Goblins in my Garden

More Rain

2012-01-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

It is still raining, and has been for most of the week. It is actually flooding in quite a few places, because the ground is so saturated. There were a few roads closed yesterday when I was trying to get back home from errands, and I had to divert a couple of times. I love rain, and it is good to get it, but I am really tired of everything being soggy. This weekend is supposed to be sunny, but the temperature is supposed to drop. Hmm...warm and rainy, or cold and sunny. :) And yes, that honeysuckle is blooming in my garden right now. It has definately been a crazy year.

Rain Garden in Winter

2012-01-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about the garden in winter is that things you wouldn't ever notice in summer take the forefront. These are the seedheads from my 'Violet Queen' Monarda. The plant is stunning when in bloom, and I left the seedheads on because I am a lazy pruner. But also so that anything that might need to eat some over the winter would have a chance to do so. I can't wait to see how it will do this year, when it is established more. I do have to say that I have had to keep it from spreading and eating its neighbors. I can only imagine how big of a stand it would make if left unchecked.

Rugged Soldiers

2012-01-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a beautifully warm weekend, can't complain about 60 degree weather in January. Unfortunately it rained today, so we couldn't get out and enjoy. My creeping phlox has a few rogue blooms here and there, my rugged soldiers that give me small glimpses of spring in the wintertime. Nothing like the carpet of flowers that it will be in April, but just a reminder that spring will be here before you know it.

Food Waste Friday - 01/06/12

2012-01-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

One of the things that was important to me to try this year is to reduce the amount of food that we throw away. I have been embarassed by the amount of waste that we have. So this year I am trying to be especially conscious of what we need to use up before it goes bad. The only item thrown away this week was half a container of cantaloupe (approx $2.50). My daughter loves it, and she ate part of it, but the rest went bad before she could finish it. I did have a successful food rescue this week, the last leftover piece of cornbread from our New Years black eyed peas, greens and cornbread dinner. I found a recipe for cornbread salad in an Appalachian cookbook, and it is a good way to use up leftovers using whatever you have that needs to be used up. Here is how I made it yesterday:

Cornbread Salad
1 piece cornbread, crumbled
2 Tbs. onion (green onions are the best but I didn't have any, so it was regular onions)
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 piece of bacon, fried and crumbled
Ranch dressing, to coat (the recipe called for mayo, but I needed to use up the ranch)

Toss in a bowl to combine, and refrigerate. Be careful not to use too much dressing, just enough to coat.

What I need to use up this weekend:

Buttermilk - more cornbread to eat with chili and a Buttermilk Chocolate Cake.
Grapes - possibly some chicken salad?
Grapefruit - I bought grapefruit when I made citrus marmalade, but the extras haven't been eaten. I found a recipe for grapefruit cupcakes and think I might give them a try.
Oranges - Same as above, I think I'll juice them and use it for a glaze for some chicken thighs.

Splash of Color

2012-01-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I love my flowering quince, it is so cheerful at a time when there isn't much color going on. It is planted along our front walk, so I get to see it every day. As with everything in my garden, I got a mutant. It was supposed to get 36", and it is already reaching the gutters on the house. I hate having to prune it back so severely every year, but I haven't had the heart to dig it up.

Ewe Got Broken

2012-01-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

I took the Gnomeslayer to the yarn store with me yesterday to pick up the last skein of yarn that I need for my shawl that I am crocheting. It isn't my first choice to take her with me because she starts pulling all of the yarn out and I have to keep her out of things. I usually stop by on my way to work, but I wasn't going to have time so we went earlier.

We made it through the shopping, and were checking out when her hand flashed out and grabbed one of the wooden sheep from the counter. She was wearing gloves, the sheep slipped, fell to the floor and its leg broke off. So I bought it. The nice lady said I didn't have to, but I really did. It is from a local woodcarver, Charlie Thomspon. While I thought it was cute, I wouldn't have spent money on it, but now it is mine. So now the sheep is on my counter, waiting to be repaired.

So it looks like the Gnomeslayer will be gaining a new title, I just haven't decided what it is. Maybe the Sheep Shearer, seeing as how her leg got sheared off. ;)

Surprises

2012-01-03T08:39:00.001-08:00

I love to go walk around in my garden in winter, because I can almost always find some little blooms here and there. Yesterday I noticed a tiny flower on my Siberian Wallflower. I just planted it this summer, and it has already been growing quite a bit. I am almost worried that it is going to take over the corner that it is planted in. I may have to do some readjusting of plants next summer.

A Bright Spot

2012-01-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

When our daughter was born, we planted two Mountain Ash trees in the backyard. One died the year after we planted it, but the other one is still growing. The Alabama climate doesn't seem to agree with it too much, because the leaves drop off in the summer and come back in the fall. The leaves were still green up until December, and finally started turning red a couple of weeks ago. The tree is now well over my head, and will hopefully grow to be big and strong. It is nice to still have a patch of red in the middle of the winter tans and greys.

Southern Exposure

2012-01-01T10:54:00.001-08:00

Every year I look forward to getting the new Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog. I have been getting it for years now, and it is like seeing an old friend again. When I first started getting it, the catalog was black and white. Now it has a vibrant, colorful cover and color pictures. They also seem to have a fondness for garden gnomes and frogs that I heartily approve of. SESE is based out of Virginia, and the seeds are appropriate for the Piedmont area. We don't have those same conditions here in Alabama, but there are still many things that will work. I have already ordered my seeds for this year, but I may have to look through and see if there might be one or two things that I just HAVe to have in my garden this year.

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T12:57:00.001-08:00

To tell the truth I am happy to see the backside of 2011 leaving. It was a year of extreme lows in many ways, though it is ending in a pretty okay way. We both have jobs, everyone has their health so far (knock on wood), we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. We are so grateful for our blessings, and our wonderful friends and family that love us.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers 6:24

P.S. Thanks to the Tasmanian Minimalist for the bird ornament idea.

Toasty Toes

2011-12-30T12:12:00.001-08:00

One of my Christmas presents this year was a lovely pair of Angora rabbit hair socks. I L-O-V-E them, and wish that every pair I had was like them. They are so soft and beautiful. And so warm that even I, of the perpetually cold feet have toasty toes now. One day I would like to knit my own Angora socks, but for now I will enjoy someone else's work. :)

What's Blooming - Christmas Edition

2011-12-21T11:34:00.001-08:00

I went poking around the garden today, to see who is still hanging around. We have had some weather down into the 20's, but I still have a few plants that are soldiering on. The Blue Bells of Scotland are still gracing my front walkway, and I finally got a picture that captured their lovely color. Most of the time they come out looking white, but I guess the day was overcast enough to stop some of the glare coming off of them.

More surprising, my Peppermint clematis has blooms all over it. It retreated in the heat of the summer, but seems to be loving the cold weather. I don't remember it ever blooming in winter before, but I'm definately enjoying the show (and the 60 degree weather!)

Food Rescue - Malted Milk Balls

2011-12-03T16:39:00.001-08:00

We are trying to reduce our food waste, so I have been trying to find creative ways to use food before it goes bad. I have been going through the pantry to find things that need to be used up. Today's subject is a bag of malted milk balls that we bought at Fresh Market. I bought them for the Gnomeslayer to try, but they had a really thick chocolate coating on them and she didn't like them. I didn't either. So they have sat in the pantry for a while now, until we get desperate for chocolate and eat one.

I remembered I had a recipe for malted milk ball cookies I saw in a magazine, so I decided to give them a try. I only had about a cup of the malted milk balls, so I had to reduce the ingredients. I used my Cascadian Farms morning bowl of fiber cereal, which is a mix of flakes, bran and granola. The cookies turned out great, crispy around the edges and soft in the middle. I highly recommend them.

Malted Milk Ball Cookies

1/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 Tbs. cooking oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. plus 1 Tbs. flour

1/2 c. bran cereal

1 c. malted milk balls, crushed or finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir until well combined. Beat in eggs, oil and vanilla. Add flour and stir until well combined. Add in the cereal and malted milk balls. Drop dough in 1 1/2 inch balls, 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

The Next Big Thing

2011-12-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of interests. It isn't quite ADD, but my attention span for doing things is extremely short. So much so that if I am going on a trip I have to bring several types of books, crafting projects, word puzzles etc. so that I don't get bored As soon as I start doing one thing I start thinking about the other things that I could or should be doing.

I love music, and I have very eclectic tastes. There isn't much music that I just do not like. I love Celtic, Rock, Blues, Classical, Ragtime...you name it. I took piano lessons for quite a few years when I was younger, but stopped when I was a teenager and hadn't played since then. Five years ago when I was traveling for business, I bought a guitar so that I would have something to do in the hotel. I didn't have time for lessons, so I bought some books to teach myself. I blundered around by myself for a few years teaching myself, and finally took some formal lessons last year. I have bought countless songbooks in different genres for the different songs that I want to play.

And the problem is that all I can think of is the other instruments that I would like to play. I'd love to play a violin, harp, flute, mandolin, maybe even take piano lessons again and get a piano. Since I taught myself guitar, I have a lot of bad habits that I need to break, and basics that I skipped and need to learn. If I started a new instrument, I could start out "uncontaminated" and work my way up, and really learn. Or so I tell myself.

But in many ways, the guitar is a perfect instrument for me. I have a lovely Seagull guitar that has a warm, beautiful sound. The guitar allows complex arrangements that many of the other instruments do not. And it is light and portable. It is also quiet, so I can practice at night when I get home from work without waking everyone up. You can play a wide variety of music on it, and sheet music is readily available for it.

So to start my goal list for next year, my goal is to work and practice at learning my guitar. I will practice every day, and try to apply some discipline to myself. And I will jerk myself back every time I start to daydream about the next big thing I could be doing.

They Are Watching

2011-11-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

We were sitting at the breakfast table, eating our weekend pancakes when I happened to look at the treeline in the backyard. It was filled with birds on every available branch. I grabbed the camera and quietly opened the door. It was mayhem! The noise was deafening of birds calling back and forth to each other. Of course as soon as I closed the door the birds took off, so I had to stand there for a minute or two and give them time to settle back down again. Unfortunately there weren't as many in the picture I got, but there were still quite a few.

I'm Not Crazy After All

2011-10-31T11:45:00.001-07:00

I was waiting patiently for my Tuscan Sun rose to come in, or not so patiently. The estimated shipping date I remembered had long since passed. I went through my e-mails to find the order receipt and number so that I could check with Jackson & Perkins. And I couldn't find one. At all. So I went through all of my e-mail folders, looked everywhere and didn't see one. I figured that I must have lost my mind and "meant" to put in the order but didn't actually submit it. Too bad, I guess I'll get one next year. And then I went out this morning and guess what was on my doorstep? I opened it up, and it even had flowers on it, which I have never had one show up with. Looks like it's going to be a beauty. :) And now I know I'm not crazy!

Roses

2011-10-14T22:59:00.001-07:00

I vowed this year, yes VOWED, that I would take better care of my roses than last year. I was pretty unhappy with the results of last year, which had one a couple of them being dug up from...well...dying. I had high hopes this year, but ended up pretty much neglecting them. I didn't even cut off any to take into work, because my new job has a co-worker who is severely allergic to flowers.

And you know what? I didn't see ONE Japanese beetle on my roses this year. I didn't spray them with anything at all, didn't touch them with pruning shears. And they are putting out some of the prettiest flowers now. I guess my benign neglect thing is working. ;)

And although I again VOWED that I wouldn't buy anymore roses this year, and I did. Two in fact. I ordered 'Tuscan Sun' from Jackson & Perkins and 'Ghislaine de Féligonde' from Heirloom Roses. This is the first time I have bought from Heirloom Roses, and I have to say that I was very impressed with the packaging and the beautiful little rose bush that I got. So by now you should know that if I VOW something, like losing weight or starting to exercise...it probably isn't going to happen. Now to wait and see blooms!

Lost and Found

2011-08-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

Tuesday evening after I got home from work, I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep. Suddenly the thought struck me - "What happened to that corepsis plant that I bought on Sunday"?

Flash back to Sunday...

We stopped by Home Depot to pick up a few bags of river pebbles to finish off my garden pathway, and some weedeater string for Q. The Gnomeslayer and I were walking through the garden area and I had no plans of actually buying anything because I am out of room. That is, until I walked by the lovely plant shown above. I do have (or did have, I don't remember seeing it lately) a golden colored corepsis, but this was lovely shades of faded pink. Needless to say it hopped into my cart. When we got home I unloaded the bags of pebbles and the plant, and took them to the back yard porch.

Flash forward to Tuesday...

I don't remember watering the plant. I didn't do anything with the plant. Considering how hot it has been, I was afraid it would already be dead. So I got up the next morning, went out on the back porch to find the dried out remains of the plant. And couldn't. Hmm...maybe I didn't bring it out of the garage. So I went to the garage to see if I set it to the side while I was unloading the car. No plant. So I went to the back porch again, nothing. Went back to the garage. There is nowhere else that it could be, WTF?? Then on my last trip to the back porch I noticed part of a gray Home Depot shopping bag sticking out from under the grill.

And then the Gnomeslayer says to me "Oh there it is, we were playing hide and seek!"

Sigh...

At least the plant is okay. It was a little dried out and the pretty flowers had mostly wilted, but it should survive. :)

Wildflower Wednesday

2011-08-24T11:28:00.001-07:00

These little beauties are growing on the roadside close to our house. We'd always called them brown-eyed susans, but they are small, have five petals and are not pointy on the end? I looked up several wildflower identification sites and didn't see any that looked like them. Anyway, they are cheerful and happy, and make me smile when I drive by. :)

Backwards

2011-08-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

I planted a Wildflower Salmon Gladiolus a few years and have been waiting impatiently for it to bloom. Unfortunately, the Gnomeslayer pulled it up a few times while she was "helping" me weed in the garden, and it never bloomed. I went outside yesterday and found that it had finally bloomed, and it was just as beautiful as it was on the High Country Gardens website.

But...

The blooms are facing into the clump of grass behind the plant and I can't get a good picture!

Reprieve (For Somebody)

2011-07-23T11:02:00.001-07:00

Back when I was laying out new planting layouts last year, I bought a Sunset Foxglove to plant in the front flower bed. Then I realized that they were poisonous and didn't want to risk the Gnomeslayer being around it. So I went out, pulled it up and replanted something else where it was. Oddly enough, when I noticed that the replacement was getting ready to bloom, the flowers looked mysteriously like the Sunset Foxglove. Apparently some other plant was accidentally sacrificed. :P It truly is a beautiful plant, and I'm thinking of finding a place for it in the back of the garden so little fingers can't reach it. Unfortunately, transplanting is going to have to wait for a while, it is so hot that nothing would live through it.

It has been a while since I have posted, this hasn't been the best year so far and I haven't had much mental energy left. Add to that mid-summer in the deep South isn't the best time to do work outside, so I haven't been doing too much. I have still been working in the back garden, trying to redo paths and get it straightened up. It seems that I spend most of my time overhauling that garden, I wanted to rip it out and lay down some sod lol. At least I haven't spread out to more of a garden to neglect and have confined myself into that corner for now. Classes are going along well and I should graduate next spring. Just in time to have an unrestricted summer for my garden. I can't wait!

Alabama Jubilee

2011-05-29T08:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we finally all had a day off together, so we headed over to Decatur to see the hot air balloon rally. We are usually gone on Memorial Day, and one year saw the balloons as we were driving by, but never actually attended. A friend of mine lives in Decatur and invited us to go with them, so we all woke up early and headed out. We set up our lawn chairs, got our funnel cakes and sat down to watch the shows. It was amazing to see the balloons go from being spread out flat on the ground to huge towering balloons capable of carrying people. The sky was soon filled with colorful balloons and it was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. If you ever have a chance to go to one, make suree that you do. :)

A Gnome at Rest

2011-04-17T11:37:00.001-07:00

Spring has definately taken over the back yard. The rose bushes are blooming like mad, and it is so reassuring to see that they made it back. In fact, I had a surprise return this spring. Last year I had to dig up and destroy my 'Neptune' rose. I was sad because that rose was such a beautiful and reliable bloomer. Imagine my surprise when I saw leaves that looked an awful lot like rose leaves. Apparently, 'Neptune' is staging a comeback from the roots. :)

I also finally got to see my Pheasant Eye daffodils bloom. I planted them quite a few years ago but never saw them bloom.

Trees in Silos and an Old Lotus Pot

2011-04-10T08:25:00.001-07:00

Last year I bought a beautiful clay pot to grow my lotus in. It was not cheap, I paid about $70 for it. It was so beautiful and the lotus grew in it and bloomed. Fast forward to the winter. My husband and I were eating in the breakfast nook that looks out into the back yard. I thought it sounded like people were shooting in the field behind the house, and wondered what the heck they were doing. The next day, when the snow was gone, we found out what the gunshot noises were. My beautiful pot lay in pieces because I hadn't drained the water out of it before the freeze, and it broke.

Two things happened this spring. In our mad dash across the country too see my Dad, we passed through beautiful farmland. On many of the old farms, there was an interesting sight that I had never noticed before. Trees grew out the tops of old, abandoned silo buildings. I suppose that it does make sense, since trees fight up through thick forests to small openings in the canopies after all. Apparently there are other people whose interest was piqued, because there is a Flickr group dedicated to them. We also started renovating the garden in the back yard (again), and I wanted to find another use for my broken lotus pot. Thinking back to the trees in silos, here is what I came up with:

I pieced together the remains of the pot with the bottom up. I tried to think of what to plant in it, and found this plant. I thought it would be a neat thing to have cheerful orange flowers peeking out of the top. We'll see what it looks like when it fills in. :)

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-25T11:06:00.001-07:00

I apologize for taking so long to write an update, but things have been pretty hectic. Since my last post:

I got laid off from work. Being the only earner with a stay at home spouse and child, it was a huge blow.

My mom's house burned down to the ground on the same day I got laid off. They all got out okay, but they are waiting on insurance money to get settled to figure out what they are going to do.

My dad slipped on ice at work, fell down and hit his head. He had a concussion, seizure and went into cardiac arrest. He was in the hospital unconscious for a few days before he finally woke up. My sister and I went on a cross country trip - me to Arkansas to pick her up, and then we went to Minnesota to visit him.

My husband found a job and is working again (thank you God), so we have benefits again. The Gnomeslayer is in preschool now, hopefully they have no gnomes to be at risk.

The job search continues for me, along with taking classes at night and trying to get our house fixed up (in case we have to sell it). Life has been better, but we are all healthy (knock on wood) and we are getting by.

So with that housekeeping out of the way, it's finally spring in Alabama! Actually it has been for a few weeks at least. When I left on my trip to MN, the cherry and pear trees were blooming and the daffodils were up. And here is what we found when we got to Duluth:

Let there be no doubt in anyone's mind why we live in Alabama instead of Minnesota. :) It was very nice to get to see family members that I have not seen in a long time. It was an impromptu family reunion of sorts, too bad my dad couldn't enjoy it more. He is at home now, resting and recovering. My step-mother had leg surgery about a month or so ago and can't drive either so they are getting to enjoy each other's company a lot. :)

I'm glad to see everyone doing well, I'm so glad that I can get in my garden again. I'm still anxious to see who will come back and who didn't make it, but at least it is fun to be outside again. :)

January Snow Day

2011-01-10T08:46:00.001-08:00

We woke up to about 10 inches of snow in our back yard this morning. The weather has been calling for snow since mid-last week, so we were ready for it. I cooked a big pot of vegetable soup last night, and we have lots of hot chocolate and tea. We took the Gnomeslayer out for a while to let her play around, but it was hard for her to get around since the snow came up to mid-thigh. She played around with our neighbor's grandkids for a while, made snow angels with her daddy, and then we all came back in to thaw out. I think I'm all set with things to do...books to read, an afghan to work on, and possibly a nap. :)

600 Things

2011-01-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

This doesn't really relate to gardening, but there isn't much going on out there right now. My husband and I were watching the news (sorry can't remember which channel or who said it), and they had a lifestyle coach on. She was giving people advice that they should try to clean out some of the clutter in their lives this year. Her advice was to get rid of 50 things a month. Or 600 things in a year. That sounded like a lot of things to me, but we decided that we would give it a try. So we were pulling together a load to take to the Salvation Army, and figured that would be a good place to start. Add in decluttering under the sink in the bathroom and our hall closet. So our first load has 81 things in it, and might be added to before it finally gets taken in. We'll see how we do on the other 519. :)

Visitor

2010-12-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

We still have a few patches of snow left, mostly in shady areas around the yard. As I was out walking, I found these tracks. Evidence that we had a little visitor sometime in the last few days. :) The snow was very beautiful and nice to have for Christmas, but I'm glad that it doesn't stay that long. I remember when I lived in Minnesota that the snow would end up getting dirty and gray after a while. We get to have it pristine and white, and then gone. :D Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and are busy making plans for next year.

White Christmas

2010-12-26T07:19:00.001-08:00

For the first time in 20 years, we had a white Christmas. Of course the Gnomeslayer went crazy and had to go outside and build a snowman.

She chased her daddy and me around with snowballs and made snow angels. Then we went in and warmed up in front of the fireplace. It will probably all be gone by tomorrow, but it has been a magical couple of days. :)

Is He Safe?

2010-12-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

We were walking through Costco today, when I came across what I think is the answer to one of my gardening prayers. A cast iron garden gnome. Considering the other casualties we have had, I think I may have found one that is Gnomeslayer-proof. He looks so peaceful sleeping there on his mushroom pillow. I don't think he realizes his potential peril.

Where Does Time Go?

2010-11-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

I am ashamed to see how long it has been since I've posted anything. I have been busy studying for finals, trying to keep up with the Gnomeslayer, doing some holiday baking, and a sudden renewed interest in crocheting an afghan. Combined with flowers that aren't very interesting right now, and there wasn't much to write about. The picture above is from a trip that GS and I took to a local farm to pick pumpkins. The pumpkin patch was very pretty, with morning glories winding around the pumpkin vines.

And here was the result of our pumpkin picking expedition. I do think that it was the first time I have ever carved a pumpkin. My DH is not into Halloween at all, and I am the artistic one, so I took it upon myself to make the jack o' lantern. It was sticky and nasty work and it smelled bad, but the result was fun to look at. :)

We've been getting in some play-doh time in the evenings, and this caterpillar was one of our projects.

We've been getting in as much time outside as possible before the warm weather goes away. Can you believe it was still up in the 70's this week? Of course today was cold and rainy, but it isn't too shabby to be able to go outside without a coat on Thanksgiving.

And here's another of our art projects that we have been keeping busy with. You make color photo-copies of leaves, and cut them out. Then you can make lots of art projects with them. I got the idea from a book that we got out of the library called Leaf Man. It's good because it lasts a lot longer than a project made from real leaves. I hope that everyone has been doing okay while I have been away. :)

The Mum that Ate Alabama, Revisited

2010-10-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

For several years, my front flower bed was graced by a mutant mum that ended up being about three feet around. It was growing all over the other flowers and looked like it was eating them. I dug it up last fall because it was just too big and floppy to be there in the front. We have a drainage ditch in the back yard, and a dead space behind it that has been the dumping ground of various bushes and large garden waste, until we were ready to do something with it. I chalked it up to the plant graveyard in the sky and went about rebuilding the garden this year.

The Gnomeslayer and I went for a walk around our lot collecting leaves to make a fall leaf book, when I happened to glance over and see this:

It was TMTAA, thriving (albeit much smaller) along the back fenceline. It looks like we finally found something that will grow there. :) It can grow to its heart's content back there, because there is no competition. Though if it starts to eat the house it might have to go again. It actually makes me very happy, because as a gardener it hurts to dig up a plant that is obviously thriving, when there are so many things that don't make it.

Coat of Many Colors

2010-10-06T17:53:00.001-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I *love* my Joseph's Coat rose? It has such beautiful vibrant colors and the roses sseem to glow from within. We took a walk in the back yard to enjoy daylight when I get home, while we can. The roses all look so lovely this time of year, but Joseph's Coat gets the benefit of the setting sun to enhance its blooms. There are still a few odd plants blooming now, but I know that it won't be too long before frost comes and they are all gone. At least I will have my pictures to tide me over until next spring. :)

Amish Saturday

2010-10-03T18:48:00.001-07:00

I'll start with a totally off topic picture of the cotton field by my house. I have been fascinated by them since we moved here and am frequently seen on the side of the road taking pictures of them. This is a pretty unspectacular picture as far as they go, because the cotton is low on the plants this year, and the brown top keeps the field from being snowy white. Ahh well, can't have them all perfect I guess. :)

So, on topic. I had heard a while ago about a new trend in parenting, 'Amish Grounding', where you take away TV, cell phones, computers etc. Last weekend was raining all weekend and we spent most of our time zoned out in front of computers and the TV, so I thought it would be nice to have a day with no TV, no computer games, no DVDs, no e-mails, Facebook or texting. So yesterday was the day that I decided on. So here is what we did yesterday:

1. Cleaned and decluttered the kitchen bar, our mail dumping spot, as well as most other clutter.
2. Went to the bookstore, let the Gnomeslayer play with the train set and got some coffee. Got her two fall themed books, and Anne of Green Gables for me.
3. Grabbed deli sandwiches for lunch and went home to eat.
4. Went for a walk.
5. Started reading a book - Anne of Green Gables (I don't know how I missed this one when I was growing up).
6. Read six books to GS - On the Day You Were Born, Pumpkin Soup, Max & Ruby Falling Leaves, Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat.
7. Went in the back yard and prepped the bed for our fall planting.
8. Went for a walk.
9. Took pictures in the garden.
10. Lay on the grass with GS and looked at the sky.
11. Made an outstanding pot of chili verde for dinner. GS "helped" and threatened my newfound inner serenity.
12. Gave GS a bath.
13. Practiced playing a new song on the guitar.
14. Finished my book - have I mentioned that I read pretty fast?
15. Sat outside watching the sunset, and the stars come out, while GS ran in circles around the firepit making monkey noises...for about the whole time we were outside. Where'd that serenity go? :)

It was a really nice day, full of awareness of what I was doing and spending lots of time with my little girl. After spending a regular day today, I missed yesterday a lot. So I think I'm going to have to re-evaluate how I spend my time using technology. Time goes by fast enough without losing awareness of whole hours of your day. But it's time to go, Hop on Pop is calling again.

Fall Weather

2010-09-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so beautiful for the last week or so, beautiful sunny skies, cool breezes...

Bees are busy getting the last pollen.

Purple asters blooming in the rain garden.

Sapphire blue skies with white puffy clouds.

Think Pink

2010-09-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I L-O-V-E-D pink. I remember having hot pink clothes, and light pink clothes, and all kinds of pink things. Being a redhead, pink was *not* a good look, but I didn't care. I liked unicorns, Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake too.

And then I turned into a teenager, complete with teen angst, headbanging metal-head, skulls and crossbones and owned nothing pink.

And then I became U.S. Marine, and I was a helicopter mechanic, and the word girly was not anywhere in my vocabulary. My perfume was jet fuel, engine oil and hydraulic fluid. My favorite color for clothes to this day remains olive drab green. And I think that I'm really getting daring if I wear something navy blue.

When I started planting gardens, pink was a taboo color for me. I had peach colored plants, yellow plants, purple plants, rust colored plants, and even lavender plants. But I was anti-pink. Then this year, suddenly pink started creeping into my garden. And the world didn't come to an end. ;) I blame Grace, and her beautiful garden pictures. :)

North Alabama Railroad Museum

2010-09-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

My little girl loves trains, so this afternoon we went to the North Alabama Railroad Museum with a friend of ours. It is located on Chase Road near the Alabama A&M University in a neighborhood with historical homes. We showed up, picked up our tickets and waited for the train ride. They have train rides most Saturdays from March through December, with special trains for holidays.

The museum is ran by volunteers and is a non-profit organization. The proceeds from the train rides helps to pay for their projects. The ride lasted approximately an hour, and keeping the Gnomeslayer occupied throughout took some effort. She liked seeing the train and hearing the horn, but once we got on board she started bouncing off the walls. I plan on taking her next year when she understands what is going on more. :)

Zephyr Lily

2010-08-22T08:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went outside to check out the garden before the big thunderstorm rolled through. I was glad we did, because I found this zephyr lily blooming. Their blooms are very short-lived, and if I hadn't gone out I probably wouldn't have seen it. It was so beautiful, it almost seemed to glow in the sunlight, with little droplets of water on it. This is one of those plants that you forget is there until it blooms.

Cowpeas!

2010-08-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

This year I planted some 'Ozark Razorback' cowpeas. I didn't think they were going to make it through an aphid infestation in July, but they have put on quite a lot of peas anyway. The Gnomeslayer was fascinated by cowpeas, and wanted to help me shell them. I have never seen anything keep her attention for so long. There was something almost magical about pulling open the pods and having bright red and white cowpeas inside. :)

Harbinger

2010-08-20T16:48:00.001-07:00

My favorite sign that autumn is nearby is blooming in the front garden now. I remember seeing these at a local nursery and having to ask what they were. There aren't many plants still blooming this time of year here. :)

Sigh of Relief

2010-08-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm breathing a sigh of relief because it is now mid-August. We've had a slight break from the terrible heat and humidity, and even had a light rain a couple of times. I discovered our new garden visitor above when I almost walked into her. She built her web across the pathway behind 'Elle', shown in flower below. The roses have started blooming again and are doing a lot better since the Japanese beetles are gone. It's actually been pleasant enough the last few days to go outside and work in the evening. I keep getting hints that fall is on its way soon, and can't wait. I'm already looking through catalogs for fall planting. I actually only have two or so spots that I need to fill, so I'm going to have to keep myself in check. Really.

If Only I [Insert Phrase], Then I'll [Insert Phrase]

2010-07-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today how insidious procrastination is. It's not necessarily about gardening, though it certainly applies there also. I was actually thinking about my mom today. I don't remember how many times when we were growing up she would write herself notes to "Start Diet Tomorrow!". Or how many times she talked about how if she got a new place to live she would take care of it, I mean, really keep it up nice. The diet never stuck, and when my mom did get a new place it quickly became as run down as the previous one. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a post to be down on my mom. More it's sadness for not realizing that things that get put off until "later" usually don't happen at all.

I was thinking today of how life seems to be a test sometimes. If you take care of the things that are given to you, you seem to get more. I remember this from when my husband and I first got married. We didn't take care of our house, our finances or each other. As soon as we started taking responsibility for the things that we had, we started to get so many more blessings. I know that there have been many times when The Gnomeslayer has waaaaay to much energy for me and I just want to lock myself in a room by myself just so I can have some rest. I think that I'll make sure to play with her tomorrow, give her more attention tomorrow, read her that book tomorrow. But what if tomorrow doesn't come? We take it so for granted that there will be a tomorrow, but I have been trying to live my life without that assumption. Excuse me please, I have to go read "Fox in Socks" to my little one. :)

A Prayer for Molly Marie

2010-07-17T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today God has a new angel in Heaven today, Molly Marie. She is the daughter of my little brother Jimmy and his wife Angie. She was born very premature and weighed 1 lb. 10 oz. She fought a hard fight for six weeks, but complications developed and she didn't make it. Please keep my brother and his family in your prayers. I am not a person who is blessed with a silver tongue, and my only way of providing comfort is to feed people or to plant things. So today I went to the nursery and bought a rose to plant for Molly. This is a Chinese Butterfly Rose, whose petals start pink and shift to cream colored over the days after blooming. I hope that I remember her when I see it, though I never got to see her she has a place in my heart.

I Should Know Better

2010-07-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Typically I stop buying plants in May and don't start again until late September at the earliest. Almost everything that I have ever tried to plant in the dead of summer ends up...well...dead. We were walking around Lowe's this last weekend, and I saw these Blanket Flowers. I was immediately in love with their bright cheerful colors and somehow one ended up in my shopping cart. The Gnomeslayer and I planted it yesterday and gave it a good watering. I'm hoping that it will make it through and survive, I guess we'll see. :)

New Blooms!

2010-07-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was very happy to see yesterday when I went in the back yard that the butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) that I planted this spring has started blooming. They are such a deep vibrant orange color, and they seem to be an ant magnet (you can see them if you look close). The stems don't seem to be very sturdy, I hope that they get better next year because they are flopping around and I stepped on a few. Last night was the first time in a while that I've been able to get any weeding done. The poke salad and ironweed have been taking over the bed back there, and I pulled out a bunch. Johnson grass has been taking seed in the mulch and I had to pull that out too. The plants in the rain garden seem to be holding their own, not knocking anything out but then it's their first year so I'm just glad they are still alive. Of course the weather has been so hot to work in, but when it's cooler outside there are too many mosquitos. You can't win no matter what you do it seems.

Home Again

2010-07-11T17:36:00.001-07:00

I'm finally home again after spending a good part of the last few months traveling. We have been to Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Minnesota. I hope that I can rest here for a bit before traveling some more. The picture above is from the Canal Park in Duluth, MN. It's Wildcat Dreaming, a part of the Fountain of the Winds and it's always been a favorite feature of mine. I thought that the Gnomeslayer especially would get a kick out of it, since you can walk along the stepping stones in the fountain. Although I love traveling and seeing family I am so glad to get home to my garden.

Chawan Basu

2010-06-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

My lotus has been an ongoing project since last year. I bought it in the spring of 2008, and planted it in a tub in the back yard. The first year, it put up a few leaves, and then died back. The next year it put out more leaves, but it dried out in August of last year while we were out of town, and barely limped through the year. This year I bought it a new bowl, and took extra care in fertilizing it and making sure it had plenty of water. We were out of town last weekend, and the dang thing dried out again. The leaves got wilted all around the edges and I thought it was a bust again. But I noticed that there was a flower bud coming up on it, and made sure to keep up with the water again. I have been like a bird waiting for its egg to hatch. The bud stayed the same all week, but I thought yesterday that it looked like it was starting to swell up. I looked out the window this morning and this is what I saw:

'Prarie Fire' Silene

2010-06-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a new bloom for the back yard rain garden. This is the new 'Prarie Fire' Silene plant that I got earlier this year. It's mature size will be around 3 feet tall, but it's only about knee high right now. It was a beautiful evening to get in some sorely needed weeding. It was overcast and cool, and the bugs were gone since it had just rained earlier. I had to severely prune back the roses....unfortunately I think they are all going to end up diseased. We'll see how they do.

And my 'Arabian Nights' dahlia finaly bloomed. I was worried that it wasn't going to come back this year since the winter was so cold.

Done

2010-05-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

Back in 2000 I started piecing together a kaleidoscope quilt. I have been working on it on and off since then, with years going in between sessions where I worked on it. For the last three years or so it has been sitting in the top of the entryway closet with only one row left to quilt on it. I recently started going through closets and decluttering. One of the tasks was to take uncompleted projects and finally get them done. Stop adding to the fabric/yarn stash and actually make things with what I have. And since an unfinished quilt takes up a lot of room, it was a high priority. I finished the last block last week and only needed to bind it off. So since we were driving to Arkansas over Memorial Day I decided to take it along and finish binding it. Monday evening I spent the night getting the strips ready and pressed out. I got one side done on the way up, and the other done on the way back. I can finally say that it is finished. And what to do with it now? The Gnomeslayer has already laid claim to it, so it is going into her bedroom. Now on to the next project! I took the picture above while we were driving and the sun was bright. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing tonight but it's too dim. I plan to get some more tomorrow, but I had to crow about it tonight. :)

ETA - Here is the whole quilt and a close up on one of the stars. It's about a twin size, perfect for the Gnomeslayer's bed.

Who Are You And What Did You Do With My Plant?

2010-05-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last year I ordered a Fulva Louisiana Water Iris from Bonnie's plants. It was a little slip of a plant when it came in, and it didn't bloom last year. This year it was going gangbusters, and started sending out a flower stalk. I was anxiously waiting for the bloom, because the pictures of the vibrant copper colored iris plant were so beautiful. Then as the bud started developing more, I thought that it looked a little dark, and sort of purplish. But I held out hope that maybe those were outer petals and it would still bloom. But alas, it was in full bloom yesterday, and it isn't the Fulva water iris. It looks to me like it is the Black Gamecock Louisiana Water Iris. I'm not terribly upset because I did like this iris too, but I liked the other one better. I even saw the black gamecock iris at Lowe's and thought about buying it, good thing I didn't. It really is a beautiful iris, the photo is close to the real color, but it still looks more purple. The flower really does look black from a distance. Hey, as long as it's blooming, I'm happy. :)

Home Again

2010-05-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

We finally made it home, finally. We spent the weekend up at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We had a great visit with hubby's parents, and The Gnomeslayer got to spend lots of time with her new playmates. I think Grandma and Papa were ready for a rest by the time we left. :) We hit the heavy storms in Nashville and made our way through carefully. It was one of the most nerve-wracking drives that we've been through in a while. So when we got home we had to do an inventory and see how everything made it through the storms. The picture above is the Guardian Larkspur in the rain garden. The colors on it are beautiful, almost like mother-of-pearl.

My 'Angel Face' rose finally bloomed. I love this rose, but it looks like part of the bush may be dead, so we'll see if it makes it. I love how delicate the blossoms look.
The siberian irises are in full bloom. Have I mentioned that I love siberian irises? I bought a bulk package of them a while ago, and they have been reproducing profusely. I have them everywhere now, but who wouldn't want to? :)

Time to go rest and decompress before work tomorrrow. I need a vacation from my vacation!

Blue?

2010-04-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

It seems like 95% of the plants that I have brought home this spring are blue or bluish-lavender. It used to be such a novel color, but now it is everywhere. I think that I might be overdoing it a bit, but I can't resist them. The picture above is 'Desante Blue' Delphinium. It was one of the first choices for the fountain garden because of its upright habit. I also was fascinated by the almost metallic sheen of the petals.

Roses!

2010-04-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

My roses started blooming last weekend but I'm just now getting some pictures posted. I am a few roses short this spring, because 'Neptune' and 'Laura Bush' didn't make it through the winter. 'Welcome Home' looks like it is getting diseased also. We'll see how the rest of them fare this year. First up, shown above is my trusty 'Elle'. She is planted outside of my front door, and her fragrance greets me every time I walk out and she is in bloom.

The second runner up for first to bloom this spring is 'Gingersnap'. This rose is a small one, with exceptionally bright yellow-orange flowers. I planted it for my Gnomeslayer when I brought her home from the hospital.

And also in bloom this week is my azalea...whose name I can't remember. It's still about the same size that it was when I planted it, though I'm hoping now that I have it in a different spot it will start to do better.

The Final Puzzle Piece

2010-04-19T17:08:00.001-07:00

This weekend we got the final corner of the garden finished. I used some of the rocks that we had, and the old small pond liner, and made a water fountain in the corner. There is no pond anymore, just the fountain. When the last fish died, we decided to put off putting another pond in for a few years and take a break from pond maintenance. I do like having the sound of running water in the garden, and this is a pretty easy way to do it. No more cleaning out pond scum and fish poop for a few years. Of course then no water lily either, but I can always get another one later. Of course, I could still use one more bag of gravel to finish filling the tub. And then I can spend the summer looking through nurseries to finish off the plantings around the fountain.

Some Bunny is in my Garden

2010-04-18T17:09:00.001-07:00

My husband was out mowing this afternoon and I was in the kitchen cooking. I heard him turn off the mower and he came in the back door. He told me to get Rowan and bring the camera. He had flushed out a couple of bunnies while he was mowing and needed me to come and move them. One hid in the same pocket in the fencepost that the bullfrog hid in (a very popular spot apparently). The other was crouched in the higher grass, still. So I approached quietly.

Taking pictures as I got closer because I wasn't sure how close I could get before it bolted.

Apparently pretty close, because I was able to pick it up, and the Gnomeslayer and I held it while he finished, then let it go along the back fenceline.

Spongebobs in my Garden

2010-04-17T14:49:00.001-07:00

Last year I had a perfectly respectable metal professional garden trowel. Somewhere along the way it got lost, and I have no idea where it is. In the meantime I started making do with the Gnomeslayer's Spongebob trowel. Summer turned into fall, fall into winter, and now winter into spring and I am still using the Spongebob trowel. *hangs head* And sometimes the hand rake too. I broke the bucket last year using it lol. :) When did I get reduced to using toy garden implements?

The Zen Has Returned

2010-04-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

Finally, after all of the hard work we can rest. I went out in the back garden today and watered some of the new plants, since there is no rain in sight. And that was all. :) The Gnomeslayer and I played around for a bit and then we went inside before it got too buggy. I do have a few small tasks that I'd like to get around to, but overall I am feeling pretty unambitious. :)

Done...Sort Of

2010-04-11T11:06:00.001-07:00

I have to say that I am almost embarassed to post these pictures. The garden in the backyard was in a total disarray at the end of last year. I moved all of the plants from the beds on the back fenceline into the front and tore them out. The weeds had overtaken the garden, the pond was a wreck, and it was disheartening to even go in the back yard. So this spring, we knew that the one thing we had to do was to get the back into some kind of order.

All of the stones, bricks and rock were piled up on the corner of the patio, waiting to be used again. It was of course like catnip to the Gnomeslayer, who liked to climb all over them, standing on wobbly stones and stomping on the bugs that came out of them. I wanted my back porch again.

So here is the after, which still isn't totally finished, but is as close as it is getting this weekend. For the last few weekends we have been hauling out the weeds, gravel and dirt to clean the spot back out. The middle part is a rain garden now, there is no longer a pond. The fish died when we took them out to clean and move the pond, so we're taking the opportunity to get rid of the extra maintenance that a pond adds. Maybe in a couple of years when we are both finished with school, GS is bigger and not into everything, we will put in a bigger pond by the dining room window so that we can see it while we eat.

The rain garden is an idea that I have had for that area for a while now. It is a natural low spot and catches runoff from the downspout on the house and the front yards of both our house and our neighbors. We dug out around the area the pond had been in and filled it in with gravel on the bottom, and planted some deep-rooted plants that could stand both drought and rain.

The back fenceline garden has similar plants, those that are low maintenance and look pretty. Normally I would spend weeks perusing catalogs and websites, trying to pick out the perfect plants to go in there. But now, after about a month of working on this in the weekends, I was over the novelty of spring and planting. Every trip to Lowe's has resulted in a few more plants being grabbed here and there. I think we have had five or six Lowe's trips in the last two weeks. Have I said that I'm done yet?

The sort of part comes in with the waterfall fountain that we are going to do. In the left side of the picture you can see where it is going to be because there is pond liner hanging over the side of the stone wall. I figure that we can tinker around with that next weekend, because the remainder of this weekend is going to be cleaning up the last of the stones from the back patio and picking up all of the stray flower pots and mulch bags that are in the back. I think someone already has a use for the flower pots though.

An Annual?

2010-04-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Annuals are not something that I typically buy. After all, you only get to see them for one year and then they are gone. I mean, it's almost like throwing your money away! But while we were at Lowe's last weekend, I saw these beautiful snapdragons and knew that they had to be mine. We're in the middle of a huge overhaul of the backyard garden right now, and I am so tired. It has been heavy lifting and digging for the last few weekends, to get out the old weedy gravel and dirt, pulling up the endless horsetail runners and runners from the sod in the front yard that crept in unannounced and avoiding the fire ants and hornets that are not very happy with us. All the while keeping the Gnomeslayer from drinking pondwater, pulling up my lotus tuber (again and again), squashing earthworms, whacking me in the head with bamboo and eating dirt. I need a vacation from my pasttime!

Western Wood Lily

2010-04-08T18:02:00.001-07:00

I came home to this beautiful surprise today. :)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T07:38:00.001-07:00

An Unwanted Guest

2010-04-02T17:50:00.001-07:00

The Gnomeslayer and I had to take care of an unwanted guest in the pond. We had a bullfrog again and I wanted to get him out before he ate anybody in there. We are finally getting the back garden spot cleaned up and redone, and we had to drain the pond anyway. This time he got taken across the field in a bucket and dumped along the back treeline. If he tries to come back at least he'll have a longer way to go. And with a creek along the back there, maybe he'll stay over there.

Rowan and I went to Across the Pond and got a couple of shubunkins to replace the fish that got eaten last year. It was a beautiful day outside, but it got hot, up to 82 degrees. Spring doesn't last too long around here. ;)

There are lots of things blooming, even this surprise tulip. I hadn't expected to see them since I planted them a couple of years ago, but here it is.

Blue Moon

2010-03-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

I took the Gnomeslayer out for a playdate this morning, and when we were done we stopped by Lowe's. We were going to put in the new plants and needed to get some new mulch and some manure. While I was looking around I noticed this beauty, 'Blue Moon' Phlox. Looks like these and it smelled nice too. :) It was sunny and around 50, but the wind was blowing hard. We got all of the plants in, and the first mowing of the season done. Have I said yet that I'm glad spring is here?

Welcome Home

2010-03-25T16:26:00.001-07:00

I was very happy to find that my delivery from High Country Gardens made it in today. It is *pouring* outside, so no planting this evening or tomorrow. I had to throw on my raincoat to go take the pictures. I can't say enough about how well they package their plants, they all showed up in good shape. And now they are getting a drink before they get planted. :)

New Beginning

2010-03-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

We have been getting beautiful sunny weather. I've been busy doing lots of tidying up and evaluating last years plants. Unfortunately it looks like there are going to be a couple of casualties. Neptune is diseased, and looks like its going to have to go. Also, one of my other roses is dead too. I do love me some roses, but I have decided that I'm not replacing any that I lose. I definately don't need anything high maintenance right now. Maybe when I have more time on my hands I will try some more. I've also made the decision that The Mum That Ate Alabama is going to visit the garden in the sky. It is so huge and sprawling that it looks messy and it takes up way too much room. So with those two plants gone it opens up a very large spot in the front yard garden. Since I'm wanting low maintenance, I had to look through the new High Country Gardens catalog that I got in the mail today. Here's what I've decided to get to fill in the spot.

Purple Ozark Beardtongue
Western Wood Lily
Bluebell of Scotland
Sunset Foxglove
Wildflower Salmon Gladiolus

So I lose two plants, and get five in return. While I'll miss Neptune, I get some neat things to fill the hole. :)

An Acquisition, and a Maintenance Task

2010-03-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

The Gnomeslayer and I took a field day trip to Across the Pond a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get her outside. She likes to see the big fish there. Not to get diverted, more on that in a later post. While we were there I found a really cool pot for my bowl lotus. It has been growing in a plain black tub (see below) for the last few years, and I wanted something a little more decorative.

This is actually the first time that I have ever divided one so I was a little nervous. Lotus tubers are very delicate, and if you break off their growing tip they are worthless.

Lotus roots/tubers have to be planted in round containers because if they are in square containers the growing end can get stuck in a corner and break off, killing the plant.

I was able to get eight divisions from the tub, not a bad return on investment. :)

Fun With Photoshop - Part II

2010-03-02T18:18:00.001-08:00

My second Photoshop challenge was my sister's baby picture. My mom is not known for taking care of pictures, and this one had a rough time. It used to be framed, then stuck to the glass. Somewhere along the way the glass got broken, and fell off of the top part that wasn't stuck. Then:

Algae grew along the crack lines
The colors bled from humdity
My mom's dogs chewed on the corner
There were torn spots missing
It was dirty
There were specks and spots of undetermined origin on it
There were spots of mold growing on it

I finally got her to give me some of the pictures so that I could get them scanned before they got totally destroyed. I'm still working on her for the rest, but I was stumped at how to fix this one. I had to lay it on the scanner, broken glass and all to get it scanned in. I think that it turned out good overall, but the problem is that the cracks ran over her nose, eye and mouth. I patched up the eye and mouth by cloning parts of the opposite side, but I'm still not that happy with how the nose turned out. Since the light was coming in from the side, the shadow was off, but you can only spend so much time on these things. I had to do a lot of cloning and blurring to cover up the many problem areas, so it lost a lot of the original detail. I'll be interested to see if I can fix it better after I have my graphics editing class. Did I say yet that I love my Photoshop now? :)

Fun With Photoshop

2010-02-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

I have been busy lately, as you can see since I stopped posting. I have changed degree majors from business to IT, focusing on website development. So I haven't had a whole lot of free time. One of the benefits is that I got to buy the Adobe Creative Suite at student prices. I have lusted after Photoshop for years. It took a couple of weeks before I got to play with it, and here was the first trial. I have a picture of my grandparents (seen on the left), passed on to me to get scanned into the computer. If you magnify it, you can see that it is in pretty bad shape. The big black mark, countless scratches and gouges, and it was really dirty to boot. So I tried to clean it up, which took a couple of hours. Did I say that I love Photoshop? I can't wait to see what I can do when I actually learn to use it. ;)

Snow!

2010-01-07T14:21:00.001-08:00

We finally got a decent amount (for here) of snow today. I think it was between one and two inches, depending on where you were. I left work early because they were starting to close some of the roads over the mountains and I didn't want to have to take back roads to get home. The main roads weren't too bad, but the back roads really sucked. So we took the Gnomeslayer out to play in the snow for a while. The snow was too dry and wouldn't stay together, so we gave up on the idea of making a whole snowman - not from a lack of total quantity but because it just wouldn't stay together. So we made a snowman head instead. GS did *not* want to go back inside, but she was starting to look like Rudolph so we all came in and warmed up. Definately a good time to be in the house with a full pantry and a fireplace. :)

Chattanooga

2010-01-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

During our long holiday vacation, one of our objectives was to go to the aquarium in Chattanooga. We have meant to go for a long time but never actually followed through. But having a week off and the Gnomeslayer's new fascination with Finding Nemo, we thought it would be a good time to try again. It is an hour and a half drive from here so it is perfect for a daytrip.

The trip went well, and we visited the Seahorse Gallery and the Ocean exhibit. We didn't want to do too much in one day. I got a family membership for the rest of the year, so we'll have plenty of time to go back for the fresh water exhibit. She loved the clownfish and the reef display, and seeing the penguins.

They really do have a very nice range of exhibits there. They have a beautiful butterfly house and tropical garden on the top story, and you work your way down to the bottom. There were sharks and stingrays, and a fascinating jellyfish exhibit. Visiting during a school break probably wasn't the best time to go because older kids were everywhere and it made it harder for GS to get a good view of some of the exhibits.

After we finished with the aquarium it was time to eat. I had picked out a place to eat, the Blue Plate. Unfortunately I didn't notice that they were closed on Mondays, and of course we went on a Monday. So instead we went to one of the restaurants in front of the aquarium, the Big River Grill, for a completely overpriced and forgettable meal. It was worsened by the fact that there was a guy at the table next to us with a kid that sounded like she had the plague. We really should have asked to get reseated, but instead we hurried to finish our food and left.

All in all it was a fun trip and I look forward to going back when it is warmer outside.

Seeds

2009-12-18T13:10:00.001-08:00

Back in November I placed an order for seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I frequent their i dig my garden forum, and had read about Ozark Razorback cowpeas. I *knew* that I had to grow some in my vegetable garden that I am planning and hurried to get them before they sold out. I got in the order yesterday and it gave me gardening withdrawal. I have been poring through other sites looking for the rest of the seeds that I want, and it really taxes my self-control. I know that it is very important to start with a small and manageable area and crop expectation. I don't even have the garden built yet, so I need to be realistic about what to plan.

My main goal was to have a salsa garden this coming year, but my attention wandered and I got a few other things. I grew some Blaushokker peas (they have blue pods) one year in North Carolina and I found some blue podded peas in their catalog. I also love okra, but it's hard to find it that isn't tough already in the store so I picked out some Alabama Red Okra. Since I'm growing Arkansas Traveler tomatoes and Tennessee Beauty strawberries, I thought it would be fun to have a plant that is named after every state that we have lived in. I think for Virginia I might get some Carwile's Virginia peanuts, and there is Carolina Wonder sweet pepper. That leaves me needing Minnesota...not sure what I'll do about that one. :)

I can tell that I'm going to have to rein myself in on a daily basis!

ETA: When I was trying to think of seeds for Minnesota it occured to me that I could grow some sunflowers. Minnesota is one of the main producers of sunflower seeds, and I remember seeing huge fields of them when I was growing up there. Maybe that's what I'll do. :)

Snow!

2009-12-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

We got between 1-2 inches of snow last night. The Gnomeslayer woke up at about 6:30 this morning, much to my protesting. I went ahead and got up and got her ready to go outside. Snow here tends to melt off within a few hours so I wanted to get her out while it was still on the ground. She wasn't too impressed with it. She kicked the grass for a bit and patted it with her mittens, but she didn't like it being cold. We went out to the back yard and I was showing her how to make snowballs. We were scraping snow off of the fire pit blocks, unfortunately there was bird poo under the snow and it got all over our gloves. So I called it quits and we went inside. :)

Cotton

2009-12-01T16:55:00.001-08:00

One of the things that I find so interesting about Alabama is seeing the cotton fields when they are ready to harvest. It's almost like seeing drifts of snow. It was especially dramatic seeing the white cotton fields with the fall colors in the trees behind them.

We got our first heavy frost last night. I could hardly get it scraped off of the car this morning. Looks like winter is finally here, booo!

The Last Roses

2009-11-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, I am spoiled by being able to say that a lot now. We're actually supposed to get some rain tonight and for part of tomorrow. I had to go and water a few things that were looking peaked from their transfer today, in case the rain doesn't happen. It's the first time that I've had to actually water things in a while.

The Gnomeslayer and I went out and she got some tricycle riding time in. I cut down The Mum That Ate Alabama today, and those are the remains in the wheelbarrow. Yes, that's one mum plant. I did some weeding in the front bed and it was amazing how easy it is to keep it up when you have a good setup.

The picture above is my 'Joseph's Coat' rose, and I honestly think that it is one of the best pictures that I have ever taken. The lighting was perfect and I like the angle. The flowers look like they glow.

'Neptune' has a bloom opening on it and it smells heavenly.

'Elle' also has several buds on it.

Rocks

2009-11-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

My Gnomeslayer loves rocks. One of her favorite things to do is to pick up small rocks while we are on walks, and we have quite a collection of them. So last weekend when we went to Across the Pond she was in heaven. They have a stone yard there, and I wanted to get some decorative stones to make the little streambed in the back yard. I have some flat gray/silver ones that were edging on the pond, but I wanted some other interesting ones to have on the sides. So we spent the morning climbing around pallets and digging through them to find *exactly* the right stones. They aren't that different, just some differences in coloration and shape that looked neat. I also got some black river pebbles that GS promptly dumped out of their bag when we got home. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I think I'm going to do some work on it tomorrow.

Battle Scarred

2009-11-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

Sigh....another notch in the Gnomeslayer's belt.

He fell victim to her while we were chasing the bullfrog around the garden. I think I can put his foot back together with some superglue, hopefully I won't glue my fingers together!

Froggy Bottoms, Take II

2009-11-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

We had a very productive weekend, so much to cover. The main objective was to keep working on the backyard garden area since the front is taken care of. The Gnomeslayer and I went to Across the Pond yesterday, and picked out some accent rocks for the streambed that we are going to put in. Today the objective was to get the current pond cleaned out, get the filter/pump cleaned out and get the fish ready for the winter.

I will go into a flashback sequence here and say that probably two weeks ago, we noticed some very large frog eyes in the pond. Today we plugged a drain hose on the pump and started draining it out. I had a bucket that we were going to keep the fish in while we got the liner cleaned out. Q started fishing around with the net to try to catch them as the pond went down. We have four ornamental goldfish in the pond. He caught the first pretty quick, but then was having problems because some of the edging stones had fallen in the pond. So I got on the pond gloves and started to pull them out. There were a couple of times that I must have brushed against the fish before I got the rest of the rocks out. And then Q said "What the *bleep* is that? I looked down and there was a bullfrog peering up at me. Now our "pond" is 40 gallons. A bullfrog in a 40 gallon pond doesn't leave room for much else. GS took that opportunity to grab a slimy rock from the side of the pond so I took her in to wash her hands. While I was gone Q kept trying to catch the frog. As we were walking back outside, he netted it and brought it over to show me. I grabbed the camera to try to get a picture. The frog hopped out of the net and started hopping around the patio. He doubled back and landed on my foot (which wasn't covered since I was wearing moccasins). I will admit, I shrieked like a little schoolgirl, which must have really made our neighbors wonder about me. He hopped through the garden area and lodged himself between the fencepost and a slat on the fence.

We finished up our work and discovered that three of our fish were missing. To be honest I wouldn't have thought that a bullfrog could have eaten fish that big. When we got finished I went in and looked through my water gardening books and lo and behold, discovered that bullfrogs will eat anything that they can stuff into their mouth. This includes goldfish, mice, small birds and frogs smaller than themselves. I didn't want the bullfrog to get back into our newly cleaned pond, so I went to pull him out of his hiding spot. Unfortunately he wasn't cooperative, and his belly was pretty big, probably full of our goldfish that he was digesting. I ended up having to push out on the slat and keep poking at him to make him move. I finally got him, and went to hold up my prize to show GS and Q. In retrospect I should have had him get the camera and take a picture but it was getting dark and I wanted to get him moved. He took a big (assisted) hop over the back fenceline. Anyway, that was probably the biggest excitement of the weekend. My poor little fishies...RIP.

Monte Sano Visit

2009-11-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

We spent the morning up at Monte Sano park, and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. The colors have already peaked but there was still plenty left. The Gnomeslayer got to kick around leaves and pick up sticks and rocks. It was a fantastic day. :)

Fall

2009-11-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

I was finally able to get outside and get something done today. I took some pictures but haven't gotten around to downloading them. It was a beautiful fall day - the sky was clear blue and the sun was shining. It was cool outside, especially in the shade. I took the Gnomeslayer outside with me, so that she could get some sunshine and exercise. We started with a wheelbarrow ride to the backyard. I finished digging up all of the plants that were going to be moved to the front yard. I was able to get them all up, with only a few minor interruptions. Mainly when I had to do a highspeed chase across the backyard when I realized I hadn't closed the gate and GS found it open. Running in steel-toed gardening boots isn't that easy. ;)

All of the plants moved to the front got planted, the beds cleaned and the mulch laid down. I still need to go sweep the sidewalk, but ran out of daylight and energy today. The backyard garden is mostly empty now. I need to move the plants that are staying and rearrange the beds. I also need to drain and clean the pond. I was going to move the unwanted plants to the back fenceline, but when I got there to plant everything I decided that I was going to get rid of them and plan out what I want to plant back there when I'm ready. Also, the fence was built right in front of the treeline, and there are roots everywhere. I think I'm going to have to do raised beds along through there. So everything is getting tossed into the compost pile. I've seen the results of putting together plants haphazardly and not planning, and I intend to do better next time. :)

So I hope that everyone else had a productive gardening weekend. I baked some gingersnaps yesterday and think that I need to go sample a few!

Heavy Lifting

2009-10-18T15:41:00.001-07:00

After the false hope of an extended forecast that showed sun for all of this weekend, the sun finally came out today. Friday and Saturday were both overcast and chilly, with heavy showers on Friday. To say the least it was depressing, although we did get some work done in the house. Having to wait until Sunday to get outside work done usually means that it won't. Friday and Saturday are our errand and shopping days, and Sundays we usually relax and laundry is about as productive as we get. After taking a long nap this afternoon I finally headed outside to get some work done. This time of year it's almost like a scavenger hunt in the garden, trying to see what is left blooming. Today I found blooms on the honeysuckle (above) and the Veteran's Honor rose (below). Veteran's Honor has been such a workhorse, and the blooms are do dramatic and fragrant. It has a place of honor (no pun intended) in the front flower bed.

My main objective today was to get the boxwood bushes moved from the front flower beds so that I can finish moving the plants from the back garden that I need to move. At least the ground was pretty moist, so it made it easier to pull them up. The soil here is very heavy clay, and digging up the bushes is hard because the root balls are so heavy. I'll be lucky if I'm able to move tomorrow - wrangling big prickly bushes with heavy rootballs can suck the energy out of you. I took the bushes and placed them along the back fenceline. So now that the bed was cleared of the bushes I moved the camellia and azalea in. I moved the Gingersnap rose in front of the garage, and moved Welcome Home to the middle of our bedroom window. I'd wanted two roses there, but Gingersnap ended up being a very short rose so the display was lopsided. I've come up with a tentative plan on what to do with the pond in the back, but I have to get everything moved out of the beds there first. So here's hoping for a sunny weekend next weekend!

Cleaning Up

2009-10-11T15:31:00.001-07:00

We had some more rain for the last few days. It ruined my plans for getting a lot more garden rearranging done. We even had the tornado sirens go off and had to visit the closet in our bedroom. :) Today started out overcast and didn't look too promising, but ended up being a beautiful afternoon. So I took out the Gnomeslayer so that she could ride her tricycle and get some sunshine, and then we went for a walk. When we got back in, I left her with Q and then went outside to get some work done. I am trying to get everything done, slowly but surely. Joseph's Coat is putting on a beautiful display to end the year with, and I got a couple of good shots. I had to stand on tip-toe and hold up the camera to get them, so I'm surprised that they turned out at all.

Today my mission was to evict Lady Banks from the garden. I really didn't want to, I love the flowers on it. Unfortunately it only has flowers for a week or so, and then nothing for the rest of the year. It started going crazy and hanging over the fence into our neighbors yard. Aiyana mentioned that the plant gets heavy and needs lots of support, and I agree with her - too much work for me to put up with. So I waded into the corner it was growing in and scalped it. I have a huge pile of vines to get rid of. ;) I did make an interesting discovery. We knew earlier in the year that a bird had made a nest in the corner of the fence. We were never able to see it, but we saw mama flying in with worms in her mouth. Here is the nest.

The butterscotch jessamine is covered with buds that have started to open.

Elle has a couple of saved rounds left.

Birthday Cookies

2009-10-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies that I work with makes cakes for everyone's birthday. So when it comes time for her birthday I make her cookies - I am not much of a cake baker. She had surgery not too long ago, and wanted cookies that were soft and chewy, without much sugar or nuts, oats and dried fruit. I originally planned on doing some snickerdoodles, but since they didn't turn out too good last time I made them, I thought about looking for something else. One of the problems is that since she couldn't have a lot of sugar I planned on using baking Splenda. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners at all and haven't ever used it, but I didn't think that it would be as good in a cookie that depended on the sugar for so much of its flavor. So I was looking through the Baking Bites blog and found this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies. I thought that having some more complex flavors would help hide the Splenda. Instead of pumpkin I had some babyfood jars of pureed sweet potato that I have been using for making cornbread with. I also had to mix my own Pumpkin Pie Spice since I don't own any.

I ran into a complication as I started baking the cookies. As I mentioned before, I hadn't ever baked with Splenda and thought that it could be treated as sugar. The recipe calls for you to melt the butter and add it in with the sugars and cocoa. When I poured the melted butter on top of the Splenda it caused it to clump together. I used a whisk to help break it apart as much as I could, but there were still some lumps in it. I figured I'd go ahead and bake them and see how they turned out, and if it was a disaster I could bring her some cookies in next week. When I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven, the Splenda clumps had melted and dripped a bit, but it didn't look too bad. I bit the bullet and tried one of them, and it wasn't too bad (although Splenda lingers around in my mouth for a long time). I want to try to make it again using real sugar to see how it turns out. :) Definately a bit different cookie, more of a grown-up cookie since it isn't too sweet and some kids might not like the spicy flavor.

A Day of Rest

2009-10-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a very productive day. We headed over to Lowe's early in the morning to pick up some mulch and landscape fabric. While we were there I found some Tiny Asiatic Ghost Lilies in the seasonal clearance area and had to pick one up. It's a really beautiful color, which doesn't really show true here. I haven't had much luck with lilies in my gardening career, so maybe I can change that. I thought that I was very restrained for only buying one plant, since I haven't done much nursery shopping this year. I think it was only the fact that DH was along that kept me from getting more. ;) That and the fact that we are dismantling my back garden and I'm already going to be trying to find room for everything. It was a perfect fall day, cool and sunny with no rain in sight.

Joseph's Coat had a stray bloom on it.

The mums are still blooming.

Today on the other hand has been an inside day. It has been overcast and raining since we woke up this morning. I'm glad that we didn't put off doing the garden work until today or it would have gone undone again. So we were working on getting some housework done and I spent a large part of the day reading If You Give A Pig a Party to the Gnomeslayer. It as a good day to not have anything to *have* to do outside. :) I also made a big pot of chili, so we'll be eating good for the next few days.

Deconstruction

2009-10-03T07:05:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying beautiful fall weather over the last few days. Yesterday I finally got to go out and do some gardening. When we first moved here I missed my old garden so much that I hurried up and made up a garden in the back and planted plants in the front flower beds. Since then I decided that I wanted to have a kitchen garden in the back where the scree garden is. I have to find homes for all of the plants back there in the front beds. Some of the plants aren't very mannerly, so I'm going to plant them along the back fenceline.

Yesterday I started deconstructing the garden in the back yard. I dug out the boxwood bushes in one of the front beds that came with the house. The bed has been a neglected spot since we got here because the things that I planted there never took off, and I didn't ever get around to tweaking it. So yesterday I dug up everything in that bed, and moved these plants in from the back garden: Angel Face rose, iris fulva, louisiana water iris, pentestemon, coerepsis and bee balm. Today I'm going to bring over the hen and chicks and the Nile Crane daylilies. My goal was to get one bed finished this weekend and work on the others next weekend. I'm going to move some of the other plants to the back fenceline too, the ones that are less mannerly and wouldn't do so well in a front yard flower bed. I was happy to finally get working on this because it was raining for the last month or so. :)

Drying Out

2009-09-27T15:31:00.001-07:00

We finally had a day without rain!! I could hardly believe it. When I went outside, it was really steamy and buggy. Lots of mosquitoes flying around, I assume from all of the standing water that's been around. I had lots of plans for what I wanted to do today, but the ground was really too wet so I had to put them off yet again. We went for a drive today and it was a perfect pre-fall day. The sky was sapphire blue with white puffy clouds. Thistle down floated through the air, and stray yellow leaves blew down off of the trees. Little yellow butterflies fluttered around on the plants. The Mum that Ate Alabama started blooming over the weekend. It is currently about the size of four or five regular mums. It was a really nice day. I made a new recipe for dinner tonight, Brat, Beer and Cheese Soup. Talk about a perfect fall soup, though not the healthiest. :)

Snickerdoodles

2009-09-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a really quiet, relaxing weekend. It's been raining all weekend, and we haven't left the house at all today. That's actually very strange for us, because we're usually either running errands, going to get some food, getting some coffee or pastries or just getting out of the house for a drive. Since the concert is in town all weekend and it has been a monsoon outside, there was no temptation to leave.

This morning started out slow. I heated up some of the leftover pumpkin pancakes I made last weekend. We got a lot of housework and decluttering done. For lunch Q made some Beef Picadillo, and then the Gnomeslayer and I took a nap. I made Pork Schnitzel from Cooking Light for dinner and it turned out pretty good. I agree with most of the reviewers that said that they didn't call for enough oil and you have to add more to make it brown right. The cabbage/noodle mixture was really good though. Then afterwards GS and I made some Snickerdoodles. She's too young to really understand what she is helping with, and most of her effort was taken up with sticking her finger in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and licking it. I'm not sure what to think about this recipe. It appealed to me because there was no shortening in it. The dough ended up being to dry, and the cookies took longer to bake than the recipe called for. The second and third batch didn't even get done all the way. I'm not sure what the deal is, but from reading the reviews some had it come out perfect and some had similar problems. I have to make another batch next week and I'm not sure I'm going to use this one.

Chuckles Goes for a Ride

2009-09-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today started out as a very peaceful, quiet day. I woke up with a slight fever this morning and wasn't feeling very good. The Big Spring Jam concert is going on all this weekend in Huntsville, so it isn't a good time to be trying to get out and do anything. We'd planned to get groceries and stay around the homestead for the rest of the weekend. We just finished eating supper, a Tater Tot Hotdish recipe that I've been wanting to make for a while. I was cleaning out the skillet, and Q cleaned up the Gnomeslayer and was picking her up to carry into the living room. As he was carrying her by the tank of Chuckles, our betta, she kicked out her food and knocked the tank onto the floor. I was standing frozen by the sink, watching as the wave of water, plastic aquarium plants, aquarium gravel, and ultimately Chuckles washed over the kitchen floor. I grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it with water. I had to scoop up Chuckles and get him in the cup. Q ended up mopping up the water while I got the tank set back up and he is back in the tank hiding behind the plants. Poor guy, he had just gotten settled in from the big move when I brought him home from work. He just started blowing a bubble nest again yesterday, which is what male bettas do when they are feeling happy and secure. Ahh well, all's well that ends well, and I don't have to add another notch to the Gnomeslayer's belt. :)

Caramelized Onion Bao

2009-09-20T15:54:00.001-07:00

I've had a recipe in my trial folder for a long time now. It was from a Cooking Light magazine and it was Ming Tsai's recipe for a vegetarian Chinese steamed bun (here's a link where someone has it posted, I'm too lazy and it's long). My husband and I are very fond of steamed buns, although when we made them before we used some frozen bread dough or something like that. I have always had an aversion to making things with yeast doughs, they haven't ever turned out for me. But I decided that I wanted to try this recipe. When we went grocery shopping yesterday I got all of the ingredients.

I set out this afternoon to make them. I couldn't find the Chinese Black Vinegar at our supermarket, so I had to substitute some vinegar that I had on-hand. I got the filling made, and then set out to make the bread dough. This time I made sure to check the temperature of the water before I put the yeast in. The kneading and resting went well. I filled the buns as directed and let them rest in the refrigerator for two hours before I cooked them. The buns turned out in perfect form. The bread dough was perfect. The problem was the filling. I know that I didn't have the exact vinegar called for in the recipe, but the filling turned out PUNGENT. I still smell like it. My stomach is upset for sure. So I think I'll keep the recipe for the bun and experiment with other fillings. Or I might adjust the filling recipe, and try to get some black vinegar on my next trip to the Asian market.

Anyway, the important part is that I made a yeast dough, and lived to tell about it. Woohoo!! :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2009-09-19T16:03:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I know that rain is good, but come on!! It seems like it has been raining for the last two weeks. Mushrooms are taking over my yard and my garden. I want to go outside and get some work done, but it is RAINING!! So for the last few weekends I have been working on decluttering our spare room. We are getting ready to set up the Gnomeslayer's bedroom, and we're going to have to do some rearranging of rooms. But before I can do that, the spare room had to be emptied out.

I have a confession to make. I come from a family of hoarders. When I was growing up, our room was always a terrible mess, because we were never made to get rid of anything. Most of the time our house was so messy we couldn't have people over. I grew up to be a cluttery adult, and it took a whole lot of embarassment and determination to break out of that cycle. I have swung to other extremes and am very much into the simplification movement. When Elaine St. James came out with her 101 Ways to Simplify Your Life book in the 90's I had an epiphany and learned how to control the things in my life instead of letting it control me.

So flash forward to now. After having the baby, we ended up moving a lot of the things out of the common areas to help with the child-proofing. Then I went through our big bookshelf and culled out about half of the books. They got moved into the spare room too, waiting to get taken to the library bookstore. Then I went through my closet and got rid of clothes that I didn't wear or were too small for me. They also went into the spare room to get taken away. Ditto for various knick-knacks that I have been lugging around with me for a long time, because someone gave them to me. I still had a unicorn blanket from when I was a teenager that I finally decided that I could let go of. There are a lot of things that I had, more out of habit than real desire to keep them. So I got it all bagged up yesterday, and this morning it got taken to the Salvation Army and donated. The SUV was packed full, and I couldn't believe that all of that stuff had come from our house. ;)

I've been watching the "Hoarders" show on A&E for the last few weeks. It reminds me a lot of when I was growing up. My grandpa was definately a hoarder. He had outbuildings stuffed full of cardboard and banding materials that he picked up from the local box factory. There were outbuildings full of discarded books that he brought home from the library. If he would have had the choice of this junk or his kids, I'm pretty sure that he would have chosen the junk. It's watching that show that made me even more determined that dysfunction not be passed along to my daughter. People in my family still suffer from obsessive hoarding. I haven't been in my mom's house for 8 years now, because of her obsessive animal hoarding and the environment there. So watching other people struggling through their problems helps give me ideas on what might help her. BTW, if you need any motivation at all to get up and do some housework, I strongly recommend watching that show (it isn't for the faint of heart sometimes). I haven't watched an episode yet that I didn't have to get up and declutter something or clean something in a commercial break. :) You can even watch episodes online here.

And just so this thread isn't too depressing, here are some pictures of my asters. They have been blooming like mad this week. :)

Rainbow

2009-09-15T19:14:00.001-07:00

I caught this rainbow while I was looking out the front door today. It was a perfect rainbow, both ends were in big, puffy white clouds. I caught it right before it stopped sprinkling. It looks much less dramatic in the picture. :(

New Resident

2009-09-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

I discovered this new resident of my garden today when I went outside. Unfortunately her web is built backwards, with her on the inside so that it was hard to get a clear shot. I had to do some creative climbing over bushes to avoid destroying her web. This is what it looked like standing on the path behind her. Not a very good shot. :)

I did a quick inventory and found that Angel Face has bloomed again.

Laura Bush is blooming too.

And there was a guest in the garden today, hope it stays away from the lady at the top. :)

Earlyworks

2009-09-04T13:52:00.001-07:00

Today we took the Gnomeslayer to the Earlyworks children's museum downtown. It's good to get her out sometimes so that she can run amok somewhere besides our house.

The museum features many exhibits that are both educational about Alabama and early American history, as well as some that are just fun playtime.

There is a giant talking tree that tells stories from back in the Civil War days. Today he told us the story of the "Knee High Man that wanted to grow sizeable", and how he went to a Horse, a Bull and an Owl to get advice. He finds out that it isn't your physical size that is important, it's how big you think.

There were exhibits that detailed Native American culture, African American culture, architecture, handicrafts, transportation, mining, farming and commerce.

There was also a play area that had a tank with floating fish and ducks, a post office, grocery store, garden, chicken coop and puppets. This is our favorite part, because it keeps GS occupied for a long time. It's definately a great place to go when we need to get out of the house for a while. :)

Brooms

2009-08-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

I figured that I would take a break from lots of pictures of flowers with raindrops on them and talk about something else. Back in the late 90's we went back to Arkansas for a visit and while we were there we stopped by the Ozark Folk Center. One of the things that I was fascinated by was the brooms that one of the crafters was making. They are truly works of art. I picked one up, and for years it was the broom that I used to sweep our floors. Now we have updated to a Swiffer sweeper and don't use it, so I have it out on the back porch to sweep off the patio. It has stood up remarkably well, at least until the GS discovered it and started playing with it every time she went out in the back yard. It has been left out in the rain a couple of times now, but still does the job. Next time we head up that way I will have to see if I can find another. :)

PSA: Euphorbia Maculata - Spotted Spurge

2009-08-29T15:11:00.001-07:00

In the springtime this year I noticed a new weed growing in the garden. It had lacy leaves and grew in whorls. I thought it looked like a weed that I had started getting in the end of my time in my North Carolina garden. It starts out small and then starts to radiate stems like this:

I actually thought it was kind of pretty and was growing better than some of the plants in my gravel pathway. I even entertained notions of letting it go for a while and see what it would do. But I am very strict on what I put in my gardens and let live there, so if I didn't plant it, it normally doesn't stay there. I realized by mid-summer that the scree garden idea hadn't been executed very well. I had to spend large amounts of time weeding out unwelcome visitors. And then back about a month ago I was finishing up a class and work was stressful so I didn't get out weeding like I should. And then when we got back from our trip to Arkansas and walked into our back yard we saw the disaster that was left behind.

The Spotted Spurge had covered the entirety of the gravel pathways, you could barely see the stepping stones and couldn't even see the gravel in some places. I decided to go do some internet research and figure out what the heck was growing in my garden. After going through some identification guides, I got the ID. Then I started reading about it with a sinking heart. Spotted Spurge is poisonous. It is low growing so mowing doesn't stop it. It produces copious amounts of seeds. Once it gets started in an area it is difficult to eradicate. I went into the back garden and started working on reclaiming it. My heart kept sinking lower every time I pulled up a mat and saw all of the seeds left behind.It has started growing in the sod in our front yard too, and I'm going to have to go hand pull it because otherwise it will start to take over there too. I guess I have learned another valuable life lesson. :)

Rain

2009-08-28T10:34:00.001-07:00

It looks like it is going to be another rainy weekend. I know that we need rain, but it has all of the weekdays to do that. So I might try to get out and get some work done in betwen showers. On the bright side, Neptune has been covered with blooms and they have started opening. Considering that it was bare of leaves a month ago, I'd say that's pretty good.

In other news, the toad lily on the porch is still blooming away, in spite of my sporadic watering. :)

Camoflauge

2009-08-25T17:37:00.001-07:00

My eye just happened to catch this guy on my flowering quince bush. His color blended in almost perfectly and I had to point him out several times to my husband before he saw him. If you look closely, you can see that he is eating a bug. :)

Quiet Time

2009-08-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

The Gnomeslayer woke me up this morning before 6:00 a.m. We had some breakfast, and then Q watched her while I went outside and did some garden maintenance. I didn't feel up to the task of the scree garden, so I worked on the front beds. It was a cool morning, and dew was all over the grass. I spent about an hour or so, pulling weeds and trimming hedges. Poison ivy had started growing again by the bush that I evicted it from, so I (carefully!) pulled it and tossed it in the garbage. It was the first time I have been able to fully focus on what I was doing, instead of having to chase the GS around the yard and get her out of things that she shouldn't be getting in to. Usually I give up in frustration and go back in the house before I get much done.

I took her out for several walks today to keep her busy and occupied. The first I took her for a ride in her Fire Truck, then two times we went for a walk around the block. My GS has an obsession with rocks now, and collects them as we walk. She has discovered pockets, and the rocks end up in either hers or ours. We went in the back for a bit and I got the camera out to get some pictures. While I was going in for a closeup of the honeysuckle I realized that I was standing in a fire-ant hill. Ouch! I thought I had gotten them off but missed one so I have a big ant bite on my big toe. The evening was perfect, and the cool weather made me think of fall. Too bad that's still a long way away. :)

While You Were Out

2009-08-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

After we got back from our Arkansas trip, we stepped out back to see how the garden had fared. When we left, everything seemed to be fine. The first thing Q noticed was that the lotus container was dry as a bone, dirt cracked and leaves brown. Mind you, we were gone for TWO DAYS. He refilled it and it was bubbling up like a jacuzzi while the parched earth started to drink again.

The scree garden was overrun with weeds, the pond pump had stopped working and the roses all had black spot again. The creeping phlox that has flourished all summer had started to turn brown.

Horsetails had started popping up everywhere.
I kept repeating to myself "We were only gone two days!" It seemed that everything had fallen apart. I guess my task this weekend is to do try to do damage control and get it as cleaned up as I can. On the bright side, my Japanese Anemone finally opened up!

Day 2 - Little Rock River Market

2009-08-16T15:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning we headed to the Little Rock River Market. The River Market is a renovated area in the downtown area. There was a farmer's market:

There were fresh flowers:

There were musicians and artists: And we ate at an area set up with small street food vendors and a common eating area:
It was an interesting place to go, but it was waaaay to hot to be walking around outside. If we go again it will be in the fall.

Arkansas Visit - Day One

2009-08-15T06:09:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we headed out to Arkansas to visit my mother and my sister. We got up at normal work wake up time - 5:00 a.m. The drive is 6-7 hours, so it isn't too challenging. We stopped about an hour in for breakfast, and just past Memphis for lunch. Things went well, the Gnomeslayer fell asleep shortly after we got back in the car. We drove for about another hour and had to stop for a bathroom break. Unfortunately when we stopped GS woke up and started crying and fussing. We tried stopping and letting her out for a while, but whenever we got back in the car she would start up again. We were about an hour from Conway, our destination so we went ahead and pressed on. After a very LONG hour we finally got to our hotel.

My sister came and picked me up, and the GS and I headed over to her place for a visit. We went to the Peyton Creek Catfish House for dinner. When I was planning for the trip, I looked up Conway restaurants and saw this place got very good reviews. It was supposed to be a family-type place, with no frills but good food, and extremely good catfish. My sister and her husband had seen it but never eaten there so we headed out. It was true to the review for the most part. It was very no-frills and basic, the food was served on an all you can eat buffet. The catfish was probably some of the best I have ever had, unfortunately the rest of the food was pretty mediocre. I tried to take some pictures inside but it was so crowded that I couldn't get any good shots.

This place was way off of the beaten path, with fields and woods around it. There was a pasture with horses so I took GS over so that she could see them. While we were standing by the fence I looked down and saw this:

There was a passionflower vine growing along the bottom of it and was in full bloom. I tried growing one of these in my backyard and it didn't work, and here is one growing wild along a fence. Go figure. :)