Sunday, December 18, 2011 All Good Gardens Must Come To An End

Alas, it is true. I took down the tomato plants the other day. My lack of attention had caused about half of the fruit to freeze and start to rot on the vine. I was able to save only a few, and they'll end up in the stockpot one day. Two of my pepper plants are still going. The peppers they're sprouting are quite small so I figured on giving them as much time as the weather will allow. Their leaves are nestled together and they're covered with a sheet. We'll see how they do.

The rosemary and catnip are covered as well. I'm hoping the rosemary can last through the winter into next season. It seems I buy a new seedling every year and it never really has the chance to grow. They are related to the evergreen, surely they're meant for more than one season.

The broccoli I grew never sprouted anything but leaves, yet I still don't have the heart to take them down. Eventually I will have to.

This garden is so intertwined with my beloved bunny. Nutmeg fueled the garden with his adorable little poops, and the garden in-turn fueled him with it's basil and catnip and oregano and lettuce and spinach and carrots... It was as close to a self-sustaining farm as you're gonna get in a second floor condo.

But now that Nutmeg's gone I think it's time for a change. I need to continue with the culinary herbs, but the large vegetable plants will have to go. I need the room... For a PUPPY!!!

Once in a while the Universe sends you a sign. When everything seems to fall into place, sometimes decisions are made for you, as if your rabbit is dictating your life from beyond the Rainbow Bridge.

When Nutmeg died we were devastated. It was sudden, too soon, I wasn't ready. I never could be. That little bundle of fluff had brought us so much joy - I thought I had to get another rabbit. My husband wanted another one from his line; one we knew would be healthy, raised with love and overflowing with personality. But, alas, that was not meant to be. The breeder had stopped breeding rabbits.

As time went on we slowly realized that no bunny could ever fill Nutmeg's shoes. He was that extraordinary. It would be unfair to expect ANY rabbit to live up to the legend of Nutmeg. And our minds slowly wandered towards thoughts of dogs. We looked at breeds and pondered our choices.

The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, a beautiful breed popped out of a book. Rusty color with blue eyes and a pink nose. If I were to choose a dog by its looks alone, this would be it. We lived with the thought for a number of weeks, although I was still yearning for some bunny love, I was coming to terms with the fact that we'd soon be dog owners.

Then we got an e-mail from Nutmeg's breeder. She did have two adult rabbits left for adoption. I forwarded the e-mail to my husband, hoping he'd cave and let me have a bunny. He said "I'm looking at the Havanese."

He was smart enough to scroll to the bottom of the e-mail, where there was a link to the breeders new business, breeding Havanese.

They were adorable. Fluffy little puppies, splashed with color and brimming with that adorable puppy energy. It took about 24 hours to get used to the idea.

We're going to be Havanese parents.

I contacted the breeder and she put us on the list. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that we'll be getting a dog related to Nutmeg. Waiting to pick up that puppy will be the longest months of my life...

But back to the garden! All those vegetable plants will have to make way for a puppy play area! I'll have to get rid of all those icing buckets from back in the day (like, at least 5 years ago back in the day). I'll have to find some smaller planters, or get rid of them all together. Anyone need some dirt? I'll have buckets of it to give away, slightly exhausted soil, but still with some bunny love for your plants.

I'm hoping to get a bench out there so we can sit. Other than that, and the grill and the wire shelving that I'll keep some smaller plants on, the porch will transition from farm to yard and our new baby will have a place to lay in the sun, smell the fresh air and bark at my neighbor when he pees out the window.

Who could ask for anything more?

If anyone has suggestions for planters I'll take them. I have an entire winter to decide what will happen out there. And if anyone has any dog biscuit recipes, I'm sure The Headbanging Havanese will be appreciative \m/

Rock on!

-HH

Sunday, November 13, 2011 #OnlyOnCoveRoad Update

Anyone remember the last edition of #onlyoncoveroad. It seems someone in Stamford's city government is a follower of the Headbanging Hostess and they made sure the crosswalk was fixed! Not likely ;) But it was fixed none-the-less.

Somewhat.

First of all, what you see there is not brick. It is stamped into the blacktop and then painted to look like brick. I can't wait to see what happens in February when the plow trucks go by. Should be interesting. Please, blacktop-stamp-people, prove me wrong.

I can't lie, it looks odd to me. Not sure if I like it. It looks out of place in my neighborhood.


PLUS, as you can see here. We've got parking issues. People like to park on what should be the sidewalk. My side of the street has sidewalk down the entire length, the other side it comes and goes. Down the street they just put in a brand new length of sidewalk, right in front of three businesses that have effectively lost their parking. Way to go city! In the meantime the sidewalk on my side of the street, the complete stretch all the way to the beach, is falling apart, cracked, uneven and quite frankly too narrow for the main pedestrian thoroughfare to the beach. But we have these fancy new corners, I guess I shouldn't complain. Unless I get hit by a car parking in the crosswalk.

#OnlyOnCoveRoad

-HH

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Another Edition of Only On Cove Road

So there's this new sidewalk construction thing going on in my neighborhood. Seems the corners are all being brought up to code - what code I don't know. If you look closely you'll notice the crosswalk and the ramp aren't quite meeting up like common sense would dictate. But, let us not forget, this is Stamford. We like to point handicapped parking spaces towards glass front cafes.

-HH

Sunday, October 2, 2011 Only on Cove Road

I've considered starting a blog about my street. Once in a while I'll post something with the hashtag #onlyoncoveroad, this amuses me and maybe 4 other people. But people who are personal friends of mine know all about my neighbor who pees out the window every Spring and that same neighbors wife who loudly skypes her Eastern European relatives in a room with a wooden floor so I can clearly hear everything they say in a language I can't understand. They also know about the naked woman who was walking down the street crying early one morning while everyone just stood there and watched, no one brought her a blanket. The drivers were only annoyed by the traffic, not concerned for the naked crying woman walking down the middle of Cove Road. I called 911 and the police came and cuffed her... Only on Cove Road.

Today as I was headed out on my power walking/jogging to Volbeat exercise I witnessed a man exiting the convenience store. He was probably in his late 20's early 30's, casually dressed in a hip-hop basketball kinda way. He was walking around the front of his truck to get the the drivers side. It was a nice truck, big American pick-up truck. Orange in color, nice and clean, well maintained. And as he walks around the front of his truck, with his purchase in one hand, he puts his free hand to his face, closes off a nostril and blows his nose right out onto the pavement.

Only on Cove Road.

I mean, he was just in a convenience store. Couldn't he have bought tissues?

Ick.

Now, in an effort to tie this blogpost up in a little bow, I must report to you that all my exercise has paid off. I might not have lost a ton of weight, but I did whip myself into shape - especially my legs. The review of Boy Wonder? calls me sexy and even refers to my "well-filled shirt." Ha! Makes me laugh...they also got my name wrong which makes me laugh even more.

-HH