Melonheads and Other Odds and Ends

According to an article sent by a concerned friend, our road was once inhabited by beings referred to as "Melonheads". This was by all accounts a (very politically incorrect) reference to the somehow deformed (and deranged) unfortunates that resided (according to local legend) in this area and devoured pets and small children. I guess Bob and I fit right in!
On a cheerier note, the picture above was captured using (hooray!) my new smart phone. I am on a steep learning curve- me being a Melonhead and all- to figure out arcane skills like "texting" and using "apps". You will remember that I had what I affectionately called my "dumb phone" which delivered a pretty good phone call... but I never did figure out how to do really basic stuff, like delete old messages or text. And it had no camera! No Internet! So this new phone is way cool and already impressing me.
My birthday was really pretty tremendous this year. I got the aforementioned phone and other useful and fun things from Bob. And then my family visited: Hello Cathy! Hello Beatrice! Hello John! And despite the day being overly hot and muggy, we had a good time, debating who the next viable presidential candidate should be and how soon The Orange Menace will be deposed. Yuck.
But my family came through bigly and presented me with fabulous wine and plants and delicious foods. I am fat and happy.
I spent the day planting my gifts (A yellow Rhododendron "Capistrano" and an Aralia cordata "Sun King" and Sapphire Flax and Dianthus "Miss Aroma": The first two are in the shade border and the latter two are in the Blue Border.)
I will no doubt succumb to a healthy case of poison ivy because poison ivy seems to be having a good year and it's pretty much every where. First thing this morning, Bob started weed whacking the driveway and I attempted to pitch in and lend a hand. I quickly begged off though, as the poison ivy at the edge of the driveway was some of the healthiest I have ever seen and there was plenty of it. I felt bad leaving Bob to battle the overgrown and jungle-like driveway verge, but I really don't want to spend the rest of my vacation scratching and oozing.

Rites of Passage

In case you didn't know, my birthday was July 20th. My favorite present thus far is definitely this fun-loving little Picea Orientalis "Skylands". I have wanted one for ages and almost purchased one multiple times but waited as I wasn't sure where it would go as they do grow and get quite large! But with all that (ahem) available real estate opening up in the back yard, placement is suddenly less an issue. Bob and I took a field trip to Broken Arrow Nursery and located this specimen. I liked the long outreach of his branch; He seemed optimistic. Bob (for reasons unknown) promptly named the tree "Spencer". So welcome Spencer!

Here's the rest of the booty. Bob thrust me firmly into the twenty-first century by presenting me with a Smart Phone. Thank you Bob! Now I will just have to figure out how to activate it and what to do with my fossil phone. I am going to miss showing off just how tragic my phone is/was; you'll recall that it is held together with tape, elastic bands and love. Suffice it to say, I did well in the gifts department and couldn't be happier!

A passage of another sort occurred today. Bob chain sawed an opening in the three-trunked spruce that had landed square in the middle of Maggie's field. That was a lot to cut through! Now Maggie can take a short cut back to her barn and I don't have to steer wheelbarrows full of manure all over the fifty states to dump it! It was quite a journey with a full load of horse manure; especially in the heat and humidity. Try it some time!
And look! More piles of wood! More stacks of logs! Hahahaha! I think I've reached my wood saturation point. Yes, I know we will be happy this winter when we have tons and tons of wood to keep us warm, but there is a lot of the stuff.
And look at this:

That's the top of yet another spruce tree that broke off and landed point down in Maggie's field. That's another sort of clean up to attend to... another day!

Upcoming Oklahoman Birthday

Doesn't that look like somewhere else... as in, "not Connecticut"? As previously reported, we had the dead and dying trees cut off at around 10 feet as we have a PLAN. (Oh just you wait...) Anyway, I have taken to calling our backyard "Oklahoma" (as in: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOk-lahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...") because the ground is flat and parched and there are no trees on the left hand side. I expect to see oil derricks sprouting. It's pretty bleak, especially as  it's been so god-awful hot and dry.
Here's a really hard to decipher close up of the (above) blue walkway:

Those are all ants, swarming on the mosaic. It was kind of gross, but really interesting. I don't know exactly what they were up to, but there is still a good deal of saw dust on the walkway from the tree removal episode so maybe they were eating sawdust. It's hard to describe how many there were.
But returning to the subject of flat, parched, barren landscapes, I am interested to see what happens with all the available space I now have in the backyard. While I was at work on Friday, industrious Bob picked up/rolled off and carted away the remaining giant logs that littered our lawn. There is a clear path through to the horse fence (and large heaps of attendant brush). As mentioned, the upside is more room for planting things! I am contemplating a sort of mini-conifer border. Sort of like this, but on a more modest scale:

A screen shot from the Iseli Nursery website. They're in Oregon and grow some pretty spectacular things. It's the stuff of my dreams...

I should probably make a field trip there some day, like visiting Mecca if you're a believer. Well, I'm a believer in Nature and plants!
So I have been starting my coniferous adventures recently. Here's a "De Groots' Spire" that Bob and I purchased at (of all places) Home Depot. You know how I like those tall pointy things!

This puppy grows only a foot wide but eight feet tall. Ooooooooooooooooh! I like that! We also bought a half-price juniper plumosa aurea in Vermont when we were there last weekend. (I hijacked Bob and made him go to the Home Depot in Bennington. They had a great selection- all 1/2 price! I wish we'd had a trailer!) And a word to all family members who may be getting me "living things" for my rapidly approaching birthday: I did NOT purchase anything on the lists of plants I provided. Rest assured, any and all birthday offerings are welcome!!

See You in Hell!

Flaming day lilies to accompany the incredibly hot weather we endured this week! The flowers didn't seem to mind; possibly because I ran around watering and checking up on everyone. How hot was it? Do I have to remind you? The heat index- a new-ish gauge of climate changes real life effect on us all- was over 100 all week. Everyday was a 3 tee shirt day.

The containers look really good (if I do say so myself...) despite needing waterings several times a day. The lawn is a tad crispy in spots but can also be attributed to the massive amounts of trees/logs/sawdust that continues to occupy our time and energy.
And piles? Anyone want to see our piles? It's been so hot that there was a recess taken from all that dragging and stacking and piling...

Bob and I have taken turns hauling this pile from one area to another. We have lacked the energy or impetus to remove it entirely and take it out to the woods.

You see what we're up against! More piles; they will be with us for a long time. No wonder we're getting out of town for the weekend. Actually, it has more to do with Bob having a sculpture to install in North Bennington (VT) at an outdoor sculpture show. Here's a link:
www.nbossvt.org
We had fun last year and it will be good to get away. A friend (thanks Joe!) is staying with Lil' Robin the Good. I think she knows something is up and she is not impressed!

* The title of this blog was originally going to refer to both the protracted heat wave and the resignation of the evil Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA. (Don't make me gag!) But as I stated writing this entry, I realized I wanted to spend as little time as possible discussing evil motherfuckers like Scott Pruitt. Suffice it to say, there is a particularly hot 'n' steamy ring of Hell for him to occupy and there won't be any second hand mattresses or special moisturizers to make his stay in hell easier!