5/17/09

The birds are 11 days old, and are already showing black and white striped feathers. They are becoming less fearful and more inquisitive; checking out who brings them water and food. And they eat so much food! LOL their feeder has to be filled twice a day.

I got a lot of seedlings and seeds planted yesterday; a row and a half of potatoes alone. Today I hope to finish up. The two cleanouts from the brooder I mixed in with my other compost, put in the wheelbarrow, added water to make a mush, and used in the potato garden. I have to clean the brooder again today; the compost pile is getting pretty skimpy since I plowed everything in to the other garden rows! More horse poop to fork from the corral is needed.

Larry told me the other night at the bar that he was going to wait to put in tomatoes til he gets back from California in June, because the soil won't be warmed up until then. It is a puzzlement to me why no one grows lettuce, greens, broccoli, etc here; the weather is so cool except from late June thru July that nothing would go to seed until very late! We shall see how the section of collards does; foks around here have never seen them, and they can get to be soo bushy!

The lilacs out front are blooming and smell so sweetly. I finished cleaning out the pond and filled it. The wheat in the East Garden is already two inches high! The daylilies I transplanted here are springing up, and everything is in growth mode. The tulips scattered haphazardly around the yard were pathetic this year; only one bloom. I didn't even know they were there until they came up this year! I'll have to dig them, separate them, and put them in real beds this year to protect them from both weather and the lawnmower. Still don't understand plants just stuck in holes here and there, with no cohesion, no mulch, nothing. WTF? How do you expect anything to grow and produce if you don't protect it? The strawberries are cheerfully poking their heads up, the gooseberries are taking off, and the new blueberry blooms got nipped by the frost this week but are fine. Last year's cherry tree has blooms. The new apricot, apple, and plum trees have baby leaves.

The nice thing is that I have so much property that I can finally grow whatever I want. There is sooo much room! Ummm radishes, carrots, things that I couldn't grow in clay will do great in the sandy soil here. Mike made me another sprinkler on a tripod for the East garden, and I have the one on the West garden already. He put weed n feed on the lawn, and sandburr killer behind the West garden. He even sprayed the yard dandelions! I love the grass here; so soft and green, not weedy and harsh underfoot when it's cut, like before. Mike told Janet that he used to mow the yard with a weedeater because we had so many plants that a lawnmower couldn't deal with it.

Tammy is in Vegas again this week; I invited her and her boyfriend out but she is busy playing and probably won't come. Can't blame her there!

The High School graduation was last night; 14 graduates. What great kids! Their class colors were hot pink and lime green, their theme song was "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and their class motto was "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door". The whole graduation was lively and silly and crazy, but very moving; the kids stepped down off the stage and took their parents flowers. Afterward we were invited to two graduation parties; I had some glazed grad statues in my ceramics shop, and one was a blond girl, the other a dark-haired boy. Oddly, that described the two kids who invited us to the parties! So I painted each of the two grad's names on the statues, and attached an orange tassel to each cap - and then wired a $10 bill onto each tassel.

One more full week of work, and then I'll have more time to work in the garden! This is the perfect job for what I want to do with the rest of my life.

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