Sunday, January 26, 2014

Sunshine in Seattle, Tiny attack rooster, January garden prepping,

This is the follow up to my CFL rant.  Friday was beautiful, warm, dry and sunny here in the Puget Sound.  Jimmy and I got brave enough to wander outside where we  sort of cleaned out the barn and then stacked a load of firewood in there.  We rewarded ourselves  with a cup of coffee on the porch.  While we were on the porch I  casually started  cleaning out one of the flower containers I was sitting next to.  Then I cleaned the next one.   Then I noticed how scraggly the honeysuckle was looking and went and got the clippers and trimmed it down.    And suddenly we were in gardening mode.  We wandered over to the vegetable beds and started cleaning and turning them. All 16 chickens were following us around  and as we pulled old stems and vines from the beds  they came behind us and turned over the soil.  We dumped last years garden containers into the vegetable beds  and stacked them neatly.  We did a bunch of little things that we should have done last fall.  Altogether we were working outside from 10 am to about 3 pm.  I should have been too tired to go to class but I was energized and ready  to jump around on stage.  Its amazing what a little light can do for the constitution.  The most amazing thing?  Jimmy and I did it all  without one single argument!  We  managed to agree on our garden plan for this coming spring.  Its going to be great!  Jimmy got a chainsaw  from DBB for Christmas.  Which means there will finally be sufficient light over the vegetable beds We also agreed  to move the herb garden and put high sun vegetables there.    Old Mrs McDougal had flowers in every sunny spot in the yard.  They are all coming up and  vegetables are going in.  The first year we moved in we didn't have enough time to get everything  in place that we wanted and we didn't really understand  when , where and how our sunlight would move around.  Last year Jimmy and I had completely different ideas on what need to be done and how it needed to be done.  So, mostly last spring and early summer, we bickered and argued and nothing got done.   We have finally reached a middle ground and I think this year will go smoothly (as smooth as it can for the two of US).  We have identified that part of our problem when it comes to working together to get things done is that we are both artists with artistic temperaments.   Which wouldn't be a problem except that we have completely different aesthetics.  He thinks linear. I think circular. He thinks everything has to be connected to everything else. I think every thing  should have its own little space. He thinks big picture. I think  four square feet at a time.  He thinks water hoses are ghetto . I think water hoses are a brilliant invention.  I think Arnie (the tiniest rooster in the world) is obnoxious.  He thinks Arnie is entertaining.    He thinks its funny that Arnie charged the Fed Ex guy.  I think its time for chicken soup.   See why we  bicker over everything?
But, this year there is hope.  We have met in the middle over most of our  gardening  needs.  The ones we just cant seem to agree on we have split up.   Some  parts of the garden are mine and some parts are his. By agreement we leave each others private space alone.  Arnie stays out of the freezer that way.  I gave Arnie to Jimmy early on because he was the fourth rooster to emerge and destined for the soup pot.   Like all things tiny and spunky.... Jimmy fell in love with him.    I cant say that I will stay completely out of his relationship with Arnie..... Cuz if the Fed Ex  guy refuses to deliver  again.......? 

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