Get Ready, Garden

It looks as if we'll have at least a couple of nice days of weather ahead. It's a good thing for many reasons, but especially because we've been planning to venture out for a restaurant meal on Thursday. Our county is in Phase I of reopening, and our 45th wedding anniversary was on Sunday. We wanted to celebrate. When a small local restaurant in the tiny town of Dayton announced its reopening, we made reservations for Tuesday. We were informed that all reservations were automatically for a table outside, but May in Oregon is iffy weather-wise. So, we requested an indoor table. Then, we read about the risks associated with an indoor table, especially as regards the virus spreading via ventilation systems. Checking the weather, we read that Thursday is going to be downright hot, with high temperatures near 90°F. So we changed our reservation and requested an outside table on Thursday. So far, the weather forecast is holding. We've also given ourselves permission to change our minds if we have any concerns about our table on Thursday. If it doesn't seem safe, we'll tip them, and leave.

As for the goings on here at the Three Cats Ranch, I was out first thing yesterday morning to check the squirrel trap we set in the greenhouse. Along the way, I noticed the first greenhouse poppy has bloomed. This was one of the "purple" poppies, and as you can plainly see, it is red. This comes as no surprise. It seems the purple ones are some kind of genetic accident. This one still has its green guard petals perched on top.

I just plucked them off with my fingers, and hello there!

The squirrels have been cagey...oh, I'm so punny...about the trap. We've found it sprung with the peanuts gone, and sprung with peanuts still inside. Apparently it caught one guy by the tail or something because it was on its side and there were obvious signs of a struggle. Yesterday morning, though...gotcha!

I'll spare you the details of what happens to squirrels caught in our trap, but we'll just say his greenhouse gardening days are over. Sorry, little buddy. I'd say it's nothing personal, but after all the damage you've done, it definitely is.

I've come to believe the peony is going to outlast my days left of life. I did some research before typing this next sentence: The peony is opening at approximately one attometer per day. The Google tells me that this measurement is smaller than one million millionth of a millimeter.

With the morning dew, you can see that a little spider has been busy there. I think I've mentioned that ants like to eat the sticky stuff that forms on the buds of peonies. The Google informs me that peonies don't require ants to bloom, and I haven't seen any on ours. But it makes me wonder if ants would speed this process along somewhat.

When I finished yesterday's post, I found Miss Sadie sitting on the floor beside me. She wanted to remind me that she would like to go outside.

She's a tiny little thing, but the way she's lying makes it look as if she's been in quarantine for too long. Nevertheless, she did get a little helping of kitty treats and then some snuggles while we did our morning slow stitching.

In the sewing room, I've finished fusing the pieces for the second New Mexico Kitchen block.

Before I quit for the day, I had about half the top-stitching done. There's also a fair amount of machine stitching in the details on some of the pieces. I believe I'll also need to hand embroider some little bits and pieces of "stuff" into the red salsa. These are kind of fun to work on. I like all that bright color.

I had to come back and edit this post to tell you about something that happened yesterday. It's been a long time, but Meg Hawkey started a project about a year ago (or maybe longer) when she asked friends to send in little signature blocks. Just yesterday, she published a picture of her Signature Stars Friendship Quilt. I sent in a signature block, and so it was exciting to see her finished quilt and to find my block in the folds. I circled it there in blue:

Isn't that a fun quilt? I'd love to do one of these some day. You can find the pattern as a free download right here, and she includes instructions for the signature blocks. 

Smitty ended his day with a nice nap in the sun on his catio yesterday. I'm glad he feels safe enough to sleep there. He was dreaming and kicking his feet.

So with at least a short string of warm days ahead, it's going to be a day to sow seeeds in our vegetable garden. We're only doing a small garden this year: zucchini (already planted), corn, green beans, and beets. Those are my favorites of the garden veggies. Corn, because it's so sweet and delicious. Green beans and beets because they are also delicious, but also because I pickle and can them both. I've made dilled green beans in the past, but I can also can them straight using a pressure canner. It's been a long time since I've used the pressure canner, and so I'll have to get the pressure gauge calibrated sometime soon. If I can get all the planting and weeding done, I'll get back to the New Mexico Kitchen block. I'm still hoping to finish it today.

As for the new Blogger platform, I think I've said all I'm going to say about it for a while. Some of you mentioned that you haven't seen it yet. If you look at your dashboard, below the settings on the left side of your screen, you may see a link to convert and have a look. I've marked it on my screen with a pink arrow.

For the time being, you can revert back to the old one. Also, I subscribe to the Official Blogger Blog, which is where I learned all Blogger blogs would be forced to transition sometime in July. You can read the post about this right here. It explains all the NEW and IMPROVED features of the new platform. If you're like me, you'll be underwhelmed. Anyway...I'm continuing to think Google Photos is the way to make uploading photos less annoyingly clunky, but even using Google Photos is a bit cumbersome. 

Here are my final tips before moving along from this topic though. When you convert to the new platform, it isn't obvious how to start a new post. Look for a big plus sign in the lower right-hand corner of your dashboard. Click there, and it will bring up a template for a new post.

Also, if you label your posts, as I do, you'll notice that all the labels no longer show on your list of posts. It gives you one label, and then enumerates however many other labels you've given it.

If you're looking for something using labels, you now have a search bar at the top where you'll need to type the label name to search through your list of posts. I haven't actually tried this, but I'm assuming you can also type in other words here to find something you've blogged about in the past. 

My blog is my personal reference tool to remind my feeble mind what I did yesterday, and so I'm often searching for this thing or that thing. (It's also an excellent way to settle a disagreement.) I'll keep telling you as I learn new things, but for now, that's all I know.

Okay, so garden ho! But first, some slow stitching. I'm hoping to get that snowflake finished within the next couple of days.