Monday, September 17, 2018

more stuff


We had a whole day yesterday of not only no rain but blue sky. Today is looking to be the same so Rocky and Gunnar arrived early and started painting the house, leaving the concrete pillar til later I guess.


Another day Sunday of putzing around in the house because...mosquitoes. Got another painting hung, moved a rack from the shop over to the house to hold the models and free up table space, and surely there was something else though I can't remember what.

Here's something else the rain brought out...fire ants. They've been mostly underground during the long hot dry summer. Now I have big mounds all over the yard so this evening will be the perfect time to douse them with my favorite ant killer combination of Dawn dish soap and orange oil in water. Kills the shit out of them.

It's been two years since my friend had to move his studio and house and brought the contents of his shop over here. That's when I gouged a spoonful of fat and tissue out of my thigh (23 stitches) on the corner of the tailgate of the truck loading up the landscape blocks he was going to leave behind resulting in the Mark Of The Chicken (for you newer readers, that's a scar mid-thigh on my left leg about 2” long in the shape of a chicken foot and yes I posted all the gory pictures). The other thing I did then was dig up his bird of paradise which he was also going to leave behind. I managed to get four bulbs roots plants out mostly intact, three of which survived and gave one to my sister. Potted mine up and moved them out in full sun and they both sent up bloom stalks this summer. So when my phone camera refused to focus on the rain lilies, it also refused to focus on the emergent flower of the bird of paradise. I can't tell you how many out of focus pictures I have of that. Well, I could but then I'd have to count them.


Today was devoted to, besides killing fire ants and in general wasting time, making all the communications that had been piling up about various matters. I also repaired the water hose after a blister bulged out, split, and shot out a 20' geyser of water. 


Yay little repair gizmos!

Just a few random shots of what's blooming like day lilies. I have never ever had day lilies bloom in September and never twice in a year.


I know I post pictures of this flower a lot when it blooms but it's one of my favorites.







20 comments:

  1. Confederate Rose? Is that the pink one?
    I like the color of the house too

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    1. not confederate rose but morning glory bush. I do have confederate rose bushes but they are just now putting on buds and probably won't bloom for several more weeks.

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  2. Photos are lovely. Nice job.

    My husband was reading an article about fire ants threatening horny toads in Texas. Biologist brought in a different species of ants. The new ants attack and eat fire ants (ick), so horny toads are thriving again. How do you fight fire ants?

    We were thinking about moving to North Carolina, discovered there are fire ants everywhere, so erased N.C. from out list of potential retirement locations.

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    1. I use Dawn dish detergent and orange oil in water and pour it on the mound, about a half cup of soad, quarter cup orange oil per gallon (I don't actually measure it, just pour til it looks and feels right). kills them and the eggs instantly. probably doesn't get the queens unless they are near the surface. I'm not trying to eradicate them (impossible) but discourage them from popping up in my flower beds and places I walk in the yard. there's a whole big field behind me where they can live undisturbed.

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  3. Love the sagey green of the house. Is that a correct description?
    You spent far more time outside than I did today. I just can't do it until it cools down.

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    1. sounds good to me. two dry days in a row and dry today. I may try to get the weeds out of the garden and get it ready to plant.

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  4. My day lilies bloom 3 times a year. I pull all the spent stalks out and they bloom again. It is time consuming and tedious, but they grace the front of the building and it is one of those tasks that can be accomplished on weekends while the store is open. I love all your colorful flowers!

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    1. I do the same thing and I have some that will send up another round of blooms after the first one but usually within a matter of weeks. not months later and never in September!

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  5. I love the soft green of the paint on your house, It is difficult to find the right green. I wonder if fire ants are spicy.

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    1. I was thinking it wasn't quite dark enough but I'll withhold judgement til after the other two colors are on. I do like it though.

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  6. I'm all for reclaiming the landscape with dish soap and stuff!

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    1. just trying to keep them out of the flowerbeds and yard where I walk.

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  7. Those ants are hard to kill so I suggest you bottle and sell it. Million dollar adventure. Being on a lake, I am swarmed by mosquitos so yesterday, I got one of those tennis racket looking bug killers and it worked like a charm. Completely evaporated them. It was a comfort after all the bites I've had. Progress there. I admire your get up and go.

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  8. I love that morning glory bush too - so pretty!

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  9. That morning glory bush is just gorgeous. Love it when you post flower pix. I also love your ant kill recipe. Gonna have to try that. The color on the house is very soothing. Good for you dear lady.

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  10. The only thing still blooming in my yard are cosmos and zinnias. The yard is too wet and mold and mildew re everywhere. Maybe next year will be better.

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  11. Day lilies now?! How weird. Ours seem completely done for the year, as usual. Those hose-repair things are pretty ingenious! I haven't seen anything like that before.

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    Replies
    1. they're usually done by mid-summer. first time that they have ever bloomed in September. the hose repair thingy has an interior part that goes into each section of hose and then the clamps hold it all together.

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  12. Love the paint color you chose for the house! It occurs to me reading this that a chicken foot could look impressionistically like an inverted bird of paradise. Random, I know.

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  13. The house is coming along nicely, great colour choice.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.