Sorry for the nahhsty glare of the camera on this shot.guess it may be time to find someone who knows how to take a picture for REAL and then download it for me -- This is one of my "girls" and I did have fun with her...

And I've been away for a spell, now, haven't I? There has been so much going on that it almost makes me feel dizzy -- lots and lots of things around the house, lots and lots of things around the yard, the garden, the various odds and ends of day to day living. Most of it was just too much at the time and so I got totally swallowed by it all. And now today I'm gathering my strength and getting back online and hoping that the rest of the summer will go much smoother. Maybe it was all because the start of Summer came along, and sometimes just the event of the Summer Solstice is enuf to throw many many things into a State...sometimes good, and for some people it throws them into a tizzy -- I know of a Few people who went into said Tizzy, and I'm not too sure yet if their just right now or not. Only the next few dayz will tell. I'm just glad that I've gotten out of the line of fire from their deal, and am here to tell. Hopefully They will get better.

Lots of things are in the Works in the Art space...there are a batch of Wormwood stems drying out on the floor, and so The Dog has had a field day trampeling (boy oh boy is that a bad spelling...) all the leaves into the carpet. But the good thing is, that as good as the herb smells, every time that ol' dog smooshes more of it on the floor, the better the room smells. OH!! And speaking of The Dog -- This is a No Lie, This Really Happened Thang...

A couple weeks ago, while I was getting a batch of green beans up and running, I was happily standing in part of the vege bed, minding my own business, watering the beans, and generally having a very nice day, thank you very much...Then, while the neighbors daughter was having her graduation from High School Party, one of the local little neighborhood BRATS who likes to drive 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, took it upon himself to just up and FLOOR HIS CAR THRU THE NEIGHBORHOOD...couldn't tell if it was 45 or so, but suffice to say it was Way over the posted 25. So, if that wasn't enuf...while I'm in my garden having my Good Moment, here once again comes The Neighborhood Monster, backing up out of the neighborhood park across the street from our house...flooring the car as fast as it could go in reverse..got to the middle of the street, turned the car down the side street, and floored the car once again down the street. Me, being me, totally lost it (after making sure there were no people in the way to get run over by The Idiot) and screamed at the kid and who ever was in his car "SLOW DOWN!!!" Some dame in the passenger seat said, "ok..." like it was all a joke.

Now, what this has to do with the Dog, your asking? Well, last time I got Pis*** off at the kid, he threw raw eggs all over the side and front of my car, all over the back door to my house, and all over the wall of the house. And, if THAT wasn't enuf, 4 dayz later, he and his pals threw 5 or 6 40 oz. beer bottles all over in my yard. Yes, this person has EARNED the nickname Monster. So -- after I yelled at the kid, I immediately realized I'd be in for IT...I knew he'd do something else again...SO --- long about 4 days later, I took my youngest to the herbal store to get something for his never ending cold and sore throat. (That's another story but keep with me here...) We got back to the house, checked on the Dog to make sure she was ok under her little favorite tree in the backyard, which she was....and went over to another herbal store so I could get some of my vitamins. We came back to the house, and while the youngest went to check on The Dog, I made a quick call to The Husband jus' to let him know what was going on.

While on the phone, I see my youngest take off tearing down the street on his bicycle...and I start looking for The Dog in the backyard, and am suddenly realizing she's not in there...I mean NOWHERE...I start to think, well, I am just about half blind, but now, just wait a minute...And about the same time as I'm thinking this, here comes the youngest tearing into the yard saying GET YOUR KEYS!! THEY'VE TAKEN THE DOG!!!

My knees immediately turned to jelly, and more or less my remote control, I grabbed said keys, got in the car and drove off down the street, asking 3,305 questions of my son ~~ Both the backyard gate and side yard gate were shut, but for the first time EVAH the backyard gate hadn't been LOCKED...and by the looks of things, somebody came in thru the gate, grabbed the Dog, drug her out threw the side gate, and let her run off without her collar (we still haven't found the collar..) ~~ We found the poor thing down a couple houses on another block, tired, hot and panting in somebodys yard. The youngest had a TIME getting her to get in the car..tying her leash around her neck to lead her to the car. She was a MESS and I was nearly beside myself.

Remember what I said about The Monster doing things when provoked? Well...even tho most people would have called the Police and made a notice (Or whatever it's called) I realized that I couldn't ~~ Why? ~~ because said Neighborhood Monster has a father AND mother, who work for the City Police Dept. ~~ And, yup, if somebody makes a report about their Beloved Person, there is never anything done about it...Or, better yet, (As happened to my youngest one time) the father comes to the house, and proceeds to yell, curse, scream and threaten the person who he thinks would bring some sort of "Pain" to his Monster ~~ In other words, I was Sc***** ~~ and without so much as a kiss...

So -- now the back yard gate is Firmly Locked when we leave the house...and the only way we could figure out how the monster knew we were gone, was when I realized that over at the park I mentioned earlier, were a carload of his friends, sitting and watching our house...Without even knowing it, we were sitting ducks....Sigh...Such a warm fuzzy feeling I'm getting just remembering the whole thing...

And now I'm getting thru the start of the week -- got the veges fed with a good dose of Compost Tea -- soaked them all really good, because this week is supposed to get HOT ~~ weather people say 95 or so in 2 days..then I went to The Big Box Chain Hardware store an got some organic spray for the bugs in the garden..I've used one particular brand for Years and tho I could not find a concentrate to blend with water, I still found a spray to use, so I'm happy. All the plants got a good spray, and there were lots of small white flies and some other Things I could't tell..but they flew away and hopefully For Good...

But for now I must go and tend to some other things...and get some water to drink, and see what kind of mail is waiting for me...

Lady of The Tulips ~~ who has realized that there has not been one inch of carpet vacuumed in her sones room for probably far longer than she honestly wants to consider...and I''m sitting in said son's room....hmmmm...