Contemplating my Organizational Choices

Happy Monday! I am hoping that we are all past the worst of this darned cold. I was down most of last week, Miss H didn't feel all that well over the weekend and Miss K lost her marbles Friday morning. We aren't sure if she was fighting off getting sick or if she's just a little wad of stress rolled a little too tightly into a ball. Either way, it was a rough week. 

Saturday rolled into us helping at Miss K's high school to build the set for the choir's upcoming madrigal dinner nights. THAT was fun! (Where, oh where, is the sarcasm font?!) The gentleman that usually builds the castle is currently in Afghanistan. Thank you sir for your service to our country, but schematics for the huge pile of misc pieces would have been very nice. After 3 hours of discussing how it should go together, the only female in the room ended up being right, twice. Go figure!

Sunday, was Mr Shawn's 41st birthday. After the long week and longer Saturday, he decided he wanted to stay home and veg. So we did. He got to become acquainted with his new ipad, and found that a $5 app was all it would take to entertain him for hours. Who knew he was so easy to please? Yeah for Garage Band. My musician hubby was in heaven!

Now, I get to go clean up the carnage of a relaxing Sunday after a week of sick days and set build Saturday. I plan to take some of that cleaning to the next level and get going on that Spring cleaning schedule I have been oh so conveniently neglecting. Maybe its time to implement a few good ideas I've been pinning while I am at it?!

This idea...I have special plans for it!

Vegetable Garden

Its almost that time of year. Certainly early enough for me to start seeds and get the planning moving forward. I am all about growing our own vegetables. 

The best meals come from your the soil that you til and tend. If we could have chickens and goats I would in a heart beat. Fresh eggs and goat cheese...being self sustaining appeals to me. But, like so much of modern America, we are hampered in our desires by our reality. I desire a large, beautiful, and bountiful garden.

I firmly believe any size garden can be beautiful, nit just functional. I think this space illustrates that well. For us space and short growing season are our biggest obstacles. This year I want what space we do have to work better for us. A little planning and a whole lot of labor are going to be in order as we head deeper into spring. Better use of our space isn't gonna matter one little bit if I can't get anything in the ground until the middle of June! So, part of the planning process (and sooner rather than later the building process as well) is to enlist the help of green house type spaces. 

We already have two raised beds like this built into the sunny side yard. Mr Shawn is going to be building me an arched system similar to the one above that will serve a number of purposes... First, it will create a greenhouse type environment. That means I can get my plants in the ground sooner without the worry of frost damage. on the same front, it will keep those pesky late season snow storms off of my precious garden. Under the plastic will be light weight netting to keep another pesky little problem we have here at Sagebrush Ridge at bay. Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, every where. No matter how many my cat, Captain Jack, brings to me on a silver platter, I cannot keep them from destroying our vegetable garden. And flowers, and grass, and...well, never mind, different issue. Hopefully well secured netting will help.

Raised beds are the only way to go. From start to finish they are easier to prep, plant, water, tend and harvest. I'll take easy where ever I can.

The idea of a vertical garden is intriguing. Its in a raised bed, so soil temps are going to be warmer, that's good. I wonder if growing up would be enough to keep the rabbits out of the god stuff. Share what is growing at the bottom?

Speaking of vertical?! How fun would this be for herbs? I usually tuck my herbs in among my other plants, vegetables, flowers, ornamental shrubs, wherever...

Others are definitely being far more creative than myself.

Spring Fever

I have been struck with Spring Fever...the real kind, with body aches, headaches, sniffles and a sore throat to boot. Its not very often Mom gets sick enough to actually complain, but the last few days have worn me down. So I took a couple of sick days.  Unfortunately, the weather decided to look kind of nice. After the snow, rain and gloom the last week or two, it was nice to see the sunshine. Even if I didn't feel well enough to go outside and enjoy it. Boo.

But, my time loafing around the house feeling sorry for myself wasn't a complete waste of time. I did manage to catch the more favorable Spring Fever and do a little surfing looking for images to inspire our outdoor spaces this year. Our back patio is built somewhat like this...minus the french doors and overhead shade. I can live with my big slider with its huge full length side windows, but we NEED the shade. Finding an inexpensive DIY version for shade may be our biggest challenge, especially since it has to hold up to our winds. Living here, we know the meaning of a zephyr.

If old man winter decides he is done with us, we could start working outside as early as this weekend. Do you know how happy that would make me? Sigh. I would love to have Easter outdoors this year. Especially if I could host brunch on my back patio with our deep seating cushions redone and drapes catching the breeze like the ones pictured above. Notice I said breeze, not gale force winds. A girl can hope, right? I'm thinking of reupholstering the cushions and making grommet drapes out of painters drop cloths. Cheap, relatively easy and durable. 

Add splashes of color with throw pillows. Soft greens, blues, and tans, maybe a little apricot thrown in to warm it a bit. Need to find a solution for a coffee table. The one that came with my deep seating conversation set is cheezy. I would love to find a Craigslist piece like the one above, or something I could make look similar.

I'm thinking I need to add a swing like one of these back there too. I know that won't happen before Easter, heck, none of it will probably happen... But, a swing back there on lazy afternoons with a good book and a cool glass of something would be absolutely divine.

Speaking of things that won't happen until later in the summer...

We need to partition a portion of the yard off for the dogs. Our back yard runs the length of the house, plus some on each side, but its shallow. It ends rather abruptly about 10, maybe 15 feet from the house where our master bedroom protrudes. Its a 10 foot drop into a gully full of sagebrush, with nothing more than a rock wall capped with a split rail fence.  Hence, Sagebrush Ridge...

Any way... we will be putting in an electronic fence (our only option) and redoing that section of narrow yard. Its currently in a state of ick. Yes, its a technical term. Grass that won't grow, a weird slope to a drain and honeysuckle that was never properly supported equal ick. I'm dreaming of a small hidden patio tucked in the corner among water savvy plants, connected to the lawn that we will keep by

a casual decomposed granite path. The dogs will love having a path to sniff along when they head out to do their business. Much better than the mainly concrete courtyard they get to go to now.

Our courtyard looks nothing like this. Its much smaller and doesn't have a fireplace. It does have two japanese maples flanking the front entry, and plenty of narrow flower beds that are crying for mediterranean plantings and lights like these overhead. Our copper firepit and a few chairs will round out the space nicely.

Tomorrow, I will show you what I have in mind for my vegetable gardens. And maybe then I will have kicked this cold to the curb and can show you what I have been up to indoors.