Wordless Wednesday

Planting Blueberries!

Last summer we went with a friend to pick blueberries in North GA. It was such a delightful trip, and we couldn't believe how many delicious berries we gathered! The berry bushes were absolutely laden with plump blue goodness. This got us thinking. . . we should plant blueberries, too! We thought about planting them at our house, but decided a better location was at my in-laws' property instead. I did a little research, and decided on some Rabbiteye blueberry varieties.

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

Time got away from me, and lo it was April before we got around to purchasing our blueberry plants and going to Grandma & Grandpa's for planting. That's OK, though- we were still within acceptable time for planting blueberries here in GA. It was a perfect setup: I did the research, purchasing and direction while Billy and his brother did all the digging and planting!

After I selected a nice sunny, well-drained spot on a gentle slope, we marked where we wanted the plants to go. Then, Billy and his brother set to work digging out the dense Georgia red clay.

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

The clay we found there wasn't quite as hard as some I've seen, but it still needed some good topsoil and compost mixed in.

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

The great Gimli McGuinness, our cairn terrier, was happily on hand to supervise. It was a perfect day for him, running free outside to get filthy. (And yes, he needs grooming- he's scraggly!)

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

After a hard day's work there were 7 blueberry bushes comfortably ensconced in their new home. Billy put stakes and string around them so Grandpa wouldn't accidentally mow them down.

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

Finally I contributed a little manual labor, to spread the mulch: lots of nice, acidic pinestraw to protect the plants, help discourage weeds, and hold moisture. (Blueberry plants like an acidic pH in their soil.) There is no shortage of pinestraw on that property!

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

Just as I was spreading the last wheelbarrow-full of pinestraw, big fat raindrops began splashing down. A short cloudburst of a thunderstorm gave the new bushes a nice drink of water and then moved on, leaving a breathtaking sherbet ice cream sunset to polish off the day.

From Planting Blueberries 4/27/09

Compare the two small sunset photos carefully, and you might notice a flash of lightning caught in the first one- it's the whitish blob behind the trees in the lower left part of the picture.


Now we look forward to many summers of blueberry harvests ahead!

Kids and Doggies!

So, the other evening the kids were eating lasagna. It had been a really busy day- they were whiny, dirty and reluctant to cooperate. Littleman in particular was taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R to finish eating. Babyman was crying, more than ready for bed, and Sweetcheeks had finished eating. Finally I left Littleman to finish up while I ran Mr Sweetcheeks' bath and then put Babyman to sleep.

As I helped Sweetcheeks into his bath, I realized that not only had Littleman not come upstairs yet, it was awfully quiet downstairs. "Littleman?" I called. No answer. Uh, oh. I hurried into the kitchen to find this:

From assorted

He was sound asleep on his chair at the table.

From assorted

Poor Littleman. After hunting down my camera and checking on Sweetcheeks, I snapped a couple pics before helping Littleman off to bed.

* * *

In my previous post Moon Moment, I mentioned that we were at my sister-in-law's house that evening. Earlier in the day we'd been relaxing in their spectacular garden, enjoying the warm fall afternoon. They have two dogs, and one of them ("Thoreau") is quite the kisser. He honed in on Babyman right away.

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that we spent much more time laughing at Babyman's plight than we did discouraging Thoreau's lapping tongue!

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

He expressed some displeasure.

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

But was a very good sport, overall.

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

He even showed off his own tongue tricks for us!

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

* * *

Mr. Sweetcheeks loves his Aunt and Uncle's yard. He had a particularly nice time.

From Lisa & Mark's 10/12/08

Really, we all did.

Blogging! Looking for feedback.

Sunday, January 27, 2008


Blogging! Looking for feedback.
Current mood: inquisitive

When I checked one last time, the dog was waiting to come in. Finally. So I didn't have to leave her out there all night. And, get this: Babyman slept in the cosleeper all night! So even though I was waking to nurse as usual, at least when I went back to sleep I could stretch out in whatever way was comfortable. THAT was nice. Thank you, Babyman!

* * *

I was thinking today about blogs, and blogging. Sometimes I think I'd like to get more serious about my blog, and actually promote it. Write for a general audience, rather than for all my wonderful readers who know me and are actually somewhat interested in the ins and outs of my daily life (bless you all!). But I'm so all over the place in this blog- I'm not sure what would actually be interesting to a more general reader. You can see that this blog is currently titled Kitmama's Pensieve, because I think it's very much like JK Rowling's concept of a "pensieve" in her Harry Potter books. I can pour my random thoughts out of my overstuffed head, and stir them around a bit to see if anything useful is revealed. (I'd probably have to choose a new name if I wanted to promote the blog at all). I can track visits to this blog, and learn things such as what words people typed into search engines that led to my blog, or what links in my blog they decided to click on. That information seems to tell me that my most popular postings are those related to cloth diapers and baby products. (My Cloth Diaper Primer is most popular by far). Perhaps I could be of service concentrating on those topics?

Any ideas, comments? What in this blog bores you? What keeps you coming back? Anything you wish I'd write more about?

As always, THANK YOU readers! This blog (on it's other server) has nearly 5,000 hits by now. If it weren't for you all, I probably wouldn't be writing anything. At least you keep me typing something, and possibly moving onward to bigger and better writing. Thank you!!!

* * *

Today's thumbs-up is for hot tea. I like mine with honey and lemon, or simply unadulterated. It's good for the soul. A zen moment. Whatever suits your fancy, go and brew yourself a cuppa. Do it for me! Enjoy.

What a night.

Saturday, January 26, 2008


What a night.
Current mood: pissed off

Sometimes, I hate my dog.
I feel bad admitting it, but my dog has taught me that I am just not a dog person. She is just as sweet as can be, she's a wonderful buddy to Billy's dog and she is endlessly patient with the kiddos. But she is dumber than a brick, she digs up the back yard to an astonishing degree (creating muddy areas that cake their doggy feet), she sheds and sheds and sheds and sheds, and she doesn't listen well. Sometimes, she simply will not come in when you call.

Right now it is 11:30 pm, I want to go to bed, and she is outside in near-freezing temperatures barking her fool head off. I cannot in good conscience leave her out there, both because it is too cold and because she would bark too much. You cannot catch that dog if she does not want to be caught. She looks a bit like a border collie (sort of), but there's nothing else about her that would point to Border Collie genes. Until you try to catch her. Then all of a sudden, this couch potato dog becomes agility champion with cunning and speed on her side. She sure does love a good chase, if it makes her pursuer look like a fool. Besides, I don't want to get dressed to go out and drag her sorry ass back inside.

11:41. Still barking.

I'm glad (for her sake) we rescued her from the pound. I'm glad she's a good friend for our other dog. I'm glad she's around for the boys, so they learn about dogs. And it's reassuring to have a dog in the house (even a dumb one) when I am here alone with the kiddos. But if someone we knew wanted to give her a loving home, I'd definitely let her go. I'm just not appreciative of the finer points of dog ownership. The poor girl is really just a pain in the neck for me. (Shh, don't tell her! She already gets depressed because I can't give her the attention she used to get). Whenever she goes on to the great doggy beyond (hopefully after a long happy life) I will not be getting another dog. I'll stick with cats, thank you very much.

11:50. Quiet outside, finally. I'll go check to see if she's waiting to come in.

Nope. I called her again, but she is ignoring me. This is just a delightful way to top off a delightful evening, let me tell you.

This morning was fun- we had to hurry, but we made it on time to a birthday party for a friend of the boys'. They all had a blast, and I enjoyed meeting the other parents. It was really nice. Leaving was an ordeal- the boys were screaming and resisting with every tactic they could think of- but I managed. They conked out in the car, but Babyman screamed until I finally got on the highway- I swear I hit every single red light along the way. Tension mounting. He woke up when we got home, but the other two slept on so it wasn't too hectic getting everyone's needs taken care of. It was non-stop activity for me for an couple hours, but it wasn't hectic. Things even remained relatively calm through the afternoon and early evening.

But tonight, I was wound tighter, and tighter. . . the boys were sniping as usual, but twice Littleman got in trouble for actually hitting Sweetcheeks. ("But I didn't want him to do ___, and he did it anyway, so I hit him"). Sweetcheeks also fell off the back of the couch at one point. Babyman was fussy and refused to let me put him down at all. Even asleep, the moment he touched the bed (or anywhere else except for my arms) he instantly awoke crying. Littleman argued with absolutely EVERYTHING I said to him. Everything, even stupid stuff. Facts, opinions, directions, didn't matter- he argued. Sweetcheeks took a dump on the stairs. Ooooooh, it can be hard not to blow up over that. He did put his final little turdlet into the potty, so perhaps I should look on the bright side there. Right? Both boys refused to eat their dinner. I suppose they must be hungry, but I wasn't about to make them something else. They helped choose what to eat in the first place! And now, they are all finally asleep and my stupid, idiot dog won't come inside.

And I'm so tired I keep zoning out at the keyboard. I just realized that my finger had come to rest on the "return" key, and I was lengthening this post significantly with empty spaces. Oops.

Still, here is tonight's thumbs up: Bach's Rescue Remedy. This is how I survived the evening. That, a lot of deep breaths and a little chocolate. All wonderful stuff. I love Rescue Remedy.

12:20 am. Dog is barking again. Right about now, I'd happily wring her neck. OK not really, but I am having some serious thoughts that would bring PETA down on my head if I carried them out. Stupid, %@!&**! dog.

OK, it's been an hour since I started this- probably and hour and a half that she's been out there. Screw her. I'll try one last time, and then I'm going to bed. Billy can let her in when he gets home, whenever that will be.

We'll see if I have the balls to actually do that.
Stupid dog.

one of those days

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

one of those days Current mood: recumbent Whew. You know those days, when you rather wish you could just go back to bed and start over? Yeah. That's today. But despite it all, I've been fairly productive. OK, well I've gotten a few things done at least. Oh, and I would like to know: why does pregnancy have to be so damn uncomfortable? And what law of nature states that toddlers must not EVER, under any circumstances, let their mom have an uninterrupted phone converstaion? And why are simple changes so easy to take care of with USAA, and so despicably difficult with Wachovia? And why does the dog steal a 1/2 a brownie and get diarrhea the night before he'll be home with me all day, instead of at the studio? (Where others would have to clean the mess). Blah, blah. Well, I'm beginning to feel guilty. . . time to go take care of a few things downstairs before the boys wake. Uh oh, I think Littleman is stirring.

on toddler persistence, dog grooming and a writer's details

Monday, August 07, 2006

on toddler persistence, dog grooming and a writer's details Current mood: lonely There are few things as maddeningly persistent as a 3 year old. Often the maddening part is that whatever it is he is persisting in, makes no logical sense to me at all. From my utterly unenlightened adult perspective, this most irritating repetition is absolutely pointless. Perhaps the fact that it is irritating IS the point, but I hope not. I hope he is merely testing some parameter of his existence, and not deliberately pushing my buttons. Oh, wait- deliberately pushing my buttons IS a means of testing the parameters of his existence. Sigh. Knowing it has some sort of point doesn't really make it less irritating, though. I've been gritting my teeth and looking heavenward a lot more than I used to, these days. At least he is usually cheerful about it, even if I am not. Why is it that the fur of a dog's hindquarters is the part that most needs thorough brushing, when it is the part most dogs least like having brushed? I've been reading a Martha Grimes mystery novel. She is surprisingly little known it seems, and she is one of my favorite authors. She has a series of mystery novels featuring a Scotland Yard detective named Richard Jury, in case you want to look them up at your library. There are so many little things about her style that I enjoy. It seems every time I read another book in the series, I notice something else clever, interesting or skillful that she has done. For instance, the books are written in third person. The reader may follow Jury through the story, or any other character she chooses to send you with. Jury is a handsome man, with a certain inexplicable charisma. I noticed recently that while the reader is with Jury, the people (especially women) that he interacts with behave differently than they do when we are following a different character through the story- Jury's friend Melrose Plant, for instance. In Jury's presence, woman characters often primp in an automatic, distracted sort of way. The way Grimes includes this behavior is very subtle- I have read many of these novels, and only just noticed what has been going on. The effect is to very subtly reinforce what we know of our main characters, and sometimes to shed a small light on the peculiarities of bit players. When the reader is with Plant, most of these other characters lose this nervous behavior. (Though they may have different subtle reactions to Plant). It's very skillfully done, and I'm interested to note it because I've always thought characterization is one of Grimes' strongest points.