A Good Excuse to Clean

Nothing like the threat of an approaching party to force the residents to do a bit of serious cleaning! I always suspect that having friends over has as much to do with the desire to remove grimy soap scum from under foot in the downstairs bathroom as is does with the desire to entertain charming and attractive acquaintances!  The pile of clothes that has escalated on the hall chair, the moldy lime wedge festering on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator... all swept away in an effort to appear wholesome and clean.

We're not THAT bad. But we do have our moments. Bob and I would rather be outdoors, weeding or schlepping firewood than vacuuming any day of the week. I did make a run for the dump today, with an embarrassing amount of "riches" in the way of garbage bag after trash bag after recyclables. What is that about godliness and cleanliness as peculiar bedfellows?

So musing on entertaining has me thinking of the other enlightening aspects of throwing (flinging? tossing?) a party. I really am fascinated with inviting the peoples that populate the different corners of our universe. We invite people we make art with, people we know through our interest in gardening, people we work with at present or in the past... people we rub shoulders with occasionally in random moments of camaraderie(that looks spelled wrong) at other people's parties. What a heady mix! And sometimes these spicy mixes don't end up well at all... but I like the fact that we cooked them up and suffer the consequences (and social indigestion).  

Additionally, we promise to have electricity (it happened at my 50th birthday!) and no snow (our infamous Open House ten days after moving in; need I say more?) But what fun! If you can't roll with the punches and invite as many people as safely fit within the confines of your yard, than don't throw a party.

I am attempting to remember what Nigella Lawson said in a (funny) interview/recipe swap recently. She advised to "Never drink more than your guests". From her description, her guests were all heavy imbibers. Me? I'll try and keep a lid on it, but maybe I'll dance.

Garden Monsters or... GardenZilla?

I've been planting Tithonia (rotundafolia for those that pay attention to such things!) for years. I therefore know what it (should) look like and this ain't it! Thinking that my saved seed might be old and not germinate reliably (as I had issues with several other saved seeds),  I purchased a brand new 2012 pack of Tithonia from a Burpee's kiosk. It germinated just fine and I carefully transplanted  the little darlibgs out into my borders this late spring.
They commenced to grow. And grow. And grow. And waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in July around my birthday, I remarked to Bob that it should have been starteing to bloom. And that the leaves didn't look quite right; instead of a velvety, matte grey-gree, they look more like that ubiquitous wild lettuce with deeply cut shiny leaves. And here it is, a full month later and still no buds.

So we'll give it an "A" for vigor, but it's dwarfing other very tall denizens of my border and looks like a jolly green giant. This is not the first time that seed has been untrue. Bob gave me seedlings of "Lemon Gem" Tagetes marigolds that turned out to be orange and more "Crackerjack" than Tagetes.
I contacted Burpee's, sending along the requisite jpegs and I received a less than satisfactory answer. I was told maybe my soil was too rich- all leaves, no flowers. Or perhaps my soil was impoverished and unimproved as that another reason for low flower set. But it missed the salient issue: this is no Tithonia that I've ever seen. The rest of my plants seen to be cowering behind this monster!

I mean, several of them are well over seven feet tall and still growing. I was envious of my friend Roberta, who's well behaved Tithonia was blooming beautifully in her splendid garden. I don't think I'll save the seeds from these behemoths... that is if they ever flower!

Strange Things in the Yard

You'd think we lived in a graveyard, as we keep unearthing oddments like jaws and teeth and femurs. Bob arranged them in a cluster at the side of one of our paths; I thought it made a charming composition. We have a couple of decomposing skunk carcasses down by Bob's studio. I'm certain they will join this pile soon. I just hope what's pictured is all animal bones!
Here's another interesting sight:

I think of them as "Bob Lumps". These are now historic lumps as he made these quite a while ago. (The moss will attest to that.) They looked nice as a lump collection; they will probably serve as bottom weights for garden structures or sculptures. Can't help but wonder why no moss grew on thet one in the middle...

The Blue Garden

These blue bottles are a gift from our friends Gloria and Bill. I have been saving blue beer bottles- a collection started when I picked one up on my morning meanderings with Jules. I thought they'd look great in my blue garden. Soon I was encouraging Bob to consume a beer most suited to underage drinkers. He has complied, but not too often! Anyway, I have the bottles snaking their way past convolvulous and salvias. Here are a few other denizens of my other blue garden:

And my favorites, the delphiniums (although this is the second flush of blooms and they're not so tall).

That's Summer Skies. I've successfully started Blue Bird (a slightly darker but still light blue) from seed and some are threatening to flower this year. I hope they winter over so next year the blue garden is totally kick ass with 5 foot tall blue pillars. 

I've also got that nifty Blue Lyme Grass that you can see trying to insert itself in the above picture to the left. Bob gave me a wonderful specimen for my birthday. Don't you just love birthdays? Always a good time to repopulate the gardens!

Xmas in August

What kind of fun is this?!?! Bob was hired to create a mother and father snowman/woman to keep company with the "child" snowman that a friend had purchased. It is the middle of deepest summer and very hot to boot but I guess we don't have to worry about them melting- only rusting! As they await delivery, I thought it would be fun to document them and then it dawned on me that they could hide our hideous (brilliantly white) propane tanks. I debated painting the tanks camouflage or at least dark green but then realized that the energy company (who are already on my shit list) would probably accuse us with defacing company property or some other spurious charge.
We ultimately will erect a fence around the tanks. But until such time, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Crispin in Heaven

This is a picture of Crispin and the friendly ghost. Actually, it's our Georgia Belle peach tree swaddled in row cover to protect it from Crispin's eager lips. The horse has proven that he will try to eat anything green, with pretty dramatic efforts being on display in the raspberry/ blackberry department. I innocently thought that thorns would deter him, but was proven wrong. So whenever I move his temporary fencing, I cover grapes, berry bushes and trees.
Temporary horse fencing is the best! They make these cheap ($2 a post) fiberglass poles (fixed up with pre-atatched wire holders) that you just step in. (No digging and they weigh nothing. You can carry a bundle of twenty very easily.) You string electric wire fence between the poles and Voila! Instant pasture. Just don't tell Crispin that we didn't spring for the solar powered fence charger... He thinks it's electric and it works like a charm. I rotate his grazing area every three days or so. We haven't had to mow a large section of our property all summer and he gets all the benefits of nice fresh green grass. Crispin stands at the gate and neighs at me when he sees me re-installing the portable fencing; he knows he's put me to work doing something productive and that soon he'll be dining in style.

Bob's Vegetable Kingdom

Bob has really made an amazing vegetable garden this year! I think the last time Ii was able to blog regularly. we were just starting some seeds and rearranging the furniture (so to speak) in the garden, the fence needed completing, the compost pile required turning, I had to remove many perennials that were heeled in... there was a LOT to be accomplished.
But just a couple of months later and boy the results are astonishing. Huge ripe tomatoes, tons of green (and yellow) beans, watermelon and squash forming. Bob's growing three kinds of okra (for those that eat that kind of thing). The squash and watermelon plants are particularly aggressive as Bob planted them smack in the middle of the substantial compost pile. One Blue Hubbard squash vine us so rampant that it started scaling the fence in an effort to escape our confines and swamp the neighbor's yard. Bob had to construct a net sling to support the burgeoning fruit as Blue Hubbard squash can become quite large!

Here's one last shot of the vegetable kingdom, this time showing one of four matching gates, Bob erected wooden arbors above to hold the morning glories that surround each gate. It looks terrific!

And as a private joke, I "photoshopped" our neighbor's house and SUV out of the distant background. Would that it were just open space! (On the upper left hand side of the gate).

A Bit of the SouthWest, Nor'Eastern Style

Holy Cow! I had been told that Prickly Pear cactus are native to this area and that they bloom, but I'd never seen it happen. We've had this plant for a few years now and whenever bumps of new growth appeared along the leaves (do you call them leaves? nodules?) I'd hope for a flower bud. Nothing grew except more "ears" with gigantic thorns (that like to implant themselves deeply in unsuspecting flesh). But this June thrilled us with a week or so of lovely portulacca-like yellow flowers. Quite spectacular.
This, as you may remember, is the cactus that I planted up in the air in a cement vessel. It wintered over in a peculiar deflated fashion. As the weather warmed, the leaves re-inflated a bit at a time. It's an entertaining addition the the garden.

this photo has nothing to do with the Prickly Pear, but was a dramatic conclusion to one of those plentiful afternoon thunderstorms we've been experiencing. Very faintly, you can detect a rainbow, the end of which was right in our yard, just past Bob's sculpture and the hydrangeas. It was ethereal and magic.

So Much To Say!!

(I've been unable to post a blog for so long that the entire early summer session of life seems to have slipped away. I have a rush of photos to add, illustrating our progresses and stalemates! We all know the cliche about good intentions. In truth, it was more "acts of god" than laziness on the part of your humble blogster. I'll relate the harrowing tale of Internet inaccessibility in a future posting; nothing is ever easy, or as easy as corporate advertisements would lead you to believe.)
I drove home from Gainful Employment Land on Friday and I chose a different road, along a pleasant suburban semi-farm area hoping to avoid the air pollution coagulating along a more travelled route. I was tooling along a bit more slowly than my usual break-neck speed and I was enjoying the occasional grazing cow, and roadside horse. On the right periphery of my vision, I detected movement and braked my car for what I took to be a very large dog (think mega-Rottweiler) approaching the road. Instead, a good looking black bear gallumphed directly in front of my car- mouth wide open no doubt to gulp the hot and muggy air. He was, after all, wrapped in a thick coat of black fur. I reached for my camera but he was long gone! Quite a sight. You'll just have to imagine that.
Another missed Animal Kingdom Photo Op occurred while I was moving Crisco the Stallion's portable pasture. (See all the new things happening at the BauHaus Chicken Coop? I promise a posting about our amazing Equine Lawn Mower.) Crispin enjoys watching me move the portable fencing. He know he'll have new eating. But on this particular afternoon, he was engrossed in something else, snorting and shaking his mane and cantering from one end of the fence line to the other. Feeling his oats, so to speak and showing he might have a touch of Lipizzaner in him what with his attempts at Airs Above the Ground. I finally had to go see what he was looking at. At the bottom of his permanent pasture was a very large turkey, not responding to Crispin's flirtations, but just standing his ground and seeming unmoved. Crispin would run full tilt down the hill towards the turkey and then- being more than a bit of a chicken- turn and canter back up the hill. This went on for a good ten minutes until the turkey expressed boredom and flew off. that in itself was a sight as he had a most impressive wingspan.

Did You Miss me?

Having been accidentally booted off the Internet during a particularly violent thunder and lightening event, we are finally back on. Don't ask. Please. Someday, when I am feeling especially long-winded and sullen, I will relate the entire sordid tale of attempting to sign up for Hi Speed Internet. (What country do we live in?)
So the inside of my brain is now resembling the assembled trash pictured above. That's all for tonight! I quit. But at least we're still here.