Blog Archives

Another peek into my garden

 

     It’s amazing how a dozen tadpoles can so cleverly disappear into the pond.  They hide so well it’s a rare thing for us to spot one.  I did spy one hiding in the river tonight.  I can’t wait for them to become frogs.  It’ll be a real treat to have green frogs living here instead of the bullfrogs we’ve had so often.

     G has a bullfrog in her pond.  He’s been there several years, probably because he’s not as dumb as ours were.  Ours went walk about and several were run over by cars in the alley between our house and the cemetery hunting grounds.  Hers stays in their yard, catches starlings, and completely grosses her out by leaving the dead birds floating in the pond.  He seems to enjoy the EEK factor with her.

     Our new Koi seems to be settling in well.  It’s going to take some time before he is as big as the six girls he swims with now.  I keep saying he because I am desperately hoping this one is a male.

     I still have a bunch of plants to get into the ground even though I have planted some every day so far.

They MADE me do it

 

     The expression heard often yesterday by my dear friends was, “Why did I let you drag me here?”   G, her husband, and I went off on a money-spending spree (for me, not for them).  They took me to a bulk goods store they love to go to and I went over board–there was so much there I wanted to bring home.  The spices alone (cheap!) made me go hog-wild.

     If that wasn’t bad enough we then stopped at our favorite garden shop where, once again, I managed to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave.   As I piled more flowers on my cart, I said once again, “Why did you drag me here?”  As if, I went along with them kicking and screaming.  Yeah, sure I did.  They had to hog tie me to take me along.  Now about that swampland in Florida you wanted….

     Then we went to the pond shop.  (No, no, don’t make me go in there!)  Damn it, he had two black Koi…now he has one and so do I….  I found green frog tadpoles for the pond and yep, brought home a dozen of them.

     Next time they invite me to go along on a jaunt, DH should handcuff me to the desk.

I LOVE the new washer!

 

     My new Whirlpool top loading HE washer arrived yesterday morning promptly at eight-thirty.  It’s a good thing that DH was out of bed because I was so sound asleep I didn’t hear the doorbell ring or the dogs bark.  The deliverymen had the old machine out and the new one installed in short order.

     Before I left to go over to the MIL’s house, I ran it on the “Refresh” cycle with the stuff they give you to do that.  After I arrived home and after dinner, I did four loads of wash in the time it would normally take me to do two.  The spin cycle on the old machine never got the clothes so dry.

     This machine spins at 800 rpm and has the clothes almost dry.  This means the dryer ran less.  Hurrah, for the new washing machine and less time taken out of my day to do the laundry!

Hooked on DIY Network

 

     Now that my TV gets it, I’ve become hooked on the DIY network.  It’s my late night background noise while I write.  Although at times, it does drag me away from the computer because it catches my interest. 

     DH and I had many plans of what we wanted to do with this house.  Only one ever came to fruition and that was the pond.  Maybe if we’d known sooner that his MS was going to kick his ass we would’ve jumped on those projects.

     Now, instead I drool over ideas and projects I see on the show.  A deck or patio?  Oh, yes that would be nice.  To see the kitchen and front bedroom stripped of wood paneling and neatly wall boarded and freshly painted?  A pipe dream.

     If any of those hosts want to come in here and do the work (free of charge) I’d let them.  Tap, tap, tap…is thing on?  Can you hear me out there?

I wonder, do Koi get the sniffles?

 

     It seems that pond heaters, when used hard in very cold weather, have a two-year lifespan.  I have to replace ours this winter.  It isn’t heating well.  Without a heater in the pond, our lovely Koi won’t last through the winter.  I was glad to find them on Amazon and ordered two so I had a spare just in case.

     So far, we’ve been lucky with the old heater managing to limp along.  The pond hasn’t frozen over completely yet.  Sunday we’re supposed to have a day in the fifties with rain.  However, the temperatures will take another dive after that.  I hope the old heater survives until the new ones arrive.

     I also hope the Koi stay healthy in the meantime.

Life is a laundry list of clichés

 

     A dear friend told me, “The writing will wait.”  Yes, it will but I do wish it didn’t have to.  However, now I am overwhelmed.

     The expression ‘time and tide wait for no man’ (or in my case, woman) comes to mind this week.  Hospital runs for his mother, doctor appointments for him, and a run to the vet for allergy meds for Gavin one day this week.  I feel as though I’ll never catch my breath.

     I look out in the yard and almost feel like crying over the amount of work that needs doing before winter hits us.  I am doing none of it this week.  The leaves are getting deeper.

     As of last night, we hired AJ to get rid of the ton o leaves.  (She’s the peach who cleans our walks in the winter.)  After that, maybe I can get to the pond to clean it and the filters and then to the garden plants that need digging up and taking in for the winter. 

     I thought I was going to be able to keep up with things this year as I did last year but luck has never been one of our strong suits.

We live in a funhouse

 

     Old houses have oddities like crooked walls and strangely sized doors.  I’ve been sort of shopping around for four interior doors.  Of course, all four are different widths and they are all taller by more than an inch or two than any I can find.  We’re so blessed to have an old house….  Sometimes it’s like living in a carnival funhouse.

     Most of our doorways are out of square, which makes for more interesting problems.  Floors tilt and bow.  The stairs are all narrow and steep.  The attic stairs do a lovely eighty degree turn, twice. 

     The cellar steps are another test of balance and agility.  Although they don’t have turns they aren’t level and the bottom step is only an inch high, just enough to sprain an ankle if you hit it right.  Or rather, if I hit it right I’ll sprain an ankle, which I’ve done many times over the years.

     The entire house, except the attic and back porch, is heated by radiators.  This makes the placement of furniture a challenge.  There are two radiators in the living room under the master bedroom and one in the master bedroom.  The room is very hot in the winter.  I have to sleep with the window opened even when it’s below freezing outside or I’ll die of heat stroke.

On leaky pond

 

 

     How does one find a leak in a pond?  I know we are losing water somewhere but I have no idea where.  It could be around the hose connected to the waterfall, the waterfall itself, or maybe in the liner.  Yikes! 

     We need to find it before winter.  This is going to be one of those (not) fun projects.  What I wouldn’t give to have a strong-backed weak-minded helper.  Nope, don’t have one of those—DH doesn’t count.  His back is weak, his balance sucks, and he’s sharp as a tack.

     It wouldn’t be so bad if the pond were spring fed but mine is hose fed and I have to pay the water bill.  Yikes!  Therefore, while we sit beside our lovely pond and enjoy its serene atmosphere I wonder how much water I’ll have to add by the end of each week.

     We have a month or two left to locate and fix the leak.  This means muscling big rocks and lifting a heavy pond liner always mindful of the fish, moving a cement and fiberglass waterfall to look beneath it, checking hoses…any volunteers?  I didn’t think so.

Sudden stink sends rat terrier scurrying

 

     I’d smelled a skunk a few hours ago.  I had to close up the house the odor was so strong so the skunk had to have been nearby.  After the stink dissipated, I reopened the windows and inside doors.  The breeze from front to back was glorious.  It’s so nice to have seasonal weather back.

     It was about then when I heard my next-door neighbor come home.  I hailed her from my door and we talked for a few minutes.

      As she went inside, I warned her not to let her dog out without looking in the yard first but…  The next thing I knew I heard the dog bark, bark, YIPE!  I closed my windows and doors again. 

     The skunk didn’t get the little dog.  She is quite fast, but from what I understand it was a narrow escape.  I am surprised she had the good sense to retreat.  Had it been either one of mine they wouldn’t have backed off or I’d be bathing them about now…