Ode to the Dandelion

When I was a kid I remember my mom using this crazy tool that was a long metal shaft with a little fork at the end to yank dandelions and their roots from our lawn. I remember knowing that dandelions in your lawn were no good.


That is not the case here, and I have to say, I don't really see what the fuss was all about. They are bursting right now, carpeting the earth like stars in the sky. They are magnificent and beautiful. We even ate some dandelion greens out of the yard (you're supposed to eat them before they bloom) when we needed some lettuce the other day. And they tasted Good.This is Makili telling me these are "all flowers" one of his new favorite concepts. He'll point to a bunch of balls and whirl his hands around saying "all balls." This was actually the first time I ever saw him do this, but he does it all the time now. He is such a talker - sometimes it drives me nuts!
Makili loved that I was laying down taking pictures of the dandelions. He came over and tried to smell them, but ended up spitting on them a little bit, with his covered his face in yellow pollen. It was pretty funny.


Glorious. And I'm so glad I don't have to spend my time plucking them out of the earth with that tool. It seems like it'd be a bit futile around here anyway!

Multi-tasking

Legs

Here is Legs, our friendly resident snake.  Makili LOVES finding Legs.  The day when we found Legs in the rocks right by where we were working in the garden, Makili sat there talking to him non-stop until we had to leave.  "Hi Snake!  Hi Snake! Hi Snake!  I love you Snake!!!"  Legs was okay with it as long as Makili kept his distance.  It was terribly cute.

And here is my guy finally earning his keep.

YES!

Raph has two interview scheduled in the next two weeks! Cross your fingers for us!

A few recents.

He was happy as a clam and then got mad at me for taking his picture and started giving me dirty looks.  He's at that age...

Makili and I have been eating every meal on the patio, which means cuteness and a whole lot less wiping food off the floor.  Those are the times a dog would come in handy.
Watching Dad leave on the motorcycle...
I just liked these pictures...

94 degrees

Makili hung out outside for a while on Tuesday, but eventually it was too hot for me. We had already been sunburnt enough and it was too hot for yard work, so we came inside. I decided to give my dad a call and complain about the heat. When I told him it was 94 degrees, his response was, "why aren't you at the beach?" I told him "That is a damn good question!" So I packed up the stuff, and forgot a lot of things, and headed to the beach, where Makili had a terrific time digging in the sand and throwing rocks. It was magical...

Mustela Erminea

Crappy picture, I know. But these buggas are FAST! This little short-tailed weasel has been hanging around lately, most like feeding on the mice in the basement, as it turns out. Raph and I freaked out on Tamara when she tried to feed it donuts on Sunday, fearing the thing would reside in our house, but as it turns out, they're good to have around because they control mice populations, and don't really eat people food. This one wasn't too shy, but it was darn cute. Tamara wanted to take it home as a pet. We'll have to come up with a name for this guy. Any ideas?This nice weather has been bringing out all sorts of creatures. Of course, there have been a handful of black flies, mosquitos, beetles, the carpenter bees are buzzing us constantly, and a mouse has been nibbling on the blueberry bush next to the shed, where it lives. Yesterday I was surprised by Legs, our resident garder snake and Friday on our way to a hike at Mt. Agamenticus, we had to pull over to move a good sized Eastern Box Turtle out of the road. The kids (Makili plus the McCall kids) thought it was awesome. And it was damn cute too.

Reunited

Sadly I don't babysit the McCall kids any more, but I did on Friday. Let me tell you, you'd think Morgan and Makili were long-lost friends. They were very happy to see each other and terribly cute together. It was very endearing...

Construction updates and cuteness

Fake Smile.No Smile.
mom's silly hat.
Greenhouse is 50% done. Tim and Tamara came over and got sun burnt helping us on Sunday, but now we're in a holding pattern because we're missing some parts. Tim really liked using the drill though.

Here is the finished patio - already covered with crap! The sod looks a little shabby, but it will take I think! Anyway, we love it.

i don't know what came over me...

So i don't sew clothes. It just is something that I don't do. I don't know what came over me that led me to sew some pants for Makili. It certainly wasn't any lack of clothing in his drawers (drawers in his drawers...hahaha). I did it though and am pretty happy with me first two attempts. Makili for his part was a willing model, though plenty silly and terribly cute.





The second pair was much better at the waist and cuff. I had real difficulty with the waist on the first ones because I didn't use a pattern and didn't realize how straight the top cut needed to be. Also, I wanted the rolled cuffs and as usual didn't think enough steps ahead so that there wouldn't be an unfinished seem when the cuffs were turned. Both of these problems I rectified on the second pair, though I still plan to make a few changes. First, the legs are too tapered. Second, I think the inseam is a little too long, though I appreciate the whole "growing into them" thing. Anyway, I'm pretty excited about the pants, so I plan to try to some more. (I'll probably have to give them away since we have no room for more drawers in the drawers...)

Construction Projects

So we are working on finishing up some construction project that were sort of in the works before the disappearance of Raph's job.  This week has been a big push.  

This was our "patio" a week ago.  (The crazy vegetable stand thing in the background has been moved too!)

Last Sunday after it was raked out:
Yesterday when we were laying stone.
Makili was actually helpful for a good while!  He tries to be helpful often, without always being successful.
And now it is actually done, but I didn't take a picture of it.

Instead, here is the greenhouse site a week ago:
And here it is with one wall up:

We're hoping to mostly get it done this weekend, since we're expecting gorgeous weather!  I'm excited because the size of the pile of trash (okay so it is actually aluminum, wood and glass) is going to be diminished!

Who needs a...

Who needs to pay for cheap thrills when they can be had so easily on a 2 foot slide (for hours)?

Who needs basketball hoops when there are buckets and tomato cages?

Who needs a sandbox, when you have a giant pile of stone dust?

Seriously, I'm not buying anymore toys.