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not gardening rocks no more!
Posted: 07 Jan 2012 Posted: 17 May 2010 Posted: 12 Mar 2010 Posted: 02 Mar 2009 Posted: 12 Feb 2009 All Entries |
CritterPainter's BlogVarious ramblings of a country gal
son's first day in N.O.
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:35 am My boy reported in this evening, but he was so worn out tired that he didn't talk long. He and another fellow were laying the floors for a family that's been living in a FEMA trailer, with several of the family members having disabling conditions. DS sounded SO happy to be moving things along for them. He wasn't in the 9th ward, but might be by Wed., several members of the group were. He was in an area called Covington (a suburb of New Orleans). He didn't sleep well last night (new place, air mattresses & all that) but it sounded like he will tonight! Guess they did have a rather dramatic thunderstorm, which he really grooves on. His sister watched videos all day while I worked painting a bedroom. She swears it isn't the same blue that I painted her bathroom with, but it sure looks the same to me and I've been trained in seeing color variances! O well, glad I don't have to sleep in it, it's a little intense for me. She wants me to lay on a glaze tomorrow. Fine with me, it's too cold and rainy to really do anything much in the garden anyway, and the weatherdude says snow at my elevation. Max is under my feet, sulking about the weather. A guy can't really get out to play when it's like this. definitely giving the rain the doggy version of the stink-eye. Madame Houdini (the goat) was happily tripping about the yard when I got home from working today. Impossible to be mad at her when she so cheerfully pops back into the pasture, but my patience is definitely running very thin!!! This blog entry has been viewed 501 times
Never a dull moment! (could use a few!)
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:14 pm Goodness, it's wonderful to see how busy this site gets! No way I'll be able to catch up on posts but I think I'll go searching to see if anything came of the suggestion for Stew to put the logo on t-shirts at cafepress or something. Well, my boy is winging his way to New Orleans. I guess the homes they will be working on have gone untouched since Katrina hit. How disheartening that must be for the people who lived there! Hope they can get at least a couple of them close to ready for living in. And, I'm wondering if the powers-that-be have thought about flying to the Netherlands or someplace like that, where cities have been below sea level for a long time, and see how they construct their walls? Dunno, maybe it's a different ball game since hurricanes don't hit in that area. Just seems like something could be done... Tried to mow a bit of my grass this week and, ta-daa, the battery in my mower is dead. I've recharged it too many times, it's well and truly dead. Rotten timing, but O well. It's raining again anyhow so I can't mow anytime soon. And I have some yard work lined up this week so I'll set that aside for a new battery. I don't really make any money gardening, I just recycle it into maintaining my equipment! A friend gave me some native plants he had potted up, so I get to plant those some time this week. And I splurged on a bleeding heart to go down by my pond, did a mini-landscaping job around that. I am looking into getting a little solar-powered fountain to float in my pond (2 of them, actually) just to keep the water moving. Don't want to run power down to where the ponds are. So, I've been weeding, pulling dandelions to feed the bunnies, pulling weeds, and, did I mention the weeds? Between that, my daughter having an allergic reaction to a medication (she's ok now) , my son flying across the country and all that entails, and so on, it's been a truly adventurous week. Think I'll go check out what the rest of the Stew is up to before I have to go take a chocolate mousse to a potluck! This blog entry has been viewed 510 times
mumblings of sleepy gardener
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:24 am Held my two-day garage sale, and my grand total (garage sale plus gardening earnings) is two-hundred buckaroos! Just in time, as the money for DS's New Orleans trip is due next Sunday. Nice to be able to add to the pot and not require DH to work so much overtime. I'm getting nervous about the whole thing, though. People are telling me horror stories about the nasty molds and such that have accumulated in the uninhabited buildings. The group they are working through are very skilled at protecting the workers, but hey, I'm a mom, worry comes with the territory! I went to saw up the cherry tree that has been disease-prone all it's life and which threatens my greenhouse since it's developed a nasty lean. But I just thought I'd give it one more chance. I sawed off a big part of it, straightened it up a bit, and used a nylon anchor strap to hold it that way. I'm just not sure what I want to do with it, but since the raised beds need to be rebuilt anyway, might as well try to save it until then. My little yellow pear-tomato seeds are coming along nicely for the most part. I've moved them to a north-facing window for diffused daylight. And I planted a bunch of pansies in my kitchen window-box on the same side. Now I just need to tune up my mower for the season. Egads, I'm making myself tired. Five acres gets more overwhelming every spring. I've got an idea for a new painting rolling around in my head, inspired by a lesson taught by DH this morning and having to do with God designating different people for different purposes. If I actually get the time to work on the painting I'll post it here, it'll either be really pretty or a real candidate for the gesso jar! This blog entry has been viewed 492 times
A day in the mud!
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:51 am Whee, I actually got PAID to fiddle in a garden today! It was overgrown with grass, beyond what the owner could manage. The last person they hired just pulled up the grass, I got in there and sifted the roots out of the soil. Time just flew, which is amazing since I was freezing the whole time. Not entirely my fault, I had to bold out of the house this morning because my son desparately needed something he left at home- since the HS is a half-hour drive I just took my grubbies along, not noticing that a) the socks weren't quite dry, and b) my coat was not in the stack. And the wind blew. But I uncovered two black beetles and one lady bug, several unfriendly grubs (very satisfying to squish), and lots of big fat nightcrawlers, which I moved to the freshly-fluffed soil. Even got to take my pup with me. And I got to bring home two flowering quince starts! On top of that I got some adorable seed packets from Toni... I am SO ready for spring! *tapping toes impatiently* Making Cabbage Patch soup for dinner- brown a pound of hamburger & drain/rinse. Add 1 can diced tomatos, 2 cans beef stock, 1 can mushrooms, 1/2 finely chopped onion and simmer together for a bit. For last 15 min, add chopped-up cabbage. Uber-easy, my family loves it, what more could I want? I think I have some grainy-bread that'll go good with it, too. This blog entry has been viewed 456 times
Leisure time? Whats' that?
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:40 am I had one of those gardening days that just doesn't warrant photographs. Cleaned out the poo and straw from the henhouse, and let the gals run loose on the prairie for a bit. One of them is eating all the eggs, I'll have to get feed with a higher calcium content or fire that hen. Started to clean under the bunny hutches, but a person can only take so much in one day, so I only got two cleared out. I'll just do the others another day. Limbed up a medium-size doug fir and discovered some daffys trying to come up under it, hopefully they'll get the sunlight they need now. There were alot more bulbs in the bucket than I had thought, and many of them were moulding. I just dumped them in a grassy spot, moved the grass over them, and wished them well. Spent about an hour planting the rest of them- like I said, alot more than I thought. They probably won't even survive, but at least now they have a fighting chance. Then I moved a little doug fir that was growing in the road easement- wrong time of year, but here's hoping. So now I'm cleaned up and working on dinner. I use a really great salmon recipe that a friend invented. Here it is if anyone's interested- you take a chunk of salmon and drizzle it with honey. Then sprinkle it with ginger, ground mustard, cayenne, cinnamon, pepper, and garlic. Heat some olive oil in a skillet, and cook the salmon, turning it once after about 4 minutes. When it's just about done, pour some soy sauce over it. When the soy sauce starts to bubble and the salmon is completely cooked, serve it right away. I usually have this with the extra sauce over a bed of brown rice, but tonight we're having it with focaccia bread I got on special. (I suppose this would work with any fish, salmon is just what we have alot of around here) Tried to trim my goat's hooves yesterday but the trimmers really need a good sharpening. Always a bit more to do around here than I can do in a given day. O well. Think I'll work on a drawing tonight... This blog entry has been viewed 530 times
We now return to our regular programming
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:49 am OK, the cold bug is dispatched. I get them alot, but they never hang on to awfully long. So, during a sun break on Friday, I went out and yanked up one of my overgrown raspberry beds. I amended the soil with lots of good, moisture-retaining bunny poo compost, and gently bedded down two new blueberry bushes. 
Raspberries out, blueberries in. Now I just need another break in the weather to go tidy up the raspberries on the other side. I know it isn't the ideal time at all, but I discovered some bulbs I'd missed last fall. I'll poke them around just to see what happens. The crocus have been taunting me, all up and strong and healthy, but very few blooming. And the ones that are are in odd places, I suspect either a dog or another critter toted them away from their home. Still trying to find a job. Just to help pay for my son's college expenses come fall. It's appallingly difficult to find a job that will work around my limitations, but something will come up. I've pretty well decided the whole "work from home" route is either about selling friends laundry soap or just an outright scam. Off to feed the bunnies, there's another break in the hail! This blog entry has been viewed 501 times
The strange goat/ flowery pajama connection.
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:17 pm My goat got out again, and again I was in the same flowery pajamas. In my own defense, I was running a low temperature and intended to stay in them all day feeling sorry for myself. But no. Lucy Belle was out again. She was very cooperative about going back in, but I had no desire to wait until after dark (again) or until it was raining (again) to put her back. So I reluctantly got into my barn clothes and HOPEFULLY fixed the escape spot. Lucy Belle seemed fully unaware of the trouble she was causing, just snuffled my ear the whole time. 
See? Innocent face, eh? Here's a very bad shot, but best I could manage, of Lucy Belle, Cecil the Gopher Stomper (named by DS) and the goat bunker I built into a Mima Mound. 
Max spent the whole time huddling in fear of the scary big goats, against the back door. He's half Border Collie, ya'd think he'd be more at ease around goaties! This blog entry has been viewed 1074 times
flu bug
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:35 am Can you believe I didn't even get outside today? I mean, other than opening the door to let Max out. DD, I'm afraid, has that flu bug that's running rampant through the schools, her temp tonight kept jumping up to 101. Had to go to the school and get her yesterday- I had scheduled to take her for her flu shot in the afternoon. But with her immune system already battling the bug, it was a little pointless. She was actually sleeping sitting in front of the tv this afternoon- not sleeping on the sofa, sleeping sitting up on the floor! Poor little muffin. So it's lots of fluids and keep an eye on the temp. Grammy is going to watch her in the morning so DH & I can go out for fancy coffee. Gotta go find some brilliant ideas for growing lettuces. I think I'll just plant lots of lettuce and those little yellow pear-tomatos this year. I'm tired of trying to grow fancy things that just fail, and our weather pattern here has definitely changed so I don't even know what zone to call it. besides, I love tomatos! Doggone goat got out today somehow. Ate part of a rhodie, hope she doesn't get sick. Oh yeah, that's when I went out. In my pajamas and rubber boots! Big Valentines wishes to the Stew! This blog entry has been viewed 511 times
Thinking of Spring
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:01 am Here's more of Max, guess you can tell I'm rather taken with the little fellow, eh? 
I was buzzed by honeybees while working out in the yard today. Didn't they read the Almanac? We're having a blizzard before the end of the month! Hmm, maybe that was Washington DC instead of Washington state. Have to double check that. My daffodils up under the bird feeders are popping up like crazy. They are naturalized, not in beds. I like things shaggy like that. On the old family homestead, there is a spot, a clearing in the middle of the cedar, fir, and blackberry, where an amazing clump of daffs come up every spring. Only the bears and bees get to see them, unless one of us remembers in time to go look at them. The house that was there has long since collapsed and returned to the earth from whence it cameth. There's a healthy crop of Morel mushrooms up there too, shhh! Grandma used to go pick them to go with dinner! A few gnarled apple trees, too, varieties that just aren't available anymore. Lots of bear evidence around those trees come fall! This blog entry has been viewed 464 times
A tail tale, now with photo!
Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:58 pm The air was still and cold on the moonless night as my son drove himself and me through the blackness. Down winding back roads, past yellow-windowed homes to a dim parking lot, where only every second lamppost was illuminated, to save energy I suppose. And there in the quiet, a little red car. And in the little red car, a puppy. Found wandering alone and scared weeks before, no tags, no luck finding it's home. With stubby little legs and a long whip-like tail, in need of a good bathing and brushing (he'd been playing in the yard). We were just going to look, just to see. I saw the look on my son's face. That was enough. Will his long hair become a pain to keep brushed? Probably. Accidents on the carpet? Twice already. Upset my kitty? Most definitely. Welcome home, Max. When I find my camera, you will be an internet star. OK, enough theatrical descriptions, here's Maximus Decimus Aureleas 
'scuse the glowing eyes, DH offered to photoshop them out but DS is hovering around wanting to chat with babes online so I must rush Last edited: Sat Feb 10, 2007 5:34 am This blog entry has been viewed 884 times
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