our little wren(?) on our porch
bird's nest
chrysalis or caccoon?
Reaching for the sole remaining yellow leaf...
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Wordless Wednesday: Autumn Stroll
November 2005, about 2 1/2 weeks old
Today:
For others' WW posts, visit 5 minutes for mom or the WW HQ.
November 2005, about 2 1/2 weeks old
Today:
For others' WW posts, visit 5 minutes for mom or the WW HQ.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
I am addicted to planting bulbs.... there is no cure.
It's not the actual planting that I love, it is the hope of the end result. Maybe it's because my parents have always loved gardening and had fresh-picked flowers available in their yard. Perhaps I got bit by some bug when we visited the Tulip Festival in Holland, MI when I was a girl. I can barely remember it, but I'm sure there were thousands of beautiful bulbs. Perhaps I get some satisfaction from changing the soil in an area, transforming what was full of gravel, rock and chunks of brick from when our house was built into a fertile area. I have to confess I like chucking the rocks down the hill to no-man's-land beyond where the sidewalk ends. At least I remembered to wear my gardening gloves. My hands were very thankful. Baby Bear LOVED dropping the bulbs into the holes. You could see her face glow with pride as she threw them in, whether I was ready for them or not. She also helped me remove rocks from the soil. As long as she did not permanently damage the bulbs as she played with them, and the rodents don't dig them up, we should have a decent little display of various daffodils in the new part of my flower bed.
I took soil out of the cantaloupe pot and added it to the existing "dirt". The cantaloupe plants had died.... whithered away to practically nothing. So that left lots of "extra" dirt/coffee grounds mix for me to put in the ground with the bulbs, hopefully improving their chance to thrive.
I will be very, very disappointed if my tulips and daffodils don't come up in a few months. And hubby will be bitter because why buy bulbs if they don't bloom? Certainly not to feed rodents.
At least the grass seed is coming in, and here's to spring! (Not that I'm in a rush, I just don't want to wake up in March wishing I had planted more bulbs. Been there, done that.)
It's not the actual planting that I love, it is the hope of the end result. Maybe it's because my parents have always loved gardening and had fresh-picked flowers available in their yard. Perhaps I got bit by some bug when we visited the Tulip Festival in Holland, MI when I was a girl. I can barely remember it, but I'm sure there were thousands of beautiful bulbs. Perhaps I get some satisfaction from changing the soil in an area, transforming what was full of gravel, rock and chunks of brick from when our house was built into a fertile area. I have to confess I like chucking the rocks down the hill to no-man's-land beyond where the sidewalk ends. At least I remembered to wear my gardening gloves. My hands were very thankful. Baby Bear LOVED dropping the bulbs into the holes. You could see her face glow with pride as she threw them in, whether I was ready for them or not. She also helped me remove rocks from the soil. As long as she did not permanently damage the bulbs as she played with them, and the rodents don't dig them up, we should have a decent little display of various daffodils in the new part of my flower bed.
I took soil out of the cantaloupe pot and added it to the existing "dirt". The cantaloupe plants had died.... whithered away to practically nothing. So that left lots of "extra" dirt/coffee grounds mix for me to put in the ground with the bulbs, hopefully improving their chance to thrive.
I will be very, very disappointed if my tulips and daffodils don't come up in a few months. And hubby will be bitter because why buy bulbs if they don't bloom? Certainly not to feed rodents.
At least the grass seed is coming in, and here's to spring! (Not that I'm in a rush, I just don't want to wake up in March wishing I had planted more bulbs. Been there, done that.)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Halloween Happenings
* On the way to the Kids Karnival at First Evan:
Bear: "Roll, roll, roll your dope."
It's a very good thing she didn't realize what she was singing. With a little coaching, her pronunciation improved and she sang the correct lyrics.
* The main area was a little overwhelming for her. The big bounce house was too noisy for her taste. She liked the bean-bag toss, and digging through fake leaves. She also liked putting swim rings around cones. But her favorite part was Toddler Town, a room where the
A/C actually worked and the kids were her size or smaller. The bounce house in the Toddler Town was smaller and quieter, too. She had fun sliding down the Little Tikes slide, and slideing blow-up animals down the slide. Tech Mom, hubby and I were glad there were chairs set up for the parents. I had to remove her costume in order to change her diaper, and by the time we got home, Bear did not want to put it back on, so no trick-or-treating for us. She did get candy at the Kids Karnival. And she had fun giving the kids that came to Tech Mom's door their treats... except when one particular boy with a fake-bloody mask leaned over so she could put the candy in. Maybe next year....
* On the way to the Kids Karnival at First Evan:
Bear: "Roll, roll, roll your dope."
It's a very good thing she didn't realize what she was singing. With a little coaching, her pronunciation improved and she sang the correct lyrics.
* The main area was a little overwhelming for her. The big bounce house was too noisy for her taste. She liked the bean-bag toss, and digging through fake leaves. She also liked putting swim rings around cones. But her favorite part was Toddler Town, a room where the
A/C actually worked and the kids were her size or smaller. The bounce house in the Toddler Town was smaller and quieter, too. She had fun sliding down the Little Tikes slide, and slideing blow-up animals down the slide. Tech Mom, hubby and I were glad there were chairs set up for the parents. I had to remove her costume in order to change her diaper, and by the time we got home, Bear did not want to put it back on, so no trick-or-treating for us. She did get candy at the Kids Karnival. And she had fun giving the kids that came to Tech Mom's door their treats... except when one particular boy with a fake-bloody mask leaned over so she could put the candy in. Maybe next year....
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
24 hours straight
That's how long it's been raining here. I'm not complaining, just observing. Bear has asked to go outside soo many times. Today it's just drizzling, so maybe I'll give her an umbrella and put her in her Land's End snow boots.
The grass is already greener, and not just on the other side of the fence. It's pretty cool to see how quickly just a couple of inches of rain can help turn things around. My mums are happier, too. I'm happier. Dragging the hose around the yard gets tiresome in 90-degree Indian Summer weather. It finally feels like Fall!!!!
Bear found some of my books on the end table and is "reading" and patting them. At least they are getting some use!
That's how long it's been raining here. I'm not complaining, just observing. Bear has asked to go outside soo many times. Today it's just drizzling, so maybe I'll give her an umbrella and put her in her Land's End snow boots.
The grass is already greener, and not just on the other side of the fence. It's pretty cool to see how quickly just a couple of inches of rain can help turn things around. My mums are happier, too. I'm happier. Dragging the hose around the yard gets tiresome in 90-degree Indian Summer weather. It finally feels like Fall!!!!
Bear found some of my books on the end table and is "reading" and patting them. At least they are getting some use!
Monday, October 15, 2007
here we go again....
our yard was aerated today. the problem is, it has been so dry that the ground is really hard. so it doesn't look as much like cows have trampled through our yard as it did last fall. we gave up watering the grass when the summer heat continued to be too stifling, so the lawn is in need of some TLC. the lawn guy came and did the work for us for less than it would have cost to rent a push-aerator from home depot. that's a no-brainer. hubby's going to seed and fertilize. i spent 20 minutes picking up rocks after laying bear down for her nap. she has decided the retaining wall makes a fun balance beam to walk on, and i opted not to tempt her today. i picked up 5 gallons of rocks of all sizes which were dug up by the spikes on the aerating tractor. then i dumped them where the sidewalk ends.
it's a breezy day, but still far too warm for this time of year. i prefer crisp fall air. this feels more like a midwestern summer.
you can call me the airport shuttle... i've been there twice so far in the past two days, and will be heading back tonight to pick up someone and thursday to pick up someone else. bear loves looking for the airplanes and going under the runway bridges (aka "tunnels").
ok, after playing outside with bear this morning, then picking up rocks, i think i should shower before hubby gets home.
p.s. i forgot to mention that i get to see jackie and meet her kiddos tomorrow! we're meeting halfway betwen her parents' and our house. yay!!! we graduated from high school together way back when. she is one of my blogging buddies and friends irl. :)
our yard was aerated today. the problem is, it has been so dry that the ground is really hard. so it doesn't look as much like cows have trampled through our yard as it did last fall. we gave up watering the grass when the summer heat continued to be too stifling, so the lawn is in need of some TLC. the lawn guy came and did the work for us for less than it would have cost to rent a push-aerator from home depot. that's a no-brainer. hubby's going to seed and fertilize. i spent 20 minutes picking up rocks after laying bear down for her nap. she has decided the retaining wall makes a fun balance beam to walk on, and i opted not to tempt her today. i picked up 5 gallons of rocks of all sizes which were dug up by the spikes on the aerating tractor. then i dumped them where the sidewalk ends.
it's a breezy day, but still far too warm for this time of year. i prefer crisp fall air. this feels more like a midwestern summer.
you can call me the airport shuttle... i've been there twice so far in the past two days, and will be heading back tonight to pick up someone and thursday to pick up someone else. bear loves looking for the airplanes and going under the runway bridges (aka "tunnels").
ok, after playing outside with bear this morning, then picking up rocks, i think i should shower before hubby gets home.
p.s. i forgot to mention that i get to see jackie and meet her kiddos tomorrow! we're meeting halfway betwen her parents' and our house. yay!!! we graduated from high school together way back when. she is one of my blogging buddies and friends irl. :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Who am I kidding?
Extending a flowerbed takes a lot of work. I am not sure I am that motivated this fall. Plus, it's far too nice outside today to spend it indoors, cleaning. Upon laying Bear down for her nap, I went outside to plant the tulip bulbs which I purchased at Costco yesterday. Here's a pic of the package label:
I saved a few for my sister, and I'm hoping that we both get a good mix of the colors. I couldn't tell which bulb will produce which color bloom.
While I was at it, I pulled up ("lifted" is the gardening term) 6 of the gladiola corms. See, most of my research says glads are tender and should be lifted. But I found a couple of articles indicating that some people have had pretty decent luck with their glads coming back in this region of the country. My Dad said he doesn't lift his... some return and some die. So I'm experimenting. I lifted some and left some in the ground. I even rinsed the dirt off them and dried them according to recommendations.. hopefully our garage is cool enough for proper storage. Here they are:
See the baby corms on one of the mamas? Isn't it amazing that something so ugly can produce such a brilliant bloom? Oh, and the darker part of each of the bigger corms is the shriveled remains of the corm that produced the blooms this summer. I did have to laugh as I cleaned them, though. I remembered how last Spring, when I told Hubby's Gramma I had planted glads, she had said something along the lines of them being too much work for her and "good luck". Of course, where she lives, they will not survive the winter underground. But I never thought I would see the day where I would be more motivated to do something than Gramma! Plus, these glads were soo pretty that I don't want to risk losing all of them. And if the corms I lifted to survive the winter, as well as the other glad corms, I can plant them to come up later than the others, prolonging the color. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
****
I found these instructions on how to plant bulbs, and the author's writing style amused me. Plus, he kept it simple...
Extending a flowerbed takes a lot of work. I am not sure I am that motivated this fall. Plus, it's far too nice outside today to spend it indoors, cleaning. Upon laying Bear down for her nap, I went outside to plant the tulip bulbs which I purchased at Costco yesterday. Here's a pic of the package label:
I saved a few for my sister, and I'm hoping that we both get a good mix of the colors. I couldn't tell which bulb will produce which color bloom.
While I was at it, I pulled up ("lifted" is the gardening term) 6 of the gladiola corms. See, most of my research says glads are tender and should be lifted. But I found a couple of articles indicating that some people have had pretty decent luck with their glads coming back in this region of the country. My Dad said he doesn't lift his... some return and some die. So I'm experimenting. I lifted some and left some in the ground. I even rinsed the dirt off them and dried them according to recommendations.. hopefully our garage is cool enough for proper storage. Here they are:
See the baby corms on one of the mamas? Isn't it amazing that something so ugly can produce such a brilliant bloom? Oh, and the darker part of each of the bigger corms is the shriveled remains of the corm that produced the blooms this summer. I did have to laugh as I cleaned them, though. I remembered how last Spring, when I told Hubby's Gramma I had planted glads, she had said something along the lines of them being too much work for her and "good luck". Of course, where she lives, they will not survive the winter underground. But I never thought I would see the day where I would be more motivated to do something than Gramma! Plus, these glads were soo pretty that I don't want to risk losing all of them. And if the corms I lifted to survive the winter, as well as the other glad corms, I can plant them to come up later than the others, prolonging the color. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
****
I found these instructions on how to plant bulbs, and the author's writing style amused me. Plus, he kept it simple...
Sunday, October 07, 2007
traditions
I hope that the trip to the Pumpkin Patch will become an annual tradition for us. Do you and your family have any Fall traditions?
I hope that the trip to the Pumpkin Patch will become an annual tradition for us. Do you and your family have any Fall traditions?
Thursday, October 04, 2007
the craft bug bit me again
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the dollar store had fake flowers, ribbon, and cornucopias for autumn. I am not into decorating for Halloween. Though I don't object to trick-or-treating or jack-o-lanterns per se, I don't get into the witches and black cats. Plus, Halloween and Thanksgiving are so close together, it seems silly to decorate for both. I use the term "decorate" loosely. Anyone who knows me or has read this blog for any decent length of time knows that my home decor is fairly minimal. Not many pictures or paintings, knick-knacks restricted to out of reach places, and until today, I used the same wreath on my door for the past 4 years. Season in, season out. I may have put another one up at some point, but if I did, I have no idea where I stored it.
Anyway, I opted to wait to purchase my cornucopia and stuffing supplies until checking out the pre-made things at other places. Just in case I came across any good deals. I didn't. So today I decided to see what I could do with that cornucopia. It is too thick to fit between the storm door and main door, so I hope it doesn't blow away.
Oh, the first thing Bear did when she saw it was say "party hat" and put it on her head. :)
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