what I did on my...er, last week

This is a long post, here it is Saturday, the first chance I've had to sit down and write. Nearly a week has gone by and I've yet to get back out and work in the garden but that's the plan for this afternoon. Tuesday, like Monday was very windy and grocery shop day and gas up the car day and fix dinner day and always walk the dog day. Wednesday we had to get up really early and get to Victoria for a follow-up X-ray and appointment with the pulmonologist. The most recent x-ray showed his lung nearly clear with the upper right section still densely white. He's feeling better I think than he did before he got sick but he's still on antibiotics and steroids there's that.

Thursday was my SHARE day and then I had an opthomologist appointment in the afternoon to check the progress of my cataracts (still not bad enough for surgery, come back in a year) and she dilated my eyes which made my left eye feel weird and when it got dark, all the lights on buildings, headlights on cars, traffic lights had rays coming out from them to a wonky shaped halo but only with my left eye. 

Never had that happen before and then yoga. And Friday we drove to Shopping Mecca for a series of purchases, some successful, some not, but the main one is that we bought a new washer and dryer. I mean, as long as we're throwing money around for a new water heater and two new iPhones, why the hell not? The ones that came with the house have to be 30 years old if not older and the dryer quit working the week before I took Marc to the ER and the agitator in the washer starts out vigorous but then gets sluggish and we're not at all sure just how clean the clothes were getting and besides that one of the springs that balance the tub is broken and no longer available for replacement, same with the discharge hose that broke in two so we had to glue it back together with Gorilla glue. Suffice to say, a new washer and dryer was not a frivolous expense and besides, I was out of clean underwear. Delivery is imminent.

out with the old

in with the new

After two days in the 80s, really? it's February, this morning was a bit chilly which is more like it though it didn't last long and warmed up. The first EarthLab talk for the year at Hesed House is this morning on creating a successful butterfly habitat and since my sister is the one who organizes this lecture series my presence is de rigueur, not that I mind as she arranges very interesting programs, but it does mean those Saturdays start earlier than usual.

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Well yesterday didn't play out at all as planned. I did go to the EarthLab presentation from the Texas Master Naturalists Coastal Prairie Chapter on building a healthy habitat for butterflies, which mostly boiled down to creating a 'pocket prairie' that is consistent with our ecoregion which is coastal prairie, you want to have the proper plants that bloom at the proper time to support our region's butterflies and caterpillars for food and shelter as well as those migrating through, and leaving it all the fuck alone. So if you like a neat lawn of grass with tidy bordered flowerbeds of forced garden center annuals, which she said very often don't even produce nectar, this is not the style for you. Don't rake those fall leaves, don't mow the spring 'weeds', learn to love the look of a natural habitat through all four seasons. Here's their website if you want more information about the Texas coastal prairie which the speaker says, because of all the human intervention, is nearly extinct and is, in actuality, functionally extinct.

When I got home and came in the garage door and crossed the threshold I saw a thick line of fire ants marching along the baseboard. Backing up, Thursday morning as I was getting ready to leave I noticed ants around the baseboard of my workroom and into my bedroom so I spooned out cinnamon along their path which a friend had recommended for getting rid of ants and it had worked for a previous attempted incursion from the door to the little backyard and left for SHARE. When I got back I swept it all up and then discovered they were making a nest under the rubber mat right outside the door into the garage. Swept them out and sprinkled some ant poison under the mat. Problem solved. Ha. Saturday, I followed the thick line of ants to the corner where Cat's litter box is. Picked up the litter box and there were thousands of the fuckers setting up shop. No no no no no! Can't spray poison in the house so out came the vacuum cleaner and then I moved the plants in the opposite corner back outside and vacuumed there and then along the baseboards of all four walls following the trail of ants.

Then I figured as long as I had the vacuum cleaner out I would do the rest of the house which I did and threw that bag into the trash can in the garage. Later I checked and there were still some ants traversing the baseboards in the big room, sucked them up as well. So now, this morning? Yes, still some and I'll get out the vacuum directly. I just wonder if these are stragglers or new ones coming in wondering where the hell the nest went. Surely, eventually, they'll figure out that ants come in but they never come back out. Now I need to take the plants in the garage back out, pull up the mats around the door and along the wall, move a small shelf unit, and sweep and use the leaf blower and clean out all the accumulated dirt and put the mats back down. They probably initially came in with one of the pots that have overwintered in the garage.

So, yeah, still haven't gotten back out in the yard but here's a few pictures...the first amaryllis, the pink rose bush, false freesia (freesia laxa), and more daffodils.