Thursday, March 27, 2008

Trying to find the routine again

Many thanks to all of you, dear blogging friends for your kinds words and sympathy after the loss of our dear Daisy. I guess all of us who have beloved pets know what kind of pain goes along with their loss and also the treasured memories we have of them to help us get through the painful parts.

We're swamped at work again with end-of-the-quarter activity and I think it's maybe a good thing that I'm too busy during the day to think about missing Daisy. It's a little harder when we get home, but at least Sophie is still there to console us. She doesn't seem to be missing Daisy too much yet, maybe she's still expecting to have her come back with the vet (like after Daisy had her dental surgery). For now she seems to be happy that she gets to lick off all the supper dishes and doesn't have to share anything with Daisy. I have noticed that Penny (our kitty) does seem to be missing Daisy though, even though they didn't seem to interact much, they would frequently sleep side by side. It's certainly going to be an adjustment time for all of us.


We seem to be seeing more signs of spring around here, so I finally got my garden seed order ready and the seeds from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa arrived yesterday. I also purchased a few packets of seeds locally and later this afternoon, I plan to get some of them planted in the little starter pots.

Not pictured are the yellow onion sets for the garden and Yukon Gold potatoes that I plan to try growing in garbage cans.

Now that I see all the seeds laid out here, I'm thinking I may have gotten a little overly ambitious about being able to take care of all of these this summer! It certainly will be a colorful garden though if my crops are successful.

I also got an e-mail message yesterday that my my Envirocycle Compost Tumbler has been shipped!



Here's the view out my dining room window this afternoon--grackles aplenty! Looks like they also emptied Mr. Cardinal's little tube feeder today while I was at work too. But did you happen to notice the most notable thing in this picture? No snow on the ground! HOORAY!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! all those seeds are yours, me thinks you are going to have to add a couple of raised gardens to get all that planted, it looks like a daunting task. Maybe I can help you can and freeze the garden produce.
We still have an impressive amount of snow in our yard, well you saw it all Sunday. My neighbor to the north said the snowbank in front won't melt 'til May. HA-HA I hope it melts before then.
Mom

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Your collection of seeds reminds me of all the seeds I have purchased. I can't wait until it dries up enough to get out there and get some planted.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mom,
I'll probably take you up on the canning & freezing offer when the time comes--or I'll just make sure to get some of the fresh-picked produce down to you.

Hi Lisa,
Hopefully your rainy weather will stop soon and you can begin enjoying spring properly!

Mary said...

NO SNOW! First time since...when? November?

Welcome the grackles! Stock up on the seed! Spring is here.

About those seeds...I'm too lazy to do seeds. But, I'll spend a wad of money in a few weeks at the garden center.

You are very ambitious, girl.

Sophie might enjoy being the "only dog" :o)

Mary

Anonymous said...

Very sad to hear about your Daisy. So sorry for your loss.

Mel said...

WOW! Lot of seeds, I sooo want to see them grow! As you said, colourful!!

Jayne said...

Yay! Grass at Ruthie's house! Hip Hip Hooray!!! :c) Can't wait to see that garden.

me ann my camera said...

How colouful all the seed packs look! As a kid I used to love looking at them in stores on turning display racks. Nice to see the view out of your dining room window onto your busy feeder area. Mr. Cardinal is outstanding amongst the group.

Carolyn H said...

I love the idea of trying to potatoes (or anything really) in garbage cans--not that I have any garbage cans. But still, something similar might work for me, especially if I only put a few things in the containers so I can move them to get the sunniest part of the day, which is sometimes in short supple here in the woods. Thanks for the idea!

Carolyn H.

Larry said...

I try to stay simple with the vegetable garden because I'm afraid I won't keep up with it.-Seeing those seed packets has me psyched up though.-I'm really sorry to hear about your dog.-I've grown very attached to most of the pets that I've owned and know how much it hurts when you lose them.

Mary C said...

Hi Ruthie - it's good to see it's planting time. My husband bought some potted veggies last week and now has them all planted. I think we have 3 or 4 different kinds of tomatoes, at least 1 cucumber, and 1 pepper plant. I'm so glad for you to see NO SNOW!

Marsha said...

What a colorful array of seeds, I can't wait to see the fruits (veggies) of your labors this summer.

Those grackels are emptying feeders here too...I kind of rate them with the starlings and house sparrows.

Meggie said...

Hey Ruthie: Stop by when you have a chance...I have an award for you.

Cathy said...

Oh Ruth - I'm so sorry about your sweet Daisy. We lost both our dogs within a month of each other a few years ago.

That pain is pretty tough.

Sending you a hug and wishes for warming breezes that allow you to get those wonderful seed packets spilling their contents into the waiting soil.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mare,
Our offical snow was 105 consecutive days with over 1" of snow on the ground....believe it or not, that wasn't a record! (it only felt like it)
I'm really looking forward to getting out in the garden!
(Sophie likes being able to lick ALL the dishes now!)

Thanks April....I have some great memories!

Hi Mel,
If they all grow, I hope to have plenty of pictures to share.

Hi Jayne,
Can't wait till that grass turns green too!

Hi M&MC,
Those seed displays draw me in like a magnet too.
The dining room window is my favorite birdwatching spot in the whole house.

Hi Carolyn,
I saw some of those collapsible refuse haulers at the store the other day. I think they might work even better than the hard plastic garbage cans. Watch for updates on the progress of this potato project!

Hi Larry,
Hopefully I can stay psyched up through the entire growing season.
Thanks for your kind words--pets are pretty special.

Hi Mary,
I look forward to seeing pictures of your garden produce!

Hi Marsha,
Those darn grackles! I put a less expensive blend in all the ground feeder trays and they usually stick pretty close to those feeding areas. Since I took this picture, I've filled the little tube feeder with just safflower seed. Grackles don't like it, but finches, chickadees, and cardinals do, so now they're the only visitors to that feeder.

Thanks Meggie!

Hi Cathy,
I'm so thankful I still have one doggy here at home. I can't even imagine how sad you must have been when you lost your two so close together!
Thanks for the hug and caring words!