Oh, My!

Rhizomes, pips, seeds, and bulbs were planted today; the tubers were yesterday.*  I forgot to call to see about having mulch and soil delivered. Hopefully I will remember and it can get here before the next frost. I’m so happy that I got so much planted. I still have some more to plant on another day. Other happy things for today:

• 

  Flying turkey.

  
  
• Nanni, the brown tabby, woke me this morning. It may have been so I could hear Aesop, the dog, whining and wanting to go out. For this first short walk we saw some turkeys. Aesop scared them and they flew away. At least one ended up in a tree.

He is still trying to get up.

He's safe up in a tree!

• There are some flowers that I only seem to see blooming when I walk Aesop in the morning. According to Lens they are either white campion or night-flowering catchfly. My initial research says that both of these bloom at night. Maybe I will find the time to get more information before winter.

• Frost covered the ground this morning.

• Sunset set the trees aglow.

It was a good day.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

*Rhizomes---iris

pips---lily-of-the-valley

bulbs---tulips, crocus, paperwhite (narcissus)

tubers---daylily 

seeds---cereal rye (winter cover crop in the garden)

Dirt

 Next week when my paycheck is here, I will regret that I said yes when they offered to let people go home.  For now, I had a productive day and that is good.  Here are some things that I accomplished and I am happy for today:

• The triangle area of the driveway is now mostly weeded.  I spent most of the day out there with a pitch fork loosening the soil and then sitting or kneeling and pulling everything I could out.  

• There was a small section of daylilies that I pulled out, broke down into smaller parts, and then replanted in different places on the triangle.
• There is a hole, most likely from an animal, in the triangle that I am hesitating on demolishing.  It was kind of cool to find it, but I don't want an animal living there.  I feel like if something is living there, it won't want to now because there is no longer any protection from the elements or predators.

It seems a bit larger than the chipmunk
holes I have seen, but that might be something that I did.

Here it is more open and cleared out.
I tried to leave the outside smooth that I might see
footprints in the morning if it is in use.

• Zed and I measured the triangle.  It is about 27 feet wide at the base by the sidewalk and about 25 feet long on each side to the apex.  That makes the area just over 284 square feet.  I will need these measurements when I buy mulch.
• It is cold tonight.  The temperatures should go down around 32 degrees.  I brought the potted plants onto the porch and noticed that the zinnia still has blossoms.

• The sun and the roses.

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Old House

The to-do list I set for myself today was a little bit long, so I didn't expect to finish it.  One item I gave myself a time limit to only work so long on.  I ignored that and got a small section of the front triangle weeded and then planted.  I moved the wild sweet William and tried to make that the center of the triangle. Around that I planted some of the iris, daylily and lily-of-the-valley from the thinning I did a week or two ago.  I also planted some of the paper white bulbs I got from my aunt over the summer.  There were a few bulbs that I found while taking out the weeds that I replanted and then a few more from the package I bought this year.  Wow!  Hopefully I will do something similar to the rest of the triangle area before it gets too cold.  

It doesn't look like a big area,
but it felt like it!

Other things I am happy for today:
 

• At first glance I thought the bird was a sparrow.  Zed pointed out to me the pretty yellow spots though and I looked up.  Lens thinks that the bird is a yellow-rumped warbler and a small search agrees that it is a warbler.

Yellow-rumped warbler.

• Keziah was hoping to sand and repaint some areas of the house where the paint is chipped.  Unfortunately, there was a bit more rot than anticipated.  The happy part of this is the tiny bit of history.  According to the side of the house, it was built in 1745.  Some old nails have been pulled out!  There is a door that was used as a wall too.

Keyhole in the former door.

Mostly nails made by a blacksmith.

• The sunset and the crescent moon that followed were both lovely.

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

                                  

Where is the Foliage?

 On days that I don't work and return to what some might consider a 'normal' sleep schedule, I get up real early.  This morning as I make my way downstairs I notice how bright the moon is by the shadows it is casting.  Sometime in the next few minutes I remember I have a new phone, with a new camera, and I could see how it performs in the night.  I step outside in my bathrobe and notice how amazingly fresh the air is and the constellation Orion.  Another step and there is the moon, above Orion.  I take a couple pictures and retreat back into the house before a car drives by.  

As with my last phone camera,
the moon seems to create another light.
Most of Orion is visible,
even with the waning gibbous moon.

Other things that I am happy for today:

• There was to much time spent down the internet rabbit hole this morning.  I was able to find a blog I keep forgetting to follow.  I am happy to have found again, Fabled Practice.
• Another thing I was able to do while in that rabbit hole was to update my Amazon wish list a little.
• Yesterday I finished clearing an area of rhizomes, tubers, and pips.  Today I replanted some.  They have room to grow and I have a bunch of rhizomes, tubers, and pips to plant in other places.  Hopefully this will happen before they go bad.

The irises in the back, then daylilies.
Closest are the lily-of-the-valley
 that are mostly underground.
I put the pitchfork there as
 a rough measurement.

Close up of a pip.

• Aesop, the dog, decided that eating snowberries would be a good thing.  He seems fine and probably didn't get any because the cone he is wearing makes it hard to reach somethings.  According to one website I saw the berries often pass through without the toxins being absorbed.  As far as I can tell, I cut down all the branches from the offending plant.  One less thing to worry about for now.

Snowberries.
They remain on the plant all winter.
Some animals and birds can eat them.

Snowberry flower.

This is the one quince on the bush that the
 snowberries seemed to be taking over.
It will need more work if we decide to try to save it.

• I forced myself out for a walk so I could get my step count.  I checked Facebook while I was out and in my memories was a picture of last year's foliage.  I went out and tried to match the spot to get another picture to compare.  I couldn't get the exact spot, but there is a big difference in foliage.

This is from last year,
September 27, 2020.

This was taken today-
September 27, 2021.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Rhizomes and Tubers and Pips, Oh, My!

 There is a large-ish section by the driveway that has flowers growing there that I have wanted to thin.  The plants came in very crowded and I had no way of knowing when the last time they were thinned.  My plan was to do the section with the irises, daylilies, and lily-of-the-valley.  I haven't measured, but I'd guess around an eight by three or four foot section between the driveway, roses, wall, and shed.  I have managed to pull just about everything out of a section from the roses that is about two feet or so wide to the wall.  Things were VERY rootbound.  I'm thrilled that I got this much done and have decided that this section is enough for this year.  Here are some things I am happy about concerning the thinning:

• I learned a bit about rhizomes, tubers, and pips.  The rhizomes are parts of the irises and can be partially uncovered from the soil.  The daylillies have tubers that look vaguely like carrots.  The lily-of-the-valley have pips and they have so many roots that grow from them and tangle together.
• I set a limit as to how far to go with thinning.  I did this before becoming completely overwhelmed.  
• Once I set that limit as to how much to thin, I realized that if I totally mess up this thinning process, all is not lost, there is still the rest of the section that is overrun with rhizomes and tubers and pips, oh, my!

Rhizomes... and at least one pip.

Tubers

The cleared section.

Other things I am happy about today:

• Yesterday the case for my phone arrived and I put it on the phone.  Today after working in the dirt of the garden and being outside a bunch it was dirty.  It was the coolest thing to be able to take the phone in its case and rinse it off to remove the debri.  Waterproof phone case, yay!
• Plans are under way to invite people into our SCA household.  I hope they say yes.
• Turkeys in the yard!

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Good Dog

Thursdays are long.  After working all night I come home, nap for a bit, and then try to be human in the evening to have family time.  Instead of Star Trek or Doctor Who, we had friends over for a little SCA gathering to talk about the event we are having in a few weeks.  Ideally this will be another step toward the new pandemic normal.  The site tokens will be masks.  Other happy things for today:

• There was another observation of my performance at work today.  The person who did it was very impressed with how I organized in order to sort the packages.  I now have more swag bucks.  Eventually I will look at the things available to buy with the swag bucks to see what I want.

• We had two sets of friends over.  One had their two year old daughter along.  She and Aesop seemed to get along really well.  She decided that his crate was her little play house.  Very cute.

• Aesop loved playing with the other friends too.  

• It rained a little today.  The daylily was speckled with water.

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.
    -This book was published in 1985.  I'm taking my time reading and haven't gotten too far yet.  Some of the information is definitely outdated as advances have been made with lighter weight materials and such.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Gideon Words

 For some reason this summer feels to me like the time of the daylilies.  It isn't that I haven't seen them in years past, it is that I didn't really notice them.  They seem to be everywhere in a wide collection of colors.  A quick Google search tells me that one of the things that daylilies symbolize is "forgetting worries."  Daylilies are a happy thing for today.

I love how the coloring alternates on this one.

It is hard to see, but along the wall it is all daylilies.

Other happy things for today:

• TF and I had a long conversation about many things today.  Her uplifting attitude was what I needed to get me out for a walk.
• There were two walks today, one with Gideon and one by myself.  It is always good when I get Gideon to go with me.  We talk about Minecraft.
• For dinner tonight I made broccoli and Annie's Shells and Cheese for Gideon and myself.  Gideon exclaimed, "I just hit the cheese jackpot!"  My first reaction was to apologize for not stirring the mixture well.  Then I realized that hitting the jackpot is a good thing.  😀

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Where is the rain?

There was supposed to be rain.  I mean, there were torrential downpours last night, but it was supposed to rain today.  There were some sprinkles, but not the rain I expected.  Not the rain that brought me home from the mountains last night instead of today.  I'm glad I wasn't out in the rain last night or in the tent, but I may have been more motivated to walk if I had been in the mountains today.

It has been a long day with lack of motivation and fighting with depression. I'm very thankful for the long conversation with TF today after we did our weekly goal setting. Part of our conversation was about electrolyte drinks and how they may help give me a boost at work.  Here is a website with a medieval recipe for mint sekanjabin.  Adding a little of this to water will add some flavor and electrolytes for when a person is really active to help maintain hydration.  I've had other flavors as well.  My favorite is a cinnamon/nutmeg/clove flavor.  Other happy things for today:

• It took a while to pull myself up enough to take a walk today, but I did.  It has been a little over eleven months now that I have managed to reach my 10,000 steps a day goal.  Just a few more weeks and it will be a year.
• For some reason this year I am noticing that daylilies come in many different colors.  I'm liking this and may find some other colors to add to what we have.  The following pictures are daylilies from a house down the street that I saw on my walk.  

• Gideon got a haircut.  He has had shoulder length hair with an undercut for quite a long time.  He decided that it is time for a change.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Daylily

 It has been about 24 hours since I potted some plants and left them by the house-not in the garden-and so far they have not been eaten by the groundhog.  This makes me happy and hopeful.  Other things I am happy for today:

• My work hours are from 1:20 AM to 11:50 AM.  I realized that it is pretty much always appropriate to greet someone by saying, "Good morning."  🌞
• They got a dunk tank at work, like one might see at a carnival, so the employees could throw balls at the big red button and dump a manager into the water.  I missed, but at least four other people did not before I left for home.
• When I got out of the car at home I turned and looked at where the irises were earlier in the year.  There is a different colored daylily there that I don't think I remember from last year?  

Daylily, according to Lens.

• Keziah felt that Winston, the orange tabby, had been trying to tell her something today.  I don't know about that, but cute moments with Gideon did happen.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe

All About the Gideon

 Keziah and Zed are off celebrating their eleventh year anniversary this weekend.  Gideon is having an adventure weekend with different family members.  Today, with me, was adventure prep.  We went to the store and got the last few things he needs, like bug spray, for the weekend.  It was our own little shopping adventure.  Other happy things for today:

• Gideon was a super helper this morning when we worked on sewing up more of the garden fence to the deer netting.  
• Gideon was a super good sport when we tried to set up a Minecraft game by getting the two computers to talk to each other and we failed.  
• Gideon was also awesome and quiet while I slept this afternoon.  I hope I am ready to work nights starting Tuesday!
• In the late afternoon I went out and deadheaded the rose bushes and pulled some weeds.  I also found fresh blossoms.  

Butterfly Bush.

Butterfly Bush, close up.

Yellow daylily.

Orange daylily.

Roses.

A rose.

More roses.  Yes, everything smells like roses.

• Nanni watched me prune the roses through the porch window.

Nanni.

🌹 ☮ 🌹

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading!  Stay safe.