My side-neighbor lit up Christmas lights last night. My own house lights are still up from Christmases ago. Turned off of course. The main floor hangs 2' forward from the basement and they hang on cup hooks. I just never bothered to take them down. You can't really see them from the street when unlit.
And they are nothing fancy, just a string of small blue lights on a timer. I have a shrub and a tree I planted 2 years ago and put a cage around each to protect them from the deer. I may add regular old-fashioned lights around them this year. Blue. I like blue. The neighbors all do red/green lights, so the blue stands out a bit. I am a bit non-standard sometimes.
I'll light them up December 1st. I'm not crazy for these 6 week ahead of time decorations. Too far ahead of time, and decorations seem to lose the connection to the holiday. And I'll attach the nice sturdy white plastic wreath to the grille of the car then too.
And I have a door-hanging Nutcracker to remember this year. I have a top-of-the door hook. And it doesn't blow around. The front door is metal and I have a bunch of powerful magnets.
Laid down long strips of packing paper around the front yard island (with the Saucer Magnolia and the 3' boulder). The paper will smother the grass. I'm adding 2-3" of soil on that. That will hold it in place. Then I'll plant most of the 2 colors of 300 daffodils I received recently through that.
My bulb-planting drill auger will go right through the paper without tearing it up.
Then, with 3" of soil on top, all I have to do is rake soil back over all of them.
The rest of the daffs will go in the back yard to break up the large single-color daffs patches planting years ago. I thought it was a good idea at the time to plant 4 different types in dedicated squares, but it is kind of boring. So these new daffs will get planted among them for better and broader coverage and color.
The hyacinths and crocuses will go in cages to protect them from the voles. The hyacinths among the daffs around the birdfeeder.
The crocuses with be in cages too, but in the back lawn. They bloom before I need to start mowing the grass. I like seeing them in the lawn.
I have 2 forms I use to make the cages. One is the wire mesh cutting pattern. I first made small paper samples. Then, when I got that right, I made a full-size cardboard version to cut the mesh with tin snips. And then glued some scrap wood together so that I could fold the mesh around the wood block.
It sounds easier than it is, but it sure is easier than fashioning each one freeform! And it is worth it. hyacinths and crocuses can live more than a decade if the voles can't get at the bulbs. In fact I have a few of each (unprotected) that are 25 years old.
But "a few" is not "enough. So it was time to replenish them.
I have completely given up on tulips. They are lovely but most of them don't live long. I may try them again next Fall. I have the thought of pulling up the 6' edging (that is sitting only 3" deep) and re-setting it down to ground level.
Voles use mole tunnels to get around. And moles don't usually dig tunnels 6" deep. So if there is edging 6" deep, the moles won't tunnel there and the voles can't use the tunnels to get at hyacinth and crocus bulbs. So no mole tunnels, no vole finding bulbs, and long-lived hyacinths and crocuses!
Motorcycle Man hasn't been driving up and down the street often lately. Maybe he got older or bored. Maybe he is old enough to drive further away. I cheer for whatever the reason is!
But no problem goes away than a new one crops up. The side-neighbors got a yappy dog months ago. It's not that I mind dogs all that much. The neighbors on the other side of me have 2 large ones and they bark too. But they are only outside briefly, so the barking doesn't last too long.
The yappy dog is in their backyard almost all day long. And barks all day long. And when I am outside, it runs along the fence barking at me. It probably weighs about 20 lbs, but it is convinced it has to protect the family from me. So it never stops barking!
It makes being in my own yard annoying. I am a relatively quiet person. I try not to disturb my neighbors. As far as I know, it is a rental house. I keep hoping they will move away and take the dog with them.
That's enough for now.
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