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.

Flora

 Work was long, especially after not getting enough sleep last night.  I just couldn't fall asleep.  One of the things I tend to do when I get home from work is to take off the steel toed shoes and stretch out my back on my bed sideways, with my legs up against the wall.  Generally I fight the nap that wants to take over, today I didn't.  It was less than an hour nap and allowed me to have enough motivation to do laundry and think about working in the garden.  It also meant that Winston, the orange tabby, could sleep on my pillow.

Instead of working in the garden, I observed some areas and tried to make a game plan in my head.  Then I walked around the yard and some of the property and found my happy place for today.  

I tried growing zinnia, this is one that lived.

I believe these seeds are from wild lettuce.
I love parachute seeds.
Whether or not I like what they produce varies.
😉

We let these black-eyed Susans grow in
the section of yard they chose this year.
They are getting ready for winter.
More in the same area next year would be nice.

This aster plant was the place to go for a bunch of bees.
One could think it was the only flowering plant around!

Bee.

This sack is really a bunch of
parachute seeds from a thistle.

☮

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

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

I Dislike Coming Up With Titles

We had expected company this evening but they had to cancel because of a work thing.  Instead, some other friends and their children came by.  Mexican food was ordered, yum.  From this I get a lovely quote from Gideon's friend, "I think that nachos are one of the best foods in the world!"  Other happy things from today:

• TF and I switched our Minecraft night to tonight.  We have been building a rail system.  
• Work switched me back to the pick to buffer job today and I ended up with 30,000 steps before leaving work!
• Over the weekend we had a yard sale and one of the folks who came brought flowers from their garden.  They are still looking pretty!  

Zinnia!

☮

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.

Happy Independence Day

 The zinnia that I planted in the garden have been consumed, most likely by the woodchuck/groundhog.  I missed the window of no rain today by being distracted by things to do inside so no changes were made in the garden.  I need to rethink my strategies.  Instead I will do my best to focus on the things growing well in the garden.  Happy things for this Fourth of July:

• The peaches in the garden seem to be doing well.

Marjorie.

• The basil and Egyptian walking onion are also doing well.

• Some of the inside plants that are waiting for a safe place to go outside are doing okay.  

A zinnia, blooming, even though it is getting root bound.

Petunia.

• After dinner I went for a walk in the sprinkles and rain.  I had a lot of steps to take in order to reach my step goal.  On the way back to the house, I could watch the fireworks being set off down the street from us.    

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Happy July!

 It had been my intention to work tomorrow and get some extra time in.  Yesterday and today I was given the opportunity to leave early and I took it.  Saturday Keziah and I have our first in-person SCA event in over a year because of the pandemic.  Since extra work is an option, I decided to be awake for the event and not tired from working the day before.  Tomorrow is payday and it appears the money is in the bank.  Yay!  Other things I am happy for today:

• Special thanks to Reader --K who suggested spreading the crushed pepper to help discourage the woodchucks/groundhogs.  I don't know if it has worked yet, but I feel good having taken this action.  
• To test the pepper, I planted two more of the zinnia plants.  They are getting very root bound so need to be planted somewhere.  If they survive the night, I might plant a few more tomorrow.

And so the ground is sprinkled with red pepper confetti.

• It has only been since last weekend, but it feels much longer, since I sat down with the family for dinner.  Zed cooked up some salmon and it came out perfectly!  Every once in a while it is okay not to sleep, right?

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading, 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.

Pretty Weeds

 For my first day of work off, I slept in.  Isn't that what one is 'supposed' to do on a day off?  I spent part of the morning either being mildly productive or avoiding being productive.  Another classic day off strategy.  After lunch I made my way out to the garden.  Here I was very productive doing things that I wanted to do, but that weren't the high parts of my priority list.  It was a good day.  Here are other happy things from today:

• I planted something.  There is a small section of the garden that I pulled roots from, strained dirt back into, and needed to finish putting dirt back into.  I found even more roots that I missed the first time through, but got the dirt back in.  I had a zinnia that looked close to gone that is now planted there.  Maybe tomorrow I will get some more into that area.  

Poor lonely zinnia.
I hope it makes it.

• Some of the tiger daylilies that are by the common milkweed have opened.

Tiger daylilies with common milkweed behind.

• Yesterday I weed whacked in the garden and today I pulled weeds.  A few weeks ago I had noticed that the woodchucks, or some other critter, had eaten the greens off the radish plants.  While pulling weeds I found that some of the radish bottoms were still okay and I pulled them to eat.  Yay! A small harvest.

Radishes.

Midway into weeding.
The garden needs more of my attention.

• There is a trip that I am planning with some friends at the end of August.  I sent out an email this morning in preparation.  This trip is to check the contents of our SCA trailer in Pennsylvania and I am more excited to go than I probably should be for this task.
• It was just Zed and I for dinner and Zed had errands.  He picked up dinner at Subway-I am very full and it is good.
• Here are some pictures that I took today of some plants on the property.

The butterfly weeds.

Butterfly weed up close.
No butterflies on it when I looked.

Common milkweed up close.
It is so pretty.
I can see the relationship between this and the butterfly weed.

Yarrow.

Black-eyed Susan.

Raspberry, it may be a black raspberry
not yet ripe.

☮

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

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Shoulder Cat

 There is a project that I should have been working on the last few weeks and one thing or another has delayed my starting it.  I now have until Thursday to complete making an Elizabethan coif.  Not just making one, but embellishing it with embroidery.  The embroidery is the time consuming part.  The embroidery will not be as elaborate as what I have been looking at for inspiration, or as well done.  I'll be doing it in stages, just in case I am not able to finish the embroidery, so that the coif can be sewn together and hopefully not be lopsided by Thursday.  I got to visit someone today who helped guide my process and will be there for me if I need knowledge, supplies, or encouragement this week while I work on this project.  For this I am thankful and happy.  Other happy things for today:

• More things that I planted are sprouting.  

These are giant zinnia,
or at least that is what they 
will grow up to be!

• Winston, the orange tabby, decided that my sitting down with fabric and embroidery supplies was the perfect time for him to want attention.  

I thought he was going to climb
on my head for a moment!  😂

• Gideon and I went out for a little walk this afternoon so that he could continue on his scouting quest of cleaning up litter.  Last week we started on the property and today we walked along the sidewalk.  He was able to finish and get over 200 pieces of trash.  He was so happy to complete this.  He picked up some more as we headed home.  What a fantastic human my grandchild is!

☮

Currently listening to: The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Stay safe!

Bluet

 To my pleasant surprise, some of the zinnia we planted the other day are already sprouting.  I'm hoping that this year the things I plant will grow better than last year.  

Just two or three so far.
Trust me, they are there.

Other things I am happy about today:

• This gorgeous tree is out by a nearby art school.  

It might be a magnolia,
I'm not sure.

• Cats are adorable as they sit by the door watching the birds go by.

• On Saturday we noticed some bluets were out.  I found more today.  If my memory is correct, Mom and her sister used to call them pissabeds.

• Sometimes walking through the back property I see something and notice something new about it.  There is a rotting stump that I am sure has been there all along but today it looked different.  The angle I saw it from maybe gave it a different appearance.  I decided to take a closer look.  It turns out that it was once part of a fence.

It was the different shapes that caught my eye.

Getting closer I realized that it was not
 a completely natural formation.
It is possible that it is a fence pole or
a tree that grew around the parts of a fence
or a tree used as a fence that grew around the parts where the wire is.
There is wire coming out of it and it is 
rotting in interesting ways.

• Soon there will be more green.

☮

Currently listening to: Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer.

Stay safe.

Small bits of Productivity

 My brain or body isn't where I need it to be to get up early to get outside now that the weather is getting warmer.  I still want to stay inside until I think it is warmer.  By then, it is way warmer and the first part of my day has not been productive.  Tomorrow we have someone coming by around ten.  That means I have to be motivated, right?  The productive things that kept me happy today are:

• The roses are now more raked out.  I'm going to have to get in there to pull out a bunch by hand.  That is an early morning job with long sleeves.  Oddly, I am looking forward to it.  I'll prune the roses at the same time.
• Gideon helped me, for a few minutes, in planting some zinnia seeds.

• I cleaned up another six or eight feet of the area beside the garden that I have been working on.

Before.

After.
It looks much better in real life.
If we get that far, this will become a 
pathway with grapes growing over it,
like an arbor.

• There was a nice walk (about two miles) to finish my outdoor time.  

☮

Currently listening to: Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer.

Stay safe.