Rejuventaion!

Last week my brother, his daughter, and I flew from SAC to PDX, then boarded a train for Rugby, ND. We were in Portland long enough to meet up with a friend and have lunch with my son. The weather was beautiful. Portland was beautiful. Portland always feels like home, even though I only lived there for a few years. We met up with our friend and my son again on the way back.

The flight was fast (an hour and 20 minutes or less) and the train was, well, not exactly slow. We were doing 79 mph across the middle of Montana. Saw a Bald Eagle, lots of antelope, deer, bison, horses, sheep, cows...But it takes ALL DAY to cross Montana! Very pretty country. Lots of sky. Have not been able to get that song line "somewhere in the middle of Montana.." out of my head.

This first picture is of the gravel road Grandfather Voeller's farm is on. Grandpa has been gone many years now but our cousin Dennis lives on it. The driveway into the farm is on the left. We may have seen or heard a total of 6 vehicles, including tractors, on this road during the 4 days we were there. We heard but one plane; a crop duster. It was silence punctuated by bird songs, an occasional whinney, and the distant drone of a tractor, and our chattering and laughter. Mostly though, it was bird songs. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I fully understand why our Aunt Marie left Sacramento every summer to spend time "on the farm". Its 15 miles SE of Rugby and if not for the nasty winters, I'd be very tempted to move there.
The view from the farm house is of many of the trees our Uncle Walt planted in the 1960's and '70's. I gather some of the locals thought he was nuts since he planted trees on what was very good farm ground but the birds and the 4-leggeds have been elated. I kicked myself daily for not taking my binoculars, my Sibley's Guide, my wildflower book, and a tree book but I think those all give me a good excuse to go back! At night the fireflies come out. Like magic, they appear and dissappear, wafting off across the grass and into the bushes like little fairies carrying lanterns. I'm pretty sure the twinkles in my cousin's eyes are due to the fact that fireflies are in them. ;>)

Yellow seems to be the popular bird color. The trees were filled with yellow warblers and American goldfinches. Almost every pond, lake, and swale had large populations of yellow headed blackbirds. There were also black capped chickadees, nuthatches, red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, barn swallows, purple martins, tree swallows, and a large variety of waterfowl. I must learn my waterfowl! We also spotted the two wild turkeys that recently showed up and a male pheasant.

Grandpa's barn was built in 1907 and painted in 1912. Or thereabouts. I'm sure either my brother or my neice will correct me if I am wrong. Last year I dreampt that I was walking up the stairs to the the loft of this barn and my late father met me on the stairs. He said "You have no idea how difficult it was to arrange this family reunion." All my late relatives were dressed in their best clothes and were milling about in the loft. So of course I had to go check out the barn. I had been on the farm back in 1959 but had not set foot inside the barn until this time. Other than the stairway being to the rt instead of to the left, and the fact that it went to the side instead of towards the back, the loft appeared as it did in my dream. Sans deceased relatives of course. And in my dream, the loft was not all dusty and filled with debris.
It was a bit eerie when my cousin told me that the stairs USED to be on the left...







This is a view of "the lake" that Dad always talked about. They used to pick choke-cherries along the lakeside. There is an earthen dam across one end of the lake and a beaver house out in the bigger portion. There are an awful lot of lakes in North Dakota. Maybe LAKE is too big a description. Ponds? Swales. Depressions, that are ALL filled this year due to an extraordinary amount of rainfall. Now that I've seen the area from ground level, the Google Earth photos will make more sense!

Today I must return to the real world and go back to work. The trip was wonderful in that we met and/or re-met many of our cousins and second cousins, our 90 year old aunt, and various extentions of our family shrub (believe me, its not a TREE), we sort of connected with our roots, and we were able to enjoy silence of the very best sort. My brother and I didn't kill each other. I got to know my neice better. I realized that when I move, I will not be happy in a town, even if it is Corvallis. I will need some space. A half acre minimum. But that's another story....

back to the dog vomit slime mold...

After a week it looked like this. It appears that the snails have trod (slod?)over it a time or two also.
When water is poured on it it "smokes". Clouds of chocolaty brown spoore(S?) waft up. I don't know why it (the slime mold) only pops up here and there, willy nilly. It seems to appear on decaying wood chips and /or compost piles but not always. I have not been able to determine a pattern to its sudden appearance. This photo is of an older specimen than the one above. (oi! what a lousy sentence is that! Spelling has gone to heck in a hand basket too. I'm blaming it on an hour's worth of mowing this evening followed by a biggish bowl of ice cream. I think I'll go to bed now. urgh.)

more on the "odd" pots

If only I knew what I was doing with this blog. These were supposed to be published with the next post down.........

Raley's odd colored pots

Ok. So maybe they aren't "odd", just 1950-ish. Of course I had to buy one of each color to test my skills of matching plants to pots. The pink pot was done first and photo posted. Then the orange pot called to me and ended up with Million bells and some coleus in it. This past week it was the green AND the blue pot insisting that they come home with me. Good thing there aren't any more colors! The blue pot contains a little "Hadspin blue" Hosta. The green pot is the home for a Diascia "Flying Colors Apricot" and a Coleus "Stained Glassworks" trailing plum.

lucious lilies

I bought this one at the much maligned Home Depot recently. It just begged to come home with me. My plant-a-holic friend sort of rolled her eyes but didn't try to talk me out of it. (she was thinking; "You dummie. You bought that same one last year.) It has bloomed and bloomed and bloomed over the past several weeks and it isn't done yet!
THIS one, I bought LAST year but of course, had forgotten what color it was. My friend said "I'm pretty sure its just like the one you bought a few weeks ago." (yes, she was rolling her eyes again!) :>) She really is pretty patient with me. But golly, how could you not want more of them? They are splendiferous!














Today I had to stop at HD to get more string for the weed-whacker. This yellow lily leapt off the shelf, wrapped its fat buds around my neck and begged to come home with me. What else could I do but comply? There was also a pale, pale peachy one whispering to me but I managed to escape without it.

dog vomit and odd colored pots

By evening of the day the slime mold began creeping across the sidewalk, it was no longer such a pretty mass of yellow but looking more like its name. Now, several days later, it sends up great clouds of chocolate brown spoores (Spoor? sheep=sheeps?) when blasted with a stream of water. Interesting stuff. I remember the first time I spotted this stuff on Mom's compost pile. Without sniffing and going solely on looks, I thought the neighbor's cat had diarrhea. Many times. In many places.
Raley's grocery store offered up quite a collection of inexpensive pots this spring. I kept looking at the Pepto Pink and the Tomato Soup Orange ones and wondering what on earth could be planted in them that wouldn't look like well, dog vomit. So of course I had to buy the smallest versions and play with the palette of plants at the nurseries. Actually, that's not quite true. My friend and I did find the cool pink & green sedum at Home Depot before I fell victim to another bout of pot-headedness. (I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "Isn't it morning yet?? I HAVE to go buy that PINK POT!")

The orange pot was purchased first and then taken to Windmill Nursery whereupon I decided on the Million Bells. I already had the coleus.

Its a wonder that I didn't also buy the pale blue, and the 1950's kitchen appliance green pots. And wasn't there yet another ghastly color?

Woo-hoo!!

Oh my goodness! Don't tell me that this is gonna work?!
More purple. One might think that I have a totally purple garden
but there are orange sections and yellow sections and oh yes, the white garden. Green too. Green is good. Lotsa green. Parts of this yard appear to be jungle. Luckily no flying monkeys have been heard or spotted. No lions, tigers, or bears either. Deer and opossums and raccoons, yes. My mother once even found a naked woman cavorting in the back yard. And no, it wasn't me.
It has been a bumper crop year for the clematis vines. Unfortunately, I can't recall the names of either of these two nor can I access the page they're on while this page is up...their names ARE there.
Maybe, if I can remember how to edit...



This perky yellow sidewalk adornment goes by the lovely name of Dog Vomit Slime Mold.
Aren't you glad I shared that with you? It was just a few yellow flecks in the Mondo grass one evening and became this almost scary growth by the next morning. By evening it had hardened, and smoothed over making it look more like a loaf of bread that failed to rise. Now it looks totally disgusting.

purply purple!

Let's see if I can get this thing to work. I see a photo to the left...that's a good start.
I have not been blogging because the blogger elves have been being naughty..it doesn't take much to perplex this user. So, with that said...let me hit "publish" and see what happens.

there must be a Blogging for Dummies book?

New Blogger?! Well, I just got used to using OLD blogger! I am having a heck of a time trying to figure all this out. Like, where did my photos go? They were "in the tray" on my Picasa site but something turned left when I asked it to go right and now they are floating around in funky cyberspace? Still in the tray? Where's my wine? I think I "only" sprained my toe cuz it still hurts. Angela thinks I need a 12 step program for my pot addiction...flower pot(s) that is. (don't go getting all huffy on me.) True I am supposed to be paring down, not collecting. A move is possibly coming up next spring. (I don't really believe this but rumor has it...) But Raley's has the coolest pots for cheap.......I just had to buy 3. (THAT, Angela, is your fault. I used to be content to buy things in onesies and twosies but YOU buy things in threesies and fivesies!) Its rubbing off. And my brother and I are going on an adventure the end of May...be prepared for photos (if I can figure out how to post them again) of beautiful downtown Rugby, North Dakota! (Did I just hear a chortle?) Ramble, ramble. Hope to post pictures of the spring color in the yard. Hope to do that before August. toodles~

pretty flowers for a sad day

I just don't understand why someone would ever feel it necessary to shoot a bunch of innocent people. Obviously, the person was unwell. Too bad he had a gun. My heart goes out to all you folks in Virginia and to those everywhere who have friends and family caught up in that horrible event.

I hate guns.

 

A DAY of mowing

three tanks of gas. still not done, but its looking better. The BIG mower went to the mower hospital this morning. It will come home to eat the chasmanthe in about 2 weeks. The little mower is cowering in the tool shed, taking a much needed break. Good thing this was tackled yesterday cuz I smacked the 2nd to the littlest toe into a pile of magazines this morning and now just walking is a challenge. Never had such a technicolor toe before. Shoes are out. It will be a "socks only" week at work. ouch!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Dutchess of Edinburg.

Well, she's simply beautimous! Looks more like a dahlia than a clematis, dontcha think? With any luck, the deer won't notice her. (they ate her cousins a few days ago) She's about 3" in diameter. I keep forgetting to see what that little brown spot is all about. It might just be tree dandruff.

The dark blue below is ajuga and the light blue is forget-me-nots. 

Happy Easter!

"Queen's tears" aka Billbergia nutans. Its a tough little plant with very rewarding blooms. The heaviest blooming is early spring but it has been known to bloom sporadically through the summer. Please ignore the baby Texas privet.
If I had a dime for every privet that pops up on this place I'd be going to Tahiti. Same goes for plums. And pecan trees. and vinca major. and wild garlic and/or onion. CHASMANTHE. There is another "weed" that pops up all over this place but its so cute that I don't mind it at all. Its..um...give me a minute...ah! Impatiens balfourii!
Scilla peruviana. Another bulb that almost becomes a "weed" here. But how can you not like it? All those perfect little blue stars and the purple bud-babies? There is another variety on this place that grows taller but with a more spear-like blossom end...rather than the "conical ball" shape of this one. I dunno what it is. Scilla something. I'll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow. IF the wind isn't blowing! Everything became a moving target in today's breeze. My brother calls everything that he can't ID "A Peruvian lily!"
Trees. Vines. Unusual annuals. Its his cop-out. ;>)

Someday I may learn how to make the photos and the verbage all line up. This paragraph is supposed to go along with the Chinese ground orchid photo. It IS lined up right now but the little computer elves change things somewhere between edit and publish. Anyhow, this is Bletilla striata. I was given some yellow ones last year by my gardening buddy but I can't remember where I planted them! They also come in white. Or did she give me white and we only considered yellow? I dunno.










The huge clem bud is beginning to open! I swear that I will eat Bambi's mother if she eats it. She dined heartily on another clem only 15' away from this buxom one last week.
I probably should attempt to cover it with chicken wire.

Pardon my typos. I am tired and about to lurch off to dreamland. 'night all! 

Silver squill, aka Ledebouria Socialis. At least, that's what I was told when I bought it. It certainly looks like silver squill. I guess I am confused because when I "googled" it, all the sites said "small plant only 6" in height..."
This clump has some 13" leaves along with the 6-inchers.
It must be the gardener in me. I was sure this was a Joe Camel planter. When I "googled" him, turns out he's supposed to be a can holder! Well, what do they know? He seems to have a fine head for sedum!
I check this bud every morning. It is a good 1" across making it the fattest clematis bud ever noted on this place. The flower ought to be spectaculendous! Since it didn't bloom last year but is planted in the white garden, it must be a white clem. The second bud is almost as big. Flower pictures will be posted just as soon as they can be taken. 

Happy mollusk

This abalone shell was feeling very neglected so I bought it a couple of Tillandsias (tillandsai?) while in San Francisco and now it smiles broadly whilst cradling them.

Ya know, I am quite willing to share plants or flowers with anyone who asks, but when I looked out my front window and saw some woman picking every damn tulip and whatever else she could get her hands on in my front yard this evening, my sweet side vanished. She claimed that she was new to this country and "didn't know", said she was "sorry", and jumped back across the ditch before I could
demand that she give me the flowers back. Not that I was going to demand any such thing..but it did cross my perplexed mind that it would be fun to have a remote controlled tazer.
One of my neighbors came home to find a woman picking (and bagging!) every orange off her front yard tree. My neighbor, being not a pansy like me, took all the oranges away from the woman.
Another friend just told me of the day some woman, who didn't live in her neighborhood, was found clipping a nice bouquet of roses from my friend's front yard bushes. She didn't tell me what she did about it but I'll wager that the woman went away empty handed and with her ears ringing. ;>) People just never cease to amaze me. I could never be a police officer. I'd arrest half the world for felony stupidity... but where would we put them? Go say something nice to a cop. They have to deal with much worse crap than pilfered posies....EVERY DAY! 

Needs a name

He's so cute and he has been lurching about in the yard for several years. Sometimes he's in the plants, sometimes in the birdbath. He really needs a name.

Any suggestions?