Out Ioway

My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of Heaven and earth,
He will not let your foot slip-
He who watches over you will not slumber.
-Psalms 121:2,3

 
The ProgenyArdithSharonJasonDerek

Saturday, May 31, 2014

My Week of Living Sweatily

In between the odd moments of perspiring and swilling beverages, Ma has been working outside this past week. Approximately 4-6 hours per day.

Most of the cool hours were taken up with waiting for peoples to finish their daily math lesson, then it was out to the trenches.

But first, the trenches had to be cleared of quack-grass.

That stuff is completely evil, by the way.

Anyway, the garden looks almost 2/3 decent.

It finally rained this afternoon and this got finished by shower time:

--digging out more grass
--rearranging a section, complete with stones and grass cover; a bed for the tomoatoes
--threw a few more flower seeds, here and there: cosmos and California poppies. And some very cool looking vetch seed that I scavenged from a ditch...
--transplanted a Colorado Spruce

The evergreen looks rather sad, at the moment. I watered it before digging it ('bout 2 feet high) and then liberally after transplanting. But seriously, I thought those babies were stiff. This thing has wilted down like a droopy petunia, so I hope it lives. It was the bluest tinged of all my pine trees.

Tomatoes are always a problem in our garden, the dirt of which is infested with blight fungus.

So this year's strategy is to place them right behind the rushes and sedge, in hopes that those plants will filter some of the water (water splashing on the dirt and then to the plants is often how the wilt can be transferred).

The little bed of five plants is surrounded by medium sized limestone (again, from the ditch), with grass packed between the stones and the dirt. Another layer of grass overtop, with plastic fencing laid over the grass, anchored by stones.

Hoping the tomato plants do not get splashed by fungus laden dirt.

Now that it's rained I should be able to go out and pull some of the grass out of the strawberry beds.

Seriously hatin' on that grass, but oh well...

Tonight's supper will be scrambled eggs and bagels; a nice compromise between letting people starve and me fixing a meal when I'm beat.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Spiders and Snakes and Ticks, Oh My!



Tuesday was an eventful day, critter-wise.

I was weeding by my rushes when Loren walked over. 

Loren's interests run toward cars and computers, so I was pretty sure he wasn't going to inquire after the achillea.

"Are there any snakes around here with rattles?"

"No....wha...?"

"There's a snake inside the car, under the hood. It's making a rattling noise."

Hmm. This sounded like a nice diversion from spade-work induced sciatica.

"Probably a hog nose. They're kinda tricky, that way. They like to shake their tail in dry leaves and sound scary."

So we walked back to the Corolla and sure enough, coiled up in a mess beside the battery was a snake. Ominous rattling sounds ensued. But the markings were that of a hog nose.

"Wow....that is something....I wish we had a stick with a loop on the end....hmmm....I know, my kitchen tongs!"

Ma scuttled inside and came back with the tongs, clicking them occasionally to summon her snake-catching karma.

"Ok! Now.....".....*tries to grab head, snake pulls out of tongs*...."Oh c'mon"....*snap*...Ma tries to catch snake without tearing apart wiring in car....

He was a clever serpent, by I managed to grab it with my hand around his mid section, then, because he kept pulling away, tried to spook him backwards by poking the tongs at his head.

Finally extracted that dude and started walking toward the road. As an extra precaution I placed the tongs just behind its head. Trevor and Nolan were close by so I gave them a looksee before letting it loose in the ditch. It seemed a bit stunned, but eventually moved.

Back to weeding, and.....out popped the creature in the photo.

Who knew spiders produced egg sacks in the spring? But then, most of my knowledge of arachnids comes from "Charlotte's Web."

Figured they had to go to a state fair and save swine before spinning out a magum opus.

When I took the camera back to the ditch, the snake was gone.....oh well.

More weeding toil and then I was looking forward to a nice, hot bath. And that's when I felt something crawling up my back....a tick. The second one in two days, but it was large and unattached, so basically benign.

The work of an animal control officer never ends.



Thursday, May 08, 2014

"Cue Carmen Overature!"

"Mommy! Mommy! The company is planting their field and they've brought in the biggest seed drill you've ever seen!!

*sounds of large feet racing up stairs to bedrooms*

("Yes, yes. By all means. Inform the troops"....*continues repackaging frozen hamburger patties for Memorial Day*....)

*sounds of newly shod feet stomping down the stiarway*

"Mommy...can we go out and watch? Please ?"

"Oh sure. Go ahead." ("What am I gonna do...vie for 'worst mother award?' Hmmm...math should get done about....three. Oh well.")

Suddenly, it dawned on me. The boys were out of the house. Loren was off to Waterloo, "Dad's Day Out" and home by supper....though that little part about "stopping at Menards for a 'couple of things' " might push it into tomorrow...SAY, this would be an excellent time to crank up my "Best of Opera" CD :-D

*removes old "Lone Ranger" show DVD*

"Yump, pum-a-dumma-dumm-a, Yump, pum-a-dumma-dumm-a, Yump, pum-a-dumma-dumm-a, Dum..."

Ethan: "It's so big it shouldn't take too long..."

Ma:  "What??"

Ethan: "I said, we'll be in before too long..."

Ma:  "Wait...are you coming in? I just put on my opera CD....*glares*..."

Ethan: "Oh...no. I'll be in and out....do you want me to turn on the bass speaker?"

Ma: "Yeah. That'd be great. Thanks."