| Seil Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 12:32 pm: |   |
DJ, what seeds???? |
I just can't even say. But not to worry... I didn't share them with anyone. LOL. Ugh! |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 02:26 pm: | |
Shoo...glad you cleared that up! LOL |
| Bonitoad Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 03:46 am: | |
DJ, your 1st photo of the stone wall looks like a giant turtle....are you sure it's a stone?.....Bonitoad |
Hi, Boni! LOL! It does sort of look like a giant turtle. If it is, it's the world's slowest moving one, with all those pine needles accumulating on its back. Not too mention how huge it is... not sure that Galapagos tortoises would survive up here. LOL!  Here's the same pic -- only bigger -- for a better view of my pet rock.
 |
March 26, 2008 (Wednesday)
I checked the plant room yesterday afternoon and I had enough sprouts to bring my celery count up to 64. ........ The power went off for a couple of hours last night for some reason. That's weird, since we made it through the entire winter without that happening. I saw little sweeps of snow this morning among the cracks in the dirt and along the edge of the chicken coop yard, but it felt pretty nice outside for 40 degrees, wet, and breezy.
THINGS TO DO
* get baggies ready for starting toms on 3/28 (the toms aren't here yet, but just in case)
* buy some more potting medium this weekend
* check refrigerator seeds
* checked the seeds, so now I see that the Happy Returns Daylily seeds get to come out on Saturday, 3/29
I just tried a "sleep test" that analyzes a person's responses to several questions to see what pillow is best for them. They showed me a pillow that I've already tried, without success. Morons. Liars. LOL. Now, off to the attic to look for some ancient tax papers. I hope my tea is still warm when I get back. ........ The attic hunt was fun, yet unproductive, mostly. I found my wooden African animals. Yay! I also found lots of my big seashells, some more rocks I had collected, other animal figurines, and my book of edible wild plants. I don't think I found the tax papers I was looking for, though. I found a notebook of something that might contain them, but I wouldn't bet on it. I also found the box of 1950s-ish recipes that I had found one day when I was cleaning out some junk from the previous owners. It had the little book that I had hoped was a diary of growing things on the farm. Turned out to be more like 1930s high school botany notes, so that was a little disappointing. I had hoped to share some old journal entries with everyone. I came across the box of books from the late 1800s - early 1900s that the previous owners had left here. I kept out "The Methods of Lady Walderhurst" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (c)1901, and "When a Man's a Man" by Harold Bell Wright (c)1916. Figured someone around here ought to be versed in that subject. There were old pruning and farming books, an engine book, a horse book (complete with pop-up innards and outards of horses and cows), and other interesting books from that time period. I found some book from 1851, can't remember the subject, and it had a newspaper clipping in it that listed all of the presidents... up to Grover Cleveland. Haha! I retrieved a black and white issue of "Fall Bulbs, Perennial Seeds and Plants, Roses, Trees, Flowering Shrubs, Pot-Grown Strawberries, Lawn Grass and Fertilizers" from Joseph Breck and Sons, Corporation. Must be circa 1950s or so? Don't know. So, how about 100 City of Harlem Hyacinths for $16? Or 100 Couleur Cardinal Tulips for $7? Or 1000 of any of 6 different Parrot Tulips for $30? 1000 Poeticus Daffodils for $25. *sigh* Or better yet, one dozen 12 ft x 2 ft trellises for $48. Ooooh, eeek, a cedar tub painted green with iron handles, for planting agave and such... 28" diameter x 22" height... only $10.85. *sigh* ........ As I was coming out of the attic, my son had told me that my tea had been very tasty. Aaagh!! Well, at least it turned out that he hadn't drunk all of it, just a sip. Still, I had to reheat it in the microwave. |
March 26, 2008 (Wednesday)
(continued from before)
I went to the kitchen to put my shoes on and saw a jillion ladybugs in the window. Joy. Anyway, I then went down to check the mail and... They're everywhere, they're everywhere!! Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone driving by can see them. Oh, well, give 'em a few years.
Can you see them? Haha!
White and Yellow Crocuses
in the Lawn
 |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 06:12 am: | |
Your trip to the attic sounds like fun. I love finding old things like that. When I renovated my house, the only neat things I found were some old tickets used to bet on horses at a Race Track that used to be a few blocks from my house: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latonia_Race_Track |
Huh, what an interesting story, Lisa. Do the tickets have a date on them? I've only been to the races once and I won every time I bet. I went with a boyfriend, his parents, and some other people, maybe his aunt and uncle. They started giving me the evil eye every time my boyfriend and I got up to go collect my winnings and place our next bets. I guess they weren't betting on the same horses that I was. It was hilarious. |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 09:10 am: | |
You know, I'm not sure if there is a date on them or not. I put them in my home renovation photo album...I'll have to go home tonight & look, as now I am curious!
Must be like the evil eye I used to give my MIL when she always won at the casinos & DH & I lost all of our money! LOL |
LOL! |
| Seil Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 07:24 pm: | |
Some great finds in the attic, DJ. You should check them out. The one's from the 1800's could be worth something. You know how those people on Antique Roadshow find those million dollar paintings in the attic?
I love your crocuses! Is this an area that gets mowed regularly? If so they won't last for next year. I tried to naturalize some like that but Al mowed off all the leaves so the bulbs never got to feed and only a handful came back the next year and none the year after that. |
Haha, yes, I wish I had something like that, but the person who handled the estate had a yard sale and all of the good stuff was taken back then. We are holding out for the gold coins buried somewhere on the property (which is just wishful thinking on our part - LOL!) and a gun which is supposedly in the walls or floor of my son's old baby room.
Probably not by Suzyqt1968's husband's standards. LOL! It does get mowed, though. On the bright side, it is my area to mow, along with the yard up by the house (which has had crocs in it for several years), so I mow after the croc leaves have fallen over and the crocs have returned every year so far. The thing I am worried about is having the daffs in that lawn. It will be even longer before I mow, but as I told my husband yesterday, if that becomes a problem for the lawn, I will just rip out the lawn and put in a wildflower meadow. Hee hee! |
| Stormdancer Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008 - 01:53 pm: | |
Hi DJ 
Love the shots of your yard...specially the crocuses...haven't seen them since my Aunt's yard in Indiana years ago.
Sounds like you need to check into some of the Rare and Antique Book stores around...some of those could be worth a little change to a collector...call your local antique dealers and check with some of them...just cause it didn't make it to an estate yard sale don't mean its junk...lol
Love your idea of the "wildflower meadow" as your lawn... I'm sure the butterflies and hummingbirds would love it. |
Thank you very much. Your story reminds me of how I planted Johnny Jump-Ups to remind me of my Grandmother. I've noticed that they have spread far and wide across the property. I'm hoping that they will live here long after I have gone. 
I'm a little afraid to do that. Maybe I'd do it some day just out of curiosity, but I'd probably just end up keeping them. The people who handled the estate said that the books were to remain with the house. I'm pretty sure that didn't get written into the mortgage agreement, but they did have a story about a book or a photo (think it was a photo) that causes all sorts of bad luck when it leaves the house. I would not want to be responsible for anything like that. LOL!! On a similar note, there's a little round rock on top of one end of one of our rock walls. It's been there ever since we moved here. Just never bothered to move it, although I think my husband picked it up once to look at it. Anyway, the guy who used to cut our trees told us that the rock was in the same place it had been when he used to come out here as a young boy. That's one reason I'm afraid to take down that whole wall... don't want to mess with the old ways. LOL. I have another similar story as to why I haven't thrown the wishing well on the burn pile... that story might be lurking in my garden album. I'm not exactly superstitious, but the things I've seen happen around here make me think twice before I do anything too rash or novel. LOL!
March 27, 2008 (Thursday)
Lots of crocuses opened up yesterday. A whole bunch of white ones were in the bed beside the driveway. I didn't even remember planting any there, so that was a nice surprise. Two or three yellow ones opened in one of my front flower beds. That was a surprise, too, because I'd never even noticed them budding. I guess they were all enjoying the 60 degree weather. ........ I made cornbread to go with dinner last night. I first messed up by thinking that the instructions had said to mix all ingredients together. I was so proud of myself for managing to remember ([OoGBoO]) that detail after adding the long list of ingredients to the bowl. After I mixed them all together and thought the mixture seemed rather dry, I reread the instructions... mix dry ingredients, then lightly mix in wet ones. Oh, well. But I topped off that mistake by getting through 11 minutes of the 20 minute baking cycle and then finding... DA-DA-DAH... the one egg the recipe had called for, still sitting in the measuring cup waiting to be beaten and added to the mixture. Oh, well. Guess I made cornbread, whereas the recipe as written should probably be called corncake. Still turned out good. I also made sugar cookies yesterday afternoon. At 1 C of sugar, 1 C of powdered sugar, 1 C of butter, and 1 C of oil, plus other miscellaneous ingredients, my son and I only ate 15 cookies between the two of us. I have enough dough left over to make another three or four batches, if we live that long. Ugh. I actually felt sick after two cookies, but I couldn't help myself. ~~~~~~~~ After much internal strife, I finally placed a small order of seeds. If everything is in stock, this will be my big opportunity to branch out and plant flowers below the rock wall, facing the road. One seed for down there will be Foxglove 'Alba', to match the same that will be growing in the front yard. Another seed will be Red Shirley Poppies. I figure a vast sweep of those will be more stunning from the road than a mix of colors would be, although I really wanted the mixture. I also picked out Snowflake Candytuft for the front flower beds. I am hoping that since they are described as evergreen, maybe the front flower beds will look better in the early spring and have less bare dirt than they have now. I have a couple of patches of something along those lines now and they keep their leaves all year, but they have pinkish-lavender flowers. I think the white groundcover will be better. I think I am finally going to go for huge swaths of things around here, as opposed to some of everything, although I have currently worked it out to include 19 different types of flowers. ~~~~~~~~ I was a very good girl. After salivating over those Million Bells and Begonias, I have decided to wait until next year to try that. I just have to remember Park Seed for red hanging begonias, yellow hanging begonias, and yellow and orange Million Bells (Calibrachoa).
March 28, 2008 (Friday)
It is raining. It rained overnight, too. It is supposed to rain all day. So, I shall continue the hunt for old tax papers. ........ I eventually found what I was looking for. WHEW!! Glad that's over. Just a review and submittal of the whole thing this weekend once the rain is over, and that will be that. ... We went to the pet store afterwards for some turtle food. We stopped at the mailbox on the way out and TA-DAH!! My seeds arrived! So, the tomatoes have now been started, right on time. I didn't get to any of the other seeds on the list for the day, but that's okay because the toms were the important part. ... It reached 40 degrees and rained all day. |
March 29, 2008 (Saturday)
We have an ultra light dusting of snow this morning. At least it is a sunny and blue day. ........ It was so cold today. I think the high was 40, but it was windy.
March 30, 2008 (Sunday) Good Day Sunshine
Good day sunshine
Good day sunshine
Good day sunshine
I need to laugh, and when the sun is out
I've got something I can laugh about
.
.
.
.
- The Beatles
It was a very nice sunny day, or at least a nice sunny COLD day. It was only in the 30s to start, although it did warm up to 45 degrees, and as promised, the taxes have been filed. ~~~~~~~~ I had such a headache last night, so bad I thought I was going to throw up. I slept for 16 hours, but then all I wanted to do all day today was take a nap. Despite that, I managed to make two trips to town in my truck to buy garden supplies, including 400 lbs. of organic cow manure. I will be making at least one more trip next weekend, if they have more in stock, and if it doesn't rain. The chickens enjoyed the spectacle of me and my husband unloading the bags and putting them beside each of the four quadrants of the garden. (Apparently, though, the dog did not appreciate the strange rectangular visitors in the garden.) I probably will not be able to move a muscle tomorrow. The upside to this whole story is that I do not have a headache today. Oh, my! ~~~~~~~~ On a different note, my Parsley seedlings look like Parsley today, my Trumpet Vine Seedlings are looking quite nice, and the Crocs were going crazy down by the road. |
| Stormdancer Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 06:31 am: | |
DJ, is it possible that your house is causing your headaches? Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause those headaches as well...have you had your furnace checked out?...just a thought.
Sounds like you are going to be a very busy girl!! |
I have a carbon monoxide detector and it doesn't say anything is wrong. My son and husband don't share my headaches, so I don't think it's the furnace. It could be something else to do with the house, but I don't think so. I think maybe my jaw problem contributes to my headaches, and I'm sure the only reason I have a problem with my jaw is from stress that makes me clench my teeth all of the time. I'm getting a two-week break soon, supposedly, so we'll see how I feel when I'm on my own. |
| Stormdancer Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 09:13 am: | |
Glad to hear that you have the detector and that unfortunately you are the only one with the headaches. Yeah, stress is pretty hard on the body. Two week break huh? Now just how did you manage that? I'd love to have some "me" time myself. LOL |
My husband has to go away on business again. LOL. |
