of that, I don't know how else it would be in this spot in the yard. Anyway, it looked so perfectly intact though, that now I am worried...what if it was just stunned and not moving and I put it in the trash can and then it will revive itself and be stuck in this trash can? Is that ridiculous? Can birds be stunned that bad? It just looked like this perfectly healthy little bird, with no reason for death. Should I go check the trash can again? I know that seems silly and stupid, but the thought that I might kill a bird in by trapping it in a trashcan is very distrurbing. Do you think I might have poisonous berries or something on one of the trees or bushes? Surely not...the lady before us had a bird feeder that we just took down....revenge of the birds?? I don't know. Or maybe she put up the feeder so they would eat out of that and not the berries on the tree? We have two piney-needlisy looking trees, cedar-ish maybe...could this be killing the birds? I am going to go lift the lid off the trash can for my own sanity. Maybe the bird will revive. Maybe he just got so scared, like fainting goats, where they just tense up and go all stiff for a little bit. But even so, three dead birds in about a week, is this weird? Why would that be? And dead with perfectly intact bodies, as if poisoned?? Oh help me! I don't want my yard to be the dead bird yard. What can I do for them?

The Monger Mocker Becomes a Monger...

Alright, so I spoke too soon about the trash mongers. I saw a fake tree in one of the piles. I don't want it, but I know that my mom has been searching thrift stores high and low trying to find fake trees to help decorate her classroom this coming fall. Apparently, those things are quite expensive, even at some thrift stores. Anyway, so I considered just knocking on the door and asking if I can have it. Seems slightly less monger-ish, right? But, it's after 8 and I don't think that anyone really wants to be disturbed by a trash monger in the evening, especially this late. But, then the dilema - if I wait to ask until tomorrow evening, will some other monger get my goods during the day - or will the trash man make it to our part of town tomorrow?? Then I will be wishing that I would have acted faster. So what's a monger-mocker to do? I would just take it, but it's at the house right across the street, which would be really kind of awkward and embarassing if I got caught in the act of mongering. Hmmmm.....I'm tempted to hire a hit man, which would be Jesse. The advantage there is that he leaves for work so early in the morning. Hmmmm...I will keep you updated as the mongering unfolds.

The 4th of July

I've been meaning to post some photos from the 4th, but editing wedding photos takes the cake over personal photos, so the Mac has been tied up. In any case, the 4th was not only Independence Day, but also my Grandpa's 85th birthday. We went up to his birthday party in the afternoon and then went to a fireworks show that night. Although I am not crazy about really big family get togethers with my family, I do love seeing my Grandpa enjoying himself, and he seemed to be doing just that. It made all of the forced conversation with distant relatives and friends of the family that I don't really know worth it. And Jesse hangs in there alright too, although I know it surely seems doubly worse for him. And even though I didn't recognize half the people there, it makes me proud that my Grandpa still has so many people who love him and would go out of their way on the 4th to drive up to a tiny little town and celebrate with him. I hope that I am surrounded with as many friends and family as he is when I am that age. In any case, we got home from the party and Jesse had a short nap while I worked on a sociology essay. After that, we loaded up the dogs and went to my mom's house. Her town is actually known for having one of the best fireworks displays in this area. We were both pretty tuckered out by the end of the night, and the dogs were too...what with all of that barking at firecrackers, and cowering in fear of the loud booms and such. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the fireworks show....Jesse waiting for it to get dark so things can begin....8 parachute people come down before the show, the last one carries a big flag....then the fireworks begin.

TRASH MONGERS!

So, every other month, the city does a "large trash collection". This is a time when people are allowed to set out things like old appliances, carpet rolls, old furniture, things that you normally can't throw into your weekly trash, but that are indeed trash to you. So, a bunch of houses on our street have these big piles of junk sitting out, including us. This morning, when I walked by our window, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, this car was stopped by our trash pile, and a man was getting back into the passenger side of the car, looking around kind of acting weird and suspicious, and then they drove away really fast. I kind of wondered what he was doing, but didn't think too much of it. Well, just now, I was sitting here in the living room working on school, and I see this car pull up to the house across the street. He stops, quickly gets out, and digs through our neighbor's trash pile, then quickly hops back into his car and speeds off. So I start laughing and tell Jesse, so he comes out, and as we are looking at our neighbor's pile, we realize that the oven that was sitting there is no longer there. There are people going around today while they assume everyone is at work, and taking stuff out of people's trash heaps!! Mongers!

Puppy Love

Colorado...

Jesse and I have been talking about Colorado the last couple days and I really miss it lately. I keep waiting for this house to become "home" and for some reason, it is still just a place to live to me, but hasn't reached "home status" yet. I don't know why. It's a lot cuter than our house in Loveland was. It has a much much nicer yard. We use the space much more efficiently. The neighborhood is nicer. The view is nicer. But, it's just that...a nice house...nothing more really. Maybe because we haven't put much work into it. Compared to Loveland at least. I felt really proud of our house there, even though it wasn't as nice as this one. I guess I felt that way because Jesse and I poured many many hours of work and effort into that house. Maybe it was still ugly in lots of places and still needed lots of work when we left, but they were our ugly spots. And we were going to work on them together and make them nice. And here, I didn't do any of this work. The wood floors were already here. The deck was already built. The landscape was already nice. I don't know. Maybe all of this stress is just the living room color. I am regretting the blue the last few days. It's nice. It looks nice. But it's not really "ours", does that make sense? It's just sort of there, this nice looking room, that I don't feel cozy in. I felt cozy in Loveland. Maybe that's the difference. I want to walk into my house and automatically feel relaxed. Like I know that no one will bother me. It's a safe place, where I can just sit peacefully. In Loveland, coming home was instant relaxation. Like I would breath a sigh of relief the instant I turned the corner and saw the house. Here, I just see the house, still sometimes nearly pass it, and then think "oh, that's my house." It's surreal almost. Maybe it's just our lifestyle. I really liked who we were in Colorado. Not that it was perfect. There were definitely things that drove me crazy there. But, overall, I really liked our lifestyle there. We're different here. Or different there maybe it is....I don't know. Maybe I just don't like my position right now so I daydream too much about when I did like it. Right now, I really don't like the classes I'm in (except one). Although I have tons to do for school, my schedule is flexible, and Jesse's schedule is just weird. I always get my days mixed up. Each day, I know what all needs to be done, but there is no order to it really, besides whatever order I give it. And then I wonder what in the world am I doing? Do I even really want this degree or is this just something to do? I guess when I really think and answer that question, I know the answer. I want it. But maybe I don't want to want it. I don't like being a student. I don't like the connotation of it. I don't like the label of it. I don't like the debt that goes with it. I have major issues with the education system in America and I don't really want to be a part of it. But, then I have to go and want this degree so much, which totally messes up my rebellion against the system. Ugh. At least I am married to an "uneducated" man. That gives me hope. (Be strong Jesse! Hold out!) Anyway, all in all, I have decided staying home all day makes you nuts! So the simple solution should be to just get a job, but then there's that whole God thing where He told me to stop looking for jobs. I've been "checking in" on that one lately to see if it still applies. Anyway, so I compare this state of life, and I know it's probably not good or healthy to do all this comparing, but lately, I do think about the "good ol' days" when I had a job that I liked, that paid well, the hours were great, my boss was amazing, Jesse's schedule worked well with mine, and we had our own little cozy place at the foot of the mountains. I don't know. Maybe I should just repaint the living room brown. Oddly enough, that may just solve some of this stress!

Hooters for Neuters

Frustrated with one of my classes, I took a break and logged on to check my e-mail and browse the internet for a bit. I stumbled across one of the funniest msn articles that I have read yet. Apparently, the city of L.A. is having some controversy over a "Hooters for Neuters" bikini contest that was supposed to raise money for the city's animal services. And who says only their wings are good? Obviously, they have hearts of gold.

Angry Brain

Do you know that feeling where your brain is just angry? Like when you're in a meeting and the speaker has gone way over his time and just won't shut up, even though he's saying nothing even remotely important, but you can't get up and leave because that would be rude, so instead you sit there, about ready to jump out of your seat, clenching your teeth and eagerly awaiting the minute when he finally shuts up and dismisses? That is the feeling that I keep getting each time I open up my GeekSpeak books. I am having a really hard time with these classes. Not necessarily because they are hard, but beacuse my brain gets so angry reading about this stuff. I don't know why. Maybe because I have to read the same page five times before it soaks into my head, because after the second sentence, I am reading the words, but my brain is thinking something totally different like "Hm. Ice cream sounds good. Remember Carmelcopia at Baskin Robbins? They discontinued it. That's too bad. That was so good in a waffle cone." Then when I get to the bottom of the page, I realize I read every word, but I don't have a clue what I just read. So I start over, and if I'm lucky, my brain pays attention to the third sentence and this vicious cycle repeats itself, and by the time my brain actually pays attention to the entire page, it is very angry. Needless to say, I am taking a break before my brain starts yelling at me.

I don't have much to say. Tomorrow Jesse and I are going to the Rivermarket, which I am very excited about. Maybe I will find some exceptionally fine produce...maybe even a personal watermelon. Mmmmm....

The Sign

So we have this big thermostat in our kitchen in a really bad spot on the wall. I debated about what to do as far as decorating around it. Jesse even offered to move it, but that would involve more holes in the wall, patching up stuff and painting over it again. And frankly, most patch jobs don't look all that great. So, I finally decided that the best thing to do would be to incorporate it into our decoration. We had planned to do a "Farmer's Market" theme in the kitchen, with stuff like old road side fruit stand signs and things like that. Well, it sort of evolved into a French farmer's market, and now all the old signs are in French. Anyway, so a week ago, Jesse and I began working on the big sign that will go with the thermostat. We got it all ready to go, but were waiting to hang it until we got our new thermostat, (which Jesse explained on his blog). Anyway, so we got the new thermostat yesterday and today was sign hanging day. This sign is made of MDF, so it's pretty heavy. In the photo below, it looks like Jesse is putting it up with ease. But, if you would have seen the spectacle going on about five minutes before I took this photo, you would have gotten some good laughs. We probably looked like a slap stick comedy routine. Jesse and I were both hanging on to it, to the tune of Jesse cursing in the background while we tried to get at least one or two screws in before we dropped it or ripped the thermostat off the wall since the sign goes all around it. In the course of all this, I dropped the drill onto the kitchen table and made a big mark in the middle of it, Jesse dropped the level on my head and made a good bump on it, and the level also dropped onto the chair rail and made a good mark into it. I guess the whole "distressed farmer's market" now continues through more than anticipated. Oh well, we finally got it hung up, and the thermostat blends in pretty well. If anyone knows French, please do not make fun of my poor translation. Actually, there is also a bit of Hawaiian on there as well, so it really probably makes no sense at all when translated. I am just banking on the fact that we have very few bilingual acquaintances.

Broken

So I was outside doing some yardwork, and when I got to the back door to come inside, Jesse is standing there....looking just like this: I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seems like life hits you all at once sometimes. Thankfully, he has an extra pair of "back up" glasses that he is able to use until we can get him some new ones. The thing is, he didn't even do anything to break them. They just broke. He just touched them on the side barely, and out popped the lens, in a "non-fixable" fashion. Life gets you like that sometimes. One of Jesse's cameras broke earlier this week, which he can't go without, because he has a wedding to shoot this weekend, so he ended up having to book a rental. We will obviously need to get the camera fixed as well. Oh well, I am at least very very very thankful that his camera didn't break during a wedding. Looks like we will be glasses shopping tomorrow.

The Hose

Our lawn is starting to turn brown because it's not getting enough water. We finally decided to invest in a sprinkler a week or so ago. Last night, Jesse went to hook it up, but the sprayer attachment that we have on the end of the hose is stuck on there. He tried a wrench and everything. So, we decided to water the grass by hand and will deal with what to do about the hose later. Anyway, as soon as Horton sees one of us going toward the nozzle to turn on the water, he gets really excited. Then, as soon as the water starts coming out he starts jumping up into it and chasing it all around. You can't really get anything done except spray him. We figured we might as well let him play for a while and the yard would get watered at the same time. Abe saw this happening, and started to get worried that it might be bath time. He hates getting wet, so unlike Horton, the minute he sees one of us going to turn on the hose, he heads in the opposite direction and tries to hide. Last night, he was trying to back himself into the space between the deck and a/c unit.

Just When I Have It All Figured Out....

So just when I have my life all figured out, my sociology instructor has to go and blow things for me. I am taking sociology this semester (obviously) and it's really interesting. Almost...dare I say, more interesting than psychology. I think they may be neck and neck right now. To be honest, it's tempting me to stray from my psychology degree into sociology. But, what can you do with a sociology degree in real life? I'll sit on it for now, and see if the rest of this class proves to be as interesting as the beginning has been.