unexpected bounty, freeze prep

I took this picture Friday when I went across the street to feed the kitties that live outside at Pam’s old house waiting patiently while I got the bag of food out of the shed; Handsome Boy (brown tabby), Lovey (gray), Twin (black and white, and you can barely see Ghost (black) waiting by the dishes where I put their food. They are very sweet boys, well, except for Ghost who still refuses to let Robin or me touch him. 

My resolve, not to be confused with a new year’s resolution, to again begin doing my yoga practice at home every day has fallen by the wayside…again. I blame the holidays. I’m just sleeping (or lazing in bed) too late to work it in. I know, I know, between meds and coffee but it just ain’t happening. Even with ‘it doesn’t have to be a lot but it has to be some’. Maybe next week.

Did I mention I emptied the truck of the accumulated tree debris on Monday and Mikey helped me load up all the metal debris, galvanized sheet metal and pipe, that was leaning against the side of the shop from all the various remodels of said building over the years before we bought it. 

This was the crap that the wild grape, Virginia creeper, briar, and other various unwanted wild growth covered that it took me I forget how long, days, weeks to clear out last January and February. Then I added the stuff I hauled out of the barn a couple of weeks ago and took it to the big metal recyclers at the end of the road my street ends at on Friday. This is not the small outfit I’ve taken scrap metal to in the past on the other side of town. They take larger scrap metal but only pay for aluminum and steel cans. This time I went to the big outfit and I mean huge, acres of scrap. When you pull into the yard you drive up onto the scale and then they direct you around this big loop of scrap metal of every description big and small where the guy unloaded the truck and then I drove back onto the scale and they gave me $38. Surprised me because I didn’t expect to get paid.

So far this winter we have not had any freezing nights, maybe a light frost judging by some leaf damage when those nights got close to freezing. Regardless I covered the Queen Of The Night both times and brought the pink trumpet flower and one of the bridal bouquet plumerias into the garage. Tonight is our first below freezing forecast, 27˚, so I’ve spent the last two and a half hours covering the QOTN and pruning back and covering the porter weed and bringing all the plumerias and other assorted tropical and semi tropical plants into the house or garage. 

Just some of the plants in the house.

All this for one freaking night below freezing. After that, one night in the low 30s; 40s and 50s for the foreseeable future. I’ll leave the plumerias in until spring since they’ve already gone dormant. The big plumeria in the ground and the big bridal bouquet whose pot is sunk in the ground are just going to have to sink or swim. If I lose them, sobeit. Still have to cover the ponytail or at least try. Debating still. The bulb won’t die but the branches might and it will have to start over, which it has done many times since I put it in the ground over in the shop yard ten years ago. Fuck, I may just let it sink or swim. It takes two people and it’s even bigger than it was last year and I’m not sure I have adequate sheets and tarps this year. (Did decide to cover it with Robin’s help, forwent the sheets and just used the tarps.) 

Here’s another resolve…I’m donating some of the big plumerias to the garden club plant sale in the spring. In fact, a lot of the smaller stuff is going to the plant sale too. Like I don’t need three pots of the nun’s orchid. I brought in, maybe unnecessarily, the japanese azalea which has buds on it and the camellia because both plants were struggling to survive in the ground when I dug them up last fall and they are doing pretty well now. Don’t want to set them back.

Here’s how covering the QOTN went. 

How it started,

how it ended (four sheets, two tarps).

Haven’t been out yet to see how the plumeria in the ground fared but this is what greeted me when I got up this morning. Two of the buds on the japanese azalea opened.