A New Member of the Family!

Don't tell my mother, but we seem to have a new resident here at the Bauhaus Chicken Coop. That's right, it's a handsome (traditonally) striped garter snake.  He/she chose to take up housekeeping in the pile of stones destined to become our terrace, right next to my Blue Garden. I had this funny feeling that there just might be snakes (thankfully the garter kind!) in this area.
Yesterday as I finished up planting and weeding, I happened to glance at the rocks and there it was. Being shy, as we haven't been formally introduced, he/she ducked back under a rock when I first suggested a photo shoot. But later on, Snake had reappeared and I caught the above candid picture.
Today, Snake is back; much more relaxed as I strove to plant and water in the rather oppressive heat.

Snake is positively sprawled along the top of the rocks. I think Snake likes the blue garden and seems pleased I took the time to weed and edge it. The Blue Garden was getting a bit out of control. I also pointed out to Bob that Snake might be in love...

because this bit of yellow rope was laying on the rocks, too. The yellow looks pretty similar to the yellow stripes on Snake's side. Perhaps a case of mistaken identity?
It must be Reptile Season as I spied a Box turtle careening across our lawn three days ago (gone when I fetched the camera). On my morning walk with Jules, we encountered a large garter snake who had been unfortunately run over while crossing the dirt road. Plain bad luck! Probably three cars a day drive on the dirt road- if that!- and the snake gets nailed. At least our snake is far away from the road and harm.

As Promised...

I know all of my followers were waiting with the cliched "baited breath" to see what I've been up to in my studio. Somehow, I had lost the pictures of my recent work when I went to upload yesterday... But here they are!
Well, I couldn't photograph the whole word in one shot because it's too long. That's the first third of Sequestration. First question is: who thinks these things up? Who ever heard of sequestration before Congress began yattering about automatic, across the board spending cuts? Who will remember this five years from now? I guess my job is to immortalize this and other gnarly words... And look at that fabric! Camouflage done in pink, lime green and brown? WTF? Where are we hiding in that? And it's corduroy. How many metaphors can you mix in one piece of yard goods?
And the pink letters are sewn in pink vinyl, and attractively arranged on pinkish red toile (images of shepards and shepardesses cavorting in charming landscapes- I'm referencing Marie Antoinette and the 1% here.

(Above, letters of my name scrambled further down the work) There are lovely sequins and beads sewn onto give a bit of bling and a pink dong like thing that dangles from the center that you can squeeze. (Th complete name of the piece is "Sequestration: Make You Squeal Like a Pig", of course). Anyway, that one's almost done.
I recently re-worked "The Fiscal Cliff" because I was not happy at all with how puckered the central panel became when I attached the edges. So I pulled it all apart and it's much better now, thank you. I am so pleased to be exploring the financial crisis and all its cheesy aspects. Loads of raw material here. Too Big to fail, indeed!

Bring Me A Shrubbery! (In The Miserable Month of May)

Well, today is beautiful, but I'm thinking the last few days. Saturday was so rainy and cold that I couldn't even consider planting any of the things that are languishing in pots. All of the flowers on my petunias and nicotiana are rotting off an look like frozen kleenex. I feel badly for garden center owners; it's Memorial Day and you're supposed to have everyone out buying and planting and it's the "safe planting" no frost date and it's miserable. But at least we didn't get snow like upper New York state! I'd move.
So I spent the day in my studio, which was refreshing. My whole studio, as pictured in the corner above, is full of plants hunkering down indoors and seedlings and things awaiting their germination. It's crowded but oxygen enriched. (That was supposed to be a photo of the pieces I'm at work on but I can't find them so I'll re-shoot and make that my next posting.) Between Bob and myself, we start many things from seed.
Today is really nice, so after I finish this I'll go back out and plant some more things. I got a couple of containers started (One needs major chunkiness; it looked too delicate for such a massive container.) I have a few more containers to adorn our deck with.
And then there's all the other perennials and things to plant... and lust after.
Have I mentioned that I am a complete plant addict? I cannot pass a nursery or garden center with stopping and most likely purchasing something. Yesterday, in my own form of botanical porn, I snapped pictures of things I'm currently pining for (pun intended as they're primarily evergreens.)

I want one of these. Yellow or gold, delicate needles... And one of these:

Tall and columnar and narrow. Like Juniper "Sky Pencil" (great name!). Even tighter column would be better. I have need of extreme verticality.
It occurred to me early this spring that I've truly never been able to plant permanent things like shrubs and trees.  And there are holes in my borders (and my life!) Big, empty dirty spots in my garden, singing out for truly year round interest.It was as if I suddenly understood what all those things at nurseries were, in larger pots beyond the annuals and perennials. Now I wander between them, coveting them all.
Look at these beauties:

So powder blue it's almost white! With little cones! Oooooohhh!
And look at these spruce! Like mumps!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Now I have to go take a cold shower! Thank Dog my birthday is coming up in July...

Better Late Than Not At All

Another first! Bob went out and bought our very first purchased lawn mower. We've had at least four or five mowers over the last 20 (very) odd years, but they'd all been bequeathed to us by family, friends or celebrities. Our last mower died last fall and we relied on Crisco the Stallion to mow the lawn- which, to his credit, he did a lovely job (maybe the only think he did well besides spook...). Anyway, I haven't had the time or the temporary fence posts to move the fence around for Maggie yet so Bob and I were watching the grass get shaggier and shaggier.
Bob took the initiative and made the big acquisition on Monday so that when I arrived home from work, he'd already mowed around the clothes line and the vegetable garden. I mowed around the flower beds last night after a long day of planting up a storm.

(Pictured is my now historic gardening hat. While out tilling the Good Earth, I think it important to remind people of the egregious crimes wrought upon our nation and the world by previous administrations. I am assuming that half of our country probably doesn't even remember Dick...)

Here's a happier photo of one of the arrangements I made for a container announcing the White Garden Area. (Did I already share this picture? Someone please tell me as I've been so busy and feel so behind that I may be repeating myself. But it does look good!) I planted over two full flats of annuals yesterday and despair of finding several key players in my borders- specifically Nicotiana Sylvestris and (real) Tithonia. (You may recall the debacle that occurred last year when I planted Tithonia that just got bigger and weedier and never bloomed; what a travesty!) And please don't remind me of my own sloth; I simply didn't get around to planting the above cited annuals and am now in deep regret. If anyone spies these two plants on trips to garden centers, send me a heads up.
The weather has sort of cooperated; it's muggy but good for transplanting. I have been so "on task" that I almost forgot to notice the plants flowering really handsomely. The tall bearded Iris are great this year. I have to remember to label the so I can move some into parts of the borders, out of the cut flower area. A low blue mat-forming plant called Lithodora is spectacular- so deep blue with almost juniper like foliage. My Delphinium are in bud and I'm waiting for a few other things to pop. I guess it;s a reminder to stop and smell the roses!

An Equine Update and Marketing My Mexican Pony

I suppose first I must update the alleged "wild animals" (bears, anyone? bobcats? cougars?) that were so distressing our poor Mistress Maggie and causing her to erupt into truly remarkable sound effects... with me following suit, naturally. By the next day, as she persisted in running the fence line and peering through the swamp, we realized she's most likely in heat and attempting to notify the horses next door. I am taking responsibility for the unwholesome possibility that I was likewise trumpeting MY willingness to entertain stallions in the vicinity... which is why Jules looked at me like I was crazy. Don't ask what I was saying in erotic filly speak!

But on another interesting equine topic, now that Maggie's winter fur has all but shed out, you can get a very good look at her brands. She came from somewhere out west, where they do actually brand livestock. (Don't get me started on the barbaric, sadistic practice of branding horses and cows in the first place. Yes, it's permanent and you can track your "property", but ouch!)
On her shoulder, she sports an "E" with what looks like a minus sign next to it. (Above)
On her hindquarters, same side, she has a double interlocking C.

Hey! I think I found out what that one stands for!

So maybe Maggie was either pegged as possible handbag material, or she's showing her fashion forward support of a popular name. Hahahaha.
I have another theory: if you take the "E" from her front end, and add another line to the minus sign and suppose that her hind end actually could be read as "C" to the second power, or squared... I just need to add one last thing to the equine equation:

I knew my horse was smart but she's wearing Einstein's Theory of Relativity emblazoned on her side! Maybe they simply ran out of branding irons before they finished. (God knows , I'm not subjecting her to more pain and suffering.)

Mexican Watch Pony

I was working in the flower garden with my capable assistant Jules the Dog, when I realized that Maggie the Mexican Pony was seriously disturbed by something. Her head was way up, her tail was like a flag and she was trotting animatedly from one side of her pasture to the other. When she got to the fence, she'd blow out through her nostrils with a mighty, "HHHUUUHHHNNNNH". I caught on that she was trying to scare away whatever it was in the woods. I joined her in the field, to lend moral support and try and get a good look.
First, I went into the house to secure the camera, as it occurred to me that every time I've seen something really, truly awe-inspiringly weird- like bears or bobcats- I am sans camera. But much like car noises that mysteriously disappear when you take the car to a garage, the shy monster in the margin of the woods remained hidden while I kept company with Maggie. I gamely attempted to make the same gruff trumpeting sound as my Watch Pony. Maggie glanced over at me with a certain respect for my desire to join the chorus, but poor Jules looked downright embarrassed at my amateurish efforts. I'll practice.

I suspect it was a bear because one time when I was still boarding Crispin, a bear lumbered through the bushes behind all the horse paddocks. Several people caught glimpses of it, as it crashed through the brush, emitting loud snuffs... and the horses went ballistic. Each one took turns galloping around wildly and neighing; it was most impressive but not conducive to safe and leisurely riding. Today, I'd been hoping to saddle up my splendid steed and mosey down the local trail before it rained, but with unidentified animals on the loose, I gardened instead.
I never did spot what upset Maggie, but she kept up her vigil for an hour or so while Jules and I transplanted some hostas. I brought Maggie a bucket of grass that I trimmed from our overgrown lawn as a reward for being such a brave horse.

Another Birthday!

It seems all the men in my life are Tauruses (Taurens?) Yesterday was Jules' 3rd birthday. Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that we picked Jules up at the airport (international traveler that he is!) and he was a tiny eight pound, eight week old jewel. He had a very nice day full of cards from admirers (both physical cards and e-cards) and good things to eat. And he went swimming and got to drape rope-y dog spit all over his nose (reference above picture). He's such a good dog and a good friend.
In addition to the ongoing computer dilemmas, (which have made blogging difficult if not down right impossible) we've been digging things up:

Here is a fossil bottle of Mountain Dew that Bob unearthed down near his studio. The former resident of the  BauHaus Chicken Coop was a mighty consumer of this particular beverage. I can't tell you how many cans and bottles of the stuff we found under, in and on every surface in our house and carport. I don't think I've ever had any in my life (and never intend to!) but I guess someone likes it. Bob opened it and it smelled the same as the day it was manufactured; probably full of preservatives and flame retardants!
What else? I'm attempting to regain my blogging momentum but so much has been going on.

Did you really expect to see this? Bob fixed the sink in the bathroom- looks like more fossils! The trap was clogged which led to Bob trying to unclog it and the pipes under the sink were all corroded so it became replacement time. We probably could have used the Mountain Dew as a liquid plumber substitute! 

So Much Has Transpired!

Good grief! It's been absolutely ages since we've even had a computer and all is not okay in the u-verse yet! For some too awful to contemplate reason, none of our files saved on the computer seem to have been transferred... I can't even go there without existential dreads.
But I suppose the good news is that we are back on line and I can blog again; did you miss me?
It's Bob's birthday and we're getting ready to go out and consume piles of raw fish. Having gobbled down massive slabs of ultra dense chocolate cake with our coffee about an hour ago might have been a mistake. I'm kind of full but will no doubt force further quantities of food down the hatch; I guess that's what (other people's) birthdays are for! Here's an interior oven shot of Bob's cake as overly enthusiastic batter. There was chocolate cake stuck to the oven racks, the oven door, in the drawer under the oven. What a gooey mess! (But the cake tasted great).

A catch up blog posting, of sorts. We were busy in the time we've been off line. Maybe that's why we've gotten other things done. Like planning an orchard; we went from our solitary peach tree to two apples and one plum (another plum to be secured for cross pollination). The orchard is located down by the pond, on the other side of Maggie's pasture. We spent a pleasant couple of afternoons clearing scrubby roses and felling trees (more on that in a future post) and getting ticks on us. Oh joy. But the orchard will be wonderful. One of Bob's birthday gifts was a Northern Spy apple tree. It's an old variety that I remember my grandmother using for pies and sauce. I got a Granny Smith tree to keep the Northern Spy company. (I love Granny Smith- or any other tart green apple- and eat one a day). Bob got asparagus roots from my sister and her partner John (they're probably reading this now and a big thank you!) and spent an afternoon preparing and planting that bed. Now all Bob and I have to do is wait several years to harvest all this potential fruit!