Not as hazy

Things today are not quite as blurry as yesterday, but I still have a pretty awesome headache and I'm super tired from not sleeping last night. Thanks to Heidi who brought me a loaf of zucchini bread: it saved my bacon this morning when I was too tired to think about breakfast!

I'm totally in love ... with my rose bushes. They're still blooming and they'll bloom until the first hard frost. Then we'll go out that morning, and there will be beautiful, half-opened rose buds covered in ice. They'll stay like that until the spring when we start pruning. The first home Josh & I bought, when we first got married, had a yard that was lined with rose bushes all around. It was insane. We counted them up and there were over 50! That's way too much work for anybody--pruning 50+ rose bushes each spring, and dead heading thousands of flowers during the year. Yikes! 

So in our new house, we have one small area for roses by the front door. So far, we have one miniature rose, one climbing rose that we just planted this summer and two hybrid teas. One is the famous "Peace" rose, which has an amazing story that I love. Peace is colored in a beautiful way: yellow at the very center of the bud, fading to cream and then turning pink on the tips. Each rose is different and each is absolutely stunning. 

The other is a cultivar of the Peace rose, named "Chicago Peace." It has the same color habits, but stronger, richer colors. Each rose is an absolute prize! We love our rose bushes and they give us dozens of roses each time they bloom. Each year we prune them down to about 18-24" high and chop them into a few stems. But by the end of the summer... wow! "Peace" is now embarrasingly taller than myself.

The only downside to the roses? I'm allergic to the smell! Ha! If I stop to smell the roses (which I have to do) my whole head feels heavy until I step away and breathe in some clean air.

Here are a few pictures to show off our current roses and the roses from the last house we lived in. Enjoy!

In other news, what do you do when you're unhappy with the world around you? Feeling irritated with your government leaders? Not sure who to vote for? Start your own campaign! I'm pleased to announce my part in the GNU Public Dictatorship. We're here to hear you! And we have a great logo, thanks to the logo contest we just held.

But before you click that link, please keep in mind that I'm not actually a delusional, power-hungry tyrant. Nor do I play out my fantasies by pretending to be one. It's an old joke from high school and we decided to renew it BLOGGER style! So if you want to get misinformed about the latest public events, don't forget to subscribe to the Misinformation Campaign.

(My friend and co-conspirator, Tim, is a software engineer by day and has the most amazing knack for misinformation that I've ever seen. It's always a treat to see what he's come up with. Be sure to go back to his post about the dangers of brads and the evil men who force them on the public: "Brad Guys." My other friend who contributes to the site (though less regularly) is my almost-brother Craig. When he posted his logo design, I laughed until I cried.)

Good news for other aspiring world dictators: we're looking for a few good men and women to join our ranks in the quest for world domination ... and kooky blogging hijinks. Yes, it's geeky. Yes, it's really geeky. Yes, psychologists may deem you delusional. But what the hey? They MIGHT be giants. We'll be posting the application form soon. If you actually fill it out (the more misinformation, the better) you'll have an excellent chance of making the team.