cucumbers

OOPS! Somebody forgot to check the cucumber vines yesterday. The excuse, of course, is that it was 108° and since I am a Pansy, sticking my hot arms into a bunch of stickly-prickly cucumber vines & leaves just didn't sound like much fun. Not that it sounded like fun this evening either but its only 100° out and zucchini sized cucumbers are just wrong. I believe those are tomatoes
# 5 and #6. Can hardly wait for the Early Girls to catch up to the Sweet One Millions. The little melon, whose name has slithered off my brain once again, has gone from tennis ball size to baseball size. I don't think they are to get much bigger than a softball...I could be wrong...Wait. Are tennis balls and baseballs the same size? They aren't are they?

My left pointy finger still hurts from its sudden altercation with the very sharp, very serrated steak knife last night. I bought one of those funny looking splints for it this morning just so it wouldn't keep getting slammed into something at work. Also bought a package of "assorted finger cots" which look like teensy condoms and which work well to keep bandaged fingers dry. That was stupid. Now I have no excuse to ignore the dirty dishes.

Sweltering

It is only 11:00a.m. but already 90°. My body will be immersed in this ol' stock tank shortly. Except for the occasional Sac. Co. Sheriff's 'copter flying overhead, it is a pretty private swimming hole. It is also ecconomical: does not require a pool guy (hey wait! Damn!) nor higher taxes for "improvements", nor a life guard (damn again!). when not in use it is covered with a blazing blue tarp to keep the riff-raff and leaves out. I don't have to share with wild children, grumpy old farts, nor boozed out teenagers. Nobody pees in my pool. Life is good.

bye-bye fishies

There were two cute little goldfish in this "raised pond with never-blooming-water-lily" for several weeks...but then something either crawled up or flew in and had fresh sushi. I wondered why the water had gotten so dirty..and then I wondered why I wasn't seeing little fishies come up for food...so today I did a close inspection... and now I know. Currently there is a lone mosquito fish gamely swimming around in there. I plan to get it some friends soon.

Where's Charlotte?

Friend Al found her web with newly hatched babies in my gate recently. Aren't they cute? They look like little crabs. Now let's not start rumors that "Weeder has crabs." okay?

actually, they look like a cross between crabs and lobsters. Cralobsters? Cralospters?

You lookin' at ME?

Any day (maybe any moment) now DOEreen is gonna have her babies hidden somewhere so Phoebe-dawg and I will have to pay close attention so that we don't suffer the wrath of mama. It is truly amazing how she will just materialize before our very eyes..her disappearing act is every bit as good. Last year she hid the boys a hundred or more feet apart for a few weeks, as is the proper deer protocol. This was my first close up and personal experience with does & fawns and I was happy to learn that I really wasn't seeing things as in "Wait a minute. Weren't you just hiding under the euonymus in the front yard..and now you are peeking at me from behind the Bunya-bunya in the back?"

Poor Phoebe loses her freedom in the big yard most of the summer but by fall, Doereen no longer threatens to smash her flat with those little sharp, pointy hooves. During the winter and spring they just look at each other, Phoebe happily wagging her tail and Doereen just contemplating while chewing her cud.

Its a pretty peaceable kingdom here.

Happy Summer Solstice!

The tomato plant (yes, that's just one) is NOT on steroids. However, its roots ARE buried in the gleanings from the compost pile. It seems to be very happy here in the dog's yard. It is safe from those cute little deer who peer longingly through the gate.

The cucumber vines have already given me 6 picklers..of course they are being eaten raw..not yet enough for a jar of cukes anyway. This morning I discovered a little melon. I have, naturally, forgotten the name of it but it looks like a mini watermelon. I have the name somewhere. They are supposed to be bigger than a softball but smaller than a soccer ball when ripe.

Inbetween the big Early Girl and the cukes is a Sweet One Million cherry tomato. The plant is tiny but absolutely loaded with 1" tomatoes. I can hardly wait to just stand out there and graze. Much as I am enjoying this cool weather (70's and 80's) the tomatoes revel in the occasional HOT day. We do need more HOT days. We've not had our usual quota of June HOT days this year. (I'm not really complaining.)

I may succumb to the Papyrus Temptation today. I've fondled and left a very nice specimen, at Target of all places, twice now.... but the third time might be my undoing. Heck, its only $19.99 and its 5' tall.. It could live in a little water garden.. somewhere...that's my delimma. WHERE? Here I am, trying so hard to plant drought resistant things and I get the bug for a wateraholic. Did I mention that I am lusting for a lotus also? oh dear, oh dear........

Right now I must attempt to make myself presentable to go join my nephew (his birthday today) and his father (father's day) for brunch. We are heading for Yuba City and The Dancing Tomato. It is reported to have very yummy food.
(Interesting that my nephew has now passed me in age by at least 5 years...
History claims that I was 14 when he arrived...history is twisted.)

Wouldn't you just know that I have to drive right past Target on my way home... hmmmmmmmm.......

a few more of

the things blooming in the Not-So-Secret-Garden. I don't know why this program won't let me post as many photos as I want! grrrrr. anyhow, these go with the posting below.

June blooms

These are a few of the things blooming in the Not-So-Secret-Garden at the moment. They can all be listed as "mostly" deer proof, drought tolerant, perennial, and beautiful. The plan is to fill this space (25' x 75') with more of the same and eventually have to water neither much nor often. (as opposed to my neighbor across the road who has a ginormous lawn that she waters every morning and every evening, 15 minutes each time...7 days a week...and which looks like yummy pasture within 24 hours of her once a week mowing) But I digress. The soil in this patch is mostly clay with some very gravelly spots and is blanketed with a few big truckloads of ground up trees (and the occasional munched toy, candy wrapper and such). I have attempted to ammend the planting areas with compost and a "decent" soil mix, the deer fertilize as they "prune" (they didn't prune all of the sweet peas this year-yippee!) and the battle with the Bermuda grass is a constant.

It is a fun place to putter. I've met a lot of neighbors whilst working out there as the garden is along a very busy road. (once a deputy stopped to ask if I'd seen someone they were looking for "because you're always out here working". I love that the cops noticed!)

Several years ago I unwisely planted a scarlet Oak at the east end of this garden area. Beautiful tree. HUGE now. LOTS of shade. I should have planted it at the north end! My property is SO shady that its hard to grow the sun worshipers. The other problem being that where there's sun there are deer. Thus the veggie garden is in the dog's yard, along with tasty bloomers. flowers, that is. I could have more sun touching "my" earth if only I could afford to hire a tree service and then erect taller fences. Some day....

after 70 years, the shed is gone

Dad built this shed in the late 1930's. It was his workspace through two houses and assorted projects for at least 50 years. It had been the playhouse for rodents for the past 20 years. Now I have a nice concrete slab to contemplate ...mosaic? Hen house? Both? and I have tons of old, rusty, tools and gizmos for artsy-fartsy projects. But there is still much clean-up to do, nails to pull, boards to be stacked, wall to be finished and then painted... before I can play.

My most wonderful neighbors came last Sunday and helped take the shed down.
It was a dirty dusty task but humor abounded and it really didn't take all that long. Karen, our neighborhood Martha Stewart, made yummy pizzas on the BBQ, the weather cooperated by staying cool, and everyone got to go home after just a few hours of toil. Nobody got hurt. I can't thank them enough!

My brother has been working on "the wall" ever since. We got all the boards up yesterday but still have to finish the corners and figure out how to finish the roof. The little shed will then be cleaned out and reorganized and I will have ONE place for all my tools and "stuff" . In the meantime, I have a huge pile of lumber to rid of nails, stack, and then re-stack down by the road for the county's free pick up. There will be at least one dump run for the hazmat stuff.

I was thinking of having another shed built but there is something so "right about having that airspace clear after all its years of darkness, that just an open patio of sorts sounds heavenly. The spot is pretty shady. I got to see some very nice mosaic work in an East Sac. garden last Sunday morning and now I am so inspired... something whimsical... something unrefined and delightfully tacky...

So this morning I need to stop at ACE on my way to work and get a new blade for the Sawsall so that I can cut all the long boards into something acceptable for the county refuse. (no longer than 4') The big magnet will be getting lots of use (and for a long time, I'm sure), finding all the nails that managed to fall out of the rotted wood. Its a wonder that none of us has stepped on a rusty nail..I'm sure we have stepped on them but for some blessed reason, the nails have remained on their rather benign sides and not attacked us through our shoe soles.

That's all the news fit to print this morning. There's a whole 'nother chapter on whether or not I need "intervention" ...... have spent more money on plants this year than in the last ten...but they're so cool! Now I'm wanting a lotus. Oh do I want a lotus. The plant, not the car.

toodles~