Pantry Shelving, Loss of 'Wisdom', Ticks, and Figs.

Things have been a little wild and whacky around here.  My birthday brought the removal of my remaining wisdom teeth (what a gift!), so I have been out of commission and relying on hubby to water the garden.  The weeds are taking over, and some of the lettuce is bolting.  It is killing me to not be out there tinkering every day as I normally do, and enjoying the last of the greens before they succumb to the heat of June.  I discovered garlic scapes and peas that needed harvesting over the weekend, more stuff I can't eat.   At least the ripening strawberries have been juicy and sweet, mmm-mmm.  We threw up some netting around the beans and peas last minute before my surgery last week as the rodents were mowing them down.  Seems that when we lost our dog Travis (aka 'The Hunter'), word got around quick in the critter community that the yard and gardens are now safe turf.    The only things that get hunted around here now are veggies, here is one canine caught in the act, stealing pea greens from the bunny:

She had a mouthful, but sucked them down as I grabbed the camera.  I try to give everyone their cup of greens daily so there is no need to beg, fight, and steal over it all.

Now on to those ticks.  More mice, rabbits, and chipmunks mean more ticks being dropped, and the vegetable garden is loaded with them right now.  Gross.  We laid down insecticide between the raised beds today.  Normally we just treat the lawn as Lyme Disease is prevalent in this area and is no joke, but since we have been picking up ticks in the garden we had to spread the poison in there too.  We also purchased some Tick Tubes which will hopefully help cut the population way back in the future.  These are cardboard tubes filled with permethrin coated cotton balls.  The idea is that mice take the cotton for nesting material, and thereby kill the nymphs that spread the Lyme.  We are hoping so anyway.

In other garden news I received a new fig tree from my Fairy Garden Father.  Me and figs have bad, bad  juju, and I have not been able to keep a tree alive yet.  This will be my third, and if this one dies I will swear them off forever.  Fingers crossed, I need some witchy-voo-doo good vibes sent to my fig.  Seriously.

In non-gardening related news we went to Erin's favorite store to pick up some pantry shelving.  Really we needed better wine storage, and the stuff at Ikea fit the bill so we went for the whole darn thing.  I was able to fit so much more into a smaller space thanks to the functional shelving.  I also picked up some recycle bins and a trash can for bulk storage, check it out:

We won't starve or be forced to stay sober in the event of a natural disaster, lol.

Not space wasted here, LOVE IT!

I buy flour and sugar in 25 lb. bags, so this large can is just perfect for holding the large sacks.  Yes that is Bud Light stashed back there- I use it for beer bread, not drinking.  I promise.

These recycle bins make for stackable bulk storage in the corner.

Snacks....

.......and T.P..

So 'Erin-Ikea-Shelving-Goddess', how did we do?  ;)