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Two more days until March

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:05 pm

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Yesterday was almost 80 for a high temp, today should be almost 80 and Wednesday should be in the mid to upper 70's ...way too hot for me to be out back in the afternoon. Even iffy during the late mornings since the tree limbs are still bare and the sun just shines right thru them leaving no shade.

I have been putting off buying the shelves I need for the new potting shed too. I know that once they are out there I will have an even harder time staying away from the yard until March.

And when my last two seed orders arrive, the call of the shed will be strong.
But thru all these temptations I only have to reach up and accidently scratch my healing injury to be reminded that it is still February and February hates me. And it appears February is not very fond of Randy either, he stepped on a nail Sunday afternoon while finishing up out there. Just a small puncture and thankfully he is current on his Tetanus vacination.

But March will be coming in like a lamb on Thursday with temps only in the 60's for about the first week of the month.

Trash day is tomorrow so this afternoon we must move all those fence boards to the front curb, we haven't been able to find suits of armour for that chore so wish us luck.

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Shed extreme makeover

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:23 am

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This is what the potting area looked like for the last couple of years. It started out as a nice area but the wheather really took it's toll on everything sitting outside. Plus when I tried to start seedlings last spring I had to contend with squirrels digging in the pots, birds dropping unwanted seeds, the rain we did get flooded everything. It really looked bad as you can see.



This is the last of the old fence panels, Randy took them apart. We were going to salvage the pickets but most of them split and fell apart in the process so they will all go to the curb on trash day.



The old metal shed that is so rusted in the first picture has been painted a dark gray color and when I find either a barn red or dark green, the door will be painted too.
The new potting shed is up. It is 7feet x 7 feet x 7feet and is a popup design. It has 8 screened 'windows' that can be opened for ventilation. I need to get some shelves for plants, the red cooler in front of me holds my potting soil so it will go in too, several other things will go in so the furnishing is not complete. But the important items are there, my chair, me and a glass of Chianti.




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Head update

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:21 pm

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It is still at the top of my neck.

The lump is only a little tender now, but does remind me it is there when I roll over onto my back in my sleep. But it is healing nicely.

We will be finishing the potting area re-do this afternoon and then I can get some pictures posted.

Thanks for the well wishes and other than helping Randy this afternoon I don't think I will be doing much of anything in the garden for the rest of this cursed month except getting some seeds potted up.



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I don't like this February

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:28 am

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It hasn't rained enough to measure in my really large rain gauge, it hasn't been cold enough to even notice, no snow on the ground like Feb 14, 2004 but yet nowhere the same number of pleasant working outside in the garden type of days as last year either.

So why do I hate this February? It is trying to kill me....or at least cause me great bodily damage.

Feb 7th I had a wonderful day working in the yard, then fell while taking limbs to the curb and couldn't move for a few days without pain in my back.
Feb 12th I thought I was recovered so got out the vacuum cleaner to do the cleaning I couldn't do for the previous 5 days, did more than I should causing my back to continue hurting, preventing me doing gardening for yet another week and a half.

Feb 23, Randy and I started on the complete and extreme makeover of my potting area. Got everything moved out, I swept the fallen leaves out of the area in preparation for more roofing shingles as flooring for the new potting area.
Randy had gone into the house for something, I got the area swept and knelt down to pull some weeds....I don't know exactly what order things happened, but I think it was like this.

I had a feeling I shouldn't be at that particular spot at that particular moment in time.
I heard a sound to my right.
I think #3 was the realization that the last fence panel was falling but it might have been tied with #4 or a nanosecond after, which would have made it #4.
The next thing I knew the 6 ft x 8 ft wood panel fell onto the back of my head, knocking me down and pinning me under it. My second or third 'first thought' was I had better get at least the top half of my body out from under this thing or Randy will really get panicky when he comes back out.
I was laying on my back when he hit the back door on a dead run.
The fence panel scraped a my scalp....do you know how much a head wound bleeds????

'Tis but a flesh wound' and other than a headache off and on today I have been feeling pretty good.

I think it will be at least Sunday before we can get the makeover completed.





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A lot going on out in the garden

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:29 pm

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And I am not talking about plants growing or blooming.

Tuesday it was the sparrows. Yesterday it was the squirrels. Today it was the doves. Tomorrow will probably be the grackles.

My first thought was 'come on you all, get a room' then I realized who I would be talking to...animals doing what comes naturally...so I just averted my eyes so as not to embarrass them.

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To the gate and in full bloom

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:57 pm

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I spent three hours working on the future birthmonth flower garden/Lantana bed. I had started it two weeks ago today, then took that fall and today was the first time I could really do anything out there. I may pay for it tomorrow but what the heck, I had fun today.

I still need to finish pulling out the grass/weeds you see at the bottom and right of the picture and there is a bit more just outside the picture to do also.
From the clump of dead Redbud stumps to the gate will be covered with black plastic and mulch then I can cut slits for planting the three Lantana I need to move. I have one bush type and two spreading type that just aren't working in the main garden but will be great over there.


I knew Rosemary was an evergreen but I didn't realize it would stay covered in blue blossoms year round too. The bees are having a feast on it too.






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Nicky and Gramma went to the soccer game

Category: Grandson Stories | Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:33 pm

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I thought I knew where the soccer field was, Lisa had told me that it was at a large church across the road from the school where she teaches and the boys attend. Okay, no problem been up there many times and have seen the church. She said turn left and you can't miss all the cars, parents and munchkin sized soccer players.

So we drive thru the ridiculously large number of sports fields this place has and find soft ball, hard ball, touch football and larger kids soccer and not a person I asked had any idea where the other soccer fields were. Meanwhile Nicky is sitting in the back seat saying Gramma go back to the big road and turn that way (he was pointing to the right) I did have to turn that way because there was no left turn allowed at that spot, but then I u-turned and headed back the other way. From the backseat I hear..."If only I knew how to drive" followed by a heavy sigh that said what he knew would get him in trouble if he put it to words. Hahaha funny 7 yr old.

I did finally remember that the left Lisa told me to take was supposed to occur after passing the church not before. So we finally found it and wouldn't you know it, the fields are on a high plateau where the only thing to block the wind whipping out of the northwest today was the totally useless chainlink fence. At that time the temp was just under 50 but the wind was blowing at pretty much a steady speed between 25-30 miles per hour.
Found his team and waited for the two teams on the field to finish, they were running late.

When his game was starting I moved my chair down field to the end where his teams goal was located. I could sit with my back to the wind and have a good view of the entire field. And as luck would have it for the first half of the game all the action was right there in front of his teams goal. Sadly at the half time, the teams swapped goals and then all the action was now at the opposite end of the field. In case you have not figured it out yet, that means the other team was a better team. Final score was 7-0
During the 3rd quarter break Nicky came down to me, he was upset and crying about the other team beating them...he didn't want a trophy that said Looser on it. After some talk, hugs and kisses he started feeling better and went back out on the field.

End of game they all got a juice drink and a bag of mini-chocolate chip cookies...ahhhh, the healing power of chocolate. On the way home he told me about the game and the happy tone in his voice warmed my frozen ears just as much as the warmth of the car's heater.



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New recycle cart/new planters

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:00 pm

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Nice big and blue, 95 gallon lidded cart on wheels to put the recycle items out for pickup, to replace the two 18 gallon bins we have been using for several years. Our's was unceremoniously chucked into our yard this morning.

We have an even larger green, lidded cart on wheels for regular garbage pickup. Because I recycle everything that can be recycled our garbage cart only goes to the curb about once a month. But the recycle bins are there almost every week, unless we forget to put them out.

Recycle pickup will only be every other week now, but with such a large cart that won't be a problem. Unless of course I forget to put it out, then it might be. One of my neighbors never recycles anything so I could borrow hers if that happens.
This means that on windy days I won't be going out to catch milk jugs and cereal boxes as they fly down the street...on rainy days I can now put out the cardboard and paperboard which they won't pick up if it gets wet.

Also means that since the city doesn't want the bins returned to them I now have two 18 gallon, already drilled with drain holes bins to plant mint in under the large hackberry tree. I never seem to have enough mint and in the small pots I have been using they dry out too often.

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Just whose yard is it anyway????

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:56 pm

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Usually I can block out the traffic noise only a block away and the noise of the airplanes coming in for a landing a few miles south of us. I listen for the train horns in the distance (I love the sound of train horns). Sometimes I can hear the kids on the playground at the elementary school Amanda attended many years ago, that's about 5 blocks away. And early mornings from August thru October, I can hear the high school band practicing their routines for that weeks football game. Both Lisa and Amanda attended that school (20 years apart), Lisa was in the band and Amanda was in orchestra.

Mainly I listen to the birds. A few of our neighbors have parakeets and on pretty days they hang their cages outside during the day and I hear them singing.
Many years ago a neighbor across the alley raised doves, he either died and his kids didn't want them or he moved and couldn't take them with him....so they were set free and have since 'been fruitful and multiplied'....but I enjoy their cooing sound.

Then there are the bosses of the yard....funny, I always figured it was my garden so I was in charge....silly me. There is one big black Grackle who will sit on a lower branch than the others saying the same thing over and over again......"The feeder is empty, the feeder is empty, the feeder is empty" As soon as I realize what he is saying and fill the feeder he gets quiet. When the feeder is filled and I am too close to it there is another, grouchier Grackle who squacks at me until I either move further away or turn my back on it, at which point he too gets quiet.

So as long as I remember my first priority is feeding them, then I must stay a respectful distance from them or at the very least turn my back on them, I am allowed to enjoy my backyard. Does anyone have a good recipe for Grackle??

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I am going to hurt in the morning

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:30 am

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Already do but it will only be worse by morning. But I had a good time getting into this condition at least to begin with. Temp just reached 70 this afternoon and I was outside to greet it. Got out about 10 and put my tools up for the day around 4.

I transplanted two Lavenders from pots into the ground, lost one in the last freeze I am afraid so I will have to replace it.
Also transplanted two Bronze Fennel and a Rue from pots into the ground. One Rue into a larger pot and left the other two Rue in their already pretty large pots. I have read that Rue will keep cats out of the garden so I plan on having them strategically placed to hopefully save some birds this year.

Dug up a group of Canna to give to Lisa. Then started clearing out where the wishing well/birth month flower bed will be. About half done, I want the finished bed to be 12 feet in diameter. Still have to take down the rest of the dead Redbud we started on last fall.


The not so fun part of getting this sore was falling. Randy and I had done some tree limb trimming and were taking them out to the curb for trash pickup tomorrow when my feet got tangled in the limbs I was carrying and down I went. I figure in the morning I will be sore in places I didn't remember having.

I have now had my shower and am comfy in my pjs about to begin studying the Johnny's Seeds catalog that came today.

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