Sunday, March 17, 2024

lazy days with rain


Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we got 3 1/2” of rain accompanied by lightning and thunder. Saturday night another 1/2”. Consequently I got very little sleep the last two nights what with the trembling panting constantly on the move dog as she shifted from side to side of me. For hours. This morning it looked to be clearing but quickly clouded over, dark and dismal, listening to the distant thunder all morning. It’s closer now, thunder louder and a flash or two of lightning but still no rain. Neurotic dog stuck to me like glue, wants to sit in my lap facing me. At least it’s not the middle of the night. Oh, raining lightly now. 


I didn’t actually get out in the yard Friday like I planned besides pulling a few weeds and the only thing I accomplished yesterday was running a few errands and cutting away the second third of the dead rangoon creeper off the fence across the street. Doubt I’ll get anything accomplished today either, indoors or out. Certainly not out, too wet to do anything out. There is so much I could do in the house but...meh.


I finally finished the book Jade gave me to read which took freaking forever because it didn’t appeal to me all that much, all 260 pages of a monologue by an older woman recounting her late childhood and early adulthood from which home and life she left without a backward glance or word to anyone, painting herself as an unappealing character with pretend interactions and conversations and sexual obsessions and when she finally gets to when she leaves, that’s the end of the book. Maybe I’ll start one of the books I got at the library yesterday or maybe we’ll watch the next episode of Shogun. 


Tomorrow I grab up the last wildling, Twin, for his appointment at the vet on Tuesday. I’m still not sure how I want to go about it as he will only let me pet him while he eats as he is facing me. Doesn’t let me approach from behind and while I have managed to pick him up several times, it’s only for half a minute while he struggles so I don’t know if I can get hold of him long enough to shove him in the carrier. The other option is putting the other two kittens in the shed and baiting the live trap with food and see if he goes in after it. And then what, take him to the vet in the live trap? So we’ll see how this all works out.


This is the far back of the big backyard, behind all the flowerbeds and banana trees (which you can’t see because they are only about a foot or two tall so far), a nice thick patch of evening primrose. Behind me is a large area of just thick weeds...cleaver, clover, and another thing I don’t know what it is but it makes tiny flowers and seeds that stick to you...and hay grass and off to the right of that are some bluebonnets. This area is really part of the big pasture behind our lot, behind all the houses on our side of the street, but we have incorporated it into our yard for the wildflowers because our back is not fenced like most the other houses on the street. It will eventually all get mowed down after it goes to seed.


My flag iris are starting to bloom, white in the front

and blue in the back.


The purple japanese iris is sending up it’s bloom scapes but none have opened yet.


As it turned out, we watched the next three episodes of Shogun on Hulu and are now caught up with the subsequent episodes being released on Tuesdays. It’s based on the book by James Clavell which I read long ago when it came out. It’s very good so if you’re looking for something to watch I recommend it.



Friday, March 15, 2024

sharing, cats, and wildflowers



baby blue eyes


Yesterday was a food delivery day at SHARE. I got there after it was all unloaded, truck gone, things beginning to be put away. This is what it looked like in the back storeroom.


We also got four more of the big cartons of household goods at $7.50 a carton. Here’s two of them. There was even a small sewing machine in one of them. 


We were moderately busy with food orders. This month the food bank delivered cartons of bags of the little mandarin oranges called ‘cuties’ and bags of apples. Last month we got boxes of bags of frozen strawberries. Walmart sends us marked down/sell by vegetable and salad stuff, meat, and bakery goods every week, the dollar stores give us their milk, yogurt, lunch meat, etc that has hit its sell by date.


The other thing we got from the regional food bank yesterday was two boxes of unpackaged frozen solid in one big lump of cornish hens. At least 30 hens per box, maybe more. Like the boxes of unpackaged frozen little sausages they sent us a while ago, we cannot give them away even if they weren’t all frozen together and we bagged them up because we don’t have whatever permit that would require. We sent one box to Victory In Jesus, a christian rehabilitation residence and Gary and I, toward the end of the day when the second box was still just frozen solid, put the big plastic bag in the stainless steel sink, Gary running cold water over it all and slowly separating the hens while I bagged them up two to a bag and stuck them in the freezer (they were still frozen, just a little thawed on the outside). As I said, we can’t give them out so they are there for the volunteers to take.


It’s supposed to get up to 80 today and then will cool off a bit for the next week. The indian paintbrush is coming into full bloom and pastures are filled with the little yellow wild ranunculus, creeping buttercup.


My grandgirl Robin, who already has three indoor cats she’s taking care of, her cat Noodle and the Boys, plans to adopt the wildlings and so she is starting to join me in feeding them in the afternoons so that they get used to her presence and touch. She had all three of them at her feet yesterday while she sat on the threshold of the shed putting down small handfuls of food while she pet them and even managed to pick up Handsome Boy for a minute or two while I sat farther away and watched. I’m not sure they’ll take to being indoor cats so she may have to let them come and go as they please. Our best guess is that they are about 9 months old.



family portrait


My only obligation today is dinner so I’m going to work in one of the flower beds weeding and soil remediation since I’m not getting a good return on the stuff that usually grows in there, the love-in-a-mist, larkspur, and orange cosmos



fleabane


 

Monday, March 11, 2024

setting up the raised bed, snake, and kitty junk



I had a busy weekend out in the yard planned but then Saturday was overcast, cold, and worse, windy. The overcast and cold can be dealt with but that wind made it hard to be out for long. Sunday though was warmer and still so my main task was setting up the new raised bed for the little squash starts Gary gave me. I had already gotten the cucumber sprouts in the ground on Friday with a cage for them to grow on. 


First I used the trimmer to cut down to the ground all the grass and weeds, an area about 5’ x 5’. then I laid down some black plastic and cardboard on top of that and then put my 4’ x 4’ raised bed together and sat it on top of the cardboard and lined the outside with bricks (the pots on the right are potatoes and the one on the left is a tomato). 


Next I added a small thin layer of small dead twigs and then a layer of oak leaves and then a layer of composted peat, then dirt, then compost, then dirt, then fertilizer, more compost, more dirt until I ran out. This is two bags of compost, four bags of potting soil. I need at least 6 more bags which I’ll get today (turns out it only took four).


Before I started on that, while I still had the trimmer out I went ahead and used up the gas still in the tank going around all the edges of the flower beds and under the crepe myrtles on the west side of the barn and cut the path to the compost pile a little closer when the son of the wicked bitch of the west who was finally mowing that horribly overgrown lot (though I shouldn't remark on that considering how we let the big back yard get during the spring wildflower stage) flagged me down to tell me that he had just chased a big cottonmouth out of the area he was mowing and it slithered into the calf high bluebonnets, primrose, cleaver, hay grass, and developing coneflowers behind the flowerbed above. OK, thanks for the warning. I’ll stay out of there. I’ve seen plenty of snakes since I’ve been living here and neighbors have told of seeing cottonmouths but that’s one I have never seen and I’m perfectly happy not to encounter one.


I’m going to try and get the last of the kittens neutered this week, the one that is the most untamed even for me, the one that has very similar markings to Robin’s male cat Noodle, the one that I had yet to get a good look at it’s rear end because it never walks around with it’s tail erected…until yesterday. 


Yesterday while I was petting the brown tabby, Handsome Boy, in my lap Twin plonked his self down, spread his back legs and started cleaning himself down there, very obviously a boy and not just because I could see his balls but also because his little pointy red penis was proudly displayed. All righty then. First time I have ever seen a cat penis.


Nothing else going on except for the continuing implosion of the republican party. They have no policies with which to campaign, only harping on the doddering old fool in the White House who put that whole bullshit to rest with his aggressive State of the Union speech so now republicans are going on about how mean he was calling them out on their bullshit, trying to convince everyone now that he was on speed and their ridiculous rebuttal in the kitchen with a trad wife (except a trad wife would not have a job much less be a member of Congress) wearing a cross and speaking in her little girl voice and lying her ass off because they thought that would appeal to suburban women. But make no mistake, while they are distracting us with the clown show Trump was busy at Mar a Lago meeting with Victor Orban, dictator of Hungary who Trump admires and plans to emulate once back in the Oval Office and installing his daughter-in-law and another loyalist as co-leaders of the RNC while they announce that if you aren’t loyal to Trump, they don’t want you in the Republican party. They are preparing for the takeover and demise of our democracy. 


We all thought the 2020 election was crucial and it was but it doesn’t hold a candle to this one coming up. The MAGAts (there is no real republican party anymore) are much more prepared for the takeover than last time (if you haven’t looked into Project 2025 and Christian nationalism yet, now would be a good time).


 

Thursday, March 7, 2024

spring chores and spring flowers


Sunday late afternoon I got my garden planted…tomatoes, bell peppers, green beens, basil but not the potatoes because I had forgotten to cut my seed potatoes into pieces and let them harden so I did that Monday and then coated the cut surface with ashes which is supposed to help prevent them from rotting before they start growing. I fear I’m a little late with the potatoes like last year but I got them planted Wednesday. Then I mulched around the tomatoes and peppers.



I have two raised bed kits (4 - 4’ x 4’ or 2 - 4’ x 8’) and I think I’m going to set up one 4’ x 4’ section and try squash which I don’t usually have any success with because right about the time they start producing fruit the squash vine borers have done their work and the plants go into total wilt, but you know, hope springs eternal. Anyway,  my neighbor Gary brought me 3 yellow squash and 3 cucumber seedlings so once I get those in that will be all I’m planting for a spring garden.


Also this week I cleaned out all the debris from having the plants in the garage and returned it to it’s not winter configuration.


I planted carrot seeds last fall but never thinned them out so Monday I belatedly pulled some of the smallest carrots. The biggest one was almost as big as my pinkie finger but they all went in the fried rice I fixed for dinner last night.


Spring of ’22 I planted some bearded iris rhizomes that I got at the garden club plant sale, no idea what color. They didn’t bloom last spring but one clump out of three did this spring and they are white.


These flag iris are in Gary’s yard blooming profusely and so gorgeous. I have some flag iris that have yet to bloom. 

The ground orchids are blooming well this year.



Some firsts… fleabane, evening primrose, there are so many in the big back yard that when they are in full bloom in a week or so it will be very pink back there, the early amaryllis, wisteria. These all popped out in the last several days.


And one contented Cat. 



Sunday, March 3, 2024

spring and yard work and flowers


Friday night’s sunset



Not much to report. The first part of the week was so windy and blew in probably our last cold front of the winter, down in the 40s for two nights last week but now we are having highs in the 70s. Friday I was out in the front pulling weeds, clover and other little wildflowers away from the bluebonnets, isolating them so I can go back with the trimmer and cut down the weeds, grasses, and clover which is about calf high now and I want to cut it all down before they go to seed. I didn’t get much of a return this year on the bluebonnets, I assume from the long hot dry summer last year and they were being smothered by all the other stuff. Yesterday I did get the trimmer out and cut down all that stuff leaving just the small leggy bluebonnets, probably less than 3 dozen plants. So sad compared to years where they were solid across the front. Ever since the flood they have struggled with the clover and hay grass that invaded from the field behind me. I do have some plants in the back and a small grouping on the side that are big and full and starting to bloom.


Then I used the second tank of gas to cut down the hay grass taking over a portion of the back end of the big backyard, cutting a swath to the compost pile. The native peach tree in the back is in full bloom. I guess it likes these cold winters as it has never bloomed this much before.


I still need to finish getting the ground ready and plant, especially the tomatoes and potatoes which I plan to do today. Before I started with the trimmer yesterday I finally went to the new feed/hardware store because I needed more potting soil for some big pots, compost, and mulch too. It doesn’t help that the bottom has rusted out of my wheelbarrow which I discovered when I was filling the critter hole under the steps. The shovel went right through and now I have a big hole. I’ve got some flashing so I’m going to try and put a patch on it with JB Weld but that will have to wait for another day. 


Instead of planting yesterday after I used the trimmer I used my little toy chain saw to cut down all the rest of the dead wood in the two yards…hummingbird bush (2), purple orchid shrub which has never bloomed because it has frozen to the ground every winter since I planted it, the enormous yellow bells and the little ones (5), the confederate roses (2), and used the long handled loppers to cut them into smaller manageable lengths. I still have to tackle the rangoon creeper but it can wait. Torching the burn pile is also on the agenda since there’s no wind to speak of today.


So, what else. The azaleas are blooming. They are so vibrant they almost hurt your eyes.


The little wild onion/garlic flowers are having a banner year and people’s yards and the fields are white with their flowers,



the chinese fringe flower trees are blooming,


as are the ground orchids (bletilla).


------------


I’m in for a little break. I added compost, landscapers mix (something you add to my clayey dirt to improve it), and fertilizer and got it all turned in this morning and now finally I am ready to plant which I’ll do later this afternoon. 


Some of that will be for zinnias. After I did that I torched the burn pile which had gotten enormous once again. 


So now I’m going to bathe the little dog and take her for a walk since she didn’t get one yesterday.





Tuesday, February 27, 2024

eye repair, snipped kitty, and Sunday's task


Yesterday was my annual eye appointment and the good news is that my eyesight hasn’t worsened and the good/bad news is that she did
not tell me the cataract in my left eye wasn’t bad enough for surgery, come back in a year. My left eye, which is my seeing close eye, has really been bothering me for the last several months. It’s been feeling like there is some goo that I can never rub out or a sheer veil that doesn’t make things more blurry so much as reduces the clarity. I had to fill out a questionnaire considering my answers as if I was looking with my left eye only. Anyway, I had two options for where the surgery will be done, at the hospital here or the hospital in Bay City a half hour away. I will need to be taken and then picked up with about 3 hours in between. So rather than Marc having to sit around the hospital in Bay City for 3 hours plus the hour of drive time I opted for the hospital here. The downside to that is that she only gets one day a month at the hospital here. The March slot is taken, she will be out of town during the April slot, so it will be May before I get the cataract removed. The right eye is also developing a cataract but it’s not bad enough for surgery yet.

Yesterday was also the brown tabby’s day to get taken to the vet to get snipped. This little cat is mostly silent, has a very quiet mew when he does mew and the only way I can tell if he’s purring when I hold and pet him is from the vibration in his throat. He was very loud and vocal in the car but after a few minutes he quietly settled down until we got to the vet where he expressed his displeasure. I’ll pick him up this afternoon. It may be awhile before he lets me pick him up again though the gray tabby got over it pretty quick.


I moved all the rest of the outdoor plants back outside last weekend and we even got the last three out of the garage, the biggest most problematic being the night blooming cereus. It is huge. And heavy. And cumbersome. And needs a new pot as the plastic one it’s in is starting to break apart. I’m going to have to cut it back though I don’t want to because I love how big it is and that it gives me 20 or more flowers at a time. Not that I always see them since it blooms at night.


So the task I had to attend to over at Pam’s house Sunday was filling an animal burrow, my guess would be armadillo. I don’t know if you can tell from this picture but there is a big hole under the bottom stair of the steps up to the front door and it extends under the concrete paver that the post sits on, which was already tilting down into the hole, and on under the house. Fortunately I had a wheelbarrow load of clayey dirt from digging the hole I planted the yellow angel trumpet in. 



First I pulled out the ferns that had migrated there in front of the steps and in between the steps and house and moved all the rocks she had there and the concrete paver at the bottom of the steps for better access to the hole. 



Shovel some dirt on two sides of the paver under the post and into the hole under the stair, used a length of 2” x 4” and a hammer to pound it down as far as I could, more dirt, more pounding, add a little water, more pounding until I felt like I had it well filled and compacted. 



Then I got a small piece of limestone I had hanging around and pounded it in the space between the 2” x 8” and the bottom of the step. I still need to get some small shims to complete that part. And then I put the rocks and the other paver back in place.




Sunday, February 25, 2024

getting the garden ready with interruptions


Friday I had to go out and get cat food for the wildlings and I went to the feed store to see what plants they had in and bought five tomato plants, two bell peppers, a basil, and some yellow and white seed potatoes. It’s baby chick season too but I didn’t buy any of those. 



About two years ago, maybe even a little longer, the feed store bought a big building much nearer me that used to be a western wear shop that closed and moved to Bay City because, like every small business in this town, they didn’t get enough business to stay open (and no I didn’t shop there either because I’m not into ‘western’ wear). The feed store announced they would be moving and expanding which included partnering with Ace Hardware. This announcement generated some excitement because one thing this town does not have is a good all round hardware store. The previous lumber yard had a hardware, paint, and plumbing section with limited selection but the guy retired after Harvey and closed up shop leaving us with Walmart or a place called Star Parts which has a very limited supply of hardware and plumbing stuff. Then Alamo Lumber (a local chain) announced they were going to move on the same spot as the previous lumber yard which structure they tore down and rebuilt and they’ve been open for about a year and they do have a large and well stocked hardware, plumbing, gardening, electrical, etc supply side. The early excitement died down as they turned out to be the most expensive place in town. So now, finally after delay after delay and permits and flood remediation and all the other hoops they had to jump through to get those permits they finally started adding on and remodeling the building and glory be, they are moving to their new location this weekend. 


When I was in there Friday one of the women behind the counter said to me after I mentioned that the new location would be much closer to where I live, I think you live down the street from me. I live on XXXX, I said. I live on YYYY (which is the next street over), she said. I walk Minnie down her street as well as mine. She didn’t recognize me so much as she recognized Minnie. You live on the north side or the south side of the street I asked. She lives next door to the house that’s for sale. Oh, the house with the christmas wreath still hanging in the tree. She laughed, well I got all the other decorations put away last weekend. True. She didn’t put her Christmas decorations away til Halloween last year.


Saturday I was out pulling up the mustard greens which had bolted and pulled the last cabbage and was turning and weeding the last section of the garden to get it ready to plant when Melissa, Rocky’s wife, called. Rocky has been busy the last two plus months tearing out and completely redoing the inside of a house so I haven’t seen much of him lately and I had told Melissa that I need the water pipe over at the shop fixed when he gets a spare day. So apparently the spare day was that day, now or who knows when is how she put it. So Rocky showed up and completely replaced the water pipe into the shop, the one I had wrapped with insulating foam and duct tape and which still cracked. You might remember I wrote about finding water gushing out of it in 40˚ weather right before dusk. Anyway, once we got all the insulation off, we found that not only had it cracked below the turn off valve but also the outside casing of the turnoff valve had not just cracked but split apart. Fortunately it was still functioning. That bulge midway is a new shut off valve but the handle is on the other side and at the bottom is the casing, 8" deep, that contains the main shut off valve, the one I couldn't get to turn. It's still off so we haven't checked the new pipe yet.



I should finish up my garden today but first I have another task I need to address over at Pam’s house. More about that later.