Cruise

I took these photos just this past Sunday.

The garden is wearing out and tonight

we are expecting a hard freeze.

The Alpine miniature strawberries have 

started blooming again.

The zinnias bloomed their hearts out.

Some were reseeded from last year,

and others where from three seed packets

 I planted this spring.

What's left now are faded and worn.

I really loved the color of this salvia.

Even though the fruit production of this

nectarine is minimal, 

I still appreciate this tree.

It has the most beautiful pink flowers in

the spring time and beautiful yellow leaves

in the fall.  

The packet of lavender seeds promised

to bloom the first season, and one made it.

Yeah!

Well, tomatoes here just don't do well.

There's too much shade in our garden space.

This is my first tomato.... still on the vine.

It's not mature enough to save through 

the freeze tonight.

The other two....

The yellow and orange cosmos 

reseed themselves every year.

They're just about finished as well.

I've been collecting the seeds and scattering

them here and there.

Garlic chive seeds ready to start

new plants next spring.

Take care, and have a wonderful

Thanksgiving.

Musings of Nothing Much

Do you ever run across people

in the stores that you wonder about

day's later and shake your head in dismay?

Last week in Costco,

I was waiting to turn into an isle

that was blocked by two seniors

of an older generation than I.

One man stopped the other man

who was wearing a Navy ball cap,

and then he went on to say derisively:

"Take that Navy hat off.

All it is, is a birthing station.

All those women getting pregnant."

The other guy lamely said yea.

I couldn't believe it as I walked between

the two men. 

  

I stopped further down the isle to write

down what I had just heard on

my grocery shopping list.

I wanted to accurately repeat 

what he had said to Rick.

We're a retired Navy family and I 

  resented what that elderly man had said.

I kind of wished I had been brave enough

to say something to him.

But I don't like confrontation,

and besides what good would it have done?

I ended up behind the offending senior

in line to get our receipts checked at the door.

He turned back to me and said:

"Don't ever buy furniture here.

I bought a rocker and it only lasted one year.

Made in China."

He still had that attitude...

I swear I've heard him in Costco before 

saying the same thing about the furniture.

I don't agree with him at all. 

I just "love" it when someone 

is highly opinionated and is willing

to tell everyone and anyone what's what.

Oh well,  

It's been stuck in my brain off and on 

ever since.

Okay, rant is over.

The enormous tent.

I shampooed the carpet

 (thanks to dusty paws Liberty)

a couple weeks ago. 

It took two days to dry

because it was so awfully humid at the time.

Once it was dry, and since the 

furniture was off the carpet,

I decided that we should put up the tent

in the front room for a trial run.

Oh now that was a hot idea.

We had to open the windows to get

some airflow.

The tent covered the entire room

from the bar stools against the kitchen counter,

 to the couch on the other side of the room.

In the other direction it covered the room

from the brick wood stove area to where 

the furniture was up against the other wall.

There's plenty of room for the cots  

to be placed in an L shape inside.

We'll probably go camping later this fall.

So far, there's no definite plans to go.

This is the black petunia that I purchased earlier

this spring.  I can't believe how black/purple it is.

The worms finally stopped munching on this

petunia and so it's filling out a bit.

I don't use pesticides, so sometimes 

we loose out to the bugs and such.

Here's an idea I wanted to save from 

a garden show back in early June.

One of the ladies selling stuff  had

handcrafted several of these boards with 

canning jar bouquets attached.

I only like the canning jar idea.

They were wrapped 

with wire  and included buttons,

 stones, beads, marbles and beach glass.

Some of them were very pretty,

although I only got a photo of this one.

I think some small pieces of

driftwood, sea glass,

 and shells would be pretty.

We have to wait until Friday before 

Rick's car is hopefully ready at the body shop.

  We found out that they

are redoing part of the paint job

because they weren't happy with the results

on the first try.

It's taking much longer than we expected

but it's going to look fabulous again

when we get it back.

Let's just hope it can stay that way

for a long time.

Sunflowers and Such

These are awesome little sunflowers.

I bought sunflower seeds 

from Renee's Garden  earlier this spring.

I love their seeds and the varieties they offer.

These sunflowers are for container gardens,

 but would do well as an edging 

for the garden or flower bed also.

They grow just 2 1/2 feet tall.

These are called 'Junior'.

The blooms are just 4 to 5 inches across,

with multiple buds on each stem.

Little goldfinches think the leaves are mighty tasty

and are taking bites of the leaves daily.

The plants are looking a bit ragged now.

  I took the photos before the 

birds started dining on the leaves.

They also love the zinnia leaves.

Some of these first blooms are seed 

heads now.

I'm glad the birds haven't developed a taste for

basil leaves, because those are for us to eat.

I made a batch of pesto this morning.

I have three little jars of the green gold,

tucked away in the freezer.

We enjoy our own pesto on pasta,

pizza, and sliced tomatoes.

In a couple of weeks I should have enough

basil to make another batch.

I use a recipe from

 Susan Branch's Heart of the Home

cookbook.  I do make a small change though.

I use roasted garlic instead of raw.

Rick's car was vandalized at work

last week.

All four doors were keyed.

We suspect it was one of

 their mentally unstable clients. 

She was hanging out in the parking lot

when Rick got to work.

He went inside, but had forgotten his glasses.

So he went back outside to get them.

In that short amount of time, 

the damage was done.

She was still in the parking lot,

sitting on a curb rocking herself back and forth.

No one else was around.

Rick parks (he no longer does) away

from the building in some shade that's

the farthest spot from the building.

I think she must have been living in 

the dumpster nearby and his arrival 

disturbed her.  Poor thing.

So, that car is getting the damage taken care of,

at a body shop we've used before.

It's taking a bit longer than we expected

but it's all good.

Meanwhile we have a rental car to use

in it's place.

My car needs another passenger side

 airbag replacement.  

Apparently the parts they used

to replace the original one on recall

 was defective as well.

So we need to go to the dealer again

and until then no one should ride in 

the front passenger seat.

I was expecting a package from Amazon today.

It did arrive.  It has my name and address on it.

Inside the package there's

 three jars of protein powder,

 two jars of some other 

muscle building powder,

 and two boxes of workout vitamins. 

 I looked online and all that stuff

adds up to $171 on sale.

 It's not mine... ha!

My $30 order must have gone to the body

builder...  He's good to go if he wants 

a repair part for a lawnmower and a 

Kindle cover. I think he's going to be mad.

 

I called Amazon and they're sending

a label to ship their box of

 muscle man goodies back to them.

Meanwhile my stuff has been reordered.

  Hakeem the Amazon representative

 was laughing at such an odd mix up. 

 He was fun to talk to.

It's all good,

 and my stuff will be on it's way soon.

Meanwhile we can't mow the half dead lawn,

but that's okay.  We don't have neighborhood

busy bodies to complain.

Garden Sanctuary

My little garden in the woods,

has become a much needed oasis

for lots of little creatures.

Butterflies are frequent visitors

to the zinnias I started from seed.

They're out there from the first

morning light

until the evening light fades.

I keep the birdbath clean and full,

which the birds are loving.

They need the scarce water as much as we do.

We barely water the lawn.

It's just enough to keep trees alive.

  Otherwise it's not much.

I'd much rather have my small little garden  

for all the birds, bees, butterflies, lizards

and me to enjoy.

I planted three packets of zinnia seeds

this spring.  They sure don't put many seeds

in the packets anymore.

But, it's so worth the joy of watching

the bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies

enjoying the blooms.

I can't think of what these are.

They grow from bulbs and have

leaves that look quite a bit like thin

gladiola leaves.

This was the first bloom to open.

Edited to add: They are Crocosmia.  

The little garden 

is at it's best first thing in the morning.

I love being out there to hear the birds

chirping and the hummingbirds zipping around

enjoying little sips of nectar.

In the afternoon, the heat wilts

a few things and it's looks a bit ragged.

But come morning, it's beautiful again.

Little Bits

Granddaughter Katelyn, who is just

four years old had her first experience

with an ice cream truck.

The following day, she wanted Mama

to make a call and demand that the 

ice cream truck come back.

This is at their temporary neighborhood

which is a subdivision with enough

kids to make an ice cream truck owner happy.

Their own house is in an area where the

ice cream truck doesn't visit.

Their six month lease 

on their temporary home is up at the end of

this month.  They plan to camp out on their

property until their own house is finished,

and who knows when that will be.

Their home burned just before Thanksgiving.

The rebuild is taking way too long, I think.

Yes it's been way too hot.

I found a humming bird that seemed

to be resting a bit too long near the ground.

After awhile I went back to check on him,

and he was still hanging out in the same area.

I picked him up and it was obvious that he

had some sort of injury.  I thought it was

perhaps exhaustion, dehydration or something

 and it just needed to eat. 

 So I tried to place this very

light creature to perch on the hummingbird feeder.

It wouldn't grab on, so I tried putting it's beak

into the syrup to see if it would take some.

I don't think it worked.  I tried setting it upon

the feeder yet again and it fell to the ground.

I left it in a shaded spot under the feeder hoping

it would recover.  Other hummingbirds 

came to attack the little one and wouldn't leave

it alone.  So Rick took it to another location

and sheltered it so that the other birds 

would leave it alone.

The following morning it was dead as we 

expected it to be.  

We think it's wing was broken.

   

I planted a bed full of zinnias from seeds

earlier this spring.  This is the first one to bloom.

There's an orange/peach colored one out there

as well.

This is dinner

when it's way too hot to cook.

Take care and have a terrific weekend.

Datura metel

This was the first bloom 

to open on my Datura metel,

otherwise known as 

Devil's Trumpet.

I didn't know about the Devil's Trumpet 

name until just now, while

doing some online research.

 

Isn't it amazing how much you

can learn in a moment's notice

like "How old is Vanna White"?

She's 58 and it only took me 

seconds to find the answer 

while we were watching Wheel of

Fortune last night. 

Anyway  Datura metel is poisonous,

especially the seeds and flowers.

Not that I'm going to try to eat it

or anything.

Just have to be careful when the 

grand kids are around.

Datura is considered a witches weed,

along with deadly nightshade,

henbane and mandrake.

Yikes.  It has a long history of

causing delirious states and death.

It was well known as an essential 

ingredient of potions and witches' brew.

(info from Wikipedia) 

But I just know it as an

interesting plant, with it's blossoms

that open up in the evening 

with the most intriguing tropical

scent.  The blooms whither away

the following day, especially if it's hot.