Sunny Days Ahead

We're all so happy to see the sun again. Possibly, just possibly, summer has arrived at the Three Cats Ranch. Yesterday morning I got outside to pick a bucket of weeds. I was able to make it most of the way around the house before my bucket was full. This morning, I'll get out and hoe the vegetable garden, and then finish up with the rest of the weeds...she says, as if the job of weeding is ever "finished." Here's what I saw along my way.

We have wild strawberries that serve as ground cover in a few areas. They are producing strawberries right now. They're too tiny to do anything with...smaller than marbles...but they are tasty. The birds and squirrels like them. I'd like to say they keep the squirrels away from the larger Hood strawberries we have planted out front, but squirrels aren't picky. They'll eat anything.

Our lavender plants have grown huge this year. I might have to take out at least one of them. Still, they're making for some good Bees Knees cocktails. I'll dry some of the blossoms again this year. I need dried lavender blossoms to make lavender blossom tea for the Bees Knees. It's worth the effort.

Oh...there's a cat on a mission.

Speaking of cats on missions, we caught another squirrel in our trap yesterday. We've caught five in the trap. We're calling it the "deportation facility." They're deported to an open field about a mile away from our house. Between deportation and, um, catification, we've dispatched with 11 squirrels. There are many more still hanging around. We're just hoping to get rid of the ones who think the greenhouse is a good place to party hard.

Moving on, I believe this will be the next peony to bloom. This one is called Garden Treasures.

This next image is of the Garden Treasures peony I saw at the Adelman's Peony Gardens, where I purchased the peonies last year. Given that it's a yellow flower, it's kind of surprising to see that bud with a rosy blush. Look closely at the image below, though. You'll be able to see some buds there too, and they look just like the one on our plant.

The first flowers are appearing on the greenhouse tomatoes.

I'm so happy with how the tomatoes are looking. There are flowers and buds on every plant, and their stems are nice and sturdy.

Since they're grown in a greenhouse, we give them a little help when it comes to pollination. I brush the flowers with a soft make-up brush. I don't know if we need to do this, since I've read that simply shaking the plant is enough to spread their pollen. This method has worked for us in the past, and so we keep doing it.

With the weather warming up, I'll be able to open the door and window on the greenhouse and let the wind blow through and bugs fly in. 

Beware: Tiger in the Weeds.

Back inside, I added the borders to the Enchilada block.

Then I added the fringe to the table cloth. (Use your imagination to insert loud and long whining here.) It makes my hand hurt to do this, and it takes a long time. Fortunately there are only four more like it. I do like the look.

Here are the three blocks I have for this quilt so far.

Okay, now let's just talk some more about the peonies. Here's the Rosy Prospects peony as it looked yesterday morning.

My friend Teresa emailed me yesterday and included pictures suggesting the flower had gone straight to seed without ever blooming. And that was the first explanation that made sense to me. So I took a box knife and cut open one of the pods. Will you take a look at that? They are full of seeds!

And...DRAT!   After all that gnashing of teeth over this flower. The other flower on the plant looks just the same. So, I've done some sleuthing about what causes a flower to go straight to seed without blooming, and I've found next to nothing...no explanation that makes any sense. I've written to the grower with a picture asking for information and advice. I've also asked questions of a peony group on Facebook and a peony blog. I've also asked the question of peonies.org. This sort of clicking, typing, and sending usually gets me nowhere, but we'll see. Possibly the plant just needs more years in the ground. Possibly there's something wrong with it. Possibly, there's some solution. You know I'll keep you updated about anything I learn.

When I came upstairs to write this post, Sadie had taken up residence in a sunspot on the carpet. She was taking a literal sunbath and was busy cleaning her face when I interrupted her to take this photo.

Later, she looked like this. This is how a cat looks when it's finished baking.

Today I'll get out and hoe the vegetable garden. If I'm feeling particularly energetic, I might grab my bucket and fill it up again. When I get back to sewing, I'll be making the next row of blocks for the City Bank quilt...this one:

Also, I'm very nearly finished with the Appalachian Memories quilt block. I'm hoping I'll be able to show you the finished block tomorrow. It's going to be a sunny and busy day here at the Three Cats Ranch. I hope you have a lovely day too.