dirtdobber's Blog

About 10 years ago one of my sons gave me a fountain for my garden.  Big and beautiful! When we bought our new house 5 years ago we made that be the last thing on our list to move.  Well it never got moved ....until this week!  Our old house is now our rental house and hubby went and got it between renters.  It's new home is in a new bed we made last summer and I can see it from my kitchen window.  Amazing how uplifting a pleasant view can be. Makes me happy!

I can't wait wait for all my perennials and plants to pop up in the spring around this fountain.  I plan to put a path through the bed so I can ramble and browse through my plants.  Today is supposed to be cold and rainy so I think I will crochet and plan in my head more stuff for my "fountain bed"!  Ya'll have a great day! Trish

Hi GGers! Just checking in as it's been a while since I've been here. I just enjoyed a browse through the blogs. Even though I retired in August, my new part time job has been quite overwhelming for me. Lot's of computer work as opposed to patient care. And I am so computer illiterate....need I say more???

But I'm looking forward to Spring. Hopefully by then I will have this job figured out and I can relax in the garden.  I must say I have enjoyed my yard even in this dead of winter. The new bed we did in pine straw just shines with all the trees bare. My limelight hydrangeas still have the "brown " blooms hanging on and I love them. My son gave me a sasanqua camellia and planted right by my living room window so I can see it from the couch. And I have been a little busy hauling leaves and compost to the veggie garden to put over newspaper that went over the weeds. My hope is that the weeds will die and I will have some goodies added to the soil at the same time.

Well, that about it. Hope all is well with everybody. It was good to get back to GG. Trish

Finally a quiet Saturday morning! Time to get caught up on GG. If you haven't seen Bill's christmas cactus pics stop right now and go look! I have resigned myself to the fact that Winter skipped over us this year. We never even bought a load of firewood. As much as I loooove Spring, I miss my cozy sitting by the fire knitting times. Oh well, 's ok.

The daffs have about finished blooming, irises are blooming now (at least the little white ones), the forsythias have bloomed, my eastern redbud is blooming a pretty purple,and a few azalaes are even blooming. Rather than that glorious burst of Spring that I so enjoy, we had a Spring that snuck in the back door.  Still love it.

Now time to think about the vegetables. I didn't really put my garden to bed last year as I promised myself and now I have a ton of weeds to contend with. I have some collard out there, so I may have a batch of those before I pull it all up. The last couple of years I haven't been quite as enthusiastic as before. Hoping to drum up some excitement this year! Ya'll have a great day!

Well, I should be writing while sitting by the fire, snuggled up in my blanket, drinking hot chocolate. But instead it is 74 degrees, the daffs are blooming as well as the japanese magnolias. My plants are terribly confused as am I. I sat on my porch yesterday and swatted at the mosquitoes! If this is Winter what does Spring have in store for us?

I have to say though, the days have been lovely. How nice to even be able to sit on the porch in February. I guess I may need to put away my snowflake earrings. (I always wear until March in hopes of a little snow) No...on second thought, I'm still a Georgia girl holding out for our few snowflakes. I just want to make at least one run to the store to help clear the shelves of bread and milk and have a moment of giddiness looking at the weather channel while anticipating the white stuff. Please???  Ya'll have a great day- whether you can get in the dirt or not! Trish

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Seems like after Christmas I always have a bit of a letdown. I tend to relive the activities and then worry about stuff. I have decided that my problem is for years in my head I've envisioned some sort of Norman Rockwell Christmas. I worry so much about everyone having a good time, getting along etc that I obsess over it. Afterwards, I start thinking..."why did so and so say that?"... "what did he mean by that?"... "Wonder why they did such and such instead of thus and so?" And I'm convinced that mothers of boys tend to get the short end of the stick. Token visits are made to boys side of family while "the real fun" happens at the girl's side. Mercy what is wrong with me? I really am so blessed. Sometimes that ole devil just takes a joy ride with me!

But now that it is all over, I'm ready for some dirt! Oh how I wish I could go plop down in my garden and dig! By far it is the best therapy. I did get a weeping willow tree for my birthday that I need to get planted. If I know my fellow gardeners like I think I do, you all are already thinking of Spring planting too. AAhh, I can just smell the dirt already. Ya'll enjoy the rest of the holidays and later we will "get in that dirt!" Trish

Well, I drove in my driveway from work yesterday after a long dayand I was thinking about how much I have been missing my mama lately.  Anyway, the rose bush that I rooted from my mom's bush is planted right by the garage.  It's the first thing I see when I turn the car off.  It was a cold and really windy day.  I took a deep breath and sighed and reached for the door nob of the car door.  I looked toward the rose bush and what did I see?????  One beautiful red rose waving at me on the bush.  Now, it only blooms once a year and that is in May. What in the world? I never even saw a bud on the plant the day before. Then I smiled.  I just knew that was from my mama in heaven. Yesterday was my birthday. That was my gift.  Say what you will, but I always knew that when this time of life came, that God would give me some comfort through flowers. It was the best gift!! Ya'll have a great day!  Trish

Mercy! What a day yesterday was. I have had this week off to get some things done around the house and to rest a little. I had a day of sewing planned yesterday. Well.....my daughter- in- love called in the morning just as I sewed the first stitch. She had a photographer coming the next day for our new grandson's newborn pictures and she wanted to know if they could do them here. Some to be done outside, some inside...I had more room she said. My answer-  "Of course!"  

                          
                              
                              
                              
          I then jumped up from the sewing machine and started in. I washed the rockers on the front porch with bleach, washed the front windows, washed down the porch, got hubby to work on mower(b/c its half dead) and then I cut 3 acres of grass, went to Walmart to get pumpkins and mums for front door, spruced up the wreath on the door, cleaned up the back porch and patio. ran inside and swiffered the floors and vacuumed and dusted. I totally forgot lunch and by 8pm was about to tackle the bathroom when the phone rang........    She's not coming to my house after all. The photographer said she could do it all at their apt.  "Oh, ok, well ya'll have fun and I can't wait to see the pictures!" So here I am with an incredibly clean home and nobody to show it off to! So who wants to come sit on my porch with me? Ya'll have a great day....and get in that dirt! (or get to my porch!)  Trish

Hi GG's. Just checking in on this hot Saturday morning... browsing GG. I ran the Peachtree Road Race last Monday and I'm still too darn sore to do much gardening so I'm living vicariously through your blogs! But...I have planted my two loquat trees. If I can just keep enough water on them they may survive. My moonflower is finally running up the fence. I just hope I get a bloom out of it. My vegetable garden has been much more successful than I expected. The chicken poop did the trick, but I have a mole that I'd like to send one you as a pet. He is driving me crazy. I can sit on the back porch and watch one stalk of corn sway...then the next one begins to wobble and I know my little varmint is out there. Grrr!! The last thing on my to do list is to plant the confederate rose that I bought 2 months ago. I keep stressing him out by letting him dry out and then I revive him. Got to get that thing in the ground! Hope you all have a great day....and get in that dirt!! Trish

Well, I took my cocky self to my son's house this weekend and thought I'd stroll through his little veggie garden and give him some tips ...if need be. He is just starting to garden a little even though he owns a landscaping business. He lives on the Georgia coast and can just about garden year around. He told me he planted a few tomatoes, beans , peppers , squash, cukes, "just to see how they would do". I had all my notes in my head in order to enlighten him on the "you oughta do" list.  So we strolled through his back yard past the gorgeous hydrangeas with the HUGE blooms while I'm thinking..."lucky dog. Blessed with good dirt and climate". We rounded the garage to arrive at The Garden. Oh my!!!!  The tomatoe plants were huge and full, the peppers were so loaded down they could hardly stand straight. The squash plants looked like something from a tropical island they were so big and lush....and might I add full of squash.  I was in awe! What to say??? What tip of the day? What pearl of wisdom from Mama? Please son, try to continue to pretend I know more than you about gardening. Please ask me again what I think about a certain technique. Please, please ask my advice! It feels sooo motherly like! But honestly I was just blown away by the beauty of his garden!

We got home last night and first thing this morning I went straight out to visit my anemic, little, puny veggie plants in the garden. I gleaned from my son that I need to maybe add some of my chicken manure that I have been patiently letting age. I apologized to the plants for letting them starve. I apologized to God for being a little prideful. He certainly reeled me in on that one. And then I thanked Him for showing me that my son is exactly what I always prayed for. A man that has listened and obeyed his parents, learned from them(from the things we did right AND wrong), and is now living his life just as we prayed he would. He has produced much fruit in many ways...and can now teach his old mama a few things. Thank you, God.

So I got up this AM and walked out in my PJs and saw the orchid lily.  I had to run back in and get the camera...the blooms don't last long!  I ended up strolling the yard with my camera.  Hope you enjoy...

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Hope this comes out ok. I just get a good belly laugh at myself trying to post pics on here.  No telling what will show up when I hit the "ok" button!   Ya'll have a great day!  And get in that dirt!  Trish    P.S. Don't know why the captions didn't show up but those are cicada on the tree. They are everywhere!  They come out every 13 yrs.

Some of you may have read my blog about my mom's backdoor rosebush. I rooted a piece about 3 yrs ago after she died. Well, here is a picture of it in all it's glory! It does seem to be blooming a little early b/c it always bloomed at her house around Mother's Day. I always wore a rose cut from this bush to church on that Sunday.

I have had such a wonderful time over the last week! I had a few days off and I have so enjoyed being outside. I've been knee deep in dirt and loved every minute! Planting seeds, transplanting a few things, monitoring my veggie garden, watching the birds...oh glory!! It's been great. Then over the weekend I had all my children and grands here. We ate bbq, played ball etc. It's funny. .I always wanted a screened porch. When we bought this house one came with it. Then I decided no, I need a patio. So we put one in. I chuckled to myself yesterday watching my brood. We were all sitting in the backyard in the grass. All these neat little "sitting spots" I've worked on and here we were in the grass! Well, who cares? We were all together having a ball. God is good. Porch or no porch! Ya'll have a great day! And get in that dirt! Trish