Taking the lead from my blogging friends, Todd Pack, Izzie Darling, and Lady Justine, here’s a list of the things I learned this year…if you want to read the full story on any of these lessons, search a keyword or click the appropriate tag in the sidebar:
1. Our dog thinks porcupine poop is dessert.
2. Hope loves Jake enough to share her toothbrush with him.
3. Homemade rolls don’t have to be “pretty” to taste good.
4. Egg cartons are not good containers to start plants indoors in.
5. Dogs love to destroy egg cartons with seedlings in them.
6. Jim’s parents are our biggest supporters.
7. Bleachers are hard things to sit on for more than a couple of hours.
8. I am really out of shape.
9. Seeing a toy from your childhood 40 years later brings you right back to that time in your life.
10. If the winter is mild enough, spinach from last year can survive.
11. Maple vinaigrette makes spinach salad a beautiful thing!
12. There’s no such thing as “too many bird feeders.”
13. Squirrels can do amazing tricks to get to a bird feeder.
14. Some people keep their toilet paper in the breadbox.
15. Mothers-in-law are often right.
16. More people in Saint John knew when the new Costco was opening than were aware of the city’s 225th birthday this year.
17. Rhubarb runs amok if left to grow unchecked.
18. Orthodontists make more per hour than most of us.
19. Sometimes plants get a lot bigger than the seed package says they will…my five-foot sunflowers ended up being seven or eight feet tall!
20. I like portobello mushroom/swiss veggie burgers.
21. Our dog enjoys eating Popsicle sticks.
22. Cosmopolitan was a literary magazine back in the early 1900’s.
23. There is only one kind of hummingbird which frequents New Brunswick: the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.
24. I love Mint Crisp M&M’s.
25. I learned what a “fisher” was, after seeing one cross the road in front of our car.
26. Before you construct a really big birdhouse, figure out where you’re going to put it and how to get it up there!
27. My dad’s a good singer, and I’m not the only one who thinks so!
28. They sell live ladybugs at Home Depot.
29. Right after you purchase twenty tomato plants, the forty you started from seed will rally.
30. Ladybugs aren’t always red with black spots…sometimes they’re brown with cream spots.
31. As long as they’re under warranty, Vogue Optical will replace glasses which have been chewed by a dog!
32. We have a cherry tree, and eight high-bush blueberries I’d never noticed before.
33. “Beaver Tails” are too expensive to buy now.
34. Hope really likes getting muddy.
35. Wallpaper is nearly impossible to find.
36. Hummingbirds are fearless.
37. The Chinese cabbage I planted is not the “head” type.
38. How to make good piecrust…the secret is lard.
39. Some people will ignore a sign that says: “Danger – Do Not Touch.”
40. Deer can be aggressive.
41. Organic broccoli often goes to seed faster than I can harvest it.
42. I love rutabaga!
43. I found out what “purslane” looks like.
44. It’s never a good idea to put a chicken burger into a toaster.
45. I don’t hate all sci-fi…I enjoy “Eureka.”
46. You can purchase a sailboat on the Internet.
47. Ripe canteloupe is not a good lunchbox food.
48. Picking things from the garden in the dark is really difficult.
49. I suck at “Musical Chairs.”
50. The blogging community is full of incredible people…I am so happy to have made their online acquaintances!
I’m looking forward to learning more in 2011!
Herding Cats in Hammond River 