My baby birds are dead. It got very hot here yesterday, 95 degrees in the shade. Under my covered patio, it was even warmer. The "roof" of the patio is make of green corugated fiberglas-reinforced panels; they're translucent and let the light in. The nest is only a couple of inches below the roofing. I think it got so hot up there either yesterday or Saturday that it killed the babies. I didn't see or hear any activity from the nest yesterday, and haven't seen mom and dad since Saturday, so I think the babies are gone and the parents have abandoned the nest. I was beginning to think the Kingbird babies were dead, anyway - one baby was quite a big larger than the others, and when I climbed up on the step-stool to have a peek on Friday I could only see the big baby. I'm guessing he was from an egg that a bird other than the Kingbirds laid in the nest. Since there are so many Brown-Headed Cowbirds around, and since they're notorious for nest parasitism (http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/manbook/nestpara.htm), I'm guessing the bigger baby - the one in the picture below - was a Brown-Headed Cowbird.
I'm going to wait another 24 hours, and if I still don't see/hear anything from the nest, or see the parent birds, I'll take the nest down. I'm sad about the baby Kingbirds, but not so sad about the baby Cowbird. Cowbirds are really not nice, they lay their eggs in everybody else's nest and are often the only babies that survive, while the babies of the birds who built the nest starve to death.
I hope the Kingbirds have time to start over, in a better location.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
What happened to Spring?
It was cold here this Spring. Temperatures averaged 10-15 degrees below normal. As late as last week there were frost/freeze warnings, and it got down to about 30 degrees one night a couple weeks back. It was cool and rainy earlier in the week, too. But Summer has arrived with a vengeance. Yesterday it was 90 degrees, sunny and humid, without a breeze to make it more tolerable. Today, it was 95 degrees in the shade, less humid though (thank heaven!) and there's a nice, if not steady, breeze. The Big Sister and the Goofball are napping quietly in their crates, enjoying the central air-conditioning; the Youngster and the Senior are relaxing in the shade of the big pine tree out back, enjoying a frozen venison bone.
The Youngster had a big day, yesterday. He's been here a month, but we haven't done an awful lot of socializing yet. I've been teaching him some manners both at home and in controlled-distraction environments, and teaching him to walk on-leash. He led a sheltered life his first few months, and there's a whole big world of things he's never seen before. He was very cautious when I got him, but he's been gradually overcoming that as he's bonded to me, learning to trust that I won't deliberately expose him to something scary and I'll handle the situation if something does turn out to be scary. My little town is having an annual Spring festival this weekend, there are lots of activities and lots of people around and I thought it was time the Youngster got out and did a little socializing. So I gave him his first bath (and he did very well, relaxing once he realized the spray hose wasn't SO very scary and there was lots of skritching involved), trimmed his nails, grabbed a slice of Natural Balance roll out of the freezer and put it in a baggie in my pocket, and he and I went to town.
He is a delight on a leash. He learned very quickly that rushing ahead or pulling off to the side wasn't permitted, and he did very well at walking along by my side on a slack lead. I have him in a martingale collar, and when I did need to give him direction with tiny tugs on the leash, he responded beautifully. He's naturally a very polite fellow, it doesn't take him long to catch on to what's expected of him in the manners department. We stopped and watched kids on a pony ride, and on little carnival rides. Then we walked the length of town and back, through the car show. (There were 104 cars entered in this show! That's huge for such a little town!) He met lots of people who wanted to say hello, and was very polite - didn't jump up, and either stood or sat politely for petting. He met lots and lots of children, and it was love at first sight (on both sides) with every single one. His soft kisses generated a lot of giggles. He saw bicycles, and wagons, and scooters, and strollers, and roller-bladers, and running kids, and wheelchairs, and canes, and walkers - lots and lots of new and potentially scary (or reaction-provoking) things. He responded to all with a reserved curiosity but no spookiness or shyness. He's got a lovely, solid temperament and he's going to grow into an absolutely awesome adult. He's got the makings of an exceptional therapy dog, he's very sensitive to peoples' size and strength. Sometimes he really had to struggle to keep all four feet on the ground as I've been teaching him, but he always managed to do it without prompting from me. Even when one man sitting in a lawn chair wrapped his arms around the pup and was smooching him, the Youngster kept his front feet on the ground. He acquitted himself well yesterday, and I was very pleased with, and proud of, him.
Wednesday, the Youngster lost two of three remaining baby canine teeth, an upper and lower from the same side. I was checking out his teeth, saw that those two baby canines were very loose, so I pinched them out with my fingers. Along with the baby tooth he lost the day I got him, that makes three I've gotten. He's got one more baby canine still, even though the adult canine is half grown-in already; I'm watching that and hoping the baby tooth will fall out on its own. Sometimes they don't, and need to be removed by a vet. Maybe that venison bone he's gnawing on will do the trick. I'm keeping an eye on his baby pre-molars, maybe I'll be able to get one or two of those when they fall out, too. He's got the first of his big-boy molars - holy cow are they BIG! And very, very white. He has a beautiful bite, he's going to have a very nice, correct mouth. He's beautiful, period, and going to be breathtaking. (You don't think I'm in love with this pup, do you? I'm wondering if he's The Man reincarnated.)
The Youngster had a big day, yesterday. He's been here a month, but we haven't done an awful lot of socializing yet. I've been teaching him some manners both at home and in controlled-distraction environments, and teaching him to walk on-leash. He led a sheltered life his first few months, and there's a whole big world of things he's never seen before. He was very cautious when I got him, but he's been gradually overcoming that as he's bonded to me, learning to trust that I won't deliberately expose him to something scary and I'll handle the situation if something does turn out to be scary. My little town is having an annual Spring festival this weekend, there are lots of activities and lots of people around and I thought it was time the Youngster got out and did a little socializing. So I gave him his first bath (and he did very well, relaxing once he realized the spray hose wasn't SO very scary and there was lots of skritching involved), trimmed his nails, grabbed a slice of Natural Balance roll out of the freezer and put it in a baggie in my pocket, and he and I went to town.
He is a delight on a leash. He learned very quickly that rushing ahead or pulling off to the side wasn't permitted, and he did very well at walking along by my side on a slack lead. I have him in a martingale collar, and when I did need to give him direction with tiny tugs on the leash, he responded beautifully. He's naturally a very polite fellow, it doesn't take him long to catch on to what's expected of him in the manners department. We stopped and watched kids on a pony ride, and on little carnival rides. Then we walked the length of town and back, through the car show. (There were 104 cars entered in this show! That's huge for such a little town!) He met lots of people who wanted to say hello, and was very polite - didn't jump up, and either stood or sat politely for petting. He met lots and lots of children, and it was love at first sight (on both sides) with every single one. His soft kisses generated a lot of giggles. He saw bicycles, and wagons, and scooters, and strollers, and roller-bladers, and running kids, and wheelchairs, and canes, and walkers - lots and lots of new and potentially scary (or reaction-provoking) things. He responded to all with a reserved curiosity but no spookiness or shyness. He's got a lovely, solid temperament and he's going to grow into an absolutely awesome adult. He's got the makings of an exceptional therapy dog, he's very sensitive to peoples' size and strength. Sometimes he really had to struggle to keep all four feet on the ground as I've been teaching him, but he always managed to do it without prompting from me. Even when one man sitting in a lawn chair wrapped his arms around the pup and was smooching him, the Youngster kept his front feet on the ground. He acquitted himself well yesterday, and I was very pleased with, and proud of, him.
Wednesday, the Youngster lost two of three remaining baby canine teeth, an upper and lower from the same side. I was checking out his teeth, saw that those two baby canines were very loose, so I pinched them out with my fingers. Along with the baby tooth he lost the day I got him, that makes three I've gotten. He's got one more baby canine still, even though the adult canine is half grown-in already; I'm watching that and hoping the baby tooth will fall out on its own. Sometimes they don't, and need to be removed by a vet. Maybe that venison bone he's gnawing on will do the trick. I'm keeping an eye on his baby pre-molars, maybe I'll be able to get one or two of those when they fall out, too. He's got the first of his big-boy molars - holy cow are they BIG! And very, very white. He has a beautiful bite, he's going to have a very nice, correct mouth. He's beautiful, period, and going to be breathtaking. (You don't think I'm in love with this pup, do you? I'm wondering if he's The Man reincarnated.)
Thursday, May 25, 2006
An Aging Body Is a Pain in the Shoulder
I spent some time yesterday afternoon shaking dirt out of the sod clods back into the garden area. Today, I finally finished pulling up the rest of the sod in there. I won't be able to finish de-dirting the clods it until at least tomorrow, probably not until Saturday, because there's some really nasty weather brewing and it's supposed to last through at least tomorrow afternoon. At least the sod-pulling is done. When I finished, I sat and weeded the flower bed around one tree in the front. (The bed around the other tree needs very little weeding, it's planted with Bishop's weed http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/7566-49.html which grows before the weeds get started and prevents the weeds from getting any light to grow.) Now my hens-and-chicks, violas, and mums have some room to breathe. But after leaning on my left hand yesterday afternoon to de-dirt clods, and again this afternoon to weed, my left shoulder hurts so much I can barely lift my arm. Time for some ibuprofen. Getting old stinks.
While I was weeding I kept thinking of how I'd do anything to get out of weeding when I was a kid, and how I don't mind doing it now. I could practically hear my mom, "You hated weeding when you were a kid, how come you like doing it now?" Well, I don't hate bugs any more (for the most part, anyway, there are still some bugs that give me the shudders - like the grubs I saw in my garden today, I'm going to have to break down and get some Grub-ex), I don't mind getting my hands dirty any more, and I don't have a gazillion other things I'd rather be doing, as I did during summers when I was in school. Besides, the flower beds are mine now, and I like when they look nice.
My beautiful oriole kept me company while I was weeding, sitting in the other tree and singing to me. He's spectacular, and his song is so clear and sweet. I stopped weeding and just sat and watched him for a bit. During the time I sat and watched the male cardinal visited the feeder, as did a blue jay and the house finches and goldfinches. So much avian color! Bright red, blue, orange, yellow, and rosy purple. I don't think I'll ever get tired of bird-watching.
And speaking of bird-watching, I haven't gotten up on my step stool to peek at the kingbird nest since Tuesday, but there were at least 3 babies in there then. I managed to snap a pic just as the oldest one stuck his head up and cheeped for his mama:
When I took my mom's dog back to her on Monday, I stopped on my way home and picked up a couple flats of impatiens. My impatiens seedlings are still small, and I wanted to get a couple of hanging baskets planted with already-flowering impatiens for my mom. I planted one basket (for myself) Monday evening, and did all the rest on Tuesday. That used up one flat. The next time I go up to Mom's, I'll take her baskets up to her. I also did one planter for myself, and have another half-dozen or so I'd like to do with the remaining flat, and some other planters I'm setting aside to fill with the seedlings I've started. The ones I started are pastels with deeper centers, they should be beautiful when they finally get growing.
This weekend's projects are the gardens. Once the heavy rain is gone, I'll get my herb seeds planted in the raised bed. Then I'll get more sod clods de-dirted, get the soil in the vegetable garden amended with peat moss and a manure/compost mixture, and get it fenced in. I'm hoping to be able to get at least some of my seedlings planted by Sunday, and the lettuce, carrots, zucchini seeds into the ground. My heirloom tomato seeds have finally sprouted, I need to get all the little seedlings out to start hardening off before I plant them. I'm hoping to be able to get everything into the garden by mid-week.
Here comes the rain! Hmmmm..... the dogs are sleeping quietly, I can't get outside to do any work... I might just have to take a nap. *grin*
While I was weeding I kept thinking of how I'd do anything to get out of weeding when I was a kid, and how I don't mind doing it now. I could practically hear my mom, "You hated weeding when you were a kid, how come you like doing it now?" Well, I don't hate bugs any more (for the most part, anyway, there are still some bugs that give me the shudders - like the grubs I saw in my garden today, I'm going to have to break down and get some Grub-ex), I don't mind getting my hands dirty any more, and I don't have a gazillion other things I'd rather be doing, as I did during summers when I was in school. Besides, the flower beds are mine now, and I like when they look nice.
My beautiful oriole kept me company while I was weeding, sitting in the other tree and singing to me. He's spectacular, and his song is so clear and sweet. I stopped weeding and just sat and watched him for a bit. During the time I sat and watched the male cardinal visited the feeder, as did a blue jay and the house finches and goldfinches. So much avian color! Bright red, blue, orange, yellow, and rosy purple. I don't think I'll ever get tired of bird-watching.
And speaking of bird-watching, I haven't gotten up on my step stool to peek at the kingbird nest since Tuesday, but there were at least 3 babies in there then. I managed to snap a pic just as the oldest one stuck his head up and cheeped for his mama:
When I took my mom's dog back to her on Monday, I stopped on my way home and picked up a couple flats of impatiens. My impatiens seedlings are still small, and I wanted to get a couple of hanging baskets planted with already-flowering impatiens for my mom. I planted one basket (for myself) Monday evening, and did all the rest on Tuesday. That used up one flat. The next time I go up to Mom's, I'll take her baskets up to her. I also did one planter for myself, and have another half-dozen or so I'd like to do with the remaining flat, and some other planters I'm setting aside to fill with the seedlings I've started. The ones I started are pastels with deeper centers, they should be beautiful when they finally get growing.
This weekend's projects are the gardens. Once the heavy rain is gone, I'll get my herb seeds planted in the raised bed. Then I'll get more sod clods de-dirted, get the soil in the vegetable garden amended with peat moss and a manure/compost mixture, and get it fenced in. I'm hoping to be able to get at least some of my seedlings planted by Sunday, and the lettuce, carrots, zucchini seeds into the ground. My heirloom tomato seeds have finally sprouted, I need to get all the little seedlings out to start hardening off before I plant them. I'm hoping to be able to get everything into the garden by mid-week.
Here comes the rain! Hmmmm..... the dogs are sleeping quietly, I can't get outside to do any work... I might just have to take a nap. *grin*
Monday, May 22, 2006
Welcome to the World
The Youngster woke me up early this morning, needing to go out. As I stood in the doorway watching him, I heard a tiny cheep-cheep-cheep coming from overhead. I looked up to see a wide open baby beak above the edge of the nest on the patio crossbeam. One of the babies hatched overnight! He hasn't been joined by any others yet, but I'm hoping to see siblings by later today. I found his shell on the patio a little later this morning, either he or his mama had kicked it out of the nest. And thanks to that shell, I've finally been able to identify the breed - they're Eastern Kingbirds. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4440id.html Their diet consists of flying insects; they'll find lots to eat around here!
I love the variety of birdlife here. The populations are different from the front yard to the back. Out in back are the robins and this pair of kingbirds. I've never seen the kingbirds out front, and I've seen a robin out front only rarely. There are other birds in the woods in the back that I haven't identified yet. Out in front, the goldfinches, house finches, and purple finches that were eating me out of house and home for the last couple of months have been visiting the feeder much less frequently. They still come around, but only one or two at a time and they don't stick around all day the way they did. The chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, and juncos are also less frequent visitors; they must all be sitting on nests. (Gosh, just as I typed that sentence, a titmouse flew up to the feeder!) The cardinal pair is still coming to feed in the early morning and the mid- to late-evening (they are breathtakingly beautiful, even the duller female), and the sparrows and brown-headed cowbirds are still hanging around. The male red-winged blackbirds have apparently found their mates and begun their clutches; until the last few days I could just about count on seeing a male red-winged blackbird displaying out front, strutting around on the grass surrounding the feeder, wings half-spread and the colored bars fluffed out for maximum exposure, bright red epaulets on the shiny black cape of his wings. But now they, too, fly in to eat and fly out again. I sure did enjoy the show while it lasted, though, and I'm looking forward to an encore performance next spring.
(Postscript - I just went out to take the pic above, and saw two baby beaks in the nest, so at least two eggs have hatched so far.)
Sunday, May 21, 2006
I Hate Lawnmowers!
The gas mower turned out to be a pull start. I primed it. I gave it a shot of starting fluid. I finally cleaned the spark plug. After working on it for half an hour, I got it started. Yay! I got about 36 square feet of my front yard done when something caught the blades and it quit. Now the pull cord is all messed up. I sat on the lawn for an hour taking the darn thing apart and trying to fix it, to no avail. Just when I'd given up and was sitting there shaking my head, I heard the sweetest birdsong coming from directly behind me. I turned around to look and sitting there on a tree branch was an oriole! He was watching me, and singing. What a handsome, bright orange fellow! As I watched, he flew to the oriole feeder and had a little snack. Since he apparently doesn't mind my company, I'll have to sit out front for a bit when I get a chance, and see if I can get a pic.
I'm tired and even more sore than I was earlier, but I don't care. That oriole made my day!
I'm tired and even more sore than I was earlier, but I don't care. That oriole made my day!
Oh, My Aching Back
I ache. All over, not just my back. In fact, it's my forearms that hurt the worst. I worked on the vegetable garden-to-be on Friday, pulling up sod. I'd worked on it last Friday and only gotten about 1/4 of it done; last Saturday, my lats ached so badly I could barely move. It rained most of the week so I didn't get a chance to do any more work on it. I really want to get it finished so I can get it fenced in and start transplanting seedlings into it next weekend. (I borrowed a fence-post driver on Thursday that's got to be returned this coming Wednesday, so I need to have at least the fence poles up by Tuesday evening, if not the fencing itself.) I had to go into town Friday morning, so I swung by Tractor Supply Co. and picked up another 100-foot roll of fencing and 5 more fence posts.
The first thing I did when I got home was drive one of those fence posts outside the fence in the stretch between the house and the lamp post for the backyard vapor lamp, which I'd tied the fence to. It was a little too long a stretch to go without additional support, and I always intended to put another pole in when I was able to buy more. While I was at TSC, I splurged and bought myself a really good pair of needle-nose pliers with wire cutter. These pliers have cushion grips, and spring action. Sweet. They made getting the fence attached to the new pole with fence clips so easy! Fencing the garden is going to take a lot less effort thanks to the new pliers.
Just as I was finishing the last twist of the fence clip my doorbell rang. Mom had arrived. She stopped by for lunch - and to drop off Daisy, so I could watch her for the weekend - on her way to my sister's house. Mom, my sis, and my brother left yesterday morning and drove to a suburb of Buffalo, to attend the wedding of the son of my mom's cousin. They're coming back today and mom should be home by early evening, but she's going to be too tired to stop and get Daisy so I'll be taking Daisy back to Mom tomorrow afternoon. I would have enjoyed going to the wedding too, but weekend trips just aren't do-able for me. Even over-nighters aren't do-able. When I'm finally earning enough money to pay a pet-sitter, and if I meet someone I can trust to pet-sit, I'll be taking a couple of small one- or two-night trips I've been wanting to take for a long time. I want to go visit with Elaine, and I'd like to be able to go down to Linda's for the weekend with Chris every now and then, too. Anyway, Mom and I had a nice lunch together, then she left for my sis's. Poor Daisy didn't stop looking out the window for her until yesterday morning. Daisy loves me, she gets so excited when I go to my mom's that she can't keep still and does zoomies in circles. But Daisy adores Mom (the feeling's mutual), and is desolate when Mom leaves her here.
I put Daze out into the yard with the Senior dog and the Youngster, got my 4-pronged long-handled cultivator out of the garage, donned my suede work gloves, and attacked the garden-to-be. I pulled up sod until I was dizzy, then took a break. I went back to it, and worked at it until I didn't have the strength left to pull up a single more clump. I didn't get it finished, but it's more than 2/3 of the way done. You can't see it in this pic, but in addition to the larger area I did a 2-foot wide strip along the fence to the front edge of the area I want to clear. That's where all the long grass was, the stuff that was really tough to pull up. So when I get back to it - hopefully tomorrow - I should be able to get it finished in one work session. Then I'll have to de-dirt all the sod clumps. (Most are in the garden area, but you can see a pile by the first green fence post, some of that is from the garden area and a little of it is from a thin strip of sod I cut out along the fence line from the first green pole to the second. I planted morning glories in that strip early last week, but they haven't come up yet.)
My forearms ached too bad yesterday to even attempt to get back to work on that project, so I did some other things instead. The "grass" in the patio area was getting pretty long, but I was still trying to decide on the best way to get it cut. I didn't want to use the electric mower, with its narrow deck and dull, chipped blades it doesn't handle thick grass very well. I would have had to bring the gas mower I got from Mom in through the house to get it into the patio area, and I didn't want to do that either. And there is still chicken wire under the dirt/grass in half of the patio, and it sticks up out of the ground in places. That would wreak havoc on either mower. I finally decided to use the weed wacker I brought home from Mom's when I got the lawnmower.
The first thing I did when I got home was drive one of those fence posts outside the fence in the stretch between the house and the lamp post for the backyard vapor lamp, which I'd tied the fence to. It was a little too long a stretch to go without additional support, and I always intended to put another pole in when I was able to buy more. While I was at TSC, I splurged and bought myself a really good pair of needle-nose pliers with wire cutter. These pliers have cushion grips, and spring action. Sweet. They made getting the fence attached to the new pole with fence clips so easy! Fencing the garden is going to take a lot less effort thanks to the new pliers.
Just as I was finishing the last twist of the fence clip my doorbell rang. Mom had arrived. She stopped by for lunch - and to drop off Daisy, so I could watch her for the weekend - on her way to my sister's house. Mom, my sis, and my brother left yesterday morning and drove to a suburb of Buffalo, to attend the wedding of the son of my mom's cousin. They're coming back today and mom should be home by early evening, but she's going to be too tired to stop and get Daisy so I'll be taking Daisy back to Mom tomorrow afternoon. I would have enjoyed going to the wedding too, but weekend trips just aren't do-able for me. Even over-nighters aren't do-able. When I'm finally earning enough money to pay a pet-sitter, and if I meet someone I can trust to pet-sit, I'll be taking a couple of small one- or two-night trips I've been wanting to take for a long time. I want to go visit with Elaine, and I'd like to be able to go down to Linda's for the weekend with Chris every now and then, too. Anyway, Mom and I had a nice lunch together, then she left for my sis's. Poor Daisy didn't stop looking out the window for her until yesterday morning. Daisy loves me, she gets so excited when I go to my mom's that she can't keep still and does zoomies in circles. But Daisy adores Mom (the feeling's mutual), and is desolate when Mom leaves her here.
I put Daze out into the yard with the Senior dog and the Youngster, got my 4-pronged long-handled cultivator out of the garage, donned my suede work gloves, and attacked the garden-to-be. I pulled up sod until I was dizzy, then took a break. I went back to it, and worked at it until I didn't have the strength left to pull up a single more clump. I didn't get it finished, but it's more than 2/3 of the way done. You can't see it in this pic, but in addition to the larger area I did a 2-foot wide strip along the fence to the front edge of the area I want to clear. That's where all the long grass was, the stuff that was really tough to pull up. So when I get back to it - hopefully tomorrow - I should be able to get it finished in one work session. Then I'll have to de-dirt all the sod clumps. (Most are in the garden area, but you can see a pile by the first green fence post, some of that is from the garden area and a little of it is from a thin strip of sod I cut out along the fence line from the first green pole to the second. I planted morning glories in that strip early last week, but they haven't come up yet.)
My forearms ached too bad yesterday to even attempt to get back to work on that project, so I did some other things instead. The "grass" in the patio area was getting pretty long, but I was still trying to decide on the best way to get it cut. I didn't want to use the electric mower, with its narrow deck and dull, chipped blades it doesn't handle thick grass very well. I would have had to bring the gas mower I got from Mom in through the house to get it into the patio area, and I didn't want to do that either. And there is still chicken wire under the dirt/grass in half of the patio, and it sticks up out of the ground in places. That would wreak havoc on either mower. I finally decided to use the weed wacker I brought home from Mom's when I got the lawnmower.
It did a pretty OK job, but it's not something I want to continue doing for the next 20 years. I've decided to pave the entire patio area with stepping stones, except for a flower bed at the end. I'll plant perennials there. (Chris has a perennial flower bed that's absolutely gorgeous, from the first crocus in the spring to the last mum in the fall. She's put years of work into it, I've watched it fill out gradually over the years, always wishing I could have something like that myself. When I was there Thursday, the iris were starting to bloom.) Now I've got the room and the time to make it happen; I'll put annuals in there this summer so I'll have color and blooms this year, and get started on the perennials by planting some bulbs there in the fall. I also found my Moonflower seeds at TSC on Thursday, I'll plant those along the fence at the end (maybe this afternoon) so I'll have blooms and perfume to enjoy when I sit out on the patio in the evenings.
I only have 4 plain stepping/paving stones made at the moment. While I'm out tomorrow I'll get a couple more bags of concrete mix so I can start making more. I decided I might as well get at least those 4 stones set, so I did that yesterday afternoon.
I need to adjust the stone on the right, to raise the lower left corner just a tad. That corner's a bit tricky - it's high where the threshhold blocks are set in, so I need to slope the stones down a little in that corner to meet the rest of the patio (which I'll level before placing stones in). I checked out the threshhold blocks to see if maybe I could lower them a little so they'd be flush with the patio and the yard, but they're really dug in deep and they're helping support the fence posts, so I think it's best to leave them as they are and just slope the paving stones to meet them. When the prior owners poured the cement patio slab (you can see the edge of it on the right) they didn't bother to level it first so, like all the rest of the floors in my house, the whole slab slants. In this case, it slants downward from back to front; I had to put some shims under the front legs of my glider so it would be level. I want to make sure the stone-paved area of the patio is level, so I can put a table and chairs out there eventually. I think it'll look nice when I get it done.
Then I spent some time rearranging everything in the roofed part of the patio. I took my 3 windchimes down from the end opposite the fence and moved them over to the fence end. Mama bird was off the nest but I still didn't want to do any more nail-pounding than was absolutely necessary, so I used medium screw hooks to re-hang the wind chimes. (By the way, I think mama bird is a titmouse. I got a pretty good look at her and her mate yesterday, I'll have to try to get some pics.) I left room for the big chime that I need to re-string when I get a chance to look for the pieces and get it done. I moved the bamboo shade over into that spot, and put the wider plastic mini-blind in the spot where the bamboo shade had been. At night, my neighbor's vapor light illuminates the sitting area on my patio, shines right in my eyes, and spoils the ambiance; the mini-blind completely blocks it out and the bamboo shade helps, so now I have a private little sitting area I can illuminate with luminariae and little oil lanterns. If I ever find my string of pendant star lights, I'll put those out there too. (I'm sure I bought two sets. I gave one to Chris last year for her little pool area, but I know I've still got the other set. It's probably in my box of Christmas decorations, but I'm not sure exactly where that is at the moment. I need to go out to the pole barn later and get a bigger crate for the Youngster, so I'll look for that box while I'm out there.)
It's partly sunny and cool today, it would be a great day to finish de-sodding the garden, but my muscles just aren't up to it. I think I'm going to try to get the gas mower started; I haven't had a really good look at it yet so I don't know if it's an electric start or if I have to pull a rope. If I have to pull a rope, it's going to have to wait - there's just not enough strength in my aching forearms to pull anything. If it's an electric start I should be in pretty good shape; I'll probably need to use a couple squirts of starter fluid, but I should be able to get it going. When and if I do, the front lawn is going down! That, and getting the Moonflower seeds planted, is about all I'm planning on getting accomplished today. Then I'll give Daisy a bath, and once she's dry I'll trim her. She's getting a wee bit shaggy. At least I won't have to start her schnauzer-type cut from scratch with 3" long fur all over her body, I'll be able to just zip along and it shouldn't take too long. Then she'll be clean and pretty when I take her home tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Hordes of Hummers
Well, maybe not hordes. But my hummingbird feeders are now well-established among the local Ruby-Throated hummingbird population, and they see a lot of activity. One feeder is about four feet from me as I sit here at my desk; it's just outside the window, hanging on the brace bar for the metal awning over the window. This feeder has perches - the one in the back at the end of the patio roof doesn't - so I get to see them not only hovering and flitting around, but resting on the perches while they eat. They know I'm here, they watch me between sips at the feeder, but seem not to be bothered by my presence.
On the other hand, the silly bird who made her nest just outside the sliding glass door between the den and the patio flies off every time I open the door. Because the dogs go outside through that door, it's opened many, many times a day. The nest is directly above the path the dogs take from the doorway to the yard. She seems not to mind the dogs coming and going (perhaps she knows they can't reach her), but she's afraid of me. I still haven't figured out what she is yet! She's maybe 6" long, has a white body and breast, slate- grey back, wings, and tail, and her head's a deeper charcoal grey. I can't see all of her when she's sitting on the nest, and when she flies off she doesn't perch close enough for me to get a good look at her, so I haven't seen her head/beak close enough to help in indentifying her. I'm thinking she's either a slate-grey junco, or maybe a titmouse. She's been sitting on the nest for a couple of weeks already, shouldn't be long before the eggs hatch. The nest is above the cement slab of the patio, once the eggs hatch I'm going to put up a table with towel-lined box lids on it, in case a baby falls out of the nest.
I got about 36 square feet of the sod in my vegetable-garden-to-be pulled up yesterday. A little less than a third of the space I'm planning on. I have to admit, I was grateful when it started to rain and I had to quit. I did a little weeding in the plants around the front yard trees after the rain stopped, and I planted some bush-type Morning Glory seeds in the little planter out front, but I wasn't going to mess with soaking wet sod after the rain. I just took 600mg of Ibuprofen, as soon as that kicks in and the muscles I abused yesterday don't ache quite so much, I'll get outside and remove another stretch of sod today. I need to get the front lawn cut, too. My mom doesn't need her lawnmower any more, she has someone come and cut her lawn every couple of weeks and he uses his own mower, so I brought her mower home last week. It hasn't been used in a couple of years, it's probably going to be a little tough to get started. I may just wait on that until the weekend, though, it's supposed to rain tonight, tomorrow, and into Friday morning then clear for 2-3 days. I want to get the garden ready for planting this weekend, the bean, lima bean, and watermelon seedlings need to get out of their pots and into the ground as quickly as possible.
While it was raining yesterday I made up a plan for both the raised herb bed and the vegetable garden. I've decided to plant several of the smaller perennial herbs in the raised bed - rosemary and tarragon in the center, hyssop in a border along each side. The German Chamomile, an annual, will go in front as a double border, the lavender will go along both sides and the front behind the smaller border plantings, and I'll put the dill and thyme in the back section. I've got four perennial herbs I'll be planting along the edge of the wooded areas, outside the fence - peppermint, catnip, lemon balm, and a couple of mulleins. I've got a tentative layout for the vegetables, too, with the vining plants (cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and zucchini) and eggplant along the patio fence, the peppers across the back, the tomatoes on the side opposite the vining plants, and the carrots, lettuce, and watermelons in the middle. I'll probably plant the pumpkins outside the vegetable garden fence, in 3-4 mounds, and put down straw for them to grow on.
Along the wooded lot-line that separates me from my neighbor to the south, there's a very long patch of violets that goes from the corner of the fence back. They're beautiful. Behind the violets is a big patch of lily of the valley. There's nothing behind that, though, so that's where I'm going to scatter the Dutchman's Breeches seeds. Behind that, and across the back of the yard is where I'll plant the perennial herbs. I might plant some of those this afternoon, too.
OK, the sun is shining, I've finished the last cup of coffee in the pot, so I guess it's time to get outside and get working!
On the other hand, the silly bird who made her nest just outside the sliding glass door between the den and the patio flies off every time I open the door. Because the dogs go outside through that door, it's opened many, many times a day. The nest is directly above the path the dogs take from the doorway to the yard. She seems not to mind the dogs coming and going (perhaps she knows they can't reach her), but she's afraid of me. I still haven't figured out what she is yet! She's maybe 6" long, has a white body and breast, slate- grey back, wings, and tail, and her head's a deeper charcoal grey. I can't see all of her when she's sitting on the nest, and when she flies off she doesn't perch close enough for me to get a good look at her, so I haven't seen her head/beak close enough to help in indentifying her. I'm thinking she's either a slate-grey junco, or maybe a titmouse. She's been sitting on the nest for a couple of weeks already, shouldn't be long before the eggs hatch. The nest is above the cement slab of the patio, once the eggs hatch I'm going to put up a table with towel-lined box lids on it, in case a baby falls out of the nest.
I got about 36 square feet of the sod in my vegetable-garden-to-be pulled up yesterday. A little less than a third of the space I'm planning on. I have to admit, I was grateful when it started to rain and I had to quit. I did a little weeding in the plants around the front yard trees after the rain stopped, and I planted some bush-type Morning Glory seeds in the little planter out front, but I wasn't going to mess with soaking wet sod after the rain. I just took 600mg of Ibuprofen, as soon as that kicks in and the muscles I abused yesterday don't ache quite so much, I'll get outside and remove another stretch of sod today. I need to get the front lawn cut, too. My mom doesn't need her lawnmower any more, she has someone come and cut her lawn every couple of weeks and he uses his own mower, so I brought her mower home last week. It hasn't been used in a couple of years, it's probably going to be a little tough to get started. I may just wait on that until the weekend, though, it's supposed to rain tonight, tomorrow, and into Friday morning then clear for 2-3 days. I want to get the garden ready for planting this weekend, the bean, lima bean, and watermelon seedlings need to get out of their pots and into the ground as quickly as possible.
While it was raining yesterday I made up a plan for both the raised herb bed and the vegetable garden. I've decided to plant several of the smaller perennial herbs in the raised bed - rosemary and tarragon in the center, hyssop in a border along each side. The German Chamomile, an annual, will go in front as a double border, the lavender will go along both sides and the front behind the smaller border plantings, and I'll put the dill and thyme in the back section. I've got four perennial herbs I'll be planting along the edge of the wooded areas, outside the fence - peppermint, catnip, lemon balm, and a couple of mulleins. I've got a tentative layout for the vegetables, too, with the vining plants (cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and zucchini) and eggplant along the patio fence, the peppers across the back, the tomatoes on the side opposite the vining plants, and the carrots, lettuce, and watermelons in the middle. I'll probably plant the pumpkins outside the vegetable garden fence, in 3-4 mounds, and put down straw for them to grow on.
Along the wooded lot-line that separates me from my neighbor to the south, there's a very long patch of violets that goes from the corner of the fence back. They're beautiful. Behind the violets is a big patch of lily of the valley. There's nothing behind that, though, so that's where I'm going to scatter the Dutchman's Breeches seeds. Behind that, and across the back of the yard is where I'll plant the perennial herbs. I might plant some of those this afternoon, too.
OK, the sun is shining, I've finished the last cup of coffee in the pot, so I guess it's time to get outside and get working!
Monday, May 15, 2006
Moms, Dogs, and Cheesecake
I took dinner to my mom yesterday - pot roast done in the slow-cooker, fresh asparagus, biscuits, and home-made cheese cake with fresh blueberries on top. In fact, I got started out of the house almost an hour later than I intended, because I'd made a double-recipe cheesecake (dratted Keebler with their bigger graham cracker crumb crust - a single recipe only filled the shell halfway) and it was taking forever to cook all the way through the middle. Once it was finally ready, I spooned on the sour cream/sugar/vanilla topping, popped it back into the oven for 10 minutes, then went and got everything else loaded up into the car - including a bud vase with Narcissi I'd cut from my garden:
Took the cheesecake out of the oven, waited 15 minutes for it to cool a little, then put the plastic lid onto the pan, put the pan in a cardboard box with a hinged lid, and put that in the car. Then I got a panel from an old wire dog crate, and slid that down between the back of the driver/passenger bucket seats and the folded-down back seat, to form a barrier to prevent the dog who was going to be sitting in the passenger seat (my goofy AB boy) from getting into the back of the car and messing with stuff. Loaded my big boy into the front seat, and hit the road.
I had to make a very quick stop on the way, to pick up the asparagus at a roadside stand I knew would be open. I swear, I wasn't out of the car TWO MINUTES, and that darn dog had squeezed himself over the top of the crate panel into the back of the car, had pawed/nosed the lid to the cardboard box open, managed to get the plastic lid off the cheesecake (folding the pan in the process, flipping one side of the cheesecake over onto the other) and was thisclose to getting his tongue onto the cheesecake itself. I was able to get to him before he did, but my poor beautiful cheesecake looked like a graham cracker crumb omelet. When I got to my mom's I flipped it back open and stuck it in the fridge to chill. It wasn't pretty, but it tasted good when we had it for dessert later.
We had a nice long visit, and before I left I split the leftovers, leaving my mom half of everything. Including cheesecake. I covered the pan with my share of the cheesecake with foil, put it in the box with the hinged cover (along with a few other things), put that and the slow-cooker in the back of the car, my dog into the front passenger seat, and headed for home. I had to stop at the gas station to pick up milk on my way home. Do you know that darn dog got into the back of the car and had gotten the box open by the time I got back into the car? He was going for the cheesecake again!
Next time I'm carrying food in the back of my car, I'm taking a different dog along for the ride! The big girl doesn't touch groceries, and is trustworthy when left in an unbarrier-ed car!
Took the cheesecake out of the oven, waited 15 minutes for it to cool a little, then put the plastic lid onto the pan, put the pan in a cardboard box with a hinged lid, and put that in the car. Then I got a panel from an old wire dog crate, and slid that down between the back of the driver/passenger bucket seats and the folded-down back seat, to form a barrier to prevent the dog who was going to be sitting in the passenger seat (my goofy AB boy) from getting into the back of the car and messing with stuff. Loaded my big boy into the front seat, and hit the road.
I had to make a very quick stop on the way, to pick up the asparagus at a roadside stand I knew would be open. I swear, I wasn't out of the car TWO MINUTES, and that darn dog had squeezed himself over the top of the crate panel into the back of the car, had pawed/nosed the lid to the cardboard box open, managed to get the plastic lid off the cheesecake (folding the pan in the process, flipping one side of the cheesecake over onto the other) and was thisclose to getting his tongue onto the cheesecake itself. I was able to get to him before he did, but my poor beautiful cheesecake looked like a graham cracker crumb omelet. When I got to my mom's I flipped it back open and stuck it in the fridge to chill. It wasn't pretty, but it tasted good when we had it for dessert later.
We had a nice long visit, and before I left I split the leftovers, leaving my mom half of everything. Including cheesecake. I covered the pan with my share of the cheesecake with foil, put it in the box with the hinged cover (along with a few other things), put that and the slow-cooker in the back of the car, my dog into the front passenger seat, and headed for home. I had to stop at the gas station to pick up milk on my way home. Do you know that darn dog got into the back of the car and had gotten the box open by the time I got back into the car? He was going for the cheesecake again!
Next time I'm carrying food in the back of my car, I'm taking a different dog along for the ride! The big girl doesn't touch groceries, and is trustworthy when left in an unbarrier-ed car!
A brief intro before I jump in with both feet......
Shortly after my 50th birthday last fall, I finally realized what I wanted to be when I grew up. I've always loved to teach, and I've always loved animals; after having some success doing dog training and cat and dog behavioral counseling on a part time basis, I've decided to see if I can make a living at it. I also want to retail healthy homemade cat and dog treats, specialty handling equipment, other cat and dog specialty items, plus herbs, herbal salves and ointments, and my cold-process soap. I bought my first house in January, a quirky little one-bedroom house "out in the country" with an acre of land and a large pole barn perfect for a small retail shop/consultation office on one side and a training center on the other.
I've been busy these last months getting moved in and settled, getting part of the yard fenced for the dogs, preparing the raised-bed herb garden and the vegetable garden for planting once the threat of frost is past, starting vegetables and flower seedlings indoors, pruning roses and cleaning up the flower beds, learning to make mosaic (and plain) stepping stones, filling existing bird feeders and adding a thistle feeder, two hummingbird feeders, a small window feeder ("cat TV"), and an oriole feeder. (I don't know whether or not I'll ever see an oriole, but I know for sure I wouldn't see one if I didn't have a feeder!) I'm continuing to teach my "household obedience" dog classes through parks and rec programs while I work on developing the clientele for my new business; I'm hoping to be able to offer a full schedule of dog classes at my facility in the fall.
And here we go...........
I've been busy these last months getting moved in and settled, getting part of the yard fenced for the dogs, preparing the raised-bed herb garden and the vegetable garden for planting once the threat of frost is past, starting vegetables and flower seedlings indoors, pruning roses and cleaning up the flower beds, learning to make mosaic (and plain) stepping stones, filling existing bird feeders and adding a thistle feeder, two hummingbird feeders, a small window feeder ("cat TV"), and an oriole feeder. (I don't know whether or not I'll ever see an oriole, but I know for sure I wouldn't see one if I didn't have a feeder!) I'm continuing to teach my "household obedience" dog classes through parks and rec programs while I work on developing the clientele for my new business; I'm hoping to be able to offer a full schedule of dog classes at my facility in the fall.
And here we go...........
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