Monthly Archives: October 2014

Today, I harvested the last of the squash.  Mostly Sweet Dumplings, although there’s a little This and That in there, too.

I picked one of the watermelons for breakfast.  I didn’t think it would be any good, since it was super tiny – I only picked it because something had eaten a little hole in the bottom.

Surprise, surprise!  It was only about the size of a large apple, but the inside was extremely juicy and flavorful.  I now have tremendously high hopes for the larger watermelons still on the vine.  We’re going to eat the largest one tonight.

The new strawberry bed is doing great.

I wasn’t sure it would, because I used the runners from the adult strawberries growing on the quail green roof.  You’re supposed to leave the runners attached to the adult plant until the runners have rooted, but I just cut them off and stuck them in the ground.  I planted them really close together, because I wasn’t sure if all (or any) of them would root.  But most have.  At some point, I’ll dig them up and space them further apart.

We’ve been having some typical Fall weather here, lots of wind and rain, mingled with bouts of brilliant warm sunshine.  Sometimes within the space of a few minutes!  I do love stormy weather, but there’s still a ton of stuff I want to do outside, so I’m glad for the periods of sunshine.

The rain is nice to write by.  I’m going to be publishing my first book soon, so right now I’m doing some editing – plus working on the second book in the series.  Cat Sookie (who is the most anti-social cat I’ve ever owned) will only deign to sit beside me and purr if I let her use my Kindle Fire to watch bird videos on.  Here’s us, me on my laptop, and her on my Fire.

Plus, our Corgi puppy will be arriving by air on Saturday – so we’ll be spending the day in Seattle, then coming home with a new dog!  He already has a HUGE box of toys, plus a collar and tag.

I got my first paycheck from that Steampunk Monster book I was doing some writing/costuming work for, so yay.  The duck coop, meat chicken coop, greenhouse, and whatever else I can stretch the money to, is now funded!  I’m most excited about the duck coop, because DUCKS.

After a ton of going back and forth on breeds, and whether I’d be raising them for meat, or just eggs and slug patrol, I decided (for now) on just eggs and slugs.  That means, for me, the only choice of breed was the Indian Runner.  I just adore these guys.  If there’s anything that looks cuter walking down a garden path, I don’t know what it is.

I’ll plan on getting three girls (Philomena, Penelope, and Phryne) but if one turns out to be an accidental drake, I won’t mind.  Male ducks are super sweet!