witt's Blog

I have a correction to make. For days now I have been saying that we have had only 1/8ths inches of rain for the entire month of August. The other day Hubby and I were discussing our lack of rain when it hit me. One eights? What in the heck was I thinking when I wrote that a thousand times? I meant 8/10ths. Oh, well. I guess that's why I majored in English and not math.

Hubby was thrilled with how much the Zephirine Drouhin has grown since I chopped it back in July. He was afraid that I had overdone my pruning. It really was a show-stopper this year. I hope it will produce as many lovely roses next year.

This is what it looks like today.

It's been the same old thing here -- cleaning up after Sid the Squirrel. It wasn't bad enough that he kept digging up the First Natural Bed and turning over the chicken thingy with the hens and chicks. Oh, no, he wasn't satisfied with that! He pulled the pot slam out of the chicken thingy, which was wedged in tightly, and then he pulled out each plant and threw them every whichway. I had to hunt them throughout the bed. I got them repotted, again, and then I moved the pot to another area on the Patio Garden! So far he hasn't messed with again, but yesterday afternoon, I was taking a sot-down on the porch when I spied Sid in the Hibiscus Garden, digging away! I jumped up and popped my hands. He didn't pay me a lick of attention. I ran to the edge of the porch, yelled, and popped my hands. He still didn't give a whoop. I ran down the porch steps, yelling and popping. He stopped and just looked at me. I took off! I believe that I could have snatched him up by the tail, but as I got right up to him, he took off. Grrrrr!

Here is a picture across the Patio Garden. The garlic chives are really putting on a show. You can see the chicken thingy beside the chives. I guess Sid just hasn't seen it yet. I just hope that we won't have to go through the same old thing.

Sid the Squirrel is having a hayday (pun intended) in the First Natural Bed. I just don't know what is so fascinating under the hay. We were porch-sitting enjoying the birds, when I noticed that something didn't look right out there. The brass chicken wasn't in the pot. It had been flung out about two feet. It must weigh about two or three pounds. I can't imagine the squirrel being able to do that. The chicken had been secure in that pot for at least two years, so I know that it just didn't fall out!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful "hayday" today.

I went to the front yard and watered the Butterfly Garden and the Hibiscus Garden. There I noticed that something had eaten two of the portulaca. It could have been crickets, grasshoppers, snails, slugs or maybe the three deer that we saw Monday. Who knows. The plectranthus that I just stuck in the ground have rooted and are growing. The mums that I rooted earlier are blooming. Not profusely, but at least they are living and have some small blooms.

The ferns in the Old Gourd Garden don't seem to be growing much and the autumn clemetis has not one bloom. From my house all the way into town and all around town, the autumn clemetis is everywhere.

Next, I watered the Quarter Round. That bed looks better than all of them. The Mexican heathers are really huge along with the grouping of marigolds, which are interspersed with volunteer red vincas. The purple vincas that I planted didn't do much, and they sure didn't make the show that I was wanting.

I finished with the Front Flower Bed. One out of all the stellas is blooming. I don't understand why the others won't bloom. At least the pineapple sage that I transplanted there looks good. I watered that unnamed succulent, which I was told wasn't a succulent, and the hens and chicks in the chicken thingy. It's not doing much.

Finally, I was done with the watering because it was getting too sunny and hot. I took my cuppa on the porch and noticed that the Mexican heather that I had rooted was about dead. I took a couple days off with my tatting and look what happened. Dang it. I don't know if I can revive it or not.

To paraphrase Coleridge, Water, water everywhere, but not a speck of rain.

Thanks, everyone, for your nice comments about the doily. I did work on that thing almost all day every day and night. When I first learned how to spin yarn, I sent a picture to a lady who also spins, but she had been doing it for a long time. I had said that I didn't think that I had done a very good job. She laughed and asked me if I were a Type A personality. My yarn would have won a prize for precision.

I guess I'm only that way with my tatting, etc., though, because I'm sure not that way with keeping house or anything else ? just my handwork. Oh, and yes, I did start another one. I want it to be right. I am going to add another row, but this time in the same manner the others were added. I am writing the instructions for this doily, just in case I have to make another one ten years from now! I used to have a habit of creating pieces, but never writing how to do them. I had to learn how to write instructions. It's not my favorite aspect of my handwork.

Well, enough about tatting. This morning when I looked out, it appeared that there had been a war going on. Either Sid the Squirrel is hunting acorns or hiding them. I don't know which, but he surely has made a mess in the yard. There are squirrel holes everywhere! When we were coming back home this morning after a visit to the doctor's, there were three deer in the driveway. Oh, my. I suppose I'll have to look around and find what they dined on! I can't win. Maybe that's why I'm meticulous with my handwork. I know that something isn't going to eat it or tear it up.

The doily is finished, but I had to do a little improvisation. I haven't made this particular pattern since it was created. It was made with size 10 thread. I bought a brand-new ball of thread, but the minute I started tatting, I realized that this thread felt smaller in my fingers. I knew that this piece was not going to measure the ten inches as it was advertised. I couldn't sell something less, so I had to add another row. I attached a chain and then floated the rings on the edge.

This is the original picture from years ago.

This is the new one.

I'm not sure if it looks about the same or not. Maybe you can tell me if it looks suitable enough to send to the buyer.

I'm going to work on another one following my same pattern except I'm going to make another row the same way the others are made just to compare the two.

One thing that I am sure of is that the quality of materials is not what it used to be. I feel that they are making the thread smaller in order to save money. You sure don't get the bang for your buck anymore.

We had a few sprinkles, but it hadn't done any downpours as we had hoped. Even with it being cloudy and misty, we only got 1/10th of an inch. At least it gave me time to start working on the doily, which I did all the rest of the day.

I'm guessing I'm about a third of the way through it, but the bigger it gets, the longer it takes. I hope that I will be able to work steadily on it again today.

I hope that everyone accomplishes something wonderful today.

While Hubby and I were porch-sweatin' because neither of us wanted to be trapped in the house, I got a call from a guy who represents my tatting. I haven't heard from him in a long while. He had an order for me. Oh, goody. I looked through my supplies and discovered that I have every color and size of thread that you could possibly need . . . except for plain old white! I couldn't do a thing. He chatted for a long while, telling me about his experiences in Europe. That was loads of fun. I'll be getting some thread today, I hope, so that I can make a Victorian Doily. I haven't made this creation in quite some time. Now I have a good excuse to stay inside out of the heat.

We stopped by the Buford Hardware after breakfast out with friends to find something that Walmart didn't have the other day. As I was leaving, I asked the guy if I could get some cuttings off his coleus. It looked pitiful and about done. He wouldn't dare be trying to sell it at this point. He said sure. I put them in water on the windowsill. They are the old-timey kind. That was what I was looking for all spring and never saw it anywhere. Maybe I can get them to root, pot them up, and over winter them. Then I won't have to be looking for them to no avail again next spring.

Well, at least I wasn't illegally slippin' snippin's.

I went out this morning to take a better picture of the tea olive blossoms (osmanthus fragrans), but they didn't look so good after the surprise thunderstorm that swept in and out in a hurry yesterday. It didn't cause too much damage, and it did leave behind 6/10ths an inch of rain. Here's a blurry picture of one of the blossoms that I had not deleted.

Today I decided that I would go ahead and plant out the pineapple sage that I rooted. She doesn't look too happy right now, but I sure hope that she will take off and grow in time to blossom before Fall gets here.

While I had my camera and the Herb Garden was still in the shade, I got this picture of the row of impatiens.

The elephant ears have truly surprised me this year.

But the biggest surprise was the stella surprise. They haven't done so great this year, and I was really surprised when I saw this blossom with more to come.

I hope that everyone gets a "stella" surprise of some kind in their garden today.

I was at it again trying to take some pictures. The tea olives are blooming. "They" say that the tea olives only bloom in months that have an R, but I guess "they" are wrong. All the pictures that I took were blurry. I'll have to try that again.

The Turk's cap is blooming. It doesn't usually bloom until late August or September. That was one of the old-fashioned plants that I just had to have because I remember being fascinated by my grandmother's. Such an unusual bloom.

Those pitiful zinnias that I got from the feed and seed store have finally revived and put on new growth and flowers. I'm still waiting on the plants from the seeds that fairygarden sent to head up and bloom.

About a week or so ago, I put some baby hens and chicks into a chicken "thing" that Daughter had given me. I never quite knew what the heck it was, but I put a small plastic pot in it with a few sprigs of the gossamer plant. They weren't happy because I never watered it out in the Patio Garden, so I knew that hens and chicks wouldn't mind the neglect. (The chicken "thing" turned out to be a candle holder of some kind. It works better for me as a plant holder.) 

I went out to take pictures and guess what? One piece was on the ground and the rest had been dug up. You can see a piece lying on the patio. I guess you know whose handiwork that was.

Yep. Sid was at it again.

Yay! We now have pagination on the Blogs page! I've been dancing around since I saw it, singing It was pagination, I know to the tune of "It Was Fascination." Now for all those that missed my last blog because it dropped off the board so soon, you can go to the pagination at the bottom of the Blogs page and click on page 3. That's where it is now. I guess after a few more people blog, it might get bumped down to page 4.

Isn't that great??? Now if we go off for the weekend or can't get to the pooter for a day or so, we won't have to miss a blog just because it dropped out of sight.

Ain't Kate great??

Son and Grandson actually made it for a visit! She brought a pile of books and DVD's for us. It will take all winter to watch the movies! We toured the yard. I believe that we discussed each plant. She was trying to name them all. She's learning. I gave her an ivy that I took out of my Mother's Day dish garden. It's sort of a plain but tender ivy. I had saved it for her but forgot to give it to her the last time that she was here. She was tickled to have it.

Grandson brought his (Hubby's) guitar and plunked out some tunes. He's a "picker" and does pretty well. He had a new tuning gizmo, so we decided to tune my dulcimer, which I haven't touched since I retired. Then I couldn't remember how it was supposed to be tuned. I went to the internet to find out. While we were tuning, we popped a string. Luckily, I had one. We never did get the thing tuned right. It sounded horrible. I might play around with it today. I was tuning it in the Ionian mode, but later I read that I should have been tuning it in the Mixolydian mode or at least I think that's right.
While we were admiring the flowers, I remembered the name of the purple plant that comes up all over the place, the Patio Garden, the Herb Garden, the lawn, here, there, and everywhere, is perilla. I never got a chance to do any fall clean-up due to Hubby's therapy last summer, so the perilla went to seed; thus, I've been pulling those plants all summer. I love them dispersed around in the different beds, but not a gazillion of them. This is a picture from last year. I don't seem to have any close-ups of it from this year. That's it in the left of the picture.

You can see the hot pink impatiens that I had there last year. All my impatiens this year volunteered from those because I didn't do that fall clean-up.

I do have purple heart (Tradescantia pallida). This is a picture from June. It hasn't spread as I thought it would, unfortunately.

Speaking of purple, here's what the purple velvet that Daughter gave me looked like when I put it in the hanging basket back in May.

Here's what it looks like now even after the aphid attack.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is there are benefits and deficits of not doing fall clean-up. Your plants will volunteer for you, but you might have to take the good with the bad.

I hope everyone has the good part of life today!