My New Excuse
What's my big excuse for not blogging lately? I'm pregnant. Does that count as a good excuse? I'm about 15 weeks along, and now that the nausea's pretty well behind me, the exhaustion has really set in. Yawn.

We've been trying to get pregnant for a while here at PrairieTide, but it was still a surprise when it happened! In fact, at my first doctor's appointment, I thought I was about six week along. After getting an early ultrasound, I discovered I was a whole month further along than what I'd calculated. This means I was pregnant for about two months without even realizing it.

So back in August when I was sick and miserable, what was I thinking was going on? Well, it was a busy time, what with the new semester starting. I was helping a lot with New Student Orientaion at the college, plus I was gearing up for my debute teaching English 110. I thought the nausea and allover ickiness was due to stress and stage fright. In fact, I even stopped by the nurse's office at my school to get my blood pressure tested. Before it occured to me I was pregnant, I figured my miserable state was due to something more predictable, like a heart attach or stroke. Of course!

With the misery in full swing, I became a very reluctant gardener. All summer long I looked forward to fresh summer tomatoes. In late July and early August, I ate a ton of tomatoes. Then just when my plants hit their productive peak, the morning sickness really set in. I couldn't bear the very idea of tomatoes. Even the smell of the tomatoe plants made me gag. Since this date, the tomatoe plants have been woefully neglected.

The rest of our square foot garden has been chugging along, even with less-than-perfect care. We've had a great batch of pole beans. They came in really late this year, because I had a false start with the beans and had to replant back in July. I'd heard that pole beans were better than bush beans, but the bush beans were pretty terrific, so it was hard for me to imagine something better. Wow, was I surprised when the pole beans turned out to be absolutely dreamy. Pole beans have a wonderful melt-in-the-mouth, almost buttery texture. We're still getting a few each week here in October.

Right now, the garden needs some serious weeding. I need to turn over the mulch pile and put the strawberry bed to sleep for the year. Instead, all I feel like doing is staring out the window at the changing fall leaves. Sigh. I think it's nap time again.
- posted by Laurie @ 12:11 PM