Meet Ninja Squirrel

Many of you may have heard us refer to one of our neighborhood squirrels as "Ninja Squirrel". He got this name the day we moved Dan into our apartment...

As Dan was bringing in a box to our new apartment, he saw this squirrel running in his direction on the sidewalk. He figured when the squirrel noticed him that it would run off in the opposite direction...but not Ninja Squirrel! No, once he noticed Dan, he flattened himself on the sidewalk and seemed to pretend that Dan couldn't see him. Thus the name "Ninja Squirrel" was born!

On another occasion, I was leaving the apartment and heading towards my car when I saw him. He stopped on the sidewalk then ran off towards a tree after I took one more step forward. Upon reaching the tree, however, he only climbed about 4 feet up and moved to the opposite side of trunk, away from me. Curious about his methods, I took a couple of steps towards the tree. Still some distance away, I leaned to the side to see around the trunk and, as I did, Ninja Squirrel scooted further around the trunk but no farther up!

He's also usually a big fan of knocking over any potted plants I have close enough to the ground. Pretty normal and all seemed quiet for awhile. But NOW? Well, now he has taken to climbing up our screen door on our patio! Most of the time he hangs out upside down and looks like he's licking the screen. We've caught him doing this on about 3 separate occasions.

 

 

Crazy squirrel!

Meghan

Tragedy! :(

Friends, I am sad to report that tragedy has struck our little patio garden. While we were vacationing in California last week, my first tomato turned red! I was so excited to see it when I got back.

See how nice and red and ripe it is! :)

However, when I went out to water the plant this morning and check on its progress, I found that my precious red tomato was not to be mine :( You see, something got to it before I did...

Poor tomato :(

Definitely not cool! At least there are 16+ other tomatoes still ripening on the vine but this was the first one to appear and the first to turn red. So it was sad to see it be spoiled like it was and not enjoyed as it deserved but I'm glad there are others to enjoy as they ripen.

In the midst of this sad event though there is an exciting new addition to the patio garden! :) As you may remember, before resorting to a tomato seedling plant from the store, I was attempting to grow one from seed. While I killed the first batch of seedlings that sprouted, I tried again with two more seeds. While I accidentally traumatized it on occasion, one little plant persevered and continued to grow. And yesterday, it made the big move!

I purchased another topsy turvy grower and moved the plant from the little pot it outgrew into the larger growing bag. So now I have two tomato plants, one basil plant and one pot of Bacopa flowers (middle of the photo). I'm really excited that this little plant was able to make the big move. I was never sure how long it was actually going to last and yet here it is, continuing to grow and hopefully flourish now that it has the room it needs. I look forward to continuing to update you on how things go as we get closer to larger harvests of basil and tomatoes! :)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Growing, growing...still growing...

When I first purchased and planted my tomato plant in the upside down tomato grower, it looked something like this...

Taken June 3, 2011

I wasn't sure how well this little experiment would go since I don't have the greenest thumb. Now, more than a month later, it looks something more like this...

Taken July 9, 2011

Group of 5 tomatoes growing and ripening.

This was the first tomato to appear.

So wow! Big change! :) I have counted 11 tomatoes now that have at least started forming and there are several bunches of flowers yet to open and become tomatoes! I am so excited that this endeavor is taking off. Not having the greenest thumb, I was worried about the plant even producing fruit and yet there they are!

Speaking of hardy plants...

This little tomato sprout isn't so little anymore! I'm actually looking at getting another upside down planter to put him in since he's outgrowing this little starter pot. This little one has survived so much including being accidentally kicked over by yours truly which uprooted the poor little sprout. But it has survived and seems to be doing well! :)

And we had our first harvest off the basil plant!

I gathered the biggest leaves for a pasta dish with tomatoes and mozzarella. :) It was yummy! This is the only basil plant left after the squirrels and birds terrorized the box and dug up most of the seeds and sprouts when they were really small. This one was uprooted at one point but thankfully handled it well and kept growing once I got it upright and replanted. Looking forward to more basil later this summer.

Maybe I can do this whole gardening thing after all?!?! Who knew? :)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Meghan

First!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a tomato!!

This has been the first little one to make himself known. :) I was so happy to see this little guy, especially after finding that part of the tomato plant had been broken off. I came out one morning to find a branch of the plant on the ground below the planter. Best I can figure is that our resident "Ninja Squirrel" tried to jump on the plant and the stem snapped. You can see the where it used to be above and behind the growing tomato in the picture below.

The stem that broke off had the next bunch of promising looking flowers. Thankfully, a few more flowers have appeared at other points on the plant since then. Looking forward to watching these ripen and eventually being able to make some yummy tomato, basil and mozzarella salads :) Yum!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

"Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.s?"

So I live in a busy suburb of a major metro area. If you've been following my blog the last couple of weeks, I still get a lot of visitors in my backyard despite being located near major roads in my area. However, most of those guests haven't surprised me much. They've mostly been birds and squirrels with the odd fox, all of which I expect to find everywhere, even my busy suburban apartment backyard (well, the fox surprised me a little). However, today's backyard sighting caught me off guard...

Your eyes do not deceive you...that is a groundhog. In my backyard.Seriously?

Yes, seriously. He ambled into view outside my patio door and I dove for the camera. Thankfully he moved slow enough that I could grab a bunch of photos.

He actually reminded me of a R.O.U.S from The Princess Bride ("Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't believe they exist."). And actually, it shouldn't surprise me too much. I've seen them alongside the interstate we frequently use, so why not in my own backyard? I guess I'm just so used to my regulars that this surprise guest threw me for a loop. :) But I'm glad he came and allowed me to give him an entry in my digital "guest" book. Maybe he'll be a return visitor? :) Only time will tell...

New Guest!

In my last post, I introduced you to some of my backyard visitors. I mentioned two that I had seen but had been unable to get pictures of. Well, one of them returned for a couple photos and even brought a friend! :)

Gorgeous blue jays! :) Still have yet to see the fox again...but that may be a good thing with all these beautiful birds out back...I doubt he would enjoy just looking at them like I do. =S

Backyard Visitors

Since we moved my desk closer to the patio door, I have had a lot of visitors...

 

Our beautiful cardinal visitor. Her mate is a little harder to catch on camera, though I have seen the bright red flashes flying by. And, as I wrote this blog, I was able to get a quick look!

He's handsome, isn't he? :) So glad I caught a glimpse of him finally!

Why, hello, Mr. Robin! :)

I love these doves :) They must have been building their nest this day. They kept coming back and picking up twigs and grasses and then flying off with them.

This is our little black bird that comes to visit. I have no clue with type of bird he is. Any ideas?

This guy is one of our newer visitors. He showed up for the first time last Thursday. He dug in the ground for awhile, probably after a good meal. Again, no idea what kind of bird he is. Ideas?

We also have a beautiful blue jay but he has been camera shy and hasn't allowed me to get a picture yet. I almost got one today but had to open the screen door to get it and he flew off before I could refocus the camera. :\

And this...

This is Ninja Squirrel (NS). He visits me at least once a day (more if I put out stale breadcrumbs). My husband met him the day we moved into our apartment. He was walking on the sidewalk when he startled NS. Instead of running away, NS simply flattened himself on the sidewalk, as if that meant he wouldn't be seen. A few weeks ago, we were leaving the apartment and he was clinging to the brick around our neighbor's door. Since we're in an apartment, that means he was only feet away from me. I totally freaked out while NS just stopped moving and clung to the brick. Even when we shooed him away, he only went and hid under the stairs until we left. I've even seen him up in my hanging flower basket! Thankfully, he fled that spot pretty quickly when I banged on the window.

Just in the past two days, I've also spotted a fox sneaking around! I wish I could get a picture of him, but I can never get the camera turned on fast enough! Hopefully at some point I'll be able to capture a picture and share it with you. I've only seen him once each day so not much leeway in getting a snapshot during a return visit. Fingers crossed that I can get the shot someday! There have also been a couple of stray neighborhood cats but they never seem to stick around long. And not quite as fun (or challenging) to photograph as my other visitors. ;)

Well, I think that covers most of my little visitors. :) Hopefully they will continue to visit and I will continue to get some great photos to share with you, dear readers! Thanks for visiting!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Making Home By Hand

I love being crafty and not just in the sense of pulling off surprise plans and such (which I do love and have some in the works). I love creating things with my own hands. I really enjoyed making recycled heart-shaped swirled crayons and coloring books for the kids at our wedding. I am nowhere near close to being as crafty as some women I know though I hope to be like them some day (I'm looking at you, Stringer Zoo!). However, occasionally I get the opportunity to try my hand at something and this was one such case.

One of the things I've done to spruce up our apartment décor-wise is using seasonal wreaths on our front door. For the fall, I had a basket with fall colored leaves, berries, flowers and pine cones that I found at Wal-Mart and supplemented with some additional flowers to fill it out a little more. Then for the winter, I found a wreath with a cute little snowman (we named him "Bob") sitting in the middle with a welcome banner over his head. But I was having trouble finding something for the spring. Most of what I saw were twig wreaths covered in colorful Easter eggs, something that's not really my style. So I decided to create my own! :)

Thanks to Jaden over at the Steamy Kitchen, I found an article on making yarn wreaths. She had several links to different people's blogs with detailed instructions on how to make these lovely, whimsical wreaths. I chose to go with Danielle's version over at her blog, Take Heart. You can click on the links there for either blog or just keep reading as I take you on the journey I went on in my quest for a beautiful door decoration.

Yarn Wreath with Handmade Felt Roses

What you need:

*Wreath form (Either styrafoam or straw can be used. I like how easily the yarn slid on with the plastic wrap on the straw wreath)
*Skein of yarn in your favorite color
*Sheets of felt in complementary colors
*Piece of ribbon, twine, etc. with which to hang the wreath

As for tools:
*Scissors
*Hot glue gun (or strong craft glue)

Before you start, I would suggest taking your yarn and turning into an easier-to-handle ball. Many of my knitting/crocheting friends may already know this but I learned the hard way.


Yeah, the knot took both of us over an hour and a half to untangle.

You may consider yourself duly warned. :)

The Steps:
Step 1. Wrap the wreath form in yarn. Tie a knot to start and keep the yarn taut. Keep in mind that you will not be able to keep the yarn perfectly aligned and cover the wreath in a single, neatly lined up layer of yarn. But in this case the imperfections are what make these wreaths so perfect. Simply tie a knot to finish it off when it's covered to your satisfaction.



So much neater with a ball!



Ta-da!



Step 2. Make your felt flowers. Choose a sheet of felt and cut out a circle. The bigger you cut your circle, the bigger the final flower will be. Then cut around the circle to give it a wavy look (this is important to give your flower a more varied/real look and the "petals" different heights).

Then choose a spot on the circle and start cutting a spiral from your felt circle. You will end up with a small oval at the end of a long strip of felt. Leave this as-is since it will create the back/base of your flower.

Starting with the tip where you began cutting, roll the felt. Keep it tight in the beginning so everything stays together and then you can loosen the roll as you go, which will serve to create a more open flower. I also used a little drop of hot glue when needed to hold the rolled felt together. More than once I dropped the roll and had to start over.

When you get to the end, use some hot glue or strong craft glue to attach the bottom (the oval from the spiral) to your flower.

With the bottom attached

First finished flower!

Feel free to make as many flowers as you like. I made a few different sizes and 3 different colors. You can also make leaves from your felt if you so wish (I chose to make two).

Step 3: Assemble your wreath. This is where you really get to personalize. You can arrange your flowers in a line going up your wreath, in a grouping, or however you want. You could add any little knick-knacks that you like as well. I chose to go with a simple line up the side of the wreath and added a couple of leaves. Again you can use strong craft glue or the hot glue gun (my method).


In the process of attaching...

For the final touch, add a ribbon, raffia, twine or other means of hanging your wreath and ENJOY!


Ta-da!


Thank you so much for indulging my creative bent :) I absolutely loved making this wreath (minus the huge knot I put in the yarn, of course) and I'm really enjoying having it welcome us and our friends to our home. Maybe someday I'll get the chance to perfect my skills and sell some wreaths a la Etsy? :) Who knows?! But for now, I had a lot of fun making and now enjoying  this labor of love. I'd love to see yours if you make one! Please feel free to share in the comments section.

Happy crafting!

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

P.S. The transformation of the blog has commenced! The new colors and header are in place! New web address will take effect Monday so keep an eye out for the new URL! :) I'm so excited about this new phase for the blog and hope you get a chance to check it out!

Tending the Soil

Look who showed up this weekend!

First tomato sprouts!

One night I checked the pot and there was nothing and the next day I look again and POOF! There they are! These two came up over the weekend and a third sprout showed up on Monday. Only the strongest/best of the seedlings will be used for the topsy turvy planter but I wanted to make sure I had choices and backups in case something happened so I planted 5 seeds. They spend most of their days outside and then get brought in overnight to prevent them from getting too cold or being harassed by the local squirrels. :p

Those pesky squirrels already dug through my basil box so I had to cover it in mesh to prevent further damage. I'm hoping I'll still get a couple of seedlings out of that. Not sure how many of the seeds were damaged by the wildlife attack. If nothing else, I do have some more seeds so I can always replant those and keep them covered as long as possible.

Here's to adventures in gardening! :) Looking forward to seeing these little ones continue to grow and flourish.

Grow, baby, grow!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Sunshine, water, soil....GROW!

The apartment is pretty lonely this week. The husband left for Toronto on business Sunday afternoon so I have some time to myself. I'm trying to stay occupied and thankfully we went to Lowe's on Saturday and picked up some patio gardening items. :)

A couple of years ago, I planted carrots, cucumbers and basil on my parents' deck in window boxes. This year, I decided to do basil again but then I wanted to try one of those upside down tomato growers so I picked a small grape-type variety of tomato to try first. I am actually kind of excited about that. :) Looking forward to some tomato, basil and mozzarella salads.

Above is a photo of my new plant stand that I absolutely love along with the window box with basil seeds. The small pot to the right has the tomato seeds in it. They'll start in there mostly indoors until I have a couple of good seedlings, then I will pick one to transfer to the hanging planter outside.

My husband's one request is that I have some flowers as well. There were already some hooks installed on our patio so I decided I would do a hanging basket. I wanted something that would trail and grow and spread out since it would be the only hanging basket. We found this lovely planter of a light purple flower called Bacopa. They seem to be thriving out on the patio and I love the beauty and spark of color they add to our home. :) I look forward to many spring and summer evenings enjoying our glider and flowers out on the patio.

There's a lot of hope inherent in that little pot. :) Can't wait to post pictures of the progress!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Parting Ways

Hello, my name is Meghan and I'm a pack rat.

"Hello, Meghan."

It has taken me six months to get to this point...well, that's not completely accurate. I guess it's been building over a lifetime. But it reached a new level when I got married and had to move all my "stuff" into our new apartment. All the belongings that had been stuffed in my room since 7th grade. All the stuff that had been locked up in a storage unit since college. All of it followed me here. Papers from middle school. Magazines. Labs from high school. Notes from college. Brochures from graduate schools I never attended. More magazines. You get the picture.

I recently came to a place emotionally where I've been able to start tossing stuff en masse. Intellectually I've known that I want my life to be less cluttered. Emotionally...it was harder than I expected. I think part of me felt attached to some of these items because I had linked them to my past accomplishments. In the present, though, there are fewer recognitions of achievement and I was holding to some of those pieces of paper as proof that I had in fact achieved something at some point in life, whether it was academically or otherwise.

In discussing it with my husband, we found a way to make it easier to get rid of at least papers and such from college. We were planning on hanging our college diplomas in the office area in the second bedroom. Whenever I need to, I can point to that piece of paper and say to myself, "Yes, I did earn that." I know it's silly and trivial but, with how I've felt recently, it is much needed to know that I have, can and will accomplish things in this world.

I know there are much more eternal things to accomplish than just earning a college degree or unpacking the last box. I try to keep that in mind as I struggle to part with items that have no business still being around and taking up space in my life physically and emotionally. I know that in this season God is preparing and growing me. "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He knows where my life is going and wants only the best for me. Part of that is releasing the things that have been weighing me down and following me around for way to long. It has felt good to see the number of boxes diminish and know that some day it may help me to be ready for what God's calling will be.

At this point, though, I'm just really looking forward to the day when I can say "we are now OFFICIALLY moved in!" :)

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

Water, Water Everywhere, or My First Call to 9-1-1

Welcome back, friends! I hope you all had a blessed and joyful Christmas and New Year's! :) We had a lovely time visiting family and friends but I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine, catching up on my blogging and continuing to settle into the apartment. There's still boxes everywhere!

So speaking of the apartment...back on Wednesday, December 15th, we had quite the eventful afternoon. I was just logging off at work when I heard what sounded like rain outside our sliding door so I look and there's water pouring down onto the patio! As this occurs to me, the fire alarm for the building starts going off and one thing hits my mind...there's a fire and the water must be from the sprinklers upstairs. So I throw on some shoes, grab my phone, purse and camera, then run outside. As I came around the side of the building, this is what I saw (click on image to enlarge):

Water, water everywhere...

Water was pouring down onto our patio from the third floor, but the water appeared to be coming out from under the eaves. Still not knowing what was going on and being one of the few adults around, I sent one of the kids from the building (they'd just gotten home from school) up to the front office to let them know what was going on and I called 911. Let me just say I hope I never have to do that again! It was so stressful not knowing what was going on but knowing all the same that something was wrong.

So a few minutes later, the front office personnel had called maintenance and the fire trucks arrived...

God bless Montgomery County's finest! They showed up and got right to work, coordinating with the maintenance staff to shut off the water main and diagnose a burst fire sprinkler pipe. This was one of the coldest weeks of the winter and the pipes just gave out. The water that had spilled onto our patio was actually forming icicles it was so cold out! Thankfully, everything was put in order fairly smoothly and efficiently, with the water turned off to the building while they fixed the pipe. Maintenance and the firemen came and looked at our apartment, helped me put buckets under the few small leaks we had and turned off power to part of the apartment until everything was fixed.

One can only hold up for so long and be stoic under such circumstances and I hit my limit the minute they walked out the door. As I called my husband at work to inform him of the situation, I sank to the floor since my knees seemed to not want to work for a few minutes. Another lesson learned in this married life: never lead with the fact that you had to call 911. Apparently I almost gave Dan a heart attack when I started our conversation with that fact. He calmed down a little after I explained that it was simply a busted water pipe and that I was okay. :) Water and electricity were both restored later that evening.

The following Monday, December 20th, maintenance came to repair the water damage in our living room and guest bedroom and then Tuesday (the day we left for Michigan) they came again to clean the carpets. Thankfully, the pipe burst above the third floor and we're on the first so the damage was fairly minimal. My CD collection got the worst of it so we're very thankful that the situation wasn't any worse.

The whole thing was quite the adrenaline rush then crash. But God provided for us in more ways than one. As I dried things off and cleaned up in the guest bedroom, I was afforded the opportunity to photograph some beautiful cardinals as they foraged for food behind our apartment building. Such a quiet peaceful moment I never would have known if it weren't for the chaos that preceded it.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

P.S. My husband likes to call me the paparazzi because I take so many photos and jokes about taking away my "paparazzi card" when I forget my camera. When he found out I grabbed it on my way out of the apartment, he said that I had earned a second paparazzi card. :) Couldn't miss documenting it! Besides, there were honeymoon photos on the camera! No way was I leaving it in the apartment!