RUSTY IS THINKING…

ABOUT STARTING HIS OWN BLOG. But he still needs help with the typing part. Have I mentioned he is a Klutz? We told him being a Klutz is a very special Kitty thing. Well, it is!

Anyway, the point is, he often sits on my lap and reacts to things I find on the web… so I will share some of them with you… and maybe set up his own blog. Stay Tuned!

Winter Storm Janus 1-22-14

Well, Winter Storm Janus blew in last night in a bad temper. Snow is one thing we all enjoy every once in a while, the high winds are another thing. Then, too, temperatures in the teens are a shock to our sensibilities around here. My camellias are frozen. Not nice, Mr. Weather! In truth, we had only 4 inches more or less – with the blowing it is hard to measure how much actually came down – but here on the Shore, 4 inches might as well be 4 feet. The phones started ringing at 6 AM with cancellations. The radio had been broadcasting nothing but cancellations since 5 AM, foregoing all other broadcasting except ABC News and Mike Huckabee and a couple funeral announcements. I mean, who needs to listen to advertising when you can’t get out of your driveway anyway, right?

One interesting comment by our announcer (and owner of the station) was to tell the Good Old Boys to stay off the road. “Yeah, I know,” he said, dropping his voice and adding the drawl of the uneducated, “I got 4 wheel drive, man, I can go anywhere. I am out here to help people who get stuck!” Then he paused for dramatic effect, “And you end up in the ditch with the rest of them causing more problems than you can ever could fix, blocking road clearing crews and even emergency vehicles. So stay the heck home and off the roads!” Of course, the bulk of the sales on days like this are – guess… go ahead… milk? No. Bread? No… Baby formula? Nope, not that either… beer. Well, if you can’t get to work what else is there to do? So, half of the 4 WD pick-ups in the ditch are drunk drivers anyway. Whoopee.

OK, I digress… so what else is new? Anyway, here is the scene out my back door onto the carport which is protected on one side by the house, a little by the furnace room, and, of course, has a roof over it. Look at that snow, will ya? It was all the way up on the top step. See how it has drifted by the bottom step? I had to sweep off the steps to get to the snow shovels. I have 2 – one is an old aluminum shovel, one is plastic. This was an aluminum shovel type of snow because that is ice under there on the ground and on the concrete. My van was covered with almost as much snow as my truck that was sitting out in the yard.

   

The greenhouses were struggling to stay above freezing with ice crystals on the doors. My little incandescent bulbs were working overtime keeping my bucket of bricks warm. I hoped none of them burn out during this below 20 weather. I would hate to open the doors to change a bulb!

It was not a ‘pretty’ snow. The high winds blew most of the snow off the branches. On the other hand, that kept things from snapping and coming down on power lines… unless the wind did it. The prayer flags got a good workout blowing so hard you couldn’t even tell if it was Sanskrit or Hebrew on them. But the early morning sun was pretty and a promise that things would thaw. Eventually. The daffodils have been up, some as much as 6 inches, but they were invisible this morning. In a good year, they bloom the end of February. I have a feeling they will wait until March this year. But, who knows?

The Buddha was wrapped in a nice blanket of white while St Fwankie kept an eye on the birdbath deicer. The little critters were very thankful for that tiny pool of not quite freezing water. However, I have a couple wrens and sparrows that have discovered the cat’s heated water dish and take an occasional drink out of that. I tried to get a shot of one of the little fellows last week when it was so cold hunkered down at the bottom of the door to the furnace room. When I opened the back door, he hopped out a ways, but went right back to the door after I shut the kitchen door once again. I think he is smarter than Spook who has abandoned his heated box now that Punkin is no longer there to defend him. Bless his heart. A friend renamed Spook last week calling him a kittidiot. I have to agree. He is such a scaredy-cat that it often applies.

The new generator is here… but the inspector has not been here and I am on a long waiting list for the gas tank. I can only hope I don’t need it.

And these last 2 shots are of my CoCoRaHS official precip cylinder – minus the inner core that stays in the house during freezing weather where it will measure the melted snow for water content.

I hope the storm was not a bad event for you and yours. Stay in, stay warm, stay safe!

END OF OCTOBER, BEGINNING OF FROST

Well, it finally happened, our first frost… fortunately it was a very light frost. Also fortunately I have all the house plants inside the house and most everything that could be killed by frost outside is in the greenhouse. I was so embarrassed to have to call someone to come and help me move the grill… the tank is full so I could not lift it. Fortunately I had some paperwork for someone to take care of and 3 gallons of water-seal that needed to go to the Train Station, so I let one stone take care of 3 birds. Then I rebuilt the “greenhouse annex!”LOL It filled up quickly. I had taken cuttings from most of the coleus, the frost got the ones left out in the yard.

I covered the tomatoes and they made it… likewise my last serving of beans. Guess I will get to pick them end of the week.

Ice Angel opened early this year and is blooming up a storm. Someone suggested I do a post on a different camellia each week. Sounds like a fun idea except I get so busy, I just don’t have time. Ice Angel is probably about 15 feet tall by now… maybe taller. A beautiful bush! See how little the Buddha is and only 3 feet from the bush. Those wooden posts are 4 feet tall.

My Birthday camellias out-front are well up over the roof. They have been blooming for over a month now.

Also higher than the roof is this double pink. Yule Tide has started to open. There are still some azaleas blooming.

But it is going to warm back up. How do I know this? I put the electric blanket on the bed. Yep. Works every time. Put your summer clothes away, storm windows in, close the house vents… and I promise it will warm up.

We have lost some leaves, but the colors, muted as they are here, have finally started to change. Maybe I will have some pretty leaf pictures next week.

I hope October has been beautiful for you!

A SUMMER SUNDAY MORNING

I find mornings exciting – well, I do now that I don’t have to get in the van and drive 20 miles to spend the day working at a job that mostly goes unappreciated these days. Heck, I can stay home and not get appreciated and have a much better time doing it! But mornings excite me with the cliché of seeing what the new day will bring and the gratitude of being able to see and hear it. I do lots of posts about Gratitude… note the capital letter, for Gratitude is what gets me thru life. I seldom actually post them… writing them, thinking about all i have to be grateful for is all I really need to do at the time. I spent many, many years being bitter, sitting on the pity pot with Poor me, Poor me, and the occasional Pour me… but the bitterness brought me only more bitterness. It did not make the pain go away. It did not help me to walk (or walk without pain). It sure did not bring me any peace. Once I accepted life on life’s terms and figured I’d better “get over it” in some sense of the word, well… it got better. OK, there are those who would argue that it really DIDN’T get better – maybe just some part of me got better. I had to stop looking at the weeds in my garden and notice the flowers.

I have always loved the play of light on and thru objects… especially as the light shines thru leaves and flowers or lights up some distant corner of the garden while the background is still in a bit of darkness. Years ago I had a little girl living with me who thought we should whisper outside in the morning because parts of the garden and woods were still asleep. So, whisper we did. It was fun, actually, as she would tap my side to point out little things she saw from her childhood perspective. She was not afraid of bugs or other critters and they seemed to know this often allowing her to hold them and whisper to them.

She loved my St Fwankie, as she called him, “cuz he wuved all critters and knew they wuz his cousins.” She said the Buddhas were there to tell her to get quiet, calm down, pick a flower, study it. Brilliant child.

 

The sun in the morning hits this Buddha first thing. His whiteness just glows with the shadows behind him. I see him out the kitchen window as I take my first sip of coffee or tea every morning. He reminds me to go sit and get my morning meditation in… but the day often does not cooperate. The phone starts to ring, people arrive, the cat yowls for something different for breakfast or to let me know his dish is empty – how could I not notice such an important thing? I look back out the window, take another sip, swallow my blood pressure medicine (sigh) check the clock, feed the cat, give him his pill, go outside to feed Spook… try not to look around for Punkin – tho I still do.

I notice the phlox around the ground level birdbath are especially beautiful this morning. The hanging planter has come back into bloom. The colors seem to blend in with the mood of the phlox. St Fwankie seems quiet this morning, still in shadow. Perhaps he is still napping! I’d better not wake him. The bench sits alone and empty,  bags of mulch still on the ground. It has just been too hot to work out there, or the mosquitoes too hungry. And any cool moment is spent on the mower or swinging the weed whacker around keeping a clear path to the bean patch.

The yellow wax beans have been picked almost to extinction… when they are finished, I will pull these plants and replant for a fall crop. The Italian flats have been ready and enjoyed by many of us this week. I discover with  great excitement that I have 2 pickles and one almost cucumber but lots of flowers on the only 2 cuke plants to survive the coonie bear rampage of a couple weeks ago. The onions have been harvested, and the potatoes are looking sad and tired. I discovered that means they will soon be ready to harvest. Dumb me, the first year I thought I had lost all my potatoes. LOL! Stupid me, I almost dumped out 5 lbs of redskins from the potato bag that first year.

As I wander around the yard, I notice my favorite day lilies are in bloom. I now have quite a few, but these never bore me. My aunt called them funny faces.

This is one of my first day lilies… the morning sun makes the center glow as it shines thru it.

Thanks for taking a little walk around the garden with me… look at the pictures, be calm, wuv all critters, be kind, and let the beauty that is out there shine thru and into your heart.

CATCHING UP

 Life has been busy, more than busy, and I just have not had time to be on here. Sometimes "life' happens. And then Sandy happened, and even tho I did not have any more damage than one downed tree, still, as an old friend of mine used to say, my tempest fugited! Where has the time gone? 

Many of the leaves are down, camellias are in serious bloom, and the colors are fantastic. It seems the frost we had killed the daisies, but they were awesome for a while and covered with butterflies. I had so many more plants this year, I had to build an extention onto my little greenhouse! Enjoy the pics!

Who would believe I have had to turn the heat on in these little greenhouses already! Frost is predicted for the morning... yesterday, we were working out in the yard in T-shirts. Oh, well, It is that time of year.

If you are interested, the greenhouses are made out of plexiglass. The "roof" part is 1/4 inch plexi, the sides are just 1/8th inch. Most of the wood is scrap stuff left over from other projects. The plexiglas is held in place with corner braces so it can slide out if I need to get inside to do something. It all comes apart by removing 4 screws.

And the ANSWER IS......

DRUMROLL? What? No drums this morning? Rats! OK, previous post (PROMISES) answers... THE PROMISES of: 1 tomatoes (duh), 2. zucchini, 3. onions and potatoes growing in bags, 4. yellow wax beans. 5. yellow squash. In the flower department: 1. St John's Wort! (didja get that one?) 2. a new Calla Lily. Is that spectacular or what?

We had a serious soaker rain ... 2.32 inches. It was great, the earth really soaked it up, plants are happy... so I went out with the camera hoping to capture the freshness of the morning, the rain on everything... and I found a few new blooms this morning. First, my favorite, Peace.

Someone gave me these lilies last year, this is their first year blooming. Someone asked about my blueberries, but the focus on the camera kept getting confused even on manual, sorry. Should have taken the picture before I picked 'em! (duh) The Caladium suddenly popped thru the ground - SURPRISE! I am excited about them, haven't had them in years. The magnolia is still going strong.

Usually I show the Buddhas when they are surrounded by flowers, but I also enjoy their simplicity when all is just green around them. They are a wonderful reminder to me when I start my day to think Peace, Compassion, Do NO Harm. I look longingly at the Adirondacks on the patio, inviting me to dry them off and have a sit down, I smile at all the color that surrounds me, grateful That I can see it all, enjoy it all, live in a space where it can thrive... and I see next to it all, the wheelbarrow, and realize it is time to get back to work. Yeah, it is a place of Serenity and Peace, a yard where the Buddha is comfortable with St Francis, both reminding me to love all creatures... and I am grateful I love working in this space, grateful I am able to keep it going, grateful that I WANT to stay busy and find peace in this busy-ness. I share these pictures as a way of sharing my gratitude with others. I wish Peace to you all. Come by, I will dry off a chair for you - or chase a little cat. Sit and enjoy the Peace of my Garden.

THAT'S JUST WHAT BUDDHA SAID!