18 July 2012

Plant #4 after weeding

Planted 2 hills of zuchinni and 2 hills of burbleess cucumber after weeding the south fence edge with the scuffle hoe, also on all three paths between the two rows of okra.  And then watered them.  Picked cosmos, zenia, and marigolds - one green and one yellow squash, and a few hot peppers. In about 1 hour from 7:30 to 8:30.  Light work compared to yesterday. Two young couples were around working.

Monday's garden, viewed from the north side
 The garden weeding was after work, after we had gone to get Sam's gas ($2.97 a gallon, and 13 gallons) in Deej's car, and the at the pet store - Jado cat food cans, dry food, and kitty litter - the last bag of kitty litter was horrible - clumped and hard to clean. Then, after the garden, I came home to a nice meal Deej had prepared of shrimp, a wonderful okra dish, fresh cucumber and hot peppers, plus desert of her peach cobbler with some ice cream.

We had a nice lunch (Tuesday) with Kathy at the Corner (No. 3 restaurant) - she leaves tomorrow.  Demonstrated Facebook, before Kathy went with Deej over to special collection. Highlight of work - re-estimating the number of pamphlets of cataloging - probably more around 2500 instead of my initial 1200 I had made months ago.

Yesterday (Monday 16th July) I went by myself, leaving an hour early, to weed at the garden, from about 5:30 to 7:30.  Boy, was that hard.  But needed, and a lot easier with the two showers on the weekend that totaled about 1 inch, and soften the soil, for it's hard rockness because of the drought during the past 3 weeks. Mostly pulled grass along the east edge where there are some gladiolas.  And then planted some seeds which I had had soaking for 2 nights - 3 hills of pumpkins, plus 4 or 5 watermelon seeds along the eastern fence and on the cucumber cage, and then three places along the middle part of the west, north, and east fence.  But the main seeds I planted were flower seeds along rows in the east fence rows - 3 type of cosmoses and marigolds.  Also did an L of okra in the northeast corner. Two Mexicans were can watering in a garden to the east, the truck guy to the west was there when I fist came, and an lady drove in to her garden to the east, and the Pakistani lady was working her garden to the west up by the basketball court - her little daughter playing around their van.

We'll see if anything comes of those seed plantings so late in the season.

Here are some photos, taken from the north side for a change (see above)
Three orange cosmos - blazing away
 

The okra / zucchini hills and the row of planted flowers














The recent history of the garden? after the April and May tillings and plantings on weekends, we went to the beach the first week in June and weeds grew.  And we spent considerable time weeding corn, peppers, tomatos, okra - and placing newspapers over some weeded areas. We did get some onions, and started to get beans.  In early July we mowed the higher grass in the central path and the eastern edge, but then we hit a dry three weeks and could not pull any more weeds, nor scuffle hoe - it was way too hard.  We started to get cucumbers by mid July, and peppers, more beans, dug the small potato area, tented the kale, picking zennias and marigolds.  We watered during the weekends, including last Saturday, before we got almost an inch shower. And then Monday and Tuesday (above) I weeded and did some planting. We sprayed some oil on the corn tassels. Still to come is corn and tomatoes - and those may come at the wrong time - while we are away all next week in Seattle for the WOSA reunion, sailing, a day trip to the Victoria, Canada gardens, etc.

Saturday we bbqed vegetables and hamburger, finished cooking them just in time as the shower arrived. I had mowed the back yard also.


Sunday I bought metal stakes and put up a little fence around the back yard blue berry bushes and the corn / bean / squash hills - the shower that evening came before I was done, so I worked in a nice 10-minute natural rain shower.  By then Kathy H had arrived.  I showered and we went and had a nice meal at Sticks.  Kathy showed some really fantastic photos of cicadas, grasshoppers, spiders, frogs, insects which her colleague (Piter?) had taken in May when they had a month in Mozambique with EO Wilson. 



That's it - a story of weeding, planting, fencing, picking, showers, Kathy's visit - - - -

13 July 2012

day to day

What if some of these posts are just boring listing of events?

Yesterday (Wed, 11 July 2011) stayed home in the morning as the locksmith came to replace our broken front door lock - replacing the silver one with a working gold one.  He arrived on the dot at 10 as scheduled. Cost $130.

Jado got out and refused to budge from his resting spot underneath the bush on the front west side of the house, so I left him there when I caught the 12:37 pm Route 4 bus in to work.

The User Services meeting was to last from 3:30 to 5, but let out at 4:15 pm after discussions about preparations for the Fall library web site.

I finished up my self-evaluation / annual report and forwarded it on to Anne.

Caught the Route 4 bus home, after waiting almost a half hour for it at the art Studio.  Deej not as lucky - had me drive and get her at the Omni at 5:50 as no Route 4 came.

Ran to the store to get pork, and combined it with a can of beans, bell peppers, onion, garlic, etc for supper.  Froze 3 two-pork chop bags of extra pork.

Today (Thursday) caught bus fine, but very noisy chicken hen house on crowded bus with groups of women talking to each other at the same time. Worked on LC overseas acquisition bill payments (Pakistan, India, Iran, and Cairo/Middle East) and gave them to Buddy on his second last day of work.  We talked with Rose about how to handle stuff after Buddy's gone.

Normal lunch of sandwiches and apple down in staff lounge with Deej.  Worked some on pamphlet listing sets, before going to the 2 pm HumSoc meeting - mainly about departmental goals for the coming year - Services, Collections, Space. Reply about researcher's question on Happiness and the Dalai Lama. Purchase Requests.

Trolley to Studio, Route 6 to 5th / Elliott top of the hill, and walk down and into the back yard by 5:25 pm. Deej got in late around 6 after walking with Rea and husband to catch the 6 at the Salvation Army Cherry Ave bus stop.

Rinse and wash some dishes from crowded sink. Left over pork and beans for supper, and mango w/ ice cream for desert. No water mellow like the last two nights.

Boring nothing TV - found the Roku controller (after it was missing for a month and a half), but nothing on there either.

Egroup ar discussion family letters, junk, what to do with, what to throw out - after we saw / discovered Jackson Day's dad's trunk in a museum in Shanghai.

Was that listing of events, or some more?

21 May 2012

Plant #3 and more

We've done some more in May - in spite of some rainy days, and weeds, weeds, weeds!


07 May 2012

Planting #2


After work Thursday (3 May 2012), we went out to Azalea Park and did about an hour of work.

Azalea garden plot
Look! the shed's back! - after being vandalized about 2 months ago.

Peas are coming along. Radishes are growing too, and Deej picked about 10 small / medium sized ones, before they got too large and hot.  They were good at supper.

I mainly dug holes for plants we had bought on the weekend at Ezroths or K-Mart.  Put in 3 more cayenne and 3 new bell plants near the center of the west side of the garden.  (see photo below) Also about 9 marigold plants of 3 varieties along the border at different places.
marigolds at our entrance
Peppers








We've had drizzling rain and fairly warm days recently.  It was finally dry enough to mow the Druid yard Sunday (6 May 2012)

Jado rests on the just-mowed Druid back yard
I went to the First Friday and saw some nice art at McGuffy, Fish Gallery, a side place down 1st street, and then the 2nd Street gallery.  Saturday worked some more on Hauser's books (to add or not), then picking up Beth to go to the Curry Club where we joined Betsy and Mary.  A nice small group and we lingered some since we decided not to go to Betsy's house for chai.  There was a din of 8-10 year old Indian kids in the same side room making it hard to hear some of the time.  Drove up to Tandem Friends School and sat with Herb and Annie for Tom Joseph's memorial Quaker meeting from 2-3 pm.  Lots of interesting and nice things said by 15 men and 7 women.  Saturday morning also Facetimed with Julie which I haven't done in months - the big, sad news was Matt's broken leg from a motorcycle accident - painful and going to have some surgery on it.  Also got to see and say hi to Lauren and Eliza.

30 April 2012

Planting #1

Another Spring, another season to buy seeds, and fertilizers, bags of compost and top soil, young plants, and til and dig, and mulch and plant, and water if need be.

So yesterday, Sunday afternoon, Deej and I worked for a couple hours in the Druid back yard - needs to have lots done.  We had bought 4 bags mulch, 2 bags top soil, and 1 bag compost, plus seeds and plants yesterday (Ezroths and KMart).  So, after I unloaded the bags from her trunk on to the wheelbarrow, I carted them to the back yard, unloaded.  Deej used the mulch around her plants, especially the second blue berry bush.  I spilled out the top soil bags and compost bag into my two plots, and then spent about 45 minutes loosing the soil in the lower plot - I had tried to start our little tiller, but it refuses to spark and start.  What to do? Take it for repair $$$?

I planted 3 of the peppers (2 cayenne and 1 bell), plus put two marigolds in the lower plot, along with mammoth sunflower seeds. And then the yellow marigold in the upper plot.

We wheelbarreled 3 big loads of weeds to the lower yard piles.  They were from the area where Deej planted the blue berry bush and another plant. Also I pulled and pulled weeds and vines from our side of the fence, and clipped out beginning tree thin trunks. Also weeded the black berries which are flowering and budding - even the new black berry plants seam to be taking hold. More weeding around the onion row, and the upper plot.

Finally lopped off the lower branch of the red maple, which was hanging over the lower bird feeder - used by the squirrels.  And moved the dead huge vines under the red maple so Deej can used the clothes line there.  Deej pulled down the branch so I could lop it off - but then it nicely broke all off.

So, we have some things mulched, soil worked up, and a few things planted in the back yard.

And the Saturday before we weeded some more of the area which we had tilled, but some places not deep enough to kill the grass, etc.  And Deej planted some things, put up a pea fence for her growing peas, etc.  I planted mammoth sun flower seeds in the corners, and also 7 cayenne plants in the middle area.
But details of that Saturday are another story!

Addenda written 7 May 2012 Here are some photos of the garden when we were there Sat the 21st April  - a panorama, a spider with an egg sack from digging out wire grass (like a small 2" tarantula), Philip stomping down planted sun flower seeds, and our peas

15 April 2012

Satur - Day in the life 14 April 2012

Some of what I did on Saturday the 14th April 2012 - a little library work, going to the Market, seeing son Tim and granddaughter Rachel, a poodle, the Market, the ugly thistle at home at Druid, flowers in my yard (while I cut down privets for Deej so she could plant elderberries and bleeding hearts), making Artisan whole wheat bread (dough number B), steak for supper, and to fly, fly away - - -

Another walk - this one up the Monticello Trail March 2012

Another walk - this one up the Monticello Trail, as the flowering trees start blooming, March 2012

Monticello Trail Stroll at EveryTrail
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16 January 2012

Walking

Started to do some 30 minute walking with Deej over the winter holidays.  Will I keep it up? Does it help?

Here's one day's walk at the end of December 2011


Try this link (or click below)
Walk from home and back

SW from home and back

 

 


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