Took a bunch of photos in the yard...



So there's some plants, and a picture out the plane window of my trip to the GI Joe convention.

Soooo.....

Last night we had a unexpected frost. It got down to 34F and thus hit my plants hard. I didn't know it was coming and didn't even cover up anything OR bring in all the potted plants. So... poor Zeke the Gros Michal looks dead. His leaves are limp and brown. I'm really upset because of all the bananas I have, that's the ONE special one that's so rare, it was declared commercially extinct in the 1950s.



Sigh. Poor Zeke. He's owned by a incompetent idiot.

In other news, I've gotten 144 bedding plants, all snapdragons or marigolds. I got 3 flats of the snaps and 1 of the marigolds. I planted marigolds around the edge of the center small circular flower bed, and planted snapdragons around the edges of... everything. I still have 2/3 of a flat left to plant somewhere. I also have multitudes of seeds coming, and just today I got horseradish roots in. Those will be planted to the side, near the property line.



Work has not been as busy but is okay. Next week is not busy at all and it looks like we'll even not open on Tuesday. Not good. I've been really lethargic the last week, and I think the depression is settling in. I did try to be really active when I got home from work for a few days in a row, but then I stopped, just no motivation to do anything.

Hopefully things will improve.

Yup! Walmart got in flats of snapdragons and marigolds! So I have 144 plants to get into the ground today(sunday). So you'd expect I'd get up early, get dressed and out in the yard, planting away and being productive!

So it's noon and I've gotten the "put on a shirt" done. And well, I did read a book a little and ate some peanut butter puddin.

I'll get it done. No doubt. I have a huge list of things to do this weekend. I've already shaved and washed Marmoset, washed dishes, washed the dog laundry once(it gets about three times through the washer), swept and mopped some of the floors and fed the monitor lizards some chicken parts.

I've been eyeballing my back yard. I keep telling msyelf that I have PLENTY to do with the front yard and the house. But I still keeping looking at it and thinking "I should fix it up". One day.... one day I'll get the house presentable. One day my front yard will look inhabited.

One day I'll get to it.

Today...

Work was busy! I had a lot of dogs to groom. Chelsea and I got a lot of critters cleaned and groomed. I gave more of the coffee distillate to one of the vet techs. I think she's addicted. Nice.

I stopped at Walmart and they had some new toys in, I picked up a trooper I'd been looking for. I also got what I needed for peanut butter pudding. I made a giant mixing bowl full, then found out no one at work wants any. Oops. Good thing I like peanut butter pudding.

I moved all the potted plants outside, even the bananas. Then I planted all the bulbs I've bought and 5 heads of garlic(about 30 cloves) and about 30 potatoes. Then I watered everything. I did not uncover the bananas, but I'll do that first thing in the morning.

Tomorrow I have a lot of dogs and a cat to groom, then I'll go by Walmart to pick up some snapdragons. They have them for under $2 for a 6-pack.




And here's a pretty sunrise picture I took some time ago.

Soooo work was crazy. A lot of baths, less grooms. A lot of "I'll pick up late" but they show up early. Linda came by to get the big rats, brought a giant cookie! Yum. It's oily on the underneath which is tasty.

I decided on the drive home that I will attempt to actually get many things done when I get off work. I don't care if I'm exhausted and feel run down... I'll still bust my ass to get things done anyway.

So today I worked, I stopped at Dollar Store on the way home to get lightbulbs and of course ended up with 2 bags of stuff. I got a couple small bins for my art materials and some rice and the lightbulbs.

Then I bagged up all the plant blankets and put them away in the shed where they belong. I threw out the trash bin of rat bedding. I cleaned all the small rat bins. I fed the pythons and cleaned off the counter and set up the rice steamer with a leftover pork chop cut into pieces, a can of black eye peas and it was tasty. I also had to go back out and cover all the plants again, since I checked the weather and it's getting down to 35F tonight.

Now I'm playing GI Joe Jeopardy in Terrordrome chat, and fiddling with the fics a little. Tomorrow I have to try to get a hold of Seph and ship out 3 action figures to someone else.



HEre's a picture of the cabbage fields I'm driving past every day and a picture of the sun through fog I saw while driving.

Whew. Woke up all kinds of kinked. I think I slept with my jaw unhinged. Terrible. Work, I had 3 bichons and a poodle with fancy clips from one client, and a yorkie mix with a shavedown. It took m all day because that guy's four dogs ALWAYS takes me all day. Chelsea left slightly early to go get her younger kid, and I left without running the credit card machine! So I had to turn around and go back. Luckily I wasn't far away, so it really wasn't a big deal.

Home and it's not as cold now. I have leftover lobster ravioli. It wasn't very good at lunch and I'm having it for dinner. Why? I dunno.

I wrote a postcard to Harve, since he's still laid up in ICU with his broken ribs and lacerated kidney. I hope he gets better. He's a big tough bullrider though, I'm certain he'll crawl out on his own way before the doctors think he should.

I wrote a little bit last night, going to attempt some more tonight. I'm tired though. Been tired for over a week now, and no end in sight. Maybe I need more vitamens.



What one of my poor outside planted bananas looks like right now. Sad.

IHOP rules.. and here's why...

So I gotta say.. IHOP ROCKS. I'll tell you why later..

I went to the party. Was grand, got to see folks, people were friendly.

Lil Beachie went too, there's a couple pics I have to upload to his twitter(yes, he's been fussing about that, although he was QUITE happy to hit his bunk last night/this morning when we got home). Since the party was sort of short, I went back home, slept in my bed, and went to the Hoggetown fair setup this morning. It was a lot more convienant to be at home and only have an hour's drive to the fairgrounds.

So.. Hoggetowne fairgrounds we put up all the gigantic tents, went very smoothly. I managed to put in side poles, lay out ropes and poles, sledgehammer in stakes, etc etc. Lots of grunt work, which made me feel like I helped a lot.

Lil Beachie came along for that as well, and helped out. Pics also going up of that.

So after getting the tents all up, and crawling under the tent wall a couple times.. another thing.. I decided to reward myself for all my good deeds(I was social at the party AND helped at Hoggetowne, only yelled at one kid), with a waffle. Cause I love waffles. I've had a waffle iron before, but I have no waffle-waaaaa. .. cannot make them. It's okay, I can eat them.

So Lil Beachie and I went to the Clock resturant(greasy spoon) for a waffle. We were seated, and the waitress asked what I wanted to drink.. then snatched the 'extra' paper placemat almost from under Beachie's feet. I overlooked that.

After 15 full minutes, my soda hadn't arrived, and my order hadn't been taken.. despite the fact that there were all of 4 tables taken in the WHOLE DANGED RESTURANT. There were no less than 6 waitresses. No one brought the drink.. no one took the order.. even though I sat in full sight of them. So.. I plopped the menu back onto the front counter and left.

We went to IHOP. We were seated and a waitress came up and took my drink order. She brought it back quickly.. and took my order. She asked if I wanted anything else OTHER than just a waffle. Nope.. just a waffle.

She brings the waffle in a couple minutes. Lovely big waffle. She asked if everything was okay about 3 minutes later on another pass by the table, EVEN THOUGH the place was packed with patrons. PACKED. I told her honestly.. "The waffle is great, but Beachie is a bit annoyed you didn't ask if he wanted to order anything himself."

HERE is why IHOP rocks.

She looks at the tiny action figure who is standing on the far side of the table where a place setting would be. She says TO HIM... "I'm so sorry.. I assumed you were on guard duty."

Yes. So I pointed my fork at him and told him "I told you not to carry that gun into the resturant, that's a legit assumption on her part. He's fine, I'll let him have some of my waffle, he certainly doesn't need steak and eggs this morning." She nods agreeably and leaves again.

She comes back in about 4-5 minutes and asks "Okay.. who gets the check?"

Yes. I said I would pay, since he didn't order. Gave her a $20 bill. She came back with the change and I left it all for her as the biggest tip she'll be likely to see today(percentage wise). Because SHE GORRAM ROCKED.

Lil Beachie agrees, that IHOP is the bomb and we should go back there, despite it being across town for us to drive to.

Also went to Walmart to get a new pen to write letters with, because I've been going through all of mine and they dry up halfway through a letter. I forgot to check the toy department for the Lil Shipwreck, but that's okay, I'll be in town for Hoggetown next sunday, and I can go then, in garb.

Lil Beachie's twitpic page(you don't have to sign in to look at the pics and captions) cause a couple people asked me for the link recently.
http://twitpic. com/photos/ LilBeachie

That's about it, I'm back home, a bit tired, but thinking of a nap.
tayla