Training.

 On Sunday I took the broken parts of the marigold plant and set some to dry, collected seed, and I am trying to propagate three others in a pot.  So far, the propagating prospective plants have survived the frost and three days.  Not very long, but they still look pretty good.

Other things I am happy for today:

• They were overstaffed at work and looking for people to volunteer to go home.  Instead, I asked if I could be trained in something else.  It seemed like a good time.  I am now trained in diverting/pushing.  I had done a little of this before but not had the official training.  
• So far, the thundershirt we got for our dog, Aesop, seems to be working well.  It may even be too good.  He didn't even get up when I came home.

• I worked at removing weeds from the triangle area of the yard. If I can get more things planted there before the end of the month it will be good and I will be ahead of when I planted things last year.  

☮

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

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

Sun Sets

 Aesop, the dog, keeps trying to give Winston, the orange tabby cat, his rawhide bone.  It doesn't go well.  Winston just gets mad and defensive.  Aesop starts getting anxious because his attempts at friendship are met with anger and aggression.  I have mixed feelings.  It bothers me that Aesop gets anxious and barks a lot to try to get Winston's attention.  It also bothers me that Winston feels that he has to defend himself.  On the other hand-I'm happy that Aesop is trying to make friends and I am happy that Winston wants to protect himself.  Pets...  Things I am happy for today:

• It has been a few days since I went through one of the boxes that I brought over from being stored last week.  I only went through one of them today.  I didn't empty it, but I did get rid of a bunch of things that were in it.  Most of what is left are pictures and a book and some things to file.  
• I climbed into the netted area to check out the strawberry plants and the marigold.  A few days ago I noticed that the marigold was broken, as if stomped on.  One of the first things I noticed was a hole, like a chipmunk hole.  I'm not sure what I am going to do about this yet.  I'm glad I have a theory about the breakage and can think about this for next year.

This marigold is so big.

• With the marigold plant, it is so big I took some clippings to dry and to attempt to propagate.  I also gathered seeds from it.
• I took a walk with Aesop and got some pictures that I really like.

I love this part of the
conservation area with the birch trees.

Still some color on the property.

Setting sun.

Setting sun.

• Gideon joined TF and I while we played Minecraft tonight.  It was nice to have another player.  He watches videos on Minecraft all the time and helps us learn about more things.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.
        People atop the mountain started recording temperatures in the mid 1800's.

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

Another Tiny Harvest

 It was hard to wake up and every time I sat down today for too long I drifted off.  Now I am preparing to sleep so I can get up in a few hours to go to work.  I had a leisurely day.  I walked the dog-twice, did a load of dishes, and thought about going through a box in my room.  Afternoon, I realized how little I had done and decided that I needed at least one happy thing and I remembered the marigold that is very large and blooming near the strawberry and blueberry plants.  I have been surprised at how big it is and now it is covered in blooms.  

Crawling by to get to the blueberries
 I knocked off a branch.
The branch is now in the house in water.

Other happy things for today:

• When I went for the picture of the marigold the strawberries that I saw coming in a week or so ago were ripe.  

• There were a few blueberries too.

• One of the things that I enjoy about working nights and having a weird eating pattern is the ability to have ice cream after my meal at midday and call it dessert.
• One of the rose bushes has another bloom too.  

☮

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

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

Fruit of Labor

 The garden, as it were, is being used as a fenced area for the dog to be off leash instead of, you know, a garden.  There are still a few things growing there, but most of what I had wanted to grow didn't, or was eaten by other animals once planted.  Unfortunately, I stopped doing much in the way of gardening.  Frustration over the groundhogs and getting a job are my excuses.  Last week I even forgot to water most of the indoor plants.  I noticed that there were still a few blueberries on the bush to be picked so I decided it was time.  The blueberry bush and some of the strawberry plants are not in the main garden, I planted them where there were once flowers by the driveway.  I also covered them with netting and put in drip water irrigation.  They are relatively safe.  Still, I left them alone too.  Today I got out and picked blueberries from my bush for the second time this year. 

Not many, I know.
The bush suffered from the drought last year.
I'm thrilled that it is producing at all. 

Other things I am happy for today:

• I didn't just pick blueberries.  I was going to get under the netting, pick blueberries, and close it back up.  Instead I started pulling weeds.  

This is a mostly before photo of the area.

After.  Outside of the netting still needs a lot of work.

I sat next to this basket to try to get some scale.
It is full of the weeds I pulled.

• In the process of pulling the weeds I uncovered the strawberry plants.  Some of them are trying to produce more fruit!  There are also many runners so I will need to get those planted soon too. 

• I had planted marigolds around the strawberries.  One survived and should bloom soon.

Marigold.

• Someone at work noticed that I have been there for more than thirty days.  When I was hired, my badge was on a red lanyard which was supposed to go away after thirty days.  The hook on the red lanyard gave up a few weeks ago and I have been keeping my badge in my back pocket.  Now I have one that clips onto the vest with a retractable cord.  Snazzy.

Yes, I wear a bright and reflective safety vest.

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.  

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

Planters

 On my way out of work today a coworker made conversation with me.  I keep to myself, mostly.  I can't do small talk and work.  Breaks are spent in the car.  It was nice.  Other happy things for today:

• For lunch at work this week, I have salads.  Yay for a healthy choice.
• Since making the decision to embrace the groundhogs I haven't been out to the garden much.  It has also been raining a bunch.  All the plants I have inside still needed attention though.  I got some of them into pots and put them outside of the apartment at the back of the house.  Hopefully this is far enough away from the groundhogs.  There is still a possibility that the chipmunks are sharing in the garden destruction, but I hope not.

I planted a couple small tomato plants
that I started from seed.
There are more, for another day.

Three of the zinnia plants.

Some geranium, I may keep these potted regardless.

• There are blueberries ready to harvest.  I'm waiting until tomorrow to be sure.

Just a few ripe blueberries, so far.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

    Yogurt recipes!

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

New to Me Plant

 It is good to have a day off.  I've had three days of work and already I want to be home instead.  I'm sure that there is a lot that someone could read into that... Anyhow, Keziah and I spent some time clearing out the bittersweet, the trees the bittersweet killed, and the general area along the south fence.  There is more pick up to do tomorrow, some equipment had problems and our energy waned.  

Keziah cutting things down.

So much bittersweet at her feet!

Bye-bye tree!

Having help today made a huge difference with what got done.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Since the zinnia I planted yesterday didn't get eaten by the various rodents that seem to think I am planting for them, I planted a couple more and one of the marigold plants.

• I discovered a new-to-me clover today.  I didn't realize they came in yellow.

According to Lens this is large hop clover.

• The crab apples seem to be doing alright.  We did a bunch of pruning of the trees earlier in the spring as well as removing some bittersweet and Norway maple.

Lens identified this as a crab apple.

• ANother thing I did earlier in the spring was to clear out the area between the garden and the sumac trees/grape vines to make a pathway.  To the other side of the sumac and grape vines are tiger daylilies.  I imagine that many years ago this looked much different and not the jungle it is now.  

There are many, many daylilies.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading, stay safe.

Target

 It is only 7:30 PM and I have sat down to write this at a reasonable hour.  Writing earlier is a goal that I should work harder to achieve.  Tomorrow I am picking up Keziah in Massachusetts and will need to wake up earlier than I have been.  Hopefully I will be able to fall asleep tonight.  I didn't spend as much time outside as I might have liked, but I had some errands to run.  I brought home pizza to throw in the oven for dinner; that made everyone happy.  Other happy things for today:

• I planted some of the marigold that I started from seed a few weeks ago.  They are still small, but the roots are coming out of the seed starter.  I put six of them by the strawberry plants.  

The good looking part of the strawberries.

A wee little marigold.

• There is still a lot of pulling of weeds that needs to happen by the strawberries.  I didn't clear out like the area above yet (with the burlap) but I pulled around the other strawberry plants so that more sun can get in.  Someday I hope to purge the area of the many cypress spurge that want to overwhelm the plants I want.

Cypress spurge.

• Keziah noticed someone was giving away large log rounds for free and thanks to a person from out Barony some of these are now in the back.  These will become targets for thrown weapons.  It is one of the things we will need in order to have a thrown weapons range on the property.  

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

Stay safe.