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The other night there were EIGHT raccoons in the yard at around midnight or so. They were all over my bird feeders, climbing on my pots and plants and generally making a nuisance of themselves. I chased them off several times, but the little critters would just go into the shadows and wait til I went into the house and then they'd come right back.
So now I'm not feeding the birds for a while. And I guess that might work because my daytime visiting raccoon just showed up, he checked out the entire yard and then left cause there's nothing there for him. Yippee! But my poor birdies are confused. They will be fine though - it won't hurt them in the least for my feeders to be empty for a little while. Especially at this time of year - there's plenty of natural food sources for them.
Last night my sweet hubby filled all my hummingbird feeders for me - he is so sweet. Then when I went to put the extra nectar away in the refrigerator, I spilled it and it went all over the entire insie of the refrigerator. So then we had to clean the entire 'fridge at 10:00 o'clock at night. And he helped me even though it was entirely my fault. I truly love that man,he is so good to me.
I'm trying not to notice that the garden is winding down. But yesterday at Walmart they had all the fall mums on display. They were pretty, but I'm just not ready for fall yet.
Last weekend, my friend, Sharon, who lives in Oklahoma City, came down for a visit with her husband. She brought me a gift: all the planters I gave her when we both lived in Washington State. So those planters traveled from me to her in Washington, then she took them with her when she moved to OKC and then she brought them back to me in Texas - those things have moved around. But I was really glad o get them. I want to plant some crape myrtles and I want really big pots for them as I don't want to plant them in the ground since this isn't my house.
Then my other friend, Ann, gave me some really nice gardening gloves. I told her I don't wear gloves when I garden, so I guess she thought I needed some. They are really pretty, but I just can't wear gloves to garden. I may start out wearing them, but pretty soon they come off and I'm digging in the dirt bare handed. There's just something about it. She told me I need to wear them to protect my nails and cuticles - it's a little late for that - I'm 59 years old and have never been able to wear gloves, so it's a little late to try to change now! I think the damage is already done!
Well, I had a most satisfactory visit with my new physician yesterday. Having a doctor who's younger than my eldest child is a bit disconcerting, but she seems more than competent and is definitely a sweet-natured little thing. I probably could have bullied her out of ordering a mammogram, had I tried. I haven't endured that particularly nasty form of torture for a very long time and I'm certainly not looking forward to the procedure, but I guess it's for my own good. She also ordered some blood work which I don't mind, and prescribed a topical therapy for my poor old knees. It was expensive, but seems to provide some relief. Apparently, the effects get better with time. I hope so. I hobble around like a 90-year old.
I didn't get my planter potted up yesterday, so I did that this morning before I went to the farm. This is the first time I've started flowers from seed. Usually I buy strong, healthy annuals from local nurseries. Mine look pretty spindly. I'm sure they'll fill in quickly, but I'm an impatient old woman.
I tidied up my holding bed. I don't know how I managed to double plant one row, but I corrected that by moving some clumps of irises to a different area. Then I moved more volunteer sunflowers into a second row and planted more seeds. It's strange how one's tastes change. There was a time when I thought sunflowers were coarse, ugly plants. Now my only problems with them are (a) that I need big heavy vases complete with rocks in the bottom to ensure they don't topple over; and (b) that they drop pollen like crazy, leaving a yellow mess on my tables. But I love their cheerful faces enough to bring them inside on a regular basis. I plan to plant some more tomorrow. They're great for attracting bees early on, and blue jays later. I also planted a row of calendulas for cutting later on. What curious seeds!
Speaking of birds, I must comment on their particular dislike of me. Kindly old ME, who never does harm to any of them! We have tons of resident barn swallows. Now, I admire and value those voracious little supersonic flyers, ( Their aerial acrobatics are a sight to behold and each one eats about 850 mosquitoes per day.) but do they return my affection? NOT!! They dive-bomb me on a regular basis, and I KNOW that this chubby old body doesn't resemble a mosquito in the least! Barn swallows are not alone in their aversion for me. My mom feeds hummingbirds all summer. Whenever I visit, one of my chores is to refill and rehang the feeders. You'd think those miniature helicopters would be grateful, but no. They, too, reward my generosity by using my head for target practice, swooping up and away at the last possible moment. The blue jays sit atop my sunflowers in the fall and scold me mercilessly while gorging on the seeds. Surely, they ought to be grateful that I plant their feast. Only our robins seem to have any regard for me at all, and then only when I've turned the soil and they've grabbed a hapless worm or two.
After I played with my flower plants and seeds, I turned my attention to the veggie bed again and got a row of wax beans and a row of Royal Burgundy beans planted before heading home. There's frost in the forecast tonight. Can't the weatherman read the calendar? It's June, for heaven's sake! I'll have to be up before the crack of dawn tomorrow to spray down some of my tender plants.
Enough ranting and raving for one evening! Happy gardening, everyone.
I made it back home from my little trip around the state of Texas and aunt and friend have gone back home also. What a fun time we had! Hubby managed to keep all my plants watered and didn't kill anything so I was very happy about that - I had left him step-by-step written instructions. He even kept my birdfeeders filled up for the birds. He's so sweet.
We had another one of those awful storms blow through here last night. One of our neighbors lost a tree - fortunately it only fell on their driveway and not on their house. I was really worried about all these 14 pecan trees in our yard, but we only lost branches, no trees. Thank goodness. I asked my sister-in-law and her daughter and granddaughter today if this is usual weather for this time of year in NE Texas - meaning these storm blowing in one after another - then a few days of really nice wonderful weather then another storm then nice weather. They said that yes, April and May are like this and then come June it's going to be hot, hot, hot just like that. I can tell it is going to take some time to adjust to this kind of weather.
A lot of my plants really took a beating in the storm from yesterday. The roses especially. There were five rose bushes here when I moved in. They were in sad shape - very neglected. I've nurtured them and pruned them and fed them and they were coming along nicely. It has been fun watching them come to life and seeing what they are. There is one beautiful yellow one; a deep dark red one; a beautiful coral one; one that I think is Double Delight (I'm pretty sure it is) and then one that hasn't bloomed yet. I'm anxious to see what color it is - I'm hoping for a white one.
Because I feed birds on all four sides of my house - I have volunteer sunflowers popping up all over. Whenever you buy sunflower seeds or read in gardening books they say sunflowers don't transplant well, but I can't stand to waste all those little plants, so I transplant them to better locations all the time (before hubby weedwhacks them or mows them down). Sometimes I have sunflowers growing in the strangest places. I like it though.
Bird activity has been absolutely wonderful for the last few days. Spring migration in Texas has to be some of the best birding in the entire country. A lot of birds fly through here on their way from Mexico and Central and South America on their way to their nesting sites further North. It is so cool. I've seen several birds that I've never seen before - it's so exciting!
And we have babies! We have baby bluebirds and baby wrens - 4 baby wrens - they are so cute. And the bluebirds are already building another nest; I think they are going to have another brood. That is so neat.
oh, and I finally got that book on Texas wildflowers while on my trip. I saw so many flowers that I couldn't identify I just finally had to have a book. I love it! It's wonderful.
I am itchy all over and super paranoid that I have creepy crawly things on me.
What started this, you might ask?
TICKS! I am so paranoid of TICKS! I HATE TICKS! Ticks, ticks, ticks - YUCK!
Since 2005, I haven't had any tick incidents......until today.
Hannah and I had gone up to visit with Pam and we helped her re-locate
her stump flower pots. Hannah got to ride in the wheelbarrow and she
got to ride all the way down to where the swing is. I pushed her for
about half an our or so, then we decided to walk back home since her
little hands were getting so cold. We took a detour into the bushes to
check if we could find some wild rose starts that I could dig up, then
back onto the driveway and down to the horse shed. We fed the horses
and then walked up towards our house. I headed to grab the hummingbird
feeders and then on my way back towards Hannah I noticed that she had a
spider in her hair. I walked up closer to her and realized it was a
tick in her hair! I FREAKED! I was able to smack it out of her hair
and it landed on the concrete. I smashed it with a rock, there was not
a drop of blood in the tick thank goodness which means it had just
gotten on Hannah. I fix Hannah's hair up every day so I doubt I would
miss one, but I don't want to have to deal with getting one out that
has embedded itself into her. Oh, you think I'm freaked out now, boy,
it will get way, way worse if I have to do that!! We're going to give
her a good bath tonight to check her over and make sure she doesn't
have any on her elsewhere.
I will have to find out some ways to help protect Hannah and myself
from ticks this season. I sure hope it's not a "bad tick year"! We
didn't seem to have a problem last year, and it was 2005 when it was
the year that was so bad. Oooo-icky!
I spread out some bird seed last night since some new little birds have
arrived. They are called the "Red Breasted Nuthatch". I think it's
"Red Breasted Nuthatch" even though their breast color is actually more
of a yellow color with a blue back/body. What makes them so special is
that they hop down the tree, head down. Most birds can't do that.
They are very acrobatic! I just love seeing them and I think that they
are so sweet! I know I will see more as the summer comes.
Also, my Mother-In-Law filled her hummingbird feeders and today I
heard, then saw the first hummer of the year! It made me so happy! I
will be putting mine out soon.
What is the best ratio/recipe for
hummingbirds since I have never actually known the recipe?
I also found an area (the same area where Hannah may have picked up the
tick though) that has tons of wild rose spikes that I can transplant.
I am excited, so I have to get on that before it gets too far into the
spring.
I checked through my garden today and things are progressing well. The
crocus are still bloomed which is nice that they have lasted so long,
and my hyacinths are really coming along as well.
What happens to a plant (perennial - English Daisy) when you over water
it? Can you cause it to rot at the base of the plant? Somehow I
manged to do that I think. I set it out to dry up a bit and
accidentally left it outside on the porch all night. OOPS. I hope
that it will recuperate though, so we'll just have to see. Any suggestions???
I didn't get any pictures put up yet, but will try later this evening or tomorrow.
~M~
P.S. I forgot to write this part.....lol:
I plan on planting some seeds directly in the garden soon, possibly
tomorrow or I may I will wait until Thursday when it is suppose to be
quite a bit warmer than it has been lately. I plan on planting:
1.) Malva Zebrina
2.) Sweet Peas - Spencer Giant Mixture
3.) Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia Hirta
4.) Bachelor Buttons - Double Mixed Colors
5.) Mixed Poppies - I have no idea which kind they are, I just had some mixed in a bachelor button seed packet. Who, knows...
6.) Carrots - Danvers
7.) Peas - Lincoln
Are the above flowers/vegetables alright to put in the ground now,
before the last frost date? Or should I be waiting. I think our last
frost date is still 4 weeks away still (not quite positive, I will have
to call one of our local nurseries to find out for sure).
Also how on earth do you find out exactly which zone your in? I have
tried, and tried to figure it out with the zone maps, but they never
show close enough on my area. We live in a sliver of color difference
compared to the next zone over. It's hard to explain, but it is just
overly difficult to figure it out.
Today was only a birdwatching day for me - not feeling up to any gardening, although it was a very nice day today. Sometimes I just like to make a note of what birds I am seeing in my garden. This is what I saw today:
I also saw a new bird for me - an Eastern Kingbird - I have never seen one of those before, so that was pretty exciting. He didn't actually come into my yard or come to the feeders; he's an insect eater, not a seed eater and was sitting on a fence and snapping up insects from the pasture.
I recently had hubby put up a new post-style plant stand for me right next to the bird bath. I put two potted vincas on it. I know the birds don't care if there are flowers there or not, but I like it and they like the new perch. They land on the top of the post, check the situation out and then fly down to the birdbath. It's kind of cute. I also have a couple of potted azaelas sitting beneath the birdbath. The silly little wren likes to take his bath in the saucer that catches the water beneath the planter. It's very comical.
Today when the hummingbird came to the feeder, he took one sip and flew away. That's my clue that it needed to be changed. Sugar water can turn pretty quickly when the weather is warm like it has been here. So I took down all the hummer feeders and put in fresh sugar water. In the meantime, the little hummer went to the irises that are blooming under the pecan tree for his nectar. I sure wish I had gotten a picture of that. It was so cute.
Oh the sun is blessing us today. The plants in the garden seem to be signing in unison with the birds. I am hearing a lot of bird calls I am not familiar with, we must be getting some migrating birds through. My finches are starting to get their color back...nice to see the yellows and reds. Most of our summer birds are back already.
I really wish there was a "facebook" or "gardenguides" for birds. I would like to make some of them my friends and refuse others. Some of them are such a nuisance, make big messes and drive other birds away. Alas mother nature doesn't seem to play by the technology rules...
More tulips are open today, and I heard that the Tulip Festival in Skagit County, just north of us finally has a bunch of tulips open, so it should be busy there this weekend, although it will be very muddy. If anyone is ever traveling to W Washington this time of the year, it really is a site to see.
http://www.tulipfes
tival.org/
I have a couple of things to do this morning, but then I am off to the garden this afternoon and tomorrow. I have guests coming on Saturday, and want to make sure the dandelions are under control. Don't want the guests to miss the real flowers blooming for the weeds.
Happy gardening to all!
I promised I would post the bird feeder that I had worked on all weekend and it's finally done. I just love how it turned out and it's over the top enough to let everyone know who made it lol! Anyway, here it is, the peacock--
Sitting here on my deck in the nice spring sunshine is so bittersweet. I got most of the weeds pulled this weekend and the garden looks good. Although by midweek we will be back to below normal temperatures and rain. I guess the motto of enjoy it while it is here is very true today.
As I sit here my mason bees are emerging from their box and butterflies are flying around. A chorus of birds are singing in the trees. Really it is an almost perfect day.
Today I went to the Washington Park Jonquil Festival in Arkansas with my friend Ann and her three adorable nieces. It was not quite what I expected. True, there were lots of jonquils, but most were past their prime and were not the focus of the festival anyway. It was mostly an arts and crafts fair. But that's okay, it was fun - I saw a lot of fun things and I bought a another bird feeder which I need like another hole in the head. But this is a suet log - and I've wanted one of those for a long, long time. It's a log with plugs drilled into it that you fill with suet, hang from a tree and wait for the birds and it came with a supply of suet, too. I hung it up right away when I got home. No takers yet, but birds are always a little leery of something new, so it may take them a few days. Anyway, I just love it!
There was another feeder there that I wanted also, but like I said, I don't need another feeder, but it was sooooooo cute and so GREEN (recycled). They had taken old tires, cut them into the shape of a sunflower, put screen in the center where the hole is attached a couple of chains and viola! a sunflower bird feeder - so cute - so original. I wish I'd thought to take a picture, but of course I didn't. And I don't know why I didn't buy one because I absolutely loved it and he was doing the most business of any of the vendors there. Very brisk business. And he traveled all the way from Branson, MO, too.
What a drastic change in the weather (again)!. Yesterday's high was only 35 degrees and today's high only 40. Too cold for me outside - I just worked with my seedlings indoors. I did go out and fill my bird feeders today in between rain showers. They were pretty empty; the birds were happy that I did that. It's supposed to stop raining and start warming up again after today - I have a few things to plant, so I hope so. The rain and wind have really done a number on my daffy's and hyacinths. They were standing up so tall and pretty, now they are just too heavy to stand up straight. Hopefully when they dry out, they'll perk back up.
I'm not sure I've gotten the hang of this blogging thing yet. I've written several entries, but they don't seem to show up here. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if it's just the program. I've seen oher blogs where they mention similar problems and usually I'm pretty computer literate, so not sure what the problem is. Anyway, I'll give it one more go . . . .
Went to the Texarkana Home and Garden Show today. Texarkana is a SMALL town and it was a SMALL show held at the fairgrounds. Although the title said Home and GARDEN show, it really was a home show and very little Garden. Since we are renting right now until we decide if we want to stay in Texas, I really wasn't interested in all the security systems, home equity loans, mortgages, carpet cleaning, remodeling, etc. So I was a tad bit disappointed. But I did find out about some local nurseries and I will plan to visit them in the near future.
The weather has taken a drastic turn - it was over 80 degrees both yesterday and today. Lows in the 40's at night. Hard to believe that just last week we had a hard enough frost to solidly feeze the water in all my birdbaths and to damage the hydrangea that I just bought. It's not dead, but definitely damaged. I had to prune it back quite a bit. Live and learn - I guess.
Back home in Seattle they are getting SNOW today that's what my friends there are telling me. And here I am getting my beds ready for planting. What a difference 2300 miles makes! LOL!
Oh, the bluebirds have taken up residence in one of the bluebird houses. They started building a nest yesterday. And today after the homeshow I walked the footpath around the lake at the fairgrounds. I saw two mallards courting two females - very funny and then a male mockingbird courting a female. And he was very, very full of himself. Strutting around and puffing up his chest and fluffing up his feathers. It was really comical. I took a ton of pictures, but I haven't figured out how to post them on here yet . . . next time maybe or maybe this time. My back yard.
Another frost and the hydrangea I bought the other day bit the dust. It's not dead, but it definitely has frost damage. It will survive, but will not flower this year since hydrangea flowers on last years wood and I'm going to have to do some pruning to cut off all the damage. I know better than to leave nursery grown plants outdoors when there's danger of a frost - I just wasn't thinking. But I'll try to save it. I brought all the bedding plants in, but I just didn't think about the hydrangea. Lesson learned I guess.
A friend of mine gave me a whimsical bird feeder in the shape of a southern style porch swing. It's painted bright pink. Everyone knows I am an avid bird watcher/bird feeder. I have 23 birdfeeders in the yard right now and that's BEFORE I put out all the hummingbird feeders. I also have bird houses and I just put up two new blue bird houses. No activity there yet, but there are two wrens who are building a nest in a decorative bird house I have mounted inside the carport. I've never had any birds build a nest in this birdhouse before - it's kind of cute. These two wrens have been sheltering there all winter and now they are building a nest. The only problem with that is that it's right outside the carport door and they tend to dive at us when we go in and out that door!
I have a basket of pecans sitting in the yard left over from last fall. I'm trying to entice the squirrels to "come and get 'em." I miss my squirrels from my Seattle backyard. I had 12 regulars there and I enjoyed their antics and their attempts to get into the birdfeeders. It was so comical. The squirrels are very different here. They are bigger and colored differently. I guess these are fox squirrels and I had Eastern Gray squirrels in Seattle. Every once in a while I see a familiar gray squirrel here, but not often.
The other night as I sat by the living room window reading, a possum ambled by my window - I could have reached out and touched him he was so close to me. I can't figure out how he got in here. I am surrounded by a cow pasture on three sides and my yard is completely fenced in. But maybe he was lured by the pecans. I know that in the morning, something ha been eating the pecans, there was a neat little pile of pecan shells next to the basket when I checked it the next day.
Anchorage was beautiful. We had wonderful 79 degree weather and no rain. We were told it was the best week all summer. It is a beautiful town and we had such a good time. We went on a glacier trip and got to see a glacier caving. It was awesome and they are so beautiful and blue. I will post a picture tonight. Now I am at work. We went to the wild life preserve and saw all the Alaska big animals up close and personal. We even saw a moose and her baby along the side of the road at the airport. We stopped and took pictures. She didn't seem to mind and they are huge. I was fascinated by all the planes they have there. It is like eveyone has a plane instead of a boat or car. We also went to see Momma Mia and it was great. I laughed so hard and cried. I will see it again and then buy it and watch it more. At the end we all clapped. I would have loved to see the play. We stayed in a great Bed and Breakfast place called the " Artic Fox" and it was very nice and spacious. We had a 2 bedroom 2 bath room with a full kitchen and living room. They served a great breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 everyday and you went when you felt like it. The place was very busy and very clean. We even had a huge patio to lounge on in the sun. We also had a BBQ. We went gold panning too. It was all such fun and 4 days was not enough we only got to see the out skirts of anchorage for about 40 miles to Seward. I got some great pictures.
The little birds had flown the coop when I got back. At least the nest was empty. Maybe next year they will come back and nest.
My vacation started today and I leave for Alaska in the morning. I posted another picture of the birds. They are gettin so big. I will be gone for 6 days so I won't get another picture till next week unless my daughter takes some.
I found out that it is going to be national sisters day on Sunday and I will be with my sisters. I am so excited about this trip. One of the excursions we are going to take is to pan for gold. I think that sounds great and maybe go into a glacier or ice cave. I am sure I will tell you all about it and post a few pictures. I shall take hundreds though. We tend to have a very good time together. Everyone have a great evening and the rain finally came and I love it.
I was out cleaning in the yard and came across this amazing nest. The mother bird built it in one of the lawn chairs hanging on the fence. It is a beautiful nest and when we went near to it she sqwaked at us. We did not touch anything just took pictures. They are so cute. Check my bird album dated 7-24-2008. Mother nature is so incredible.
I am going to Alaska in four days and I am so excited. I have never been there and I am going with my four sisters and my cousin. It should be a blast. I will be gone for 5 days. Then I took another 3 days off to get my garden back in order. I am having trouble sleeping I am so excited.
Well, with record temps in the mid to high 90's for the last couple of weeks, the mid 80's feel cool! So, it has been a bit more enjoyable to get out into the garden lately. I am still just focusing on routine maintenance: weeding, pruning and mowing. I have decided not to do much planting this season...mostly b/c I did so much over the fall and winter and I think I should give it a bit of time to see how things fill in. Also, we haven't had much rain and I would really have to keep up on the water. Plus...time is limited with a toddler and an infant-HAH!
So,
I have enjoyed watching the results of my hard work over the fall and have been really enjoying to "fruits" of the companion plantings in the veggie beds!
The beans are producing daily and its fun to have to two different varieties. They taste about the same, but make a nice presentation on the plate :)
We have also had enough blackberries to get a bowlful daily and my daughter eats most of them before we even get inside the house!
We have already harvested 4 of the asain eggplants and there are a few more out there almost ready to go. The itialian eggplants are getting bigger every day:
We have a TON of little baby spaghetti squash on the vines - hooray!
And, here is a good shot of the companion system at work...
On another note, the crepe myrtles that were planted 4 years ago as a screen on our property line are really looking good this year and provide a great view from our sunroom and back porch:
And, our little birdie family in the dogwood is about to be all grown up...we have so enjoyed watching them! I will be sad to see them go:
This weekend, I plan to get the creek weedeated and do some more weeding and pruning. Hope you all have a great gardening weekend!
It is a word. It is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena. I learned that some of my writings are phenology. See you are never too old to learn something new.
I love our spring showers and storms. You can always feel them coming in the air, by the sounds from our part of the forest and the reactions of the local fauna. The birds are usually the first to alert and all come to the feeders to stock up before the rain hits. Just as the temperature and humidity start to rise they wing in to get their fill of seed.
As the sky begins to darken they wing off to find a roost to wait out the storm. The chickadees are always the last to brave the sudden winds and large drops and sometimes take this opportunity to stake out the feeders throughout the storm, protected under the cover of the deck.
Yesterday’s storm went about this normal routine with one exception; the chickadees had a wren as a guest. As I watched from the kitchen window, all were swinging from perches at the feeders as the wind picked up and the thunder rolled through our hills. We had the typical heavy downpour for about 20 minutes, and the gang of little birds chirped and fed on seed through the deluge.
As the sun began to break through the clouds and the rain lessened to a sprinkle, I watched as the wren sprang from his perch to the rain heavy branches of the cedar tree. This little character proceeded to fly up to the limb above him, knocking the water from the limb to land below, flapping his wings and thoroughly enjoying his self made shower.
Yesterday was one degree shy of producing 90º weather for the fourth consecutive day.
Again this year a pair of chickadees made a nest in the pussy willow sheltered bird house. Three chicks hatched.
Guarding the nest.
Feeding time.
Fledgling leaving.
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