[ entertainment ] :: sunday funday!

The Hubs and I took the Demon Dogs to the Chattapoochee Pet Fest to wear them out get some fresh air. Have I mentioned lately how awesome our city is? Not only do they have amazing Fall Festivals and Food Truck Fridays, they are incredibly dog-friendly and have an entire dog festival to celebrate!

The dogs flipped out when we pulled up to the park - they knew it was something for them! We let them run loose in the fenced-in area, then made a bee-line for the food vendors. Typical.

First, we got some hand-made burgers and raw beef bones from the Patton's Meat Market tent. I was really impressed by the quality of the burger...as was Emma. 

The Demon Dogs were perfectly content to sit in the shade and gnaw on their bones for a while. Emma has a very dainty approach to chewing. She lays down in one place and methodically chews until the bone is picked clean.

Norman, on the other hand, gets a little more primal and goes wild on his bone...I'm glad they were too big for him to swallow whole.

 And gets himself into some weird chewing positions. Like this:

Someone please explain the logic here.

So, we ate, and ate, and ate some more...

...and checked out the vendor tents as we walked back to the dog park area. The darndest thing we saw all day was this pot-bellied pig! Surprisingly, the dogs left the pig alone and only one pup barked at it when he realized that this was not a canine. It was so adorable and rolled in the grass surrounding the dog fountain.

The Demon Dogs didn't mind the pig much...until it tried to play with them. We were on our way out of the park when the pig and the dogs exchanged some sniffs. All was well, until the little swine tried to play - he started nipping at Norman's legs and obviously wanted to play wrestle!

Needless to say, Norm was not pleased and decided that he was not into playing with pigs. When his hair stood on end, I looked at The Hubs and said, "uh, it's time to go!"

Of course, that was the pig's cue to turn to Emma and gnaw on her hip a little.

She was as equally unsettled as Norman was, so when I said, "run, Emma!" she and I hauled-butt across the yard to the gate. I wish we had a video, because that pig kept up with her, nipping at her heels (I had no idea pigs were so fast).

That was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen.

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: garden update

Sadly, I haven't done a whole lot in the garden this week. The Hubs was out of town and I had to grade tests all week...yuck!

We did get a new little sprinkler for the garden bed, as well as 10 bags of dirt (yay!). The garden is looking a little crap-tastic at the moment. Check it out:

I'll fill in that hole tomorrow and plant my Brussels sprouts. I was going to pull my pepper plants since they started dropping flowers last week, but since the weather has been dry and in the 80's all week, they've started producing again. My okra plants are making monster size fruit (8-10" long) that got so big I fed them to the dogs. They had a nice vegetable snack yesterday afternoon.

My sugar snap peas are super happy...I can't believe how fast they grow.

And my rashes are looking radish-y (finally!). I'm growing French Breakfast Radishes and Red Cherry Radishes. I was hoping that the radish greens would be good for cooking, but they're really fuzzy and not too appetizing.

Gardening wouldn't be complete without my Demon Dogs. They got so busted last night when we came home from the Duluth Fall Festival. As we pulled up the driveway, we saw this little guy bolt out from under our back gate. We call him Little Dog.

Sometimes the Demon Dogs have unauthorized dog parties and Little Dog squeezes under the gate or through the fence (our dogs are just too big to get through), and has a blast with my pups. He also comes in through the doggie door, too. Unfortunately, his owners don't put a collar or ID tag on him (so I can't return him to his owners) and he likes to go on freedom runs to my house. Whatever. He's a sweet pup.

But look at what these a**holes did. Remember those 9 pounds of apples I got from Aldi? They pulled a 3 lb bag off of the kitchen counter (somehow) and dragged them out into the yard. I'm also missing a bag of bananas, so they had quite a little feast!

Look, ma! Green balls.

I was going to see if I could salvage any of the apples, but they all had puncture marks or bites taken out of them. Typical. Granny Smith apples are Emma's favorite.

This one has the good flavor.

As mad as I want to be, the whole this is really comical. They have dog parties and get into shenanigans. They eat fruit. Weirdos!

On the positive side of things, the Demon Dogs went to the vet yesterday. He said they look really good (ideal weight, glossy coat, very active), and it's probably due to the insane amount of fruits and veggies they eat. I think the dogs are just sticking to doctor's orders. Who can blame them?

- Maggie White

[ entertainment ] :: sunday funday!

Today is a great day for some free fun, yard work, and delicious Salsa Verde Chicken!

We have had a busy weekend of clearing out our brush pile. It was exhausting but had to be done since the opossums that stroll through the neighborhood think it's a nice place to call home. Our Demon Dogs decided to pick a fight with a opossum on Friday night and lost. They had a blast (typical hound dogs) and walked away with a few nicks and bites.

The Beagle paradise. A fenced, half-acre of forest.

I'm pretty sure the neighbors think we're a bunch of rednecks. After all, our hounds were going bonkers, I was yelling for The Hubs to get my rifle (in case the opossum was severely injured) and a flash light, and screaming, "Get the opossum! Get the opossum!" Plus, today we had a good ol' fashioned bon fire in the yard. Yep. The neighbors must love us.

But seriously, the whole cut-and-burn-the-backyard brought out the inner pyromaniac in me. The Hubs was a little nervous, eying me like like I was Aerys Targaryen or something. I'm pretty sure he mumbled something about "The Mad King" under his breath.

Other than our back yard shenanigans, we had a rousing lazy day of watching movie. Our favorite movie was Rise of The Guardians. Yes - it's another kid's movie, but it was free to watch on TV and actually really good. I'm fairly certain that these animated flicks are really made for the adults that bring the kids to them, and not actually the children. I also forced The Hubs to watch Fiddler on the Roof. (A musical! Mua ha ha ha!)

We had an awesome time watching the Falcons game at Taco Mac with Gillybean and her new beau. Rise up! (That was a shameless plug to show The Hubs that I'm trying to care about football. In reality, he bribed me with pumpkin-flavored beer and cheese dip to watch the game with him.)

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: backyard photos + new bed

I had a busy week in the garden! Check out what I picked up from Lowe's on Tuesday morning:

20 bags of top soil. Oh boy! I had a fabulous morning filling my newly build raised garden beds. I extended an old 4' x 4' bed to be a 4' x 20' bed. First, I dug out the clay soil and put down a layer of newspaper. Do miserly gals pay for weed-barriers or landscaping fabric? Heck no.

Next, I mixed in a layer of compost and topsoil, and then spread about 6" of topsoil on top. You can see that my bush beans are loving it!

The Garden Inspection Team approved. Norman peed on my bush beans. Hopefully the extra Nitrogen will do them well. 

Emma (front) & Norman (back) inspecting the new bed.

Update: The bush beans loved being urinated on. They started blooming this week and have cute little 1" bean pods.

 

In other news, the first round of fall crops are starting to sprout. These baby radishes better hurry up and grow into something delicious. I can't wait to roast them, or slice them thin into salads!

The September strawberries are blooming, so we should have a few pints of fresh berries soon. Unless Norman and the birds eat them again! I didn't get to harvest any berries in May because my weird dog loves fruit.

The carrots are sprouting, too. I'm doing what I call "The Carrot-In-A-Bucket Experiment." Once they get a little bigger, I'll thin them out so we can eat the young carrot roots and carrot tops. Delish!

Finally, my one lonely Irish Cobbler potato. She'll be going in a potato-tower, so hopefully I can increase my yield of 'taters this fall. We're not big potato eaters, so I might just save the spuds to re-use as seed potatoes in the spring.

Well, that's it for now! Sometime this week I'll pull my tomato plants (they're looking sad) and plant something else in their place. Maybe red cabbage? I need to figure out how to use a few pints of green cherry tomatoes...perhaps a tomato relish, or I could fry them! The basil is starting to get woody as well, so fresh pesto is on the menu this week, too.

- Maggie White