Stop that annoying barking

I snapped this picture the other day of the cats.
Fuzzy the kitty formerly known as Little Cat and Halle the wonder kitten

What were they seeing? What commanded their mutual attention? What made a rambunctious kitten stop in her tracks, sit and ponder?

You guessed it. The Travelocity Gnome. Here he is in the window  that lights the upstairs hallway. I wonder what he is telling the cats. I hope that he is warning them to stay off the furniture.

The Gnome Home Invasion

Shocking isn't it?

He has invaded my bedroom.
This is the desk that sits in front of my bed. I use it for makeup, for hair styling and in a pinch a dining table. On it sits my TV. In it I gather all of my hair products. There are tons of the stuff. I am a girl after all. It is supposed to be a computer desk. I have repurposed it. It works better as a TV stand/vanity/storage.

The gnome has my glasses out. Perhaps, he perused the summer issue of Real Simple magazine. I only ordered the ad dominated magazine for a school fundraiser. That girl down the street is so cute.
Or maybe, the gnome completed some light calisthenics with the one pound weights. I personally use them while walking on my rebounder when I am not knitting and walking on my rebounder.

You stopped reading didn't you? You have no idea what I am referencing.

A rebounder is a mini trampoline. If you are as amazing as I am, you can walk or jog on the rebounder while crocheting or knitting. I use my project bag to hold the project and relieve any pressure that the rebounder would create while bouncing. I used to watch TV and rebound. I felt that I was wasting time. Today, I can complete a WIP and work up a sweat in one motion.

Urban Rebounding Workout

Urban Rebounding Workout

I see that my "Bus Stop Crimson" nail polish has caught his attention. I feel pretty sexy when wearing that shade of red. I would take a picture of my toes for you but I am in need of a pedicure.

In the back, the tin of Lavender scented lotion bar from my favorite vendor, Natural Bathtime Essentials.

He would do best to leave it alone.

Well, I guess his presence in my bedroom means that he has left the garden for the Fall. I will watch him show up in various locations around the house. I just hope that he wipes his feet.

I want to be alone with my yarn

I have been crafting.  I simply have failed to mention it.  I am still upset with myself for abandoning the tank top.  I had planned it to be a green with white trim top and I ran out of green.  I had sadness.  I did not have the heart to redesign it.  I will pick it up again in the Spring. It will be white with green.  I regret showing it to my roommate.  She probably thought that she would have worn it this summer. 

I began a scarf for Trey, since he asked for it. 
He has excitement for this scarf.  I am excited for him. I hope that I do not let him down.  When did needlecraft come with so much baggage?

I picked up a skein of yarn from See Jayne Knits for no reason than because I had some money.   This yarn is called Lumberjack.  I love it.  I have decided to make my first pair of socks out of it.
The latest issue of Crochet! arrived last week or so. 

I am back to working on my winter wrap.  I hope that I finish it in time.  The white spot is a piece of 8X11 sheet of paper.  It should give you an idea of just how massive it is.  And it is only 50% completed. I have transitioned to the second color. It will have three colors by the time I have it completed. 

dd

My stash.  this year, I removed it from under my bed and displayed it on the bookshelf.  I planned to discourage random yarn purchases by seeing my stash more often.  It has worked. I do not purchase nearly as much as in the past.  I love the clear bins. I can see everything. 

And here he is.  The gnome is making a statement about my landscaping.  His presence here tells me that he wants me to seed and water the front lawn. We are in a stalemate. 
 I composed a poem for him and all others who have asked me to do something about my lawn this summer.  (Dad, Uncle Curtis, Dude, Cousin L, co-worker, neighbors, etc)

I have no lawn.  

It will not grow

The lawn's not green

No reason to mow

It won't grow for rain

Not even for sun

The neighbors, they complain
What's to be done

It has fertilizer

It has seeds

Yet all that's there

Are some weeds

I have no lawn.  

It will not grow

The lawn's not green

No reason to mow

By the way
Green Eggs and Ham turned 50 this year

Happy Labor Day

I think the gnome wants bar-be-que.

Yardwork and Tar

I have not posted due to the start of everything.
The sorority year.
The academic year.
And Fall allergies.
You are welcome.
I did have some work done on the house recently.  I hired my uncle to dig up the front yard and waterproof it.  He gave me two days to prepare the yard.  I wanted to link you to some of my old posts about the yard work I had done in 2005. Unfortunately, those posts went away when Yahoo 360 turned off. 

I had to do some foliage removal.
I dug out the Grandpa's peonies. I hope that I found all of the root ball.  I removed the Easter lilies and the Asian lilies.  I left the sedum. It just grows like crazy anyway.   

I used the pitchfork and removed all of the other  lilies. The sage. Everything.  I only left the clematis. 

I repotted everything while the men did their work.








It took them a few days.  They leveled out the yard when they completed their tasks. Unfortunately, the noodleheads emptied the dirt out of my POTS in order to level the yard.  I yelled at them. I asked them why did they not use the dirt behind the garage. My Uncle's worker informed me that he did not want to leave holes in my yard.
I thought that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard.  The men had watched me dig out my plants and pot them.  Watched me.  So why would it be a good idea to empty them out????? The patch of land behind my garage is about 3 feet wide and is nothing but a dumping ground for non-compost material. Besides the compost bin is back there and full of dirt.

  Oh look, this is my fifth year at my house and still no grass.
Stupid grass.

I have been finding perennials on sale. Look at this hibiscus that I found for $5.00. I am not going to replant the peonies here. I am going to move them to another location. I am looking for yellow coneflower that isn't 13 dollars and red coneflowers.  I would love a coneflower garden. 

You can see from the two previous pictures  that my uncle is a man of his word.  I wanted some waterproofing done so that my basement would be drier and he used the remaining tar to "paint" my exposed brick foundation.  I am still shaking my head. If he works on my house again, I will take the day off of work.   I repainted the brick to match the trimming.  Still shaking my head. 

I am thinking about submitting a picture of his work to There I Fixed It

I guess while I wait for the spring and summer bulbs that I ordered to arrive, I will use the time to make some mint liquor. 

 

And some pesto

I think the gnome attacked the elephant sculpture. You can see it in the background.  The gnome is standing where the elephant had been.\

Travelocity Gnome - 8-inch

No good

The gnome has decided. 

These cucumbers have been rejected.

Garden tragedies

I am still finding slugs in my garden. I had the unfortunate task of cleaning up my compost bin this weekend and there they were. 

I bet I have confused you with "Clean up" and "compost bin."

A few years back, I hired a guy (who would eventually prove to be a drunk)  to make for me a composting area.  He strung some chicken wire and some stakes.  It never worked for me.  He should have used sturdier stakes and heavier gauge wire.  A door would have been nice.  The thing collapsed. 
Do-It-Yourself projects hate me.   I bought a wire mesh bin.   
I wanted to purchase a plastic one. I could not afford it at the store.  Maybe I will order one from the Net.


I had to clean up the oversized composting staging area.  That is the best description that I have for it.  Under the debris, I found slugs and ready made compost.  I moved the un-composted material to my original homemade composter- an old pallet I found.  Unfortunately the pallet has four sides. I have to lift everything into it and use the pitchfork to move the material. Back breaking work.
I have a lively process for composting.  At the beginning of the garden season, I move all of last year's partial compost to cover the second bin.  I stir the crap up. I usually find pay dirt at the bottom.   I shovel the compost into the wheelbarrow and throw the current years compost into the cleaned out bin.  I am sure there is an easier way.  Maybe. ..
Back to the slugs....

So I picked them up and placed them onto the driveway to give the birds a slimey snack.  I put the Bug Getta near them to experiment.  The packaging says that the bait will attract the slugs.  In my experiment, the slugs slimed their way across the driveway with no inclination toward the slug bait.  Waste of money.  I found this cartoon.

Look at the gnome.  He appears very reflective as he perches on the pot of chives. 
jjj

I think the gnome has given up. Or he has decided to take a different approach.  I stared at him for some time, trying to imagine his thoughts.  What do you think?

Where is he today

He moved to stand near the Brandywine tomato plant yesterday

Now he is near the flower bed