Visions in the Garden

Believe it or not, but after five inches of rain during last week, I've had to go out and water plants this morning, fill bird baths and now am considering mowing the grass. I'm considering, mind you, not completely "hold my feet to the fire" sure, but the time is coming. So, I'm wandering around out in the front garden with watering cans in hand (where's my yoke when I need it?) going to the petunias and the landscape roses, the hens and chicks...the Cathedral Belles and the day lilies just watering and admiring and I suddenly see what I am going to do as soon as the humidity breaks enough for me to spend some quality time in the new seating area under the cedars. Mac calls this "having visions" and it's something I do all to frequently. We have a gated arch at the end of the front porch. We put it there a few years ago so we could keep a former neighbors wandering dogs off the front porch and the cats would have a safe haven to run to. I have decided that we will simply build a small gate to attach to the porch entry and move the arch to the new seating area. I am going to build a secret garden there...a fairy garden, complete with little painted doors and windows on trees, hidden treasures in the brush and foliage. I can see it all in my mind and it will be something that Arianna will love to visit. I want to do it while the flowers are still abundant and hummingbirds are still flitting and fighting over nectar. Then when winter comes, there will be a Christmas Garden, since I light the cedars each year. I am so looking forward to starting this project that I may not wait for the humidity to break...I may start it today. I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh, and Pyewackit and Mindy appreciate your support in the upcoming election. He is still looking for cabinet ministers...Dogs may apply, he is not prejudiced against them. He says his best friend is a dog and running for Vice President. All offers will be considered.

Okay, this is an edit...an edit I couldn't wait to put in...Vee over at A Haven For Vee (http://ahavenforvee.blogspot.com/ ) gifted me this morning. See that lovely little girl sitting on the park bench? She says "just plain fun to read"? This is an award I have longed for since the first time I saw someone else receive it. I can't tell you how much it means to me that my dear Vee has given it to me. I intend to pass it along to six others, but later in the week, after I've had time to enjoy it myself a bit. Thank you Vee, and congratulations on receiving it yourself...it is a well deserved award for you!

Would John Wayne leave the garden and go sit down?

We've had such beautiful weather the past two days and of course I can't keep Mac from going out in that garden and about killing himself. I have begged, pleaded and just about threatened malice most foul to make him take a break. The problem is he just flat loves it in that garden. I think it makes him feel almost Godlike to plant those seeds and watch them struggle through the rich earth he's prepared for them. We started this back in January, when he weeded and ran the tiller to keep the earth soft. It was just a couple of days a week then, being too cold to plant. Then in February it was three or four days, just a couple of hours a day, working in the compost and planting his seeds in little pots...by the way we've sworn off peat pots forever...they dry out to fast and the roots die of thirst. By March we have little seedlings in the nursery and he's just like an over protective mother, won't let me help (though I'm quite free with the "we" as in "look what we grew." By April he's going full tilt out there, rows laid out and young plants now in their new home. Where before, we were in "urgent care" now we are in constant care. Last night he was so tired, I told him he was overdoing it again, to take a few hours in the afternoon and rest up, then go back out at six and work a bit. "Would John Wayne take a few hours off to go laze around in the house?" is his reply. Of course his constant refrain has always been "would John Wayne" whatever it was I wanted him to do that might not be in his schedule of things planned. So, today I had a lovely visit from Evil Sister who said she had the same problem with her husband. He just overworks himself. We keep trying to tell them the old grey mule ain't what he used to be, but no one pays us any mind. It's now 1:53 and he has seven minutes to be in this house. I told him when he went back out after lunch that I'd call him when it was 2. So he says "I'll bet the Duke's wife didn't make him come in for a nap at 2 o'clock." I looked at him sadly, shaking my head..."you do know that John Wayne won't be coming in from the garden anymore, right?" I asked him. He gave me one of those "what are you talking about now" looks...You know I almost hated to break the news to him.
ps
here's the latest picture of the baby. We have been calling her Brat...you want to talk spoiled? Her official name is Lady Wellington lol

Frankly I'd Rather Be in the Yard Part 2

Some of you asked for pictures and so here they are. This is a view from the back porch of the left hand side of the back yard and Mac's garden. The property goes into the woods and down to the creek and the creek is our property line. It's such a lovely view for us. The picture on the left is a partial picture of the front yard and the entrance to the patio area. The middle picture is of the blue berry beds and one of the apple trees. The picture on the right is the preparation of the patio, getting the potted plants ready to put inside on the bricks.

The drive way that leads down to our cozy cabin.

The view of the back of our place peach orchard Blueberry beds

The last is a picture of one of Mac's tomato beds...so far he has three beds, with a total of 64 tomato plants which he grew himself. We have not bought a single vegetable plant...Mac's green thumb does it all. He grew the fruit trees from seed...we have a nice fruit orchard going, apple trees, Victoria Plum, Peach trees and blueberries...We will have watermelons, cantaloupe, tomato, okra, beans, peas , squash and pumpkin in the garden this year. You know for retired people though, I don't think we have ever been quite this tired! Hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I enjoyed taking you around.

Frankly, I'd Rather Be in the Yard

I can't believe it is Monday. Mac and I have been in the yard for three days, it seems more like seven. We have been mowing, sowing, and towing...four acres of grass is a lot of grass...we do it in sections and take turns riding the mower. I spent a couple of days sowing Canterbury Bell seeds and now I'll be praying for them to come up. The little riding mower decided that it won't go anywhere anymore till we buy it a new battery, so the big mower had to give it a tow. Then Sunday we put in the little water feature. Mac gave me this little pond set up for Mother's Day last year. We had it installed yesterday. One year. It broke our previous dilly dallying record of six months. I shall explain.


Mama had a lovely Koi pond at the back door. Her Koi were fifteen years old and very tame. They didn't even mind the cats...they would take food from your hand. The sound of water is so very relaxing and I longed for it at home. I had my aquariums and I loved my small fish but I wanted that soothing sound outside, as well. So, Mama bought us a complete pond outfit for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. It was delivered by Sam, the UPS Man and Mac put this huge box in the garage. It was only supposed to be for a week or so. It arrived in September, a month early. Mama was hoping the sounds of rushing water would be a done deal by October 15th. Month after month I would walk into the garage, see the box sitting there and think to myself, we're going to get that pond up and running soon. I nagged Mac as only I can nag but it did no good. Lets see, some of the responses I got from him were as follows: "it's too cold"; "the ground is frozen"; "I don't own a jackhammer"; and finally the classic "I'll do it tomorrow."


Of course tomorrow failed to arrive and so I took matters into my own hands one fine April morning. It was a Saturday as I recall. I had arisen and poured my cup of coffee and was taking it on the porch. I looked over to the side yard and envisioned how my pond would look when I had it finished. Taking my cup of Joe with me, I wandered in the garage, saw the big white box and lugged it out into the drive. I opened it and removed the directions and walked back to the porch to read them. (Contrary to what My Darling Mac tells you, I do not throw out directions to everything as a matter of principle.) So I began to read and I noticed that Mac had his coffee and was joining me. "Whatcha got there?" he mumbled, trying to feign an interest he certainly did not feel at this hour of the morning. "It's about the koi pond...I'm going to put it in today, " I said proudly. He snorted, by all that's holy the man snorted and then he started laughing. Out loud. "No no," was my response. "This is a very simple procedure. It says so right here in these directions, " I declared, waving them under his nose. He smiled knowingly, patted me on my shoulder and said " I'll get to it next weekend, I promise." I assured him that I was quite certain I could do this, and leaving him with his coffee, walked back into the garage and picked up a can of white spray paint. I took the measuring tape and marked out 10 feet and sprayed an x. Then I measured out 12 feet in the other direction and sprayed another x. Then I roughly sprayed the outline of a ginormous lima bean and set to with a will. I took the half moon diggy thingy and cut into the soil at the outline I had made. Mac wandered over to see what I was doing. I was standing on the half moon jumping up and down on it to force it into the dirt. Mac clucked with disgust and taking the diggy thingy from me, finished what I had begun in record time, telling me this was as far as he was going, I was on my own. I smiled prettily at him and told him "fine". I went into the garage and retrieved the little tiller Mac used in the garden. He narrowed his eyes and asked what I thought I was doing. "I'm going to dig my pond with this tiller, " I replied. "You should use the big tiller, that tiller is for maintaining, not digging." I frowned, nodded and put the little tiller aside. I went back into the garage and wrestled the big tiller out of its confines rolling it out to the construction site. "Do you think you could crank it for me?" I asked him. How could he say no? So he cranked it, then he said "let me get this hole started for you." So I let him get the hole started and then of course he had to shovel out the dirt and then he had to lay out the liner and by the time he knew what had happened I had wandered back over to where he stood four feet deep in a hole with the water hose in my hand. And that's how I constructed our first Koi Pond. Any resemblance between me and Tom Sawyer and a certain fence are spot on.