Very pleased to announce the birth of the latest Hanson — Rory Donegan Hanson was born Feb. 20. 6 lbs, 14 oz. 19 inches. Mom and Dad came down a few weeks later to help out.
Derek is a good dad.
Almost the whole time I hung out with Derek and Bridget while the folks where here, Rory was grumpy.
Bright eyed in red.
After the crazy holidays, it feels like January should be a rest — but it never is and usually more crazy than December (at least for me — PAs and people trying to burn their vacation hours before they loose them in March). So when the yard starts waking up, it gives me a little boost and reminder that I am almost through the grind.
Primrose are blooming! So cute!
This bed seems to be the most lively. Especially excited to see the redwood getting so big.
Beginning of February means the Super Bowl, but I like to call it “Plate of Tacos day”. For the first time in years, I didn’t have to work, but had to keep the tradition alive.
This is home version of Plate of Tacos — Shrimp with homemade Guac.
I finally bought a lemon tree. It’s confused about where we live and is blooming. Unfortunately, I wanted it smell crazy good but it doesn’t/
This is first year in this house to have some one other than me and Lily here, so we sent a little crazy … a put an extra stocking!
3 stockings!
Lily was so excited she wouldn’t look at the camera — which is just how she always treats having her picture taken.
It is October and the garden just keeps on going. Finally ripped out the beans and the summer squash but the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers aren’t ready to give up yet.
Oct. 4 harvest. Time to make eggplant parmigiana.
These mums in the corner bed are a bright spot of happy while the rest of the yard is starting to fade.
The last 6 weeks have been crazy at work — way too many vacations has translated into me working way too many hours. When I’m not at work, I feel like all am doing is harvesting and processing the extreme bounty out of the garden!
Aug. 17’s harvest.
Aug 19 harvest
Processing tomatoes. And making sauce to freeze. Some of it will become my favorite veggie lasagna, with zucchini instead of noodles.
The freezer is already full of bags of processed tomatoes and beans. And there are still weeks left in the growing season. Thanks again super awesome irrigation system!
Even with being so busy, I still try to spend as much time in the yard as possible — usually just de-stressing after another ridiculous day. Pretty pleased with how the backyard beds are looking — Thanks again to the regular watering from new irrigation. Front yard, on the other hand, looks like a dead dry mess. Guess I need to irrigate it next year.
I overhauled this bed in the spring. Turned out very pretty!
The full view of the corner bed. Magical nasturtiums indeed!
This mallow is a new addition this year. Mom had them in Colorado and I always like them. Turns out I still like them and they are a new favorite. Hope they go to seed and I can spread them to other spots.
The bed along the back to the house filled in very nicely this year, thanks to regular watering. Lovely lilies and back-eyed susans.
The herb bed is also looking very nice this year. The monarda didn’t do as well as last year but the black-eyed susans have been stunning!
Another recent addition. Sunshine coreopsis. Loving it!
Remember how I said that I may have planted too many tomatoes?
Yup! Full-blown jungle. Rest of the garden is doing great too. Super thankful for the new irrigation during our ridicules heat wave!
Annual Fourth of July tomato check-in.
I am a terrible dog-mom! Lily has fleas and not just kind of but a total infestation! She is miserable and I am miserable. The house is covered and she is chewing herself raw.
It’s totally my fault. Because we had a really mild winter everyone has been saying this year is a bad flea year. Yet I lagged around and was lazy about giving her her flea meds — “oh, I’ll do it after she has a bath. But no bath today. Or tomorrow.” blah, blah, blah. Next thing we know — boom! covered!
And try as I might to get rid of them — pills, drops, baths, brushing — the little bastards wouldn’t budge. So off comes her hair.
Garbage can of gross! Thing was just crawling with the little nasty demons!
Poor girl! All shaved and looks like a deer.
She thinks she looks ugly and is sad at me! That face — “Mom, why would you do this to me?!?”
The following weekend after shaving her I was suppose to go to Colorado for my 20th high school reunion but fleas and finances derailed that plan. But the shaving turned the tide and things were finally getting under control. So to not waste my whole vacation we decided to head up to Whidbey and see the folks. And a major contributing factor was the heat wave hitting Portland. Time to go enjoy some ocean breezes.
Ready to hit the road up to Whidbey. She likes to ride in the car but this ride wears her out pretty quickly. She did fit better on the seat without so much hair!
Had a great few days resting and hanging out.
Mom and Dad’s on a July afternoon — Great place to sit back and relax!
Loving the sun on Whidbey — and getting a sunburn (which peeled and was really gross.)
Grandpa and Lily spent some quality time chillin on the patio.
Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us visit and risk getting infested with fleas. We had a great time!
Last year I went to this plant sale — Master Gardeners’ Mother’s Day Sale — that everyone told me was suppose to be the end-all be-all of plant sales. But I went on Sunday afternoon and it was completely picked over. I ended up with a lemon cucumber and few tomatoes but no squash, eggplant, etc. I was really disappointed. That said the stuff I did get did great, so I resolved to go on Saturday this year.
On Thursday, I met up with some friends and mentioned I was planning this and one of my besties asked to come too. So Saturday morning I hauled my butt out of bed at reasonable time, fetched Angela and headed into the bowels of Vancouver for the sale. We both hit the motherload and I am came home with everything I wanted except for a few varieties of pepper — but they are easy to find at Fred Meyer or Lowes. Super bonus is that veggies are only $1 each — so the whole garden for less than $25!
The Plan — Many a cold winter night went into dreaming about this!
Spent all day Sunday getting things planted:
4 kinds of Eggplant, 2 winter squash (hubbard and delicata), beans and peas. And some very sad onions. Also argula and lettuce (they were planted a few weeks ago and had sprouted nicely.)
Peppers and radishes (a few weeks old too).
Tomatoes — 8 different kinds (Stupice, green zebra, lemon boy, orange, San Marzena roma, Pink, Brandywine). May be too many but I love tomatoes and they freeze well. Carrots and beets planted on the edges.
Summer squash (zucchini, yellow, patty pan) and Butternut winter squash
Cucumbers — Lemon and regular
Overall — Looking great and really excited for harvest time. And with the new irrigation system, hopefully everything won’t die!
Bonus Buy:
A happy little maple tree
Angela wasn’t really into veggies so I spent some time looking at trees and perennials with her. I couldn’t resist this awesome little Japanese maple — especially for only $9! Not sure where it is going to live yet but it makes me happy to look at!
This gallery contains 13 photos.
The weather continues to be awesome. Spent a lot of time clearing out dead winter stuff, weeding and enjoying all of the lovely things happening in the yard.
The Overall[s] Adventure 
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