Weeder's Garden

river walk

2009-12-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

this is walking "with" my brother. (see posting below). I failed to mention that he is a dozen years older than I.
You GO Geezer!

The American River

2009-12-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just like this picture. This is a stretch of the lower American River just downstream from the "H" Street Bridge in Sacramento. My brother and I took a little extemporaneous walk along the river this morning. We only walked a bit over a mile but it was done at his pace which is well beyond "stroll" and just under "jog". MY joints have been Grinching about that all day. He was planning on a bike ride later in the day. I took a nap. My brother will be 75 this summer. Pretty amazing fellow, my brother.

Chard and chips

2009-11-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

Rainbow chard and the Chard Guard. I don't know why I continue to ignore this as food. Probably because its good for me?

ahh. A nice big, FREE load of ground up trees. This stuff makes wonderful mud-free pathways.

And somebody thinks she's Queen of the Mtn!

day late & a dollar short

2009-11-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

Bloom day plus one? The red abutelon never ceases to amaze me.

the asters always out-do themselves, starting in October and blooming at least 6 weeks.

Just look at all that carotin! the rainbow chard looks delicious so why do I never eat it?

vines

2009-11-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

Think. Think HARD before planting vines. It seemed like such a good idea at the time..one little Purple Trumpet vine and one fine leafed Pink Jasmine planted at the base of an old orchard ladder, what harm in that? Yes, it did become a lovely cascade of flowers.. for a very short time each spring. And oh how the rats loved living in it. And oh, how I worried about a 30' olive tree cum vine tangle crashing down upon the house during some winter or spring storm. Not to mention that listening to the rats play in it at night only amused the dog and the cat, not moi. So, a couple of weeks ago I asked my local tree trimming crew to add that tree to the to-do list. It was simply amazing what a little man with a little chain saw and no fear at all about climbing trees, accomplished in a short time. I wish I could afford to keep Antonio "on my payroll" for the next ten years. This afternoon I finally got most of the small tangle of vines out of the larger, interesting tangle of vines. Still must make sure that all vines have been severed. Still must dig up all the rooted portions of the vines, which at least don't seem to be very deep. Still must dig up the Vinca Major that joined in the fun. And then...and THEN..I can add compost and sun loving plants to a whole new sunny area! Yippee!!! (This is in Phoebe-Dog's yard so the deer aren't an issue)Woo-hoo!

The Gardener

2009-11-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

I got the leaves off what passes for lawn and mulched the shrubbery with them. Verna,in gardener mode, promptly reversed my efforts. Perhaps she thought the leaves were too close to the plants' bases. We have a few issues, she and I, but her snail eating ability more than makes up for untidy edging. In fact, I'd love to have a couple more hens.

Misc. Fall Fotos

2009-11-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

I love the mini papyrus as much as the giant papryus!
Butterflys really DO like Asclepias.(aka milkweed)
I didn't have the courage to eat this Giant Puffball even though there is (supposedly) nothing like it that is poisonous. I am such a sissy!

Bye bye Atha

2009-10-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Atha, though never as spry as Verna, really started going down hill this past week. Friday morning she went to the Great Scratching Grounds where all Good Chicken Souls go when they are done here. Bless her big heart. So now I'm in the market for another hen or two to keep Verna and Roostie company and to help them decimate the snails.

breakfast

2009-10-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

fresh eggs from Verna-the-Hen and freshly harvested, fried green tomatoes from the garden. Oh My!

praying mantis

2009-10-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

I was just about to cut this fine Tithonia flower for the house when something moved...

misc

2009-09-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Just a few shots from around the yard this month.

and a squash blossom. gourd actually.

2009-09-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

a bit of early morning fall color

2009-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

don't tell my son

2009-09-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

I just replaced the photo of my canoeing son with a portrait of GEORGE CLOONEY as my desktop adornment. Sorry Mark. (I'm swooning, George.)

Trying to relax my way out of pretzelhood

2009-09-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally remembered to stop at OSH to replace the chuck key that vanished during the Great Re-organization of the Studio. Of COURSE there was a beautiful big blue pot on sale for $19.99 at the door...a pot which is now on the "new" patio and aptly named "Chuck"...because I am a foolish potaholic.. As I was leaving OSH I bent down to pick up something "ohhh! Pretty! Sparkly!" and my back went "out". My posture is currently less than perfect and I'd do almost anything for some Valium. In the meantime, 600 mg of Ibuprofen seems to have helped. My liver is probably not impressed. But I digress! At 4:00 this morning I suddenly "saw" the missing chuck key in the zip up pouch with all the drill bits. Wouldn't you think that would be a nice, comforting thought on which I could go back to sleep? Noooooooo. My mind wouldn't let go of it. So as soon as it was light enough to find my way out to the studio without tripping over wildlife or the bogeyman, I went in search of The Pouch. And lo and behold, one nice little chuck key, resting safely inside. Still, I'll keep the new one just in case.
Another cool day in store and I can barely stand. I have so much to do!! Will attempt to haul a full laundry basket of damp clothing out to the clothesline in a moment..maybe if I go slow... Should just curl up and finish "Julie and Julia" but being flat on my back is almost as uncomfortable as standing. Grrrrrrr!No! OM! OM Om Om OM OM OM OM.....

its official!

2009-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Neighbor Jan took one of the boards from the dismantled old shed pile and painted a sign for my front garden! I love it.

the deer herd

2009-08-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

My nephew's Asian Pear tree drops an enormous amount of fruit so I brought several home today and tossed them on the driveway. Doereen and (in order) Post Script, Pixel, and Gizmo devoured them post haste. Kept them from pruning the pomegranate tree. ... for about 10 minutes.

odd pot

2009-08-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't resist this Agave at HD today as it was only $4.99, had two pups and was in a gallon can. Besides, the old attic fan thingie hadn't had any plants in it for a long time. It was lonely. I think its a perfect match.
Agave agustifolia variegata. aka Striped Caribbean Agave.

Bunya-bunya cones

2009-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

One would not want to sit under this tree in August. It has dropped 20 cones in the past 4 days. Araucaria bidwellii.

my alma mater

2009-08-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

This grade school opened in the fall of 1953 when I was in the third grade. I remember those years as mostly good, though I did have some issues in 4th grade,5th and 6th were fine. Our Brownie troop (#278)began there and at some point, we "flew up" to become Girl Scouts. (Great troop with wonderful leaders. We managed to go down to Carmel for a few days and we even trekked all the way down to Catalina Island. We camped out often, sold lots of cookies, and generally had a great time.) But I digress. Fast track to now...the school looks so inviting I almost wish I could go back. The plantings are of mostly native plants, the art, done by students, is fabulous, and... well, its a school that parents really try to get their kids into. We had lots of music and art "way back then" but no major art installations like there are now. These tiles were all done by students. I think the Starry Starry Night painting on the back of the multipurpose room was too. (need to find out)The large painting on the newer buildings is huge and fun but again, I don't know who is doing the actual painting. Still, doesn't this look like a fun place to get one's education? They score high in academics too. And, they even have grass now! We had dirt. We were happy. We didn't know any different! The playground is home to a large flock of western Bluebirds. I don't remember seeing Bluebirds when I was a kid. Scrub Jays, Yellow-Billed Magpies, Crows, Robins, Killdeer, but Bluebirds? nope.

when what to my wondering eyes did appear...

2009-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

This may explain why there seems to be a baby deer bounding out of its hidey place no matter where I wander in the yard. Doereen didn't just have twins this year, she has triplets! If you click on the photo you should get a close up of, left to right, Gizmo, Doereen, Post Script (at her back legs), and Pixel. Post Script is tiny but very fast. Apparently triplets are not unusual in Black Tail deer. In fact, they may even have quads in their later years. Oh joy.

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems

2009-07-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems

I hope this worked. You MUST watch the video. OMG.

where the deer can't go

2009-07-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Phoebe-dog's yard. The whole yard would probably look like this if not for the hungry deer. But then, my water bill would just be higher so perhaps the deer help keep me under control.

a few things that have made me laugh in the last 24 hrs

2009-07-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

First off, this is a statue of Ben Ali, who was a famous racehorse from these parts way back when. I think he looks entirely too fat to be a race horse. But that isn't what made me really laugh. Oh no. It was while visiting with some neighbor ladies last evening, one of whom was just getting control of a major toothache, which is going to result in a root canal, and I, of course, had to brag that I was once considered The Queen Of Root Canals. And if that wasn't enough, I said "I've even had two retro root canals." D looked at me in shock and asked, loudly, "RECTAL ROOT CANALS?" The rest of us nearly spit Margaritas across the table. That was a cleansing laugh. Today there were two laugh-out-loud events but neither was a belly laugh. #1; I spied what appeared to be a homeless man pushing his grocery cart full of bottles & cans,with even more bottles and cans tied to the cart, up the street. He was having to work at this pretty hard because he only had one available hand/arm....because the other one was holding a cell phone up to his ear. So perhaps he isn't really homeless because don't you have to have a real address to have a cell phone? Or, two, it was like Whoopie Goldberg in "The Telephone" wherein she carried on many conversations with many folks throughout the entire movie...but the phone was non functional. (which you didn't know until the end of the movie)The other thing that made me laugh was the window full of manikins in some posh-ish store at the mall-I-rarely-frequent. They were all dressed in woman's high fashion..but lacking wigs..which made them look like a window full of well dressed transvestites. Their faces looked decidedly mannish to me. Not that there's anything wrong with a window full of trannies!

Fiesta Flowers!

2009-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

It was $8.99 at Target but I just couldn't resist!! Its hanging in Phoebe's yard so it will be safe from the inquisitive deer taste buds. If it is as tough as its cousins in the purslane family it ought to just love it here. 103° at the moment. time to go jump back into the stock tank!
Roostie and The Girls are checking out the Zen Garden today. I just tossed them some grapes which they found delightful.
Trying not to worry about the son and daughter-in-law who are somewhere off Whidby Island (which I've probably just spelled wrong) in sea kayaks for cryin' out loud! What? ME worry? You betcha.