Saturday, July 18, 2020

where did the week go and white


I was going to write a post Thursday, and then yesterday and now here it is Saturday. I have no idea where the week has gone. I went to yoga on Monday and Wednesday evenings. I've not been very good about doing my daily routine in the morning the past two weeks, maybe I've managed about half the days. Maybe. Not today. But yes yesterday.

Wednesday CenterPoint sent a crew out and installed the meter so now we are getting estimates from electricians to hook the house up to the meter and hook the septic system up to the house. The first one from a local man and wife team who my sister and I have both used before but we thought their estimate was pretty high. I'm waiting to hear back from another individual, I have one more to call on Monday, and Pam is waiting to hear if the company in Rosenberg that did my daughter's house is going to show up on Tuesday for a look see as their crew was exposed to the virus by a customer and of course only the estimator tested positive but he feels fine and will wear a mask and I'll be standing far far away.

My ennui of the last couple of weeks seems to have dissipated somewhat. I did make the crostata out of the cherries but it didn't improve them at all however the addition of vanilla ice cream did. I spliced the last bad place on the hose with the kit my daughter picked up for me in the city. I finally glued my concrete naked lady back together (she's 33" tall) though she's got a serious crack around her ankles with some small chunks out which I'm going to fill in with the gorilla glue I used to put her back together. The glue is paintable so after it cures completely I'm going to touch it up. 


I finally got the rest of the house vacuumed but my house cleaning urge seems to have vanished now. I'm thinking I must have accomplished something else but I can't think what beside watering and a bit of cutting back some of the easter lilies gone to seed and turning brown. We did get a very minor amount of rain yesterday, very light, for about 20 minutes. I was out in it across the street while Rocky was gathering up tools and stuff being all but done with the deck 


and moving the stairs that came with the house around to the back door. It wasn't even raining enough to get my clothes completely wet before I came in and it felt good really to be out in it. Today it rained pretty good for less than 10 minutes while the sun was shining.

I think today I'll do a punch list on the porch/deck (needs the spindles on the stair handrail), plumbing (two hose bibs still need to be put in and the water pipe secured up under the floor of the house), shop room and half bath (minor things like the light switch in the half bath) and roof across the back of the shop that had gaping holes at one end that Rocky had his helper fill in but needs a patch as well. I had repaired a long length of that edge of the roof four or five years ago but it finally failed. Hopefully this new repair will last at least as long or longer. It will have to be inspected every year.

Or not. Maybe tomorrow.

On the national scene, Trump and Barr have deployed their Secret Police to Portland ostensibly to protect federal buildings and monuments, but in reality to instigate and inflame with more brutality the already dying out protests in a bid to improve Trump's sinking poll numbers. Trump keeps tweeting LAW AND ORDER and yet he refuses to abide by the laws of this country that restrain a president from becoming a dictator. These armed and unnamed men in battle gear are not going after looters or those engaged in violence but 'escorting' citizens off the streets into unmarked cars taking them to unknown locations with no Miranda and no charges leveled. This my friends is unadulterated fascism and Barr has already announced that he plans on deploying them all across the country violating our civil rights...our right to protest, our right to free speech, our right to protection from illegal search and seizure, our right to a free press.The governor of Oregon and the mayor of Portland did not ask for them, do not want them there. And not a peep out of the 'states' rights and small government' Republicans. And where are all the 2nd amendment folks who claim that the whole purpose of the 2nd amendment to allow an armed citizenry is to protect the nation from government imposed tyranny? Where are all these right wing militias protecting the citizenry from this governmental tyranny and illegal seizure of citizens?

So as not to end on such a depressing note...more pics from the yard, the white edition.

The white ginger is starting to bloom but no picture yet. The plants have really been suffering in this heat, can't water them enough, and the one or two flowers so far wilt quickly so I finally got out there today and put up the shade cloth which I can drape over them during the hours when they're in full sun.

The bridal bouquet plumeria is in full bloom. It's hard to take a good picture because the plant? tree? Is 7 1/2' tall.


This is our native passion flower vine. Pam gave me a piece and I planted it over at the shop on the dog pen fence (the previous owners had a german shepherd so there is a large hut/dog house and fenced area). She warned me but I didn't care...then. It is so invasive it's coming up all over the yard after it smothered the dog pen fence and now it's trying to colonize the fence I spent all those weeks clearing this spring. It rarely blooms but it is a larval food plant for fritillary butterflies.


Spider lilies. I brought these from the old city house.


The white orchid tree is still putting on blooms.


This althea or rose-of-sharon is just now starting to put on buds.


I tried for years to grow gardenias. Either they died outright or they just never grew and never bloomed until this one bush which has grown and bloomed profusely. It already did it's main full bloom a couple of weeks ago but now it's putting on a second less profuse set of blooms. I pick one in the morning and put it in a little vase next to where I sit and it perfumes the air all day.


Next covid update on Monday.




18 comments:

  1. I love the passion flower. They look like alien beings.

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  2. the flowers are stunning, Portland is practice...

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  3. What beautiful flowers. I had a green thumb in the 1960's, but now days its black.

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  4. It seems you have a whole white theme going with your flora
    Portland is horrifying- how will we survive for 6 more months? Assuming , of course, that he’s even voted out.

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  5. Can’t Congress do something about this latest horror? Forget slippery slopes- we have descended into hell.
    Your flowers are spectacular.

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  6. I would do anything to be able to grow gardenias but no luck. We need more sun.

    Yep, fascists on trial run.

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  7. I remember that statue! Gorilla Glue has pretty poor structural properties. Better might be to get a small tub of expanding patch concrete at Loews.

    Living just across the river from Portland, I can confirm that NO ONE in Portland asked for Trump's help and in fact just about everyone wants them to leave. My advice is to have the Portland Police accompany these federal troops and arrest any one of them who attempts to break the law. Sadly, the Portland Police suffer from the same problems as police across the country: they treat the protestors as THE ENEMY as opposed to joining in with them to protect them from the very few crazies coming in from outside the city.

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    1. too late on the statue. if it falls apart later I'll try your suggestion. btw, concrete was specifically listed for this gorilla glue.

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  8. I do like rose of sharon and had ones of every color I could find planted along the fence line of my first house.
    This business in Portland is frightening for November, though I think the silent "majority" are seeing the handwriting.

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  9. I like those stairs fitted at the back door.

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  10. Wait, what happened to your naked lady? I've forgotten (or maybe I missed that post). Anyway, she looks good -- let's hope Gorilla keeps her together!

    The passionflower is cool and having too much of it sounds like a nice problem. Ours isn't flourishing this year, though it DID have that giant borage in its pot so that might be why. It did bloom, at least, and the flowers are a bit different from yours -- slightly different coloring.

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    1. squirrel took a flying leap off her head and knocked her over. probably wouldn't have broken her is she hadn't been already cracked around the middle.

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  11. I love this white edition of the ramble around your yard! I did VERY LITTLE this weekend. I was going to blame it on giving blood Friday night (as my post says, I was stupid & didn't eat beforehand, almost passed out, and still felt poorly on Saturday). However, we both know that's just this week's excuse. Ha!

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  12. Rachel told me to change embedded on setting to try and comment, so here it goes. Love to hear about what's going on at your neck of the woods. I planned on planting a gardenia this year, but unless I can find one for fall planting, it will have to wait until next year.

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  13. That's an absolutely gorgeous passion flower. I've never seen one so white -- love it. A friend in Austin just posted about her orchid tree. It seems we have a similar one that's native, but it's habitat is the Valley and Big Bend. It may have slipped across the border from Mexico, as it's native there, too. I found one, and someday I'll post a photo of it.
    I'm going to have to try my hand at gluing, too. I dumped a gorgeous antique covered soap dish onto the floor, and the bowl broke. The good news is that even an awkward putting-together will be hidden by the lid, so I guess it will be find. I just like looking at it, and never would sell it, so I don't have to worry about lessened value.

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    1. my little white orchid tree is in a pot. I can't remember how long I've had it, 8 years or longer. a friend of mine had one in her front yard in the city, a fairly nice sized small tree and she gave me the volunteer when it was only three or four inches big. I didn't have anywhere at the city house to plant it so into a pot it went. it's getting bigger and I could plant it over at the shop yard but I'm afraid it will freeze to the ground like the purple orchid tree I have over there does every year because, one it gets colder out here and two, there's no protection from the elements over there. and I've never gotten a single bloom on the purple one.

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  14. 1) you are a world champion sister. 2) your assessment of trump/barr/secret police is on point in every regard. you nailed it all right there. we are not sliding into fascism. we are there.

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