FishinBC's Blog

Happy August
Aug 1, 2007 | 6:22 AM PST
Tags: Daylilies , Heat , Watering , Veggie , Fall Veggies , cucumbers , Tomatoes

Can you believe it is August already?   Where has this year gone?  Seems like just yesterday was early April and I was out trying to save everything from the freeze we had.  Still mourning the loss of my Japanese maple, the dappled willow that has replaced it is doing grand though!  Before we know it fall will be here, can you believe it?  Kinda of looking forward to the change in seasons again.  Seems like we went from freeze to 90+ degrees over night. 

 

The folks are coming home for September; they have been vagabonding in their RV since February.  Don’t think they will hang out long though; they have plans to be in Arizona in October.  They are having a blast and enjoying the road while they still can. 

 

 Daughter number 2 is coming out from So Cal for Labor Day weekend.  This will be her second trip out.  Last time she came for Christmas and really didn’t like the cold.  Looking forward to her visit and being able to show her around.

 

 I order some more daylilies (stops to slap mouse hand to keep from ordering more on line).  Also put in an order for some bulbs to put in this fall. 

 

 We went by the nursery last night to see if they had their fall veggie starts.  They said they should be in next week.  Wow, I hope that will give them enough time.  The fall raised veggie patch is ready and waiting for the starts to put in. 

 

 I am eating cucumbers for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Even got the boy to try them and he liked them.  What a surprise that was.  Ryan is autistic and getting him to try new things is really hard sometimes.  I have to catch him in the right mood.  Haven’t had any ripe tomatoes the last few days.  But there are lots of large greenies.  My plants are loaded and leaning. 

 

 Just been watering constantly with our 90+ degree heat (gosh, I am going to hate to see our water bill) and even with twice a day water my containers are beginning to look sad.  I moved everything into the shade on the porch last night maybe that will help. 

 

 Mom and the baby coonies are coming every night.  I have started feeding them cheap dry cat food.  My animal cracker & peanut expense account was dwindling.  They seem to like the cat food and so far have been no trouble.  They have their snack and move on.  The squirrel trough now doubles at night as a raccoon trough.  Sunflower seeds during the day and cat food at night.  Cheri’s menagerie is growing…

No time for a summer cold
Jul 20, 2007 | 6:58 AM PST
Tags: veggie , Pond , Daylilies , Squash Vine Borers , Tomato , Cukes , Zukes , raised beds , Banana Peppers , dogs , racoons , birds

Still dry but we are supposed to get some rain this afternoon.  I should have watered last night but was just too tired.  Been fighting a summer cold and trying to convenience myself I am not going to catch it.   I am sure it will sneak up and bite me sooner or later.  I don’t have time to be sick!

Gave some more pond plants away.  I potted up some off shoots of the lotus and four leaf clover, added some hyacinths, water lettuce and gave them to a co worker who just put in a pond.  My pond is still full!!  Loads of lilies still blooming, but nothing from the lotus yet. 

We will get the new raised bed up this weekend and do the soil prep, to have it ready for a fall veggie planting.  Want to do some peas and beans and more greens.  My yellow tomatoes have been the best producers so far.  They sure are yummy.  The red varieties are producing, just not as big or as many.  I think the vine borers have finally discovered my zukes, I have two plants withering that I will pull out tonight. L  Cukes are still doing great and I have one with dinner every night.   I think the heat is starting to get to the peppers.  The banana peppers are curling.  I have been checking to be sure that they have adequate even water.  Any suggestions?

More of the new daylilies are getting ready to bloom.  These should be the Crimson Shadows.  I have to late season ones that I hope will bloom also.  One is called Late Embers and the other Fall Pink Melon.  The two blooming now are called Go Figure.

Have the inevitable weed pulling and deadheading to do as well.  Been lazy about the weeds in the flowerbeds with heat we have been having.  The black and white brigade has been promised a trip down to the lake in the morning, so we will be up before the heat and I will have no excuses after that.  The boys will be good and tired after a swim and Briar will have a good long ball session.  They deserve it after being put aside a bit while company’s been here. 

Rob now has the timing of the raccoon family’s visits down.  They show up on the deck at about 5am every morning now and he knows it.  No barking this morning, he just sat at the sliding glass door to watch them eat their breakfast.  The babies are growing fast.  Got a couple of dark pix of them this morning and will try to get them posted tonight.

The bird feeders have been really busy in the evenings.  I am seeing a lot more indigo buntings this year.  Not sure if there are more than normal or I am just providing a better seed selection.  Must make some more of Gene’s suet for the pileated woodies.  They are now daily visitors too.

Almost there...for now anyway.
May 21, 2007 | 12:30 PM PST
Tags: Birds , Deck , Daylilies , veggies , dogs

What a beautiful weekend!!!  Lot’s of sun, perfect temps and best of all no humidity.

The rest of the daylilies I ordered came Friday night by the UPS man.  The dogs were out front with me when he delivered the flowers. He gave them all a cookie, said he keeps them in his truck because some dogs aren’t very nice to guys that they think are mailmen.  He got a big kick out to the black and white brigade, all three sitting at the same time and looking up at him when they realized he had treats.  He said he wished all dogs were so polite to him!

I got brave and decided to give the dogs their lion cut for the summer.  Left their manes, front leg feathers and tails.  I hate doing it and hate how they look but I know they feel better with all that hair off.

I got busy at 7AM Saturday morning prepping the bed I put the daylilies in.  Put some more mulch around the pond where it was wearing thin from the traffic to the hose bib.  Hubby cut the grass and then we gave everything a good watering. 

The veggie patch is growing, we had our second salad out of the garden and there are loads of maters.  Yummy.  I staked and tied of the green beans and caged the tomatoes that I have in containers because they are starting to get big.  My carrots tops are growing but there isn’t a lot of activity happening under ground.  Is that normal?  Never planted carrots before.  Lot’s of blooms on the bell peppers and a couple of peppers well on their way.

The pond is off and running again.  Everything is coming in great.  The lotus is filling in and the four leaf clover is ALL over.  We had one lily and my hyacinths are making little hyacinths already.  No blooms yet on the cannas but they are growing nicely.  All but one of the 25 cent gold fish dozen made it.  They are growing fast and giving the four big fish a run for their money.  We had zillions of tadpoles a couple of weeks ago but no signs of tadpoles and no little frogs at all.  I think the fish have been eating tadpoles; the new fish sure are growing fast!

After doing some shopping I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the birds between loads of laundry.  The blue jay pair has three fledglings and their wings and beaks are busy keeping their brood fed.  The whole family spent most of the afternoon in the trees near our deck.  I never realized that they would feed their young from my feeders.  I guess I would use any resource I could if I was in their position.  The young were certainly demanding.  I also wonder if they are teaching them to come to the feeders.  I guess that is possible.  The cat birds are actually visiting my feeders as well.  That is a first, normally I see them down in the blackberries but they have never come to the deck before.  The rest were the usual crowd.

Sunday afternoon we started in on sanding the deck and prepping for re-staining.  I am very sore this morning but the hard work will pay off.  Just a bit more sanding to finish and we will be ready to stain.  I am taking Thursday and Friday off this week and will start on the lower deck.  Hubby is off Friday and will help finish up then.  Other than the decks and the shed cleaning, which still needs to be done, I think we are almost ready to take a break from all the work and finally sit and enjoy the fruits of our labor.