The Hartmans

Matt planted some nice gardens this year; he has a vegetable garden and a few flower beds. He bought a ton of Dahlia seeds because they are my favorite….aww, so sweet. The garden out front yielded these beauties.

The flower bed in the side yard has not faired as well. It yielded only one beautiful flower before the plants were consumed by the bastard Japanese Beatles. The shape and color of this flower is gorgeous…Dahlias come in different shapes but this is my absolute favorite.

The vegetable garden is doing very well so far. The picture below is of one of the baby cucumbers, sorry not a great shot.

A baby watermelon!

Luna spotted something in the yard from the bedroom window…do you see it too?

It’s Ozzy…he (or she?) is baaaaaaaaack! Living under our shed. Not sure if it’s the same woodchuck or not…it’s a little gray in the face so it could be a Granny/Grampy woodchuck.

He’s a chunky little woodchuck. The other night, the smell of skunk came in very strong from the backyard. We think Mr. Skunk went under the shed and ran into Ozzy.

We found a dinosaur egg in the yard the other day. Though it could be just a massive mushroom.

Another big mushroom that grew behind the fire pit. Alas, this one is no more…Matt ran it over with the riding mower which caused it to explode into a sporific mess.

Ok, not a mushroom but cute…this bear fell down from the attic the other day. Shelby adopted him as her nap buddy.

When Luna was house-trained, we started leaving her kennel door open at night - leaving it up to her where she slept. She chose under the bed. She was just a puppy so she would run as fast as she could then dive under there every night. As she grew-up, she got too big to fit which made her very unhappy. Every night she would jam her head and as much of her body as would fit under there then whimper until she eventually fell asleep. It was quite pitiful. She finally resorted to sleeping next to the bed and that is where she has been until we got the new bed. The new bed is high enough that she can easily fit her entire body under there. It took a couple of days but she figured it out. This is what I awake to each morning now…

Just a fluffy ass and feet sticking out.

And when I round the corner of the bed…a head (and sometimes front legs) hanging out from under the footboard.

The full effect.

We got a new bed + mattress over the weekend…it was delivered today. Looks very comfy, can’t wait to test it out tonight.

There’s quite a bit new in the tank…here is what I had pictures of. Will have to get the rest later. Sun polyps.

Tube anemone. First picture is out of focus but is truer to the colors.

Small pink birdsnest colony (top above the Torch with the clownfish in it).

Now that the tank is over a year old and doing well, we have been investing in some nice pieces. Here are some other items we have added since last weekend.

An urchin! This guy is prickly, small and really cute…he makes his way around the glass cleaning off the algae.

A nice Galaxea colony.

A small Serpent Star with a really cool banded pattern. This guy was a compromise…Matt really missed having Brittle Stars because they get huge and are creepy. I loath Brittle Stars for those same reasons and because they are evil, murderous, and spider-like in appearance. A few years back our Brittle Star ate our juvenile Dragon Wrasse so they were banished. Though cousins, Serpent Stars are far less maniacal and great scavengers so he should be a nice addition to the tank.

A small Turbinaria colony that will hopefully do well.

We picked this guy up over the weekend. He is a “Fairy Wrasse” of some sort. My photography skills leave much to be desired…he is much more colorful in-person.

Wrasses!

We had a problem with the tank a couple of weeks ago…two of the plumbing fixtures under the tank were cracked so we had to disassemble the whole thing and replace them and a line. We also had to buy a new pump but everything is working perfectly now so it was worth the hassle. I had to empty the tank to fix everything…unfortunately, that killed our coraline algae so the back overflow is just bogus white now…it used to be covered in pretty purple spots. Ah well, it will return in time. When I added all the rocks again, I reconfigured them (of course). I’m happy (for now) with this configuration. There is still a big empty space in the middle but once our caps start to grow out I plan to glue them onto the overflow to fill in the gap. Here’s a picture (albeit crooked) of the tank now.

Matt pulled the living room apart some more yesterday. When he took the wood paneling off of the wall in back of the couch these tickets fell out…48 years old…kinda neat. ALSIA = Amesbury Lake Shores Improvement Association.

We picked up this wrasse over the weekend. The store wasn’t sure what type of wrasse he is but I have since identified him as a Lubbock’s. His eye looked glassy to me after we got him home…I was a bit worried that he had a fungal infection. After watching him a bit, I realized that his eyes are both like that and that is is just the coloring. His eyes are a light blue/green color.

I went on a business trip to Florida last week. While I was away, I got a picture message on my phone from Matt showing that he ripped out the built-in shelving in the TV corner of the living room. What a surprise…the walls were not insulated. Matt installed some insulation then sheetrock.

The area is painted and ready for the next step which is to build updated built-in cabinetry for the TV area, replacing all of the knotty pine with oak and making useful storage areas. The paint color is a greenish-gray, though I’m not sure you can tell the true color much in the pictures.

Matt also decided to replace the old mantle (part of it can be seen in the first picture above) with a new one we have had stored. Once we get the TV area done, we plan to stain it.

In an attempt to preserve the newness of our fancy (note the bedskirt) new bedding for just ONE day/night from the constant doggy assult, I threw an ugly old comforter on top of the new one. Apparently, this simply would not due for Luna. She jumped right up on the bed and used her nose and paws to pull the old comforter down then proceeded to lay on the NEW comforter. Such a premadonna. She’s damn lucky she’s cute AND had a bath today!