My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

[whitelop]

Well, today the hub is working so its just me and the child at home. When the hub gets home we're going to lowes so I can get some flowers. I'm going to put them in Foo's garden. I planted a lilac bush there and some black eyed susans, but I want to get some more stuff that really has some color, because the black eyed susans haven't come up yet because I planted them from seed. So I'm going to get some stuff that has some color and will look nice. That whole garden is just going to be a hodge-podge of stuff. I'm going to try to make it really pretty and something thats a nice place to look at in the yard, since its in the middle of my yard!
Then I need to dig the rest of my veggie garden. I started yesterday but I got tired and stopped, not to mention I had to go save the rooster from the rain. haha.

I stayed up late last night, like 1 am watching that movie. I know it doesn't seem late, but to me it is. I'm old. haha. Anyway, this morning my hub got up to go to work and I didn't want to get up. So I laid there and he came up and said he was leaving. I was like "oh I'm going to sleep in." That was my crazy sleep brain talking. Then I heard my son and I was like "oh yeah, I have a kid that wakes up very early on the weekends." Then I had to get up. haha.

THE ONE SATURDAY MY HUSBAND DECIDES TO WORK, THE STATE DECIDES TO LET THE PRISONERS CLEAN UP THE ROAD TRASH. SO MY HOUSE IS RIGHT ON THE ROAD, SO THEY'RE IN MY YARD FOR LIKE A MILE BECAUSE ITS ALL MY LAND! But at least they're getting the trash out of the tall grass that I refuse to get. haha. I called the hub and told him that!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Ellie setting a new trend in hats lol. She is a little monkey but you have to love that little black and white bun. I love colourful gardens and lots of flowers but hate gardening so when you eventually have yours just how you want it, you must take pics.

 

[lyndym]

Your coops look great!

So I'm sure I could go back through your blog and make a huge list but.. what animals and how many do you have over there??

 

[whitelop]

Lyndy, I have Ellie. 4 cats-Bronco, Cali, Smedley and Smokey.
I have the 14 chickens-Big Boy the roo, Hen the hen and then the 12 babies; only a few of them have names-Blanca, Blue Bell, Big Blue, Up, Down, Patchy Pirate. Then we have fish, the two blood parrots and the african catfish, I just call the parrots Big and Little and the catfish is Catfish or "holy sh*t you grow too fast!"
So really, not THAT many animals. If you think about most of them being outside. The fish don't really count because they're fish, but god, I do LOVE them. The cats are mostly outside being outside during the day and coming into to sleep at night. The chickens, are of course...outside. haha.

When I talk about the "fat cat" its Cali. She's my fat cat. haha. Smedley is my old cat and then Smokey is the crazy cat or the big cat. Those are the names I call them outside their real names.

But with having all the animals, there is a lot of upkeep involved and its time consuming to go around my house and yard doing different things. Cleaning out feeders and waterers everyday is difficult, feeding them A LOT, raking, yelling, checking fences, litter boxes for El, constantly feeding the cats and letting them in and out. haha. It takes up like half my day.

 

[whitelop]

I forgot to mention that last night I went into the Hallmark store with my friend and her mom and boyfriend. They have all their easter stuff for like 40% off, so I was looking through it for next year. I saw this heavy ceramic carrot shaped shallow dish that said "bunny treats" on it. So I got it for Ellie! I was laughing, like "I'm going to get the bunny treat dish for MY BUNNY!" It was funny, thats what her pellets are going to go in now!
Maybe I can find some cute water dish that is deep and heavy enough.
I paid like $6 for it. Hahaha. I'll buy a dish for the rabbit but I won't buy something for myself, something about me doesn't make sense to me. haha.

But we did go into Yankee candle and other than getting a migraine from the smells, I got to smell my favorite candle. Pineapple Cilantro. Its so good! I think I might ask the hub to get it for me for mothers day. And by ask, I mean I might hint at it and hope that he GETS the hint, and if not its okay. haha. But if he does get the hint, then I'll have a new awesome smelling candle. They're just so expensive! I only buy them if I have a mega coupon, which I haven't had in a few years. haha.
Its either a candle for mothers day or a machete. I haven't decided yet.

 

[Chrisdoc]

You are such a scream and that is a lot of animals to look after and feed...I find it time consuming with just three buns.

I´m glad Ellie´s got a nice new dish. i´m the same, spend loads on the boys instead of myself. I´ve just bought a memory card for my camera today and a case. That´s just so I can take more photos and lots of videos. I also saw the new cage which I´ll probably end up buying.

I love candles although I´ve now got rid of most of them as I don´t have anywhere to put them now as I´ve got rid of most of the shelving when I got the buns...but I still love to look at them and smell them. I also love the soap shop...I love going and smelling all of them.

 

[whitelop]

I just finished planting Foo's garden. I need to make a sign for it!
I got a lavender bush, a verbena, phlox and a salvia bush. I also filled in the gaps with some iris's that I pulled from the other side of the yard. I think its going to look really good once everything starts to grow. The verbena and the phlox will spread out and cover a lot of the ground and the salvia will grow into a nice bush so will the lavender. I like when things look full and overflowing.
Tomorrow I have to weed and edge the rest of the beds, that will be an all day job. Since there are flower beds along 3 sides of the house, the whole lengths of the walls. So far I've spent like $60 on flowers and I think I might need like one or two more things, but other than that I'm done! haha. This year was much easier than last year, money wise. I'm very particular when it comes to flowers, I only buy perennials so I don't have to keep buying flowers every year. This year I made a new bed, so I had to buy stuff, but that stuff will come back next year and be really beautiful. I also pay really close attention to the sun and how it hits the beds, so I know what flowers would do well where. Which ones need morning sun and which ones can handle the hot afternoon sun. I had to move stuff last year and I didn't like that, so after that I made sure that I was much more choosy when getting the flowers. I spend like an hour in lowes or wherever and only get like 2 things! haha.
Last year I spent hundreds of dollars on stuff, to fill the beds up. I built them all from hand and hand tilled everything. I'm very proud of what I've done and proud of my flower beds, if you couldn't tell! haha. I live on a semi-busy road so everything has to look good!
Tomorrow I also have to finish my vegetable garden and get that stuff in the ground. Its going to be a long day!
But flowers are my weakness and my happiness.

Plus when I dig in the dirt and find worms and grubs and stuff, I throw them to the chickens and they love it! They fight over worms and grubs, its hilarious.

And now I'm done tooting my own horn about my flowers! haha. I just love it. Do you guys like to plant stuff or have flower beds?

 

[JBun]

I'm not much of a gardener. I've found if I pay too much attention to my plants and take good care of them, they end up dying or not doing well. They do much better when I leave them alone and don't interfere. The best I manage to do is planting a few leafy greens for my bunnies. Some parsley, cilantro, green leaf lettuce, and carrot greens. And I don't usually eat any of it, it's all for the buns. My rabbits eat better then I do, haha. I do have a raspberry patch that the buns love, and I'll also pick some of the berries. If I can beat the buns(and other critters) to them.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

I like to garden, but I'm not too much of a decorative gardener. I like to plant plants that make food, specifically plants like watermelon, tomatoes, corn, peanuts, blueberries, strawberries, maypop, potatoes, cilantro, parsley, wheatgrass, and lots of other veggies. Than again we have a book called edible landscaping so I can make those fruit and veggie plants look decorative. Not that I don't like flowers I think they are very pretty and nice to grow, and part of my garden will probably be for flowers. I actually heard that marigolds help keep the bugs away from your other plants, so I'll definitely be planting them.

And you think you did a lot of work tilling and digging and planting those flowers, this soil is horrific here its going to have to be tilled to no end! Seriously, this stuff is rocky and really clay like. Ughh, I'm NOT looking forward to tilling it. I suppose it would help to have some top soil dumped in a truck on my garden. That's what my dad did, he had a bunch of top soil dumped on the ground and we grew potatoes in it. We harvested them and we got so much it lasted all throughout the winter. We use a lot of potatoes we like to make los of potatoe things here so it was certainly no waste. And it was fun digging them up, whenever we dug up a big one we were so happy. I think the biggest potatoes we got were maybe 10" long not to bad a size if you ask me.

 

[PaGal]

I love planting, flowers or veggies! I do love flowers though, all different sorts I think that's why I like the English gardens, the kind you always see at the cottages just because they are so full and so many different sizes and colors. If I had the money I could seriously go crazy. I am like you I choose only perenials because if I plant some this year then next year I can plant more but somewhere else and one day I may be done. Not that I want to be done.

I also hate to be given cut flowers because then they day after just a week of being pretty...total waste. I always say if you have to buy me flowers then buy them in a pot and I can keep them that way or replant and enjoy for much longer.

I haven't been able to plant too much here yet but I did plant two different phlox and some sky pencil bushes. I'm not a fan of round or square bushes. I like them different. Someone before us did plant some daffodils and a wisteria in the yard. It's hard here because we eventually plan to build a large porch on one side of the house and a patio on the other. I guess I could plant now and just deal with replanting later. Most would survive.

Oooh you must take pics of your flower beds and share one day.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Yes, Morgan pics of the flower bed are required.

I love plants and flowers but not into gardening. My friends house had a lovely garden but she had a gardener to tend to it for her. I will miss her roses,she has lovely red, pink and white ones and when they flowered, they looked so lovely and smelled so good.

My garden when I was little was great. My dad used to be a good gardener, we had tulips, daffodils and freesias as well as roses and on one side he had his vegetable garden with his potatotes, cauliflowers, cabbages, beans and loads more. I did help with that and did enjoy it but it and I do love going to my friends house, she grows veggies as well and there´s nothing like homegrown.

 

[whitelop]

There is nothing better than homegrown veggies! Especially tomatoes. I don't buy store tomatoes because they're all grown in hot houses and they aren't good. I wait until summer and get homegrown ones, either from me or someone else. They're SO much better. I like really juicy and acidic tomatoes.

I have like 7 rose bushes, they range from pink to dark red, some are yellow and one is coral. They're really pretty when they bloom. I have several hydrangeas and they're probably my favorite. My dad's girlfriend has a hydrangea and it blooms the darkest purple flowers I've ever seen bloom on one, I don't know whats going on with her soil, but its beautiful.

I'll take some pictures when I'm done edging all of the beds. I am pretty happy with the way Foo's garden turned out. I was unsure when I was doing it yesterday, but I looked this morning and I like it. I think it needs something else though. I like for stuff to be really full and over flowing, so it needs more stuff! haha.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Yes, homegrown is the way to go, all fruits and veggies taste better when homegrown. I was reading somewhere that they injected fish genes into tomatoes because they wanted them to grow better. Yuck, I wouldn't want to eat those tomatoes. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_tomato

Wow, you have seven rose bushes. We want to get rose bushes because we are thinking of getting a beehive and getting honey from it. We read that rose bushes are great for bees. Besides, the flowers are very pretty so two good uses for the rose bushes.

I can't wait to see the pictures, I bet your flowerbed is beautiful. Yes, I love overflowing flower beds they look so pretty. If you want to plant more plants you can choose from some of these pretty flowers: http://artsonearth.com/2009/06/the-15-most-beautiful-flowers-in-the-world.html

 

[Katielovesleo3]

I'm excited to see Foo's garden! Yes I do enjoy gardening and planting flowers in my beds but am I good at it? Not so much. And I don't know what would look good where and all that so I procrastinate, say I'm going to do it and wind up not doing it. I did plant some multiplying onions in my flowers beds and I also still have my flat parsley I am growing for Feebs and Buster-britches.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Katie, love the new nicknames for your two....especially Buster-britches :laugh:

Morgan, you have to post pics just so I can see a lovely garden...I will so miss my friends now she´s moved.

 

[PaGal]

I love homegrown tomatoes. Mostly I plant cherry tomatoes, the ones we plant are so sweet. Hubby can't eat them unless cooked but me and one of the girls just love them and can eat ten as a snack and still want more. She even packs them for a snack to take to school. I even make tomatoe sandwiches with them. It just takes more to fill the bread. Hydrangea if I am not mistaken grow blue or purple I think depending on the acidity of the soil We make our own spaghetti sauce and can it. With the cherry tomatoes we don't peel them because the skins are so small and thin they just cook down.

Hydrangea unless I am mistaken grow either blue or purple depending on the acidity of the soil I think it is. You can look it up. That might explain your friends being so purple.

One day I will be planting roses. Those are a must! I planted some at the last place we lived. Our first year here we only had time for renovating the house and building the garage, etc so we didn't even have a garden so last year most of our focus was on the garden so I didn't get to plant much else but hopefully will be able to do more this year. I am very happy that the phlox I planted looks wonderful and has grown a lot and the sky pencil bushes have grown as well.

 

[whitelop]

Yea, my soil is more alkaline than hers is so my flowers have more blue. I could change my soil by adding different things to it, to change the color of my flowers. But I don't want to go to that extreme because I still like the color that they are, but sometimes I just want that dark rich purple color. haha.

I can't really take much credit for making everything grow. I have really really great soil, its black and rich and well draining and filled with old cow poop and chicken poop. It makes anything grow and I can almost bring anything back from the dead with it. I just have to figure out which plant goes better in which bed because of the sun. I know when the sun hits where in the yard, because in planting, I like to get it right the first time! haha.

 

[whitelop]

So Ellie stayed in her cage yesterday, poor thing. She peed all over her cage! haha. AND she is eating an obscene amount of everything. I think I've given her more hay in the last two days than I have since she was a really little baby! I love when she eats this much hay though! She also really wants her pellets and I'm giving her 1/2 cup a day, thats pretty good. Its probably too much considering how much she weights. BUT she seems like shes grown a little bit! She doesn't seem AS small today! Its like staying in the cage and eating and not running helps to make her grow and gain weight.
Maybe she isn't stunted! LOL I'll try to get some pictures later, I have to clean out her cage...its a mess.
So she's going to spend the rest of the day out in the kitchen. She just gets into stuff and does bad things the longer she's out, but I wonder if putting her in her cage after she does something bad isn't helping? Like she starts chewing on my baseboards or whatever she's chewing on, then I put her in her cage and she gets out the next day and goes insane...but still does bad stuff. haha. I don't know if I'm doing this right! Foo was not a bad rabbit, she was a perfect rabbit and never chewed anything. Ellie chews everything. haha.
I'm going to call today and see how much the exams and blood tests are at the vet to go ahead and get that done before May when she gets spayed. Because she is definitely the kind of rabbit that HAS to be spayed to be in the house. She is the kind of rabbit that people get for their kids and then realize its chewing through everything and pooping everywhere and they put it outside or take it to a shelter, its rabbits like her. haha. How bad is that?!

On a personal note. Next week, I'll be starting a cleanse to get my body started eating healthier and start working out again. In the last 2 years I've really let myself go and I hate it! I started gaining weight before I got pregnant and then gained 20 lbs when I was pregnant which isn't terrible. But then after I had AJ I gained like 20 more. So in the last like 3 years I've gained like 60 lbs and its terrible! I hate it, I don't feel good and I definitely don't look good. So I'm doing a cleanse and I'm working out again! And eating healthier and trying to BE better.
I would like to be like I was when I was 18! haha. I didn't have a 6 pack or anything like that, but I was in good shape. I worked outside in a produce stand with a bunch of men and they treated me like a guy and didn't go easy on me. I lifted things and was sweaty all the time, then would play football with them or whatever. I could run and jump and play and work all day long and be fine!(all that with NO coffee ever, I didn't drink coffee then) I want to be like that again!
I'm 5'7 and that kind of weight gain doesn't go unnoticed on my frame. Now, I wasn't meant to be a tiny person or anything, BUT I wasn't meant to be this heavy! hahaha.
So I'm going for a 6 pack, its going to happen. I'm super excited about everything. If you guys are curious about my cleanse, I'll let you know what it is! Its not scary or anything, I'm still eating but its better food to eat! haha.

 

[whitelop]

I'm going to choke Ellie out.

She chewed through the water hose on my washing machine. I was on pinterest and I hear this WHOOOSSSHHHH sound and then her scurrying. I run in the kitchen and the water is running down my floor. I ran outside and pulled the fuse on my well and then had to get under my gross house to get the hose nozzle thing. UGH old house. Anyway, she's soaking wet. I need a new water hose. She's trying to kill me and I think she's winning.
My brain can't take it. OMG why is she like this? I threw her back in her cage and thats where she can stay until I get a metal x-pen because she lost her FREE IN KITCHEN privileges. I can't use the plastic one, its too bulky.

She is so bad.

2 Ellie - 0 Major Appliances

 

[PaGal]

Oh no! What a bad bunny! She is the poster child for bunny spays! Ha.

I know she would drive us nuts. Thumper has chewed our door trim and as much as we didn't like it and it's not safe for him, it has stopped and we knew we would be making our own door trim anyway when we renovate his room.

Are you sure she's not working for your local home improvement store?