Monday, May 14, 2007

A Day in the Life: Dirt

Today was beautiful. Sunny and cool, perfect for working in the garden. With one lovely lady at her dad's and the other in Paris with her grandma, I declared today Garden Day for the fine young gents and myself, and out we went. We looked at our seeds, but that was all because everyone kind of wandered off, including myself. It was just one of those days. I wandered off to weed the strawberries and dig up the garden beds. I started the peas twining up the string trellis. The older gents golfed across the yard while the youngest gent played with the baby doll under the tree and the puppy chewed on things and tried to steal my garden gloves or my trowel. Little black-tailed nuisance of a dog. Good thing she's cute.

Look at this beautiful picture.
Dirt. Beautiful dirt. I turned the compost pile. It's hard to believe that just a few short months ago this was all melon rinds and apple peels and grass clippings and wilted lettuce and egg shells and leaves. And who knew a gal could get this excited about dirt? The younger gents came over to see what I was ooh-ing and aahing over. They started ooh-ing and aah-ing too, because I found the biggest earthworm I've ever seen. That worm was as long as my hand and as big around as my finger!

The guys started collecting roly-polies. Or pill bugs or sow bugs, or whatever you want to call them. These things. (Can you believe it, there's actually a pill bug lesson plan out there in cyberland. Sheesh. It looks like fun and easy though, so maybe we'll try it tomorrow.)

I didn't mind at all until four-year-old gent decided that he really must bring the roly-polies into the house. Bugs are just dandy in their place, but I've got to draw the line somewhere. I used the iron-clad argument that the bugs don't know that you like them and want to keep them safe, and they'll be much happier in their home.

Bleah.

Other fun things to do on a not-really-Garden-Day:





Sit under the table and pet the puppy.











Blow bubbles.










Play golf.









Beg for treats.











Collect worms.





The afternoon and evening were pretty much normal: Gymnastics for kindergarten gent, make dinner (spaghetti, salad, watermelon), choir parent meeting for lovely lady. I did go to the bookstore to spend my Mother's Day gift certificate. I'll post my Mother's Day books tomorrow. Or the next day. Someday. I took Poppy for a walk when I got home, then tucked the gents in for the night. You should have seen those boys' feet. They're filthy. If I were a better mother I'd wash their feet before I tucked them, but they were pretty tuckered and so was I. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, dirty feet don't even register.

I'm worn out. Off to hang out with my loving husband, then to bed for me. G'night.

3 comments:

living in PA said...

Sounds like a wonderful day! When I was in first or second grade I once took a roly poly bug to school in my jacket. I carried it around all day and pretended it was my pet. Ah, the memories. ;-)
Glad your compost was so gorgeous.

Sherri & Mark said...

I hope you don't mind me intruding once again, but you simply much find "The Amazing Dirt Book" by Paulette Bourgeois.

This book contains just about everything you ever wanted to know about dirt.

Some of my favorite topics are:
- Here's Mud in Your Eye (about the importance of dust particles in the air....yes Dust is important!)
- Eating Dirt (recipes for edible clay hot dogs and mud cake)
- You and Dirt (basically the entire first chapter talking all about the dirt on your body. There is even a warning not to read this chapter if you have a weak stomach!)

I bought it for my two boys, who seem to attract dirt without even trying. My middle son, Morgan used to have the nickname Pigpen, in honor of the Peanuts character who walked with clouds of dust around him.

Always enjoy reading your Blog!

Sherri

Cathy said...

Hooray! Thank you Sherri! I want to hunt down some titles at the library to read with my guys. Thank you, thank you, you read my mind!

And Alice, you and Tolly are kindred spirits. He loves his little pill bug pets. :-)