In a pickle!

Check these out!

Our pickled cucumbers and beets!

And yet some more photos

What?! More photos? I know, it's just crazy. ;-)

We harvested our beets yesterday and are we ever pleased! It's a modest crop by most standards, but we raised these little rooties from seed, so we're just as pleased as we can be with them. Today I pickled the beets and also some of our cucumbers and are they ever gorgeous. No doubt I'll take photos of the light shining through the jars because the color and texture really is stunning.

Beets!



Yep, another yard picture. It's dorky but I have to put it up because the yard is just so pretty.

Tonight Riley suggested that we listen to the Dave Brubeck quartet, so we all enjoyed a bit of the ol' Blue Rondo A La Turk and the Take Five etc. I can't believe anyone can play in 9/8 time and keep their head on straight. Whew!

Something besides vermin, for crying out loud!

Let's move on, shall we?

I think Riley's officially entered into his silly phase, which I expect will last till he's at least seven or eight. ;-) There are lots of potty related jokes these days, especially one in which he borrows my cell phone and places an order for a poo-poo taco with some poo-poo on the side. Hilarious. He's also using a lot of really funny body language and gestures which he didn't have in his trick bag even last month, so the changes are coming on fast. He's growing a lot and is really proud and happy that he can now stand on the floor and hold his hands under the faucet in the bathroom.

The big news for me is that I'm doing everything I can to eliminate processed grain goods from my diet in an effort to get this god forsaken skin issue under control. In an effort to streamline breakfast and have snacks in the car etc, I'd been buying wheat-free cereal and granola bars, but as the months went by I saw more and more issues surfacing with my skin till finally it got to the point where I just had to cut everything out.

I hate it because I felt I was in the clear if I just went for the things that don't list wheat as an ingredient, but apparently the residue on the equipment in facilities that also process wheat products is enough to contaminate the non-wheat items. And while oats are considered safe even for true celiacs, food manufacturing facilities that also process wheat will often have lingering wheat grain which gets mixed in with the oats during processing. That's a drag because I love oatmeal and would make my own granola bars, but I need to buy my oats from a dedicated oat facility. They're out there, but I haven't bought any yet. I'm afraid to price them. :-/

The up-side is that I'm seeing some improvement in my skin, the down side is that if I forget to bring a safe snack I go hungry because there is so little available for me to eat away from home. I have a check-up tomorrow and I'm looking forward to doing some further investigation into the wheat and gluten issue.

Now, how about some pictures?

Robbie and I were having some jolly chuckles the other day about the shocking number of inedible foodstuffs lurking in the back of our fridge. I can not believe the shirksome ways of that maid!!

Mmmmm, moldy! ;-)

Hey, but it's gluten free, right!? I'll take it!

Oh gee, the library will just tucker a guy right out!

Riley taking inventory after a raid on my tool box.

Hey kid, you snooze you loose!

Riley chose to eat his breakfast perched high atop his table this morning.

Is this kid decked out or what?!

Wow. That was *really* weird.

The last several days have been very, very strange. Sunday night we were totally exhausted from a sleepless night Saturday and an extremely busy, stressful day spent eradicating any remaining mites in the house. We fell into bed at long last and attempted to sleep, but were haunted by the sensation of mites crawling on our skin. We tossed and turned, dozing briefly before scratching and tossing again. Dreadful. We got about two hours of sleep that night and by Monday morning I was utterly undone.

Looking around at my house I was convinced that the entire place was crawling with invisible, blood sucking parasites and no matter what we did they would never go away. I'd gone slightly mad, basically. Sleep deprivation paired with inconsistent information really did a number on my head.

I spent the day washing every single thing in our house and vacuuming every surface and arranging for an exterminator to come. Anyone who knows our attitudes about chemicals and health will understand what an extreme measure that is, but that's how far I'd gotten in my paranoia.

Thankfully, that afternoon I spoke to a very sensible entomologist from the county extension office who helped calm me a lot. He said that the bird mites are short lived and if I take sensible precautions, like cleaning thoroughly and often, they'll soon be history. He also said that many people get freaked out by them and that it's easy to let yourself get carried away, especially given that the thing you're worried about is invisible. Is it there or not? You can't tell. Clearly we were at a fork in the road. We could become obsessive or we could return to normal life. We chose the latter.

(As an aside, he told me about an elderly couple here in B-ham who became convinced that their house was incessantly infested with bird mites. They brought sample after sample to the lab but nary a mite could be found, but that didn't change their opinion a bit. They eventually burned every scrap of furniture in their house and moved out of state. Total wackos.)

So that night before bed Robbie and I bathed and made the bed with the fresh clean linens I'd washed that day and we slept like logs. The next morning we decided that since the mites can't live without a 'blood meal' (oh, yuck) from an avian host, and that the few mites that had survived my incessant cleaning would soon die out, we would just try to disregard them.

It's been interesting to see how something can come to dominate your thoughts and affect what you feel strongly about and how you act. We like to think of ourselves as strong, independent thinkers with clear ideals and agendas, but poof! it can all come tumbling down just like that. I always wondered how intolerance for certain animals or even different ethnic sects or religious groups can take hold and I'll bet at the root of it is ignorance and paranoia. I'm glad we're done with our lesson now. :-P

Shall I tell you a little story?

Once upon a time there was a family of three who lived in a little house on which there was a fine, breezy porch (complete with new old furniture). One day the mom hung two ferns on the porch and the family enjoyed watching the leafy green fronds waggling in the wind. Soon they discovered that some wee house finches also admired the ferns and had built their nest in one. The birds eventually had three little chicks in their nest and the mom was quite careful to water the fern only as needed so as not to disturb the little babies.

One day the mom was watering when she discovered that there were very, very small bugs crawling on the fern and the plastic apparatus used to hang it. The dad went to investigate and was alarmed by the fact that when he touched the hanger the little bugs swarmed up his finger, hand and up his wrist in a flash! Yikes!

After some web searching and research the family learned that the freaky little critters are called bird mites. They feed off the blood and secretions of birds and will live in a nest till the baby birds fly off, when they then swarm the surrounding area to seek out a new host. The mites were all over the nest and birds, but the family was at a loss of what to do because they didn't want to risk the momma bird not tending her babies if they moved the nest. In the end they decided to leave the fern only until the birds had flown and then get rid of it. Except that the birds didn't sound the alarm when they left the nest--they just flew off one morning when the family was unaware. The mom was weeding in the back when she heard the mother bird call to her babies and the babies chirped their response from the back yard! What?! Out ran the mom to snatch the fern down off the hook and UGH!! the mites swarmed onto her arm as she ran the fern out to the curb and flung it down! Spastic flinging of arms and swatting ensued and culminated in the flinging of clothing out the back door as the mom ran to wash off the mites in the shower.

Later the mom and dad pondered when it was that they first began to notice the tickling sensations and pin prick stings. Was it before the baby birds left the nest? Did the mites get on the porch and get tracked in? Did they swarm from the nest and get in around the door? They initially wondered if they were being paranoid. Was it a phantom sensation? Were they just freaking out? But no, it was not their imagination; they were the new hosts. GAHHHHH!!!!

Can you guess who that family was? Yep, it's us. Me and Robbie, to be specific. For some reason (why we don't know, but we're thanking our stars) they haven't bothered Riley. He says he doesn't itch or have any stinging sensation, and him being three, we know he'd definitely tell us if he were even vaguely uncomfortable.

I'd done a thorough vacuuming and mopping of the house yesterday and washed all bed linens in hot, bleachy water and we were feeling good about having gotten the situation neatly in hand with good housekeeping, but it all come to a head last night after dinner. I was doing dishes when I became acutely aware of the weird creepy crawly sensation on my skin and the pricking stings. I turned to Robbie and asked him if he was feeling the same and he said yes, he was too. We had to admit that it was true, the little blood suckers had gotten in the house.

Suddenly we were both kind of panicked. What in the world would we do now? We checked a website that seemingly has all the answers, but it did nothing to calm our nerves. By their description we were basically entering hell on earth; they describe tenting and fumigating the house as a pretty normal reaction to bird mites. 9 o'clock at night found me out on the porch with a big bucket of soapy water, the garden hose and a scrub brush, trying to eliminate any mites that might still be lingering. I came in and found Robbie and Riley taking epsom salt and tea tree oil baths. I got in next and Robbie put Riley to bed and when I got out Robbie and I sat down at the computer to figure out what to do next.

Thankfully we expanded our search beyond the alarmist site we'd originally found and chose to stick to sites associated to county extension offices and universities instead. We learned that mites can indeed make their way into houses, and will crawl on people and bite them, but that they can not live long in the absence of a bird host, so however dreadful it may be to have them in the house, they won't be there for long. Once the nest is disposed of they're pretty much doomed.

But what can we do in the mean time? Vacuum and mop everything and everywhere, wash clothing, towels and linens in hot, hot, hot water with borax, and shower often.

I'd cleaned everything and everywhere like a woman possessed yesterday, but when I looked at the vacuum I saw that there was a worn gasket near the dust collection bin where dirt was escaping, and if dirt could get out a mite sure could too.

So today we resolved that we'd better get another vacuum cleaner and spent the morning researching them. We ended up with a Dyson, which put the hurt on the ol' bank account, but wow, that thing gets right down to business. We began by vacuuming the rug and marveled at how the dust started accumulating in the dust bin thingie. Then we did the couch, love seat, cushions, ottomans and pillows. Talk about amazed! You would never know I'd just spent the previous day cleaning. It sucked up a TON of dirt and hopefully the majority of the mites.

Wanna see? Check this out:

All that from a 'clean' room?!
That's one mitey powerful vacuum. ;-)

A trip to the Botanical Gardens! And then another!

Thursday afternoon called for a complete change of scenery, for my sake and Riley's, so we grabbed some bread that was less-than-fresh and headed to the Botanical Gardens to feed their enormous Koi and turtles.

First stop, of course, was to check on the tadpoles to see weather they'd sprouted any legs yet, which they haven't, but they're getting big. While Riley was peering at them I went to answer my phone and discovered that Robbie was coming in from out of town a day early! Hooray! While he and I were chatting I heard a SPLASH! and then 'Hmmm...' and I knew exactly what I'd see when I looked. Yup, Riley had taken a misstep and plopped feet first right in the little shallow pond. Dang.

I was initially annoyed and at first I was all about leaving, given that I didn't have any other clothes for him. We'd gathered our stuff and walked almost to the gate of the Japanese Garden and I was having to pull him along, but he didn't care a bit that he was wet and really wanted to stay. I took a moment to check myself and realized that I was actually being pretty unreasonable, and if he rode home dripping wet versus somewhat damp it really made no difference at all, so we stayed for a while and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

In addition to other things, he's teaching me some pretty good lessons in flexibility and recognizing when I need to just stop and say I'm sorry.

Hello there big tadpoles!



Hi Dad! Yeah, just looking at the tadpoles...

It was an accident...

But Mom, why are you getting all freaky about my wet clothes!?
Chill out already.



I shall use this very large leaf as my umbrella at the water sculpture.
(Because clearly he's concerned about getting wet, right?)

So then, the next day, our friends Michelle and Isabelle asked us to join them for some play time, and we decided that the ample shade at the Botanical Gardens was just what we needed, so we headed right back again.

Riley and Isabelle chose to play in the 'magic' bamboo forest, where a small creek runs, and thankfully Michelle and I had brought both of them a change of clothes. They really enjoyed that water! :-)

We're sitting in cool, clear water!

Sometimes there's just nothing to do but get out the camera.
Hello, Mister Mudpie! ;-)

Work time and play time

Today was a gorgeous, low humidity day and Riley and I spent much of it working outside. The heat and mosquitoes have kept us from the back of the yard for weeks and the weeds were getting out of hand, so we got some of them pulled today. It's boring work for a three year old though and we were really glad when we learned that Riley's friend across the street, Anna, was looking for a playmate after her nap.

Swimming!!

Hmmm. This looks very interesting!
(Note the extremely fancy dress-up dress Anna's wearing. Too cute!)

Things unrelated to gardening

It has gone directly from spring to the full blast of summer this year. I guess it may do this every year and I somehow forget, but it seems especially hot for June.

Riley and I had to go to Homewood Music yesterday morning to have some minor TLC done to a sweet little ukulele Robbie and I bought at an estate sale last weekend, and afterwards I took Riley across the street to the big park for some play time. It was still early in the day but the sun was scorching hot. It was our good fortune to arrive at the park just as a hot air balloon was being inflated, which was really interesting, but even that wasn't enough to keep us both from wilting and heading back to the car far earlier than we would ordinarily.

We ran our errands and at the grocery store R got a hankering for corn on the cob. We brought some home and it was all he could do to wait till dinner was ready because he was beside himself with excitement to eat that corn! Very cute.

It's hot.

Crunch, crunch, crunch! Buttered corn is really good!

Somehow this expresses how much I love to eat my corn!

This morning called for a picnic on the kitchen island.

Early morning table tableau.
Riley's 'Boys' and his egg await him.

First ones down: Zucchini and Squash

Would you look at the verdant glory of this garden!
You'd never know it was being eaten alive, now would you?

We've taken quite a hit on the ol' garden in the last couple of days. We began noticing that our zucchini and squash were looking droopy in the heat of the day despite being well watered. The culprit: Squash Borers. A wasp-like insect lays eggs on the stalk of the plant and when they hatch the hungry larvae bores into the stalk, feasting on the flesh and making it impossible for the plant to take up water.

Robbie read that if the infestation is minor it's possible to make a small cut in the stalk and dig the little suckers out, so we began doing that, but it quickly became evident that we were far outnumbered. It's amazing to us that the plants were even alive at all, because the entire stalk of each plant was completely occupied by the borers. How rude!

Are you wondering what in the world they look like? Well wonder no more!

Think those little white things are the inside of the plant? They're not. Eww.

Looks pretty empty, doesn't it?

So far so good on the rest of the stuff, but we're keeping a sharp eye for pests. And in the empty spaces we'll be looking for new things we can grow.

Nap=Late Night

Riley took a nap yesterday, which he hasn't done with any regularity since he was 2 1/2, and was he ever in fine form last night. Happy, hoppy and full of life! We played games (including his favorite, Villa Paletti) and he ran around and around and around the house. He finally fell asleep at 10:15. I hate to deny him sleep during the day if he honestly needs it, but when he does it means long night ahead. Whew.

Peeeeeeek!

HAAAAAAA!

Still Life With Horse

Housekeeping haiku

You all remember our old friend haiku?
Honestly, a gal's gotta have something to do with her brain when faced with a sink full of dishes. :-P

Dishes are waiting
I haven't seen a maid yet
Guess it's up to me

Don't look too closely
The house is basically neat
Except for the dust

For one little boy
Eleven books and four shoes
Piled close at hand

The black and white floor
So cute when we bought the house
Reveals all the dirt

I pick up the house
I pick up the house again
And later again

;-)

Garden update

My mom said she'd been wondering about our garden so I thought I'd post a photo. Everything is getting HUMONGOUS! We haven't seen many pests, but it's early in the growing season yet, so we're knocking on wood. I'm getting a sense of how much time and attention it would require to have a big garden, because you can't turn your back on this small one even for a day. The vining things can send a tendril halfway across the garden overnight!

And speaking of things growing and getting more mature, Riley's made a big shift in comprehension and is suddenly interested in very wordy books. I realized this after we got a Pinocchio book from the thrift store which has a full page of text opposite each single beautiful color plate. It's super wordy and when I began reading it to R I thought he would get squirmy and loose interest, but no way; he was following every word. I tried to set the book down to go fix our lunch but he wouldn't hear of it!

Then the other day Robbie was talking to Riley about the brain and how it's responsible for every single thing that happens in our bodies. Riley was so interested in the subject that Robbie pulled out a text book for a class he'd taken on the brain and nervous system and began showing Riley the different parts of the brain and explaining what they do. Riley sat rapt and periodically turned to me and patiently taught me what he'd just learned. (adorable!) It was time for bed and Riley was dressed in his jammies and leaning against Robbie's arm, obviously tired, so I asked him if he was ready to go read in bed and he said "Wait till we finish this book, Momma". Robbie read on and within another paragraph or so Riley was fast asleep. Our little brainiac. ;-)

At the library yesterday we picked up some good books on bodies, one of which has an image of a child with a series of acetate pages overlaying the body which are printed with bones, muscles, organs and, of course, the brain and nervous system! It's a big hit! Of course Riley being a little boy, he's also fascinated in the stomach and bowel system and will gladly tell anyone "the food we eat goes through our stomach and intestines and comes out as poo-poo!". ;-)

Upside down on the couch with his 'friends'. :-)

Catching up

Summer's come on fast and furious and we're staying really busy these days. The long days mean that we'll still be puttering around outside when we suddenly notice that it's seven o'clock and wow, we'd better eat and get Riley a bath because it's almost time for him to go to bed!

I got some good news today--I won a free haircut, color and style from a fancy local salon, Sanctuary! I've never had my hair colored before, but I'm up for something new and I'll definitely enjoy receiving the full treatment. :-)

Here are some photos from the last several weeks. I have a lot of camping pictures but I haven't edited half of them yet, so they'll just get sprinkled in here and there as they're ready.

Robbie and Leon at Cheaha

Robbie reading one of Riley's great new thrift store books!

At the Botanical Gardens.
It was blazing hot and we nearly melted.

A little pool in the Japanese Gardens.
Hmmmmm, what's in there!?

TADPOLES!!!!

Riley in the pool with his sea creatures.
Cool as a cucumber!

Riley playing with his Frigits game. It is SO COOL!!
Plus, I found it 2nd hand on craigslist so it was a real bargain. :-)

The wisdom of the very young

Robbie and I woke up before Riley this morning and had the luxury of gathering our thoughts and sipping our coffee before we heard the door to R's room open. He came out and climbed up onto my lap and leaned his head against my chest and cuddled for a moment before he looked up and said "Your heart is growling". Hmmm.

Later this afternoon as he sat at his little table eating his Tofu Pup he kicked off his shoe and told me that his heel was hurting. I went to check it out and I asked him if it hurt inside or if it was on the skin. He said very earnestly "It's just my blood arranger". I see! Well then.

And finally, yesterday at the park Riley and some friends were were all climbing on the big kid area along with a boy who was around 4 1/2 years old. The 'big boy' made it his business to tell them all that they couldn't do this or that because they're just 'little kids'. He told Riley that he couldn't climb the climbing wall or slide down the fireman's pole and any number of things that R can easily do and Riley's reply to him was "Yes I can because I'm Riley". So there, kid! ;-)

In other news, we were driving home from an errand today when I felt the sudden need to go to the thrift store. (what's new, right?) There's a good one near us and it's a great, homey place run by friendly retirees. My radar was right on today because we totally scored on great things and spent the lavish amount of $7.59. I got R three summer play outfits, new swim goggles and a pool floatie thing and eight fabulous books! Some of the books will go downstairs into the bins for when he's older, but lots of them we can read right now.

And now one photo out of many from this last weekends camping trip. We had a fabulous time and loved Cheaha. Because it's in the midst of high mountains, it was cool and breezy with low humidity; exactly the opposite of Birmingham.

Hello, we're on top of the world!