Seeds!

I bought my garden seeds last night!! I can't tell you how excited I am about this new little adventure.

I stood in the seed isle looking at all the different things we can grow. Did you know that there are about 10 different green beans? Okay maybe not that many, but I was just expecting one style and I had a bunch to pick from and I no idea what I was picking.

Then Jesse spots melons! Oh Lynn, we can grow melons! Ick, who eats melons? Can you grow melons in Wisconsin? Apparently you can or they wouldn't be selling them to us here in Wisconsin! Right?

My Mom told me that I could start my seeds that needed to be started indoors on St. Patrick's Day and that is just around the corner. Now I am too excited to wait until then and want to do it now! I laid out all my packets to see which ones I could start early. I was so disappointed!! According to the package directions I was only able to start the tomatoes and bell peppers early.

I then decided that was bogus and I was going to start my herbs early too just because I can't wait until May to plant these suckers. This belly of mine could be far too huge to bend over to plant seeds!! Not that planting little baby plants is going to be any easier... it would just be way more fun! I'm a little impatient at some things.

I am suppose to wait until frost season is over and the ground is warm to plant the rest of the seeds that we bought.

I thought this has got to be some sort of joke. Maybe these seed people don't know what they are talking about. I called my Aunt Starla and Uncle Brad to see if maybe they would let me start any of these early. They have a garden every year and grow lots of things - surely they would know how us Wisconsin folks need to do this.

They left me with a page full of notes/tips. I really did take notes too! I told them that I was taking notes and Starla say I thought you would be and I was wondering if we were going too fast. Does she know me or what!?

Uncle Brad doesn't start any seeds early!! He says he just gets them from the nursery or my other Aunt, Gayle, who does start early. Cheater!!! ; ) He use to start them early, but just doesn't do it anymore. He let me add the onions and broccoli to my early indoor planting list!! He even said I could try a few cucumbers if I really wanted to! Whoohoo!! Now I feel much better!

After my phone call with them I busted out this book from Jesse's Dad. Just to see if there were anymore tips that I needed to know.

I could only take so much of that before I felt like this...And here is what my garden looks like at this very moment. Ugh. Still snow!! At least it is melting and hopefully it is going to stay away, far far away!

It was seriously only $26 to get all these seeds and 3 huge starter seed trays with lids!! I knew gardening would be cheaper, but I never would of guessed that much cheaper!!

Foot Tracks

The other morning I opened up the curtains and I noticed strange tracks in the snow behind our house. I stared at them for awhile trying to figure out if they were human tracks or Maggy tracks. I couldn't tell. The tracks went from the neighbors yard over to our yard.

When Jesse came home last night I remembered to tell him that I saw these tracks and was a little concerned about them. By the time I told him it was too dark for him to look out the window and see, but he told me he would look at them and check them out.

Jesse takes Maggy for a walk and comes back in and says that he inspected the tracks with a flashlight and it appears that the tracks come from the neighbor-on-the-left... come into our yard... come to the basement window (where Maggy's room is)... and go over to the neighbor-on-the-right. (Isn't snow the coolest sometimes? sometimes!) My little heart starts to panic and I look at him with big eyes and ask him what in the world does he think happened??? He wasn't sure but he says, I am sure Maggy went nuts and was barking like crazy and it scared the guy onto the next neighbors. Does not help my freak out session I am in the middle of having!!

I need to back up for a second... on Sunday Jesse went to take Maggy outside and she was acting all strange and wouldn't leave Jesse's side. She was looking back into the woods and doing a light growl. Jesse couldn't see anything back there so he wasn't sure what her problem was. Then an hour later I took her outside and she did the same thing... except I patted her on the head and told her she was okay and that satisfied her and she went about and played and did her business.

So... as I am freaking out I remind Jesse of Maggy's little Sunday episode. He clearly remembers and doesn't really seem to be freaked out like me. He tells me that I need to recall the sermon we heard in church a few weeks on fear. Of course I roll my eyes and say yeah whatever - you don't have to be home alone for 6 days!!! And your not a girl!!! Now call the neighbors and see if they spotted anyone in our yard! And my eyes seriously started to get teary. We are going to blame pregnancy hormones for those!! : )

He looked at me as if I was from another planet. He wanted to know just what he was going to say to the neighbor. I said, ask them if they noticed any strange tracks in their yard and ask them if they noticed anyone in our yard! He giggles and says fine - don't question a hormonal pregnant wife! Now we totally know these neighbors and are very friendly with them. We have been to their house to play cards. She works at that liquor store... and well... we must go to the liquor store too much as she knows what kind of beer Jesse drinks, when my Dad is coming over because we buy special beer just for him. (My Dad doesn't like Jesse's crazy off the wall beer... it makes him gag.) Anyway we know these neighbors it isn't like I was making him call and talk to them for the very first time!

Thank goodness I forced him to call!!!! Neighbor Ray put a freaked out girl's heart back to normal! Jesse was explaining the tracks he saw and Ray says... oh that was the water meter reader! Relief! Oh my gosh! I could just feel the tension and fear leave my shoulders!!

Jesse also told Neighbor Ray about Maggy growling at the woods and Ray said... oh there was probably a bear out there. They have seen bear back there before. Now... I probably could of gone without that piece of information!!

Did I really say yes to this?

Towards the end of December I agreed to let Jesse have a dog. A in the house dog! Now, I am so not a dog person. Definitely not an in the house dog person! But Jesse gave me that look - in our family we call it 'Charming Jesse' and I caved and said sure you can keep the dog.

Now we've had the dog (Maggy is her name) for a good couple of months. She has made some very big improvements but she fell off the improvement wagon Wednesday and I was ready to ship her off to some other island far far far away from me.

This is how the day went down:

I woke up early to take Jesse to work so I could have the truck for the morning. (We go down to one vehicle in the winter because his pride and joy, aka the jeep, can not get winter road slime or salt on it. It just might not run the same or climb over stuff the same if this would ever happen. Okay I made that last part up. It has to be a guy thing because my Dad won't let his jeep get winter road slime or salt either.) I don't even get out the bedroom door and Jesse greets me with a "So Maggy took over the big over sized chair last night." I looked at him with big eyes and then at Maggy who was sitting at my feet wanting me to pet her. I asked him just how he knew this. He says, oh she was sitting in there when I got up. Did you yell at her?!!!? She looked so cute and comfy. Did you yell at her!?!?!! As I look down and give Maggy the 'ol stare down and Jesse says, "You can't yell at her now!" The heck I can't, was my thought... but I didn't yell.

While I took Jesse to work we put Maggy in her room. Which is our furnace/mud/laundry room - concrete floors, some of the walls are unfinished... very rustic and nothing for her to destroy... or so we thought! When I get back, which I was gone maybe 10 minutes, she has found the pamphlet on the furnace and started chewing on it! Apparently she was listening back in December when we were having problems with the furnace and she heard that we need to replace it this summer anyways - so she thought they really don't need this manual anymore!

I gave her a lecture and told her she was naughty. She so knows it when she is naughty too! She gets down as low as she can go and looks up at me.

Then I had to leave for a ladies breakfast that I was going to. I put Maggy back in her room and gave her a stern look and said... you better be good while I am gone or else!!

At the ladies breakfast one of the little boys was pretending to be a puppy and he was panting at me and wanted me to pet his little head. So I pet this little boys head and I said something like, I would so rather have you as our puppy then the beast we have at home.

I get home from breakfast and I am running just a tad bit late for work so I'm kind of in a hurry. I walk in the back door (which is the entrance to Maggy's room) and I find more of that furnace manual shredded! Plus! She chewed on the WALL!!! Yes! Our wall!! I could not believe my eyes! I was mad at her! I gave her another lecture and immediately went to work and emailed Jesse and told him his dog was grounded until she was 18!!! He didn't respond back.

Around 12:30 I have to go pick up Jesse from work and bring him home so he can eat lunch. While I am walking out to the living room to grab the ringing phone (I know it is Jesse telling me he is ready for me to come get him) Maggy has made herself comfortable in the chair again!! And she just looks back at me and doesn't get down! I had to physically pull her off the chair.

Later in the afternoon I had to call my Dad and he was bragging about how it was sunny out and he was done working and I was still working and stuck at home with a naughty puppy. He just laughs at my naughty puppy stories! So we're yacking away and all of sudden I notice that Maggy was just in my office with me and now she is gone. I hang up with my Dad because I need to go track down the naughty puppy and guess where she is!?!!? On that chair again!!! Oh boy!

Have you seen or read the book, Marley and Me? Yesterday I felt like we had Marley instead of Maggy. Even Jesse's parents will call her Marley instead of Maggy.

I couldn't wait for Jesse to get home! I felt kind of like the parent with the out of control children where the Mom is watching out the window for the Dad to come home from work so she can go hide for a few hours. I just wanted to hide from Maggy! I was exhausted! All I wanted to do was crawl into my blanket and watch American Idol.

That night Maggy kept coming over by me and wanting me to pet her. When she gets real needy like this I always say her love tank is empty and she needs it filled. Finally Jesse decided to take her for a walk and I got to stay home alone!!! They come back and of course Maggy comes flying upstairs to stick her wet cold nose on my belly for me to pet her. I secretly ask for Blueberry to give a good kick while Maggy's nose is resting there but she never does.

Jesse has to run to the gas station and I tell him that Maggy's love tank is just not full enough and she needs to go with and spend some quality time with him. He takes her! Whooohoo!

And you know what?! You know what Jesse tells me earlier this week?! That he has a week long training down in Oshkosh! This is not a drive that he can make each morning and night. He needs to spend a week down in Oshkosh! Which only means I am home alone for a week with Maggy! I have seriously thought about asking my brother to move in for a week so he could keep Maggy's love tank full - because I just don't like to pet her enough for her needs. (We also think that her love tank has leak because it never seems full enough for her.) That would mean that my little brother would have to be away from his girlfriend for a whole week and when you are dating that seems virtually impossible! So I think I have to tough this one out and let Jesse know that I like shiny sparkly items for watching his dog for a week. Heck even right now being pregnant... chocolate totally works on me!!!