1. I like to make jam but I rarely eat it. 2. Same with pickles. Hence, my pantry is overabundant and I give many jarred gifts. 3. I failed at worm composting last year. I so don’t like squishy creatures that I hated tending the box and turned the wigglers lose in my compost bin in the summer. I am keeping my awesome One20 Farm composter with the hopes that someday I’ll get over my [...]

You may have noticed that posting has been light the last few weeks. I have had a sinus headache to end all headaches that leaves me with little energy to do anything but sleep. After many meetings with my Ear Nose, and Throat doctor, he referred me to an allergist. Today I suffered through nearly four hours of the arcane prick tests to determine that I’m allergic to dust mites and dogs. So the blog [...]

Did you know that black dogs and cats are more likely to linger in animal shelters than any other color of pet? The problem is so pervasive that shelters have given the syndrome an acronym, BBD, for Big Black Dog. BBDs persist in shelters despite being personable, house trained, and gentle. The animal shelter from where we adopted our hounds, Capital Area Humane Society in Hilliard, is actively combating the lack of adopters from dark [...]

Our Xmas tradition is to decorate a Norfolk Island Pine.  It tolerates the attention but prefers to be an indoor/outdoor tree and is usually completely dried from the lights at the end of the holiday season. This year I was thinking about buying a metal or wooden reusable tree.  Then I had a brainstorm: let’s make our own branch tree! I filled an empty clay pot with garden stones.  Sand or pea gravel would also [...]

Ah, winter sunlight.  It streams sideways through the windows and illuminates every fingerprint and bit of dust on furniture tops.  It bathes our indoor herb garden with warmth. One beam was soaked up by Hawise the little hound and I could not help but take her portrait.