Another Busy Weekend

After a crazy week we departed into a crazy weekend. I came down with a nasty cold Thursday night and have been down with it all weekend. Unfortunately there was simply too much happening to really take any time to rest. I'm not sure if I just worked through it but I'm feeling a bit better today.

Saturday was my aunts memorial service and reception. That made for a busy day...sad too...but we tried to focus on celebrating her life. Hopefully the luck we've had as a family will turn now...just as summer is turning to fall.

Sunday we finished the second coat on the house. We are very close now...close to finishing that monstrous project! Only trim and touch-ups remain, which we will be working on over the next week and weekend. Finally! It looks great IMO. I'm in love with the new color.

Finally now that the painting is winding down I was able to spend a little time in the garden. I took a half day this morning to recover from seeing Gogol Bordello (my friends, if you are not yet in love with this band, then you simply must open your heart to them), which was FANTASTIC! The best show I've seen in ages. Anyhoo...this morning I felt better then I expected so got two of the beds planted. All the beds will get crops that will reportedly either produce in winter, or will overwinter nicely and produce in very early spring.

These beds got carrots, onions, sweet peas, beets and fava beans. I couldn't bear to rip out the snapdragons which I've read will overwinter.




Over the next week-ish, I'll be harvesting the peppers, tomatoes and sunflower seeds so that I can start working on the big beds which will get a bunch of cool crops.

I'm so pleased with the way the plants look against the new house color. This border bed is particularly pleasing to me right now with the mums coming into bloom. I just received about 100 bulbs which will be planted in various places, but several will go in this bed for some early spring color.



Anyways...this post is rather scattered in its stylings and its because I'm in a hurry...you see I only have a half day off and I must get to preparing to leave for work. Ick.

Cheers...

Little projects and a wee harvest

It was a lovely weekend, the weather was fresh and smoke-free. We did bbq and go see the new Batman (wow, I like it!) with some friends. Other then that it a great time for a few little projects around the house.

The first of which being the other front yard shrub that we decided needed to go - the overgrown camelia. We were slightly more reluctant with this one, as it was quite healthy and had probably been in that spot for 20 years or more. But it's placement was poor...it overgrew onto the porch, rotting the porch railing. And to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of camelias (we had tons when I was growing up, as our land was fairly shady - and I tired of them) and would not turn to them willingly unless I had a very very shady yard to work with. And we are planning on putting a new garden window in the kitchen window above it.


So out it went. And once it was gone I felt less bad about it. The best news is that DH has finally completely come over to the dark side. Or the green side as it were...he came in the other day after raking the front yard and said "I'm so f'n sick of lawn". YES. He's seen the light and has agreed to let me rip up the front yard and replace it with a garden. I've been plotting and will start drawing plans soon. We are waiting until after the windows and paint, and just before rainy (crosses fingers) season so it will take less to get it established. The only argument now is fenced vs. not fenced. I prefer the former, he the latter. We had a rental house that had a wee picket fence around the front yard, and I liked it.

In other projects, I decided to refurbish some old patio chairs my gramps made a long time ago.

They were pretty rough, so I washed and sanded them thoroughly.

I've managed to get one of them painted and I think it turned out pretty nice. I still need to fashion some cushions for them:

I also took an early morning trip to Home Depot, only for a bag of mulch, and found just the right chairs to go with my patio table...on sale! For 13 bucks each. Holding out for the right deal is the way to go. Finally I have an actual patio dining set. It inspired to me rearrange my patio set up. See my new dining room? I just need the umbrella...which again, I'll wait for the right deal to buy one:

What better way to enjoy a new patio set then with a bbq? And for the bbq we enjoyed a wee harvest. Other then zucchini and lettuce, my garden has not yet been a big producer. But it is my first real expiriment and so I'm enjoying what rewards I'm getting. And though this harvest was indeed wee, DH and I both thought the corn tasty, and the cherry tomatoes and carrots were amazing...in my humble opinion. The carrots especially!

Heehee...that's almost my entire corn crop...I have 4 or 5 more ears that I can pull off and then its done. I don't think I'll grow corn next year. I'd need to plant it much differently to make it healthier and in order to do that I'd block sun from other beds. Or perhaps I'll sneak some into the front yard? I'm planning on a mostly ornamental, drought tolerant cottage garden for the front. But I do plan on throwing in some edible perennials in the spots of brightest sun and leaving some small spaces here and there to plant veggies and annuals each season. Yay!

Well well, here we go back to another week of working. BLECH! I so wish I had a couple more days off. It will be a long week. And then a weekend away (visiting mom). Then next week DH is traveling for work! He'll be in the Boston area (jealous!) all week. Poor thing is so nervous! But I am too...a whole week w/o him! I'm going to be lonely. Perhaps I'll paint a room to keep myself busy.

Cheers, everyone.

*yawn*

Back at work. Blech! Ah well. At least there's plenty to do to make the day fly! I am moving. My boss will be in town alot and has requested that I move upstairs. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. The pro's are that it is a change of pace, and much more light. I'll be in the only cube on that floor and it has a huge window behind it and a wall of windows in front of it. Which means, house plants and vitamin D. The con's are that part of the cube area includes 3 printers. And it's not great for you to sit so close to printers. The other cons are less space overall, and MUCH less privacy. So the con's kind of outweigh...but se la vie.

We went to Sac this weekend for a friends birthday. I took what was left of my last harvest of zucchini and used this lovely grilled zucchini recipe, which was quite the success. Very simple, and very tasty. Though by the time I got to the grill I was already fairly hammered and so I think I could have cooked them longer to really do it right. There were no complaints though! And nevermind the 4 or 5 slices that now live in the bottom of Dan's bbq. :D

I'm wondering if the zucchini are done. I don't see any new ones except for my mutant ones (recall my post about needing two plants to germinate properly). The summer squash are seeming pretty done as well. They were okay. I think they needed more room to stretch. The fruit was tasty, but rather thick skinned. The corn is done. I'll harvest them this weekend and grill the ears. My wee little crops LOL. I don't know if corn continues to produce or if it's just one crop period, but I suspect the latter. I harvested the beans and I think I left them on too long. There were a few that were good, but most were just not right. We kind of grew more food then the two of us could eat. Well that's not exactly true, let's just say my gardening eyes are bigger then my lazy-cook ways can handle. The 3 sisters beds which were glorious to look at in early june are now haggard. I'm thinking of pulling everything and trying to start other warm crop late, just for kicks. I don't want them to be completely empty until Sept when I start my cool crops in there. Maybe I could get some eggplant to produce?

Anyhoo - I'd better get to packing my desk.

Infestation!

My backyard has a terrible infestation of white flies! :( I noticed some on the nasturtium and the geraniums a few days back and have been meaning to take care of them. All of a sudden they have infiltrated everything, and I mean *everything*. OMG. My organic gardening pest control book suggests sticky traps, insecticidal soap or garlic oil. It calls for predatory wasps and beetles inside greenhouses, but I don't think those will work outside! I plan on taking a trip to OSH and the closest nursery to my work to check it out. My friend who has indoor organic gardening experience suggested something called "don't bug me". So maybe I'll pick some of that up!

It feels dirty somehow, to be so infested!

Summertime...

...and the living is easy. I have lots of pictures from the yard and garden to share. I had posted this one of a squash blossom in the side bar, but thought I'd include it here because its a rather nice picture and there's a little green bug to spy. I need to look that fellow up in my garden encyclopedia:



The corn is almost ready to pick and eat! YUMMMY...I'm gonna roast these ears on the bbq grill. I've learned alot this year about gardening, and as usual the lessons come from making mistakes. One lesson this year is that corn likes to be planted in a square or circular plot so that it can germinate (is that the right word?) each other properly. I just planted 4 in a row which I've been told is wrong and why only a couple of the plants are succeeding.

The hops are doing quite well and have lovely wee lil flowers. I discovered yesterday that the cascade plant has spider mites and got to educate Joe on the matter. Per my organic pest control book we'll need to use some insecticidal soap to rectify the matter.

The zucchini is still producing like mad. It's a strange success story. Half the fruit is misshapen, round and small with yellow tip. According to my in-laws its for a similar reason to the corn...you're supposed to plant more then one zucchnini plant for them to really grow properly. But the fruit that is healthy is phoenominal. Here's a big boy for you:

I pulled all the lettuce that had bolted and added some peppers. I'm going to plant more lettuce seed too though I think I'll wait til later in the week when the heat wave is over. The zucchini is doing well, but I can't really say the same for the peppers. They seem stunted. And the tomatoes look lovely, but it seems to me that by this time last year I had red tomatoes, and so far I have only green ones. Likewise the sunflowers and echinacea seem stunted. I am realizing that the main beds simply don't get enough sun for certain specimans. I suppose the tomatoes will be okay, if late. But I'm not so sure about the peppers.

It's okay though, as I've said before, I usually learn the most from gardening mistakes - and next year some new beds will give us more room in the sun. And as my father-in-law says "the yard will teach you what it wants". My In-law's garden is amazing. They planted all their small plants less then a month ago, and the plants are doing better then mine already...and I planted mine in March and April! They told me not to feel bad, because they said they've been working on their soil for 15 years. Also their back yard gets more then 10 hours of direct sunlight a day. But still...it's like the freakin' garden of eden they got going on over there!!

Enough coveting of my neighbor's garden, then. Here's some before and after shots of the removal of a nasty rotten bush that was in the front yard. We still need to pull the stump, and then once it's gone we're probably going to replace it with some Ceanothus, which is a california native...aka wild california lilac.

Well kids, that's all for now. We had a lovely long weekend although it wasn't long enough. And now it's time to work again.

Wee Things...Ginormous things....

What do you get when you plant sunflowers in a spot that gets not even a fraction of the sun that sunflowers need??

Wee sunflowers:

Can you see it? It has a few wee sisters as well. Wee, Wee, Wee.

Now, perhaps only to make me feel better about how wee my sunflowers are, my zucchini are ginormous! I'll check a little zucc one morning and then go look at it the next day and it's quadrupled in size!

Mmm!! I love zucchini, one of my very fave veggies. I made a delicious zucchini cheddar bread that we took camping with us, and we only brought a sliver back, it was a hit! Now I think I'll have to make my famous zucchini casserole for dinner one night this week with these bad boys.

I'm feeling very very tired. For no good reason I suppose other then stress. I sure was sad to have to come back to reality from camping this weekend. Camping was great as usual, though a tad smokey. Driving through Mendicino was alarming...you could see the road and that was about it! Luckilly it wasn't so bad up in Humboldt, although I was sad to not be able to see the moon and stars at night. It was great fun though...terrific company, magnificant trees, spending time in the river, night hikes, rum drinking etc. I took almost no pictures because I was too busy having fun.

In house news, the windows are pretty much a sure thing. DH's buddy gave us a professional quote from his company and when we researched it we realized it was a very good deal. It's still hugely expensive, but we've socked away for it, so fuck it! Windows it is! I'm excited. I'll have to take some before and after pictures.

Hmmm...what to do for the fourth? Anyone have any interesting plans?

Cheers

Happy Summer Solstice!!!

Here is to the upcoming warm midsummer night under the light of a full moon. Too bad DH will be off with his band buddies. But I plan on gardening 'til dark this afternoon then dancing under the moonlight in my yard with my poochies! I need to do some weeding and mulching and maybe plant a few things. The garden is doing well. The spinich has completely bolted but I haven't pulled it yet because I think it's flowers are kind of pretty! The cilantro that I thought never sprouted all of a sudden appeared growing *through* a tomato plant. It's flowering too and it's gorgeous. At the farmers market they were selling bunches of it with flowers on top so I'm guessing it flowering doens't spoil its flavor. The leaf lettuce is holding up well, I must have chosen a good variety for heat. Maybe it will hold out until the tomatoes are done! They are a peeking out finally:

And I'm so very glad I threw some snapdragons in with the three sisters as they've been a highlight! The beans are almost ready, the corn is doing amazing and the squash and zucchini are producing faster then we can eat, though we are battling powdery mold on them.

With this heat the last few days I've been watering a bit more then I should probably with the drought we've had. I know that I haven't cut back the requested 19%, but I don't really see how that's possible considering that we already conserved. I plan on picking up a few buckets for the sinks (to catch water while it heats up) and I bought a toggle switch for the shower but unfortunately it would not fit. I need to find a low-flow shower head with a shut off valve that is the kind that is on a hose that you can take down and hold in your hand. I find it's much better for dog washing, even though we only do that a few times a year it's still worth having.

Anything that has not gone in the raised beds is or will be generally drought tolerant or mediterranean climate friendly (I love this book that DH got me for xmas), but I find it interesting when you read the fine print that in general most drought tolerant plants are drought tolerant "once established". So some of the things I've planted definately exhibit this need and I've realized that I have to water much more often then I hoped, at least this season I suppose. I read an article a few weeks ago about how Xeriscaping can be a misnomer because often those gardens require more water then a lawn of a less thirsty strain of grass would. At the time I found it a bit contrary (it was on a blog where people argue about stuff), but I'm kind of starting to see their point a little bit. I've mostly talked DH into redoing our front yard next year, but it did occur to me that were I to landscape it as desired, using the recommended plants for our climate, that the first year or so it would probably require watering much more often then we water our grass/clover patch that we have today. I wonder if mid-drought is the most prudent time to make the change. Hopefully we'll have a wet winter this year!

Anyhoo - Sunday I have a date! YAY!! I have managed to agree to drag DH away from his motorcycle to take the ferry to Angel Island for some bike riding and picnicing! I'm so excited! Hopefully the air will be clear I'll have some nice pictures for you come Monday.

Stuff

Cascade Hops:

Corn (and squash, and beans and snapdragons)! They have earwigs all up in them though...we are going to spray them out with the hose, then put out traps of wet newspaper. I guess they normally eat aphids, which is good...but they also eat corn silk which is bad! We were out in the yard tonight and I told Joe I wanted more raised beds and it occurred to us to put matching ones to these against the retaining wall (which would be directly to the left of the photographer in this picture). It's the perfect spot, making use of the last truly full sun area of the yard, w/o impeding on the clear path through the yard that DH and the dogs favor. Excellent, it will look rad too with a little path of stepping stones in front of the beds winding toward the hops and the side yard.

Yellow room! It's done, yay! Well...almost done. I'm painting the doors this weekend and DH is putting in a new light fixture. Moving on to the bathroom next I think.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. Cheers.

Rock on

The rocks, at last! I believe I've worn out every single possible rock joke this weekend possible...so aside from the title I'll spare you. I'm so glad they are finally in, it's starting to look so much more finished out there! I had searched craigslist etc. high and low and the only rocks I found were either lava-rock (ick) or they were in far away places, and DH's truck won't hold more then 1/2 ton so it would have required mucho gas and effort. So instead we purchased them from the landscaping supply place right down the road and had them dumped in the driveway. This is 3/4 of a cubic yard which at first sight seemed like there was no way it would be enough. But it stretched out nicely. We have a couple of thin spots, but nothing too bad.

We had great fun this weekend! We BBQ'd with friends on Friday night at home and used our outdoor fire pit for the first time. It was soooo fun! Then Saturday we had a nice breakfast and played disc golf at Lake Chabot with DH's friend that stayed with us. Then we rocked for a while (oh sorry...I promised no rock jokes), then we went to the Cherry festival with some friends. I bought this lovely solar light there, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully it's just the batteries or something, because there's no way for me to return it:

Yesterday I got up early and went to the nursery and planted a few plants - just for fun! Then I went and bbq'd with more lovely friends while DH worked on the electrical in our garage. We are now ready for the new garage door to be installed! I must call Sears and arrange it. Here's another pic of the rocks - this time dry. Not so pretty as when wet, but still lovely IMO.

Now back at work. But it's okay because it's another short week which ends with camping and Faire in Tahoe, one of my favorite places on the planet. I must work hard this week. New projects are coming my way and I'm still trying to get caught up. Here's to a fine week for you all.

Mystery Tree

A garden mystery of sorts...when we first moved in we noticed these two little shrub-ish trees growing in the shade of the apple tree. By the way they sprouted up along the fence line, in an almost univited fashion, we kind of assumed they were "weed-trees" so to speak. You know the sort...they sprout up among fences and are extremely hard to eradicate. Even though we could tell they weren't quite the insidious weed-trees we were thinking of we did discuss removing them to make way for other things there.

However, I'm glad we didn't. Last fall their leaves turned a glorious shade of yellow and brightened up the garden tremendously not to mention provided a nice layer of mulch for the winter for the bed below them. I told DH that I wanted to keep them for the yellow alone. Then come spring they sprouted the nicest reddish leaves that turned to green as they matured. And then in a final gift of color...they bloomed! That was unexpected! The flowers are a lovely coral color:

Now I notice my back neighbor does have one of these trees in his yard, so I suppose these two did grow as "weeds" in a way. But I do think I'll keep them. I have no clue what they are...any ideas?

I so look forward to the weekend. Yard work, painting and BBQ's await us.

Are we there yet?

The last few weeks have been eternal. I'm feeling very very tired, and sad, and longing for the events of the upcoming weekend to be over. So I'll keep this post brief and focus on a couple of good things in life:

Hops that are now 6 feet tall:

The flourishing 3 sisters beds, mind you that one snapdragon is like 4 feet tall:

The joys of watching SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer:

Tuesday will be a good thing. My day of rest, of letting everything sink in. I look forward to painting and gardening (despite the above pictures some areas are getting pretty raggedy and need some attention) and camping and faires beyond that.

of sunset and sunsets

The warm air and fiery sunset last night almost took me back to younger days when I lived in the valley. The only good thing about summer in the valley is summer nights. When you can wear shorts and a tank top without a sweater and feel perfectly comfortable while running through orchards and drinking beer on canal banks. You can even take a swim (but not in the canal, please...that's very dangerous not to mention icky) in the wee hours of the morning and not even get a chill.

Some of the mixed lettuce bolted, just in the last two days of heat. I ripped it out and harvested a huge crop from the rest of the mixed lettuce for our salad's last night and for DH's salads while I'm gone over the next few days. Only the mixed lettuce seems to be bolting. The rest is standing its ground. When it's all done I'll just rip it out and start fresh I think, so I can have lettuce with my tomatoes. I'm thinking sometime next week I'll plant a few more things...I left myself a little more space then I needed. More peppers are in order I believe. And more flowers...yessssss....I love flowers.

I leave this morning after my 10am meeting for mom's house. It feels strange and empty to say "mom's" rather then "mom and dad's". I'm going to help her *clean* (oh my how they've let things go there) and make the arrangement for dad's memorial service...catering, schedule, obituary and such. Not necessarilly a very pleasant weekend. But busy it will be, and I've considered a few distractions for when the planning, cleaning and listening to mom start to wear on my mind. I brought some piano music for practicing, a couple of movies for mom and I to watch, and my current book "Children of the Mind" which is part of the Ender Quartet by Scott Orson Card. And my sis-in-law and my darling niece Keianna will be around for visiting. That little girl has been a true ray of sunshine in our darkness. It's easier to accept the sun setting when you have the dawn on your shoulder.

Until next week, my friends. Stay cool and drink margaritas.

Holy Lettuce Crop, Batman

We have lettuce, possibly more then the two of us can eat. We eat alot of salad though, so hopefully we can put a nice dent in it before it bolts or gets eaten by critters. Speaking of bolting...I'm wondering how long a crop of lettuce can last in warm weather before it bolts. Does harvesting it regularly have any hindering effect on it going to seed? I'm pretty inexperienced at "seasonal" gardening and the last two years by the time my tomatoes and peppers were ready, the lettuce was long gone. I suppose I could just start a new crop over when this crop is done. We eat enough salad that I'd like to have lettuce year round if at all possible. Any thoughts or suggestions anyone? I do need to start reading up more on proper seasonal gardening techniques. I find that so much is written about gardening with the seasons for places that actually *have* seasons, unlike our blessed climate. So some things don't apply I suppose.

Staying busy is the name of the game today. I painted a third coat on my spare bedroom. According to Martha, often yellow is one of those colors that needs 3 coats. So I said to myself "Mary, quit being lazy!!" and the third coat is lovely and just what the dr. ordered. My hands and back are appropriately tired.

I also gardened my butt off this weekend. I weeded and trimmed like crazy. I moved some sunflowers that were in too much shade. Then I forgot to water then and they died so I planted some more sunflower seeds. Fuck it, it's early yet and they might just take off. While I was at it I direct seeded some Black-eyed Susans, Jupiter's Beard, and Ox-eyed Daisies. Maybe someday I will regret planting such invasive wildflowers in my yard...but then again maybe I won't. We'll just have to see. I do enjoy the cottage garden feel such specimens afford. The garden overall is feeling pretty darned good. The hops and veggies (save the peppers which are doing nothing yet) have more then tripled in size since my last pictures I posted. We meant to get some gravel this weekend...but were undecided enough on the manner of gravel procurement that we ended up putting it off for a couple of weeks.

I miss my dad terribly. I cannot believe it has only been a week since he died. It seems like a year (It being a year to the day since we lost Aaron is just insult to injury at this point). I think about him all the time. The other day I even picked up the phone to call him and then remembered that he's no longer here and that I can never talk to him again. Ever. However, my tears have forsaken me...this at a time when I most need them. A surreal numbness instead has taken their place. I had thought not to talk or write about this. I'd thought this too personal for a blog which I strive to keep cheery and light. But those who read here are not those I'm afraid to share with. And who among us has never felt pain and loss?

At least my garden is doing well

When things are sucking in general, I think it's important to find anything positive to focus on. Which in my case is the garden. The veggies are all doing well. We ate some of the lettuce the other night even...so fresh! I can't wait until I can bbq ears of corn out of our garden. Grandma's Nasturtium is over the top...I think I need to trim it back because it's choking out some other things I've planted. I don't know when I'll get to that though. And the hops...my how they've grown! DH built a little trellis for them and I helped him put it up the other day. The only things that are not doing well, suprisingly, are the marigolds. Who'd have thunk you could kill marigolds!! I certainly have never managed it before. But this time I am. A bad batch? Who knows. I might rip them out and replace them with new ones. Or Zinnias! Or something. Whatever. Deep breathes.

Sicky Girl

Sick again! Do I blame DH or do I blame Mom? I guess it doesn't really matter. What's done is done and I feel like crap. What's the worst part of being sick for me is that I have a hard time laying around and doing nothing. I feel like I should be doing *something*...cleaning, painting, weeding...whatever! I'm going to go home early from work today and lay around. Maybe I'll do laundry which doesn't take much effort and yet will still cross an item off my all important to-do list.

A dear friend is getting married this weekend and there will be much partying to be had. So I hope to be feeling much better by then!

What else is there to report?? The spare room needs a good deal of touch up. I guess the dingy-est walls in the world are hard to cover with such a light color. And unfortunately I've run out of paint! I don't want to spend 30 or 40 bucks on another gallon, so I've been using the bottom of the can and I'll probably buy a quart. Rather then do a third coat, which it doesn't really need everywhere I'm just going to hand-paint over the corners and spots where the coverage isn't the best. Hopefully it will be satisfactory in the end. Now that all but touch ups are done I must say it looks alot better and I'm really satisfied afterall with the shade of yellow that I chose. It's screaming for curtains and artwork though! It's all coming together in my minds eye however! I think I'll probably have to buy some fabric and blinds, and some picture frames. I'm not going to invest much more then that though, because this is a spare room and would likely get proper furnishings someday should a small person come around to occupy it.

The garden is growing, growing, growing! The plants have all increased in size dramatically other then the hot peppers which I believe need more heat to really take off. I'll have to post some pictures, especially of the hops which are getting huge. They have some shoots that are literally crying for something to climb on, so DH and I (assuming I feel up to it) are going to build a trellis for them tonight.

Maybe I'll take some pictures today. It's supposed to rain, which I'm glad for.

Driptacular

It took a day of planning, a day of working (and getting sunburned) and about 10 trips to OSH. But the drip system is IN. It still needs some tweaks - a new sprinkler head here, some drippers there - but the raised beds can now be watered with the turn of a switch. We didn't put the timer on yet - but eventually we will. The system runs along both sides of the patio beds (I need to install watering devices here - I tried bubblers, but they put off too much water. I think I'm going to replace with drippers. Then over our retaining wall - unfortunately the cement went too deep to go under it. Then it t's off and one branch goes behind what I'm calling the three sister's beds, and in the other direction it's going to our main raised beds. We are now ready to install the gravel in our walkways, and then other then planting, maintaining and harvesting - I think that we'll be done with projects in the back yard for a while - at least until after the house is painted.

I also managed to get a nice chunk of the spare room done - the ceiling! My least favorite part of painting, behind the sanding. I bought the yellow paint and it's very cheerful. Tonight I need to caulk a few little spots on the baseboard (we are getting lazy and not replacing the baseboard in this room) and then tape it off so I can paint the walls. I should be done by the end of the week - at least with everything but the trim. Yay! Then I will have a sewing room, which will be good because I have some projects I'd like to start on.

I want to make a patchwork duvet cover. I figure that it will be like making a quilt with out the tying and batting part LOL. I have tons of quilt scraps, some of which came from fabric from my great-grandmother's dresses. And I've always had kind of a love affair with calicos. I don't want any color scheme or pattern. It will be completely 4 or 5 inch squares of whatever random fabric I have and whatever fabric catches my eye at the fabric store. Harder this way with no pattern, because you can't do strip quilting (Have I ever mentioned what a genious Seamstrix Art is?)...but fuck it - I like the old fashioned random squares quilts alot and I wants one. And making it duvet cover style will please the hubby.

The other crafty project I need to start on is chemo caps for my auntie. She has brain/lung cancer and her hair should start to fall out from the treatment next week. Gypsy Junk suggested it, and I checked with my cousin and she thinks it would be VERY well received. I'm going to go now - and finish my project audits hopefully soon so I can search for patterns.

Morning moments in the yard

I woke early today - I wanted to get to work early because I'm leaving around noon today to head to San Jose to visit with my aunt and take her to her radiation appointment and dinner. Consequently I was on my walk and watering my yard earlier then normal.

About a week ago I frightened our nesting dove away, so that I could water my plant. I got peered into the top of the plant expecting to see the egg - and instead found two little baby birds! Very very very little - I watered around the nest anyways, but was concerned that I had made a mistake and they were too small to not have her warmth atop them, even for a few minutes.

I've wondered this morning whether they were okay, since I hadn't even heard a peep yet. So I stood on a chair in side the window and pulled the curtain back. I guess I startled her, because she flew off and left the two little babies there - very much alive and staring at me. PHEW! I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out well.

I ventured to the back for watering and found a hearty snail making it's way towards my sunflower seedlings. I think not little snail! I hucked him over the fence, prompting a stern admonishment from Noke, our neighbors blue nose pitbull pup. It's actually the first snail I've seen - there's been a few slugs after rain, but no snails! I don't even have any type of snail protection going on. I suppose now I'll sprinkle some sluggo and buy some copper tape for the top of my raised beds.

On to watering - I love standing out there watering in the brisk mornings! And today I had a little visitor. As I watered my tomatoes, a little hummingbird approached me. He was silvery with a nice ruby throat. I stood very still as he got closer...and yet closer! I raised the hose a little and watched with glee as he danced in his little shower. He then flew up to perch on the lilac tree and shook out his little wings - then returned for another spray! He must have been about 2 feet from me. It was soooo cool!

I think I'll buy a new hummingbird feeder this weekend. Mine is old and even hot wash didn't get all the clogs out. They don't even look at it.

Happy Friday everyone!

Hops and Apple Blossoms

OMG we're gonna have so many apples. The tree looks so pretty, just a week or so ago it was barely budding.

DH's hops are sprouting quickly. We can almost sit and watch them growing. There are two varieties - Cascade and Nugget. The above pic is of the Cascade...I think. Hmm. I know the Cascade Barrel is on the left....alphabetical order ya know ;). But I can't remember which picture was of which barrel. Ah well. Suffice it to say we love our wee little sprouts and though you can't tell from this - DAMN the little leaves look like weed.

I spent a little time out in the yard yesterday afternoon deadheading and examining the progress. I've had such a busy week that I hadn't had much time to be out there other then to water in the mornings. Things are coming along pretty well. The tomatoes have tripled in size already and the lettuce is much farther along then I thought. Also to my joy, the carrots that I had given up on are sprouting. I plan on ordering some late flowering bulbs and some more seeds to plant. Gypsy Junk cracked me up when she told me she put all 5000 love in a mist seeds in a single flower bed. And here I was following the directions on the seed packets! But she's definately having more success...wee little sprouts galore - so perhaps I'll be more liberal with my seed spreading - at least with the wildflowers! I figure on filling in the blanks in the border bed around the perennial shrubs I am planting with bulbs and self seeding perennial flowers and wild flowers, and maybe some nice grasses. I want some Jupiter's beard, Ox-eye daisies, Black-eyed Susans to start. Yum.

Okay - off to audit people's project files. That's my task this month and let me tell you I'm probably not the most popular person in the office right now.

Ciao.

Reasons I like my neighbor

I should carefully clarify and say that I like my back neighbor, and specifically his yard. Now most of my neighbor's are nice. The ones on the left are quite friendly and not bothersome at all, but their yard is quite boring, though well kept. The neighbor's on the right are very nice as well and have an adorable puppy. But their yard is quite ratty and they have a zillion people and cars parked all over the place, and let their kids throw trash on my lawn. But I digress. What I like about my back neighbor is his yard.

It's not really very fancy, but it adds interest to my own yard in many ways. The first and foremost being the array of mature fruit trees. There are lemon, orange, apple and persimmon, all providing a lovely backdrop (above) and all hanging over the fence enough to provide us with a ton of fruit. Let's just say y'all better want some apples come fall, because we'll have tons and when my dogs eat them, they get diarrhea, so I have extra special interest in picking them over letting them drop.


I also love this ratty old shed he has. It is so sad and decrepit, but it's very serviceable for him, and it's quite visually interesting to me. I especially am enjoying the juxtaposition of the chartreuse persimmon leaves against the shabbiness of it's rooftop.


Lastly I am thrilled that he has a rowdy patch of honeysuckle which spills profusely over my fence and frames this darling little outdoor fireplace, and grandma's clothesline pole (which we are keeping btw). As with the shed and persimmon tree, I just love the fresh new life of nature contrasting with the rustic old human elements.

In other news, of the to-do list variety:

• Dirt pile gone - check!
• Chamomile and Clover seed spread - check! (fingers crossed that it works out)
• Spare room patched and sanded - check!
• Gramp's tax extensions - check!
  

Yay! I love crossing things off the list. :)

I am busy studying the raindrip set up for the backyard....plotting it out and such. It seems pretty darned easy to set up. My one concern is that given how pathetic the water output in the back is with a simple sprinker - I'm not sure we have enough PSI to support a drip system. I'll have to figure out how we can check that. My hope is to be ready to install the drip system next weekend and do the gravel soon thereafter.

Happy Monday y'all!

Found it...

The flower I was looking for is "Sparaxis" aka Harlequin Flower. Yay! I knew they were out there somewhere! They are not related to daylilies. They are of the Iridaceae (Iris) family, and native to South Africa. I found a website that listed all spring flowering bulbs then I took the ones I didn't recognize and googled them until the right one came up. Here's some pics. Ima gonna order me some. We mostly had the variety in the second picture in our yard. I so enjoyed them as a kid. It might be nostalgic, but I kind of want to put some things in my garden that remind me of my beloved yard when I was a kid. Our yard was *rad* and was my favorite place, the catalyst for my imagination, my escape from everything, and by far the best part of my childhood.