Good morning, my friends, although I'm cheating as I write those words. I'm actually starting this post on Wednesday afternoon. I have to fly out of here early (for me) for a downtown appointment with my dermatologist. Honestly, there's so much road construction going on right now, with traffic truly effed up everywhere, I'm dreading the trip even more than I would on a good day. It was tempting to cancel the appointment, but it will be my last visit with this dermatologist. He's been my doctor for more than 30 years, and he is retiring this summer. I wanted to see him one last time in order to say good-bye. After so many years, he feels like a good friend. He's treated every member of our family, and we always have a lot to chat about when I see him. So, yeah, I'm lying about it being Thursday morning, but I figure you guys will understand.
Backing up to earlier on this Wednesday pretending to be Thursday, I had my monthly pedicure, which was sandwiched nicely between my other two days of appointments. As of Friday, I'll be back to what passes for normal, and I'll be glad of that. Before I left the house, I took a walk around the garden. The rhododendrons are the stars right now. This one is at the far end of the culinary herb garden.
This one is at the near end.
In front of the house, I noticed my favorite rhodie has one open flower. With their spotted throats, they remind me of orchids.
The azaleas are doing their best to keep up with the rhodies. This fuchsia-colored one is at the front door. It's in a shady spot, which means it hasn't grown very large, even though it's been here longer than we have.
This white one is out front. It only has a few flowers. The bush is alive, but it was hard hit this winter. It doesn't have a lot of foliage left.
Take a look at the dappled willow now. The ends of the branches have the white tips I've been looking for. It might still put on the firecracker display we're hoping to see.
Also, notice the azaleas blooming all around it.
I'm thrilled to see the golden chain tree is blooming.
And look at how pretty these blueberry blossoms are. They remind me of lily of the valley.
Take a look at these chive blossoms. I'll be starting my chive blossom vinegar within the next couple of days.
And, yahoo!!! Look at these cherries! We didn't get any cherries last year because it snowed just as the trees were blooming.
Also, I noticed the last two dahlias are poking their heads above ground...just barely, but unmistakably.
That makes four out of four.
Speaking of cherries, back inside, I made a Skillet Cherry Cobbler for Two from our 2021 cherry harvest. It was National Cherry Cobbler Day yesterday, and so I had to do it. (This is actually a cobbler for four.)
Okay, and as I was leaving home yesterday morning, I stopped on the driveway to take a look at the lunaria. Sadly, every one of the five little seedling pots has had its tops chewed off. There are a few with leaves that were spared. On a positive note, the ones that were chewed earlier are already making a comeback. Whatever is eating them eats only the leaves, but spares the stems.
My friend, "Unknown," had an excellent suggestion of covering these with woven wastebaskets from Dollar Tree. I drove past the Container Store today on my way to my pedicure. On the way back, I stopped in, figuring they might have something appropriate. I was hoping for something without a solid bottom, but these mesh pencil holders will do nicely. They allow in enough light. When the plants are tall enough, I'll remove them. Hopefully, they'll be well-enough established to be able to withstand a little nibbling from critters. Also...maybe the critters will lose interest when they put on their "true leaves."
As I'm writing this, I'm thinking those little plastic baskets from the grocery store that hold strawberries and other kinds of berries would also work for this too.
In other critter-thwarting news, we've staked out the vegetable garden with these vibrating gopher stakes. They are solar-powered and waterproof. About every 20 seconds or so, they emit a quiet noise and vibration. We've used them successfully to keep critters out of the peony bed.
When we planted our last garden, I was having trouble with gophers eating everything that popped up. It's so very frustrating fighting these rodents all the time, and it's one of the downsides of country living. We have a lot of critters. Good thing we also have cats.
As for cats, they barely spoke to us yesterday. With warm weather here, it was time to apply some Advantage. Oh. My. Goodness. You might have thought we were cutting their throats for all the moaning and whining. After being assaulted, Sadie fled to her clubhouse and didn't come down for the rest of the day. Fortunately, an extra serving of treats this morning helped smooth their ruffled furs.
This morning, I'm hovering around the computer waiting for 8:00 a.m. (MDT) to make a reservation at a certain state park. There is one site available that can accommodate our rig for the fall trip, but the reservation "window" doesn't open for another hour. So, I'm waiting, waiting, waiting, like that old Mervyn's advertisement: "Open, open, open." I'll snag that one spot if it kills me, although I'm not exactly sure how this "killing" would happen. Hired assassins, maybe.
For now, I'll bide my time with some slow-stitching. You'll have to tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of Death by Campsite Reservation. And, thankfully, tomorrow I can stay home all day.
10 comments:
The shortest distance between two points is under construction. ~ Leo Aikman
Good morning. I'm not sure what happens out there in the internet universe, but this is the first time that your email was in my inbox this morning instead of the usual late morning/early afternoon. We are plagued with gophers and tried those vibrating gopher sticks before but didn't have any luck. Maybe it was the brand. Could you please tell me what brand you use?
I hope you have success making your reservation.
Ha critters are not just in the country. The baby bunnies have all left the nest but we haven’t seen them again. Mama however we see almost everyday. The beets and carrots are now topless. We haven’t seen the coyote recently but have sure seen a lot of posts about missing cats in the neighborhood. Our granddaughters cat has also disappeared. She doesn’t even know when he got out of the house. After posting signs and putting notes on about 100 homes in the area plus checking the humane society for several weeks they think he may have been hit by a car or eaten. He was chipped but without a body it doesn’t help much.
Just love that rhodie with the spotted throat..what is that variety? We just got a lovely raspberry one to plant in front of our new generator--a little bit of a shield from view..
Feels good to be home today after DH's med issue hospital day yesterday...
hugs, Julierose
Oh, I hope you snagged that spot! It must be pure joy to step out into your yard and garden and see so many lovely blooms! Poor kitties, but sure is better than getting fleas!
Such abuse those kitties endure! Your flowers just make me smile. I'm very envious! I still haven't even planted anything in my porch pots. Usually I get that done by Mother's Day.
OK I give in.... I just Have to buy a Rhodie!!! I have made do with an Azalea but that spotted throat has won me over....
2 years ago, the roofers allowed shingles to slide off onto our Azalea plants. Last winter, the mailman trod all over the Azalea next to our steps while he snugged himself in the corner between the house and steps to avoid going UP the steps to put the mail in the box. Poor thing (Azalea, not the mailman) was one-sided but has new growth at the bottom on the bare side.
I purchase a Dahlia yesterday when buying my annuals. Don't know if it will be a perennial for us here in Zone 5 (or 6 depending on which map you go by).
Our peony buds are getting bigger every day. Hope we don't get a heavy rainstorm right as they fully open like we usually do. The heavy rain causes the flower heads to bend down and they can't raise themselves back upright.
Teresa F.
Lol, ah, construction. Dear, sweet construction. They finally got all 3 lanes of I-95 in GA, but I think they paved the third lane with aggregate they pulled up from the outside lane of I-95 in SC. My goodness. Add in the chuck of a tag along trailer, and you'll know why, after 3 days, I enjoyed a long hot bathhouse shower tonight. I haven't taken a bathhouse shower in forever. But I was ready tonight! Beautiful flowers, as usual, thank you for sharing them with us.
We had pretty good luck with those stick thingies too, on our mole popuy. Either that, or the hawk family had a feast, but they seem to be all gone. Hawks and moles too. ?? Coyotes are still around, but we haven't had any climb the fence, so I feel pretty good about that.
Funny you wait up for your spot to open, I am doing exactly the same thing. I tried to sneak one in today, by phone, but when we got to the arrival date, she stopped me dead in my tracks, and said nope, not till tomorrow and we open lines back up at 8 am. But, haha, hotspot on the phone lets me in at midnight! Which is approaching ever so slowly!! Good luck, good day dear friend..
Wish I had enough nerve to harvest some of the chive blossoms that are growing in one of the flower beds alongside our river because I'd love to try the vinegar but I suspect that just the time I'd reach my hand in, the park personnel would be clamping THEIR hands on my shoulder.
Interesting to read about the gopher stakes because I've never heard of them.
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