It's Not The Stork

Laurie sent me the most interesting text message on Thursday (that is the main means of communication for couples today, isn't it?)... Let me share it with you:

"Ok I made big oops yesterday at book mobile. distracted by S (Savannah) didn't see what book A (Andrew) checked out til he brought books down that he read during rest time. Called "It's Not The Stork." Yep it's the sex book for 4yrs & up. Sorry u get 2 do damage control."

So... tonight Andrew and I had our regular "boys time by the pond" and I asked him the regular questions I ask, "What all did you do today?" "What was your favorite part of your day?" Then I asked, "Did you read during rest time today? Or just play in your room?" He said he read... "Did you read your new library books you got from the Book Mobile?" He said yes and went on to tell me about a book that had started... but, not the "Stork Book."

So I asked... "Was there another book, something about a stork?" "No," he answered, "I don't remember that one." "I think it was called..." "Oh yeah, I read that one, too." (At this point I swallowed... almost a "cartoonish" sounding "GULP!"

So I asked... "Did you like that book?" "Oh yeah, it was very good." (OH GREAT!!! He's a boy, that was a DUMB QUESTION!!) And then he started talking about the book... "Oh wait, Andrew... I mean the "stork" book." (He thought I meant the other book he had been reading).

"Oh, yes it was good." "What was that book about?" I asked. "It talked about our bodies and body parts." "And where babies came from?" "Well, mostly about our bodies." (Ok, where do I go with this????)

"Was there anything in the book that you didn't understand or have questions about?" (I looked at him and saw complete innocence and honesty) "No, it was pretty easy to understand."

And then he went back to talking about his other book and then on to Star Wars (of course... which is somehow part of every conversation that Andrew has with anyone).

I told Laurie earlier today... 10, I was hoping for at least age 10. Knowing Andrew I just couldn't imagine what questions he might have come up with knowing his inquisitive mind. But... I guess that will be for another day. (THANK GOD!!!) And to think that's ALL I thought about for several hours that afternoon preparing for "THE TALK" with an almost 7-year old!!

Rain, Chicago & My Gardens

What a wet week. But, that's ok... we're needing the rain. And... :) I need the rest. This 41 year old body is sore. Aleve can only do so much for it.

Let's see... What to blog about...

Kids are doing awesome in their swimming lessons. They LOVE going each Tuesday and Thursday night... The monthly payment for the lessons has pretty much been set into the budget now for the next year... We can see a big difference in how they play in the city pools compared to last year. And, it's so awesome to watch them actually swim now rather than just splash around. Especially Andrew... he has very little fear of the water now and doesn't mind getting his head wet. Last summer he could be at the pool for 3-hours and never get his hair wet. Andrew has a pretty goood breast stroke already and Laurie say she does very well with his back stroke, too... but, he only does it at swim lessons.

Savannah is enjoying being back in dance class... though, this week she was honest with Laurie and told her she doesn't like the tap part of the class, only the ballet. We always knew that the ballet was her favorite of the two, but this week was the first time that she actually made it very clear. Laurie talked to her teacher and beginning with the next session we can pay half price and have her only do ballet. She (and we) were happy to know that.

We're planning a mini-vacation to Chicago the first weekend of August... Brookfield Zoo on Friday, Botanical Gardens on Saturday and Shedd's Aquarium on Sunday. Hopefully it will be good weather... but, we'll have an indoor pool if it rains. The Botanical Gardens has a "garden train" exhibit that I think the kids will really enjoy.

My gardens this year...

Front of house:

Here's what our designer daylilies looked like this year at the front of our house...

They started blooming on 6/17 , exactly one week earlier than last year. They finished within about 3 weeks... they usualy go about 4-5 weeks. Though the blooming period was shorter we had a many more blooms than other years.


Back of house:

Above is a bamboo plant that started to come up this spring, but the late freeze put it back into dormancy. At this time last year it was about 12-feet tall. FINALLY a new start made it's way through the ground early this week. However, it's like the plant is starting over as a seedling... the new shoots are usually much thicker. It's been a test of patience for me... but, looks like something is FINALLY going ot happen.

Side of house:

Since we have such a small backyard and our garage is too small for our car, we use our driveway for more plants, grilling, and for the kid's swimming pool. doesn't everyone grow a coconut tree next to their tomato plants? :)

Well... enough for tonight... I need to head to bed. I'm going to upload more picture to Webshots this weekend of our gardens and the kids.

Sad Hostas & Verocious Voles

What do you get when you have hostas in lots of sun and the irrigation isn't working right? See above picture... :( One of my customers has LOTS of hostas and they receive a lot of sun, but the irrigation has always kept them moist enough that we've never had a problem with them scorching... UNTIL THIS YEAR.

The irrigation wasn't working correctly due to a leak in the line and this large area of hostas and geraniums weren't receiving the moisture that they usually do... the hostas were scorching and the geraniums were not flurishing as they usually do. The leak was fixed a week ago, but it is pretty much too late for this year. The geraniums will gain some growth for the rest of the summer, but the hostas will continue to look pretty poor.

And then there are these...

He might look cute, but he's not a hampster or mouse... he's a vole, and he (and LOTS of his brothers and sisters) have been terrorizing the hostas & geraniums at the same customer's house. I've never seen something so small be able to take down a 3'x5' hosta so fast!! I had a company install several P3 Super Sonic Molechasers - a 16"x2" battery operated unit that produces a sonic sound of 300Hz over an area of approximately 11,250 square feet, 1/4 acre, at approximately 15 second intervals. It's worked well in some areas, but... not so well in others. I've replaced the geraniums that had been eaten down (25 in total... 5 groups of 5), but they all are getting eaten again. Within a couple of days of replacing the geraniums I saw a new burrow appear leading right into one group of geraniums. I'm sure they were thrilled that I gave them fresh food!!

So, now we move on to the next level of vole control... TRAPPING. Now, my history with trapping has not been good... see http://strouthion.blogspot.com/2006/10/visit-from-conservation-officers.html to understand what I'm referring to. I'm suppose to have a "professional" meet me on Monday to review the situation and install the traps, but... he sounds a little over-committed, so I'm prepared to do them myself. The problem is... we have no idea how many there are. From what I've been reading, a colony can be 30-1000 voles. GREAT!!!!

Anyway... we'll see what happens with that situation... Hopefully I'll have time in the next few days to update everyone on that. I'm not looking forward to doing the trapping myself, but... if that's what it takes.