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THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

FIFA World Cup, Watertown. Minnesota. June 27, 2010

I have long been known for two things by my nieces and nephews (aside from the obvious abject sarcasm): fancy birthday cakes and themed birthday parties for Charlie in June. Given that they are mostly all grown up now, I assumed — wrongly — that they would meet my [...]

The Trouble with Blue Fescue

I Hate To Say “I Told You So,”

So I’ll say “I told him so.”

(Yes, I mean Dave.)

Two summers ago, when we did some new plantings around the house (after 13 years of living here), Dave was set on Blue Fescue in a large area back by the pool. Having dabbled in ornamental grasses for several years, [...]

Make Way for Little Ducklings

Our Friday Adventure

I finally, finally finished cleaning the pool cover the other day. I had sopped off the dead worms and green algae well over a month ago, but I’d never finished. I like to scrub it all off so that when it rains on the cover I can just run that water into the pool [...]

Refinishing My Kitchen Table

Old [...]

What a Difference a Day Makes

In Minnesota, anything is possible. Anything with the weather, that is. On Saturday, I laid in bed, reading, working on my computer, happy. The weather map showed a great big sunshine with a high of 83. Not sure why that was, because out my window it was windy, cold, and 48 degrees. And then, in true [...]

It's Still 40 and it's Still Raining

I need a garden fix. I want to weed. I want to escape this stupid computer and stupid soccer and get the Hell out of my office. My dog is ready to implode. I have chicks in my laundry room. The cats are sitting in the trees with the bird feeders. It’s raining. It’s cold. And [...]

The Elusive Morel Mushroom

I started this post as the Meatless Monday Eighteen post, but by the end of my breathless tirade, I realized I had about 3 pages written with nary a word about Meatless Monday, So, I turned it into its own entry. I will post the Meatless Monday recipe tomorrow. I’m not going to change [...]

World's Best Dandelion Digger

That is not an attention grabbing headline, guys. I’m serious. This thing is insane.

But, I suppose I should qualify that statement by telling you that my previous tool had been the same one my mom handed to me when I was 10 and sent me out the front door. You know the one — [...]

Make Your Own Peanut Suet

For the Birds, of Course.

[This is so not what I want to post today, but I already have it written, and so up it goes! Suet is hardly what I want to be thinking about on our first nice day in weeks. I want to write about dandelions and asparagus and seedlings and spring-type stuff! But [...]