Where do they get the seeds to plant seedless watermelons?
One Liner Wednesday is brought to us each week by Linda Hill.
One Liner Wednesday – Things I Think About
Tag: gardening
Monday Missive – March 15, 2021
Good Monday morning. I had a bit of a lull this weekend after having my second dose of the vaccine on Friday afternoon. It’s time to play catch up and get started on the week.
- Friday we had dose 2 of the Moderna vaccine. I was chilled Friday night but never thought to check my temperature. I woke Saturday, still chilled after a restless night. I took my temp and realized I was running a low grade fever. I spent the day under a blanket with a slight headache and achy joints. Roughly 24 hours after my shot all the symptoms had subsided. I was left with a sore arm, but even that is gone now. All well worth it.
- Late last week I spent a lot of time cooking and baking. I made hummus, kale/chard (from our garden) and potato soup with chorizo sausage, and two loaves of pineapple macadamia nut bread. The bread is from a recipe out of the Mary and Vincent Price cookbook adapting well known dishes from famous restaurants for the home kitchen. It is so tasty, but the next time, I think I will add coconut.
- Our lovely spring weather will pause a little this week bringing rain and some cooler evening temperatures. The weekend may bring low temperatures close to freezing.
- Wednesday I am taking Mary Smith’s workshop. So excited!
- I have been following the CDC changes in their recommended guidance for fully vaccinated people and what it is safe for us to do. We do not plan to change much about our daily activities, but I really want to see my family. One of our daughters and her husband received their first dose of the vaccine, so we are one step closer in having some much needed family time. No other members of our family are yet eligible for the vaccine. And now we have the variants to also consider.
- We have postponed clearing our property of fallen branches and leaves. These areas are so important for insects that winter over. Many of the ground feeding birds are finding their meals scratching in the leaves.
- One pair of our bluebirds have definitely begun laying eggs. There is a nest in the other birdhouse, but we have not seen much activity there of late. In 30 days the hummingbirds should return and will remain until they migrate in the fall. Such a rewarding time to observe nature.
- I have been trying to observe small changes as I take my walks. Color is appearing in the distant trees. It will transform quickly now.
The forsythia is blooming in the wild
The chipmunks have resurfaced
Us after our second shot
A view of our neighbor’s house
kale and Swiss Chard from the garden
Pineapple Macadamia nut bread
A faded painted fire hydrant
Someone’s dog tribute
Return of the Night Visitor
Day 211
I decided to get a quick blog out since we have a lot of running around on our calendar today. Tonight we will be attending our grandson’s spring band concert which is always wonderful. For a high school band, they are very impressive and the music selection is always enjoyable.
I woke at 6:30 a.m. this morning. The first thing I noticed was the pole for the bird feeder lying across the ground. I knew without a doubt what that meant. Our night visitor had returned. Bears are common in this area, although I would have thought there might be adequate natural food supplies out there right now. We learned two years ago that you cannot leave bird feeders out all night here.
To be on the safe side, we took our pocket air horn with us on our morning walk. There was nothing to be seen. When we returned from our walk, I retrieved the card from the trail camera. There he was. A black bear. Most likely a couple of years old. He pushed over the bird feeder pole, found nothing, then went on his way. Look at the size of those paws!
Miscellaneous Catch-Up
- I decided NOT to go on the writing retreat. I did some research and did not feel the facilitator was a good match for me. I felt the cost far outweighed the value.
- Yesterday marked my first official day on Medicare. This represents a huge saving for us — at least so far.
- For the last two or three weeks, every time I look at the clock the time is 11:11. My daughter told me that is a sign of angels being near. I like that. If you have something negative to say about that, keep it to yourself.
- A meaningful rose produced a bud this morning. It is gorgeous and I know will disappear as quickly as it came.
- The garden is doing well. We have a few blooms on the tomato plants, some tiny peppers on the pepper plants, small broccoli heads, and the radishes are coming up!
- I saw what I thought were wild strawberries and I was so excited! Unfortunately, they turned out to be mock strawberries which may be an invasive species.
- We saw our first black snake yesterday. Maybe he can take care of the moles that are tunneling through our yard.
- Tomorrow I am going to stay with my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren for 3 or 4 days while my son is out of town. I see cooking and playing on my agenda.
There has been a lot on the news that weighs me down, but I am trying hard to maintain my perspective and focus on making a positive difference in my corner of the world.
Happy Thursday! Feel free to share your good news in the comments!
Spring Gardening
Day 182
Today marks the halfway point of my goal to blog every day for a year. I thought there was no better way to celebrate this milestone than to share some photos of my day in and around the garden.
Gardening is hard work — especially after the winter we had. Our trees lost a lot of branches from some very heavy snow. Hubby had already cleared the large branches away. Today I cleared the smaller pieces and we have a 4′ high pile of broken limbs to deal with. I decided not to share photos of the hard part of the gardening so as not to discourage anyone. 😊
After the branches were gathered, I proceeded to scrape moss off our brick walkway. Last year was a very unusually wet year here (90+- inches of rain). The result was water standing for much longer periods of time. The moisture added to the shade from some large trees and overgrown bushes were the perfect environment for moss. We try not to use pesticides and weed killers so we can have a pollinator-friendly environment. I scraped until my arms gave out – more scraping later this week.
There is a lot of clean-up to accomplish after the winter months. Leaves to rake and raised gardens to clear and fortify with new material before planting. We do have one of our gardens planted with lettuce and spinach and broccoli. Soon new herbs and tomatoes will be planted and the growing season will be off to a good start.
I also noticed there were bees making use of our ‘bee house’. I could not see what type of bee but I did snap a picture of the house.
My morning meditation had me in a funk. A good day outside in the sunshine and the dirt really helped change my outlook. It turned out to be a fantastic day.
Happy 6-month ‘blogiversary’ to me!
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