If you live in Texas, especially N. Texas, do NOT go outside onto concrete today without your shoes on.
You guys know I hate wearing shoes. I'd rather be barefoot. Do most of my gardening that way.
In the short time it took for me to harvest the cayennes ... I have FIRST DEGREE BURNS on the bottoms of my feet. Yes, I knew it was hurting at the time, but there wasn't that much to do, so I toughed it out. I have very tough feet and a massively high level of pain tolerance down there (unless it's cold they're touching), so I figured it would be all right. Bad call.
20 minutes later, my feet are still scarlet, a little puffy, and HURT. BAD. DG asked me to go look at something, and I almost shrieked when my feet hit the floor. I 'ow ow ow'd most of the way anyway. When you consider that I'm usually not very vocal about pain, that should say a lot.
I *burned* my feet.
Yikes.
Update: I *seriously* burned my feet. They are amazingly swollen, hotter'n'hell, creasing up through the scarlet -- they look BAD. If they haven't improved by tomorrow, it's a doctor trip. Oh yes, and blistering nicely.
Yeah. *That* bad. For me to willingly go to the doctor, who I haven't seen since last September ... Yeah.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Word from our "sponsors"
Flatout ... yummy.
Talking about Flatout "bread" here, in particular the Harvest Wheat (they didn't have the Garden Spinach, or it would have gone home too). It's like an uber-tortilla/pita bread cross. Long and flat, with lots of options on how to use it.
Yes, I know, there's brown sugar in it. I consider that a perfect trade off for a very tasty flatbread with whole wheat flour, soy flour, oats, sunflower seeds, millet, and flax. Yes, I probably shouldn't be eating it (yes, I do see the corn syrup, thank you, but for 2 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein, seems to be it's a good trade off for regular bread. And I almost never eat bread anymore anyway. I consider it a treat after the day I've had.
It's also currently being used to dip into Athenos Roasted Garlic Hummus, with the occasional bit of mozzarella tossed on. If it wasn't so late at night, and me facing the Heartburn Faerie if I did it, there'd be cucumber slices joining it. Wish to hell I had a ripe tomato. Hell, wish I could eat unprocessed cucumbers without suffering, I'd skip the Flatout entirely and just use cuke slices in the hummus. That's tasty!
Yes, there's a bit of corn syrup in the hummus, but it is WAY down the list in the final three. I don't think there's any at all in the Red Pepper hummus still waiting in the fridge.
There is a sugar-free bread out, I think made by Nature's Own, but ... man, regular bread and hummus just loses something in the translation.
Now, what's REALLY funny is that they also make a "CarbDown" version of the Flatout. Okay, that's not the funny part. The funny part is that while the Harvest Wheat and Sundried Tomato have 18 carbs ... the Carbdown has *24*. That amused me. A lot.
So, 'pita' bread, hummus, cheese, grapes, cherries, and the occasional Mauna Loa dry roasted macadamia. (DG, I'm pretty sure the tilipia had already gone over when you cooked it, it's funky fishy. Drat.)
Hmm. I could sprinkle some sunflower seeds on this, too.
I know I still need to completely push and eliminate the sugars and refined flours entirely. But do you have any idea how hard it is to do? Not the not eating them part, but finding replacements for normal foods like bread that don't contain anything I'm not supposed to have. Read labels, it's just insane.
Interesting to note how my appetite has changed. I can be utterly tummy-growling leap up and throttle brain starving, and yet only a small portion of food on this "diet" fills me up. "Serving sizes" that seemed so painfully small before now make sense.
For the Flatout, a serving size is half a flatbread, with whatever you put on it. Now, mind you, half a flatbread is about the size of a single pita. Just the cheese, and the hummus, I have half a flatbread left right. I've eaten four or five grapes, and a dozen cherries.
And my tummy is saying "NO MORE, ALL FULL DOWN HERE!"
One pita, not even a full 2 tbs serving of hummus (I've had maybe 1 tbs), one slice mozzarella, and the fruit. Full. Stuffed. No, more thanks. Wafer thin mint? BOOM.
I think I'm really starting to like this.
Had another "Where is my ass?" moment in the tub earlier. Just one of those points where the amount of weight you've lost hits home hard, when you finally really realize how much is gone. Actually, it was more of a "When did we get a bigger bathtub?" reaction.
Man, I need new clothes, BAD.
Talking about Flatout "bread" here, in particular the Harvest Wheat (they didn't have the Garden Spinach, or it would have gone home too). It's like an uber-tortilla/pita bread cross. Long and flat, with lots of options on how to use it.
Yes, I know, there's brown sugar in it. I consider that a perfect trade off for a very tasty flatbread with whole wheat flour, soy flour, oats, sunflower seeds, millet, and flax. Yes, I probably shouldn't be eating it (yes, I do see the corn syrup, thank you, but for 2 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein, seems to be it's a good trade off for regular bread. And I almost never eat bread anymore anyway. I consider it a treat after the day I've had.
It's also currently being used to dip into Athenos Roasted Garlic Hummus, with the occasional bit of mozzarella tossed on. If it wasn't so late at night, and me facing the Heartburn Faerie if I did it, there'd be cucumber slices joining it. Wish to hell I had a ripe tomato. Hell, wish I could eat unprocessed cucumbers without suffering, I'd skip the Flatout entirely and just use cuke slices in the hummus. That's tasty!
Yes, there's a bit of corn syrup in the hummus, but it is WAY down the list in the final three. I don't think there's any at all in the Red Pepper hummus still waiting in the fridge.
There is a sugar-free bread out, I think made by Nature's Own, but ... man, regular bread and hummus just loses something in the translation.
Now, what's REALLY funny is that they also make a "CarbDown" version of the Flatout. Okay, that's not the funny part. The funny part is that while the Harvest Wheat and Sundried Tomato have 18 carbs ... the Carbdown has *24*. That amused me. A lot.
So, 'pita' bread, hummus, cheese, grapes, cherries, and the occasional Mauna Loa dry roasted macadamia. (DG, I'm pretty sure the tilipia had already gone over when you cooked it, it's funky fishy. Drat.)
Hmm. I could sprinkle some sunflower seeds on this, too.
I know I still need to completely push and eliminate the sugars and refined flours entirely. But do you have any idea how hard it is to do? Not the not eating them part, but finding replacements for normal foods like bread that don't contain anything I'm not supposed to have. Read labels, it's just insane.
Interesting to note how my appetite has changed. I can be utterly tummy-growling leap up and throttle brain starving, and yet only a small portion of food on this "diet" fills me up. "Serving sizes" that seemed so painfully small before now make sense.
For the Flatout, a serving size is half a flatbread, with whatever you put on it. Now, mind you, half a flatbread is about the size of a single pita. Just the cheese, and the hummus, I have half a flatbread left right. I've eaten four or five grapes, and a dozen cherries.
And my tummy is saying "NO MORE, ALL FULL DOWN HERE!"
One pita, not even a full 2 tbs serving of hummus (I've had maybe 1 tbs), one slice mozzarella, and the fruit. Full. Stuffed. No, more thanks. Wafer thin mint? BOOM.
I think I'm really starting to like this.
Had another "Where is my ass?" moment in the tub earlier. Just one of those points where the amount of weight you've lost hits home hard, when you finally really realize how much is gone. Actually, it was more of a "When did we get a bigger bathtub?" reaction.
Man, I need new clothes, BAD.
One Step Forward
No pics yet, watering was more important. Freakin Texas summer heat.
I was wrong on the mums -- go figure. Remembered the colours wrong, it's the tips that are white, and the centers that are the deep purple/red colour. So I think it's "Fiction." Cool.
Pulled up the four cuke plants that were in pots and tossed them, after getting the last two cukes off. They weren't really doing much, Cukezilla is producing a lot more, and that gave me two less pots to water. Also ripped out the flea beetle damaged bush beans. They were starting to produce again, but not enough to make a difference with the pole beans going crazy. Right, outta there. Had to pull up one of the sunflowers. Thing 1 was a little careless with a garbage bag and damaged the stalk too bad for it to survive. Sigh. At least it wasn't the rust one, and the other sunflowers are doing fine.
Didn't get the Sweet 100 I wanted to pull out, though. I'm not sure that I CAN. Cukezilla has totally taken over the tomato cage, I'm not sure I can even get into the pot to pull it out, so I guess it stays.
We were out of full sized tomatoes, and DG had a dinner thing up at work last night, so we bought two. YUCK! Store bought tomatoes. Nasty. I sliced up two huge cukes from Cukezilla, and put a bunch of cherry tomatoes on the tray with the store sliced ones. Store maters got ignored. The cherry tomatoes from my garden VANISHED, he said people were standing over the tray just tossing them down, and he brought home very few cuke slices (only for Thing 1 to munch on). If that's not enough proof that you just need to grow your own, I don't know what is.
The new bronze foliage canna looks fantastic in the big pot with the bright green spearmint. Score!
Um. I probably underestimated the number of strawberry plants. Found another 5 runners on a different side that were rooting in the grass. Gack.
Peppers! (You knew you couldn't get out of this post without an update, right?) LOTS of cayennes to pick tomorrow. The alcaldes are still blooming and making more peppers. Chocolate bell is getting much bigger, closer to the point that it will start changing colour. Other bells are happily growing away. Got to remind myself to start stringing the chiles and cayennes tonight for them to dry.
Then again, it'll be hard to keep em in the house when my Dad gets here. I have a feeling some will be going home with him.
DG got the blade on the lawnmower switched out, so tomorrow the great backyard jungle will get mowed. Hopefully that will help with the mosquito problem. I got MAULED last night, even wearing OFF. Damn things.
The weeds and bermuda grass are just out of control. It's a helpless feeling. It's SO damn hot out there, and the weatherman said to expect it to just get hotter. Weeding in 100* and no shade ... This goes beyond Pooka wilt. Had a little help getting everything done today. The sprinkler was on, so I just worked through it. Came in drenched, but didn't have the heat problem. Of course, it also washed off all the bug pseudo-repellent too. Can't win for losing.
And I feel ... awful. On top of everything else, I feel hammered. I hurt, and I'm tired. Not sleeping real well, lots of tossing and turning and waking up exhausted. Leaves me dreadfully brain dead.
Having computer trouble, too. DG's video card croaked this weekend, complete death. My CGI proggies keep crashing when I try to use them on mine, and I'm getting the wonky STOP error messages again like I did when a RAM chip went bad on me before. Bad news if it is. Can't afford to replace the chip, not with having to spend the money to repair DG's computer.
So, unless I can transfer all my stuff to his computer, which is a pain and a HUGE multi-gig undertaking, I'm near worthless for artwork right now, with two jobs I desperately, DESPERATELY need to finish.
And of course my mother has made another of her Annoucements, and she'll be here this weekend to help ruin yet another birthday. Now, before you think the visit is a sweet effort on her part, she's not coming up here for ME. She's coming to take one of the girls, then a week later, trade out for the other one. She's coming for the summer visit, not because of any parental obligation to her offspring. These are the only grandkids she has, and at the rate my sister is going, the only ones she'll ever have, so she feels the need to at least do something about it.
Now, like with most families, there's a Mama's kid and a Daddy's kid. Guess which one she is taking away from me ON MY BIRTHDAY? Right. My girl. Don't even pretend to think that isn't completely deliberate on her part. She KNOWS.
The funny thing is, I can't even burst into tears in frustration over it. It's always something, and if it WASN'T always something, I wouldn't be handling it as well as I am.
I was wrong on the mums -- go figure. Remembered the colours wrong, it's the tips that are white, and the centers that are the deep purple/red colour. So I think it's "Fiction." Cool.
Pulled up the four cuke plants that were in pots and tossed them, after getting the last two cukes off. They weren't really doing much, Cukezilla is producing a lot more, and that gave me two less pots to water. Also ripped out the flea beetle damaged bush beans. They were starting to produce again, but not enough to make a difference with the pole beans going crazy. Right, outta there. Had to pull up one of the sunflowers. Thing 1 was a little careless with a garbage bag and damaged the stalk too bad for it to survive. Sigh. At least it wasn't the rust one, and the other sunflowers are doing fine.
Didn't get the Sweet 100 I wanted to pull out, though. I'm not sure that I CAN. Cukezilla has totally taken over the tomato cage, I'm not sure I can even get into the pot to pull it out, so I guess it stays.
We were out of full sized tomatoes, and DG had a dinner thing up at work last night, so we bought two. YUCK! Store bought tomatoes. Nasty. I sliced up two huge cukes from Cukezilla, and put a bunch of cherry tomatoes on the tray with the store sliced ones. Store maters got ignored. The cherry tomatoes from my garden VANISHED, he said people were standing over the tray just tossing them down, and he brought home very few cuke slices (only for Thing 1 to munch on). If that's not enough proof that you just need to grow your own, I don't know what is.
The new bronze foliage canna looks fantastic in the big pot with the bright green spearmint. Score!
Um. I probably underestimated the number of strawberry plants. Found another 5 runners on a different side that were rooting in the grass. Gack.
Peppers! (You knew you couldn't get out of this post without an update, right?) LOTS of cayennes to pick tomorrow. The alcaldes are still blooming and making more peppers. Chocolate bell is getting much bigger, closer to the point that it will start changing colour. Other bells are happily growing away. Got to remind myself to start stringing the chiles and cayennes tonight for them to dry.
Then again, it'll be hard to keep em in the house when my Dad gets here. I have a feeling some will be going home with him.
DG got the blade on the lawnmower switched out, so tomorrow the great backyard jungle will get mowed. Hopefully that will help with the mosquito problem. I got MAULED last night, even wearing OFF. Damn things.
The weeds and bermuda grass are just out of control. It's a helpless feeling. It's SO damn hot out there, and the weatherman said to expect it to just get hotter. Weeding in 100* and no shade ... This goes beyond Pooka wilt. Had a little help getting everything done today. The sprinkler was on, so I just worked through it. Came in drenched, but didn't have the heat problem. Of course, it also washed off all the bug pseudo-repellent too. Can't win for losing.
And I feel ... awful. On top of everything else, I feel hammered. I hurt, and I'm tired. Not sleeping real well, lots of tossing and turning and waking up exhausted. Leaves me dreadfully brain dead.
Having computer trouble, too. DG's video card croaked this weekend, complete death. My CGI proggies keep crashing when I try to use them on mine, and I'm getting the wonky STOP error messages again like I did when a RAM chip went bad on me before. Bad news if it is. Can't afford to replace the chip, not with having to spend the money to repair DG's computer.
So, unless I can transfer all my stuff to his computer, which is a pain and a HUGE multi-gig undertaking, I'm near worthless for artwork right now, with two jobs I desperately, DESPERATELY need to finish.
And of course my mother has made another of her Annoucements, and she'll be here this weekend to help ruin yet another birthday. Now, before you think the visit is a sweet effort on her part, she's not coming up here for ME. She's coming to take one of the girls, then a week later, trade out for the other one. She's coming for the summer visit, not because of any parental obligation to her offspring. These are the only grandkids she has, and at the rate my sister is going, the only ones she'll ever have, so she feels the need to at least do something about it.
Now, like with most families, there's a Mama's kid and a Daddy's kid. Guess which one she is taking away from me ON MY BIRTHDAY? Right. My girl. Don't even pretend to think that isn't completely deliberate on her part. She KNOWS.
The funny thing is, I can't even burst into tears in frustration over it. It's always something, and if it WASN'T always something, I wouldn't be handling it as well as I am.
Monday, July 12, 2004
CukeZilla!
I'll have you know that is a THREE POUND cucumber from Cukezilla. One of about 11 cukes I brought in off the thing today. Had to put the shotgun slug with this one to give some perspective in size.
Bell pepper brought in (had to wait till the second trip, since there was a baby praying mantis out there that I did NOT want to disturb. Move in, make yourself at home, snacks are right there, have a good time!).
And a bunch of cayennes, and two more chiles. My chile plant now has bunches more new green babies and still more blooms.
Mandatory pepper pic.
... To the Batcave!
After I was a very good girl and did not beg and grovel at the store for DG to let me buy Batman: The Animated Series, Season 1, Volume 1 on DVD ...
When we got home, he made me close my eyes.
And then he put it in my hands. He'd already bought it for me for my birthday, but because I was a big girl and didn't wail...
I'm now watching BATMAN!
When they announced that they were releasing Season 1 on DVD for the first time, and they were releasing it in July, I swore up and down that it was MEANT to be a Pooka birthday present.
I ever catch Bruce Timm at a con, he's signing this baby for me. And my big Animated book. And ... uh. I hope Timm has a limit to how many things he'll sign, because I could keep him, Paul Dini, and Eric Rodomski occupied for HOURS. :)
(Why do I mention this? Oh, because of BATCON here in October, in Plano!)
When we got home, he made me close my eyes.
And then he put it in my hands. He'd already bought it for me for my birthday, but because I was a big girl and didn't wail...
I'm now watching BATMAN!
When they announced that they were releasing Season 1 on DVD for the first time, and they were releasing it in July, I swore up and down that it was MEANT to be a Pooka birthday present.
I ever catch Bruce Timm at a con, he's signing this baby for me. And my big Animated book. And ... uh. I hope Timm has a limit to how many things he'll sign, because I could keep him, Paul Dini, and Eric Rodomski occupied for HOURS. :)
(Why do I mention this? Oh, because of BATCON here in October, in Plano!)
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Pooka's Shrinking Soapbox
Atkins can kiss my deflating fat white ass.
Twice.
So, my clothes are continuing to get bigger and bigger. Looked at myself in the mirror before a shower the other day, and wondered where the hell my ass was. Face it, I got enough junk in the trunk for three sistahs, but it looks like I'm down to two now. I wasn't totally disgusted by what I saw.
Of course, having much less ass explains why I can't keep my pants and shorts from falling down around my ankles. Thank God for hips.
But Atkins. Yeah. Kiss here, pal.
I just had a very happy Pooka dinner. Baked Tilapia (and even if you don't like fish, I recommend trying it. Very delicate, slightly lemony, and overall a damn tasty fish), green beans, some mozzarella cheese, grapes, and strawberries. Joy, happy tummy!
All of it is on my diet. The Four F's is what I follow:
-- Fresh Fruit
-- Fresh Veggies
-- Fish
-- Fowl
That's the primaries for it. No non-natural sugars, nothing fried, no organ meats, low fat dairy, no refined bleached flour, only 2 eggs a week (which is fine, since eggs aggravate my IBS, AND are bad for arthritis).
Weight is coming off, I'm HAPPY eating (Um, I sort of ate almost 2 pounds of cherries yesterday by myself), I don't feel deprived in any way, and I LIKE all the foods I can eat. It doesn't push lots of meat, it doesn't push lots of fat. The only real carbs are from perfectly natural sugars in fruits and veggies (pasta and stuff is limited, unless it's whole wheat or corn, etc).
I honestly don't miss soda that much. I don't have cravings for things I'm not supposed to eat, which is good since DG has been bringing home popsicles and ice cream and cookies lately. (BAD, BAD diabetic!) I don't really even miss chocolate, but I'm sure the craving will hit eventually.
Nightwisp, I DID try Diet RC. And WOW. Diet RC is GOOD. But. Yeah. But. Splenda seems to give me a headache, just like aspartame. Damnit. But at least if I crave soda, Diet RC doesn't have the nasty funky chemical taste of aspartame, and Excedrin actually works on the headache, unlike with aspartame.
Now. It's been about three weeks or so since I started this. The diet is designed for RSD/CRPS patients to help control pain. So far, I'm still exhausted most of the time, but I figure I'm still just adjusting to the detox. And I have noticed that although I'm wiped out, I don't *seem* to be hurting as bad and as constantly. However ...
My IBS is almost GONE. GONE. Cutting the sugar out did wonders, and though if I indulge in dairy, or things that I know aggravate it, I still have problems, they aren't nearly as severe. Normal safe meals don't send me diving for the bathroom. If I avoid triggers, I'm doing damn well, and the horrible cramps are a thing of the past.
Getting rid of the sugar and organ meats (oooo, my poor sausages and Hebrew National hot dogs, I do miss YOU at least) and going more natural with the diet has also improved the severity of the acid reflux disease. I don't desperately have to make sure I take Prevacid every single day now. I can go a few days without it and not be utterly horribly miserable.
And the horrible menstrual cramps that had been plaguing me were almost nil this time. Period started about a week and a half to two weeks after starting the diet, and I wasn't curled up in agony.
On Atkins, I was sick all the time. My body couldn't handle the high fat, high dairy, high red meat content. I was miserable, and missing the GOOD things, like fruits and "high carb" veggies. Reflux and IBS were trying to kill me. Quickly, at least, but still trying to kill me.
I can eat those forbidden fruits now. I'm still losing weight, I'm healthier already, and with my IBS and reflux clearing up, far more comfortable.
Listen to yo' mamas, kiddos. Eat your damn fruits and veggies, and like em. They're good for you!
( The opinions expressed by Pooka do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else other than Pooka. No Atkins supporters were bodily mutilated to create this post. )
Twice.
So, my clothes are continuing to get bigger and bigger. Looked at myself in the mirror before a shower the other day, and wondered where the hell my ass was. Face it, I got enough junk in the trunk for three sistahs, but it looks like I'm down to two now. I wasn't totally disgusted by what I saw.
Of course, having much less ass explains why I can't keep my pants and shorts from falling down around my ankles. Thank God for hips.
But Atkins. Yeah. Kiss here, pal.
I just had a very happy Pooka dinner. Baked Tilapia (and even if you don't like fish, I recommend trying it. Very delicate, slightly lemony, and overall a damn tasty fish), green beans, some mozzarella cheese, grapes, and strawberries. Joy, happy tummy!
All of it is on my diet. The Four F's is what I follow:
-- Fresh Fruit
-- Fresh Veggies
-- Fish
-- Fowl
That's the primaries for it. No non-natural sugars, nothing fried, no organ meats, low fat dairy, no refined bleached flour, only 2 eggs a week (which is fine, since eggs aggravate my IBS, AND are bad for arthritis).
Weight is coming off, I'm HAPPY eating (Um, I sort of ate almost 2 pounds of cherries yesterday by myself), I don't feel deprived in any way, and I LIKE all the foods I can eat. It doesn't push lots of meat, it doesn't push lots of fat. The only real carbs are from perfectly natural sugars in fruits and veggies (pasta and stuff is limited, unless it's whole wheat or corn, etc).
I honestly don't miss soda that much. I don't have cravings for things I'm not supposed to eat, which is good since DG has been bringing home popsicles and ice cream and cookies lately. (BAD, BAD diabetic!) I don't really even miss chocolate, but I'm sure the craving will hit eventually.
Nightwisp, I DID try Diet RC. And WOW. Diet RC is GOOD. But. Yeah. But. Splenda seems to give me a headache, just like aspartame. Damnit. But at least if I crave soda, Diet RC doesn't have the nasty funky chemical taste of aspartame, and Excedrin actually works on the headache, unlike with aspartame.
Now. It's been about three weeks or so since I started this. The diet is designed for RSD/CRPS patients to help control pain. So far, I'm still exhausted most of the time, but I figure I'm still just adjusting to the detox. And I have noticed that although I'm wiped out, I don't *seem* to be hurting as bad and as constantly. However ...
My IBS is almost GONE. GONE. Cutting the sugar out did wonders, and though if I indulge in dairy, or things that I know aggravate it, I still have problems, they aren't nearly as severe. Normal safe meals don't send me diving for the bathroom. If I avoid triggers, I'm doing damn well, and the horrible cramps are a thing of the past.
Getting rid of the sugar and organ meats (oooo, my poor sausages and Hebrew National hot dogs, I do miss YOU at least) and going more natural with the diet has also improved the severity of the acid reflux disease. I don't desperately have to make sure I take Prevacid every single day now. I can go a few days without it and not be utterly horribly miserable.
And the horrible menstrual cramps that had been plaguing me were almost nil this time. Period started about a week and a half to two weeks after starting the diet, and I wasn't curled up in agony.
On Atkins, I was sick all the time. My body couldn't handle the high fat, high dairy, high red meat content. I was miserable, and missing the GOOD things, like fruits and "high carb" veggies. Reflux and IBS were trying to kill me. Quickly, at least, but still trying to kill me.
I can eat those forbidden fruits now. I'm still losing weight, I'm healthier already, and with my IBS and reflux clearing up, far more comfortable.
Listen to yo' mamas, kiddos. Eat your damn fruits and veggies, and like em. They're good for you!
( The opinions expressed by Pooka do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else other than Pooka. No Atkins supporters were bodily mutilated to create this post. )
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Got Sun?
... flowers, that is.
A dwarf type of sunflower with darker orange petals, rusty-chocolate eyes, and a repeat bloomer up and down the stalks, as you can see.
My butterfly bush seems to be loving the weather. It's absolutely covered with tiny purple flowers in those big clusters, and smells yummy!
As you can see, my Maid of Orleans jasmine not only survived the winter, but is now happily blooming and making wonderful jasmine smells on that side of the yard.
A dwarf type of sunflower with darker orange petals, rusty-chocolate eyes, and a repeat bloomer up and down the stalks, as you can see.
My butterfly bush seems to be loving the weather. It's absolutely covered with tiny purple flowers in those big clusters, and smells yummy!
As you can see, my Maid of Orleans jasmine not only survived the winter, but is now happily blooming and making wonderful jasmine smells on that side of the yard.
Monday, July 05, 2004
Got Chiles?
Crazy pepper lady strikes again.
OH! And my biiiiig tomato plant now has 7 new green 'maters growing. YEEEEES!
You won't find the Chile Alcalde I'm growing with a regular search. Native Seeds is the only place that carries them, and they specialize in trying to save Native American food crops. A wonderful place, I plan on ordering far too much from them for next year.
The Alcalde is a Mild-medium hot pepper that goes sweet when red. I can't wait to try them.
I have a great double handful of alcaldes now. Mmm. Time to string!
My first cayennes.
Aren't the Christmas limas cute?
Love love love eggplant blossoms. Need to get pics of the eggplant already picked. Before they're eaten.
OH! And my biiiiig tomato plant now has 7 new green 'maters growing. YEEEEES!
You won't find the Chile Alcalde I'm growing with a regular search. Native Seeds is the only place that carries them, and they specialize in trying to save Native American food crops. A wonderful place, I plan on ordering far too much from them for next year.
The Alcalde is a Mild-medium hot pepper that goes sweet when red. I can't wait to try them.
I have a great double handful of alcaldes now. Mmm. Time to string!
My first cayennes.
Aren't the Christmas limas cute?
Love love love eggplant blossoms. Need to get pics of the eggplant already picked. Before they're eaten.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Space WHAT?
A word to the wise: if you grow Spacesaver cucumbers, do not give them space. I mean it. Seriously. Put them in little pots like the packet recommends. If you don't, and make the mistake of putting them in the ground, be prepared to see nothing but cukes. Everywhere.
I have 10' long cuke vines. The single small plant I tucked into an empty corner of the strawberry bed because I'm such a wuss that I couldn't just abandon the little seedling has now taken over half the yard and has set its sights on invading the airport. They're climbing tomato cages, pulling down pepper plants, and spreading like kudzu.
They'd be quite pretty, really, they're constantly blooming and the vines are neat to look at, but the damn things are taking over. And I pulled only a single full size cuke off it, and there's another smaller one ready in a day or two. Otherwise, just little cuke nubbins. All that, and no fruit. Grr.
Two eggplant inside now, blooms all over the plant, two baby eggplant starting. I have bell peppers growing (6 on the one by the eggplant, 2 on the chocolate bell), the tomatoes seem to be gearing up to bloom again. Harvested 2 cayennes and at least 8 chilis so far. More chilis ready this weekend That is such a gorgeous, sensual red on the chilis and cayennes. Yum.
I need to learn how to rope the chilis up to let them dry. Luckily I have those sites bookmarked.
My cayenne plant is now becoming a damn tree. It's huge, and just covered with long fat peppers. I'm really, really enjoying peppers. With all the bug problems this year, and how disappointing a lot of the garden was, I think I may stick with neat stuff like peppers and not spend the money and stress on growing stuff like zucchini and squash. Hate resorting to a store, but ... you know.
Dwarf sunflowers have happily opened their little heads. The beans ... well, I've almost given up trying to pick them. It's a gigantic shambling mound. Eeek! And the flea beetles have gone crazy on all of the beans. The damage is just astonishing. I don't have leaves, I have lace doilies.
(Thing 2 moment: Mama spots a bean that was overlooked, obviously for some time. The thing is wider than my thumb, and about 9" long. Thing 2: "Holy shit!" I couldn't even scold her for that one, it was my reaction, too)
Cowpeas seem to have given up for the year. I think I'll stick with the green beans in pots and put the cowpeas in the ground next time. Might get more from both that way.
First round of blooms on the cannas have gone, second round started. No blooms yet on Madame Butterfly, which is just continuing to get taller and taller. Hmm. She goes down by the fence next time, and the shorter Lucifers for the bed, I think.
So. This is Texas. And you expect to see things wilting from the heat. NOT from drowning. One of my basil plants is wilting and crying for help, even after we've poured the water out of the pot -- twice. Had to do the same with one of the thunbergia pots.
Of course, Six Flags got flooded out and had to close down, so I consider myself lucky.
Erosion in the yard is horrible, though. We're going to need to do some serious work to keep the lower half of the yard from being dangerous. Can't walk down there without twisting an ankle, no matter how careful you are, and it's a real hazard for DG when he mows.
I've given up and gone for the Deep Woods OFF to keep the mosquitos away. Problem is, I think they like that, too. They're everywhere, in clouds (no, they're not gnats, the skeeters are that bad), and very very aggressive.
Kitiara ... I love you. Worship the Empress!
I'm settling down with my new copy of Carla Emery's "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" with a big stupid smile and a nice tall glass of tea and mint.
The book is even better than Kit has said, and has that wonderfully aesthetically pleasing paper that makes such a neat noise when you turn pages. Yes, I'm a book geek. But the book ...
My only complaint: it needs wider margins for notes! ;)
I have 10' long cuke vines. The single small plant I tucked into an empty corner of the strawberry bed because I'm such a wuss that I couldn't just abandon the little seedling has now taken over half the yard and has set its sights on invading the airport. They're climbing tomato cages, pulling down pepper plants, and spreading like kudzu.
They'd be quite pretty, really, they're constantly blooming and the vines are neat to look at, but the damn things are taking over. And I pulled only a single full size cuke off it, and there's another smaller one ready in a day or two. Otherwise, just little cuke nubbins. All that, and no fruit. Grr.
Two eggplant inside now, blooms all over the plant, two baby eggplant starting. I have bell peppers growing (6 on the one by the eggplant, 2 on the chocolate bell), the tomatoes seem to be gearing up to bloom again. Harvested 2 cayennes and at least 8 chilis so far. More chilis ready this weekend That is such a gorgeous, sensual red on the chilis and cayennes. Yum.
I need to learn how to rope the chilis up to let them dry. Luckily I have those sites bookmarked.
My cayenne plant is now becoming a damn tree. It's huge, and just covered with long fat peppers. I'm really, really enjoying peppers. With all the bug problems this year, and how disappointing a lot of the garden was, I think I may stick with neat stuff like peppers and not spend the money and stress on growing stuff like zucchini and squash. Hate resorting to a store, but ... you know.
Dwarf sunflowers have happily opened their little heads. The beans ... well, I've almost given up trying to pick them. It's a gigantic shambling mound. Eeek! And the flea beetles have gone crazy on all of the beans. The damage is just astonishing. I don't have leaves, I have lace doilies.
(Thing 2 moment: Mama spots a bean that was overlooked, obviously for some time. The thing is wider than my thumb, and about 9" long. Thing 2: "Holy shit!" I couldn't even scold her for that one, it was my reaction, too)
Cowpeas seem to have given up for the year. I think I'll stick with the green beans in pots and put the cowpeas in the ground next time. Might get more from both that way.
First round of blooms on the cannas have gone, second round started. No blooms yet on Madame Butterfly, which is just continuing to get taller and taller. Hmm. She goes down by the fence next time, and the shorter Lucifers for the bed, I think.
So. This is Texas. And you expect to see things wilting from the heat. NOT from drowning. One of my basil plants is wilting and crying for help, even after we've poured the water out of the pot -- twice. Had to do the same with one of the thunbergia pots.
Of course, Six Flags got flooded out and had to close down, so I consider myself lucky.
Erosion in the yard is horrible, though. We're going to need to do some serious work to keep the lower half of the yard from being dangerous. Can't walk down there without twisting an ankle, no matter how careful you are, and it's a real hazard for DG when he mows.
I've given up and gone for the Deep Woods OFF to keep the mosquitos away. Problem is, I think they like that, too. They're everywhere, in clouds (no, they're not gnats, the skeeters are that bad), and very very aggressive.
Kitiara ... I love you. Worship the Empress!
I'm settling down with my new copy of Carla Emery's "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" with a big stupid smile and a nice tall glass of tea and mint.
The book is even better than Kit has said, and has that wonderfully aesthetically pleasing paper that makes such a neat noise when you turn pages. Yes, I'm a book geek. But the book ...
My only complaint: it needs wider margins for notes! ;)
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Green Arm Indeed
Finally found me a nice Aloe. Considering keeping it inside, only, Sir Ozymandius is the type of monster to physically hurl plants that are in his way out of the window. Need to find a good outdoor spot for it.
Definitely need to take some babies off the hens and chicks and get them potted.
Wandering through WallyWorld's plant department, I stopped and blinked a few times at the potted cannas. First off -- those POOR things. I'd have bought them all if I could, just because seeing cannas in ITTY BITTY 8" pots about gave me a heart attack. Plant Abuse! But what got me was seeing some of the more unusual (read as: expensive) foliage on some of them. The dark bronzes, and the varigateds. Well ...
Yeah, hush. I bought two of them. They were more expensive than buying your generic bagged bulbs, but none of the bags I looked at this spring had foliage like this. And the number of shoots was amazing on the two I got. LOTS of eyeroots for separation this spring. No idea what colour the flowers will be, but the foliage alone is that pretty. Yum!
One immediately got planted into the monster pot where the basil finally gave up and croaked from all the water. (Note to self: trim roots and hang basil to finish drying tomorrow). The other went down by the fence with the Lucifers. Yes, I managed to get both planted today. Go me.
Of course, in the process of planting the one down by the fence, I noticed that two of my Lucifers had been MAULED. I don't know WHAT took them out. No sign of anything cutting them at the stalks, but they were just laying on the ground, limp and pathetic. It's not rot, the soil was so dry (I know, I know, they all got watered immediately) I couldn't get a ball from it even 8" down when I dug the hole. But the others were just fine, so it's not a lack of water. Grrr.
Also found some lovely chrysanthemums (At least, so far I THINK they are, but no site has had a pic of one like this) at Lowe's when I was trying to find a decent hanging basket big enough for my last thunbergia. Finally found a basket, relatively cheap, with a quality coir liner. So I bought two, just in case. Anyway ....
DG ... get this ... DG MADE me buy these mums. He wouldn't let me put them up when I saw how much I was spending (damn fish emulsion ain't cheap). They aren't the painted daisies, but they're a daisy class. Deep red/purple outsides, bleeding to white, with typical centers. Really utterly stunning. I'll get pics tomorrow and see if anyone can help me ID them. Not even my Sunset book helped.
Now the problem is finding a good place with partial afternoon shade and early morning full sun for them to thrive. I know mums usually get full sun, but afternoon sun here is HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Baking sap boiling in the stems hot.
And the house faces north/south, leaving the backyard completely east/west. Full sun pretty much most of the day, except for where landscape (trees, the fence) shades it. There's a spot by the back door that might work (may have to try to move a zinnia to put it there), but I don't know if it'll drain well enough to keep the mums from rotting this winter. Going to try to take a few cuttings from it.
Yes, I finally remembered to get rooting hormone. So the salvia and a few other goodies are going to play the propogation game. Will probably ask for some of the Rose of Sharon from my neighbor, too. Then again, I used to root those by cutting and just sticking in the ground. I'm surprised my parents let me live when all of them sprouted and grew.
Whooo, brain fart. Um.
.
.
.
Black hole.
OH! Strawberries! Good God. Repeat. A lot.
So, all of them are putting out runners. Lots and lots and LOTS of strawberry runners. (Note to self: Get some of the already rooted runners into new pots. Soon. Immediately. Like, tomorrow. Lazy bitch.)
I have strawberry plants growing IN MY GRASS now, because Cukezilla had them hidden so I couldn't move the runners before they rooted. Yes. I have a lawn of strawberries around the bed. I mean, I know people have used them as ground covers, but that's ridiculous!
Maybe I used a little TOO much compost in that bed.
So, I started out with around 15 strawberry plants this year, in a big 4x4 bed, with a 2x2 center. A pretty good amount of plants for a family of four, even with the bird and slug problems.
Now. Each plant -- every single plant -- has at least 4 runners on it. Each runner usually produces at least 2-3 new plants if they can find soil to root.
I have strawberry plants growing in my lawn. The bed is completely overwhelmed with baby plants. I have no idea where the hell I'm going to put some 50 strawberry plants. I don't even want to think about how many are out there, and there's no way I'm going to try to count.
I do have that new hanging basket, since I bought two, that I didn't have a use for yet. I was thinking about transplanting one of the thunbergia that's in the fence pots into it, but ... ah, I think the strawberries need it more. So, that should take care of 2-3 plants, and will solve the slug problems for at least that pot -- though not the birds.
I should have 2-3 long window-box type planters, and strawberries don't have too terribly deep root systems. Maybe another 8-12 or so plants can go in there. Should probably keep it to no more than 2 or 3 for the shorter ones, though.
May end up having to use them as groundcover, and put them into the flower bed in the front. I don't want to use the 55 gallon barrel halves, since it would be more prudent to put plants with more elaborate root systems in them. Be good for tomatoes and peppers and carrots.
Oh, and I saw some WEIRD bugs on my cowpeas earlier. Got to get pics of these things tomorrow and get them IDd. I mean WEIRD. Not just the usual stinkbugs and ants, but these giant things that looked like Alien/Predator Queen Brood Ants. And they're blooming and producing again! I'd almost given up and gotten ready to pull them.
Fish emulsion to feed, and ... man, I don't know what to do with the skeery bugs. Really long dissection hemostats and a bucket of soapy water or something.
Definitely need to take some babies off the hens and chicks and get them potted.
Wandering through WallyWorld's plant department, I stopped and blinked a few times at the potted cannas. First off -- those POOR things. I'd have bought them all if I could, just because seeing cannas in ITTY BITTY 8" pots about gave me a heart attack. Plant Abuse! But what got me was seeing some of the more unusual (read as: expensive) foliage on some of them. The dark bronzes, and the varigateds. Well ...
Yeah, hush. I bought two of them. They were more expensive than buying your generic bagged bulbs, but none of the bags I looked at this spring had foliage like this. And the number of shoots was amazing on the two I got. LOTS of eyeroots for separation this spring. No idea what colour the flowers will be, but the foliage alone is that pretty. Yum!
One immediately got planted into the monster pot where the basil finally gave up and croaked from all the water. (Note to self: trim roots and hang basil to finish drying tomorrow). The other went down by the fence with the Lucifers. Yes, I managed to get both planted today. Go me.
Of course, in the process of planting the one down by the fence, I noticed that two of my Lucifers had been MAULED. I don't know WHAT took them out. No sign of anything cutting them at the stalks, but they were just laying on the ground, limp and pathetic. It's not rot, the soil was so dry (I know, I know, they all got watered immediately) I couldn't get a ball from it even 8" down when I dug the hole. But the others were just fine, so it's not a lack of water. Grrr.
Also found some lovely chrysanthemums (At least, so far I THINK they are, but no site has had a pic of one like this) at Lowe's when I was trying to find a decent hanging basket big enough for my last thunbergia. Finally found a basket, relatively cheap, with a quality coir liner. So I bought two, just in case. Anyway ....
DG ... get this ... DG MADE me buy these mums. He wouldn't let me put them up when I saw how much I was spending (damn fish emulsion ain't cheap). They aren't the painted daisies, but they're a daisy class. Deep red/purple outsides, bleeding to white, with typical centers. Really utterly stunning. I'll get pics tomorrow and see if anyone can help me ID them. Not even my Sunset book helped.
Now the problem is finding a good place with partial afternoon shade and early morning full sun for them to thrive. I know mums usually get full sun, but afternoon sun here is HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Baking sap boiling in the stems hot.
And the house faces north/south, leaving the backyard completely east/west. Full sun pretty much most of the day, except for where landscape (trees, the fence) shades it. There's a spot by the back door that might work (may have to try to move a zinnia to put it there), but I don't know if it'll drain well enough to keep the mums from rotting this winter. Going to try to take a few cuttings from it.
Yes, I finally remembered to get rooting hormone. So the salvia and a few other goodies are going to play the propogation game. Will probably ask for some of the Rose of Sharon from my neighbor, too. Then again, I used to root those by cutting and just sticking in the ground. I'm surprised my parents let me live when all of them sprouted and grew.
Whooo, brain fart. Um.
.
.
.
Black hole.
OH! Strawberries! Good God. Repeat. A lot.
So, all of them are putting out runners. Lots and lots and LOTS of strawberry runners. (Note to self: Get some of the already rooted runners into new pots. Soon. Immediately. Like, tomorrow. Lazy bitch.)
I have strawberry plants growing IN MY GRASS now, because Cukezilla had them hidden so I couldn't move the runners before they rooted. Yes. I have a lawn of strawberries around the bed. I mean, I know people have used them as ground covers, but that's ridiculous!
Maybe I used a little TOO much compost in that bed.
So, I started out with around 15 strawberry plants this year, in a big 4x4 bed, with a 2x2 center. A pretty good amount of plants for a family of four, even with the bird and slug problems.
Now. Each plant -- every single plant -- has at least 4 runners on it. Each runner usually produces at least 2-3 new plants if they can find soil to root.
I have strawberry plants growing in my lawn. The bed is completely overwhelmed with baby plants. I have no idea where the hell I'm going to put some 50 strawberry plants. I don't even want to think about how many are out there, and there's no way I'm going to try to count.
I do have that new hanging basket, since I bought two, that I didn't have a use for yet. I was thinking about transplanting one of the thunbergia that's in the fence pots into it, but ... ah, I think the strawberries need it more. So, that should take care of 2-3 plants, and will solve the slug problems for at least that pot -- though not the birds.
I should have 2-3 long window-box type planters, and strawberries don't have too terribly deep root systems. Maybe another 8-12 or so plants can go in there. Should probably keep it to no more than 2 or 3 for the shorter ones, though.
May end up having to use them as groundcover, and put them into the flower bed in the front. I don't want to use the 55 gallon barrel halves, since it would be more prudent to put plants with more elaborate root systems in them. Be good for tomatoes and peppers and carrots.
Oh, and I saw some WEIRD bugs on my cowpeas earlier. Got to get pics of these things tomorrow and get them IDd. I mean WEIRD. Not just the usual stinkbugs and ants, but these giant things that looked like Alien/Predator Queen Brood Ants. And they're blooming and producing again! I'd almost given up and gotten ready to pull them.
Fish emulsion to feed, and ... man, I don't know what to do with the skeery bugs. Really long dissection hemostats and a bucket of soapy water or something.
Friday, May 16, 2003
A Pooka's Paradise
I ignored the blighted weakly tomato after moving it from a pot to the ground.
Today I found a tomato on it, and the plant is green again. Hurrah for ignoring it!
I need to remember to not garden when I'm in pain, though. Between my back, the bad flare-up, and twisting my ankle, I wasn't quite delicate enough when working with the green beans. I bought the bamboo arches for stakes to train the vines on, and I snapped one of the vines in the process. Dammit. I'm feeling very badly about this.
The Zucchini That Ate Cincinnati has leaves almost as large as my husband's ego.
Radishes will be pulled up tomorrow. Okra is getting ready to start setting fruit. Squashes look to be blooming soon. Zucchini still dropping all blossoms. Dammit. Grr.
The seeds that Thing 2 and I planted LAST SUNDAY are going wild. The new radishes are almost ready to replace the ones we'll be pulling, though I'm worrying about the heat and actually considering putting them in large leftover plastic pots and keeping them cooler up on the patio. The pots are more than large enough to hold a single radish plant, and I'd have better atmosphere control over them that way.
Green beans planted last Sunday are not only sprouted, but opening leaves. Less than a week. Man, this is just wild.
And once again, EVERY SINGLE SEED SPROUTED! Crap garden soil, and tada.
Still waiting for the Four O'Clocks to sprout.
Need to go work on the wisteria tomorrow and get it set to really start climbing. Fighting whatever those #*$&#*$& vines are nearby is making me crazy. They're trying to crowd out the two rosebushes that still aren't doing anything. I've really considered digging them up and moving them into the backyard where I can keep a better eye on them.
My pumpkins have taken over the weeding job for me. It's so funny! Those curly little pigtail pumpkin vines are wrapping around anything nearby, and are pulling shakier weeds right out of the ground with them.
I'm about to have some very cross words with the mosquitos in my back yard, oh yes. They're AWFUL! Grr, itch itch itch.
Nicotiana now tucked gently in with the Veronica Salvia, Hummingbird pink and a deep deep deep rose to go with the blue-purple Veronica. I moved the large tomato plant away from the Nicotiana and have that flowerbed now bordered by strawberry and zinnia pots.
Blackeyed Susan vines now twining their way up a trellis between my patio and the fence that I can't plant along. Stupid phone company. Anyway, the Susan vines are delicate and lovely, and a Maid of Orleans jasmine that isn't a climber completes the view that direction, set a bit behind it. They're far enough away that we shouldn't have to worry about bees on the porch, and right where the breeze will catch and carry the scent to us.
The trellis is also positioned so that once the vines fill out, we should have a bit of filtered sun on the patio.
Mini-petunias worked into the thinning spots where some of the early ones decided there wasn't enough sun and quit on me. Not my fault, the sun just *vanished* for a good three days and only reappeared after Tornado Watch winds ripped the clouds away. Nice mini that is a varigated salmon colour, and utterly lovely.
Peach Vincas tucked into a spot where hopefully they'll decide to be self-seeders and spread. I grew up with the pinks and whites all in front of the house (though us Suthun folk call em periwinkles), and once they settled in, they STAYED in, and even after my parents finally tried to get rid of them, long after I moved out, they'd still pop up every spring -- and still do, 30 years later.
Picked my strawberry today. (laugh) You try splitting one with everyone in the house.
I'm tired, but it's a good tired. In a way, it makes up for the hellish week I've had.
Being out there among the plants, watching the bees and butterflies (and the blue jay that gets SO riled up when we rake pine needles from under His Personal Tree) and Batman the squirrel and daddy Attila and just listening to the birds and the windchimes can do more for calm serenity than any bottle of antidepressants ever could.
All I need is land to till, fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the seeds of imagination to make the world my own.
Pull up a chair and sit a while.
Today I found a tomato on it, and the plant is green again. Hurrah for ignoring it!
I need to remember to not garden when I'm in pain, though. Between my back, the bad flare-up, and twisting my ankle, I wasn't quite delicate enough when working with the green beans. I bought the bamboo arches for stakes to train the vines on, and I snapped one of the vines in the process. Dammit. I'm feeling very badly about this.
The Zucchini That Ate Cincinnati has leaves almost as large as my husband's ego.
Radishes will be pulled up tomorrow. Okra is getting ready to start setting fruit. Squashes look to be blooming soon. Zucchini still dropping all blossoms. Dammit. Grr.
The seeds that Thing 2 and I planted LAST SUNDAY are going wild. The new radishes are almost ready to replace the ones we'll be pulling, though I'm worrying about the heat and actually considering putting them in large leftover plastic pots and keeping them cooler up on the patio. The pots are more than large enough to hold a single radish plant, and I'd have better atmosphere control over them that way.
Green beans planted last Sunday are not only sprouted, but opening leaves. Less than a week. Man, this is just wild.
And once again, EVERY SINGLE SEED SPROUTED! Crap garden soil, and tada.
Still waiting for the Four O'Clocks to sprout.
Need to go work on the wisteria tomorrow and get it set to really start climbing. Fighting whatever those #*$&#*$& vines are nearby is making me crazy. They're trying to crowd out the two rosebushes that still aren't doing anything. I've really considered digging them up and moving them into the backyard where I can keep a better eye on them.
My pumpkins have taken over the weeding job for me. It's so funny! Those curly little pigtail pumpkin vines are wrapping around anything nearby, and are pulling shakier weeds right out of the ground with them.
I'm about to have some very cross words with the mosquitos in my back yard, oh yes. They're AWFUL! Grr, itch itch itch.
Nicotiana now tucked gently in with the Veronica Salvia, Hummingbird pink and a deep deep deep rose to go with the blue-purple Veronica. I moved the large tomato plant away from the Nicotiana and have that flowerbed now bordered by strawberry and zinnia pots.
Blackeyed Susan vines now twining their way up a trellis between my patio and the fence that I can't plant along. Stupid phone company. Anyway, the Susan vines are delicate and lovely, and a Maid of Orleans jasmine that isn't a climber completes the view that direction, set a bit behind it. They're far enough away that we shouldn't have to worry about bees on the porch, and right where the breeze will catch and carry the scent to us.
The trellis is also positioned so that once the vines fill out, we should have a bit of filtered sun on the patio.
Mini-petunias worked into the thinning spots where some of the early ones decided there wasn't enough sun and quit on me. Not my fault, the sun just *vanished* for a good three days and only reappeared after Tornado Watch winds ripped the clouds away. Nice mini that is a varigated salmon colour, and utterly lovely.
Peach Vincas tucked into a spot where hopefully they'll decide to be self-seeders and spread. I grew up with the pinks and whites all in front of the house (though us Suthun folk call em periwinkles), and once they settled in, they STAYED in, and even after my parents finally tried to get rid of them, long after I moved out, they'd still pop up every spring -- and still do, 30 years later.
Picked my strawberry today. (laugh) You try splitting one with everyone in the house.
I'm tired, but it's a good tired. In a way, it makes up for the hellish week I've had.
Being out there among the plants, watching the bees and butterflies (and the blue jay that gets SO riled up when we rake pine needles from under His Personal Tree) and Batman the squirrel and daddy Attila and just listening to the birds and the windchimes can do more for calm serenity than any bottle of antidepressants ever could.
All I need is land to till, fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the seeds of imagination to make the world my own.
Pull up a chair and sit a while.
Saturday, May 10, 2003
A Pooka's Panorama
My porch extension is done for now.
DG showed up in time to hand me the last few paver stones. Plastic sheet beneath, a good layer of paving sand, the pavers and natural stone and other odd bricks make it look like it *belongs* there. Dirt atop, and worked into the cracks. Should have room to get Alyssum spilling over the biggest natural stone.
I could use four more to round it out and finish it off, but it's done. I have no skin left on my hands. Knee is skinned, the other bruised. I'm sunburned, of course. I'm exhausted, and I ache. People, I have CONTACTS in. No glasses for the Pooka!
And I'm utterly hopelessly expansively content. Happy. I *love* my yard.
I have small unopened blooms on my pumpkins, squash, and larger open ones on the zucchini. An abundance of tomatoes growing. Haven't really checked much today, work was concentrated on the porch area, so I don't know about the beans, peas, and okra.
The first planting of zinnias now have definite seed heads and will blossom soon. Thinned them out a bit more and tries replanting to see if they'll survive. All of them have so far, so I'm Happy.
I found lady bugs, yes, lady bugs in my garden! And there was much rejoicing, yay.
I have blue jays that chase the crows away and snatch wasps right out of the air. My birds all have feeders and extra goodies to keep them around. The squirrels have already eaten the hanger off one of the seed bells. I don't mind the squirrels at all, and we have enough feeders that it isn't a big deal at all.
... Honey? I'm home.
DG showed up in time to hand me the last few paver stones. Plastic sheet beneath, a good layer of paving sand, the pavers and natural stone and other odd bricks make it look like it *belongs* there. Dirt atop, and worked into the cracks. Should have room to get Alyssum spilling over the biggest natural stone.
I could use four more to round it out and finish it off, but it's done. I have no skin left on my hands. Knee is skinned, the other bruised. I'm sunburned, of course. I'm exhausted, and I ache. People, I have CONTACTS in. No glasses for the Pooka!
And I'm utterly hopelessly expansively content. Happy. I *love* my yard.
I have small unopened blooms on my pumpkins, squash, and larger open ones on the zucchini. An abundance of tomatoes growing. Haven't really checked much today, work was concentrated on the porch area, so I don't know about the beans, peas, and okra.
The first planting of zinnias now have definite seed heads and will blossom soon. Thinned them out a bit more and tries replanting to see if they'll survive. All of them have so far, so I'm Happy.
I found lady bugs, yes, lady bugs in my garden! And there was much rejoicing, yay.
I have blue jays that chase the crows away and snatch wasps right out of the air. My birds all have feeders and extra goodies to keep them around. The squirrels have already eaten the hanger off one of the seed bells. I don't mind the squirrels at all, and we have enough feeders that it isn't a big deal at all.
... Honey? I'm home.
Friday, May 09, 2003
Raw Muscle Required
If anyone is interested in helping a Pooka with hot-sweaty-muscle guy work tomorrow, you're more than welcome to join the chaos.
They took me to get my Mother's Day present. With a limited budget, I put back so many flowers, so many hanging baskets, so many little 6 paks of them. Dammit. It just wasn't right.
Then we found the paving stones at Home Depot. They aren't what I wanted. I admit that up front. But they don't clash with the house brick like the ones at Walmart, and were cheaper.
We DID find the exact ones I wanted, the large irregular "natural" rock pavers and they were HUGE, but they were also 5 bucks each. Uh. No.
So we picked up paver sand, and 16 12x12 "pewter" (ie, natural concrete colour that matches the porch slab) concrete slabs that cost less than a dollar each. It doesn't sound like enough for the area, but we do have several large natural stones, and the longer rectangular concrete slabs left in the yard that we already put in that space. With what we already have, and spreading them some to be able to put Alyssum and some other flowering groundcover in there, they'll be perfect.
I'm not really going for a regular stepping/seating/standing place with this extension. You'll be able to walk on the stones, but it's more to move some of the planters out of the way on the actual slab so DG doesn't maim and scorch my plants with his blasted grill.
It's hot enough out there without some fool with lighter fluid starting a bonfire three feet from my tomato plants.
My largest pot is almost big enough to stuff my 10 year old in, but the base should fit with little problem on a slab.
So, tomorrow we put down another layer of black plastic and pull more sticker burrs and grass to finish the size of the area, get sand down to help level the area and provide a cushion base for the paving stones, figure out spacing (I'll be putting larger dirt sections where I want flowering groundcover around the natural stones that we have), and try to get everything set and down.
We found an outdoor porch swing that's FABULOUS, but $100 was a smoodge out of our budget, okay, SCADS out of our budget. But it had a very large canopy, two separate seats with drink holders and a little shelf and basket between them. Very nice.
It may not be a romantic girly Mother's Day, but I'm happy.
All I need now is my patio cover. At this point, gimme a couple of PVC pipes and I'll sew up the pavillion fabric still sitting in our garage with grommets and velcro to attach around the pipes, and I'll call it done. It's friggin hot out there, man.
They took me to get my Mother's Day present. With a limited budget, I put back so many flowers, so many hanging baskets, so many little 6 paks of them. Dammit. It just wasn't right.
Then we found the paving stones at Home Depot. They aren't what I wanted. I admit that up front. But they don't clash with the house brick like the ones at Walmart, and were cheaper.
We DID find the exact ones I wanted, the large irregular "natural" rock pavers and they were HUGE, but they were also 5 bucks each. Uh. No.
So we picked up paver sand, and 16 12x12 "pewter" (ie, natural concrete colour that matches the porch slab) concrete slabs that cost less than a dollar each. It doesn't sound like enough for the area, but we do have several large natural stones, and the longer rectangular concrete slabs left in the yard that we already put in that space. With what we already have, and spreading them some to be able to put Alyssum and some other flowering groundcover in there, they'll be perfect.
I'm not really going for a regular stepping/seating/standing place with this extension. You'll be able to walk on the stones, but it's more to move some of the planters out of the way on the actual slab so DG doesn't maim and scorch my plants with his blasted grill.
It's hot enough out there without some fool with lighter fluid starting a bonfire three feet from my tomato plants.
My largest pot is almost big enough to stuff my 10 year old in, but the base should fit with little problem on a slab.
So, tomorrow we put down another layer of black plastic and pull more sticker burrs and grass to finish the size of the area, get sand down to help level the area and provide a cushion base for the paving stones, figure out spacing (I'll be putting larger dirt sections where I want flowering groundcover around the natural stones that we have), and try to get everything set and down.
We found an outdoor porch swing that's FABULOUS, but $100 was a smoodge out of our budget, okay, SCADS out of our budget. But it had a very large canopy, two separate seats with drink holders and a little shelf and basket between them. Very nice.
It may not be a romantic girly Mother's Day, but I'm happy.
All I need now is my patio cover. At this point, gimme a couple of PVC pipes and I'll sew up the pavillion fabric still sitting in our garage with grommets and velcro to attach around the pipes, and I'll call it done. It's friggin hot out there, man.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Is it Fall Yet?
The word for the day is: "Muggy."
-- when the humidity is 90-100%, and it's not raining, you understand muggy.
-- when you pray that it DOESN'T rain because it will just make it worse, you understand muggy.
-- when you'd rather trade 120* dry summers for 90* and high humidity, you understand muggy.
-- when standing in the shade is just as miserable as standing out in the sun, you understand muggy.
-- when you sweat buckets and the sun doesn't dry any of it, you understand muggy.
-- when everything, including air, sticks to you, you understand muggy.
-- when you walk outside and your glasses steam up, only, your clothing is suddenly too drenched to wipe them off, you understand muggy.
-- when your cig breaks at work take twice as long because the damn thing won't burn, you understand muggy.
-- when even your water bottle looks up at you with a white flag of surrender and says "Dude, I'm going back inside," you understand muggy.
-- when your white flag of surrender refuses to wave because it has absorbed all the water it can hold and then some . . . you understand muggy.
-- when you dry yourself from the shower at seven in the morning and the towel is still wet or at least damp at 10 that night, you understand muggy.
It's just now May. It is almost 94* outside. Even the yellowjackets are on strike.
Man, is it Fall yet?
-- when the humidity is 90-100%, and it's not raining, you understand muggy.
-- when you pray that it DOESN'T rain because it will just make it worse, you understand muggy.
-- when you'd rather trade 120* dry summers for 90* and high humidity, you understand muggy.
-- when standing in the shade is just as miserable as standing out in the sun, you understand muggy.
-- when you sweat buckets and the sun doesn't dry any of it, you understand muggy.
-- when everything, including air, sticks to you, you understand muggy.
-- when you walk outside and your glasses steam up, only, your clothing is suddenly too drenched to wipe them off, you understand muggy.
-- when your cig breaks at work take twice as long because the damn thing won't burn, you understand muggy.
-- when even your water bottle looks up at you with a white flag of surrender and says "Dude, I'm going back inside," you understand muggy.
-- when your white flag of surrender refuses to wave because it has absorbed all the water it can hold and then some . . . you understand muggy.
-- when you dry yourself from the shower at seven in the morning and the towel is still wet or at least damp at 10 that night, you understand muggy.
It's just now May. It is almost 94* outside. Even the yellowjackets are on strike.
Man, is it Fall yet?
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Butterfly Kisses
The wildlife difference is just astonishing. At the apartment, we'd see sparrows, maybe a few house finches, and occasionally hear doves. And the bugs, always the bugs.
While sitting on the porch last night, I had no less than five different species of birds in the yard around me. We have a score of regulars that have learned we'll happily feed them. The doves are getting braver, as are the robins. The male cardinal sings to me almost every morning when I go outside.
I've never seen blue jays this ... blue. Their colouring is strong and utterly spectacular.
There are two adult squirrels that we see on a regular basis, a male and female. Fiesty and brave. Earlier yesterday, one of them was just going bananas, complaining and fretting and spitting and bitching up a storm for a solid five minutes. Hmm.
About 10 minutes after that, I could see why. A very, very young squirrel, still a little uncertain about his footing, scampered hesitantly along the back fence. He'd stop every so often and cower in fear from the doves that were substantially larger. Watching him try to figure out the fence corner, where tree limbs cross over and make a straight shot difficult, was wonderful.
Left my shoes and chair out in the lawn to go refill my "pesticide" spray bottle (it's amazing how well dishsoap and water repell plant-munching pests), and when I returned, there was a huge fat dove SITTING IN MY SHOE, along with another four right around the chair. Oh yeah, they're REAL scared of me. Not.
It's the butterflies that create the greatest thrill. I don't have an awful lot of butterfly/hummingbird friendly plants yet, but that doesn't seem to slow them down. There's a swimming pool next door, and one behind us, so moisture is always there for the butterflies. My petunias are a particular favourite, along with the tomato plants.
Squinty-eyed Pooka looks over at one of the bright pink petunias, wondering if I've caught one of the leaf munching pests in the act. All I can see is a long strip of green, like a cutworm or so. Grr. Must confront.
Closer, closer still. Then it opened.
Softest lime green, even the body, the butterfly was happily nestling into the heart of the petunia, drinking away. I watched it for the longest time, then reached to pinch off a wilted blossom in the same pot.
The butterfly startled, and rose.
He didn't go far. Pastel greens hovered around my head, then settled instead on the tomato right beside me and began delivering butterfly kisses once more.
Large black ones, easily the side of my hand. Smaller black butterflies with brilliant blue spots. Monarchs. Neon yellows. There is always colour out there now, a vast cry from when we moved in.
Butterfly kisses are always welcome in my yard.
While sitting on the porch last night, I had no less than five different species of birds in the yard around me. We have a score of regulars that have learned we'll happily feed them. The doves are getting braver, as are the robins. The male cardinal sings to me almost every morning when I go outside.
I've never seen blue jays this ... blue. Their colouring is strong and utterly spectacular.
There are two adult squirrels that we see on a regular basis, a male and female. Fiesty and brave. Earlier yesterday, one of them was just going bananas, complaining and fretting and spitting and bitching up a storm for a solid five minutes. Hmm.
About 10 minutes after that, I could see why. A very, very young squirrel, still a little uncertain about his footing, scampered hesitantly along the back fence. He'd stop every so often and cower in fear from the doves that were substantially larger. Watching him try to figure out the fence corner, where tree limbs cross over and make a straight shot difficult, was wonderful.
Left my shoes and chair out in the lawn to go refill my "pesticide" spray bottle (it's amazing how well dishsoap and water repell plant-munching pests), and when I returned, there was a huge fat dove SITTING IN MY SHOE, along with another four right around the chair. Oh yeah, they're REAL scared of me. Not.
It's the butterflies that create the greatest thrill. I don't have an awful lot of butterfly/hummingbird friendly plants yet, but that doesn't seem to slow them down. There's a swimming pool next door, and one behind us, so moisture is always there for the butterflies. My petunias are a particular favourite, along with the tomato plants.
Squinty-eyed Pooka looks over at one of the bright pink petunias, wondering if I've caught one of the leaf munching pests in the act. All I can see is a long strip of green, like a cutworm or so. Grr. Must confront.
Closer, closer still. Then it opened.
Softest lime green, even the body, the butterfly was happily nestling into the heart of the petunia, drinking away. I watched it for the longest time, then reached to pinch off a wilted blossom in the same pot.
The butterfly startled, and rose.
He didn't go far. Pastel greens hovered around my head, then settled instead on the tomato right beside me and began delivering butterfly kisses once more.
Large black ones, easily the side of my hand. Smaller black butterflies with brilliant blue spots. Monarchs. Neon yellows. There is always colour out there now, a vast cry from when we moved in.
Butterfly kisses are always welcome in my yard.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
The Waiting Game
48 hours ago, I was willing to write off my attempt to grow cactus from seed as an interesting but failed experiment.
Today, I have one about half an inch high (mixed seed pack, Ali, so I've no idea what they are yet), and four more trying to poke through the soil.
24 hours ago, I was ready to write off my attempts to grow Black-eyed Susans from seed.
Today, I have two tiny shoots, with several more that have yet to unfurl their leaves.
It's all a matter of time. A waiting game of patience that I'm still working on returning to. It's always the waiting that gets to me.
My two smaller Patio tomatoes have surprised me. I have blooms that haven't opened yet. The Husky has another series of blooms, and the one tomato that was there has more than doubled.
The zucchini that was yellowing under the influence of three days of rain ... have the promise of shoots and blooms on every one of them.
I have ... a blackberry bloom! And there was much rejoicing. Yay.
The pumpkins are loving the transplant and have doubled in size. Yellow squash is still a bit puny, but it was the slowest performer of the seeds anyway. Okra and radishes all looking good.
Separated some of the veggie sprouts still in peat pots. Ran out of tilled room for them. I've got another 4 pumpkins and another 3 blackeye peas with no place to put them. Gotta figure something out.
I had to move the brandy snifter sunflower out to the yard. Thing went wild inside and had already outgrown the snifter. Transplanted, and another shoot brought inside to go wild.
I've got to thin zinnias tomorrow, and I'm dreading it. I need potting soil so I can try to save some of them. The Things zinnias have gotten their first true leaves.
Eldest child and I got most of them mulched today. Three days of rain, and full hard sun today, and the soil is already cracking around them. At least the mulch holds in enough moisture to try to counteract the evil Texas sun.
Got a package of Alyssum seeds from Clarinex as an allergy promotional bit. Thought that was damned clever of them. I love the Carpet of Snow, I just have to figure out if I have any bedding space for them once we get the zinnias all straightened out.
Mosquitos. ARGH. Got chomped a few too many times. That will teach me to go outside without the OFF sunscreen/bug repellent combo. Ugh, I itch.
Not too shabby of a day after having a couple of biopsies done.
Today, I have one about half an inch high (mixed seed pack, Ali, so I've no idea what they are yet), and four more trying to poke through the soil.
24 hours ago, I was ready to write off my attempts to grow Black-eyed Susans from seed.
Today, I have two tiny shoots, with several more that have yet to unfurl their leaves.
It's all a matter of time. A waiting game of patience that I'm still working on returning to. It's always the waiting that gets to me.
My two smaller Patio tomatoes have surprised me. I have blooms that haven't opened yet. The Husky has another series of blooms, and the one tomato that was there has more than doubled.
The zucchini that was yellowing under the influence of three days of rain ... have the promise of shoots and blooms on every one of them.
I have ... a blackberry bloom! And there was much rejoicing. Yay.
The pumpkins are loving the transplant and have doubled in size. Yellow squash is still a bit puny, but it was the slowest performer of the seeds anyway. Okra and radishes all looking good.
Separated some of the veggie sprouts still in peat pots. Ran out of tilled room for them. I've got another 4 pumpkins and another 3 blackeye peas with no place to put them. Gotta figure something out.
I had to move the brandy snifter sunflower out to the yard. Thing went wild inside and had already outgrown the snifter. Transplanted, and another shoot brought inside to go wild.
I've got to thin zinnias tomorrow, and I'm dreading it. I need potting soil so I can try to save some of them. The Things zinnias have gotten their first true leaves.
Eldest child and I got most of them mulched today. Three days of rain, and full hard sun today, and the soil is already cracking around them. At least the mulch holds in enough moisture to try to counteract the evil Texas sun.
Got a package of Alyssum seeds from Clarinex as an allergy promotional bit. Thought that was damned clever of them. I love the Carpet of Snow, I just have to figure out if I have any bedding space for them once we get the zinnias all straightened out.
Mosquitos. ARGH. Got chomped a few too many times. That will teach me to go outside without the OFF sunscreen/bug repellent combo. Ugh, I itch.
Not too shabby of a day after having a couple of biopsies done.
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Chirp. Chirp. BANG
Birds. Lots of birds. Chirp chirp twitter. Open eye. Look at clock.
Oh, why not. Stagger into semi-consciousness, guzzle caffeine, outside around 9 am. It was substantially cooler than inside the house, so it was comfortable to work in the yard for all of two hours. That's all it took to get miserably warm. I was back inside by around 11:15.
I truly am one giant freckle now.
Good News: At least two of the ant beds by the porch are just sugar ants or a family-similar harmless ant. How do I know? I felt a tickle. I looked down. My entire left calf was covered in ants, as well as my foot and shoe. Hmm. Ants. Nothing HURT. So I pissed em off and washed the whole squirming mess off with the water hose. Never took a single bite, and ants LOVE biting me.
Zucchini has now been transplanted into the garden. Yay! That left me the huge pot they were in (big enough to stuff a kid in) to transplant my largest tomato. Smaller two have now also been split into two pots.
It's amazing what another day can bring.
All of my seeds started in the last week and a half have now started to break through the ground except for my Black-eyed Susans, which have a longer germination period. Almost all of the others came up at the low end of the expected germination.
I now have: pumpkin seedlings, blackeye pea seedlings, tomato plants, radishes, green beans, okra, yellow squash, strawberries, and zucchini. One tomato plant has blooms, at least two of the zucchini look to bloom soon, and I think the strawberries have set enough to start blooming again. I pinched off all of the first blooms on them.
Blackberries aren't looking so great, and I'm not sure why. They grow like mad in the wild, but they just don't seem to like where they are. Time to do some intensive work on them. I need to get out there and trim off the sections that the hail destroyed. I do have some new shoots, so I'll just cross my fingers.
I've got a milk jug that's almost ready to be emptied so I can mix the Miracle Gro for my roses. Hopefully that will convince them to bud so I can figure out what they are.
Zinnias are all going crazy, as are the sunflowers and the tubby rat inside my shirt that's talking up a storm and giving me a bath. I think Oracle wants to go outside. (She did, and not only made the full yard inspection with me, but chattered and discussed it, too.)
The cardinals and mockingbirds are taunting me. They'll get right up close, but only if I don't have my camera.
Was thinking about the flagstone thing. We might be able to do a temporary fix, if I can get DG to help me with the heavy stuff.
There's a VERY large stone in the ground near the arbor. He's going to look at me like I'm insane. We also have a lot of flat, rectangular concrete slabs that were probably used at some time as stepping stones. Haven't collected all of them yet, so the Things and I need to go on a hunt. We DID find some concrete edging for the flower bed (tossed against the fence in the side yard, I mean, what???) that we also need to move.
It's starting to sound like I need a wheelbarrow big time. We have a wagon for the Things, but it will only hold so much.
My back, my left elbow, and my right knee are giving me fits. Despite the Vioxx, I'm back to using the cane today. I need to get some food in my stomach so I can take an aspirin or two to fight it. If I can get the breast reduction, the force placed on the arthritic knee won't be so bad.
I still have no voice. Cracked, gravelly whisper. I'm starting to get used to it. It's been at least two weeks now. I think I've fought it past the danger point of pneumonia, but I don't know how far I am into the clear, and I still gurgle when I try to breathe too deeply.
Are we having fun yet?
Oh, why not. Stagger into semi-consciousness, guzzle caffeine, outside around 9 am. It was substantially cooler than inside the house, so it was comfortable to work in the yard for all of two hours. That's all it took to get miserably warm. I was back inside by around 11:15.
I truly am one giant freckle now.
Good News: At least two of the ant beds by the porch are just sugar ants or a family-similar harmless ant. How do I know? I felt a tickle. I looked down. My entire left calf was covered in ants, as well as my foot and shoe. Hmm. Ants. Nothing HURT. So I pissed em off and washed the whole squirming mess off with the water hose. Never took a single bite, and ants LOVE biting me.
Zucchini has now been transplanted into the garden. Yay! That left me the huge pot they were in (big enough to stuff a kid in) to transplant my largest tomato. Smaller two have now also been split into two pots.
It's amazing what another day can bring.
All of my seeds started in the last week and a half have now started to break through the ground except for my Black-eyed Susans, which have a longer germination period. Almost all of the others came up at the low end of the expected germination.
I now have: pumpkin seedlings, blackeye pea seedlings, tomato plants, radishes, green beans, okra, yellow squash, strawberries, and zucchini. One tomato plant has blooms, at least two of the zucchini look to bloom soon, and I think the strawberries have set enough to start blooming again. I pinched off all of the first blooms on them.
Blackberries aren't looking so great, and I'm not sure why. They grow like mad in the wild, but they just don't seem to like where they are. Time to do some intensive work on them. I need to get out there and trim off the sections that the hail destroyed. I do have some new shoots, so I'll just cross my fingers.
I've got a milk jug that's almost ready to be emptied so I can mix the Miracle Gro for my roses. Hopefully that will convince them to bud so I can figure out what they are.
Zinnias are all going crazy, as are the sunflowers and the tubby rat inside my shirt that's talking up a storm and giving me a bath. I think Oracle wants to go outside. (She did, and not only made the full yard inspection with me, but chattered and discussed it, too.)
The cardinals and mockingbirds are taunting me. They'll get right up close, but only if I don't have my camera.
Was thinking about the flagstone thing. We might be able to do a temporary fix, if I can get DG to help me with the heavy stuff.
There's a VERY large stone in the ground near the arbor. He's going to look at me like I'm insane. We also have a lot of flat, rectangular concrete slabs that were probably used at some time as stepping stones. Haven't collected all of them yet, so the Things and I need to go on a hunt. We DID find some concrete edging for the flower bed (tossed against the fence in the side yard, I mean, what???) that we also need to move.
It's starting to sound like I need a wheelbarrow big time. We have a wagon for the Things, but it will only hold so much.
My back, my left elbow, and my right knee are giving me fits. Despite the Vioxx, I'm back to using the cane today. I need to get some food in my stomach so I can take an aspirin or two to fight it. If I can get the breast reduction, the force placed on the arthritic knee won't be so bad.
I still have no voice. Cracked, gravelly whisper. I'm starting to get used to it. It's been at least two weeks now. I think I've fought it past the danger point of pneumonia, but I don't know how far I am into the clear, and I still gurgle when I try to breathe too deeply.
Are we having fun yet?
Friday, April 18, 2003
Hurry up and GROW!
Have you ever just stopped and *looked* at newly sprouted plants?
Radishes are heartbreakingly lovely, leaves puffed out to the sides like green butterfly wings. They always make me giggle for some reason, as though I'm also enjoying their stretching into new life.
Sunflowers, elongated and strong, always reach for the light (I have one sprout in a glass brandy snifter in the kitchen window that I can turn away from the light three times a day and still find it turned with its face back towards the sun).
Okra gives no sign as to what its future shape will be, leaves sitting round and fat and full. You can hardly believe that such circular elegance will eventually evolve into spiny pointed beasts. But mmm, they taste good. Gumbo, anyone?
Green beans are the testosterone of the patch, always overachieving with even the first breaking of the ground. It's never happy for a single leaf juncture, no, it demands attention with tiered leaves.
I like to play the guessing game with my plants. I rarely put markers on sprout pots and just wait for them to bless me with the happy identification. The Gardener's Maternity Room, I suppose. Is it a girl? Is it a boy? No, it's PUMPKIN!
The waiting is always the worst part for me. I like the weeding and the digging and the pruning and picking and cooking and all the clean up work involved. The in-between planting and picking is what gets to me.
I just hate waiting for them to pop up and say "Hello, I'm here!" And then you have to wait for them to grow grow grow so they'll produce food and seed. Drives me bananas. I'm normally a relatively mellow person, but I lack the serenity of patience.
I want my garden, and I want it NOW.
It was getting to me a bit on Wednesday. I had survived my neurology and MRI appointments, and wanted to DO. Unfortunately, we weren't all on the same page and it's a very long book. I awakened somewhat grumpy, and wandered out for my first morning sunshine. Quite often I do it before anything else (and oh, the joys of a privacy fence so that I don't have to get dressed to do it!), and it has become a necessary part of my daily routine to just pause and sit and listen to the world and watch what happens around me. With my health, I need all the serenity I can absorb.
With grumpiness in charge, I went for my dandelion break. And stopped.
Peeking out of Thing 1's pot ... leaves! A sprout! Jubilation! No ... TWO! We have TWO! And Thing 2's flowerpot! Oh, LOOK! Another sprout here, and here, and .....
Giddy. I went from grumpy to bouncing. Look! Growth! Green things! My vocabulary went straight to an elementary education level as I giggled. Babies, and new sprouts/flowers. Get me every time.
Note to self: Beg, buy, borrow or steal the means to enroll in Tai Chi classes.
This morning, I awakened feeling a little better, at least until I moved. Arthritis was acting up, and several joints utterly refused to get with the program. Grumpy moves back in. Limped carefully outside.
I walked into a whole new world of green.
Both of the kids' pots are covered with sweet little green zinnia leaves. ALL of the radish pots have little green butterflies coating the surface. Okra! Hey, that's squash! And a pumpkin sprout!
Omigod, is that a tiny blossom starting on the zucchini? And on one of the strawberries?
I hurt too much to truly do anything extensive, but I reveled in the new life outside while staunchly avoiding the news. Sometimes you can only take so much.
A shopping trip set us up with humus, manure (and hours of fun with the kids over the "You're buying COW POOP? EWWW!), and a bag of Magic Earth on recommendation. I peeked at the label, perked up, and said what the hell. They'll all get mixed into the tilled soil for the garden plots to help break up some of the really odd soil, and help raise the beds. A new tomato plant, a different type from the others and once again I looked a fool with my face buried in the leaves.
Now ... hurry up and GROW!
Radishes are heartbreakingly lovely, leaves puffed out to the sides like green butterfly wings. They always make me giggle for some reason, as though I'm also enjoying their stretching into new life.
Sunflowers, elongated and strong, always reach for the light (I have one sprout in a glass brandy snifter in the kitchen window that I can turn away from the light three times a day and still find it turned with its face back towards the sun).
Okra gives no sign as to what its future shape will be, leaves sitting round and fat and full. You can hardly believe that such circular elegance will eventually evolve into spiny pointed beasts. But mmm, they taste good. Gumbo, anyone?
Green beans are the testosterone of the patch, always overachieving with even the first breaking of the ground. It's never happy for a single leaf juncture, no, it demands attention with tiered leaves.
I like to play the guessing game with my plants. I rarely put markers on sprout pots and just wait for them to bless me with the happy identification. The Gardener's Maternity Room, I suppose. Is it a girl? Is it a boy? No, it's PUMPKIN!
The waiting is always the worst part for me. I like the weeding and the digging and the pruning and picking and cooking and all the clean up work involved. The in-between planting and picking is what gets to me.
I just hate waiting for them to pop up and say "Hello, I'm here!" And then you have to wait for them to grow grow grow so they'll produce food and seed. Drives me bananas. I'm normally a relatively mellow person, but I lack the serenity of patience.
I want my garden, and I want it NOW.
It was getting to me a bit on Wednesday. I had survived my neurology and MRI appointments, and wanted to DO. Unfortunately, we weren't all on the same page and it's a very long book. I awakened somewhat grumpy, and wandered out for my first morning sunshine. Quite often I do it before anything else (and oh, the joys of a privacy fence so that I don't have to get dressed to do it!), and it has become a necessary part of my daily routine to just pause and sit and listen to the world and watch what happens around me. With my health, I need all the serenity I can absorb.
With grumpiness in charge, I went for my dandelion break. And stopped.
Peeking out of Thing 1's pot ... leaves! A sprout! Jubilation! No ... TWO! We have TWO! And Thing 2's flowerpot! Oh, LOOK! Another sprout here, and here, and .....
Giddy. I went from grumpy to bouncing. Look! Growth! Green things! My vocabulary went straight to an elementary education level as I giggled. Babies, and new sprouts/flowers. Get me every time.
Note to self: Beg, buy, borrow or steal the means to enroll in Tai Chi classes.
This morning, I awakened feeling a little better, at least until I moved. Arthritis was acting up, and several joints utterly refused to get with the program. Grumpy moves back in. Limped carefully outside.
I walked into a whole new world of green.
Both of the kids' pots are covered with sweet little green zinnia leaves. ALL of the radish pots have little green butterflies coating the surface. Okra! Hey, that's squash! And a pumpkin sprout!
Omigod, is that a tiny blossom starting on the zucchini? And on one of the strawberries?
I hurt too much to truly do anything extensive, but I reveled in the new life outside while staunchly avoiding the news. Sometimes you can only take so much.
A shopping trip set us up with humus, manure (and hours of fun with the kids over the "You're buying COW POOP? EWWW!), and a bag of Magic Earth on recommendation. I peeked at the label, perked up, and said what the hell. They'll all get mixed into the tilled soil for the garden plots to help break up some of the really odd soil, and help raise the beds. A new tomato plant, a different type from the others and once again I looked a fool with my face buried in the leaves.
Now ... hurry up and GROW!
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
SNAKE!
We found our first snake!
I'm almost giddy, really. DG and I were setting out the parameters for the garden plots, and he went to move a concrete slab that was in the way. The snake was under it.
Gloves on, I went to try to catch him so he wouldn't be in the way and get chopped up by the tiller, but I was afraid of hurting him so I didn't really make a grab before he darted off down into a deeper hole safely on the other side of the fence. Unfortunately, he made his escape before the Things could really see him.
Greenish-grey, more grey really, and a little smaller in diameter than my pinky. Never saw his head. Not really sure what kind of snake he was, but we finally saw one of them. No other colouration or markings, very subtle smooth scales.
Snake. *silly grin*
We also found our second, third, and fourth snakes. One tiny tiny, one medium tiny, one medium, compared to the larger (by proportion) first snake. Only got pictures of snake 3, the others were too quick.
Rough earth snakes, colubrids (ooo, me was right), that get aroud 13" or so and eat earthworms and slugs. They can have the slugs, lemme tell ya.
They're not only delightfully harmless, but very very mellow snakes.
Monday, April 14, 2003
Almost Stray
It's amazing what doubling my seizure meds can do. I feel functional. My God, I had a bra on *all day*. Still wearing it. Pain is minimal.
Only had 1 breakthrough today, and that was right before I came inside for the night. Freaked Thing 2 out to see my leg take off and spazz out on its own. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the one last weekend.
They're supposed to make me sleepy. So why am I hyper?
I think I'll make cookies.
Harley has lost her little kitten mind. Standard repeated phrase in the Pookastead for the moment: "Harley's Freaking Out again!" At the moment, she's smelling EVERYTHING. Cautious slinking ready to freak out and leap stalking up to everything in the room, sniffing it a few times, then stalking off to the next one. Earlier she was complaining loudly to me about something. Maybe the Mother Ship has been sending Final Orders or something.
Lot more work done outside. Went through the evil birdseeded flower bed, removing sunflower sprouts to peat cups for replanting elsewhere and weeding out the birdseed. I decided I'd try playing it cheap for weed control at the moment. Sliced up a black/green lawn trash bag, layed it out over the bad areas that weren't seeded, and pinned it down with rocks and mulch. Should be a lot of help.
Thinned some of the zinnias already. Well, thinning for me has a different definition. I hate the idea of pulling sprouts out and casting them aside, so instead I carefully ease them out of the soil with roots intact. Since the bluebonnets didn't survive the hailstorm (not after just being planted that day), I removed them to another section of the overgrown bed, opening up another large patch of flower bed. Moved a lot of the thinned seedlings over there.
The Things "helped" Mama by watering the azaleas, blackberries, wisteria, and roses for me. Thing 1 did bug patrol, looking for caterpillars and other critters camping on the plants.
My back porch looks like a nursery exploded.
Two patio tomatoes, now happily in a large pot. Roy's radish seeds are in peat pots to get them ready. Bean, squash, and okra pots watered. 'JackOLantern' pumpkin seeds planted in peat pots, along with blackeye peas.
Started flowers in terra cotta. Big black happy "girly" markered names on them, one for each Thing and one for Pooka. Thing 1 gets the brilliant Whirligig zinnias, an amazing red/orange/cream colour burst. Thing 2 gets Violet Queen zinnias with deep blue/purple blooms.
Me, I get the Black-eyed Susans.
Cacti and assorted succulent seeds in cactus specific soil. I'm hoping I can bring the pot inside the house for the kitchen window until they get going. And of course, hoping Zam or Harley don't decide they're interesting and knock them into the sink. We'll see.
You know, looking at it written down, the amount of work done seems somewhat less impressive than the steady ache in my shoulders felt it was.
Oh yes. Cookies. Hmm. I wonder if I even have the stuff to do it.
Off to find out. Ta, dahlinks.
Only had 1 breakthrough today, and that was right before I came inside for the night. Freaked Thing 2 out to see my leg take off and spazz out on its own. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the one last weekend.
They're supposed to make me sleepy. So why am I hyper?
I think I'll make cookies.
Harley has lost her little kitten mind. Standard repeated phrase in the Pookastead for the moment: "Harley's Freaking Out again!" At the moment, she's smelling EVERYTHING. Cautious slinking ready to freak out and leap stalking up to everything in the room, sniffing it a few times, then stalking off to the next one. Earlier she was complaining loudly to me about something. Maybe the Mother Ship has been sending Final Orders or something.
Lot more work done outside. Went through the evil birdseeded flower bed, removing sunflower sprouts to peat cups for replanting elsewhere and weeding out the birdseed. I decided I'd try playing it cheap for weed control at the moment. Sliced up a black/green lawn trash bag, layed it out over the bad areas that weren't seeded, and pinned it down with rocks and mulch. Should be a lot of help.
Thinned some of the zinnias already. Well, thinning for me has a different definition. I hate the idea of pulling sprouts out and casting them aside, so instead I carefully ease them out of the soil with roots intact. Since the bluebonnets didn't survive the hailstorm (not after just being planted that day), I removed them to another section of the overgrown bed, opening up another large patch of flower bed. Moved a lot of the thinned seedlings over there.
The Things "helped" Mama by watering the azaleas, blackberries, wisteria, and roses for me. Thing 1 did bug patrol, looking for caterpillars and other critters camping on the plants.
My back porch looks like a nursery exploded.
Two patio tomatoes, now happily in a large pot. Roy's radish seeds are in peat pots to get them ready. Bean, squash, and okra pots watered. 'JackOLantern' pumpkin seeds planted in peat pots, along with blackeye peas.
Started flowers in terra cotta. Big black happy "girly" markered names on them, one for each Thing and one for Pooka. Thing 1 gets the brilliant Whirligig zinnias, an amazing red/orange/cream colour burst. Thing 2 gets Violet Queen zinnias with deep blue/purple blooms.
Me, I get the Black-eyed Susans.
Cacti and assorted succulent seeds in cactus specific soil. I'm hoping I can bring the pot inside the house for the kitchen window until they get going. And of course, hoping Zam or Harley don't decide they're interesting and knock them into the sink. We'll see.
You know, looking at it written down, the amount of work done seems somewhat less impressive than the steady ache in my shoulders felt it was.
Oh yes. Cookies. Hmm. I wonder if I even have the stuff to do it.
Off to find out. Ta, dahlinks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
