happy dog days

Monday morning we were woken early by lightening and thunder and hard rain. The dog was instantly in panic mode, panting and finally hiding in the closet. It continued to rain til early afternoon. She calmed down but being in panic mode is exhausting and she slept all day. I don't blame her. It was a dreary day and I myself was totally uninspired and I sat on the couch and read. Didn't even go to yoga though it was clearing by then.

Yesterday was a happy dog day. Clear blue sky, not humid, nice little breeze, warm. Did I mention it's full blown spring here? The tallows and gingkoes and crepe myrtles and ashes are leafing out. The red buds are pinking up. The birds are chirpy. The bluebonnets and other wild flowers are starting to bloom already! The horticulturist on the radio said it's about 6 weeks early.

Remember this list from the deep freeze?

*rangoon creeper that I planted three years ago and bloomed for the first time this year – not so far

*shrub that I can never remember the name of with the long spikes of small pink flowers – nope and the root is very loose in the ground

*Mexican bird of paradise – so far has not come back

*shrimp plant – yes!

*night blooming jasmine – yes!

*yellow angel trumpet that I didn't think to take a cutting of – yes!

*plumbago – yes!

*upright rosemary which still has some green needle leaves but looks terrible and is struggling – still looks terrible

*angel wing begonia – yes!

*all my succulents and cacti except for the hens & chickens, the big aloes, and the century plant – muertas except for the three exceptions

*most of the walking iris - dead

*butterfly weed- yes!

*pony tail palm – lost all it's 'heads' but has two small sprouts

*purple orchid tree which I just planted this spring – yes!

*white orchid tree which is in a pot – not so far

 ponytail palm

not on the above list...

*my poor struggling peach tree - has three flowers

*bulbine – muerta

*beauty berry – nothing so far

*morning glory bush – yes!

*confederate rose – yes!

*periwinkles – nope

My potatoes are starting to sprout, the tomatoes are looking and growing well. Can't get the onions or anything else in til I get dirt for the new bed but it's still too wet. I have two more cauliflower heads to harvest and when I do I'll pull out the remaining broccoli. Not sure what I'll put in it;s place.

Because the ground was too wet to do anything outside I got some wax sheets made and worked on the driveway guardian/bottle tree/totem that I started with my grandgirl Robin last summer. I got the sanding done and I'm starting to assemble it, playing around with some stuff to fancy it up.

I haven't fastened it all together yet and not sure I'm happy with the wings as they are pretty short for the height which is 8'. There will be bottles all down both sides albeit without the labels.