Here a deer, there a deer and a yard of rabbits

We live on close to four wooded acres and our large pond is a very popular spot in this drought, for all manner of wildlife.  To keep our garden from becoming the local salad bar for four-legged critters, husband has fashioned a very cheap cage to cover it. It seems to scare most of the wildlife and, when she was alive, Irritating little chihuahua would not go near it.

He found the pattern online but husband is not real knowledgeable about the internet and probably could not find it again. It’s made of chicken wire over a frame of flexible electrical conduit and it has its own screen door and a seat on the outside. We had it near the house but the Brown County Garden Club came out and built us a raised bed garden to fit in it. It weighs next to nothing for about seven of us to lift and put over the new garden.

Frankly, I see two more of these in our future.  And, thank you so much to the kind people and companies who donated their time and supplies to make our garden successful.

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You are never far from home, no matter where you roam.

It is always nice to have a new subscriber, but it is especially cool to find one from a far away land. I believe it helps to remind us just how similar we are. There are jobs we hate to do and then find out how worthwhile they were. There are times we do not realize how much we miss our relatives until we see them again.

If i cannot travel, at least I can read about other places and people. Sanchari is in Delhi, and blogging at, http://sancharib.wordpress.com/. If you scroll down her posts, you will see some great photos of the Jaisalmer Fort.

But, what really brought me home was her November post on cutting down the Mango tree which was just one year older than she is.

When I was growing up, my side yard had a large weeping willow tree. I could crawl under the branches and have an instant play house/fort/whatever I wanted. Many a day was spent eating lunch and playing under that tree. So, when mom and dad moved to a subdivision, they took a start with them and grew a new weeping willow in the backyard.

When I divorced, I moved back home again with my daughters. Super teacher daughter was in kindergarten and was delighted to live with a weeping willow in her very own backyard. It was she now who spent hours eating cookies or sandwiches and playing dolls under her grandparents tree. That is, until one day years later when lightning split the tree and it was taken down.

We had moved out a couple of years before this, but daughter always ran to visit her tree. We did not think to warn her as we got settled in for our visit, until she came back in the house in tears. Her beloved tree was gone.

She never ate mangoes from it but that tree was a wonderful memory for my daughter, as well as Sanchari’s Mango tree was for her.

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My Labor Day

I slept late and we are having a quiet day.  This is what I woke up to at 9 a.m.

This was not night time.  This was out my front door at 9 am and we don’t have fires to blame.

With the cool nights all summer in Indiana, the marigolds are about the only thing left, and our fawn twins are now just one.  I don’t know if they have split up or one got hit by a car but this guy is still coming through twice a day and feeding, so she can have what she likes.

Happy Labor Day all

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How mean can some people be?

It is miracle Saturday.  I don’t usually get online on a Saturday; let alone one that is rainy.  So, I thought I would share a bit of my life with you.

When I do get online, one of my favorite blogs is Crazy Aunt Purl.  I have secretly been thinking about living in L.A. a lot lately.  I have no idea why; okay, there is the warmer weather, but I would HATE the traffic.  But, Crazy Aunt Purl wrote a most moving blog on August 17; when the gardeners her landlord hired totally destroyed her garden.  It was an act of vandalism, as far as I am concerned.  My heart  sunk when I saw it, I can only imagine how she felt when she came home and discovered it.  Her rows of beautiful corn, I have four stalks that have yet to reach knee height, and her pumpkin vines are now just like four sticks sticking up, with one tiny pumpkin sitting forelornly in the mud.  How mean can someone be, to do that to a person, after that person has worked for months to put food, they grew, on the table?

Anyway, that is how they grow, with tender loving care, in Sunny L.A.  This has been a cool year and this is how they have grown in rainy, cool, Indiana this year.

Let’s just hope these striped babies are well hidden from the two orphan fawns that are eating my ripe tomatoes.

My pumpkin patch is creeping out into the grass, which is now impossible to mow without cutting the pumpkins.  It originates from the top o the picture (where the tomato cages are and is growing out to the bottom of the picture, and on the right side, even growing up the side of my studio.

And, here is one of my baby yellow pumpkins in this patch.

To end up, I will show you what IS tornado damage.  The expert came out to one house and declared it to be straight wind but my yard was damaged with things falling in a circular pattern throughout.  I have very thick hostas in front of my studio.  I was going to thin them this fall, but this is what I have on one side now. 

You can see the progressive damage as the wind whipped around.  The sticks at the corner of the studio were full grown hosta just as the one under the window is; even though it is also beaten a bit.  This is one side of the door, the plants on the other side of the door were barely damaged at all.  The tree to the right of this building, past my garden, had a large limb ripped off and it went to the right.  The limb on my roof was knocked to the right, and all around my yard, they were knocked down in that swirl pattern.

My next door neighbor was home during the storm and he heard the freight train sound, so I am presuming the eye went over their house.

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The wild life ain’t wild anymore

It’s so beautiful out today.  I love this property, with all the trees waving in the wind and the two fawns that have taken up residence (I think their mom might have died in a car crash).  Poor babies are eating all the red tomatoes and yellow roses.  They do not like the pink roses.  Pink must taste bad.   They wait for the tomatoes to turn red.  Actually, not just turn red but be soft and ripe.  It is now a game of wits between us to see who gets the tomato at the proper maturity.  They won the other night and got the three I planned on picking the next morning.

This morning I opened the door to let irritating Chihuahua out and a rabbit was sitting in front of the door munching the grass.  Probably the same rabbit who is eating the blooms on my melons.  I do think mother nature is winning this year.  Between the late blooms, due to cool weather, and the animals, I’m not sure what we are getting out of the garden other than peppers.  Anyway, the rabbit would NOT move.  Just refused.  I knew the Chihuahua would take out after the rabbit and I wanted the rabbit to have a chance and also not to beat the tar out of the dog, so I said “shoe.”  The rabbit munched away.  I knocked on the inside of the door.  The rabbit munched away.  The dog actually went back in the house (we were on the porch) and laid back down and the dumb rabbit was still munching away.  I think my wildlife has gotten tame.

I have two gardens this year.  I planted vegetables in the very sparse rose garden, where a bunch of roses came up in the beginning but didn’t do much with the cool weather.  I took care of them this year too.  But, I have two new plants that are doing great.  One is a yellow rose and one is varigated and I just love it.  Will post a picture later.  The vegetables were doing great too, before the orphans took up residence.

And, then we have the square foot back garden and the pumpkin patch that is invading our yard.  These are some of the numerous blossoms.

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What did the dandelion ever do to you?

Summer is officially here, along with the strange urge to pour poisons on your grass and kill things.  I suppose that some weed killers are not poisonous.  I have heard of pouring boiling water on stuff to get rid of it.  I had a joke here about just who you could get rid of but, from things I am hearing on the news, you do not make jokes that you do not want some idiot to actually do.  So, we’ll stick with plants.

But, just look at this picture and tell me, “What’s not to love?”

These bright yellow flower heads brighten up any yard.  Didn’t you ever hold it under your chin to see if you liked butter?  I think that was why.  My chin was certainly yellow. 

How many hours did you spent, as a kid, blowing the fireworks style end-of-season head to watch the parachute seeds drifting slowly to earth?  Picture a chubby munchkin with pursed lips.  Do you want to take that joy away.

Dandelion means “lion’s tooth” in Old French.  This was due to the deeply toothed, lance shaped leaves, which are good for eating when they have just emerged from the ground. 

There is a whole world of information at Common Dandelion.  Where, I borrowed the above picture from, by the way, and thank you.

But, here is my favorite reason for loving dandelions.

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Do I have the energy for summer?

Summer is almost here.  Tulips and daffodils are blooming and tomato starts, in the bay window, are two inches tall.

This means that I will soon be reminded that I have, yet again, overestimated my youth and energy.  I am still weight lifting and doing aerobics, and still stuck at 11 pounds lost, but I do hope I have the energy for the garden this year. 

I have a hard time throwing out the weaker plant starts.  I just cannot imagine me ever being able to chop up the Mandrake roots.   Since I do like to have extra plants, and thus extra produce, to take to the Seniors in mom’s apartment building, I planned on planting more this year anyway. 

No one is fond of mowing our 3.8 acre yard. A couple of areas of the yard are wooded, so we just leave those alone.  I think one winter day, when the ticks are hibernating (Do ticks hibernate?) I will put the teens to cleaning the woods.  That is, if they are ever home long enough. 

No longer a Teen, #1 is living in Santa Fe, temporarily and is 22 now.  Teen #2 will be 20 this June, and is always gone to the fire department or nursing schooling, or working.  Teen #3 is now best buddies with his girlfriend’s dad; whose house he goes to for extra tutoring and also to help around their property.  The latest project is a “man cave” in the barn; complete with comfy chairs and a television.

It is always a spur to tell them that they can use the wood they pick up for their fire pit, plus, them being volunteer firemen (and cadet) they realize the fire danger of an overgrown/deadwood woods.

Our drive is 400 feet long and I would love to build a Japanese style walking garden on the strip of land to the east of it. The area between house and pond, to the west, could be deck and terraced gardens; thus, eliminating most of the mowing. We would then be left with the area around my studio to mow. I would love to have that in square foot gardening plots.  Thus again, dreaming of a time when energy and aching bones was never a problem.

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Spring has sprung

I am so tired of the snow and winter and having such a time trying to find anything worthwhile to post, that I thought a change of banner was in order. Trusty camera and Irritating little Chihuahua and I went out to capture the newly opened daffodils on film. I do wonder what has happened to the grape hyacinth. I thought they always came up first. But, alas, they are nowhere to be seen.

First, I should say that Irritating little Chihuahua slept in her own bed last night. All night. She did wake me twice to let her out, but I feel like a mother whose child is finally sleeping in her own bed, rather than on my stomach. Which, is too nicely soft and padded. I have lost eleven (count them) 11 pounds, so perhaps my stomach is not as padded as it was. I will also not post here how many pounds to go.

Chihuahua is not feeling too well this morning. She refuses to eat anything: her favorite Milk Bone original little pillow like, marrow, treats; the remains of my oatmeal with Brummels and Brown butter on it (which she loves); a peanut (which I am not sure she should even have but which she acted offended to have dropped by her, while she normally would have gobbled it down before anyone could retrieve it). So, she was not particularly cooperative about modeling for the camera (she never is). I thought, how cute to have a picture of the dog sniffing the daffodils; given that she would have to raise her head up to sniff them.

This is the best I got and you can be happy it is so small because at normal size, it is blurry enough to turn your stomach.

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How my garden grew! Baby watermelons.

 

It’s getting cold in Indiana and time to clean up the garden.  We now have a bag of little hard green tomatoes.  Mom tells me to wrap them in newspaper and put them in a cool spot for home grown Thanksgiving tomatoes. 

 

You know those baby watermelons I showed you way back last spring?  They were much smaller than the one above, which found itself a nice spot nestled in with the tomatoes.

 

We also have about six of those watermelons left.  A few weeks ago I did the thump test and thought these softball size guys just might be ripe.  Today, I ate one and it was just a bit overripe.  They did not get real red inside either.  I have the packet and it was Crimson Sweet Watermelon, by WalMart gardens.  It is supposed to be a twelve inch melon that can weight 25 lbs, with deep red, firm, fine-texture inside.  They were light red with kind of mushy texture.   

 

I purchased the plum tomato plants at WalMart, also, and it is a shape I will forgo.  I do not know if the label is out there still or not, but they were near empty inside; even when ripe.

 

 

I plan on purchasing name-brand seeds early next year and starting them inside.  I have a huge bay window next to the kitchen sink, that will be perfect.  And, on my list will be a small watermelon that the folks at the senior housing will love.  I just have to have pumpkins too.

 

We have four gorgeous acres of land and I think we can plant a bit more next year.  JRock wanted to plant corn last year and we never did, as the tiller needed work.  I would love some beefstake tomatoes.  The hot peppers did not work too well either and we have always had luck with them before.  So, I guess I shall move the garden back where it was in the past. 

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Life is too short, not to live it to the fullest

Were you ever in a relationship where you woke up one morning and said, ‘This person is making me old.’?

 

It’s not that they are actually making you old.  Mother Nature does a fine job of that on her own and when your genes add something like heart disease or cancer to the mix, it is scary. And, it is not that I am afraid of death, because I am not. And, someday I will explain that when I am feeling very psychic and ready to open my soul to the world (plus a death experience- not my own though).

 

What the thing is, is that I want to enjoy every minute of this life while I am here.  It is way too short not to.  I used to hike, picnic in the Dunes State Park in the winter, ski (cross-country and downhill), and just explore.  I went camping every chance I got.  Daughter-of-eleven and I once went camping with the tent and a roll of aluminum foil.  Seriously, I forgot blankets, bedding and utensils.  I stopped and bought a spatula and a blanket.  You can make a very good bacon and egg breakfast on foil, over an open fire.

 

I have visited every state in this union except Alaska. I have camped in Canada and spent two hours in Mexico.  That’s a whole other story.  I have whale watched and driven a large cargo van up a gravel mining road in Colorado.  That MAY just be what is wrong with daughter-of-eleven.  She was with me and never quite got over that adventure.  She did not mind going up so much, it was the backing back down the narrow, steep, drop-off, gravel mining road that did her in. 

 

The point is, and I am sure there is a point somewhere; I am not ready to sit in a rocking chair yet.  I have given up most things for years now because it seemed so unfair to my husband to do things without him.  He cannot help being disabled, but I realized a few years ago that I was getting older than I should be because of not living and it was not doing him any favors either, that I was declining.  He does what he can and I need to do what I can.  As I said, life is just too short.

 

I started out taking violin lessons.  It was something I had always wanted to do and I inherited my uncle’s violin.  So, the last year and a half I was in Wyoming I studied with Rainer Schwartzkof and, if I do say so myself, and actually, my teacher did; I’m rather an advanced case study on violin.  It may have been the years of music in school. and teaching myself to play organ.  But, by the end of the year and a half, we were doing Mazas duets and, oh, how I loved that.  I gave that up when I moved.

 

So, now that I am all better (my chest has been opened and my heart repaired) and I again have health insurance to get some rehab to help me get exercising again, I am anxious to get back to the violin.  My goal: to play Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida by Wolff; Three Pieces from Schindler’s List by John Williams and I have a book of Classical Solos to tackle.  I am also anxious to get back to painting.  

 

Until they get me settled in rehab, I walk (on our four acres), and I tend the garden (getting my pulse rate up a bit) and I take pictures, and I write. Irritating Chihuahua accompanies me and occasionally sneaks away, but when I am out of doors, it recharges my batteries.

 

Life is too short, not to live it.

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