I Lost My Hidey Hole

Years ago, when my wife's sister was staying with us, we put up a wall in our very large living room to make a temporary bedroom for her.

In the 6 or 7 years since then, that temporary room has been my permanent office. All it had in it was a book shelf, desk, and the computer. We left the door open but had a gate across the door to keep the 2 year old from breaking the computer.

The time has come when he needs his own room. And the only available room in the house is my office. So we moved me out and moved him in. He's got a new room with a fire truck big-boy-bed. I've got a desk in the middle of the dining room. It's a big dining room so there' s room but there's also people. I used my office to get away from the noise and wildness of a house filled with wives and kids. Now that's gone.

My old quiet office

In fact, I'm typing this now with one kid trying to wedge himself between me and the desk and another telling me over and over in my ear that there's somebody on TV doing something. I don't know what because I'm trying to pay attention to my typing. If I say "okay" over and over, I'm hoping she'll be satisfied and go back to watching TV. I can't act like I don't enjoy the other one wedging himself between me and the desk because if he realizes it annoys me, he'll make it his mission for the day. Since this move, he's started proudly announcing several times a day that he's "pestering dad now". I have to just wait for him to give up on his own.

This sucks. I want my hidey hole back.

my new office (children removed for the picture)

Not This Year

I'm not going to garden this year. I did it for the past several years and I didn't like it. I did it to learn, not for fun or to eat. Like most projects I take on, I absorb all I can until I've reached the point of diminishing returns, the point where another year of trying it won't teach me enough more to make it worth the effort.

I could learn a lot more but I'm way too lazy. I only learn things during the steep part of the learning curve. I make up or guess at the rest.

scientific proof that gardening
is no longer worth the work

Even if I'm not putting in a garden, I've still got all of the fruit trees, grapes, blackberries, asparagus, strawberries, and rhubarb. This stuff will be around for a long time so I'll keep working at that. When the country eventually runs out of other people's money, I'll need to eat something.

The lone surviving pear tree has a lot of pear blossoms this year. I got 3 pears last year.

little pears

The peach trees are starting to drop flower petals.

peach blossoms

And we cut asparagus for the first time this morning.

asparagus and rhubarb in the background