Puppies!!

We got another puppy a couple of weeks ago! Her name is Trixie -- she's the white one. The "brindle" dog is Rhoda, who we adopted in January. They have become BFFs, although Trixie seems to be amused by chomping down on Rhoda's ear as they run around the yard together. Rhoda has been very patient so far...
In other news, my humble little bunch of orange flowers has totally exploded into a jungle of cosmos! They are cosmos, as it turns out, and not larkspurs. That shows how much I know about plants.... but I'm learning! I've also planted some lamb's ear, REAL larkspurs, and chinese forget-me-nots. We'll see if anything pops up!

You Betcha I'm Thrilled!

I have really, really missed Sarah Palin being in the news over the last few months. So when she made her big announcement on Friday, I immediately resumed my election season habit of switching between all the cable news channels on TV while tracking the latest online news reports on my laptop. Today I signed up for a CNN email alert for any story containing the word "Palin." I am hooked! Again!!

Sarah Palin fascinates me. I love how she sometimes begins to answer a question in a very logical manner, but her response always snowballs into some incoherent, rambling babble. There have been multiple times where I've had to look up a transcript of an interview/speech just so I could try to figure out what exactly she was trying to verbalize to America.

Here is one of my favorite parts of her weird speech on Friday:

My choice is to take a stand and effect change – not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities – and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.

By the way, you can watch the video here (she doesn't get to the point until 12 minutes in... you know how she is) and read the transcript here. Hearing her talk reminds me of a Michael Scott quote from the Office: "Sometimes I start a sentence and I don’t even know where it is going, I just hope I find it along the way."

Well, Sarah Palin, I once again had to read your transcript to understand what the hell you were trying to communicate to the public. But regardless of how little sense you make, I sure am happy to hear from you again.

Cannibalism!

I am house sitting again for the "chicken house" -- although this summer they've also added guinea pigs and ducks to the mix. That brings the grand total of animals to 30 -- counting the fish, parakeets, cats, and Buddy, the cute little dog that tinkles on his front paw every time he pees.

This house is far enough out of town that is is also home to a WHOLE BUNCH of bugs. Bugs I have never seen before that look like they are more native to Costa Rica than Chattanooga. There was one large beetle? roach? tarantula? in the driveway the other night that I thought about taking a picture of so I could identify it, but I thought the flash might startle it and I had no idea if it could fly or bite or lay eggs under human skin, etc.

Today, though, I went to check the mail and happened upon something right out of National Geographic! On the handle of the mailbox there were two praying mantises. One of them was bigger and the other one wasn't moving. I thought they were mating until I realized the smaller one was completely DESICCATED! His abdomen was split open and nothing was left inside. Also, his head was gone. The female looked really satisfied.

Giving Plants Another Chance

Some of you know about my relationship with plants. It's very unhealthy. I don't like them because most of them make me sneeze, and they don't like me because I kill them accidentally.

Let me tell you the story of my aloe plant. Last fall, I bought an aloe at a fundraiser on campus. Apparently, aloe plants are super easy to take care of, but mine just wasn't looking too hot after I'd owned it for about a week. I thought it needed more sun so I left it outside one day with the absolute best intentions... unfortunately, it got below freezing that night and I forgot to bring the plant inside. I brought it in the next morning, and it looked okay... until it melted.
This is not the only plant I've murdered. Maybe you remember last summer, when I went on a plant killing spree at two homes where I house-sat. I really don't have the best track record with plants. Well, all of that is changing! I have recently taken pity on the garden in front of our house. It hasn't been weeded or watered or anything in probably eight years. I decided to try to give it a makeover, but I didn't know where to start. So I went to my grandmother.

My grandmother is a wonderful gardener, and last week when I told her I was going to give gardening a try, she took me outside to her garden. She pulled up a few young larkspurs that hadn't bloomed yet. All I had to do, according to her, was put them in my garden as soon as I got home, water them, and then leave them alone. I didn't believe her, but I tried it anyway. (She even called me later at home to make sure I'd really watered them... she knows I'm dangerous.) And then yesterday, LOOK WHAT I WOKE UP TO!
Holy moly, I grew something!!! I am ecstatic. HAPPY JUNE, EVERYONE!