busy week

i thought i caught octavia last night, but it was violet instead. it was dusky and ive slept with my contacts in the last few nights so i cant see for crap. i let her go then reset the trap. this morning there was a baby opposum. sucker was really cute in weird sort of way.

drove up to denton today to get an xl dog carrier - if i ever can catch those kittens, now ive got something to keep them in. and when we get a dog, we will have a crate for it. then we visited husband at work for lunch. after that it was a resale shop in keller - where i got a litter box and and haba sheep wall lamp for 3.99. then we played at bear creek park for a little while. it was hot so i wanted to get ice cream so it was off to sonic. it was a long day.

and i have my new car now. husbands sister was getting rid of her car and asked if we wanted it. it's a 97 mistubishi montero. the gas mileage sucks but i dont drive a whole lot of places anymore and i could take husbands car to church - my longest trip. but it's big enough for any "treasure" and, above all, as A/C. i had two crispy fried kids in the back seat this afternoon. and it was cheap. it's gotta last me at least 4 more years and by then hybrid technology should be better and i can get something i really want.

i really need to mow the lawn again and thin out some pumpkin vines. this weekend it's off to home depot to get more round-up - i really hate it but it's the most effective thing against the bain-of-my-existance trees - and to price insulation for the attic.

and as soon as photobucket stops being so picky, im going to upload some pictures.

octavia

ive decided to name the queen octavia. husband got a giggle out of that one. im going to set the trap monday night because the shelter isnt open over the weekend.

here's some pictures of my previous "catches"

Dash (it was a girl, though)

violet

jack-jack. i havent caught him yet - and i do know it's a male because i watched him mark all over various objects in my yard. thinking about it, he might be the sire of the current litter. the colouring is right. and i think dash and violet might be from octavia's previous litters.

kittens

while putting buddytwo to bed tonight, i noticed a cat on our patio. ive seen her a couple of times before. she was playing with a piece of pita bread i left on out there, then she walked towards the back of the yard and i saw a kitten run after her from the fence, then another, and another. there are about 4 or 5. *squeeeee* i went out there and was able to look at them. i think they are weaned, so im not too concerned about catching the mama and not the babies. damn they were cute. there was a grey and white, a pure grey, and a "marbled" one. if i can get one of the babies, husband might let me keep it!! i need to see if SIL still has a cat box from gizmo. im contacting feral friends about getting numbers for them and maybe i can find foster homes for the rest.

husband finished the fence with our neighbour and did habitat for humanity for work and is feeling really handy so he said he would put up a real clothes line for me. aahhh!! he's so sweet.

i made a quick second vegetable bed and am trying roma tomatoes, basil, green onions, carrots, more broccoli and artichokes. i also moved my zuccini because the pumpkins are taking over. but i do have two nice sized yellow squash.

for dinner last night, we had 'white girl does middle eastern.' i made falafel from a box - it was 50cents (love town talk), wheat pita from the day old rack for 1.29, home made hummus - it's hard to figure the exact cost because i did it all by sight/taste, and tabouli - probably 3dollars all told and will feed people all week.

summer is here

i finally broke down and turned on the air-conditioning today. but only for a coupla hours. i kept putting it off and then husband was due home so i put it on, and then by the time the house cooled off some, the temp dropped outside. so off it went.

im going to use the LoTR theme. i finished all the redwall books and anthony and cleopatra and needed something to read, so it was back to fellowship. im zipping right along and really wanna watch the movies again. it's been a really long time since we've watched them. also makes me wanna write something. might as well use my english major, eh?

faramir is 80/20 walking now. it's still kinda zombie-like, but is starting to prefer to walk, crawling only when he just wants to speed things up a bit. and he's in his helpful OCD phase. we went to a party given by husband's co-worker and he was going around grabbing trash and putting it in the garbage.

boromir is getting better, but is still a three year old. i read this feminist sci-fi series a few years back and there is this element where the children run wild for a time in a little herd until they are ready to come back into society. at the time it seemed really odd, but currently it seems like a really good idea. the feral version of getting put on a raft and being sent to "saint mary's on the river." (my mom reads this and will get a chuckle.)

other than that. not much going on. learning the hard way spacing guidelines on vegetable seeds arent kind, little, "if you feel like it" suggestions. my pumpkins are taking over. also, they are flowering, but not fruiting. and my summer squash isnt getting very big before it starts rotting on the vine. and it's not too late, i think im going to make another bed and retry some other seeds.

and we need a wood chipper.

random stuff

• i love town talk (FW discount grocery store) more on that later
  
• considering the current controversy of feminism/race issues in blog-land (fuck the word "blogosphere") im feeling really weird discussing AIDS within the african american community with my 99.99% white church
• holy crap buddytwo is kinda walking. it's random and only about 4 steps at a time, but it's a start. he's also playing peek-a-boo. it's really cute.
• buddyoneandtwo had dentist appointments today and, besides being all clear, did really well.
  

i cant think of anything witty at all

i realised i havent posted in forever. so since my last post, hail has destroyed a good chunk of stuff. right now the only things that survived are: the jack-o-lantern and pie pumpkins, broccoli and maybe the yellow squash. the canteloupe and zuccinni are having a tough time. the front yard plots also seem to be struggling. the wildflowers are finally sprouting and my butterfly bush should start blooming soon.

ive started some different herbs and whatnot in pots because of the kurfuffle of the front yard. i need to do some serious bed-prep for next year. i also cut away all the vines and crud along the fence - i think next year i might try beans there. and speaking of next year, im going to make the garden plot a whole lot bigger. last weekend we borrowed In-Laws' power mower and weed-wacker and now the yard looks a whole heck of lot bigger. definately room for a bigger garden - hopefully one that wont suck.

so there's this thing about being green - i have a hard time "buying" it, ya know? i mean, ive been recycling since our town picked it up in 1990. in college, i was neurotic about going through the trash and putting bottles and cans in the recycling bins. and all of a sudden, now, we are being told that we need to recycle and be "green." it seems to me, the only reason why it's being bandied about now is so companies can sell shit. there are organic "green" pet clothes. for fuck sake people - dogs come with their own clothing. you are not helping!!! i actually saw a book at the library the other day about green baby-raising. here's an idea - don't go buy all the shit everyone says you need to raise your kid! baby doesnt need organic cotton crib sheets and a crib made from responsibly forested wood. co-sleep or get a crib thats already on the planet! maybe i just dont need to be "sold" on being green and all. i hate throwing things away and am cheap. husband called me a ludite the other day - i told him he was being sweet. but apparently, here in "ill water my lawn at high noon on a 100 degree day even though it's going to rain tomorrow cause i want to and you cant make me" texas, people need to be told that conserving resources is a good thing.

the new thing now is all the evil plastic sippy cups. i have a hard time justifying 27bucks on a kleenkanteen or similar product when ive got tons of glass jars from spaghetti and jelly lying around. i just wish i could figure out a way to make a "sippy" spout for them. yesterday faramir dumped a jar of water on himself in his carseat. i am going to make felted jar coozies for them once im done with this baby blanket (5 more inches!!). and then there's the whole thing about what to do with the plastic ones. i guess they are still good - if you dont care about phalates and BPA and all. or do i recycle them? my inner white person is just reeling. and how, exactly do i explain to boromir his favourite wiggly-cup is going to kill him?

in other news, i really think new car is going to happen this weekend.

herb, bud, weed, and other drug references

so the mass-tastic amounts of rain we've finally gotten has been like crack for my plants. went to home depot over the weekend and got a huge 32 gallon garbage can for a water barrel. just putting it under the drippy part of the porch, it filled in two hours.

the spinach and mesclun (husband thought i said mescaline) has done really well. the wildflower seeds are coming out gang-busters. my purple double-bloomed datura is finally showing life. the backyard vegetables are going great - the cantaloupe seeds i thought were dead actually were alive. i need to check the seed packet, it must have just have a long germination time. i lost the carrots and broccoli, but threw some new seeds in the ground. the raspberry bush might not be completely dead.

i also transplanted some morning glories along the chain link fence; hopefully they will work. i just need to clear away all the kudzu/viney weed crap. and speaking of weeds, rather than put done chemicals, ive been clearing away all the chickweed and other stuff in the backyard by hand. slowly but surely, it's looking more like a yard, and less like a vacant lot. ive now got a huge pile of crud lying on a pallet to die before i add it to the compost bin.

AND!!! And!!....i have a redbud tree!!!! the tree next to the pecan on the property line between us and the business is a redbud!!! theres a beautiful redbud at the end of the street ive been coveting and then, the other day, we were riding bikes in the parking lot and so some purplish petals were on the ground. i look up and see more on the branches. i was so excited. it's not in full bloom like a lot of the others ive seen around so im hoping it's healthy. all this rain should give it a kick in the butt.

whatelse... finished reading the world without us. not as completely depressing as i thought it would be, though the section on plastic made me want to never buy a non-wooden toy again. now, im dividing my reading between corpse, rackkety tam, lord brocktree, and taggerung (book on tape).

and i tried the lentil and rice casserole from tightwad gazette II. i had to season some cast iron grates for the grill we bought i figured if i was going to have the stove on for 2 hours, i might as well have something to show for it. i would make again, just tweak it a bit. the stock i use doesnt have much salt so it needed a bit, i also put a bunch of ritz crackers in it and that made it quite tasty.