Thursday, May 24, 2012

Can I freak out now?

Tomorrow is El B's last day of kindergarten.  He's been sad for days, and I think I may have to schedule a little freak-out time for me.  He's loved this school (it's a preschool mostly, French-immersion, and this was their first year with a kindergarten class), he's learned insane amounts of French and loves his teacher.  This fall he'll be changing schools and starting all-day school, and he doesn't do transitions well.  (Neither do I, apparently.) 

At least he'll have summer camp with his current teacher, plus weekly get-togethers with some of the kids in his class.  And  hopefully a couple of his favorite classmates will be going to the same school we're sending him to. 


But for right now, I may need to freak just a bit.  I just have to find somewhere to send him while I have a little panic, because he's also a worrier.  Oy. 

I'm so not ready for him to be six, or in all-day school, or first grade.  The world really needs a pause button.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Just a little garden/flower update.

The delphiniums survived and are blooming, but they're drowning in a sea of coreopsis, so I need to move something this fall.  The perennials are doing well, the so-called annual snapdragons survived the winter, and we're knee-deep in volunteer tomatoes.  The only things doing well in the garden are the volunteer potatoes and maybe the peas.  But, I didn't plant enough peas, so we've basically got enough to snack on in the garden (18 plants isn't enough),. 

Also, I ate two pods of peas this weekend, and I think I'll have to add peas to the list of foods I can't eat raw.  Pretty sure it's Oral Allergy Syndrome, from what Google came up with.  Certain foods, if I eat them raw, make my mouth itch.  So far, the list includes carrots, apples, peas, cherries, and a couple others.  Peas are new, cherries were added last year (after I found Rainier cherries on sale, darn the luck).  In other words, all the cheap, easy-to-find snack veg are off-limits right now.  If it gets to the point where watermelon and broccoli are included, things will be dire.  Cooked foods do'n't bother me (another signs of OAS).  I g uess it's time to go see an allergist.

Anyway, I planted some things last night:  2 gallons of cranberry ice dianthus that I got for Mother's Day (which had already bloomed when I got it), the last two annual dahlias that were getting leggy in the house, 3 green bell peppers, some nicotiana, cucumber seeds, watermelon plants, and canteloupe plants. 

The mailbox bed is full of volunteer marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos, but they're all runts.  Not sure if it's a fertilizer issue or a water issue.  The primrose is looking more like a weed - it's planning a coup.  The delphinum seed never came up, but the peppers (bell, some dwarf) are ready to harden off.  The watermelon and pumpkin seedlings are all leggy and scrawny, but I'll plant them if I can find a spot.  Can't hurt.  Need to start the milkweed and figure out what went wrong with the delphies.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Holy Cow

Just watched the season finale of NCIS (will watch LA tomorrow) and holy crap.  It's going to be a long long summer.  And as far as I've heard, David McCallum just signed a 2-year contract, but even knowing that, who knows what's going to happen to Ducky, much less everyone else. 

I hate cliffhangers.  I've had too many shows get cancelled and leave me hanging. 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Garden Failure

This year's actual garden (as opposed to plants in general) is shaping up to be at least a partial failure.  I've planted spinach 3 freaking times in the past two months, and what's out there now would maybe be enough to feed a small gerbil with no appetite.  I don't know why it won't grow, but it's making me angry and frustrated.  The only thing I've actually grown and eaten so far is about 6 radishes.  Spinach and lettuce are failing spectacularly, and the peas are iffy.  Something snacked on part of the first batch, and the second batch is just sort of stalled out.  I may blame the weather - it was a freakish 90 degrees on March 30, which may have done in the spinach.  And it's going to be upper 80s the rest of this week, so I'm not sure planting more spinach right now would do any good.  I'm ready to rake up the first round and replant with fresh seed, but I don't know if it'll grow enough before it gets hot to be worthwhile.

The big plan was to have at least something from the garden for El B's birthday party at the end of May.  Not gonna happen, I don't think.  The peas are blooming and may be ready by then, but there's like 15 plants, and 20+ people in the family.  One pea each? 


This sucks.