They're taking over my world!

Wild onions! Chasmanthe! Vinca! Oxalis! Bamboo! And I'm SO far behind!! The weed-whacker got a lot of exercise yesterday and the mower got a little. Trouble with the mower is that the mower pusher can't often tell what may be hiding in the onions, chasmanthe,vinca, or oxalis. Hence the weed-whacker. Its a much less disturbing noise one hears when the whacker string hits a solid object than when a mower blade does the same. My mower blades pretty much always look like they've spent time in some horrid war.

Note to readers who may have deer issues; They won't eat wild onion, chasmanthe, oxalis, bamboo nor vinca. But be careful what you wish for.

It doesn't take much looking around this 2.5 acres to understand why I wish to go running back to Oregon...to a smaller yard, or even a small acreage IF most of it is fenced for livestock. All these weeds combined with all the traffic down here is giving me nightmares. And/or claustrophobia. (fenced in by weeds. fenced in by traffic) No, this country girl needs some breathing space. A nice bucolic town with a library and a left leaning population...ahhh. Heaven. Yes, I do remember that snakes are plentiful there. That's why I name them all Fred. Fred can change length, color, diameter..I tell myself this. ONE snake of many colors. Not 40 gazillion to surprise the bejezus out of me. We have never ever found any snakes on this property. I used to run into the occasional alligator lizard but I haven't even seen any of those the past few years. (they're probably hiding in the WEEDS!) And yes, I do remember that it rains more than here. This is ok. The sun also shines in Oregon. Once in awhile.


I suppose I ought to get off my duff and put the mower to work. All of this stuff needs to be dealt with before it dries out and becomes a fire hazard. Firemen are pretty high on my HEROS list but having my property in flames is not how I want to meet them.

Besides, the yard is so untidy that even a few freshly mowed pathways will improve its appearance as well as my mood.



 

History

Would somebody please tell us the best way to market our dad's collection of LIFE magazines? We have, I think, all the issues from November 23, 1936 to December 30, 1946. We also have many, many NEWSWEEKs from the 1930's and a few Times. 

Its SPRING!!

The kumquats did survive all that nasty mischief that Jack Frost tossed at them in January! Whether it was the sheets ever so carefully (not) wrapped around the tree or the natural canopy of the olive trees, the fruit was saved from freezing. (whew. What a crummy sentence that is!)

Somewhere I have a formula for yummy sounding kumquat/oatmeal cookies. Its probably hiding under my cauldron. I will miss having fresh citrus when I move back north.

More signs of spring; The clematis is coming back to life. Make that "clemati"...there are several.



And of course, there is the Sea of Chasmanth..

Annoying, yet it is bound to be prettier than the mc mansions that will no doubt be built over it. I won't ever come back to see the progress (destruction), preferring to remember the place as my exclusive play area, as my parents' wonderful flower and vegetable gardens, as the place my dear brother handed sweet, little, innocent me an olive right off the tree and said "Here eat this." It isn't easy to give up the homestead but its too much for one person to keep up. The water costs keep going up, gasoline for the mower keeps going up, I keep getting older...the house keeps getting older...the traffic continues to get worse...and Oregon is calling me back. Thank goodness (and my wonderful friend, AL) for digital cameras!

It is possible that the guys won't get their funding and the sale will fail. I hope its a "go". It would be nice, I think, to spend my later years doing something besides mowing weeds & chasmanthe and moving sprinklers all the time. Now if I could just convince my friends and brother to move north too! 

what's not to like?

I've never understood why some folks are so anti-moss. Its beautiful! I encourage it...it does give up during our hot, dry Northern California summers. Maybe I'll change my tune if and when I get moved back up to Oregon. But can't you just imagine teensy-tiney Leprechauns cavorting in the moss? 

Spring has sprung

Chasmanthe: Zones 13, 15-24. "Plants are fairly hardy, but late frosts may damage flower buds."
This is the gospel from Sunset's Western Garden Book. Obviously, my acres of chasmanthe didn't read the book because even though we had a long spell of record breaking cold here most of last month, the plants are all budded out and beginning to bloom. The hummingbirds will be happy.

I discovered, rather after the fact, that waiting until the chasmanthe leaves turned brown before mowing them down only succeeded in spreading their seeds. Rototilling also spreads the bulbs. Do both and voila! You have acres of Chasmanthe!
Still and all, they are a pleasant green contrast to typical gray winter weather. Just beware if you have a few, that they can expand their territory faster than you can remember what they are called.

The Acacias, Flowering Quince, nut trees, daffys and other narcissus, Helabores, Camellias, Violets, Vinca, Pansies, Violas, Rosemary, ...what am I forgetting? ALL in full splendor right now.
Oh yes, the little Snowdrops. They have been blooming for a month already.

Makes a body want to be outside, digging, weeding, planting, mowing....too bad its still too wet to do so. Not that we don't need the wet! So my friend and I are about to start on our succulent project. We have a stockpile of funky little (and big) planters, baskets, and tins that we are planting baby succulents in. Once they fill in nicely, they will be for sale. At least, that's our plan.

Don't forget that this weekend (Feb. 16-19) is the 10th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Go to www.birdsource.org/gbbc for further details. This is open to everyone, there is no need to preregister, and there is no fee required. DO IT! You may be amazed by the number and variety of birds lurking about in your yard. Or in your park, schoolyard, refuge, or cemetary. All ages and all skill levels are welcome. You will report your findings on line and be able to see how your yard and town fit into the big picture.

If you are already feeding birds in your yard, this is a good time to bring in the feeders for a thorough cleaning. Then put them back out filled with quality birdseed and enjoy the show! (don't use that cheap birdseed from the local grocery because it has lots of "filler"; seeds that our birds don't eat. Plus, it contains many weed seeds that are then spread to our surrounding landscape.)

The goldfinches love Nyjer thistle seed, which isn't really a thistle and which has been treated so that it will not grow when it falls on the ground. Most of the birds that fly UP to feeders prefer black oil sunflower and safflower seeds. The millet is usually eaten by the birds that prefer to dine on the ground.

Enjoy! 

Oh Balls!

Seems when you have a long narrow lot with lots of neighbors bordering it, you get one or two with a lot of balls. These were gathered one summer when The Strange One decided to take up golf. Later he switched to shooting arrows into my yard. He is no longer around. Current collection of neighbors seem to all be good ones.
Phoebe still finds the occasional tennis ball from the neighbor with the tennis court, the occasional soccar ball from the grade school behind us, and an assortment of balls from the little boys next door. The latter two we usually lob back over the fence. The tennis balls are usually "dead" but I know a Black Lab who is ever so happy to receive them.
Spring has sprung, the wild garlic has riz and so has this daffy! I think this old step ladder is about 50 years old. And no, it is not the ladder I fell off of a couple weeks ago. This relic quivvers with the weight of a squirrel. I weigh a tad bit more than a squirrel.
Ta-DA! The bird house is back up where it belongs. Is that not a lovely job of bracing The Brother did to make the pole stand up? :>) 

Its Spring!!!!

What to my wondering eyes should appear but quince blooms this morning! Oh my gosh, it really is February...which is the start of Spring in these parts. We certainly are lacking in rainfall though.

The infamous bird house is back atop the infamous post as of today and the body did not fall off of the ladder this time! Needless to say, the three-legged ladder was used. Correctly. The leg is feeling better which makes me happy that I didn't spring for the x-ray (more money to spend on plants! woo-hoo!) and my imagination is beginning to believe that there isn't a blood clot at the back of my calf after all.

The bridal wreath just can't wait another day to show signs of life either. Dunno which variety this one is but it has been here longer than I have so qualifies as an heirloom.

There is a daffodil in bloom but I forgot to take its picture. A few violets and the hellabores are adding color to the otherwise frozen brown landscape. There are buds on the chasmanthe.
Yes, it is Spring.

Bird House Boot

A friend has loaned me his BIG blue bootie for awhile. It helps in that it doesn't allow me to "torque" the leg but my posture has gone all a'squizzle so my back is sort of grumpy. I only wear the BBB when I have to stand for hours (at work). My days off have been spent on the couch with the leg up on a pillow and my mind in a book so the house is being taken over by dust bunnies and assorted fur balls. The yard is a disaster. I have managed to hobble out to keep the bird feeders full though. What a wonderful month it has been for bird watching from my windows!
We are in dire need of rain however. A record dry January is not a good thing. 

Phoebe (and Dawson, but mostly Phoebe)

Three years ago, the day after Thanksgiving, my brother, a friend of his, and I went to Consumnes River Preserve to see the Sand Hill Cranes. We stopped at their lovely covered shelter/office building to have our lunch and watched a little blond dog wander from human group to human group. I had recently lost my Doberman, Ruby, to a neurological disease and really wasn't ready for a new dog. Besides, this dog was anything but a Doberman, which, other than their lousy health issues, is my favorite breed.
"I wonder if she has been dumped?" mused my brother's friend. "Kinda looks that way" said I. The Brother suggested we ask the staff inside the office. They said "Yes. It happens often. She
was here when we got here early this morning. We'll lock her in the barn tonight and have Animal Control pick her up in the morning." 'Um, No you won't." I said. "I'll take her. But here's my name and number in case someone comes looking for her." I never heard from them.

A week or two later I took her to the vet, had her checked for an identification chip, which she didn't have, but does now, and made arrangements for her vaccinations and spaying. The rest is history.

Someone sent me a fwd. that they had received and I will share the gist of it with you;

Dear Whomever, Wherever,

You lost a dog, I don't know how. Or maybe you died, or just gave her up, I don't know which but I do know that she was somebody's.\ pet. She had (and has) boundless energy, never met a human that she didn't like, and knew the basic commands. She was just coming into her first heat and perhaps that was the reason she was abandoned. I doubt that she just wandered off because she is very loyal. She was never mistreated, of that I am positive.

She appears to be Dingo and Labrador Retriever. In truth, I think she is a reincarnated palomino cutting horse.

Whatever she is, she is loved. She is safe, warm and vocal. She plays well with others. She is learning not to jump up on people. She gets along well, and has from the start I might add, with the chickens, the cat, big people, little people, and deer, which she does not chase. She will chase squirrels and the stray cats and has never caught either. She is not the Great Mole Slayer that Ruby was but has been known to dispatch moles and rats.

So I just want you to know, whomever you are, that the little blond dog that I'm sure you loved at some point and which you lost for whatever reasons, is very much loved in her new home. 

aftermath

in reference to the story below;

Of course, with me on the ladder which was on the broken pole, we were all pretty much flat on the ground. ;>) the post has sprung back up...more or less. 

Ms Klutzmeister, here

See the nice birdhouse atop the sturdy 4 x 4 pole? Well, I was watching an oak titmouse fly into and out of it recently and wondered if the Mr. had ever convinced the Mrs that it was a great home. The house has been there for at least 2 years and the last time I'd checked, had not been used. Curiosity got the better of me Friday afternoon so I hauled a ladder over to the post and instead of opening the ladder up so as to have four solid feet on the ground, I opted to simply lean the ladder against the post. Post wobbled a bit. "Hmm", I thought. "Must be kinda loose in the damp soil. Probably shouldn't do this." But I shinnied up the ladder anyway, opened the birdhouse, and had just removed the nest (voila!) when there was a loud CRACK!
Then the post, the ladder, the birdhouse and I all went down. Fortunately, an ancient (and not plugged in) electric line made the descent a slow motion event. However, the side of my right leg met up with an olive log and that did elicit a yelp. It took me a few seconds to get up...taking a mental inventory of what parts still worked, if anything was bleeding, if anything else was going to fall...and by then the adrenalin shakes had begun. Did manage to rise...half the brain insisting that I "go directly to the house, put ice on the leg, put the leg on a pillow, take some Ibuprofen!" while the other half of the brain said "where in the heck did the birdnest go? Pick up the bird house! Try to stand the 4 x 4 back up, put the ladder away!" Eventually, all the above were dealt with. Yesterday the leg limped into a Doc-in-A-Box. (and yes, I was still with the aforementioned leg) Note; DO use one of those emergency clinics. You will still have a long wait but the clientel seems to be more of the "injury" sort than the "hacking, coughing, barfing" sort that were at the hospital's E.R. and which made me turn around before entering. I'd rather have an untreated broken leg than be subjected to the germ warfare that was going on there! The jury is still out on my fibula. Since I have no health insurance, the nice Dr. held off on the x-ray. He did poke and prod and ask lots of questions. I especially liked the part when he told me to "stay off ladders! No gutter cleaning, no bird house checking..." IF the leg isn't feeling any better by Tuesday, I will hobble back in for the x-ray(s). I may have just bruised the heck out of the ligaments and muscles. There is no external bruising. My friend, Karen, who had just gotten out of the hospital herself the night before (having had every test known to man and been pronounced disgustingly healthy), not only played taxi for me yesterday but also bbq'd a chicken, which she brought by later..along with an avocado and some pork n beans! I am so very blessed with wonderful friends!

after another cold night

These are the same camellias I "shot" yesterday. They are not as perky today. Looking a wee bit jaundiced now, don't you think? Phoebe and I took a short walk this morning. The sunshine was bright but we both came home with freezer burns on our noses thanks to the breeze and subsequent wind chill. Before we left, I whacked the ice on her water bowl..it took more than one whack! I really didn't expect the ice to be an inch thick! This is Sac. County after all, not Klamath Friggin' Falls. Ok. So the ice on the water troughs up there was 4" to 6" thick and the temperature was well below freezing the winter that I am currently remembering. That was the winter that I learned I could split wood easily if I thought of my ex and that if kindling was needed, I'd just think of the "lady" he ran off with. It worked like a charm. My dad died that winter too. It was a very sucky year.

We need to change the subject now. 

drat!

Last fall this little collection of plantings was looking pretty lush and vibrant. They all live beneath the canopy of a date palm and are in close proximity to the house. Therefore, they usually winter just fine, thank-you-very-much.








However, since we are having weather that reminds me too much of Klamath Friggin' Falls, and for more days in a row than we care to remember, the plants are no longer happy campers. The euphorbia to the far rt. is a total loss. The Jacobinia will return to its former glory as will the Bird of Paradise, but the potted fuschias are history. 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Its colder than a banker's heart! Oh. Wait. Bankers don't have hearts. Sometimes I forget. It was cold enough last night to to turn the Princess Bush into the Dilapidated Dungeon Damsel. Since the sun had gone to bed by the time I got home from work, I have no idea (but a good guess) as to what the citrus trees look like. What a shame. (yeah, I'm guessing they were given the evil eye by Jack Frost) The kumquat had the biggest crop in years on it. The camera and I will wander out to look at the carnage in the morning. The thermometer claims 28* out at 9:00pm. The cat is not into playing his usual "I'm on the wrong side of the door!" game this evening. He made a stab at it but decided to stay inside after the third time out. The dog is sweetly warming my side of the bed. WHAT a good dog!

Flowerboy

See? Carman! If I didn't have compost for brains, I would have figured out how to put him at the bottom of the next entry. (which, of course, is the last entry) Anyhow, He will eventually get a pot the right size for his head and..well, several pots perhaps. He can just be a pot-head! The plants can be changed according to his perceived moods. (oh I can just hear the naughty thoughts out there!) ok, I'm game. Suggestions? 

A very cold 01-120-07

"They" say that it will be even colder tomorrow. The thermometer on the olive tree states 34 degrees. It is 4:00pm and there is a breeze a'blowin'. This is cold for the Sacramento area. Some things that haven't turned into piles of smush are blooming grandly. Too bad I can't remember the names of Mom's camellias. (My brain has been dipping into the River of Forgetfullness rather often lately. yikes!) The lemon bushes and the kumquat tree are looking not too happy but I'm hoping that the bumper crop of the latter doesn't turn into compost before its even picked. Should probably go pick all the Meyer lemons as they are simply too tasty to waste.


The bird feeder in Phoebe-dog's yard is still playing host to a herd of dark-eyed juncos, white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows, house finches, titmice, the California towhee and the two spotted towhees, and there was a hermit thrush in the bushes yesterday. Also noted recently were a robin and a varied thrush. Now a mourning dove has discovered the treat. It hasn't been seen ON the feeder tray YET, but has been foraging on the ground and perching on the edge of the birdbath. With any luck, it is a solitary dove who will be stingy about spreading the news because on the other side of the house, there are at least 20 of its cousins. Also on the other side of the house are the gold finch. There are mostly American goldfinch but there are a few lesser goldfinch amongst them. There have been several ruby-crowned kinglets flitting about and throngs of Audubon warblers. There are three scrub jays eating the squirrels' corn cobs, 5 Magpies keeping guard in the tops of the sycamores, and the lone oh my gosh, is it the red tail or the red shouldered hawk?...sorry, the mind is gone... who wakes up in the topmost branches of the Liriodendron tulipifera some mornings. The four hummingbird feeders require regular re-filling. The Anna's have me pretty well trained now. During the warm months, the necter needs to be changed every three days just to keep it fresh and the birds healthy. Usually it can go a week in the cold months. However, these guys n' gals are gulping down each 8 ounce offering in three days, 52 weeks a year now.

The darn deer are still refusing to eat the acres of chasmanthe.
Most of the succulents are inside the house now. The collection has amassed mostly over the past year so I am not jaded yet and therefore do not wish to lose any. If only I would remember to plant the hardiest ones in the ground, and the tender ones in pots..instead of mixing them all up in pots! Most winters it isn't much of an issue. Hey! I bought a severed man's head at Target today! Yes! He's made out of that light weight stuff that looks like cement and a youthful face graces the front of his empty head...typical guy thing.. At the moment he's got a blooming pot of pink Christmas cactus for brains. He rather looks like Carman Miranda!

Happy New Year!

Sure do wish that deer would eat Chasmanthe.
Both of my mowers are out of commission at the moment or I'd be out there whacking the stuff down. Problem is, I never know what might be hiding in it...which is precisely why mower #2 is out of commission. It tried to eat a pile of hidden rocks.
This young buck is not Buckly, the 4-point buck who laid around here for a week this fall, but is a forked horn. The horns are hard to see..try clicking on the photo to make 'em bigger. We saw at least 20 of his relatives at Ancil Hoffman Park this weekend. there are probably another 60 that we didn't see.