Olive Helenscat Mysteriosa Smith

We were hoping to be productive enough this weekend to have a new home improvement-type post, but that just didn't happen. Then Chad realized there was no post for the newest friend of Roosterhaus, Olive.

We first encountered Olive living under the house in July of last year. She would hang out on the porch and wait for us to come home. Then she would talk to us and ask for food. We decided that we would take her to get spayed and try to find a home for her, because we are both allergic to cats. But, while she convalesced with us after her spaying, we realized that neither one of us so much as sneezed due to her presence. So she is our new house pet. She is slowly getting used to the idea of being an indoor kitty... but there seems to have been no adjustment period necessary for the idea of regular meals.

New Doors!

Noise from the washer/dryer and tv be gone! Chad and I finally had two doors installed to cut down on noise. Both of the doors are on rails, so we didn't have to bust into drywall to install pocket doors. One blocks the kitchen from the utility hall and the other closes the door between the office and living room. They also add some fun pops of color to the white walls... so much fun color, in fact, that the art work seems a little overwhelmed by it all.

The kitchen door:





The living room door:

New Year, New Paint

We're trying out colors for exterior painting on the shed. So far, we haven't hit upon the right color. Chad wants green. Mary wants blue. Neither is quite right, so we'll be off to the hardware store to try some other colors tomorrow. We may go white... or brown... or butter... or maybe just slight variations on the blue and green... who knows?

Here's crayola green:



And a historic trust-type blue:

War Declared on Aphids.

See this beautiful plant? The planter and plant were Chad's gift to me for my birthday. The planter - like a new window - is a small thing that goes a long way to making the house more homey. I guess the aphids in the neighborhood thought it looked homey, too. Because, with lightening-quick speed, the plant was filled with hundreds of aphids. I read that once you can see them, you've lost the war. Wait for some predators to move in. So I did, but the predators weren't coming. So this weekend Chad and I bought a ten dollar bag of 1500(!) lady bugs and released them into the yard at dusk, after watering, as directed on the lady bug package. We spent the rest of the lighted evening watching the ladies wage war on the aphids. I guess they were hungry after being in a mesh package at the garden store. Of course, when we woke up, there were about three lady bugs left on the plant. But there were also a bunch of aphid carcases.

How our Garden Grows

After some success with the toms - around 60 or so cherries and pears with more on the way, we decided to try our hand at zucchini and okra. The zukes are an incredibly satisfying plant to grow. They are fast. The seed packet claims 55 days from germination to stomach. It's not a joke. I look at them before I leave for work, and by the time I've returned, they've grown. I look at them after dinner, and when I wake up in the morning, they've grown. Fast.


The okra are hardy and beautiful. We've had 100+ degree heat now for forever, I mean, for a month, and the okra just keep going. In the heat of the afternoon, the other plants have droopy leaves. The sun oppresses them. But not the okra. Their green leaves and red stalks soak in all the rays they can get.


The zinnias are also doing well in the heat. Their leaves are a favorite snack of some crazy, tiny red and black grasshoppers. The zinnias don't seem to mind too much, and the grasshoppers must have a hard time finding something green to munch on in this drought, so we leave them alone.

Crest Avenue Flora.

Chad and I have been working hard to improve the aesthetics and productivity of the front yard.

Here are some of the first fruits of our labor:



We have six tomato plants (two brandywines, one red cherry, and three yellow pears), two basils, one collard (and oh how the caterpillars love to munch on him), and some okra seedlings. Chad created two raised beds like this one from cinder blocks.



Chad is head gardner in the cinder block plots. I'm in charge of the flower gardens, which are still under construction. We used the old fence posts to hang our burglar bars. We'll be making raised beds like the one in the photo for each burglar bar. Flowers in front, sunflowers, okra, and maybe some pole beans in back. In the winter, we'll switch out the tall stuff for blackberry vines and maybe some antique roses.





We've put all the little succulents and cacti that we've been carrying around in pots for the last five years into this make-shift rock garden. Everybody seems to appreciate the chance to spread their roots.



And our neighbor gave us this little guy, who seems to be enjoying his sunny home with fellow succulents and cacti.

Chad slaves away...

on curtains. He's been working his fingers to the bone, and now the guest room has some lovely green curtains.