setting up the raised bed, snake, and kitty junk

I had a busy weekend out in the yard planned but then Saturday was overcast, cold, and worse, windy. The overcast and cold can be dealt with but that wind made it hard to be out for long. Sunday though was warmer and still so my main task was setting up the new raised bed for the little squash starts Gary gave me. I had already gotten the cucumber sprouts in the ground on Friday with a cage for them to grow on. 

First I used the trimmer to cut down to the ground all the grass and weeds, an area about 5’ x 5’. then I laid down some black plastic and cardboard on top of that and then put my 4’ x 4’ raised bed together and sat it on top of the cardboard and lined the outside with bricks (the pots on the right are potatoes and the one on the left is a tomato). 

Next I added a small thin layer of small dead twigs and then a layer of oak leaves and then a layer of composted peat, then dirt, then compost, then dirt, then fertilizer, more compost, more dirt until I ran out. This is two bags of compost, four bags of potting soil. I need at least 6 more bags which I’ll get today (turns out it only took four).

Before I started on that, while I still had the trimmer out I went ahead and used up the gas still in the tank going around all the edges of the flower beds and under the crepe myrtles on the west side of the barn and cut the path to the compost pile a little closer when the son of the wicked bitch of the west who was finally mowing that horribly overgrown lot (though I shouldn't remark on that considering how we let the big back yard get during the spring wildflower stage) flagged me down to tell me that he had just chased a big cottonmouth out of the area he was mowing and it slithered into the calf high bluebonnets, primrose, cleaver, hay grass, and developing coneflowers behind the flowerbed above. OK, thanks for the warning. I’ll stay out of there. I’ve seen plenty of snakes since I’ve been living here and neighbors have told of seeing cottonmouths but that’s one I have never seen and I’m perfectly happy not to encounter one.

I’m going to try and get the last of the kittens neutered this week, the one that is the most untamed even for me, the one that has very similar markings to Robin’s male cat Noodle, the one that I had yet to get a good look at it’s rear end because it never walks around with it’s tail erected…until yesterday. 

Yesterday while I was petting the brown tabby, Handsome Boy, in my lap Twin plonked his self down, spread his back legs and started cleaning himself down there, very obviously a boy and not just because I could see his balls but also because his little pointy red penis was proudly displayed. All righty then. First time I have ever seen a cat penis.

Nothing else going on except for the continuing implosion of the republican party. They have no policies with which to campaign, only harping on the doddering old fool in the White House who put that whole bullshit to rest with his aggressive State of the Union speech so now republicans are going on about how mean he was calling them out on their bullshit, trying to convince everyone now that he was on speed and their ridiculous rebuttal in the kitchen with a trad wife (except a trad wife would not have a job much less be a member of Congress) wearing a cross and speaking in her little girl voice and lying her ass off because they thought that would appeal to suburban women. But make no mistake, while they are distracting us with the clown show Trump was busy at Mar a Lago meeting with Victor Orban, dictator of Hungary who Trump admires and plans to emulate once back in the Oval Office and installing his daughter-in-law and another loyalist as co-leaders of the RNC while they announce that if you aren’t loyal to Trump, they don’t want you in the Republican party. They are preparing for the takeover and demise of our democracy. 

We all thought the 2020 election was crucial and it was but it doesn’t hold a candle to this one coming up. The MAGAts (there is no real republican party anymore) are much more prepared for the takeover than last time (if you haven’t looked into Project 2025 and Christian nationalism yet, now would be a good time).

 

spring chores and spring flowers

Sunday late afternoon I got my garden planted…tomatoes, bell peppers, green beens, basil but not the potatoes because I had forgotten to cut my seed potatoes into pieces and let them harden so I did that Monday and then coated the cut surface with ashes which is supposed to help prevent them from rotting before they start growing. I fear I’m a little late with the potatoes like last year but I got them planted Wednesday. Then I mulched around the tomatoes and peppers.

I have two raised bed kits (4 - 4’ x 4’ or 2 - 4’ x 8’) and I think I’m going to set up one 4’ x 4’ section and try squash which I don’t usually have any success with because right about the time they start producing fruit the squash vine borers have done their work and the plants go into total wilt, but you know, hope springs eternal. Anyway,  my neighbor Gary brought me 3 yellow squash and 3 cucumber seedlings so once I get those in that will be all I’m planting for a spring garden.

Also this week I cleaned out all the debris from having the plants in the garage and returned it to it’s not winter configuration.

I planted carrot seeds last fall but never thinned them out so Monday I belatedly pulled some of the smallest carrots. The biggest one was almost as big as my pinkie finger but they all went in the fried rice I fixed for dinner last night.

Spring of ’22 I planted some bearded iris rhizomes that I got at the garden club plant sale, no idea what color. They didn’t bloom last spring but one clump out of three did this spring and they are white.

These flag iris are in Gary’s yard blooming profusely and so gorgeous. I have some flag iris that have yet to bloom. 

The ground orchids are blooming well this year.

Some firsts… fleabane, evening primrose, there are so many in the big back yard that when they are in full bloom in a week or so it will be very pink back there, the early amaryllis, wisteria. These all popped out in the last several days.

And one contented Cat. 

spring and yard work and flowers

Friday night’s sunset

Not much to report. The first part of the week was so windy and blew in probably our last cold front of the winter, down in the 40s for two nights last week but now we are having highs in the 70s. Friday I was out in the front pulling weeds, clover and other little wildflowers away from the bluebonnets, isolating them so I can go back with the trimmer and cut down the weeds, grasses, and clover which is about calf high now and I want to cut it all down before they go to seed. I didn’t get much of a return this year on the bluebonnets, I assume from the long hot dry summer last year and they were being smothered by all the other stuff. Yesterday I did get the trimmer out and cut down all that stuff leaving just the small leggy bluebonnets, probably less than 3 dozen plants. So sad compared to years where they were solid across the front. Ever since the flood they have struggled with the clover and hay grass that invaded from the field behind me. I do have some plants in the back and a small grouping on the side that are big and full and starting to bloom.

Then I used the second tank of gas to cut down the hay grass taking over a portion of the back end of the big backyard, cutting a swath to the compost pile. The native peach tree in the back is in full bloom. I guess it likes these cold winters as it has never bloomed this much before.

I still need to finish getting the ground ready and plant, especially the tomatoes and potatoes which I plan to do today. Before I started with the trimmer yesterday I finally went to the new feed/hardware store because I needed more potting soil for some big pots, compost, and mulch too. It doesn’t help that the bottom has rusted out of my wheelbarrow which I discovered when I was filling the critter hole under the steps. The shovel went right through and now I have a big hole. I’ve got some flashing so I’m going to try and put a patch on it with JB Weld but that will have to wait for another day. 

Instead of planting yesterday after I used the trimmer I used my little toy chain saw to cut down all the rest of the dead wood in the two yards…hummingbird bush (2), purple orchid shrub which has never bloomed because it has frozen to the ground every winter since I planted it, the enormous yellow bells and the little ones (5), the confederate roses (2), and used the long handled loppers to cut them into smaller manageable lengths. I still have to tackle the rangoon creeper but it can wait. Torching the burn pile is also on the agenda since there’s no wind to speak of today.

So, what else. The azaleas are blooming. They are so vibrant they almost hurt your eyes.

The little wild onion/garlic flowers are having a banner year and people’s yards and the fields are white with their flowers,

the chinese fringe flower trees are blooming,

as are the ground orchids (bletilla).

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I’m in for a little break. I added compost, landscapers mix (something you add to my clayey dirt to improve it), and fertilizer and got it all turned in this morning and now finally I am ready to plant which I’ll do later this afternoon. 

Some of that will be for zinnias. After I did that I torched the burn pile which had gotten enormous once again. 

So now I’m going to bathe the little dog and take her for a walk since she didn’t get one yesterday.

getting the garden ready with interruptions

Friday I had to go out and get cat food for the wildlings and I went to the feed store to see what plants they had in and bought five tomato plants, two bell peppers, a basil, and some yellow and white seed potatoes. It’s baby chick season too but I didn’t buy any of those. 

About two years ago, maybe even a little longer, the feed store bought a big building much nearer me that used to be a western wear shop that closed and moved to Bay City because, like every small business in this town, they didn’t get enough business to stay open (and no I didn’t shop there either because I’m not into ‘western’ wear). The feed store announced they would be moving and expanding which included partnering with Ace Hardware. This announcement generated some excitement because one thing this town does not have is a good all round hardware store. The previous lumber yard had a hardware, paint, and plumbing section with limited selection but the guy retired after Harvey and closed up shop leaving us with Walmart or a place called Star Parts which has a very limited supply of hardware and plumbing stuff. Then Alamo Lumber (a local chain) announced they were going to move on the same spot as the previous lumber yard which structure they tore down and rebuilt and they’ve been open for about a year and they do have a large and well stocked hardware, plumbing, gardening, electrical, etc supply side. The early excitement died down as they turned out to be the most expensive place in town. So now, finally after delay after delay and permits and flood remediation and all the other hoops they had to jump through to get those permits they finally started adding on and remodeling the building and glory be, they are moving to their new location this weekend. 

When I was in there Friday one of the women behind the counter said to me after I mentioned that the new location would be much closer to where I live, I think you live down the street from me. I live on XXXX, I said. I live on YYYY (which is the next street over), she said. I walk Minnie down her street as well as mine. She didn’t recognize me so much as she recognized Minnie. You live on the north side or the south side of the street I asked. She lives next door to the house that’s for sale. Oh, the house with the christmas wreath still hanging in the tree. She laughed, well I got all the other decorations put away last weekend. True. She didn’t put her Christmas decorations away til Halloween last year.

Saturday I was out pulling up the mustard greens which had bolted and pulled the last cabbage and was turning and weeding the last section of the garden to get it ready to plant when Melissa, Rocky’s wife, called. Rocky has been busy the last two plus months tearing out and completely redoing the inside of a house so I haven’t seen much of him lately and I had told Melissa that I need the water pipe over at the shop fixed when he gets a spare day. So apparently the spare day was that day, now or who knows when is how she put it. So Rocky showed up and completely replaced the water pipe into the shop, the one I had wrapped with insulating foam and duct tape and which still cracked. You might remember I wrote about finding water gushing out of it in 40˚ weather right before dusk. Anyway, once we got all the insulation off, we found that not only had it cracked below the turn off valve but also the outside casing of the turnoff valve had not just cracked but split apart. Fortunately it was still functioning. That bulge midway is a new shut off valve but the handle is on the other side and at the bottom is the casing, 8" deep, that contains the main shut off valve, the one I couldn't get to turn. It's still off so we haven't checked the new pipe yet.

I should finish up my garden today but first I have another task I need to address over at Pam’s house. More about that later.

what normal life is supposed to be and fuck you, your thoughts and prayers, and your fucking guns

I've decided that the two holes in the yard were vole holes even though I don't see the trails that are supposed to accompany them that pictures show. I know we have had voles before because our cat before Cat would kill them every spring. So Monday I poked an 18” long stick in the one in the big backyard and never hit resistance. I couldn't get the stick very deep in the one in the little backyard because I needed something more flexible so I used an old measuring tape. Still only got about 6 or 8 inches in but I did fish out a big fat toad who was taking refuge in it. Then I used the hose nozzle on 'jet' and never did fill up either hole with water and nothing came running out so I filled both of them with as much dirt as I could pound in.

The other thing I did before I came in hot and sweaty was to finish filling the tub with dirt and planting my velvet okra plants.

As a portent that the Houston sprawl is heading all the way out to us the HEB here in Wharton has been undergoing a massive upgrade and rearrangement for the past few months. Every Tuesday when I do the weekly shop everything is moved from where it was the previous week, it's like a scavenger hunt to find stuff. And I swear last Tuesday they must have had every employee they have there moving products from one spot to another. But there's a lot of craziness too, like the dog and cat food being in 3 different locations, wherever they had space I guess. They're supposed to be done by June, maybe or July but the big surprise which I learned from one of the volunteers at SHARE last Thursday is that we are getting a fresh tortilla machine and a hot and cold sushi bar. A sushi bar...in Wharton? Wow. Whoda thought that would ever happen. But apparently this town is growing despite the original families' attempts to keep that from happening. An incredible amount of new home and apartment building is going on here getting ready for the influx of commuters they expect to inhabit them. We moved out here to get away from the city, away from big city crappy attitudes, taxes, and traffic and while I'm thrilled we're getting a sushi bar, I'm not so thrilled about the apparent reason.

These are my tomato plants. Two heritage and two hybrids, from the left...beefsteak, old german, big boy, black krim.

The close up of the flowers and developing fruit is the beefsteak. Except for last year when no one's tomatoes did well because it got so hot so fast and so dry and I had planted my four in pots instead of the ground and got nothing, this is the first time for beefsteak. I've tried heritage tomatoes before, though I don't remember which ones, but I've never had any luck with them only getting one or two fruits if that and determined that this would be my last try at heritage plants if they didn't produce. Well, the old german has grown taller than me and so far both it and the black krim have some developing fruit but not a lot. The other two don't have a lot either considering how big the plants are.

old german

Another dark overcast day out there today, could possibly rain all day though it isn't now. Well, the thunder has started so I guess the rain won't be far behind. I may not make it to the grocery store today after all (I did). Now it's gotten darker and the wind has picked up. Some rain. And while it is still overcast the storm has passed. Not so much rain but it did cool things down a little.

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I'm going to have to start ignoring the news and social media again just for my own mental health and stress levels. Because now that the dust has settled on the latest mass shooting at a mall in Allen, TX that resulted in 8 innocent dead, three of them children; a 3 year old and two sisters 8 and 11 and at least one person with her face shot off; now that thoughts and prayers have been delivered by those who refuse to admit it's the guns, the press wonders what could possibly have been his motive. Are you fucking kidding me? It's the same fucking motive every fucking time, right wing hate and violence. These people want to kill, they want a fucking civil war and no, this is not mental illness, it's what they have been groomed for by the very people who only send useless thoughts and prayers because they want this to happen.

Jeff Tiedrich lays it out clearly. 

Which has led to this.

Our governor said afterwards that he WILL NOT impose any restrictions on guns of any sort in our state after allowing open carry with no license or training even though every fucking time republicans make it easier to buy, own, and open carry, the deaths and violence increases. The republican representative, Keith Self, for the 3rd congressional district in which it took place actually said that the only reason libs want to restrict guns is because they don't believe in god, don't have faith in god's plan for us all. Are you fucking kidding me? God's plan is to have your face shot off, to have children so mangled that parents' need to give DNA samples to know which body is their child's, to be shot down like a rabid dog for ringing a doorbell? You know what republicans think is the proper response to school shootings? Teach third graders, some of whom can't even tie their own shoes, how to field dress wounds. Jesus Fucking Christ.

This country is fucked up. 

birds and rain and more weird food

I saw a rose breasted grosbeak! It was sitting facing me in the photinia on the other side of the little backyard across from my window when I happened to look up. It was so striking with that white breast and the brilliant red collar with a black head and wings though I couldn't really see the body, facing me as it was. But I'm sure that's what it was being the right size and after doing a google picture search, it is the only bird that fits what I saw. I looked it up and sure enough, they migrate through here in April. I was hoping it would come to the bird feeder so I could get a better look but it didn't, just flew off. So that was my excitement for Wednesday morning.

image via https://www.animalspot.net/

I finally got mulch spread under the tomatoes Wednesday afternoon. Took me about 30 or 40 minutes. Wasn't particularly hot, upper 70s, partly cloudy sky so the the sun wasn't beating down relentlessly but it was so humid that by the time I finished sweat was dripping off my face. You'd have thought I had been standing out in the rain.

Wednesday night had a different excitement. A big storm with lightning and thunder, a couple of which flash and boom happened almost simultaneously, and bouts of hard rain came through about 3 AM and lasted til 7 AM just when I had to get up to have my coffee and breakfast and get to SHARE. Consequently I did not get any sleep between those hours because the neurotic little dog was in constant motion trembling and panting. This side, that side, on the bed, off the bed, up by my head, down by my feet, under the covers, not under the covers and mostly trying to lay on my pillow above my head which pulled my hair, panting in my face. I was not a happy camper. Tremble and pant, just be fucking STILL. Threw her off the bed several times, tossed her out of the room and closed the door for less than 3 minutes while she scratched at the other side in a panic. I'm sorry to say I yelled at her a lot. Poor little dog. I know she can't help it. Why do these storms always come through at night!

When I went out to check the rain gauge this morning which showed we had gotten 2 inches, I heard a strange chirping/whistling, looked up in the pecan tree and there were four whistling ducks.

Spent my morning at SHARE, very slow today, only 14 or so clients for food so a lot of standing around. One of the other volunteers bags up instant oatmeal packets and granola/snack bars three to a bag and she brought them around to me as that's one of the things I deal with. So here's another item from the Department of Ridiculous Food.

What, pray tell, is 'seasonal flavor'?

And because I just really like this view of the queen anne's lace with the clasping leaved coneflowers and the big old native pecan tree, here's another picture of it.

 

more yardwork and the Republican House's first week

Saturday was a fine day, clear blue sky, low humidity, no wind to speak of. I dug up the spirea which had finally given up the struggle. It was a beautiful shrub that would be covered in its little white flower clusters in the spring but the first arctic blast in the winter of '20/'21 that caused so much havoc in Texas, the power grid failing and houses and people freezing, damaged it severely. It would put out new growth which would die back in the heat of summers until this winter with another week of temps in the teens and twenties, it was done.

So now I'm sort of rearranging that flower bed. Saturday I started weeding it and turning the soil, getting my hands in it, so a good day, I got to dig. I like to dig and the soil was just right for it, not wet and clumpy, not hard and resistant. I'm taking out the rest of the black and blue salvia to expand the area for zinnias and also for a small spring garden, a few tomatoes, green beans, a couple of squash maybe. I want to grow potatoes again but not there.

My squirrel deterrent seems to be working. Besides the one I saw on the bird feeder Monday, I haven't seen any since I moved the elephant plant stand farther away. After the pole fell, when I got it back up I went ahead and slipped a section of galvanized downspout over it as an added deterrent as one of my readers has commented that it works for them, squirrels can't climb it. Sunday morning when I got up and looked out there was a squirrel foraging in the area beneath it and looked to be getting plenty to eat and made no effort to climb up to the feeder.

Sunday I cleared out all the dead orange cosmos and cut back the rock roses (not a true rose but like the confederate rose, part of the hibiscus family). Still some clearing to do...cutting back the wild Mexican petunias, cutting the dead fronds off the holly ferns, 

clearing the shell ginger on the east side of the house. Almost all the azaleas are showing tiny green buds of new growth and the roses have just exploded with new growth. I don't usually cut them back until February but that will have to be done this week.

You can stop here if you're sick of American politics, what follows is a summary of the first week of operations in the new Republican majority House.

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McCarthy, in his acceptance speech as Speaker a week ago, claimed that this would be a transparent House and then they passed the House Rules in which was included a secret 3 page document that not even all the Republican representatives had seen that contains McCarthy's promises to the insurrectionist cabal and which contains, among other things, the pledge to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless cuts to social programs are made. They think they're covering their asses by excluding the military, interest payments, and Social Security as line items, as if that's even possible, as if people still getting their checks will counterbalance shutting down every other part of the federal government sending the country into default which doesn't just affect us but the entire world economy. And make no mistake, these are the debts Trump incurred that they will be refusing to pay by failing to raise the debt ceiling, something they have no problem doing as long as Republicans have the majority in Congress and the presidency. This should backfire spectacularly on them.

The other thing McCarthy said in his speech was that because of the long fight to elect a Speaker, they have learned how to govern. So after two years of screaming about inflation, the price of gas, the economy, the fake border crisis, crime, and Hunter Biden's laptop this is what the House Republicans have done during their first week of the new session:

   -Removed the metal detector from the entrance to the House.
   -Allowed smoking in Representatives offices.
   -Passed a bill to repeal the new funding for the IRS to hire and replace agents included in the Inflation Reduction Act and is currently set to vote on abolishing the IRS altogether in a further attempt to protect millionaire and billionaire tax cheats.
   -Decimated the Office of Congressional Ethics to hamstring it from conducting business in order to protect their members from investigation of ethics violations.
   -Established the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to conduct investigations into the 'government's collusion with private companies to infringe the rights' of the people to free speech ie their butthurt and false accusations that social media platforms wrongly silenced the free speech of the far right and to investigate the DOJ and the FBI for their legitimate investigations into Trump's and his sycophants' criminal activity.
   -Passed the 'born alive' bill that forces doctors to give life sustaining care to any baby that is still 'alive' after an attempted abortion or face new penalties. As if that happens, as if doctors aren't already required to do so if it does happen.
   -Passed a resolution condemning attacks on anti-abortion facilities (apparently attacks on clinics and doctors who perform abortions are OK).
   -Removed Democrats from committees.
   -Is considering a vote to expunge Trump's impeachments.

So much for Republicans 'learning how to govern'. Not a single bill has been put forward to address any of the things they have been attacking Biden and democrats for for the past two years because they don't actually care about any of those things besides using them as a weapon to gain power. Power is what they care about, the ability to force the rest of the country to kneel.

 

last class and some yard work

The last watercolor class was yesterday and we finished our last painting.

Jade finished hers too, the one she did on my second background,

and then she worked on the background she did last week, no boat.

I like Jade's work better than mine, she's so bold with her color. She did a really great job, has never had art lessons. She did some really wonderful drawings with an app on my tablet when she was a young teen but somehow I screwed up and lost access to her album years ago, well, all the albums in the app including mine.

Gay suggested I take a 3 day watercolor workshop with a guy in Rockport, 2 1/2 hour drive from here, that she also takes workshops with. It's in mid-April. So, we'll see but probably not. I just looked at the info and the 3 page supply list of which I have two items, a mechanical pencil and an eraser. The class fee is reasonable but it would cost me hundreds of dollars to amass what's on that list. I'll just practice a little more with my cheap paints, cheap paper, and cheap brushes.

In the meantime, I need to do some sketches for a new box. For lack of any other inspiration I'm tending toward Ode to the Bee or Ode to Spring or maybe a butterfly or another bird but nothing so elaborate or large as the heron box. I've done 12 boxes in all which is usually when I quit a series and move on.

As you can see I'm sort of at a loss so maybe if I just start sketching something will happen. It's overcast and rainy today so I shouldn't have any distractions like the yard (so of course the rain stopped and it completely cleared up but still wet out).

And speaking of the yard, I finally got out there and did some stuff this past weekend. Saturday I bought four tomato plants at the Co-Op and some pole bean seeds, mixed up my dirt and got the tomatoes planted in pots, potted the begonia and morning glory bush rooted cuttings, watered stuff, killed some fire ants, pulled more weeds and hay grass, and Monday I started weeding the day lily bed to clear an area for zinnias. Still need to get my bean seeds in and I think maybe I'll plant some potatoes too. I have a big tub that would work great for potatoes but first I have to cut drain holes in it and I have moonflower and heavenly blue morning glory seeds to plant. I soaked them overnight and already they are sending out little root tips and in two cases, first leaves emerged.