Big news today! A butterfly landed in my garden.

I think it’s very hot this afternoon, just about 100 in the shade according to the Acu-Rite. Nearly a year’s gone by and we still haven’t taken the Acu-Rite out of the box. I think Buck is afraid if I take it out of the box I’ll want to hang it up using a cup hook. Men hate it when you hang things up, particularly with a cup hook.

Stargail sent us this photo of the “Border Patrol” that we thought was adorable. (I hope no one interprets this as negative or anything, because it was not meant in that vein.) All those little Chihuahuas look like our Stella, and Lily (who belongs to Little Miss), so I couldn’t resist. Thanks, Stargail!

I love kitchen gadgets. I have a drawer full of stuff like a strawberry huller and a calzone mold…you know, stuff that you can live without but it is kinda handy when you use it that one time a year. Most of it I’ve picked up at yard sales, but this new gadget by Heinz has got to be the king of all kitchen gadgets: The Beansawave. Yes! It’s a mini microwave you keep at your desk for heating up your beans!

This is not a joke, it’s an actual gadget that plugs into the USB drive of your computer and will retail for $160. And you just know no one in the office will ever make fun of you. You’ll be the envy the cubicle crowd! Just look at this dedicated guy enjoying his beans without even taking his eyes off his spreadsheet! And that Miss Slyboots over there across from him pretending not to notice…you know she’s dying with envy.

I’m always whining about gardening in El Paso and how difficult it’s been for me. So this year I resolved to have container gardens. Since money is tight I’m planting seeds. But I’m also looking for instant color, so I’m buying mostly annuals, which pretty much goes against everything I’ve ever believed in. I believe perennials give you more bang for your buck, like years worth of bang. But I can’t afford to spend $12.99 or more on a plant that might die in a week. So I’m going with annuals and a few veggies.

Because I’m spending money on annuals, I can’t really afford to go out and buy the beautiful pots I’d like to get. But I need deep containers so my plants will think they’re in the ground. So I’m trash can and bucket gardening. No one can see the garden but us, because it’s inside our courtyard where I can keep an eye on it 24/7. I’ve gone around and collected all the unused trash cans we’ve got, and I’ve been buying buckets. The cheapest buckets I’ve found are the Home Depot utility buckets for $2.79. I drill holes in the bottom, drop in some newspaper and rocks for drainage, then add my special soil mixture. And of course (the most important part) I’m turning the bucket so the giant Home Depot ad doesn’t show.

Here’s a pepper plant and his friends oregano, snap dragon, and the petunia gang. I took this shot about a week ago.

And here it is this morning. So far, so good.

Here’s some lovely bucket salvia.

Here’s some bucket petunias below:

And here’s my one big perennial splurge, trash can Rudbeckia and a hollyhock.

I went to the store yesterday with a specific “bucket list” of what I wanted and here they are below. I’ve got to plant these today. They’re already well on the way to looking good (unlike the half-dead marked down K-Mart plants I bought weeks ago), so hopefully they’ll keep on keeping on and encourage the rest of the garden to do the same.

I’ll keep playing chakra music to my bucket garden and talking to it, and I just know the garden will cooperate. OR I WILL FLIP OUT.

I’m not really supposed to on here right now, taking photos and blogging, because I’ve got too much work to do so I’m gonna run. Happy gardening, everyone!

     We just got back from a “whirlwind” trip back home for Max’s graduation from Johnson & Wales. Now he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Arts. We had a great time, and because we were there for such a short time we insisted everyone be together as much as possible. That meant seven of us stuffed into Cody and Paul’s apartment for much of the trip. Everyone was great about it, even those who had to sleep on camping mattresses on the floor, and we laughed and ate and really got to be “a family” again. That is to say, ever since I started having kids, I’m at my best when we’re all under one roof and I know where everybody is.

     I’m not a helicopter parent, but I do love those one or two nights a year when my whole family is within shouting distance and I can turn off my cell phone with confidence. Anyone who would really need to call me is right there. Life, simplified.

     No, he didn’t graduate at a Dunkin’ Donuts. It was the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence. I think around 1500 graduates received their diplomas that morning.

     Because we were there for such a short time we didn’t get to visit with any friends or extended family, which is always a bummer. But they’re all very cool about it, nobody gets bent that we’ve flown thousands of miles and then didn’t rent a car to drive a few hundred more to squeeze in a one- or two-hour visit with them. Everybody’s down with that, and besides…Route 95 goes both ways, and we don’t freak out about them not driving up to see us so briefly.

     So that’s where I’ve been. Buck picked up a cold on the plane ride home and is still a little out of it. Maybe next time he’ll let us get the face masks I so desperately want to wear on a plane. It think it would serve two purposes: Keep us healthy, and stop anyone from sitting in the third seat. This one  plugs into a computer!

]]> http://lifewithbuck.com/2009/05/31/the-graduate/feed/ 5 Life With Buck Max Buck graduation The Fam http://lifewithbuck.com/2009/05/18/rhett-and-link-new-flight-of-the-conchords/ http://lifewithbuck.com/2009/05/18/rhett-and-link-new-flight-of-the-conchords/#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 03:37:36 +0000 Wendy http://awriterinthedesert.wordpress.com/?p=665 ]]>

Buck found these guys on YouTube, so I’ve got to give him all the credit. Rhett and Link, they make commercials for small businesses and local cable. We think they’re hilarious and will definitely go far. I have a feeling Bound and Gags is gonna love ‘em, but knowing him he’s probably been hip to them since the start. Here’s my personal favorite, “The Buffet Song”.  Thank you, Buck! (Buck says he feels like their Mel, that’s how big a fan he is.)

This is my new Mexican prayer flag. At least I think that’s what it’s called.  It was my neighbor’s, but it blew into our yard and got caught in our pine tree. I was glad it happened. I’ve wanted one of these for the longest time. I never would have been able to get to the top of that tree to hang one as perfectly as this, and now I don’t have to. The wind did for me.

There’s a lot of stuff I now covet in this neighborhood. I see it when I’m walking Sydney. I don’t the names of any of it…just as I’m sure someone from El Paso couldn’t identify all the flora and architectural nuances of a New England neighborhood. So I’ve made up my own names for this stuff.

Here’s a sampling of stuff in my neighborhood that I want.

Below: This tree. It’s a couple doors down from me. I’d like to climb it:

Below: This courtyard. We have a courtyard too, but we haven’t done much to it yet. This one is delightfully green and looks like I could rollerblade around inside.

Below: This bush. I don’t know what it is, but I want one.

Below: My next-door neighbor’s door. I want it. At Christmas they make it look so beautiful I could cry. Because it’s not mine.

Below: These people’s colored tin lizards. Real ones I hate.

Below: This bush that grows pink feathers. I call it a feather bush.

Below: Another courtyard perfect for rollerblading. (Is it necessary for me to mention I don’t even own any rollerblades?)

Below: These people’s courtyard gate. Behold the gate. I’d put a big dog in the courtyard and let him stand at the gate all day to scare away the solicitors who come to the door. Like the Avon lady, and the guys with Chihuahua license plates on their trucks who ask me if I have any work for them. I should say, “Sí! Please rearrange my closet…it’s a disaster!”

Well that’s it for today. When walking Sydney I’ll continue to take photos of all the stuff I covet in my neighborhood and post them here. It’s tough, because I don’t like getting caught, but for you guys it’s worth it.

Yeah, he’s still here. He’s getting better at flying, but not quite good enough. Buck estimates he’s getting an altitude of about six or seven feet now. His mom (for all the bird geeks — and I seem to know A LOT of them — I made sure to get photos of the mom this time) is still having to come around and feed him. I supply the water, she supplies the food.

And just look what he makes this poor woman bird go through. First she has to go out and find stuff he’ll like to eat, then she has to come all the way down to my courtyard and literally put it in his mouth. For some reason, out of like 58 photos of her feeding him, the camera would not focus in any of feeding photos. On the bright side, it did focus on that beautiful chakra-loving tomato in the backround.

Here she is giving him some pointers on flying. He appears to be listening.

Practice makes perfect, little one, so keep at it. And for the sake of Sweet Jeebus, please don’t poop on my basil.

Well, I don’t mind telling you this little guy is driving me crazy. As my fellow Facebookers already know, he fell out of his nest and into my courtyard a few days ago. At the time he was no bigger than a…a…I don’t know, a car key maybe?

I’ve been fretting about him ever since. Of course it’s ruined my life. Baby birds always do. To protect him I’ve pronounced the courtyard officially off-limits to everyone and everything except for me and his mother. Here’s his mother standing guard and waiting, just as I am, for him to grow big enough to fly.

Together, we two mothers have been doing the best we can. I leave puddles of water for him all over the courtyard, and his mom flies down and feeds him throughout the day. In between, he hides under a flower pot to get out of the heat, and he chirps at her, demanding more attention, more food. You know, just like a real kid.

But every day he gets a little bigger, and whereas on Sunday all he could do was hop from place to place, yesterday he began fluttering. Mostly he fluttered up and onto the flower pots. Today I see he’s progressed, “flying” all the way to the top of the little wire fence I put up to keep the dogs away from my patio garden…if they dogs were allowed out there, which ever since his arrival they are NOT. Here he is, proud of himself for having “flown” onto the fence were he can get a better look at his mom.

He watches for her all day. And all day she sits on the roof and watches him, too.

Oh how I can’t wait for him to fly. I’m sure she’s just as anxious about it as I am. I’ve got a life to live, and I’m sure she does too. Hurry up and grow, little bird, HURRY UP!