carolyncat353's Blog

Today is 'officially' one year that I have been a member of Garden Guides!  My brother put me on to this place, and I must say, it has been fun! And informative! And sometimes just plain silly!  I have made some friends and feel like I would know many of you if I saw you on the street!  The "longtimers" , Bill, Witt, Yardgranny, Fairygarden,  Motherbored, RascalsMama & of course PYoung!  Then, some most recents - RBSteen, BlueeyedKitty, and I miss those that seem to have disappeared: Angels Garden, Aurora, Bayou, Grannylee, Stereo & Frazzled April.  There are some not listed, too many to remember, really-But You are all Great!

I re-read my blogs from last year-and my garden is way behind!!  Last year at this time I was ready to pick beans-Heck, they've only started to bloom this week!! I have a few tomatoes-but not like last year! No squash in the ground yet, my eggplant and bellpeppers are just now blooming, and last year I had some almost ready to pick!! I'd better pay more attention and Fertilize my GARDEN!!  I am experimenting with potatoes this year, but I am definitely going to scap that next year.  I am mounding mine with hay-and it's just too messy, and takes up a lot of room, and I think the underneath is mildewing! 

It has been a year since Peanut came to live with me.  And my 2 cats-that is now only 1!  Motley is not a demanding cat.  She brings me birds & mice (I had 4 dead mice in one week!), and even a mole, and Peanut is "LIZARD DOG". The 2 animals get along great, and are always in the way in the garden.  Wish I could hand them a hoe so they could really help! 

IT'S BEEN A FUN YEAR!! Everyone have a great day!    (oh, the tree did not come down yet-too much rain!)

Carolyn

The 130 ft. tall pine tree will be removed tomorrow.  I really, really hate cutting a tree down, especially  one this big.  And it did give some shade to my **sunny** back yard!  They will have to take down part of the fence, and take it down in pieces.. :(   yuk.  All said and done, after paying repairs for the computer, A/C & taking down the tree, I'm out about $700.00.  They did take into consideration that I need a new computer. Sigh, I hate this.

Finished clearing the daylilly bed.  I expanded it out about 6 inches and will probably plant St. Joe lillies there, and some amaryllis.  I have plenty-IF I can ever get situated for the durn garage sale, I hope to sell quite a few of these.  In taking an inventory of my house plants, I have too many of those, too. 

I will immediately plant another tree in the place of this one I'm taking out.  I want something that will grow REAL big, and real fast.  I'm considering Sycamore-though I hate the leaves from that tree-they're mostly good for nothing. I guess I really need to go to one of the nurseries that handles the bigger trees.  Lowe's has nothing that interests me.  Any suggestions? 

I'll be pretty busy the next couple of days-  Later!

That's a good thing, right?  I have GOT to get the computer thing fixed!  I tried uploading pics, but they are not in the file I told them to be in, so the computer has hidden them from me again-and -Well, they just ain't there!!

According to my rain gauge, I got between 4-5 inches of rain in 2 days.  The yard is a complete mess! I was worried I would lose my cucumbers AGAIN, but they appear to have survived, but they sure are moving slow again this year! My snap beans are up and the durn slugs have been eating them down. And they've been eating my zinnias, too!   I put out bait yesterday pm.  I have blooms on my bell peppers -AND- I have 2 tiny tomatoes!!   I have volunteer sunflowers up and making their head-they always make me smile-Can't wait to see them!   My eggplant look real good, if I can keep the slugs off them, too! 

The daylily bed clean up is on hold now, because that part of my yard is flooded.  I'm about 3/4's finished, and I have lots of buds, if I can keep the animals out of them.  They like to help, and are not choosy about where they put they're feet!  I do have some blooming, but only the standard red ones.  They should be taking off in a week or so! 

I'm going to try the camera thing again tonite if all goes well.  I have some pics of 2 plants I got discounted because they were "distressed".  Someone is bound to know what they are! I also want to show my Clematis that is just gorgeous for now, and the pic I have of the Bottlebrush in full bloom.  And I have pics of my garden, and the flowers blooming and 'JUST STUFF'.

I need to do some work -check with ya

LATER GATORS

MY 11 lb. baby brother was born!  That would make him about FORTY-NINE YEARS OLD!!!!   Yep, today is PYOUNG'S birthday.  Wish I had a scanner (and knew how to use it! lol) to show some of his pictures-toothless on the back porch with his toy cars, him and the cat eating a moonpie, riding his bike, his first gun, fishing, shrimping, hunting, his first CAR, and of course, him with a black eye, and me with a broken hand.  (lol).

 Just wanted to tell him publicly, how much I love him and appreciate him.  He's a GREAT brother and friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!!  May you always have a tub of crawfish and a vat of tea at your disposal!

LOVE YA! Carolyn

I will have to get a new computer.  I can't get on line for long at home, it shuts down-and when I can get to GG, it won't accept me as a member-I could Look-but not speak!  It was/is killing me!!  Hope to have a new one in a few days. And I have some pictures to share.

I was off Tuesday and Wednesday-2 beautiful days to work in the yard, and I borrowed a company truck that I can keep for a few days to do my "hauling" in.  Whew!  I tackled the day lily bed.  It was full of grass and briars and vines, and it is a chore! Actually the grass came out pretty easy since it rained Sunday, and I was extremely careful with the briars, but it is coming along pretty good.  I'm adding compost and topsoil and fertilizing as I go.  I'm also extending it out a little to maybe plant a few low growing flowers in the front. 

All was going good until the trash truck came by.  Running behind the truck was a HUGE dog, with a lot of bloodhound in him, but he could be part Great Dane, too.  He was so big, he could stand flat footed and drink out of the bird bath! This huge dog wanted to play! It's a long story, but I did get the owners name off his collar, but got an answering machine, and they never called me back.  His address is quite a ways from me, so I'm thinking they're gone and someone in my area is supposed to be watching him.  Well, he took off after another truck (after being in my yard for 4 hours!)  And I didn't get a lot done!  He took off with one flip-flop, the bag of slug/snail poison (he didn't get the bag open!) He turned over the trash can, carried off my garden gloves and stomped all over my daylilies.  Needless to say, I didn't accomplish a whole lot yesterday. 

Work to do!   Later Gators!

I hate Monday's the 13th-worse than a Friday the 13th! It's Foggy, gloomy today-but the sun IS supposed to show!  We had some strong rain storms come through yesterday afternoon, but by 5:00 the sun was out, and everything was "fresh washed". 

Hope everyone had a nice Easter.  Mine was rather quiet.  Petey was out of town, and I was going to go to the River Boats, like I do every holiday when I am alone (that's not a bad thing!), but the weather changed my mind.  Yesterday morning before the rain came in, I fertilized and totally remulched the flower bed around my patio.  I haven't seen a sign of all those zinnia seeds I threw out, so I'll put some more out in a week or so.  I do have a few coming up in the bean/cucumber bed.  And I have some nice sized sunflowers, that will hopefully have a bloom soon!

I will get a couple of days off this week (I can't take a whole week at a time, since I am now the only office personnel), but this will be nice.  I need to clean out the daylily row, next, and that will be a major chore. 

The ole computer is still in the shop-he found something else wrong.  I'm thinking of a new one.  Heck, my insurance isn't going to cover the repairs anyway. 

Got to work!

Later gators!

I got my computer back yesterday, and last night I couldn't log on.  I finally found the number for AOL, and I have to re-install it-I have no installation disk-the computer came with it.  So I called my computer tech today, (I told him when the computer failed it told me AOL had to be re-installed!) and he's supposed to do that for me.  But...how long will that take?????? He said I need to look into getting another one (this one is only 2 years old).  Between it, my A/C and taking my tree down, I'm probably going to be out another $2,000.00 or so. I have a $1000.00 deductible-so this is NOT  a good year for me!  This along with the Vet bills (Peanut was another $180.00 last week) is killing me!  Clint said he's sending me a "dog support" check!  I need to pack his little weenie butt and send him to Montana!  No allergies there! (or at least not as bad as here!)

In the garden-I have hay piled up around potatoes (never done that before-we are experimenting), beans are UP and looking good.  Eggplant  look good (If I can keep Motley out of the pot!), peppers have tiny, tiny buds on them, and everything is blooming! 

I planted some Pentas I got at the garden show, my Alamanda is blooming, my mandevilla is starting to vine, the clematis is blooming, I have morning glories coming up (no moonflower to be seen yet!), and the hydrangea is expanding!  And the wind is blowing 30 mph.  Just like last year,  first from the North, then we have about 1/2 day with no wind, then it's out of the south!  WHEN I get my home computer back, I'll have pictures!

Later Gators!

Not totally, but it's severly injured. (lol)  I'll get it back this evening, but the tech said I'd better look for a new one.  And my air conditioner got fixed and I'm waiting on estimates to cut down the 150 ft. tall pine tree! Rats! 

39 degrees last nite!!!  I covered my beans, and tomatoes and eggplants. Put upside down pots on my cucumbers that are just breaking ground.  Covered a few outside plants and hope for the best!!  I have some pics to post and I'll tell you all about the Lafayette "Festival de Fleurs" which was last weekend.  And yes, I came home with plants!!

Later gators!