Grow little garden, grow.

Don't you just hate it....

when you misplace your tail?

Fall Harvest

Our fall/winter garden yield is quite low... So far we have 1 radish and a handful of yellow pear tomatoes. Better luck next time :)

In the Garden and Around the Yard

Prepping and planting of the seeds for a fall/winter garden.

Lauren cutting some burlap to protect our cactus from the blazing sun.

Oops, too late. And yes, a cactus can actually die.

But never fear, a replacement has arrived.

One of our garden visitors, a tomato hornworm.

And a visitor in waiting - look closely.

They're Back

It's that time of the year again.... Their high-pitched buzz, and molted skins are telltale signs. No cicada artwork from Lauren this year, but she did collect a nice pile of their skins from the tree bark at a local park.

Garden Pests

Last week, Cole and I went out to check on our tomato plant and noticed the leaves were missing on several of the branches. Upon closer inspection we discovered.... the tobacco hornworm! And not just one, but ten! The kids picked them off one by one, and dropped them into a bucket of soapy water. A few more days and that tomato plant would have been no more.

Nature Walk

We've been taking a few evening 'nature walks', while the weather is still cool enough. Lauren likes to look for interesting items to pick up - flower petals, seeds, etc. Cole wants to walk up everyone's driveway....

For the Love of Nature

Today, Lauren brought home a lovely teal colored 8.5 x 11 piece of construction paper, adorned with cicada exoskeletons (and a few drawings). Apparently she (and Cole, and maybe others) have been plucking these little molted shells off the tree bark at school - and I've heard she's amassed quite a pile. She asked if I'd like one for my project life journal, but I said I'd settle for a picture :)

No sand? No problem!

Digging in the rocks is more fun anyway.

A Touch of Spring

Project Garden: Day 71

The harvest - radishes! They were about the only thing that survived, although we still have some hope for the tomatoes. Lesson learned: plant earlier next year....

Project Garden: Day 28

The peas and beans are in the lead. The cucumbers are sprouting second leaves. The radishes look pretty hearty.  The tomato prospects are a little questionable, due in part to Cole's agressive watering methods....

Project Garden: Day 8

I see green!  Germination for most of the seeds was 7-10 days, and nearly all have sprouted (still waiting on the tomatoes).  Lauren was really excited and wanted to touch them all.  We added some flowers to our mix today - California poppy and a wildflower mix - after another stop at the dollar store for some planters.  We were also on the lookout for a watering can - none at the dollar store, but amazingly we found 2 cute bright colored plastic ones at Tuesday Morning next door.  Cole keeps saying 'water plants! water plants!'

Project Garden: Day 1

Lauren has been learning all about seeds at school. And last week she redeemed 5 stars on her chore chart at home for a surprise, which happened to be 4 packs of seeds! Today we visited the dollar store, picked up some plastic planters, a trowel, and a few more seeds - and planted away.


We also made these little garden markers (printed out on the computer, and glued to plastic picks) so we could remember what we planted.


Lauren dropped the seeds one by one into the 3 rows of holes we poked in the soil.


Hopefully something will sprout, and maybe last at least till the beginning of summer? We'll see how long we keep up with the watering.....

Stormy Weather

Cole and Lauren check out the hail left by the storm that hit the valley today. Amazing to have such cool temps after a week of 100+ deg weather. I missed most of it while at work, but later saw the flooding, downed trees/branches, and even some power outages (including at the kids' school).

The Invasion

We have scads of these white-lined sphinx caterpillers in our neighborhood. You can see them up our street, all heading down the hill on a mission: to find some earth in which to burrow into and pupate. I'm surprised we've never seen or heard about them before in all the years we've been in Arizona, as apparently they can have some serious population explosions. Can't wait to see the ginormous moths take flight in a few weeks... eeewwww. In the meantime, watch your step.

On Cloud Nine

View of the morning sky on my walk into work today.

A Day at the Park

We made a visit to the Desert Breeze Park over the holidays. It was a little chilly that day, but lots of fun. Lauren rode on the train and carousel with Grandma and Grandpa. We also checked out the playground area, and she had such fun running up and down the ramp, to get to the slide (which she rode many times!) Just watching her made me feel exhausted, and I wasn't even the one chasing her. And on our way out, we visited the ducks in the pond - there were so many!

Leapin' Lizards!

We have this rather large lizard living somewhere in our backyard - it's much larger that the typical gecko we see. He comes out every now and then to bask in the sun - on a rock, on the wall, .... Here he is lounging on the cool deck near the pool.

Sitting Duck

Leaving work the other day, I encountered this duck all comfy and cozy in the parking lot. He looked lost if you ask me, and I didn't see any other ducks nearby. However, he didn't seem to mind me taking his photo with my cell phone as I drove by.