Catch-Up Time

So much has happened since my last posting. There was a presidential debate, the Paulson Bailout bill failed, the stock market cratered, and Sarah Palin gave a "memorable" interview with Katie Couric. My, how time flies. My mom is still hanging in there; she has open heart surgery scheduled on Thursday for triple bypass for sure, perhaps quadruple bypass if the doctors decide it is needed once they get in there. She is on her way right now back down to the valley from Show Low. My mom is scheduled to report to the hospital tomorrow at 4 pm. She is understandable very anxious about what she is about to have done, but she knows not doing it isn't going to help anything and she does want to feel better. Thank goodness that she survived until her medicare became effective. The kids are o.k., but are under the weather right now with the sniffles. Serves me right for having Megan babysit the kids with Mariah, her 1 year old niece. Well, my kids need to be exposed to new germs every so often to build their immune system. On the other side of the family, my mother-in-law's prognosis doesn't look good. Growths have been found on her liver and stomach. She had a biopsy but they botched it and told her she needs another one that she has to pay for! Unbelievable! She is scheduled for a cancer test like the one my mom had on Thursday also. That's about all I know about her because my hubby in relaying information isn't very clear, and even when I talk to them they don't tell me the details. When it rains, it pours.
Amid all this, I have been trying to find the time to dig out what is to be my garden. I moved into this place last spring, and I don't think that anyone has ever attempted to garden here. There is an ideal plot by my front door, a square about 5'x8' bounded by the house, the fence, and the concrete pathway to the front door. I discovered this spring that even that little plot of land has a plastic underlayment which I am in the process of trying to dig out. No wonder the seeds I planted last spring right when I moved in didn't do well. The rest of the yard is really hard packed, with lots of gravel and plastic underlayment peeking out around the yard. It definitely will be a work in progress. It is still 100+ degrees in the day which makes working outside still rough. My progress out there has been slow. I'm planning to do some sort of "lasagna" gardening out there; it may help break up the effects of how heavy my dirt is out there. The Arizona desert is hard to garden in.If your interested, here is the place for information over at Mother Earth News:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1999-04-01/Lasagna-Gardening.aspx