5/7/20

Birthday Week Continues

Today is Mike's birthday. When we got together and decided our little family, anyone who didn't have a birthday the first week of May was automatically excluded. We made exceptions for Erik (October birthday) and Matthew (April birthday). They were kind of cute when they came along, and besides...they couldn't help when their birthdays were assigned to them. Oh yes, and there's Smitty (April birthday), and Sadie (who knows?). So a few outliers. I suppose there are a few in every family.

We took care of business yesterday, loading up on bird seed and groceries. When we got home, we mostly relaxed for the rest of the day. I needed to wet things down in the greenhouse. Take a look at the cat grass. It's looking more lawn-like every day. I'm guessing a week or two, and I'll be able to move this out to the catio for the kitties to nibble.


Also, I'm happy to say there are sprouts in the majority of the little flower pots. Most of these are sunflowers with a couple of zucchini and some poppies thrown in.


And then I turned around to look at the lettuce and found this!!!

 WTF?!?! Squirrels!!!! At some point this winter, they tunneled under the exterior wall of the greenhouse and dug around in my covered potting soil. Yes, I said, "covered." No problem for them, they just removed the boards I had covering it, and dug around in my little seed pots. Well. That was one thing, but now those little suckers have been digging around in two of the lettuce pots AND the potting soil. So, Mike filled in their little tunnel with gravel, poured ammonia into it, and covered it with a heavy rock. That ought to give them something else to think about. Knowing squirrels, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they just tunnel under somewhere else. If that happens, we might have to take more drastic measures. I was going to just leave this lettuce pot until this morning, but then decided to go back and smooth things over and replant the seedlings that disappeared in all this rooting around. Honestly...I'm not someone who goes around killing little animals, but

THOSE SUCKERS BETTER STAY OUT OF MY GREENHOUSE!!!!!

Don't make me bring out the big guns. Oh yes, I will do it!



Okay...moving on.

I needed some sewing after that outrage, and so I got to work on the square-in-a-square blocks. All-in-all, I will need 72 of these. I decided to work with one border at a time, and so I made ten of the lighter red...


and then ten more of the darker red.


When I had them sewn together, I added them to the left side of the quilt top.


Before I finished for the day, I had the right side done too.


Sadie had other ideas about how this quilt should look.


When I headed upstairs for dinner, I found Smitty waiting for his own dinner.


After dinner, I took a little walk around outside to see what's new. The rhododendron in front of the house is beginning to open.


The golden chain tree is sooooo close. It's hard to wait.


Also enticingly close is the dogwood tree.


Today I'll get back to the poppy mosaic. I'm hoping to finish it off today. The top and bottom borders are a little shorter, and then I'll add a narrow green border all around.

Mike is going to spend the afternoon with some friends. They have a remote control airplane club, and today is their day to get together and fly their little airplanes. Mike is going to watch them. Matthew is going to go camping/boondocking in the Mt. Hood National Forest for a day or two. That means I'll have the afternoon to myself here...something that hasn't happened in months. I'm looking forward to it.

This morning I'm making Mike's favorite Eggs Benedict for his birthday, and I'll make him a nice dinner this evening. In between, sewing...and spying on squirrels. I'm telling you, those suckers better mind their manners.

11 comments:

Julierose said...

Hubs and I got a real laugh from your "mounted squirrel"!! Have you guys ever seen the movie "Caddy Shack"? Well you may need to hire someone like that heh heh heh...I can see why you were outraged--I am not a fan of squirrels or chipmunks either--never mind their close kinfolk--eek!!;000 Good luck with the squirrel wars...

Meanwhile your sq in a sq blocks look super...they make a lovely border...they look pretty small (2"??) I just really love how this project is coming together...(plus, I don't have to sew all those teeny sqs together--just watch and be enchanted!!) ;)))

~ ~ ~ waving in my recliner after going grocery shopping~ ~ ~
phew--glad that's done for a while---I am "done-in" now, Julierose

gpc said...

Despite my being a gun toting Michigander, I have never been a little (or big) animal killer either. But lately, when my husband makes his dire threats to the rodents over -running our lives, I just look the other way. Your poppy quilt is going to be amazing, but good lord woman, what a lot of work!

Janarama said...

OMG, I about split a gut when I saw the picture of the mouse head. Too freaking funny. Happy Birthday to Mike!

Janarama said...

Ummm, I think I said mouse head in my post. Of course I meant squirrel head.

Arrowhead Gramma said...

The squirrels drive me nuts and I won't blame you for whatever you have to do to stop them. JMHO and good luck.

I am enjoying your photos of your garden and especially the progress of your Golden Chain tree. We planted a Golden Chain well over 20 years ago and last Spring it out did itself with Golden Chains. This winter it fell over dead and when the yard fellow went to remove it, found that the gophers had chomped off the roots. Just sick about this. The gophers are just as destructive as the squirrels. JMHO,

piecefulwendy said...

Eggs Benedict - yum! Happy Birthday, Mike! Squirrels - uffda. While I like to entertain fabric squirrels in my quilt room, the real squirrels can be a real pain. We have a storage bin under our deck, where we store pots and birdseed, etc. Those little buggers have relentlessly chewed the plastic on the corner of the bin and I think have now gained access to the inside. Grr. You'd think they'd find plenty of stuff to nosh on with the birdseed we put out and whatnot, but nope. It would irritate me to no end if they got in my greenhouse, so I'm with you. Perhaps some squirrel recipes - haha? Anyhoo, your poppy quilt is looking good. I think Sadie leans toward improv!

pilch92 said...

Beautiful quilt. Sadie and Smitty are adorable.

Karen said...

Happy birthday Mike ! Happy birthday to the fly boy, and race car driver. Hope your special day is very special.

Joan said...

Your poppy quilt is just stunning! You have such an eye for color and design - it is all coming together beautifully. I am also at my wits end with squirrels and raccoons and groundhogs, all eating my bird seed and even attacking my hummingbird feeder which was found out in the middle of the yard. I am so fed up. My feeders are supposed to be squirrel proof, but those boogers just hang upside down on them. My dad was a Kentucky man and avid hunter, so yes, I have eaten fried squirrel, which wasn’t too terrible except for eating around the buckshot. A little barbecue or hot sauce makes anything better. Happy Birthday to Mike!

Della said...

I love watching the squirrels play in the yard but lately they have become more pest than entertainment. I'm always debating with our thirteen year old granddaughter about her adventures in squirrel hunting. Up until now I have been totally against her hunting on our property, but slowly changing my mind. They don't just hunt for sport, they actually eat the squirrel meat, so I have no arguement there.

Kate said...

Those pesky squirrels! Hope Mike's special fix nixed them getting into the green house. Those red and black borders work really well, you've made really good progress. Love all your yard blooms, very pretty. Happy belated birthday to Mike, hope he had a very good one.