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.

It's Pickin' Time!

 Changing my sleep schedule isn't going as well as I had hoped.  There is still time.  Instead of me waking up Zed this morning, he woke me up.  It was a good morning though.  Everyone but Zed, who had to work, went and picked strawberries at a local farm.  Gideon has been eagerly anticipating strawberry picking for a few weeks.  We still had guests and the five of us picked around 28 pounds of strawberries.  The picking was great!  

Our friends headed back to Pennsylvania after lunch with their strawberries.  When we got home I picked five more from our little strawberry patch.  Fresh strawberries and the following are my happy things for today:

• As I prepare for this new overnight job, the time after lunch is when I hope to have my best sleep time.  I went to bed later than I had hoped and woke earlier than I had hoped.  What woke me?  A thunderstorm rolled in this afternoon.  It was loud and very close.  I opened the blinds and watched the sky darken.  Soon there were little pit pats on the leaves of the tree outside my window.  It only took a few minutes before the pit pats were a dull roar as the rain streamed down.  The sky started to lighten and soon the storm was gone.  
• The afternoon was sunny after that and I was able to find a rainbow.

It is so hard to capture rainbows.

• For dessert, we had strawberry shortcake with some of those fresh picked strawberries.  Yum!

🍓 ☮ 🍓

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading, stay safe.

Dear Universe

 As I rest, trying to take a nap as part of my shifting sleep schedule to prepare to work nights, I question my sanity.  Are nights really going to work for me?  Why did I choose nights anyway?  I have worked nights in the past, I know I can.  I chose a three day work week.  I have wanted a three day work week for years.  A few years ago I wrote this and put it onto my LinkedIn account:

"Dear Universe,

I would like a change in jobs. I'd like to make at least $15 an hour plus benefits. 3 day full-time work week preferred with 12 hour days, no weekends required. Peaceful and happy with a moderate activity level, I like to be walking around. Within 45 minutes of my home and still in NH, although I am willing to travel. Independent work or friendly environment that will fit well with my life. Time off for Vacations, Holidays and Pennsic are a must. Willing to learn while still earning. Suggestions welcome.

PS-Something that might help me to learn or train more for hiking the AT might be nice too. :)"

The shifts are 10 hours long instead of twelve, but there are benefits and it is over $15 an hour.  No weekends, but that could change during busy/overtime periods.  I may have to work on holidays.  They could also decide to just change my hours.  I won't know the answers to some of my requests to the Universe until I have started working.  It seems like I am getting most of what I asked for.  Only time will tell if my request was poor.  All this means is that I am not losing my sanity (or it isn't there to be lost🤪).  Yay!  Other happy things for today:

• Wildflowers.

This is called Fox and Cubs.
I had a different name for it, but
research shows that I am wrong.
Either way, I like it.
Yes, like much on this property,
it is considered invasive.

Lens has told me this is meadow hawkweed.

I didn't need Lens to tell me this is a daisy.

• I climbed into the netting and picked SIX strawberries!  One of them was really tiny.  The netting seems to be helping to keep the animals away from them.  I added some more landscape staples to hold the net down better in a few places.

Photo courtesy of Keziah.

Big basket for a few lovely strawberrries.

• Last year the blueberries were eaten by birds before we had any.  This was followed by the drought and I thought we were going to lose the bush.  It seems to be coming back though.  There won't be too many blueberries, but it looks like we might get some.

Not the clearest picture...
They should be ripe some time in July.

• The roses that are by the shed are opening now too.

Roses.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading!  Stay safe.

Irrigation-Check

In my pursuit to rearrange my sleep schedule, this morning went a little better than yesterday.  I was out of bed by 4:30 AM and wasn't quite as tired when I awoke as I was yesterday.  My midday nap happened later than I hoped, but I had no problem falling asleep.  The hot and humid weather only made it a little harder to stay asleep.  So far I am pleased with how the sleep routine change is going.  Other things I am happy about today:

• My back has been giving me some problems since weeding so much on Monday.  I set a time limit for how long to pull them today.  There are so many that I know I will never be able to keep up with them.  Last year I painted some rocks, as did Keziah, and I was given one from a friend.  I set them out onto the triangle.

Someday I hope to have many rocks, painted or not,
to adorn this area along with flowers.

• Behind the butterfly weed a yellow primrose has bloomed.

Yellow Evening Primrose.

• The yellow foxgloves are also blooming.  It turns out that some plants that I thought were foxgloves, aren't.  It is really easy to tell the difference now that some is blooming.

Yellow Foxglove.

• The other concentration of my efforts in the garden was to recreate some of the irrigation system that I have been working on.  I am pleased to say that I have successfully put together a series of regular hoses with the soaker hoses.  I still have to move around the main hose between areas, but it is much more -set it and forget- than before.  One of my purchase goals after I have a job will be to pick up some timers so the garden gets watered without me having to remember.
• It looks like there will be more strawberries in the next few days!

There are some showing signs on other plants too.

☮

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

    I finally finished this book today!  Full of information and aimed for children I thought I would have found more time to read it and get through it faster.  

Thanks for reading and stay safe.

Strawberry

 Day two of getting up super early was not a complete success.  I was out of bed before five in the morning, but my first alarm went off at four.  Today's nap time went better, a little over two hours compared to yesterday's 40 minutes.  All this is to start training my body for when I start work overnights.  I have received confirmation and I start work in the wee hours of the morning on June 22nd.  Other happy things for today:

• Some basil made it into the garden today.  Hopefully the heat wasn't too much for it.

Tomatoes will go in that area too.

• Last night, after watering the plants, I noticed a chipmunk that seemed to be trying to get into the netted strawberries.  This morning I put some more landscaping staples through the net into the ground to make it more secure.  Then I harvested the very first strawberry!  It is the only one close to ripe.  I brought it inside and shared it with the family. It was our celebratory snack.

I can't cut even.

• A garter snake crossed my path.  I think that means good luck.  
• The weather was still in the 90's today.  I met a friend and we took a short walk.  It was shaded and lovely.  Still too hot though to exert too much energy.  

Roots and Lake Massabesic.

Lake Massabesic.

• My friend got me a hat.  A few weeks ago we had a talk about hats and long hair.  I'm loving the hat and am very grateful for generous friends.

The sides go up cowboy hat style.

My braids can fit out the back.
So loving that hat!

• Someday, that hat will get introduced to rain, not on the first day out though.  The sky had grown thick with clouds throughout the day.  Storms went by.  Things cooled a bit.

The heavy cloud broke open and spilled onto the earth.

• Zed's father came by to help Zed with a few things.  Afterwards, he came inside and visited for a short while.  We watched a bunch of the videos from the wildlife camera.  I haven't made the time recently to post any on YouTube.  So many things are changing...I'll try to do so again soon though.  It was nice to share and get reactions and discussions.

☮

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

Thanks for being here, stay safe.

Rainy Sunday

 Today the rain held off until lunch time.  I didn't go out first thing though, I wanted to do a job search first.  I've applied for another job and I have a pre-hire appointment on Tuesday.  It was all automatic.  The introvert in me loves the lack of contact leading up to this.  The old person inside though, they are a little weirded out by the lack of real people involved.  I'm just glad I am finally getting this job hunt going.  Other things I am happy about today:

• It is the end of the month and I remembered to fertilize the plants.  Yay!
• There are some plants under the fruit trees that look like more strawberry plants but I have been trying to ignore them.  The fruit trees are the priority in that area.  They have been mowed once this year and a few times last year.  Looking at them today and seeing how well the ones I replanted the other day are doing (so far), I may try to move these soon too.  I really enjoy strawberries, can you tell?

• For a while today I just relaxed in front of the TV watching Grace and Frankie on Netflix and pacing for steps between the episodes.
• It was another cool, wet day with temperatures in the mid 40's.  In the evening I turned on the gas fireplace.  It is what I needed to take the chill out of my bones.  

Winston by me as we warmed ourselves by the fire.

Nanni found a high place where the heat rose to.

☮

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

Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Bittersweet

 As the end of the month draws near it is time for me to move funds around to pay my mortgage.  With that task and getting my mail at the post office where the house I own is in mind, I did these errands this morning.  Because I also wanted to get out and get a few steps in I made some other small stops.  One of them was just a parking lot but the other was a cemetery.  Having planted flowers earlier this week at family members' gravesites I was reminded of an app that I haven't used in a very long time, Find a Grave.  People request pictures of gravestones to help further their genealogy research.  I was able to find two graves in the cemetery I stopped at.  One was easy to find as she was my best friend from high school's mom.  The other was a common name in the town so I had a good idea where to look.  I spent a lot of time in that particular cemetery growing up as it is very near the house with that mortgage I need to pay.  Helping people with their genealogy endeavors and the following are my happy things for today:

• Last year, after buying strawberry plants so we could have some here, we found some already growing.  They were in the part of the garden that was overgrown with autumn olive trees and bittersweet.  Most of the autumn olive was cut down a few weeks ago.  The bittersweet that I cut last year has grown back.  Some of today was spent pulling up roots and saying goodbye to weeds.

There is still a bunch of bittersweet but
it is coming from the other side of the fence.
Hopefully I will get to that over the weekend.

• In the process of pulling the bittersweet, the strawberry plants came up too.  They haven't seemed to produce anything since we moved here last year, so I moved them.  

The first area, before the rock,
has radishes planted.
The line up the middle after that are strawberry plants.
It seemed like a good time to add the soaker hose too.

• We aren't sure who was driving but this happened...

The taco truck is in need of a body shop.
The cats are fine.
It is suggested that catnip may have played a part.
😀🤣😂

☮

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

    Did you know that it matters how fresh the grass is that is growing for the animals that eat it?

Thank you for being a happy part of my life.  Stay safe.

Thursday Happy Things

 This is the second day in a row that I have managed to get up and out of the house around eight in the morning, before the heat of the day sets in.  Maybe this will become a habit...just in time for me to get a job.  Other things I am happy about today:

• Keziah surprised me by coming outside and helping me pull up the weeds around the blueberry bush.  A bunch of the cypress spurge got pulled too.
• The burlap is around the strawberries, blueberries, marigolds, and the foxglove that we found growing there.

Looking mostly north.

Looking mostly south.
The blueberry bush casts a nice shadow.

• One of the strawberry plants had a little bud this morning that wasn't quite opened.

Strawberry bud.

    

• While making dinner tonight I heard from a friend that I haven't seen in quite some time.  She and her husband traveled the country performing at libraries and schools for children before the pandemic.  Their travels will be bringing them back to the east coast in the fall.  One of the neat things about Pokemon Go and Harry Potter Wizard's Unite games are that items are shared between players from places that they have been.  So I have had a good idea when they have been near LA or Las Vegas or wherever.

☮

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

Stay safe.

New Plants

There are things I should have done outside before the weather got hot.  Now I must work harder at getting up earlier.  Today I did okay with that.  I got up earlier than I have been and was out of the house a little after eight this morning.  My goal for what I wanted to accomplish was not reached, but I am a lot closer.  I also have more ideas that I hope to implement in this area where my strawberry and blueberry plants are.

This picture is my 'before' one.

This is during.
I'm trying to remove as many weeds as 
possible while retaining as much dirt as I can.
Removing grubs is also important.

This is where I ended before having lunch.
The blueberry plant is just about two feet farther I think.
I'm not sure how much more I will do after the blueberry plant.

Getting this far weeding is a happy for today, here are some more:

• Gideon came outside and helped me get to the finish-for-the day spot l decided on for weeding as well as the cutting and placing of the burlap.  He was a great helper!
• Walking around the yard today for measuring purposes Keziah and I noticed some more lilacs.  Looking through the window I wasn't positive that they were white lilacs or maybe some other flowering plant.  This means there are lilacs along the road in the front of the house, between one of the neighbors and us, and behind the house.  No wonder all the yards smell like lilacs!  

• A new to me plant (at least I don't remember it from before) seems to be called naked broomrape (NY Times article).  It is also called cancer root.  The scientific name is Orobanche uniflora.  Whatever it is called it is still a parasitic plant, it eats other plants.  Soon it will be relocated to the Japanese knotweed or some similar area of unwanted plants and away from my blueberry plant.  Learning new things. 👍

Naked broomrape lacks chlorophyll.

• Another plant that I am not sure was there or not last year, Lens identified as a type of sage or a clary.  I need to do more research on it, but I am too tired for that tonight!

Sage?

• Just before dark I went outside to take the finished-for-the-day picture of the strawberry area progress that I hadn't taken earlier.  It was good timing.  I remembered to water the plants, picked up a few things I had forgotten from earlier, and got to enjoy a few moments of the sunset.

☮

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

Stay safe!

 Below is the list of YouTube videos from the wildlife camera and when they will be available.  This is likely the last time I will be posting a list like this.  Please subscribe there if you are interested.  Really cool things, I'll post here too.  The links below will only work after the time listed for the video.  Thank you for reading and watching.

Chipmunk public on May 19, 2021 at 8 PM.

Deer drinking public on May 20, 2021 at 8 PM.

Deer eating public on May 21, 2021 at 8 PM.

Maybe two deer public on May 22, 2021 at 8 PM.

Gopher public on May 23, 2021 at 8 PM.

Racoon public on May 24, 2021 at 8 PM.

Blue jay public on May 25, 2021 at 8 PM.

Blue jay public on May 26, 2021 at 8 PM.

Deer at night public on May 27, 2021 at 8 PM.

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.