motherbored's Blog

I was tossing and turning, so, rather than fight it, I got up and came in here, booted up the 'puter and went to my favorite site, GG.

I'm almost green with envy, at the ability of some to toss out the Latin words for their plants/flowers/what-have-you's
.  I studied Latin in high school -- mandatory, at that time -- and can still sing along with the Latin mass, but still can't memorize the plant names.

I was looking at one of my blogs and the one with the castle has our very own bat nursery there.  Mike built it, according to specifications, and the finished product weighed in at 50lbs.  It took both of us to get it up the ladder and hung on a pole.  To date, after three+ years, nary a bat.  We see them in the evening and think they live up in our back area; there are cave-like places that probably please them more.

Went to son's house, tonight, to finish putting a dog door in his outside door in his garage.  Sarah loves it and shows off, going in and out, while we stand there. 

Deo started the project, last night, and called, saying that he couldn't find Sarah.  He was so panicked and my heart just sunk.  He was driving around, while he was talking to me, and I could hear an occasional "Sarah!" from him.

About twenty minutes later, he called and said that, as he drove up to the house, here comes Sarah, puffing and panting, like mad.  I told him that I would wager that she'd been following him and the car; she never leaves the yard, even though it's not fenced, so I figure she had to take off behind him, trying to keep up with him and, every time she stopped, he'd call her to action, again, without knowing it.  It's so funny, in my head, thinking about it, that I'm sitting here giggling.

Deo has a Eureka lemon tree and that thing produces the largest and best lemons I've ever tasted.  He also has a lemon tree that has striped lemons; green and yellow.  Don't know what this tree is called... yeah, a lemon tree, but what type?

Well, out of words, so will play a little solitaire... was playing a hidden-object game on Alyssa's 'puter and it was fun.  It's a great way for children to learn about things from a past era, as well as how to spell them.  It's also a great logic builder.

Did I say solitaire?  Yeah, I did, so here I go.

Good night... morning (it's 02:40) all, hugs and God bless!

Leave it to me to get the wrong information or word; the actual name of the wood, that SIL used, to do his paths, etc., is Trex; here's the website to tell you more about it:  http://www.trex.com/

According to the site, this wood doesn't splinter, warp or anything else that regular lumber does.  Now, all I have to do is figure out how much I need, and I'll be in business with my lasagna gardens.

As you can see, I'm still dragging my feet, where getting the Lily of the Nile dug up and separated, for next year, is concerned.  It's too hot, here, for me to be out and digging... latest excuse I thought up; whatever works, I always say ;-)

Awoke, this a.m., sneezing like mad; I'm determined never to get another flu shot, because that's what brought this all on.

I'm supposed to be helping Mike with the winterizing of the pool deck, but my sneezing would just make the project that much harder.  Here's a picture of the final stages of the winterizing.  Redwood is pretty, but it takes a lot of TLC to keep it looking that way.

I'd like to fill in the spaces under the deck, with boxwood or something that would hide the openings.  This is a favorite place for the dogs, in the hot summer months, as it's cooler under the deck.  Any ideas on what to do with the area?

My SIL has his entire backyard outfitted for play, with a pool, jacuzzi, waterfall, kids playground, horseshoe pit and last, but not least, a wine cellar.  I noticed that he had an edging and asked what it was and it's "flex wood."  He says it never rots, so maybe I can build up the hard clay with some of Mike's compost and the flex wood, like a lasagna garden.

Wish I had taken a camera, yesterday, so I could get pictures of their backyard, but I never seem to have a camera, when I need it.

Also, with every program that I use, for peripherals, on the computer, I have to go searching for drivers, as I lost all those, when this thing crashed.

I sure got on the wrong side of my fur babies', today.  I heard Daisy's big "B'woof," and figured I'd better give her something to shut her up, or she'd wake Mike.  I found a bone on the counter, that Mike had saved for our dogs, and took it out to her -- it's gone.  She came in and inspected Goliath's bed, to see if there might be a crumb there, but nada.

I don't think any dog looks as forlorn as a hound; Daisy's a bassett and about 11 years old; she's lived next door for the past six months and is quite sure I belong to her.  Her mate died, when the canned dog food thing happened.  Anyway, enough about the critters.

I heard from my 21-year-old granddaughter, yesterday; she is doing as well as can be expected, given her age -- I can't be judgemental, as I was that age and had about the same ability to pick worthwhile friends, as she does.  I wouldn't go back to being 21 for anything!

Thanksgiving is almost upon us and Beth (granddaughter, mentioned above) called and said she, her husband and son will be at my daughter's.  Mike's going to pick her up, as I'll be riding shotgun with our son, since we'll be going camping after the feast.  We're going to Casini Ranch, up near the Russian River; am really looking forward to it, as I've never been there.  Deo and the girls went, last year, with some friends, and each party, to the camping trip, prepared something and they had a potluck; sounded fun.  We'll take the trailer up, park it and then head back to Sophia's for dinner.

Mike's getting to be an embarrassment!  He "borrows" horse manure from Daisy's family, for the composter; now how is he going to pay that back?!  Actually, Mike's having a blast, becoming an expert on compost and horse poop.  His first batch didn't make it, because he hadn't added the necessary water, so this one is going much better.  He goes out and takes the temp and turns it daily; if nothing happens, he's still had fun doing what he's doing and that's the important thing.

I still haven't dug up the Lily of the Nile; would you believe it's been too warm? 

I'm going to look for a Palo Verde tree, next, as a friend, who I met on GG, sent me a picture of one and it's georgous!  She advised that it's very prolific and the thorns can be painful, but I can plant it back in the area we keep for the wild critters.  One can never have enough trees, right?

Well, almost time to head off to the big city to go to Mass, then down to our daughter's for a visit.

Just in case you'd like to see where Casini Ranch is, here's the url:

http://www.casiniranch.com/
 

Just received a reply as to what type of bird built this nest:

"We think your nest is  a Bullock's Oriole."

Oh, great, now I can't find the picture!  It was the one of the nest in the tangerine tree; if I find the picture, I'll post it, again.

Here is a site with the song of the bird, as well as pictures:

http://www.birds.cornell.e
du/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bul
locks_Oriole.html#fig1

Well, I've set about repairing the birdhouses, that can't withstand the weight of all the acorns the bluejays fill them with.  Every year, we go about this emptying out/refilling the birdhouses.  One year, a jay found an opening under a shingle, on the woodshop, and filled it with acorns.  I wouldn't mind this, but they don't even eat them, that I can tell, anymore than they'll eat rose hips: 

I understand that a syrup can be made from the rose hips, that is high in vitamin C and good for colds; anyone know how to do this?

This is the Fourth of July climber, but he's mostly just laying around.  Rose hips, anyone?

This is a castle facade (sorry, can't find my cedelia) that some people built, to cover up their quansut hut home, on the hill behind our home; sort of like being back in Ireland, except the castles, there,  were awesome

...almost, at least.  I have my laptop, but the keyboard is so small, that all I do is make errors.

My son fixed this one and now I'm back in business.  Deo said that the Dell software, that came with this, wouldn't work.  We had a problem, when we first purchased this and they finally sent us a new computer.

Anyway, I've been mowing, like crazy, and have piles of mulch.  I went to put some mulch on Mike's hidden corner garden and he blanched and said I would kill his garden.  I had to explain the facts of mulch to him ;-)

Mike's compost is getting there, but the cool weather slows the process down, a bit.  There was fog here, this morning, which is very unusual for this area -- I think I've seen fog up here about three times in the past 20 years.

I'm dragging my feet, because I know I need to dig up the Lily of the Nile, but it's going to be such a big job, I'm using delaying tactics.

Well, good to be back on-line.  Hugs and God bless everybody!

Microsoft has a sick sense of humor.  Yesterday, my regular computer decided to stop and I have been relegated to this little laptop. 

My vision is somewhat impaired and I was trying to enlarge the visual on here.  I managed to do that, but, where I really need it, it doesn't work.

Not only that, it took me about 1/2 hour, because the task of enlarging it, and the tiny display, made it especially difficult to do. 

There, that's my daily whine -- anyone have bread and cheese to go with it?

I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Richard, the 11 year
old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control, and asked him to
come over.

Richard clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.

As he was walking away, I called after him, So, what was wrong? 

He replied, It was an ID ten T error.

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired,  ID
ten T error? What's that?  In case I need to fix it again.

Richard grinned.  Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error
before?

No, I replied.

Write it down, he said, and I think you'll figure it
out. 

So I wrote down:
I D 1 0 T

I used to like that little kid.

... once I was able to get it through the backporch door.  Mike finally put something away and it didn't need to be put away.  On the other hand, as I was mowing the leaves up, I drove past the catch-bins for the tractor, that he had left in the field.  Oh, well, he's fun to watch ;-)

I used the cart to take the plants from the end of the house, where I had been working, for the summer, because there was a snake in the greenhouse; he was probably long gone, after we met, but I don't take chances with snakes.  I still have a couple of heavy planters that we'll need to put up there, but they're too heavy for just one person.

Mike started his compost over again, with the addition of the pumpkins the girls had carved.  Hope it works for him, this time;. 

The ground is starting to turn green -- I'm tempted to call it grass, but the only grass we have is right next to the house; the rest is weeds..  Still, I love the green and am glad to see it coming back to replace the dry look of summer.

Now that I have the cart, I'm going to bring down some concrete edgers and try to start some lasagna gardens next to the porch; the ground is particularly hard, there, so the lasagna gardens should work.

Oh, and This Old House monthly newsletter is out and has some tips on winterizing.

Nuf for now; hugs and God bless!

Mike has the lawn tractor back together, now, and it's running; tomorrow I'll be able to get some more mulch.

Mike called the composter company and they gave him further instructions via the phone, with the promise of paperwork to follow.  He was afraid he'd overloaded the composter, but he hadn't.  He also didn't know that he had a sack of some chemical that my friend sent up, that's supposed to speed up the process... all it did was allow three mice to travel up here in the sack -- cats loved that ;-)

Our daughter is arranging a surprise birthday trip for our SIL to the Dominican Republic -- Punta Canna, I think the place is called.  Everyone is going, except me; I don't fly, so I'll be home with all the critters; much more fun than touring, anyway.  All I want, from the trip, are seed packets of anything.

Someone sent a recipe for a cake that you mix and microwave in a cup and Mike just brought me on one; it's actually good!  I thought anything microwaved, except soup, came out gummy or leathery.  I'll have to remember to find out who sent the recipe and thank them, because my sweet tooth has been sated.  Tell ya what; it was sooo good, that I'll try to find the recipe and post it.

Well, I'm pooped, so I'm headed for the cama (bed).  Boring!

Good night and God bless!

Just had a reply from Cornell U, but no identification of the nest yet.  Still, with as many bird lovers as we have, on here, thought this might be of interest to some of you:

Hi Carol,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It sounds very lively on your property.
We hope you have some time to enter your nest records in the NestWatch database.

You may also be interested in Project FeederWatch another citizen science project at the
Lab of Ornithology: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
pfw/

This project involves submitting counts of birds that visit your feeders. It's quite
simple &  over the course of the FeederWatch season (Nov-early spring) you
select the days you wish to submit your counts either by paper forms or online.
I think you might enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Kitty

I spent the day at my son's, taking care of the girls and just generally being there, while the election process took place; he uses his place as a polling place, whenever it's needed. 

About half-way through the day, Mike called and said the cart was there and he was putting it together, but had to stop, because something was warped -- never did figure out that part of the conversation.  Anyway, when I pulled the car into the garage, last night, there she sat; the cart!  All put together! 

My first task for the cart, is to unload the 4 enormous pumpkins -- carved by the girls -- and wheel them up to the chicken house, where I put a bunch of mulch; I'll let them sit there until they break down into compost, while still being able to see the girls' artwork.

I think that I mentioned that the mower's bearings are no longer functioning; can't wait to get them replaced.  No more mowing for me, for awhile... still, if I really feel the need, I have a self-propelled power mower and an old push mower -- do any of you remember having to use one of those?  Agony!

When I was in town, the other day, I bought a pound of red clover seeds -- I buy from Lockhart seed company -- and will broadcast that around, again, this year.  Last year, I only saw it coming up in a few spots, then it dawned on me that, when the pool was put in, they dug out all my clover; the beasts!  If I'd have known they were going to do that, I wouldn't have let 'em put in the pool ;-)  Naw, I would have, 'cause, when I'm out and about, during the extreme heat, I run and take a jump in, just to cool off.

Yesterday, I saw Alyssa's teacher, from last year; she's a wonderful person and I used to love helping her.  I was talking to her about Alyssa's having trouble with Math -- Deo has her going to a class at the community college, on Saturdays, to help her -- and she asked if Alyssa was in the school's remedial math classes.  I didn't know, but Alyssa piped up that she was and  her regular teacher was giving the classes.  Cindy, the teacher from last year, said that, if Alyssa wasn't getting the math during the day, it didn't make sense that the same teacher would be helpful in the remedial class.  Then, bless her heart, she said to tell my son that she would be happy to help Alyssa, on her own time.  Now Cindy is a teacher!  As we stood there, about 20 kids came up and gave her a hug. 

In the wake of the election, thought this was cute -- maybe not entirely appropriate, but cute:

I started to post something, the other day, then saved it to draft; today, I opened the draft, put new stuff on and posted it; we-ll, it showed that I posted it sometime ago and, chances are, no one will read or answer what I wrote, so here it is again, in real time:

This morning, I received an email with a SNL skit on it, but my computer audio was  gone; tried to get my son to help me fix it, via phone and he assumed I loaded something I shouldn't have; didn't.

Then, since it rained last night and the ground leaves were slightly damp, I decided -- since I couldn't listen to anything on my 'puter -- I'd go out and collect mulch; all was going well, when I noticed that nothing was being picked up; came in and told Mike and he immediately assumed that I'd done something wrong.  He went down, got the tractor up here and found that the bearings had given out.

Now, because those two guys made me angry, I'm going downtown tomorrow and buy me a new, ride-on lawn mower with a zero-turn ratio, maybe -- I like to make threats and demands when my feelings are hurt ;-)

Oh, yeah, and by rebooting my 'puter three times, I was finally able to get the audio going.