What I've been up to...

I traded some peas and lettuce to get a yard guy to mow our lawns. They were so tall that there are now a few dry patches. We're hoping that, with love, those go away!


The pergola is nearing completion. I ran out of stain. SIGH! But that's all that's left to do: stain and screw. We've also been painting our patio set. Chair on the far right: not painted. The other two: sporting black paint. Loving it. We were out here last night with the fire pit. Please excuse our empty wine bottle.


The chickens are almost all introduced. There are three older hens left to go! I decided to give it a day or two break before introducing another one. There are four older red birds in here right now, the older barred rock, AND the 8 "babies." They're not really babies anymore... as they are all almost four months old.

And on to the tomatoes. I know. This looks like something from the old computer game Myst. But hey, I am NOT going to spend money on FIFTY-TWO tomato cages. Eventually, I'd like to make myself some nice tomato cages, but we don't know where our next home will be and what type of backyard it will have, so for now? I'm making my cages.
We had a LOT of dead laurel branches that my neighbor had taken down. I tied them in tripods and then added some wood. They seem to be doing quite nicely.

It may look a bit chaotic, but it WORKS. And this makes me happy. I need to clear the area of some weeds (the forever-tasking chore), but the tomato plants are still 52 for 52. One is looking a bit tired, but the rest are pretty darn great.

B is working on creating a nice rose garden. Each plant will be in a nice adobe pot, so that's easy to take with us. We had two roses on the deck, but they were just not getting the sun they needed. So, we've moved those two, and, so far, we've added one more. The one is called "honey dijon." LOVE IT. There's a smoky/dusky redish rose I'm trying to find, so that'd be a great next addition.

Meanwhile, back in the house, I managed to score a new table set off craigslist. It's a tall, pub-style table. It has four chairs, but, with our new set-up, we can store two in the one area. This is GREAT, because we can put our briefcases and other things ON the chairs. Fabulous to give things a home.
Here's the actual table. We're still mid-organizing, but it's already a LOT better than before. A LOT.

I'll have to take a photo of it, but I actually got around to moving the wine rack yesterday. When your wine rack holds 144 bottles and is half full, this is a chore. I moved everything, and then I sat down and LABELED everything too. I've organized it by white and red, as well as by the winery we belong to and all other wineries. I put the winery, year, and type on each bottle lid. I am very happy with the result. I also put all my empty bottles that I'm saving for my homemade wine in the bottom of the rack. Perfect! Now, I just need to make my malbec... Maybe next week. And, when our case of Syrah comes from Orfila in November, we'll be ready!

In other news... my sister is visiting... TOMORROW! eeek. Gotta fix things up. It's going to be a crazy weekend. Sister arrives, then there's a party with a friend, then there's breakfast on Saturday morning, followed by Art and the Vineyard, followed by BBQ on Sunday and Bobby McFerrin on Monday. Wow!

I need to clean the deck and finish the pergola for the BBQ, but I want to enjoy myself on Saturday, so those things need to get done, by, um. Tomorrow. Still, so exciting.