2nd day of practice.

Now that health and financial crises have past, I'm trying to get back to myself.

I am very out of practice...

Different idea for the comic at work, which is a long, frustrating story that I won't share other than to say some folks have not sense of humor whatsoever. :p

I need to hurry up and get my studio back together. I'm really feeling the urge to do comics again and this summer has been way too light on artworks...

For a monthly usability comic we're trying to do at work.

Even at 7 months I can feel the indignity, and seek my revenge... (More pictures scanned in this morning. So very, very many to go through yet.)

Between the deer and the groundhog, I've lost my veggie garden this year. I've gotten wrapped up into ancestry.com and scanning family photos instead. They're starting to trickle their way onto flickr now...

Photos from Mary's garden

If you're local, and would like to see fireworks next week for the holiday, head out to Manchester Thursday night just before dusk. I'll provide home-made lemonade and beer, (and bug spray) so please RSVP in the comments or email me so I know how much to have on hand.

Also, bring lawn chairs as I only have four. :)

A few cat and kitten and LOTS of garden pictures at my flickr site. I'm past due on a garden update.

I got the raised bed placed on the other side of the driveway. I did decide to stack the beds. They've been papered and I've begun the filling process.

I didn't seem to have a lot of energy last night.

But it did take me a week to get back to it after Pixel's death. Over the long weekend I started the driveway humming bird border:

- dug out and divided a third of the hosta/iris bed
- laid down newspaper and placed a raised bed and filled it
- transplanted the first clump of hosta under the magnolia tree
- dug out a rain garden by the down spout
- transplanted three clumps of iris to the rain garden
- dug out all the worn bricks by the garage door
- continued removing the white landscape stones from the foundation and putting them in place of the bricks
- planted the first raised bed with gayfeather, foxglove, purple coneflower, lupine, penstemon, violets, creeping speedwell and dwarf gayfeather
- mulched the bed
- finished clearing landscaping stones out of the space between the Bilco doors and the porch along the foundation
- placed the second raised bed, put down newspaper and filled it

I owe pictures, I know.

I'm having 3 cubic yards of potting mix delivered today. Carting around 40 lb. bags of dirt gets old real fast.

And yes, we're playing with three different names right now: Bogart (Bogie), Chaney, and Dickens. Bogie is in the lead right now because he's so fearless.

...but there is a new ball of grey and white fluff running around our living room. Or at least there will be again when he wakes up. Pixel left a hole that was too large to be left unfilled.

This is Pixel's life in pictures. There should be more pictures...

We lost our sweet orange kitten Pixel yesterday. One minute he was happy and playing and the next he was gone. It was so fast. He would have been three in August.

And I was not wrong, but my heuchera (coral bells) collection is off to a good start. I also have enough perennials for the hummingbird garden now.

Yesterday's accomplishments:

1. Picked up Mom's computer from Sean at work.
2. Stopped by Home Depot, but they no longer had the liatris (gayfeather) bulbs-much internal weeping... Picked up some potting soil, pots, a couple of carpenter's pencils and a couple of plants instead.
3. Swung by Target and picked up a shirt and pants on the cheap.
4. Went to Turner's Nursery for the first time. Picked up another potted Liatris, three everbearing strawberries, three heuchera and a delphinium.
5. Started cleaning and re-arranging the garage for the chest freezer delivery today. I got the 1-5 slot, so I have time to finish up this morning.
6. Read four Loveless manga and two Fruits Basket manga. I was supposed to work in the kitchen...
   

But I am on vacation, after all. ;)

Yesterday's accomplishments in the garden:

1. Scrounged through the garage and found enough wood for one more raised bed. (Time to start taking the deck apart...)
2. Filled the three new beds by the fence half-way with half-rotted compost.
3. Put old magazines and catalogs down between the fence beds and topped them with pine mulch and three pavers for easy side access.
4. Weeded the border of the fence bed.
5. Lined the fence bed with rocks and bricks and pine mulch.
6. Topped off the fence bed closest to the lilac with potting soil and filled it with Little Marvel peas.
7. Put two bags of topsoil and the remains of a potting soil bag in the fence bed closest to the house. (It still needs more...)
8. Mulched the blueberry tank with a layer of oak leaves and a layer of pine mulch.
9. Weeded a quarter of the border of the white pine bed. (Crabgrass is a bitch!)
10. Unloaded the Home Depot haul: 12 new pavers (to match the old ones), three pages of compost and four bags of garden soil.
11. Picked up more bamboo stakes, a new hummingbird feeder and five bads of potting soil from the hardware store.
12. Picked up a Liatris spicata (gayfeather), delphinum, and a Purple Palace heuchera from the nursery.
13. Unloaded the five bags of potting soil.
14. Moved the potted plants temporarily to the middle fence bed and path for easy watering.
15. Weeded the deck border.
16. Top off the ComposTumbler with weeding refuse for my first full load.

Why do I feel like I got nothing done?...

...but Ling is running around like a maniac! I think she has three or four teeth left and she was pretty lethargic yesterday evening, but this morning she seems like a kitten again.

I won't be needing to use the pain pills, but catching her to give her antibiotics is going to be fun. I told Sean he has to catch her since she's still running from me.