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Here we are at the end of August-I hate that the older you get, the faster time goes! I live from weekend to weekend! The hummingbirds are starting to appear here, so that means Fall is on its way. The Fall season always makes me melancoly. Always has. I guess it's because I am so much a summer person (the beach, the boat, fishing, crabbing, swimming, frozen drinks!) Well,at least here it doesn't arrive until October or later!. Leaves are starting to fall from my Crepe Myrtles already, but they were eat up with white flies, so maybe that's why they're falling early?
I won't be planting a fall garden until the first of October. We still have pretty hot weather even at that time, but the nights get a little cooler. Well, maybe!! I remember going to football games in shorts and sleeveless shirts! Checking out our Tropical forecasts & hoping the hurricanes stay away!!
Just a fun picture to leave with-Motley knows there's a lizard behind that face!
Later Gators!!
This is so good!! I took pictures of this same sunflower just a few minutes before this!! 3 Bees!
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We have had so much rain, I guess they're looking for a dry spot!
It has been a very wet week here. There is really very little to talk/show-but let's do a little:
The butterfly ginger smells heavenly!
After wading through the "mushy" yard, and doding fire ants, I found that my newly planted cucumber seeds are up, along with a multitude of zinnia 'volunteers'. And, you never know who is watching you!
Is this it??? What's the pink plant the lizard is on? Witt
somehow I lost my lizard picture! Check my photos-I have some new ones!
Later gators!
I can't read anything in the forums this morning. Mrs. Dash imbeds herself in my reply box, and I can't remove her. She covers everything I try to read. I e-mailed them and complained and told them they were making lots of enemies and losing custormers! I also managed to get a message to Kate. There has got to be a law that is being broken here!! Help!
Is is a hot & sweaty day! The humidity must be around 90! I came in sopping wet! Really didn't know I was sweating that much! The shower with a fresh bar of soap sure felt good!
Yesterday evening late, we had a good rain-almost an inch, so my grass has grown 2 inches since yesterday. I won't cut it until tomorrow probably-it's so hot! Can't seem to get ahead. The little storm broke the biggest limb off my rescued tomato plant, and I counted 12 blooms on it. ARGH! And the dang bugs are still attacking my eggplant!
I got my loppers out to cut some small limbs off my oak tree that were brushing my shed roof-Well, I kind of got carried away (lol). I cut a LOT of low hanging and crossing limbs off that tree-I think it looks better, now, and more light can get to the daylillies below(that I will be moving this fall). Then I looked at the crepe myrtle near the house, and cut a few limbs off it-then I went to the front yard, and cut a few limbs off that crepe myrtle. Now, this is NOT the time to be doing this, but Hey! I was ready! I also trimmed back the sweet potato vines that are taking over -NO, they HAVE taken over the front flower bed, and looked around to see what house plants need to be re-potted. Well, ALL of them! It's time for another garage/plant sale-especially since fall is coming on.
I went to the Farmer's Market in Moss Bluff this morning (there were only 3 vendors there), and bought a jar of 'sweet & hot pickles'. Those pickles are so good with rice & gravy! I should have gone to the one in Lake Charles, but, that was too much hassle. Then, was headed to Wal-mart and thought, NOPE, school starts next week-Wal-Mart will be crazy! Not going! Didn't need anything special, Bought everything at the grocery store-it was safer (lol).
I am impatiently waiting for the sprouting of my cucumber and squash seeds I planted last week. After that good rain last nite, and nice HOT, sunny day today, they ought to be ready to Burst out of the ground!
It's nap time- Later Gators!
It was kind of a hectic morning at our shop. We had one man working in the shop (good thing he was there!), and he heard a hissing sound coming from another section where we make duct work. He went to check and the hose for the glue barrell had sprung a leak and glue was spraying everywhere! This glue is for duct work insulation; it is in a 55 gallon drum with a pressurized spray gun attached. We had glue on the ceiling (the ceiling in the shop is about 15 feet high), glue on the walls, glue on some of our equipment, glue on a cooler we had fixed for a customer, and Ricky had to get to the barrell to turn it off, so he had glue on him, too! We had glue dripping off things that looked like icicles! Fortunately, we have just changed to a water based glue, and Ricky heard it in time, so the clean up wasn't too bad. I had to run to the store to get another water hose and a nozzle, cause we only had one hose and no spray nozzle. We (or Rick & the boss) had to water down the floor and sweep it out the door. The whole clean up took almost 2 hours-we were just lucky Ricky was in the shop or that glue would have ruined a lot of equipment! And of course, no one knows who left the glue gun on. After it was all done, it was kind of comical!
I am watering my plants right now. We've been without rain for a few days now, and everything was drooping. My plumeria looks kind of rough, though it is still blooming. I think it is crying to be put into another pot. My salvaged tomato plant looks fairly good for this time of year, and it has several blooms on it, so I may have some fall tomatoes. I had a friend bring me a large bag of okra yesterday, and I've put up about 9 'cookings'. That means I didn't measure (lol)!
This afternoon my eggplants were just COVERED in those leaf-footed, stink bug looking bugs. I combated them with spray and knocking em off and stepping on em. Smelly-yuk. My passionflower vine had a few blooms in the early spring-and NOTHING all summer long. Today, I've noticed several buds (the plant is very vigorous, large & green), and wouldn't you know, the Gulf Frittilliary butterflies have just shown up. The passionflower is their favorite-so I'm sure I'll have a beavey of worms in a short while!
Everything is struggling so much. Even the butterfly ginger, which survive anything, are flopped over and barely blooming. The crepe myrtles never did do a wonderful, full-tree flowering this year, except for the little pink one early on. They are blooming, just not the great show they usually do. I checked my blog from last year at this time, and saw my arbor was covered with my morning glories and moonflower-This year, not much. The moonflower vine has not even made it to the top of the rails yet, and I am just now seeing a lot of buds on the morning glory. Oh well, c'est la' vie!
Still no rat-but I think he moved out. Those repellers must work, cause Peanut has slept all night 3 nights in a row-So-ME,TOO! Yay! The neighbor has finally cut the back yard, wonder how many mice that will scare up! Hope Motley keeps em outside!
Need to move the water hose-and I think I'll have an adult beverage on the patio and wait for the bats-
Later Gators!
This weekend I taped up holes and put out more poison, and kept the 'Mouse Repellent" plug-ins, plugged in-AND, no rat, no mouse, no nothing. The Good News is-Peanut isn't barking at him all night, so maybe the repellers moved him ouT!
This evening when I got home, the next door neighbor was mowing his grass-the front yard. The back yard has grass stalks that I can see over the fence. I sure hate to be the "bitchy" neighbor, but that is plain ridiculous!! I hope they have a mouse problem, too!
To move on, here. I pulled up all the cucumber plants, and a couple of the squash that looked real bad. I also cut back, and pulled out some of the zinnias growing where the cucumbers were. I tied up some that were floppy-Well, they ALL were floppy! I replanted 2 mounds of cucumber seeds, and 2 mounds of zuchinni. The transplanted tomatoes don't look too good-but they are surviving-I will give them a couple of weeks to improve, or they will come out, also. I planted a Penta bought for 50% off-a good sized one-and it is blooming nicely-never faltered a bit after planting! Also planted 2 impatiens, same scenario! Wrong time of year for transplanting-but it worked!
I need to somehow support my Morning Glory Tree. When we had the few weeks with a lot of rain, it started leaning, and now it is almost touching the ground. I think I can get a tow strap and fasten it to a fence post-but the fence posts have been kind of 'floppy' themselves since Hurricane Rita a few years ago. That tree is easily rooted, grows VERY fast, so I may cut it down this winter, and replant one in a better place where the ground doesn't stay so wet.
Today I cut several little bell peppers off my bushes-I can't believe they are still making-as hot as it's been! -Hoping that this trimming will give the ones left enough nutrients to get bigger this fall. I do love stuffed bell peppers! Fertilized both the peppers and eggplant, hoping to get some decent sized vegetables off of both. Stuck a few more Sunflower seeds in the ground, and watered, watered, watered!! Though, it's not enough! Even the Cannas don't want to bloom much.
School starts here next week-I was watching the neighbor boy and a friend throw a football around last Sunday-he's 16 now-I can't believe it! It's like watching Clint & his buddy all over again-kinda makes me sad. Evan was 5 when they moved in next door-the cutest little blue-eyed kid with curly hair-Now, he'a a good-looking lady-killer with Paul Newman Blue eyes! Well, at least I don't have to do the Teenage thing again!
For the last week, I have been battling a rat/mouse. The little devil gets under the refrig, or under the dishwasher and I can'f flush him out. The times he has gotten out, he is too fast-AND BIG! The first night Peanut & Motley were sniffing around the refrig, so I pulled it out some, and he ran out-Peanut was yelping & barking & chased it into the liviing room and then back into the kitchen-and back under the dishwaswher; and the cat...well, Motley ran out the door-WAY too Big for her! I have set out traps, poison (where my pets can't get it), stopped up holes and even put out sticky traps-NOTHING!! I have bought some sonic plug-in type repellers, but they say it takes a few days to work-I AM READY-I don't get much sleep. If Peanut hears him-He barks and barks and barks and barks....and barks. Tomorrow will be serious repellent-ing! I don't know why suddenly I am having a mouse problem, other than the neighbors on the West side of me NEVER cut their grass-they cut the front every three weeks, but the back yard is about 2 ft. high.
Anyway-The cucumbers are coming out tomorrow-they're done, but I may try to replant and see if I can get some fall cukes. I re-planted some zuchinni-this is my 2nd year for almost NONE. I have 2 tomato volunteers coming up in the garden-so I shot them some fertilizer and we'll see what happens. The eggplant are still making, and so are my bell peppers, but it is time for a rest. In these veg. garden beds, I have lots of zinnias blooming and new ones coming up. Also, some more sunflowers.
It is soOOO hot and muggy and BUGGY, you hate to go outside even in the evening! The grass is growing quickly now, looks like hay-and the only thing giving much bloom are the zinnias and the hibiscus, and the Plumbago. There are a few others, but everything is kind of slow right now. The alamanda is loaded with seed pods which I am willing to mail out. This is a very tropical plant, but grows quickly, and puts out a ton of yellow blooms in the early summer. Mine is in a pot, and has been for a few years, so that is do-able if you have the ability to move it inside for the winter.
The angel trumpet is putting on a lot of buds now, and the Shrimp plants never stop blooming. I noticed I now have 2 hummingbirds doing the flowers daily, so it is getting time to put the feeders out-Migration will be starting soon.
Wish me luck with Mack the RAT, lots to do tomorrow, so it will be
Later Gators!
Although the economy is down, we still had a fairly good fundraiser and if we don't do first this year s(we've been highest in the state for the last 5 years), we will be 2nd. 1/2 of what we raise stays in our area to benefit Boy Scouts, 4-H clubs, police & sheriff depts- so we are comfortable with how our funds are spent. The other 1/2 goes to the NRA direct, for lobbying in Washington-and if we ever needed it IT IS NOW.
One of the hits of our auction was the LSU camoflauged deer feeder..
This is what I donated: Oops!! are they backward???? How did I do that and why is my printing so small???. Must be bedtime!
Anyway-It was good-though it felt off. Everyone involved felt "off". We did ok-I won several items-one a wooden engraved plaque of the 2nd Ammendment, a red bird on a log, and a winter cabin picture.
Stay safe-stay dry! (only cause I'm waterlogged!), and stay cool!
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