No More Ms. Nice Guy and I've Been Shingled!!

I'll begin with the reason I've not been blogging the past, nearly, two weeks. The Friday before last I started to feel an odd tingling on the back on my left leg. The next day the tingling spread and was kind of painful. Since I was having a small family party on Sunday, I was running around the house cleaning and preparing for the celebration all of that Saturday. I attributed the pain and tingling to the past work week. Sunday my family and I went on a hike on a wilderness trail and returned for the party. By that time my leg hurt in other places and spread upwards. To make a long story short, I find after looking in my Merck Manual of Medical Information that I've got shingles. Ugh! By now I've got red patches of skin with blisters that itch and burn up the back of my left leg. It feels as if I've constantly got a bad sunburn. I've been really tired, worn out, chilled, etc. since this began and had no interest in anything except sleeping and dragging myself into work. I've got a doctor's appointment Monday, but there isn't a whole lot that can be done - just let it run it's course.

And now to the first part of my title. Below, sticking out of that hole in the rail road tie in my Main Garden, is a beautiful tulip in full flower - dragged there by a vole! That was the final straw for me and those voles. I have used 5 different repellents that are meant to drive them away, but do no harm to them and given them every chance to get out of Dodge! But, they ignored me and have kept eating tulip bulbs and rubbed my face in it with this last bit of nastiness!! I checked the internet for trapping voles and came up with a tried and true method - the good ole mouse trap - baited with apple. The three traps are covered with pots and an old colander so nothing "friendly" is caught. So far we've gotten two large voles but I'm not about to feel victorious. On the vole trapping site it said that voles have 17 litters (!) a year, 11 to a litter and the little ones leave the nest after 14 days. Just do the math - that's 187 babies a year. The possibilities are endless . . .

I finally took a walk around the gardens and snapped some pretty pictures.
These variegated iris and grape hyacinth set each other off very nicely.

A whiskey barrel of mixed lettuces and peas with flower and tomato seedlings in the dining table.
My metal chicken statues in the Main Garden.

Virginia bluebells and trillium in the back gardens.

Little species tulips around the pond after the mini daffs and scilla have bloomed.

Here's an unhappy Garm looking at Mom walking in the gardens without him. Kind of a sad sack.

I'm hoping to feel better as time goes by (it takes about 6 weeks for shingles to do their dirty work) and get some real gardening done. The vegetable garden needs digging, weeds are starting to get a foot hold in the Back Garden, there are things to yank out that fared poorly this winter and much more.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bye for now,

Alyssa

P.S. A new elephant has arrived at the Sanctuary. Her name is Dulary , she is 43, and from the Philadelphia Zoo. She came by special trailer on May 3rd and is adjusting splendidly with the members of her new herd. This is the first time in her life she is able to do as she pleases. Visit the web site http://www.elephants.com/ to read the wonderful and heart-warming story.

Don't Let This Happen To You ! !

I know it's a bit melodramatic but this is what happens when you buy a cheap birdbath and leave it out over the winter. I noticed after our last bout of freezing temps, that there was a hairline crack in the bowl. Later I was trying to empty some watery ice from it and it fell apart in my hands and into the garden. I suppose I should have brought it in but . . . .

this concrete birdbath I've had for at least 10 years and have left it out all the time. And not one problem. Steve got this for me as a gift and paid quite a bit for it back then. And it is worth every penny. I want to replace the broken one but there aren't any birdbaths out at the stores yet. But . . . .

instead of birdbaths, I found these cute planters. Actually, they are quite big - about 8 - 10" across and heavy! They were at my local Steins Garden Center where I also stocked up on animal repellent to do battle against the deer, rabbits, and my true nemesis, the crafty vole. Yes, he's (or it's) back and No, I don't think it was ever gone. He's eaten tulip bulbs and tunneled around the Main Garden as well as moving into an abandoned chipmunk hole conveniently located a foot away from said Garden. But . . .

he hasn't made his way to my little pond. This is an interesting story - trust me - it is. In this very spot was a huge and wonderful oak tree that I loved - I called it the "Old Man Tree". Sadly, it had chlorosis and couldn't be saved and died. When it was cut down, Steve built a garden surrounded by rocks (two layers high) and added a plastic pond form. Here is how it turned out . . .

Very beautiful and I have fish and plants in it during the summer. I have 3 large orange and white comets (like giant goldfish) and 4 small shubunkins (poor man's koi) that are wintering in our basement in a large kiddy pool with a bubble stone in it just waiting for it to warm up a bit. I also have a small fountain in it and the sound of splashing water is wonderful. The birds and creatures love it and

this Green frog lived in it all summer. He became very tame as you can see. In fall he wanted to stay in the pond but would have died so I put him in a container and drove him to a small river near our home. I felt bad 'cause I'd never see him again, but happy that he had a real home of his own. Hopefully, another frog will visit us this summer.

Steve hauled the rocks from different places on our land and figured out how they would fit together best. As you can see, he isn't a big guy, but he's very strong and muscled all these rocks around with just that red dolly! It took him about two weekends of solid work and he created a wonderful focal point for the back garden. He loves working with rocks and has done many beautiful projects around the house and gardens. He has a special knack for it and I wish he'd been able to do it as his life's work. Unfortunately, he ended up in the same factory I work in. Actually I'm glad he did, otherwise we'd never have met.

To make this long story short, the pond is a memorial to the big old oak who stood in that spot for almost 80 years. A fitting one, I think.

Last Fall I planted miniature species tulips and scilla around the pond and if you look closely at this picture, you can see another creature that is visiting.

Bye for now,

Alyssa