unexpected flowers and beginning the clean up

It turns out there were three buds with flowers descending on the pruned yellow trumpet flower branches I brought in and the first two opened fully Wednesday night and their lovely lemony scent filled the room. And then Friday morning I woke to find that two more buds had flowers descending and it looks as if at least one stalk in the water is starting to send out little root buds. The third flower opened last night.

Earlier in the week I moved the bigger plants in pots that I brought in just for this cold spell back outside and uncovered everything I had covered and while all the foliage is brown and ugly everything seems to still be green at (and below) ground level, even the tender porterweed. The one exception is the ponytail palm which I think at this point will stay green! The foliage looks good, maybe only a little damage, but as near as I can tell, all the 'necks' are firm.

Our son came out to visit Wednesday, our first time to see each other in the flesh since covid hit. Good to see him and hug him. He hadn't seen the remodeling of the house after the flood and then we went over and visited with Pam who is back from Albuquerque. Later I started cutting back all the dead plant life, so far just the ginger and firespike and all the mushy goo from bulbs of all kinds. Our crazy weather, after 5 days of arctic freeze we're now having a week of high temps in the 70˚s. Big Mama has survived once again and she was out on her sunning spot.

Nothing much going on around here, I always consider the time between Christmas and New Year's to be a lost week where no one does anything and nothing gets done, the recuperative week after several weeks of festive activity. Not that we engage in festive activities but the rest of the world that does.

I spent the day yesterday cutting back dead growth leaving piles of debris for later retrieval as I move around this half acre and that's my plan for today as well. Might even torch the burn pile. It'll take several more days to get it all. I'll leave the banana trees for last as they will be a days effort all by themselves and that's not even counting the ones over in the shop yard.

Well, I'd best get out there and get to it.

 

more molds and little lives

We got more rain Thursday night, or rather early in the morning, which is good. Friday mid-morning in the 80s which was a much appreciated break from the mid to high 90s we've been suffering through except for one thing, the humidity. With the high temps and no chance of rain the humidity had been staying fairly low, mid 40s%. Friday it shot up to 91% before it dropped to the 60s%. This Saturday morning it's 83˚ and 89% humidity which basically makes it feel like high 90˚s. Can't win for losing. Even when the temperature is tolerable it still feels oppressively hot.

Yesterday 7 of the molds got steamed out. By that I mean the investment aka mold material, which is a plaster/silica flour mix, with the wax model encased is placed open end down over a pot of boiling water, the steam rises up and melts the wax out of the mold.

Once that's done I inspect the molds, clean them up, rinse them out and then do the volume measure so that I know how much weight of glass it takes to fill the form. I do that by weighing a container of water, pour some into the mold filling the form of the model and then weighing the container of water again. Subtract one from the other, multiply by the specific gravity of the glass, 2.5 in my case, and it gives you the weight of glass needed in grams.

I'm going to set these aside for a week or so to let the molds cure while I select the colors as well as decide to use transparent or opaque glass, frit or powder (I won't bore you about why these choices matter). Two more molds got made today, next week the last four.

Here's half the frivolous post, the little creatures who live here with us.

This honey bee seemed a little confused about which part of the flower she was supposed to go to as she explored the ends of several petals on the white orchid tree flowers.

This tiny gecko which couldn't have been longer than 1 1/4” head to tip of it's tail and looked to be just hatched was on the wall in the bathroom and we have no idea how it got there.

This little golden orb weaver is young, her body is only about 3/4”. She'll get much bigger.

Big Mama, our 32 year old red ear slider, felt it necessary to remind me she hadn't been fed today.

And last a little tree frog hanging out on the molding of the back door. I took this picture through the glass. First one I've seen this gray color.

 

good stuff, bad stuff

OMG, it is so fucking hot and dry and way too early to be this hot and dry. Last Wednesday was the last day to burn, but only if you had to, had a hose close, and did it in the early morning before the wind picked up. Marc burned on Wednesday. Friday I emptied the wheelbarrow of a mountain of weeds that had piled up and the mountain of cleaver that has been sitting on the driveway since I pulled it all up onto the burn pile. Was going to empty the full truck bed of fallen branches that have also piled up but the truck wouldn't start. Great. So now Marc has the battery charger hooked up. So, foiled in that chore, I finally folded up the giant tarp that helps protect the tenders in the garage in winter, swept most the leaves out that have blown is, and put the recycling containers back to their summer arrangement. This little bit of activity had me sweating buckets.

OK, now to the topics at hand.

Good stuff...

Are these not the sexiest, most voluptuous flowers you've ever seen?

The rock rose are coming into bloom.

I don't know what these are, I dug up a small clump in the easement beside the sidewalk in front of the elementary school at the end of my street back when I lived in the city, but they definitely don't seem to mind the dry and the heat.

Purple coneflowers (even though they are pink) and gardenia.

Minnie still doesn't know what to make of this moving rock.

Tree frog hanging out on the yellow trumpet flower.

Don't know what this is exactly but it's missing a back leg.

Bad stuff... (I have no idea why the formatting is indented for the first 6 entries and can't undo it.)

Arizona senate candidate calls for condoms to be banned in all states

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn calls for contraception ban except for married couples

Mitch McConnell floats a national abortion ban and promises to do it if republicans take control of the House and Senate

Missouri GOP banning Plan B and IUDs and is a debating a bill to ban women from traveling out of state for abortions

Louisiana GOP declaring life begins "at fertilization" and seeks to make abortion a homicide and the use of an IUD murder

Tennessee GOP law makes it a felony (with a $50K fine) to receive abortion medication via mail

Arkansas GOP trigger law will ban abortion with no exceptions and make it a felony to obtain an abortion

North Dakota GOP Gov. Kristie Noem pledges a special legislative session to pass new abortion restrictions

Oklahoma GOP passes Texas-style abortion "Bounty Hunter" law

Ohio GOP debating two trigger laws that would immediately ban abortion once Roe is overturned

Ohio GOP trying to reinstate a fetal heartbeat law stuck in the courts

Idaho passing a law authorizing civil lawsuits against abortion clinics/providers, Idaho rep wants to ban Plan B and possibly IUDs

West Virginia leaving in place a 19th Century anti-abortion law that makes obtaining an abortion punishable by up to 10 years in prison

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio introducing federal legislation to punish private companies that provide travel benefits for women to obtain abortions in states where they are legal

Kansas GOP leading a push to remove abortion protections guaranteed to Kansans by their state constitution

GOP Senator Mike Braun says interracial marriage should be left up to the states on whether it's legal

This stopped being about banning abortions and went straight to controlling what women can and can't do with some states trying to prevent pregnant women from leaving the state. While they claim the high ground, forcing women to give birth, they apparently are fine with women dying as a result of withholding life saving care. These same people are angry that the Biden administration is sending formula to the mothers and infants we are holding at the border who have zero resources available to them, these same 'pro-life' people apparently think those babies should starve to death.

And if that's not scary enough, there's this:

Candidate for Michigan governor Ryan D. Kelley says those on the left want to “push this idea of democracy,” but that “in every instance” democracy ends up as communism. This rhetoric is how the right will justify their rule even as the minority voice in this country. They're not even pretending that they're in favor of democracy.

And this:

The Texas Supreme Court allowed the state's child welfare agency to resume investigations of parents and doctors who provide gender-affirming care for trans youth, overturning a lower court's decision.

In addition to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill, Louisiana is passing it's own bill outlawing any discussions of sexual orientation or sexual identity.

New Hampshire Republican controlled senate passed a bill requiring public schools to not only 'out' trans youth to parents, but to report kids who aren't masculine (sissies) or feminine (tomboys) enough as well.

The right wing religious wackos are determined to take this country back to it's suppressive and oppressive culture, ruled by their interpretation of their religion, imposing it on us all, demonizing anyone and anything that doesn't conform to or fights their indoctrination, separation of church and state be damned. You know what to do in November. First, don't forget any of this stuff; second, don't let anyone else forget; third, VOTE BLUE.

if it doesn't stop soon I'm going to grow gills and webs between my fingers and toes

More rain last night and this Monday morning, fortunately not hard but just as wet. The sun has managed to break through off and on though not for long and the dog and I are tired of being housebound how on earth did people who live in apartments do it for a whole year and so we ventured out a few minutes ago. Holy fucking cow and I thought the mosquitoes were bad a couple of days ago. They are so thick and fierce they swarmed me and the dog almost immediately, nearly carrying us away as if they were flying monkeys. In we ran as they tag along on clothes and bodies so that once inside they are still attacking. Even if I doused myself with repellant I don't think it would stop these fuckers. I did notice while I was out there that these 10 days or so of rain have beat the petals off most of the yellow coneflowers so I'll be pulling them out, neither has it been kind to the petunias but I think they'll recover as soon as it dries out.

Two views of the yard...

what's blooming foreground: porterweed, black and blue salvia, black eyed susans; mid-ground: red salvia, society garlic, day lily, elephant garlic; background: pink rose, white althea with red throat

purple coneflowers, white althea

Sunday Minnie was letting me know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to go for a walk so I put the harness on her and out we went but had to cut it short as it started sprinkling oh joy and we did make it back to the house before it started raining in earnest but just barely. We saw this though, when we started out. I had watched the dozen or so vultures earlier in the day picking at whatever it was and as we got closer I could see that it was a big turtle and my heart just sank immediately thinking that Big Mama had somehow gotten out but no, she's big but not this big and the head on this thing must be 3” in diameter. Looks like it crawled out of the ditch and got run over. Monday, something had dragged it into the street and today it's gone altogether.

Well, I did get the book I was reading read in record time. I'm bored with FB and Twitter, I'm caught up on reading blogs. If this weather doesn't break soon I'm going to have to resort to cleaning house to keep myself busy. Or, I suppose I could do a drawing. I do have a picture that needs to be hung as well as some of my glasswork.

I'm still not feeling the urge to create, after 44 years of drawing and crafting everyday, I wonder if I'm done with all that. Surely not.

----------

Monday afternoon the sun finally came out breaking up the overcast into huge puffy white cumulus clouds towering up into the sky. Once again Minnie was bugging me to go outside so I went and stood in the sun in the street away from grassy things. My sister saw me and came out to ask me why I was standing in the street. “It's the most mosquito free spot I could find,” I told her.

I finally did my yoga routine Monday morning even though that one spot on my upper arm still hurt and after, it didn't hurt any less but it didn't hurt anymore either. And I did go to class last evening just modifying certain asanas and to my surprise, this morning it feels much better. So now I'm afraid to test it, waiting til this afternoon to see how it feels. 

averting disaster, more yard work and spring blooms or not

I can do a brisk walk for a long time without getting winded or tired but I have no wind or stamina for running which was brought home to me yesterday morning. The county sent it's mower out to attend to the ditches and in the past that has been both sides of the driveway into the shop yard. Today since I've been keeping the ditch in front of Pam's house cleared and trimmed it's just the other ditch. And then he moved over to our side of the street and started pulling the tractor mower towards the ditch in front of our house where the bluebonnets are going to seed. The county mowed them down a couple of years ago when we weren't here much to our dismay because the seed wasn't mature yet and the last two years has seen fewer bluebonnets in the spring. When it became apparent that he intended to cut the bluebonnets down again I dashed out the garage door and ran as fast as I could down the driveway waving my arms and shouting NO NO! OMG, I thought my heart was gonna bust, panting for air. He very kindly moved back onto the street and opened the door so I could tell him why he shouldn't mow that section...bluebonnets (gasp) seed (gasp) not ready (gasp) we'll mow it. OK, he says, no problem, they just told me to mow the ditches.

I've been busy in the yard still, though I've had a day or two when I basically did nothing. I weeded a large section of the day lily bed, fertilized them and spread out some mulch, spread out fertilizer for the azaleas but I won't mulch them until after I fertilize again in mid-May. Also worked in another flower bed and still plenty of that to do. It's really dry, no rain to speak of for too long so I'm back on my watering schedule. The poppies still look good but they are starting to wane now 

and the other long flower bed with the love-in-a-mist and the rocket larkspur and the german verbena has finally come into bloom, a little later than usual due to the deep freeze. 

Not a big return on the larkspur so I plan to scatter new seed this fall. The sweet peas are growing, getting tall, and yet no sign of any flower buds. 

They better hurry up or it's going to get too hot.

I had a visitor to the house the other day. Big Mama was out of her pond, hungry, she spied me just inside the open back door and made a beeline for me and actually came in the house. She's approached the door before but never come in. After she got my attention she turned around and headed back to her pond.

I know it's hard to see her but the white triangular spot is the top of her head.

So other than working in the yard here and there, mostly weeding getting the woodland violets and the mostly gone by baby-blue-eyes and nut grass and invasive black and blue salvia and handfuls of orange cosmos I swear every seed that falls sprouts and other weeds out so they aren't crowding the next wave of bloomers, and relaxing and reading I haven't really done much. I still have two big projects ahead...cleaning out and reorganizing the garage and doing the same to the shop including replacing all the water lines which cracked, and in some cases exploded the PVC, and so, once again, I do not have a functioning toilet in the shop. Well, garage first. Maybe this weekend.

Did I mention that the Boston ferns are coming back? Slowly, but they are putting up new fronds. And it's been several weeks since I checked on the ponytail palm so I was glad to see this when I looked yesterday.

May 1^st is nearly upon us so I'll be digging up the dead stumps of the hibiscus, bougainvillea, star of india, and desert rose bush.

And tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be 71. That just blows my mind. 

a rant, more doctor shit, and attempted sedition

Well, dammitall. My new jeans arrived yesterday and they are, as I suspected they would be, the stretchy 505s. After I posted about ordering the jeans I looked at the label in my stretchy pair and it's the same in the pair that arrived yesterday...

this is the label from my older non-stretchy pair...

so once again a perfectly fine product has been changed into a not fine product. Why the fuck do women's clothes makers think that all women want stretchy pants and stretchy shirts for that matter. Couldn't they have just left 505s alone and introduced a new product? And now I'm glad I didn't buy two pairs. So now the hunt for decent jeans is on again. Am I going to have to go back to wearing men's jeans which I did for decades because I could not find a pair of women's jeans that weren't 4” too long (no, not every woman wears 4” heels all the time), weren't cinched in at the waist or so low riding they barely covered my pubic bone, weren't covered with spangly shit, or stretchy. I want my jeans the right length, the waist just above my hip bones, and not stretchy or spangly or pre-torn. Why is that so fucking impossible?

This is my month for doctor appointments I guess, get them all over with at once, so Wednesday was my follow-up with the electrophysiologist. Since the afib has settled down, especially since the election, he is content to keep the status quo so I don't see him for another six months unless it starts acting up again. Don't wait til the next appointment and to call if I start having problems, he tells me, we are partners here you and I, he says.

Next Tuesday is my dermatologist appointment but January 21^st is the soonest I could get the bone density scan scheduled. What I'm not getting this year is the boob smushing as my PCP says I only need one every other year so yay for that.

I'm not even going to address the unbelievable and unthinkable, as it was pre-Trump, lawsuit petition to the Supreme Court by Texas' AG Paxton to overturn the election results in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan and the AGs from 17 other red states and 126 House Republicans as well as Trump himself that have submitted amicus briefs in support of the petition to overturn a legal and secure election to appoint Trump as the winner after over 50 lawsuits have been thrown out of court for lack of one iota of evidence or proof of fraud. Even Barr has said there was no fraud. So many republicans willing and ready to commit sedition because their guy lost. It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court is just as willing to commit sedition and throw our democracy and constitution to the wolves.

edit: the Supreme Court turned them down.

And you know, they aren't contesting every vote on a ballot that went for Biden for president since they are perfectly happy with the votes that got them elected or re-elected to the House and Senate. Apparently only votes for Biden are fraudulent but the down ballot votes for republicans are all on the up and up. And where does Texas get off contesting how other states ran their elections?  yes, I'm a Texan but not all of us are crazy or stupid   No place, there is no train or bus stop for that destination. Paxton is being investigated for criminal activity and the FBI subpoenaed records from his office the day before he filed his petition so the conventional wisdom is that he's angling for a pardon from Trump by showing his loyalty with this ridiculous lawsuit.

And Melania apparently had a member of her staff check to see if there was a government budget dedicated to paying the expense of their move out of the White House (there isn't). OK, that's enough of something I wasn't going to write about.

So ending up with a few critter pictures piling up...this little rat snake was sheltering under one of the cookie sheets I use to put the pots on inside,

I have many bird houses that mostly the birds don't use but the frogs like them,

wasps are pollinators too,

and Big Mama coming to see if I had food (I did not).

the summer yard part 2 – the critter version

The frogs and toads are quite noisy with their singing at night since all this rain.

Saturday I looked up, or down as the case may be, to see this pretty green ribbon snake...in the house. It seemed to have trouble getting traction on the vinyl floor and I can't imagine how it got all the way across the room from the door without me being aware of it but it did. I got my back scratcher, the nearest long handled thing, and gently herded it back out the door. It was about 18” long and not even as big around as my pinky finger.

I've seen some swallowtail butterflies in the yard and some little brown skippers and this tiny little hairstreak. It's true color is grayer than this.

I watched while this young squirrel sniffed around and then dug up a pecan and started eating it.

Big Mama hanging out.

Spider webs are everywhere. In this part of the yard I quit counting at 12.

A young banana spider with her mate,

these little green spiders with their neon orange spots,

and shield back spiders which I couldn't get an in focus picture of.

Not sure what this is but I thought it was a cool picture even if it is out of focus. Maybe a shield back spider with it's egg case seen from underneath.

I'm not sure what kind of egg case this is, my best guess from searching images is a jumping spider egg case.

Wasps tending their nest under the eave. Since wasps are only aggressive when they feel threatened I generally leave these pollinators alone unless they want to build their nest somewhere inconvenient for me and then I just wait til no one is home and knock it down.

Marc called me out to see this wasp and a wolf spider battling it out. By the time I got out there the wolf spider was dead and the wasp was dragging it across the yard.

spring is just a memory

and summer with its heat and humidity and mosquitos is firmly settled in. Ugh. I usually try to hold out til June 1^st before turning on the air conditioning but when the thermostat said 82˚ and 82% humidity inside at 12:30, I caved.

Any work outside not done will probably not get done. Or at least minimally. The summer garden is more subdued than the riot of color of the spring garden and while we get the threat of rain it doesn't materialize and I'll spend a lot of time watering, like I did this morning. And will again this evening.

It's been a snaky spring. Besides seeing the resident coral snake twice in one week I saw this guy twice in a matter of days as well. First spied when I noticed the dog with her curious stance looking closely at something under the magnolia tree.

At first I thought it was trying to swallow an old seed pod from the magnolia thinking what an idiot. When I looked closer I saw it was swallowing a toad with only it's back legs and butt sticking out. 

I thought it was a rat snake but my friend Andy says it's a hog nosed snake, that toads are toxic except to them. Then I saw it again a day or two later by the garage door.

Besides the living snakes I came across two medium sized snakes squashed in the road while walking the dog and two little garden snakes as well. And while digging out more of the mexican petunias I found this shed skin.

Saw a clump of orange dots, looked closer and this is what I saw...

they started spreading out when I jostled the foliage. These baby spiders are about the size of the head of a pin (click to bigify).

The green frog was back on the bromeliad but I haven't seen him again since.

Big Mama was out prowling around. She does this for two reasons in the spring. Either she's feeling the urge to lay eggs or she thinks I'm not feeding her enough. I'd lay odds on the latter. I noticed I'm down one more goldfish. Her posse is getting smaller.

And while I don't have a picture, the lightning bugs have been coming out in the evenings and I saw my first dragonfly, sure signs of summer.