Everything Grows and Grows

Made it through my week, making it through the weekend.

I had a whole hour to myself yesterday. It was such a beautiful thing. My beloved geek took the boys to Home Depot for manly time buying manly things. I spent the entire hour outdoors in the gardens. All the peas have been transplanted into the ground, as have the bush beans. Yesterday I also deadheaded and pruned the sunflowers, trimmed back the overgrowing tomatoes, and repotted the broccoli in the house.

I also transplanted the last of the herbs in the large overflow plastic container experiment. I won't plant like that again. It's too confusing to tell which herb is which, even with popsicle stick dividers. In the end though, it did give me a nice amount of chamomile, oregano, and marjoram, a couple of dill and sage, and a few parsley plants. A balm lemon I've been babying for over a month finally sprouted last week and I also transplanted it. There are no more tiny pots on the front porch! The smaller plastic ones retain moisture a little better, so I will have to spray from the water bottle much less often hopefully.

In the topsy-turvy planters out back, I took out the non-working soda bottle self-watering apparatus in the banana peppers, cleaned it out and put it in again. It still isn't working, and I don't know why. The water just drains right through. The one in the jalapenos works quite well. As hot as it has been, I'm refilling it twice a day, sometimes three times if I happen to be in the backyard and it hasn't rained. I'm still getting lots of peppers, although not enough quite yet to can them. I just slice them, freeze them, and wait.

The tomatoes are doing well, given how hot it is. I've made BLT's a few times now, using cherry tomatoes since we're not getting many big tomatoes for slices, and the tomatoes are sweet and juicy. Last night I made bean burritos from pinto beans and made fresh salsa to go on the side, using jalapenos fresh from the plant. I guess I didn't pick enough though, because we still had to add Cholula to give it the right level of heat. It was still yummy.

I persuaded my beloved geek that he should experience the fun side of gardening- putting things in the ground and watching them grow, so he transplanted the carrots I foolishly started in a container rather than waiting for the ground to be ready for. I'm not sure he believes me about the fun, but I had fun watching him at least.

We also spent an hour and a half and a lot of shoulder strength cleaning outdoor windows and screens yesterday (not on the garden side), including getting the last traces of the tape Xs we put up on the windows during the 2004 hurricane season, before Hurricane Charley took the detour. We didn't realize that tape does nothing but leave a really annoying mess to clean up. It's gone now, finally, and it feels so good to have things checked off the really long to do list.

Mr. Smarty Pants is registered for our neighborhood school, and is very excited about it. I'm still kinda not excited about it. Both boys will go back a week from Monday. This Tuesday is orientation day, and then Mr. Autism has a doctor's appointment because of a problem with one of his medications. I also need to figure in haircuts (one at home, one at the salon), and shopping for back to school outfits, 2 new lunch boxes, and the giant list of school supplies that apparently they can't live without.

My in-laws will be back soon, and I am so excited. The boys miss them. My beloved geek and I miss them. They've been gone all summer, and it leaves a huge gap in our lives.

Today is Mr. Autism's 10th birthday. Double digits. Time does go by. We're off to Disney World, even though it will be Very Hot Indeed (as Winnie the Pooh might say) and probably will rain. It's one of Mr. Autism's happiest places on earth.