Companion Planting

We have planting more sneaky  vegetables masquerading as landscaping on our 2012 DIY Project List like we did by accident last summer during our porch and landscaping rennovation. The results were delicious!

 This is one of my favorite photos of Blitzkrieg because he did a perfect sit stay while I turned my back and walked away from him to get everything in the photo.

One of the best things about the project is it an US hobby and not either a Lisa hobby or a Husband hobby. We both share in the gardening responsibilities although we like to say Lisa built it and Husband grew it.

Last January, when Husband and I were running errands, we saw vegetables seeds for sale! We let our stomachs be our guide and bought seeds on the spot.

I’m in a Magazine AND a Book!

I had to sit on this exciting news for way too long! The projects are out and I encourage you to run to your nearest bookstore…

…find the July 2012 issue of This Old House Magazine…

…and turn the pages until you find your favorite green DIY blogger featured in This Old House Magazine!

Do You Have an Emergency Weather Plan?

Last week as my next door neighbors and I were outside and commented how the beautiful clear blue sky, quickly turned into a gray-purple-puke colored Tornado Sky.

The winds kicked up unexpectedly, rain, thunder, and lightening pounded down. Over 300, 000 people in Ohio lost electricity as Mother Nature tossed around trees and power lines with the force of a full on toddler kicking and screaming mega meltdown.

Fortunately, we were one of the lucky few that had electricity. This is surprising because if there is a blackout, we are almost always in it. Often for several days at a time. 

We did not experience a tornado because even those some areas estimated 75+ mile an hour winds, there wasn't any rotation. The crazy, unexpected, snuck up on everyone including the weather service experts, was a derecho.

Lantern Hummingbird Feeder

Husband asked me if I was into getting a bird feeder a few weeks ago when we were standing in the checkout line at the garden center.  I smiled to myself because it was yet another sign of Husband getting into our new gardening hobby. I suggested a hummingbird feeder because our lavender attracted hummingbirds until the big fat bumble bees found it and hog all the polleny goodness. 

Husband said we should think on it because a bird feeder is an impulse purchase and we never know what lymphoma side effect Blitzkrieg will have each week with or without an extra expensive expense. We're very conscious about spending money that might look extravagant or  that we are using your generous Blitzkrieg Cancer Treatment Fund donations to buy bird feeders instead of canine chemotherapy. Trust me, everything you donate to the Blitzkrieg Cancer Treatment Fund pays for Blitzkrieg's mounting medical bills. The poor guy keeps getting side effects that require more medical attention than was first estimated. ( Edited by Lisa: The final bill was $4 to $5K in threee months time when we were finished because of the side effects and remissions and extra treatment they required instead of initial estimate of $3K spread over 6 months time.)

I decided to make Husband a hummingbird feeder for Father’s Day or as it is known in these parts, Doggy Daddy Day.

My first five attempts were big, fat FAILs.

• My original plan was to buy a glass hummingbird feeder tube, stick it on an empty painted by me wine bottle, and make a holder from copper wire. It would have worked if my craftypaintaphobia didn’t mess up the project. My ready made stencil stenciling attempt bled under the stencil. It made blobs not flowers.

• My punch circles from leftover contact paper to make a stick on stencil attempt bled under the stenicl because the contact paper I used has been rolled up/mashed in drawer since we moved in. I had more bad blobs.

• I liked Round One of using a round stenciling pouncer to paint circles on the bottle. Unfortunately, I hated the other layers and colors I used on the bottle. Can I put out here it is a very good thing Martha Stewart craft paint doesn't cure immediately when it dries on glass and makes it easier wash after five failed attempts of painting?

• I decided to paint the hummingbird feeder test tube that came with the feeding tubes, and add red wire wrap glass stones to it to attract hummingbirds. The glass stones looked like red welts. I hated it.

I was frustrated. I gave up and went with what I knew – power tools.