Nearly May Day and it's SF week!
hazelinok
19 days ago
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hazelinok
19 days agoRelated Discussions
My laugh for the day... Not SF related... well, maybe a little...
Comments (8)hahahaha dotz!!!! I got that word from my mother. My housedresses are old sundresses, (some of them over 15 years old) so they're a little short or holey or inappropriate in some other way. When I get home from work, I'll throw one on to do housework. I ended up missing the exit off the freeway for the butcher so went to Costco anyway. And it wasn't busy. And it wasn't hot. And I forgot DD had an after school activity at school, so I had an extra 45 minutes and just hit the store like a fiend - with a list! Managed to get out of there only spending $150, which is a record for me. And, I must admit, $45 of that was for a bottle of Shalimar. I figured, you send me to Costco.... LOL. I've always wanted a bottle, and it's quickly becoming my favorite scent. I keep smelling my wrists. :) Oh, and DH doesn't even know I went to Costco, so he doesn't know I folded... So, the menu is: Red wine Cheese plate with crackers and meats and grapes Herb crusted lamb chops with pomegranate sauce on a bed of fresh cut corn and parsley Parmesan sprinkled Asparagus Quinoa with tiny bits of carrot and onion Blueberry tarts and vanilla ice cream I cleaned the house yesterday, got the asparagus trimmed and washed and in a glass tupperware. Sliced the cheese, washed the grapes. All I have to do today is prepare the meat, throw the quinoa and carrots and onions in the rice maker, steam the asparagus and toss it and make the blueberry tarts. And I cheated with the tarts. I bought some of those little mini crusts, pre-made. DH was grumbling that three lamb chops apiece were not enough. I laughed, I can only eat one. I know Gpa will probably only eat two. I can't believe I thought DH hated lamb all this time. He insists he loves it. Who knew??? I've cooked it and (in my memory) he always complains. And DD flat out does not like it (which I can understand, it's gamey). So..... I have to think of something to cook her, or something to go with the lamb that will match. I'll probably just do some herb crusted tofu with the pom sauce. I do a tofu side with a lot of meals I do, like teriyaki chicken... And she loves tofu. I just want to avoid the whole separate meal thing......See More1 more pic...it was harvest day for the hill behind us last week
Comments (6)They are usually called "big round" bales. We used to bale this way, but we have gone to "big square" bales, as they are easier to stack high. We also bale regular square bales - those are the smaller ones that you can pick up by hand. My 16 year old DD does the small square baling! We also bale brome hay. When it is cut is called "swathing" or "mowing". It is layed in "windrows" by the swather. The baler moves over these and rolls it up into bales, or packs it into squares. In our big square bales, the hay is actually cut into small pieces as it is baled up. That way we can break the bale open and put it in a feed mixer wagon with corn, corn silage, and protein, to make a "ration" to feed cattle with. We also bale some alfalfa. You get several "cuttings" from alfalfa. Alfalfa is a high protein hay. It is usually a 99% guarantee that if you have hay down - it will rain, LOL! If it rains on it or it is very damp out, we "rake" the hay. It rolls the windrows over so they can dry better. I rake hay sometimes....See MoreMay Day! May Day!
Comments (72)On the last library visit I picked up Books Baguettes & Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer. I have ploughed though the first 100 pages and can take no more of it! I was looking forward to reading about the famous Paris Left Bank 'Shakespeare & Co' shop but found little about books and way too much about Mercer who is/was a sleazy reporter with a Canadian paper who was forced to leave the country in a hurry and finds a bed at the shop. Perhaps he is still paid by the number of words he produces but I found the style sloppy with too much American slang, and way too many 'characters' unappealing . . . how many drunken/druggie old hippies do I want to read about . .. and if I ever read the word authored (meaning written) again, it will be too soon....See MoreMay 2019, Week 1, If April Showers Bring May Flowers.....
Comments (43)Nancy, Keep an eye on that pink evening primrose. It is determined to conquer the world. It should be a great potato year, but only time will tell. It would be a better year for everything if only the sun would shine. All the foliage in the world isn't useful except on plants grown only for their foliage. We need sunshine to get fruiting plants to fruit. Jennifer, I hate to hear that about the standing water--it should drain away fairly quickly. You can want apples all you want, and go ahead and stamp your feet if it makes you feel better, but apples are very challenging here and do not produce reliably. (There's a reason you don't see apple orchards in Oklahoma.) I don't even bother with them because of all the frustration that comes along with them. Friends of mine who "try" to grow apples (their words, not mine) do not get a regular harvest---maybe once out of 4 years, and if you aren't spraying regularly at the right stages in the plants' reproductive cycle, then coddling moths, plum curculios and other pests infest the fruit. With a lot of the apple trees people I know have attempted to grow here, about the time the trees are old enough to bear fruit reliably, they get fire blight and begin to die. Are your columnar apples growing in containers? If so, that might be the problem as this would make them more prone to stress of all kind. Your apple trees didn't have to be exposed to freezing cold temperatures while in bloom in order for the fruit buds (if the tree tried to form them) to die. They can die from cold exposure before they ever even attempt to bloom. The only other things I can think of that would affect apple trees fruiting would be (a) age of the tree---too young to bear fruit reliably, (b) too much fertilizer is keeping it strongly vegetative, or (c) pruning at the wrong time---does one even prune columnar apples? No one I know grows columnar apples except for you, so I don't understand what pruning is or isn't done to them. People here also have a hard time getting their apple varieties to bloom together for cross-pollination---even after they selected apple varieties that ought to be in bloom at the same time. Trees tend to do their own thing. It isn't too late to sow dill seed. I just scatter handfuls of it here or there...if you have a place where the seedlings could be protected from the chickens. dbarron, You're further north so flowers probably are further behind there, but all the flowers here are spectacular this year---wildflowers, cultivated garden plants, shrubs, trees, even tomato and pepper plants have set a lot of blossoms extra early....anything that has a visible flower has been the prettiest ever. We have wildflowers we seldom see, likely because we don't get enough rain for them...so they only pop up in the occasional very wet year. All my flowers are early this year but I'm not complaining. I think they'd be even more spectacular if the sun would shine on them occasionally, but we'll never know because, apparently, the sun isn't going to show its face here again. Well, it has to return at some point. I hope you will get a spectacular flower show there like we are getting here. Jen, I am so sorry about your beloved dog. Please accept my most sincere condolences. Losing a furbaby is so very hard. I hope you are comforted by the knowledge that your animal companion lived a long, happy life and knew how much he was loved. Rebecca, While I appreciate having rain (since we tend to run more towards drought here most of the time) I hate when it interferes with planting time. You must have gotten our Thursday-Friday rain up there, because the 1.5-2.5" they said we likely would get over those two days completely missed us. I'm not complaining. They canceled the river flood warning and everything, because without that rainfall, the Red River didn't come out of its banks although it came close. We still have other flooded areas and damaged roads, so more rain just would have made things worse than they already are. Our ground still is too wet for planting though. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. If only the sun would shine and dry up everything somewhat. Jennifer, We are having the sort of weather that potatoes like. Some years, by this time, we're already hitting temperatures that they don't really appreciate. We have the girls here today, so there won't be much time (probably no time) to garden or plant shop. We're going to take them Mother's Day shopping so they can find something to give their mom next weekend. Last night they picked out Mother's Day cards and then, when they called their mom and Chris to tell them good night, they started telling her they had bought her Mother's Day cards that they described as 'hilarious'. I think if I hadn't stopped them right then, they probably would have told her what the cards looked like and what they said. They love surprising their mom with gifts on all special occasions, but they aren't good at actual surprises and they aren't good at waiting for the holiday to actually arrive. I'm pretty sure we'll shop for gardening tools and such because Chris and Jana really are getting into gardening now that they have a yard that is their own, instead of a rental. I'll have to give the wrapped gifts to Chris to put up on a high shelf and hide until Mother's Day. The kids' grass seeds (a shade blend of grass seeds that tolerate shade) sprouted this past week despite heavy rainfall and Chris was excited about that. It won't be a permanent lawn as they intend to have no front lawn---just really lovely, somewhat formal plantings of evergreen shrubs and perennials---but the grass should prevent erosion until they can get their new landscape installed. There was a serious erosion issued in one area behind their old retaining wall this week, and I think there's now a structure issue (a crack in the wall) and a big gully right behind the wall. I think replacing the wall must be the major yard project for this summer. We believe their retaining wall is the original wall from the 1930s, and one of their next door neighbors kindly saved one large stone from it that had collapsed and fallen on a portion of the wall some time ago---I guess this was after the house went on the market back in winter and no one was living in it. His retaining wall is peculiar (and there are others just like it in his neighborhood) in that it isn't stacked stone. It is like they graded a slight slope into the wall, laid down flagstones that are maybe 1-1.5" thick, and mortared them together. It actually is amazing it has lasted as long as it has because there's no proper footing, no,gravel for drainage, etc. After he did his proper research to determine how to build a retaining wall, he was shocked at the apparent shoddy construction of the one they have now. I just told him that times have changed and the wall he has now likely was considered perfectly acceptable at the time it was built...and it has stood the test of time. They are at the planning stage now, and would rather be at the planting stage. Chris has been researching plants and has asked gazillions of questions this past week. He is big time into planning and proper soil preparation, so he's done his jar soil test (5 of them from various locations on their property), etc., and knows what kind of soil he has (sandy). Now, I need to get him to do an OSU soil fertility type test. He, Jana and Lillie all have made lists of plants they want---right down to the variety of tulips and other bulbs they each prefer--and now are working on consolidating their three separate lists into one list and cutting it down to a manageable amount to plant. I think he said their tulip list consisted of 40 varieties and needed a lot of editing. I cannot help him with reducing his variety list---I'm no good at that task. It is fun to discuss all their plans with them as they plan their work---I do love seeing an old neglected yard brought back to life with great landscaping, and I have no doubt theirs will be spectacular. Dawn...See Morehwy20gardener
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