Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Good Weekend

This was another Sunday when I wondered what I was going to blog about. And, again, I found all kinds of "little" things.
The first are a couple of things that came in the mail this week.
These are little painted metal pigs from Gardener's Supply Company. As a nod to Gershwin, they are named Porky (striped) and Bess (flowers). I'm very pleased with these and ordered their siblings - Sparky (snowflakes) and Gidget (polka-dots).
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This is not my house (would never have slate-grey siding!), it's a picture off the Gardener's Supply web site and it is called the Tomato Tower! It's 74" tall and holds 40 quarts of soil and 3 full grown plants. It's in a box in the garage at the moment but next week I'm going to put it together for a dry-run. I'll bet you're wondering why, with all our property, I don't grow tomatoes in the ground. Except for the Main Garden (perennials), there isn't enough full sun in any of the gardens for successful tomatoes. So I'm going to try this - the only reservation I have is that it won't be on a hard surface. We don't have a patio or deck so this will be on the sunny lawn - I'm sure Steve will be able to figure something out.....
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This is the grave of our late cairn terrier, Buckley-Rose. Steve chose these pretty rocks especially for her and dug the hole in our back garden. And I thought the fat dog statue looked like her.
This is Claire, our late cockatiel's grave . Claire died in the winter and the ground was frozen then so we kept her in the freezer until the ground thawed. Actually, we forgot she was in there (wrapped in a piece of pretty cloth in a box) and didn't bury her until two years later! Ashley never stops reminding me how "rude" that was.
This is the last resting place of my sister's "wonderful, sweet, and special" cat. She called crying asking if she could bury Darcy in our yard. Of course we agreed and Steve went around the paths with Sherry trying to find just the "right" place. Darcy was really big for a cat and most of the ground along the paths is rocky so it took him a very long time to dig a deep enough hole (we didn't want Sherry to visit and suddenly see Darcy hair scattered around the yard because some animal had dug her up!!). Steve is so thoughtful he even planted a wild phlox from the garden to make it special. You want to know how many times Sherry has looked at or even mentioned the grave??? You guessed it - - Never!! But at least Darcy has a pretty spot for the Big Sleep.
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That's it with the graves. Hopefully, it will be a very long time before we have to bury any more beloved companions.
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I'll bet you can't tell that this is a rather weather-beaten pig statue that has been toppled by a nasty digging squirrel. That's his snout at "six o'clock".
I righted him and as you see, his ear was broken off in the tumble. The statue is pretty fragile because he was only rolled over - squirrels aren't that strong.
This is the stump from a black walnut tree Steve cut down. Since the roots and leaves of this type of tree produce a substance that kills any other plants around it, this one had to go. The day lilies and daffodils nearby were slowly fading away so we decided it would be cut. I counted the rings and it was 20 years old. What a shame. But not far from this stump is a full grown, 40 foot tall black walnut raining down hundreds of nuts every Fall.
A dumb thing I did. I left this terra cotta bowl with twig handles outside all winter. The sides just flaked off. It is still quite thick so I guess I'll clean it up and leave the shells in there for one more Summer. Sierra loves to go through the shells.

Aren't these neat trails that some insect left under the bark of a dead tree. Looks like modern art.
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This is pissing me off!! The dark spots are deer tracks and they have eaten nearly every tulip in the Main Garden! There are tracks on all three levels of the garden and we've spotted them (3 does) close by when we come home from work at night. Ugh!! I thought that I had it made when I realized that the voles were gone. Nope - just much larger, long-legged voles have moved in. We didn't get the Hinder sprayed in time.
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After surveying the damage in the Main Garden, I vowed to notice only the what was pleasing during my "walk about". And I think I succeeded.
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Begonia Update ! ! !
I felt the mildew problem would be solved if I brought all the begonias up into the breezeway. There is natural light and more moving air. Look how big these two varieties have gotten - red and white ones blooming!
The "Cool Whip Lite" variety of begonia ("Braveheart") compared to my favorite violet. They both have fuzzy leaves.
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Weight Loss Update ! ! (Again)
Total of 26 pounds vanished as of today! !
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You know I just realized I seem to post the same things every few weeks. I should call this blog "Variations On A Theme"....
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I must get going because I want to play "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion" on my XBox 360 tonight and I've still got to take a bath and fold clothes. It was a good weekend for me; I did some shopping, had Ashley over for a few hours, worked in the vegetable garden, listened to some good Stan Getz, cooked a nice chicken dinner, took care of my seedlings, bounced on the rebounder, and played video games. Doesn't get any better than that!
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The real secret of how to use time is to pack it
as you would a portmanteau, filling up the small spaces
with small things.
Sir Henry Haddow
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Bye for now,
Alyssa

13 comments:

Gina said...

i love the cool whip plant! that sucks about the deer - it's way too early to be worrying about this blankety blanks.

alicesg said...

Lovely post on the plants and outdoors. Love the piggies. :)

greenthumbz said...

Mom, You forgot about Tony's beloved Mr. Toad!! He is still residing in the freezer!! We found
a neat toad statue for his final
stop at the Vetter Sanctuary!!Oh I hope Ashley doesnt read this...I'll never hear the end of Mr. Toad being in the "freezer" -- well Mr. Toad has only been in there since Feb. 13 - 08 (NOT 2 Years)LOL!!!
Much love,
Greenie

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

The pigs are cute but you need some of the real thing. In a day of two you will wish youn only had deer to worry about!

Lizzie A said...

The pigs are SOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!! Thank you for your advice. I know that it would be easier if I were to cut off all connections to my ex, but even before we dated we were really close and he was the one I went to with anything and everything. I don't know what I'm going to do without him.

Also, I didn't get a chance to read all of the post, but the pics were great!! I need to take pictures so that I can post them on my blog.

Speaking of pictures, what do you think of my new picture that goes along with each of my comments (the rose)?

Lizzie~

Alyssa said...

Gina - You are so right! I like it if just one Spring I wouldn't have to worry about any creatures eating my bulbs.

Alice - Thank you, I feel the same way you do about the piggies.

Greenie - Mr. Toad did slip my mind but we'll definately find the "perfect" spot for him here.

Tossing - Yes I've heard that pigs can really tear up a yard. Feral pigs also have bad reps for doing lots of damage in the wild. But I think I would still like a pot-bellied pig as a pet...

Lizzie - I'm confident that you will do just fine without your ex. Nobody ever said romance was a smooth road. The rose is lovely (Rose is my middle name!!) and seems like a great symbol for your growing maturity.

Tom said...

I tried posting last night but had trouble seeing the pictures, my problem or bloggers not yours..
Glad to say things are much better today..
Love the pigs, and the tomatoes... that looks like a neat idea. I also liked the fun you have on show in your garden and all the textures too..
Well worth my wait for the pictures.
Tom

DeeMom said...

Great pictures and wonderful commentary

Congrats on less of you that is WONDERFUL

AH BRAVEHEART, great movie…pretty violet…tee hee Brave Heart as cool whip I chuckled to myself on that…


Deer do eat the good stuff…
Sad to say…I take a broom to ours, must be the arched ex School teacher evil eyeball that gets them running…as they SNEER at me…

I added sea shell to one of our raised beds…they were such fun to pick up at the beach…

We too bury our pets in near by places…this past winter The Senator passed , I have a temporary fence and bricks covering that area so no harm comes to him. I am planting tulips and daffodils that in time will cover his place…

I hear those tomato upside down things work quite well, good luck on that

The Pigs are adorable, I got the three frogs 2 years ago from Gardner’s Supply…they have some neat stuff

Mary said...

Hi Alyssa!

Don't ever feel like your posts are all alike. Every week, there is something new from you.

I LOVE that tomato planter! I'm eager to know how it works out for you. Steve can probably bolt it down with big screws or something, like you would anchor a large tent. It's beautiful! And the ground hogs don't climb, do they?

I had to laugh at Ashley's reaction to you Claire's neglect. LOL! I have a one grave at a previous home in MD that holds a beloved cat. It saddens me that I'll never visit her grave again. There are a few dozen gerbils there, too.

I feel your frustration with the deer! I don't have deer, but I saw a rabbit checking out my basket of verbena the other day and fled quickly when I clapped my hands. It's be back, I'm sure :o)

Congrats on your weight loss! Exhilarating, right? And glad you had a perfect weekend.

Hugs,
Mary

Alyssa said...

Tom - I'm happy that you enjoyed the post and the picture problems are over. Thank you for visiting.

Dee - I wish I would even see the deer long enough to run after them with a broom! They can be so destructive. I can't imagine not burying my pets where I live - it just seems like the right thing to do. I agree, Gardener's Supply is great and I think I'm addicted to them!

Mary - I'm glad my posts aren't too redundant for you. I hope that the tomato planter works out - you'll see in a few months. That is a great idea about staking it like a tent. Think I'll check out camping supplies. I'm sorry that you can't visit your kitties grave.
And keep ever vigilant in regards to thoses bunnies - they are sneaky.

Yes, I feel pretty darn good not having that weight gone.

joared said...

As a Gershwin fan, I got a kick out of your "Porky and Bess." Lovely plants and photos.

Lizzie A said...

First off, my "love" life is getting a bit better, because I now have a date to prom too. Next is that my ex wasn't going to ask the girl to prom as a date but rather a friend, so that was what I meant with my post. Finally, I just wanted to say that it is really really wierd, but my middle name is Rose too, and it was going to be my first name (ask on my blog if you want to know why), and I have a friend a year younger than me whose name is also Alyssa (it is actually who I thought you were the first time you commented on my blog), and she is my "band-daughter" (once again, to long to explain now), and her middle name is rose. I just wanted to say that it was a really really strange coincidence!
Lizzie~

Alyssa said...

Joared - Thank you for the compliments and for visiting.

Lizzie - I'm glad that you won't have to go "stag" (an oldfashioned term for by yourself) to the prom.
There sure are a lot of coincidences with the name "Rose" in your life!! It must be your lucky word!