Garden of Words

The Baby Factory: Hot, Tired Munchkins

Thea went for a sleepless marathon on Sunday -- awake from 8:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night with maybe a cumulative hour of sleep. She was fighting sleep virtually the whole day.

Monday was a repeat. I came home early to give Nikole a small break before I had to go to a Downtown Master Plan meeting. I managed to get her to sleep around 10:00 tonight again. Of course, it's now 2:00 in the morning and I'm wide awake.

I'm blaming it on the heat and the sun. She was outside in the swelter both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Or she's just stubborn.

Nikole is exhausted. Thea is exhausted. I'm exhausted. So this is what being a parent is all about, huh?

Good thing she's so damn cute. Thea, too. (Above photo: Nikole going in for the kill with her first S'more of the summer.)

Squirrels Top Most Wanted List

For the first summer in five years of owning a home, the squirrels that litter this city like so much furry confetti along a Broadway victory parade are Public Enemy Number 1.

Now that the rabbit has grown too fat to hop between the chain-linked fence into our garden, the criminal behavior of our local squirrels has become all too obvious. Not an evening goes by lately that I don't glance out the back window to see one, two, even three squirrels cavorting across the yard with large green tomatoes precariously gripped in their tiny mouths. Our tomato plants have gone from sagging heavily with fruit to being bare stalks offering scant shade to the green beans.

Oddly enough, they don't touch the cherry tomatoes. Too bad we only planted one cherry tomato plant.

We have been hauling vast quantities of cucumbers, zucchini, green peppers and green beans from the garden during the month of July. Nikole has sworn off cucumbers and tomatoes tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- the tomatoes are second-rate summer fare from local farmers. I, on the other hand, am consuming them at the healthy rate of three cucumbers a day.

We're getting enough beans to eat them three times a week, plus enough to steam a few handfuls for the dog. Rilo loves produce.

There are two late tomato plants and a cantaloupe vine still waiting to produce, and we're beginning to make plans for a late summer/fall garden.

The Baby Factory: Summer Shower

Due to the tidal surge of complications we experienced on our way to delivery, Nikole's friends in the Richmond Craft Mafia never had an opportunity to shower her with baby goodness before Thea arrived. No matter, because if they had showered her as scheduled it would have been sunny, breezy and mild -- exactly what you'd be looking for in a garden party.

 

Instead, we basked in the afternoon-basted glory of July in Richmond; sipped on cold wine, delicious punch and iced tea; and grilled. Thanks to the crafty zest of Modern June, the backyard was decked out in full retro regalia and the table was covered with a ocean of summer flowers. More photos and light commentary follows:

Hot Hot Heat: Thea starts to wilt in the mid-afternoon glory that is Richmond in July.

Swing A Little Swing: There's only one way to cool a baby down. And it involves action!

Do The Bunny Hop: One of many crafty items sent Thea's way.

Meet the Mafia: They don't look so threatening, do they?

Crafty Monkey Robot Kimono: Funky pint-sized Asian wear trumps frilly dresses always.

Call Your Agent: Meet Thea's new pageant rep. Hello, Little Miss Bristol!

The Baby Factory: Gorgeous Girls

My wife and our baby are beautiful.

The Baby Factory: Saying It With Pictures

Over the past week, we hung out at home; had a birthday party for a niece with all of Thea's cousins; and visited with Thea's great-grandfather and his wife, her grandfather, and her uncle and aunt and baby cousin at the river. Now she's home with a snotty head cold. Nikole has more on that adventure.

I'll just let the pictures tell the story of our past week.

Cousin Trevor meets his cousin for the first time.

Thea with her Omie and three of her cousins.

Omie with her first grandchild, sporting a new haircut.

Pop-Pop with Thea's cousin Baker.

Dad and his baby girl on the hammock.


More hammock action. Cripes, she's cute!


Our sister-in-law Rebecca with Baker, and the lovely Nikole with Thea.


Pop-Pop with Thea.

The Curse of the Rabbit/Squirrel/Dog Alliance

An unholy alliance has formed in our backyard, and the summertime invasion of our garden is in full force. We are pressed on all sides by all manner of furry critters; the cats alone have remained on the sideline. Not that their neutrality was requested, or throws the balance of power in our favor.

It started with the rabbit, who has grown fat and plump on our beans and chard. To help keep the rabbit at bay, we began to leave the garden gate open -- a way to encourage Rilo to spend a little more time in the garden, chasing the rabbit away. That worked for a while.

Last week, I found the dog sprawled in her favorite spot with a small pile of semi-ripe tomatoes resting on the ground beside her. She grabbed one and ran away, chewing gaily.

The fence was closed again. The squirrel could have the damn beans. The dog was not going to have another tomato.

No, we'll leave the tomato pillaging to the squirrels. Green tomatoes litter our yard now. Earlier this evening, I saw a squirrel bound across the yard and up a tree with a green tomato clutched in its little mouth.

Despite the barbaric pillaging taking place, we've managed to harvest one tomato, several zucchini, a half dozen cucumbers, a few peppers and five servings of green beans. Another 37 cucumbers are on their way.