Last weekend, Honeybunch and I decided to tackle the job of rehabilitating the greenhouse.  When we moved in, it was very clear that the greenhouse had not been used for its intended purpose for a very, very long time.  The previous owners had installed this weird fish pond in place of a raised bed, a hideous monstrosity of black plastic pond liner and wood paneling.  It was mostly brick, with only two actual dirt beds.  These beds were filled with dock, grass, and mint.  Several of the glass panes were shattered.

So, we pulled all of the weeds, replaced the broken panes, replaced broken bricks, pulled out the fish pond and turned it into a raised bed, killed a wasp's nest, removed some of the bricks to extend another bed, and filled them all up with yummy rich black compost.  I then planted our winter salad and asian greens, swept up the mess, and sat back to admire our hard work.

 The bed on the right still needs to have its soil broken up and mixed with compost, but it's an improvement over the bricks that used to lay there for no good reason!! 

And Shelab must have had babies, because we found two mini-Shelabs in and around the greenhouse!

We also captured one of the many groundhogs that have made our property their home.  We'd been planning to wait until Spring to embark on the catch and release project, but having one invade my basement (and refuse to leave for several hours) was the last straw.  His gluttony betrayed him... he couldn't resist the eggplant we placed in the trap.  We drove about ten miles west of here and released him into the woods.  Now if we can catch the rest of his kin, hopefully we'll be groundhog-free by the time next year's veggie garden must be planted!

This morning while drinking my coffee on the porch, a lovely little grey and green hummingbird came buzzing up to the window, not more than two feet from me, and circled the windchimes making adorable little "beep"-ing noises.  I've decided that we must now get a hummingbird feeder.

We've been getting rain for days and days... flash flooding is happening all around us, and I find myself once again feeling very grateful for the fact that our house is built upon a hill.  Half an inch of water in the basement is nothing compared to the damage that many of our neighbors have endured.  Our pond overflowed its banks, washing much flotsam onto the lawn and rearranging the ducks' favorite sitting logs.  The chicken yard is a muddy mess.  But life goes on, and the clothesline stands empty and unused.  I'm just hoping that it's all over by the time October 8th rolls around... this sort of weather is lousy for an outdoor wedding!