Tired. Spent the weekend painting the deck and starting our vegetable garden. Still have to finish getting in between the boards on the deck and finish tearing up the dog run so we have enough room for all of our veggies.

For those who are in the Sacto area - you should check out Capital Nursery! Wow! It's amazing. We bought a grapevine, broccoli, salad greens, cauliflower, chinese cabbage, snow peas, and strawberries. The store looks pretty small from the front, but you go inside and it extends out the back forever.

Went to a BBQ at chicken-owning friends' place. Chickens were so cute! They were almost adult-sized, but were still peeping. I fed them cottage cheese, and they ate it while making distressed sounds (I pet them while they ate).

Jerimiah's on board with the chicken idea. We're making it a mini-project to move toward more sustainable living. We're going to get a scooter to save gas on our in-town trips (and because they are FUN!), going to look into getting solar panels installed at some point, and going to get a compost heap going.

Backyard work has been sort of fun so far, though tiring. Our neighbor gave us some of the chicken he was bbq-ing. SO GOOD.

I'd heard that taking care of a puppy was SO HARD, so I expected the worst. It's actually not so bad! Jerimiah thinks she's tough to care for because she won't leave him alone, but he does not properly utilize the puppy-secrets of peanut butter and chew toys. And I notice if I take her for a run, she'll sleep for at least an hour afterwards.

She's starting to get more of a personality now that she's 13 weeks. She LOVES to be on your lap, and to be turned over and have her tummy rubbed. I'm teaching her to sit, to stay, and not to jump or nip at my hands. She is sooooooo cute! Jerimiah took a gajillion photos, so that when you scroll through them, it looks like you're watching a stop-action film. Hah!

I planned out a garden for our side yard, plus some space to possibly put a chicken coop in a couple years. We're going to remove the wood chips this weekend and start landscaping. I'm excited. We want to plant some winter veggies.

Now that I'm all into the idea of having chickens, I've been noticing other people that have chickens. Sorta weird, huh?

So...two of our friends, Jamie and Joe, recently got themselves three chickens that they're keeping in their backyard. They MacGuyvered a coop from an upside-down abandoned shopping cart, and their neighbors gave them the ok.

I AM SO JEALOUS.

I want to raise my own cute little chickies and keep them in the backyard with a coop and have fresh eggs and fresh fertilizer and bug control.

Way too busy right now - I haven't even gotten back to wedding planning yet.

BUT I WANT.

They invited us over to come see them sometime, and I am halfway eager and halfway afraid that this will send me into some dark, downward spiral of envious chicken-wanting.