One of the main things that caught our attention when we first saw our current house was its backyard. Originally, at least, it would all be for Kooper: he could run to his heart’s content, playing and chasing squirrels and whatnot. Of course, nothing ever works out according to the original plan, and before long I had sketched out designs for a vegetable garden, an herb garden, an apple tree guild, and miscellaneous plantings around the front, back, and sides of the house.

Once spring started to arrive, once I built the raised bed for the vegetables, and once we cleared out some of those atrocious landscaping rocks (six inches deep, seriously) and concrete slabs (??), I was able to start planting. So here’s what I have growing. Most of these started from seed; I’ve marked the ones that didn’t with asterisks.

In the vegetable garden:

• pumpkins
• carrots
• nasturtium, planted here to deter pests
• beans
• red onions
• cucumbers
• leaf lettuce
• parsnips
• marigolds, planted here to deter pests
• bell peppers
• butternut squash
• watermelon
• tomatoes*
• zucchini

In the herb garden:

• lavender*
• hyssop
• yarrow
• lemon balm
• rosemary*
• tansy
• holy basil
• chamomile
• creeping thyme*

In the apple tree guilds, which were originally going to be one big one but which worked out better as two nearby smaller ones:

• a McIntosh apple tree sapling*
• a Golden Delicious apple tree sapling*
• borage
• comfrey*
• garlic*
• daffodil*
• primrose*

Elsewhere:

• ornamental poppies in a box near the garage. These aren’t the opium kind, in case you were wondering, but they are similar.
• variegated vinca* in the very back of the yard. I need a good part-shade ground cover there to keep the dog from digging. So far it kinda works.
• St. John’s wort* and Lewis flax near the downspout. Both should absorb a lot of the runoff that’d otherwise sink into the ground near the foundation.
• red clover, crimson clover, California poppies, and Flanders poppies in some otherwise-unused boxes on the side of the backyard and on the side of the house. This is temporary (a “cover crop”, if you will). The clover is leguminous and will add nitrogen to the soil for future plantings, and the poppies will look pretty among the clover.
• nasturtium in some wide, shallow pots along the driveway
• holly* and sweet woodruff* next to the front porch. The holly will grow into a windbreak; during the winter the north winds were intense near the door, so an extra screen nearby will help. The woodruff will choke out weeds beneath the holly while smelling AMAZING (seriously, find some and smell it).
• dianthus* and sempervivum near the back steps

As we clear out some more of that frakking ornamental rock, we’ll be planting more. I have some creeping phlox ready to go in once there’s space, and there’s been talk of replacing the grass in the front yard with something less mower-intensive (Roman chamomile, perhaps). In the meantime, though, I have to keep plucking up maple seedlings (one neighbor has a very… fertile… tree) and making sure the dog stays out of the different plots.

Working on pics now. In the meantime, I can explain plants, plant choices, et al.; just ask.

I know, two months. Sorry. I’ve never exactly been consistent here, though, so this particular hiatus was unexpected but not unprecedented.

We adopted Kooper and have been working on getting him fully adjusted to us, and us fully adjusted to him. He’s bigger than we had planned, and his size does make him a little intimidating to some people, but so far everyone who gets to know him falls in love with him. Now all we have to do is get him to realize that car rides are not punishment.

We’re also in the process of buying a house. The current housing market really isn’t bad if one can get credit, and as it turns out, we can, thanks to FHA loans (a New Deal program that the Republicans haven’t dismantled yet) and a nifty benefit from my employer that will be providing 5% towards our down payment.

The house itself is a story and a half, so the dog and cats can be on separate floors if they so desire. It’s in wonderful shape thanks to the conscientious efforts of its current owners; the house inspector only found a couple notable problems, and they’re relatively small fixes. We’ll be living in a well-managed inner-ring suburb that would have been part of the City except for the 1876 secession; the daily commute will be very short for me, and it’s very close to most of the stores we frequent. There’s also a backyard that’s big enough for both an energetic dog and a modest vegetable garden.

Closing is set for early October. Once we take possession of the house, we’ll be pulling up carpet, refinishing floors, and upgrading dual-prong electrical outlets to grounded outlets before moving. Later projects will include some work on the kitchen cabinets and upgrades to the air conditioner and water heater, and possibly even a photovoltaic system on the roof. In the meantime, though, Fred’s packing stuff and I’m hashing out details on the mortgage and insurance and down-payment program.

More on all that as things develop. Any questions?

Although now that I think about it I could go for a boxer too. What is it with me and dog breeds beginning with the letter “b”?

For the record, the American Kennel Club site (where I’m pointing all those breed-description hrefs) is very well-designed. I really like the Alphabetical List of Breeds” – it shows a picture, offers a link to a video of that breed, and describes it.

And of course now that I’m looking at all these dog breeds I have The Terrier Song in my head. “Excuse me ladies, you’re scantily clad and have nothing to do with the narrative. Therefore, it’s sexist. Sorry.” ha!

OK – enough blogging from me for now. Off to the baseball game.

Seems like I always want a dog really badly right after Pride. Don’t know, but maybe it has something to do with hot boys playing with puppies in the park. Ed (brother/roommate) and I have had an ongoing discussion about what sort of dog we should get, and it’s flared up in the past couple days thanks to the effects of Pride. I blame the adorable beagle puppy. It’s all his fault for being cute and licking my ankle and wanting to play with me. And it doesn’t help that I ran across a certain syndicated episode of Will and Grace the other night.

We’ve ruled out bulldogs, pugs, dachshunds, and other short-legged dogs, because we live on the second floor and there are bunches of steps. That was a tough conclusion, because I really like bulldogs and Ed really likes pugs, but because the dog would have to handle the stairs to go outside it just wouldn’t be practical. Neither one of us is really wild about large dogs either. And neither of us has the time to raise a puppy, retina-burningly cute as they may be.

So right now we’re leaning towards something a little larger. Since my beagle suggestion was shot down, I’m now pushing towards a Boston terrier, and I think Ed is leaning that way now too. If we do go for a specific breed we’d go through a breed rescue group, but I think we could probably find a great dog at one of the local shelters. Either way, though, we’re adopting. (provided we do end up getting a dog. that part is still kinda up in the air.)

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Baseball games tonight and tomorrow. Tonight I’m going with my mother and two younger brothers, and tomorrow afternoon with my company. Tomorrow’s game should be especially fun because we’ll be away from the office and because the boss is paying for us to sit in the special catered area above the Cardinal bullpen, with food and beer and soda included. Plus, I know a few secretaries who will be getting trashed and will start hitting on the relief pitchers by about the third inning… Watching the drunken secretaries is fun, in a perverse sort of way.

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I’ve had bhangra in my head today, ever since a friend posted a link to a Village Voice article about an imminent Panjabi MC CD release. Looks like I’ll have to purchase some bhangra to get it out. *sigh*