Through The Mud Clearly

The cat stealthily creeps through the backyard jungle searching for her prey. She stops often. Perhaps to sniff the air for the scent of predators; or humans. Once satisfied there is no threat; she continues her pursuit. Suddenly she stops. A great hunter meow is heard throughout the ever changing tundra. The birds stop singing...there is danger afoot! The cat approaches the barrier fence and hunches down...silently observing her next meal. She stares. She stares some more. Her tail is twitching with anticipation. She continues to stare. She falls asleep.

Well, not really. But, the other day when I came home and found my cantaloupe plants ripped from their mounds; I did think about getting a BB gun (just thought about it for a few seconds) :) It appears I am at war with pigeons and fast growing grass! The grass is no big deal. I just go out every evening and pluck it out...too bad I can't get the birds to do that! So anyway, today I stopped at the local home improvement/garden center and picked up some chicken wire. I fashioned plant cages out of it. Now the garden looks like a concentration camp. At least its not barbed wire! I sure hope it works...otherwise I might seriously consider that BB gun.

I have 2, count em, 2 cantaloupe plants sprouting and my lone tomato plant has a bloom! Still waiting for the squash and beans to arrive. The corn should be about ready to transplant in a week or so...I held back some of the seeds just in case corn doesn't enjoy being transplanted either. The unknown plant...which could be a flower...is doing well also. Marmalade enjoys sitting in the garden; fortunately she doesn't sit on any of the plants!

I recently transplanted my sunflowers into my garden. They were about 6 inches tall and very healthy looking. Notice how I said "were". I came home the other day and noticed that every single one of them had slumped to the ground and in various stages of whithering. How can this be?? I thought sunflowers liked the sun...that's why they are called "sunflowers"!! Well, after some research on the information super highway I found out they don't like to be transplanted; but prefer to be sowed directly into the dirt. OK now I know. I am going to get another pack of seeds and start over.

I have been working on my garden since last Saturday when I "broke ground". It is actually beginning to look like it could be a garden and I should be able to plant tomorrow. Anyway, I was out there yesterday evening doing some "de-clumping" and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my cat Marmalade was digging in the garden. Great! she has finally decided to help! But, (no pun intended) I quickly discovered that she has decided it is not a garden; it is her very own giant litter box!!! I wonder if this would be classified as "organic gardening"?! I may have to dig her a "special" cat area!

This morning one of my coworkers calls me and tells me they are going to play the biggest practical joke ever and I needed to help them do it. I told Pam; sure what do I need to do? She and Joan were the instigators. The joke would be on Sara. Pam was bringing in a specimen cup and Joan was bringing in some sort of yellow liquid. My role in this would be to fill the specimen cup with yellow liquid and take it to Sara in her office she shares with Joan. Joan would have a mini cam and would be filming the incident. I would tell Sara that one of her clients dropped off the specimen and Pam would grab the cup and say something like "this looks diluted", take the cover off, smell it, then drink it. Gross! So anyway; I get the "equipment" and to make it more believable I warmed it in the microwave, put the cup on a pad of paper (after spilling a small amount to make it look like the container had leaked), and donned a pair of latex gloves. I entered the office, gave my spiel and said this is disgusting and left the office; (listening in the hallway). There was much discussion about how the kid was supposed to go to a drug testing center to leave a specimen, not bring it to the office! Pam then picked up the cup and after commenting about how weak it looked; she drank it! After much screaming etc...laughter broke out at the realization that it was all a joke. I know it is sick...but it was also very very funny...I love my job!!

I have this great big backyard and Karen said I could do whatever I wanted with it. She suggested I plant a garden. I have never planted a garden but have always wanted to do so. So, a couple of weeks ago I bought some seeds and a little starter kit. I planted sunflowers, tomatoes and cantaloupe. A few days ago they all started to sprout! Uh oh that means I had better get busy preparing the garden. My first thought was to plant this huge "grandiose" garden. I then decided a huge garden would be way too much work so I decided to do something else. I decided to try my hand at "container gardening". After considering this for a day or two; I decided against it. My decision was based on the fact that I would have to buy containers and soil. Why go to that expense when I already have the container (yard) and the soil in my own backyard?! So yesterday I decided where to put my garden and what size it should be. I decided it would be 10ft x 10ft. A nice size, and I can always expand it if I wanted. I thought about renting a rototiller to dig it. Then I decided against it...after all it is only 10 x 10...how hard can it be? People, people, people, I should have rented a rototiller!!! Digging a garden manually is HARD WORK no matter how small it is going to be. I spent a long time working on this yesterday. My cat was out there watching (supervising) and never lifted a paw to help! Every now and then she would come over, stand in the middle of it, meow and walk away. Well, I didn't get it all dug yesterday; but I plan to finish it this week because I need to transplant my "crop" soon! Oh, by the way, every muscle in my body is screaming "are you insane?" Today is an Advil day. Also, I will post progress pictures (PPP) as soon as I can figure out how to get them from my camera to my blog. Any help on that would be appreciated!

For the past couple of weeks I have been really, really tired. I figured it was related to job stress and the stress of moving. Probably some of it is; but this morning I learned the main reason for my tiredness. I woke up and looked at my alarm clock. It read 7:00am. Wow my cat let me sleep in this morning! I wandered into the kitchen to make coffee and noticed all 3 clocks in the kitchen said 6:00am! I then proceeded to check the other clocks...they all agreed with the kitchen time. I then realized I had actually been getting up an hour earlier than normal...probably since I moved. Somehow my clock got messed up. My normal wake up time is 4:50am Monday -Friday. My alarm goes off...I get up. So it has actually been 3:50am when I have been getting up! No wonder I have been sooooo tired. I thought the mornings had seem longer than normal, but really didn't pay any attention to it. I actually was able to accomplish a lot of unpacking etc... I reset my clock to the correct time. I am thinking about taking a nap later!

....and I am NOT on it!! Whew. But, I do feel bad for those who are. Oh....that would be the RIF list (layoffs).

Today I walked into the breakroom and noticed a strange looking object on the counter. At first glance it appeared to be a wad of thread or oddly shaped dryer lint. However; on further observation, I discovered it was a small, flattened lizard! I left it there to see if anybody would notice it. Later I went back in the room to find that someone had seen it. They put it on a papertowel with the words "feed me" at the top of the towel. At the bottom was written "too late". I don't know about you; but I found that amusing and just thought I would share. Oh...it is still there!