Oh, boy, it’s been a week. Not even worth going into, trying to be positive and moving forward into good vibes, happy times and good projects to come… but it’s been a doozy.

But look how Saturday has started!!!! I found a super nice fellow on Craig’s List with a couple hundred of those interlocking paver stones that he wanted to get rid of! So we made the connection and he dropped them off this morning for us! I just got 100, but now I’m thinking I want more!!! I’ll probably give him a call this week and see if we can get the rest. He has 100 more left. I would like to finish ringing in the peach tree and maybe even do the kitty garden area.

Didn’t take us long to stack them nicely. There are a few we probably should move and level a bit more, but it was starting to get hot and I figure they might settle a bit. I think they look lovely! How nice! I need to get a bag or two of mulch and fill in a bit right behind the wall but still… I love the look!

I wish more people would come to understand that a mobile home is a good place to live when you go into the idea of fixing it up and treating it like a real home and not just some sort of half way house in life. I am constantly getting compliments on really, the simplest things… decent sized plants and trees and just nice touches like the pavers or pots of nice plants. These are not expensive things. And the mere fact that I OWN my home. Free and clear… to me that’s wonderful. Now I can afford to spend money on doing upgrades to the place. And if I’m not too flush, well, I can wait a while. Anything I do to the place, makes it nicer and nicer to live in.

And my lot rent is CHEAP when compared to real estate taxes or renting a home or apartment and I have so many more freedoms.. to have a dog, a garden, outdoor space, and all that. Sure, I have to deal with management and right now, we’re all in a battle over parking and harsh behavior, but in reality, as long as you keep the place tidy and follow some basic rules, it’s not that hard to be a good resident. Pay your rent on time and keep the grass mowed and pretty much, you’re good as gold.

I love having my gardens and my little bit of lawn. It’s just enough. I can grow a LOT of veggies, still have room for my dogs and a hammock, feed birds, sit on my patio and not be chained to hours and hours of yard work. It’s a JOY to spend an hour outside working, not drugery. When I remember how long it took to mow and edge and weedwack and blow my big house in the swanky suburbs, no wonder we finally got a lawn crew to do it. It was EASILY a 3-4 hour ordeal, nearly every week. Here at the Moby? An hour will get you done with all that plus some puppy pickup, a little weeding, some lemonade in the hammock and throwing the stick for the dog and maybe even harvesting veggies from the raised beds for dinner!

Look how lovely the garden beds are looking! Corn is coming up great, sunflowers are making some serious strides and I am going to have SO many tomatoes, I think I will be making about 250 jars of sauce and salsa and who knows what else this fall! I still have a few open spots for growing and I think I’m going to hit the local places and scoop up some herbs on sale. Most are perrienials and I think it would be great to have a bed devoted to perrienial herbs! Rosemary, thymes, dill, and a few others. I have a couple lovely mint plants that are doing fantastic, but I might consider some spearmint.

Purple coneflower is starting to bloom as are the Black-Eyed Susies. They will really be all out in a week or so. We FINALLY got a day of rain on Thursday, and are due to get another day on Monday, so hopefully we will be okay. That 9 days without rain really shocked some of the new plants and trees, but we worked hard to keep them flush with water throughout.

Pickles are doing pretty good. We’ve already had about 2 or 3 pounds out of the patch, and there are a lot more forming. The plants are really starting to grow and settle in and there is no doubt that putting them RIGHT next to the spickot was a good decision. Last year my pickles were too far from the water and we would often not get to them. The resulting on and off of water really didn’t do the plants any good. From all I read, pickles love a nice constant watering. And it’s easy to give them a drink often right next to the source.

Beans are doing great! They love being in the slightly shady area on the east side of the Moby. My peas definately got hot shocked, they are pretty wilty and some are even dead. But some are hanging in there. I think I’ll probably let these go and plant again in late August or so for a late fall harvest. I LOVE sweet peas from the garden, so this is a bit of a disappointment to me. However, the beans are doing great and have beautiful purple blooms, so it might be okay after all… if I get lots of beans, I’ll be happy!

Well, I think I’m due for a little nap, and then I have to get up and on my way to a gig in Michigan! We’re playing at the Wayne County Raccoon Hunters Festival today… fun, friends and music!