Sunday, June 10, 2007

Weekends are way too short!


Luciana and Hunter went on a "scavenger hunt" and collected lots of natural materials. No idea where the Walmart bag came from--WE DO NOT SHOP THERE!




A long Saturday of weeding in beautiful weather had great results:

1. The front garden was almost completely weeded.

2. Luciana found a large toad in the rock garden which amused her and Hunter for a bit, until they released her.

3. We had a nice chat with our neighbors.

4. We found a nest of baby bunnies in the persicaria in our North-side garden.

5. We picked up a little new knowledge, as a result of Luciana's questions.

Luciana asked some questions that we had to look up. Here are a couple of interesting tidbits we found out. How earthworms reproduce: When the eggs in the egg tube are ready, the worm slips backwards out of the saddle. As the saddle passes the egg tube, six eggs are dropped in. As the saddle passes over the worm's head, the ends close up and make a tiny lemon-shaped cocoon with the eggs inside. This cocoon protects them until they hatch out as very small but fully developed worms. Who invented the refridgerator: An American physician, John Gorrie, built a refridgerator in 1844 to make ice to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. Dr. Gorrie may have also invented the first ice cube tray in its current form. Who invented the ice cube tray first: The first flexible stainless steel, all-metal ice tray was invented by Guy L. Tinkham in 1933. The tray flexed sidewise to eject the ice cubes.

Sunday: another perfect day. Dej and I spent some time together this morning while Mark & Luciana went on an adventure at JSOL. I was able to finish weeding the front garden--finally! That feels so good! L. played with H. until it was time to leave. Now all I have left is the North-side garden (after the bunnies leave the nest) and part of the back shade garden. I should be done with the back this week, and we can get most of the planting done. We have to, actually, before we go camping. I will be working furiously this week if the weather permits.

We went with my parents to Stonewall Nursery, as we both needed to pick up some trees. My parents got some very cool trees for their yard. We picked out three. I got a dwarf gingko to replace the dwarf spruce we moved out of the rock garden yesterday. Luciana got a dwarf boxwood to put in her garden, and she is excited about being able to prune it into different shapes. Mark got a yellowhorn, which we don't yet have a place picked out for. Peter (the owner) was amazingly generous with us, and I'm very grateful for that. My parents went back to Janesville, and we went on to Oregon to Ed's open house. His gardens were fabulous! I can't believe what he's done in a month! The house is gorgeous, too. It was hard and sad to see them living separately, now. I want to see them back together, but it isn't very realistic. We ran into some other friends there, who had brought their college freshman son. I would like him for Dej. He's cute and very intelligent. Why am I such a damn die-hard matchmaker?!!!

A trip to Target on the way back in to town nearly bankrupted us. We had a bunch of miscellaneous things we needed. Our first camping trip of the year is this Friday, so we had to pick up some supplies for that. Plus, we all love Target--a dangerous place for us!

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

okay I have to ask why don't you shop at walmart??

VeganMom said...

The whole slave-child-workers-in-other-countries thing really gets to me, the crappy way they treat their employees and do business, their disgusting pillaging of the environment and irresponsible land usage--those are the main reasons. If I didn't have moral issues with the way they do business, I would go now and then but not very often. The store is messy and the people there look like the Jerry Springer show rejects. It's a stressful shopping experience for me!

Anonymous said...

VeganMom - If you do not shop prefer to at Walmart either. But how do you know what store and people look like if you don't shop there? Furthermore, it is not okay to demoralize people the way you did - especially a mom. And - I am sure most places you shop or may have shopped or eaten have unethical business deal... you just don't know it. It's because Walmart gets bad publicity.

VeganMom said...

I don't recall ever implying that Walmart is the only store that has unethical dealings. I keep my eyes and my mind open and work hard to be a conscientious consumer in every way that I am able. There are many business and products that I do not patronize. If I have a choice, I will always try to shop with those who try to conduct themselves/their business in an ethical manner. To the extent that I can, if I learn of something that goes against my personal ethics, I boycot and take my money to the most ethical option.

I have shopped there (Wally world) in the past. I haven't been there for years, but have friends who do, and they've assured me that it hasn't gotten any better.

Demoralize means to somehow negatively influence someone's morale. If those to whom I am referring have no idea that I said that, there is no demoralizing occurring. That being said, I find people who go out in public in their pajamas, unclean, unkempt, and allow their children to do the same, inexcusable. These are people who most likely don't care what others think of them, or they would have maybe, oh, cleaned themselves or checked a mirror before leaving.

Additionally the main reason it was traumatic for me was these lovely people screaming at, slapping at, and generally disrespecting their children in ways that should NEVER occur. I am completely unconcerned with the feelings or morale of people who behave this way.

Of course this in no way implies that everyone who goes to Walmart looks or behaves in such offensive ways. I have some dear friends who shop at Walmart, and they are very classy people. They also know that nothing in my description applies to them so they are in no way offended by it.

"Mom" doesn't imply "saint" either, by the way. I was a woman, an individual, before I had my children, and I have continued to maintain an identity separate from being a "mom". I adore my children and work hard to be the best mom I can be. I still curse like a sailor, like and dislike various people, and, in short, am completely comfortable being a bitch. I wish my daughters the same luxury when they become adults.