We Made It!

The forecast severe weather apparently mostly missed us last night and I’m really grateful. The gusty winds were enough not only to dislodge parts of the sheets I put over the three planters, but BREAK the clothespins!

The hail missed us, thank goodness. I don’t know how much rain we got. I’m washing the sheets this morning, since our local forecast is a cold front moving through and freezing temperatures Wednesday and Thursday mornings. UGH.

I was really happy to see that our sweet veggie plants seem to be okay. I’m going to start harvesting some lettuce leaves to add to our salads.

And finally, here is the azalea I couldn’t cover up. :0)

My stubborn husband insisted that he mow the yard yesterday, even though he’s only two days out from the all-night visit to the ER. He did it, with me nervously monitoring – even complimenting me when he came in, saying I did a good job of making his job easier with the weed whacker. Even though his picture is beside the words “Stubborn” and “Obstinate” in the dictionary, he’s definitely a keeper.

We’ll do our errands, but hopefully will enjoy a quiet day, otherwise. I hope that you are well and having a really nice day.

Happy Sunny Saturday

Halloween remains one of my favorite Holidays, even though celebrating it these days bears little relation to when I actively participated as a child (in 1492) or even when I struggled to carve jack-o-lanterns with our son. Ray Villafane has brought carving pumpkins to an art form. He seems to have endless ideas for new faces and has the talent to do a spectacular job of carving. I’m awestruck when I see his work, having worked to NOT slice my arm off while trying to carve a ‘basic’ jack-o-lantern.

Iris Planter

Today it’s supposed to get to 92 in the afternoon, but a cold front is coming through this evening, hopefully bringing us our first rain in over a month now. We are under threat for wildfires, so a good rain would be more than welcome. I plan to work on cleaning out my iris planter – currently a complete disaster – overgrown with stubborn Bermuda grass. The grass is delighted to be there – and thriving – because it gets water from our irrigation system, where the poor grass on the ground is brown and crunchy. It amazes me that it finds its way into the planter through the bricks. You can see the mallard duck we made from a used propane tank “flying” atop the pole.

Between yard work and my daily yoga practice (DAY 92) I should get a good bit of exercise. :0)

My husband has gone to an auction here in Greenwood this morning. He wants to look at the guns, plus ‘garage stuff’ for sale. I absolutely hate auctions, so he’s going alone. I would rather go to garage sales, where you can see the prices and buy things or not quickly, rather than standing around waiting – sometimes for hours – for what you want to be auctioned, only to be outbid.

Happy Saturday to you!

Tuesday 7-12-2022

Holly Kildreth Photography-Juan Carlos Rodri On Twitter

We’re about to leave for lots of errands this morning. Our news and weather website reported that we should expect it to be 2 degrees cooler today due to a ‘cold front.’ Oh, the relief!!!! Only 101 plus heat index today. Be still, my heart!

I’m hoping we’ll have more ripe tomatoes for me to gather when we get back. We ate the last one yesterday and may go into withdrawal if we don’t have more…

I’m having a truly wonderful time working in my art room on the Christmas presents I’m making for friends. Each day brings a bit more progress. Yesterday my husband came up to say, “Hi,” and remarked that I was smiling while I was painting. YEP.

No exciting news today – just deep down happiness that things are going nicely here.

Take care and have a wonderful day.

Another Monday

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The company who supplies our water is sending a man with a sample bottle and instructions today for us to take a sample of our water first thing tomorrow and put it out on the porch for them to pick up. They do this from time to time and then send us the results. It makes me feel good that the quality of the water is being checked from time to time and that they would let us know if there were any problem. This the the Milltown-Washburn Water Authority. We also have well water. It tastes good, but I’m glad we don’t have to rely on it for household use, as it was tested and found to be ‘highly aggressive’ (read acidic) and would eventually eat through the pipes in the house and our own PERSONAL pipes…. something I don’t like to think about.

We have our front and back doors open. It’s a GLORIOUS day today. A cold front came through overnight. I don’t know if we got rain or not, but the temperature was a delicious 69 this morning. It’s 76 right now, a bit overcast and feels WONDERFUL. The high is supposed to be 86 today and the humidity is in the comfortable range for the first time in a month or so. AHHHHHHHHHH!

I’m planning to check my garden today, plus my tomato plants.

Enjoy your day!

Last Hurrah?

Gif Abyss-Alph aCoders

The cold front seems to be coming through now. It’s cold and rainy – a GREAT time to have a warm, dry house.

When we got home from errands, we went back outside and shut down the irrigation system. This involves turning off a control, disconnecting a hose and rerouting a water system in the well house, and then disconnecting a main hose that runs across the front of the yard just off the civilized part we mow. We then gathered outside faucet covers and installed those all around the house, closing the vents. The forecast is calling for a light freeze overnight, so we’re just in time.

I then came back outside again and gathered what will probably be the last of the tomatoes.

We have had a really good run of tomatoes this year, despite a lot of weird weather. These are mostly cherry tomato size – perfect for salads and snacks.

This is probably the last of the roses and one twice-blooming iris I found.

And finally is my elephant ear plants. They are tall enough to almost cover the window in the garage. The research I did said that after the first freeze, I should cut the leaves off and store the bulbs in a combination of peat moss and potting soil in the garage until the spring. Fingers crossed that will work.

So, a last hurrah for a good year of growing. I lost my green house in a bad storm, but I will try to start seeds on the counter in my garage for the spring. I’ll need to clear things off a bit again, but I have a grow light set up, Mel’s Mix in a small trash cans, and my trays, so I should be in good shape to start up again, probably in February.