How's Robb?

… It's good to know that we live in a neighborhood with rich long-standing traditions. Once again, it's time for the annual celebration of  Tuba Sunday.  One family celebrates by hiring a brass band that starts playing at 7am. And everyone else lays in bed, wondering what the hell is going on. You think I'm kidding? It happened in 2013. In 2012. In 2011. And in 2010. My goodness, we've lived here a long time!

... Our kitty Linguine is a Very Dignified Cat.  She may have grown up on a dairy farm, but that doesn't mean she has a lot of patience for chickens.  I had to laugh when I saw her giving the Death Glare to dopey little Lydia. I tried filling in the holes our chickens have dug all over our garden, but what I actually did was top off their holes with Particularly Interesting New Dirt.  They swarmed all over the New Dirt.  Dug into it with a frenzied intensity.  And at the end of the day, the holes were four times larger than they had been before I filled them in.  Oh, chickens.... When the hens weren't tearing up the garden, or hiding from the red tailed hawk who was screaming over our yard this weekend, they were sunbathing.  It's really quite endearing to see a hen spread her wings in a sunbeam and bliss out. Generally, the cats and chickens work hard at ignoring each other.  No pesky hen will stand in the way of an Important Nap.  No sir. I th

... This past weekend, I finished grafting my fruit trees.  If my goal was to make the garden look like it belonged to Crazy People, I succeeded admirably.  Something about hanging labels made of cut-up soda cans, and sticking cling-wrap flags on all my trees' branches makes me wonder if it won't be long before I'm building God's throne-room out of tin foil and light bulbs . The weather was particularly mild this weekend, and so Robb and I tackled our much-neglected garden.  Once again, I have utterly failed to grow broccoli.  I don't know what it is about my garden and cruciferous vegetables.  With the exception of kale, every vegetable I plant that's in the cole/brassica family dies a miserable death.  Without fail, they refuse to grow at all, and eventually bolt.  Sad.  Really sad.  I tore out my pathetic broccoli, and spent several hours digging up the never-ending crop of Italian lords-and-ladies .  It's a shame we can't eat those, beca

... While much of the rest of the country has been experiencing astonishing snowfall, California has been in the midst of a protracted drought.  According to the California Department of Agriculture , California’s agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities. The state produces nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. Across the nation, US consumers regularly purchase several crops produced solely in California. Without water, the entire nation's food supply is in peril.  So, we were delighted to finally get some rain this past week.  One week of rain is not nearly enough to solve the water supply issues for the state, but every little drop is appreciated. I've been alternately really busy and really sick over the past few weeks, and so it was pleasant to have a Very Quiet Weekend At Home.  I parked myself on the couch and knit and knit and knit.  I watched more television than I probably watched in the last six months.  I refilled my person