Frogs

Today is all about frogs.   Where have they all gone?

I used to be bothered by Spring Peepers.  I live across a street from a wetlands area and the Spring was filled with their calls.  That was OK.  They were so collectively constant, it was just background noise.  But I have a small 5' pond just outside the bedroom window.

And they would individually croak, which drove me nuts at night!  I have acoustic ceiling tiles in the bedroom window to dampen the noise.  But last year, I realized I wasn't hearing any frogs.  They are all gone.  A whole swamp of them vanished!

I am baffled.  My neighbor who's yard borders the swamp, doesn't know why they vanished either.  Ive read about frog-diseases wiping them out sort of like beehive diseases and parasites.  Or it is climate change.  Or pollution.  

I still have regular green frogs (Leopards?). in my pond.  They don't bother me.  I've even grown some.

Fed them and put a log in the tub so they could climb out.  If we are losing some, I want to help the others...

Marley and Lori sometimes catch one.  But for everyone they catch and play with, 19 probably survive.  Between the pond and the creek-like drainage easement and the swamp, they have lots of good places to exist.

But I think we are "extincting" too many small ignored animals...

RAIN!

2' so far and thank you Mother Nature.  We sure needed it.  Give us a couple more...  I actually stood outside in the rain.  

I haven't mowed the lawn in weeks.  Well, there were a few weeds sending up flowers.   But mostly there were dead clovers seed heads all over.   I like clovers.  They send down deep roots and pull nutrients to the surface for the grass to use.

A "lawn" is anything short and green to me.  LOL. 

No Rain

Another day of predicted rain that didn't fall.    1.5" of rain in 6 weeks, and that was mostly 6 weeks ago.

I support some shrubs with a 5 gallon bucket with a small hole drilled in the bottom.  It drips slowly out and gets down into the root zone.  Very little wasted water that way.  It's for their survival, not thriving.  

The front yard tree looks wilted and the grass is brown.  It is too early for the grass to go dormant, so I think I will have to water it deeply.  I don't like to do that, but it seems necessary.  And it will be for a couple of hours.  Most people water their lawns shallowly, which brings the roots to the surface, which causes the roots to dry out faster.  Deep watering, when you have to do it, encourages them deeper.

I do a cat food can test.  Set an can out on the lawn where the sprinkler hits.  When it is filled, you gave the lawn  1" of water.  It needs that much per week.

Planted Tomatoes Today

Talk about late planting tomatoes in MD!  But May had chilly nights (and predictions for warmer nights ahead so I delayed).  Then in early June, I kept staying up late and getting up late so I kept thinking "tomorrow".  Last week, we hadn't had rain in 6 weeks and the soil was very hard (but they kept predicting rain).   

I finally stopped messing around on Tuesday and watered the area until it was damn near mud (so the water got down a foot at least).  Then waited 2 days for the water to soak all around and leave the soil digable but "crumbly".  Thursday, I planted.  

Now, when I plant tomatoes, I try to do it right...

1.  Tilled the soil 6" deep to get everything loose and raked off the grassy weeds.

2.  Cut several lengths of 4' wide black mesh fabric (weed suppressor but water-permeable) and held them down with bricks.

3.  Put my 24' wide x 5' high concrete remesh cages on the fabric and poked a hole in the center of each to mark where the tomatoes would go.  Removed the cages.  Cut a 4" "X" at each hole.  Marked the spot of each X.

4.  Folded back the fabric and dug a 12" wide and deep hole at each spot, leaving the soil in place.  Sprinkled organic fertilizer on each spot.  Turned the soil over a few times to mix it in well.

5.  Put the fabric back in place and used a bulb planter to remove a cylinder of soil 12" deep, saving the soil in 2 buckets.  

6.  The bed can hold 11 tomatoes in 3 rows (4-4-3).  This year, I had Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Striped German, Black Krim, and Pineapple.  I set them at holes randomly.

7.  Wearing knee pads (my knees are not great these days), I got down on them and went to work setting them in the holes as deep as I could (tomatoes will grow roots from buried stems).  Back-filled with scoops of soil from the buckets.

8.  Stuck 3' stakes next to each tomato and held them up with plastic clips.  The clips have a small end to grab onto the stake and a larger opening to hold the seedling.  It all took about 4 hours...

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No pic of the newly-planted ones today.  They are a bit frazzled from the process and don't look good yet.  Pushing them out of the cell-packs, handling them for planting, and then straightening them gently to attack them to the stakes is stressful.  They will recover in a few days as their roots discover the joy of new  soil to grow into and they discover the fertilizer.

But here is a picture from last year and they will look about the same in a few days...

My tomatoes are all heirlooms.  They aren't as productive as hybrids, but WOW do they taste better!  

I used to plant the "best" hybrids available (like Celebrity and Big Beef).  About 25 years ago, I bought a Brandywine and a Cherokee Purple seedling at a farmer's market.  When I tasted the 1st ripe tomato of each, I simply pulled up the hybrids and forgot about growing them again forever.  LOL!

So I plant more of them and get as many ripe fruits as fewer hybrids, but it is worth it.  And I still have a few more seedlings (and cages).  I'll find somewhere to plant the rest tomorrow.  You really can't have too many great-tasting tomatoes.

Random Stuff

 There is always some random stuff going on.  Some normal but some not.  So a list:

1.  I solved the wristwatch problem.  It's hard to find a wristwatch that is both simple and readable.  I bought one that had a large display that was  easily readable.  But of course it came with features I didn't want.  I don't need a wristwatch with alarm settings, hourly beepings, or countdown or uptime timers.  But every manufacturer assume that I do.

When I received it, every feature was functioning except the actual time.  So I set the time according to the instructions.  That wasn't too difficult.  But a "chronometer" function beeped every hour.  And an alarm went off at Noon every day for 60 seconds.  Drove me crazy.

It is a foreign product, as most small devices are today.  The instructions can be hard to understand sometimes.  The watch has 4 buttons (A to D).  The instructions tell you which order to press them to turn on and off various features.  I tried to follow them for 2 weeks with no success!

The features are tiny little abbreviations in a corner of the watch, and I couldn't even read them with my reading glasses.  It took a magnifying glass (the kind you can wear on your head so both hands are free) to see the letters. 

I know how to follow instructions.  These were like "press B 2 seconds then press C to access "chronometer" and make adjustments as purposed".  Yeah, that's a quote.  I could never get the hourly single beep or 60 second beeps to stop.

Finally, after trying again and failing, I just started pressing the 4 buttons randomly in anger.  And it worked!

The chronometer and alarm were both off.  I have been delighted with the watch since then.  It shows me the time and date in a relatively clear display, and that is all I wanted from it.  I hope it lasts the rest of my life (batteries to be replaced of course) so that I don't have to struggle with settings again.

2.  It has been unusually dry here for months.  Here it is not yet even Summer and the lawn grass is fading and the soil is hard.  We normally have 17" of rain for the year by now and it is just 8" and nearly nothing for 2 months..  I know, things are worse elsewhere, but this is my yard and my plants.  

So I decided to actually water the lawn.  I don't normally do that.  I'm organic, and I accept that grass goes dormant in Summer.  But it isn't even Summer yet.  The WEEDS are even dying.  

So I took out my old lawn sprinkler to at least save the new meadow bed.  It leaked like crazy!  I allowed it because I have a lot of established plants in there and 36 more to add very soon.  But I needed a new one.  I looked up some garden sites about recommendations.  No sites agreed about the best.  So they are probably sort of either all crummy or all good.  I ordered one.  It will arrive Saturday.  At least (being new) it will probably work well for a couple of years.  So many things are just built poorly these day.

3.  The cold nights (and odd tiredness) caused me to delay planting my heirloom tomatoes.  I had too many 40's nights in May and that stunts them.  And after no rain for nearly a month, I can't barely get a shovel in the soil.  So I soaked the soil for an hour.  Tomorrow I can dig good holes and add good organic fertilizer in the soil before I fill it back in around the transplants. 

4.  I mowed the daffodil bed.  They had all died back sufficiently.  And I will spread mostly P and K fertilizer around to feed the bulbs.  Then cover it with black mesh landscaping fabric to smother the grasses and weeds that tried to take over earlier this Spring.  By next Spring, there won't be a living weed or grass in the bed!

5.  Given the failure of the old oscillating lawn sprinkler and until a new one arrives in a few days, I will be setting out some buckets near special plants.  I have some with small holes in the bottom. That allows the water to drip out slowly and get down to shrub and tree roots.  

Fixing Suspender Clips

I wear suspenders (OK in some places they are called braces).  Well, I don't have a well-defined waist, so belts don't work for me.  But the suspender clips seem cheap and don't hold well.  Some men's pants have belt hoders in good locations around the back, but a lot don't.

So I was shopping at Walmart looking for something to glue into them to help them hold better.  As I went along, I thought a cheap mousepad might work. but those things are so cheap even Walmart doesn't sell them.  

So I looked for thin rubber mats in "Crafts".  Nothing there.  The bubble wrap interested me, but it wouldn't last long.  And then I noticed that rubber mesh shelf-liner stuff.  Hey I already have that!

A bit of cutting, a little rubber glue, it might work.  So I'll be giving that a try...  Better than buying new ones (I have black, brown, tan and camo).

I love trying to fix things creatively!  I'll let you know if it works...

Dinner

I was busy with a cat vet visit, grocery-shopping, and getting gas for the car, so dinner was my one meal for the day.  But I think I did it well...

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Fried skin-down chicken thigh (crispy), bi-color corn, 2 shrimp rolls with duck sauce and hot mustard *, tossed salad, and asparagus with light cheese sauce.  Two small glasses of Merlot.  One chocolate-covered cherry for dessert...  I'll have some fresh fruit later, while watching TV.

* I haven't been able to find traditional chinese hot mustard in stores for 2 months, but I found that if I add some vinegar to yellow mustard, I can't really tell the difference.  Start with little vinegar and add to taste.  LOL!

And I use 3 minced 21/25 shrimp for 2 shrimp rolls (with bok choy, scallions, ginger, garlic, and water chestnut).  I had 1 left in the bag, so I just dropped it in the hot chicken grease for a minute.

Flowers, Part 2

 And then there are deck flowers.  I haven't planted the pots with the new ones yet, but there are perennials.

The Oriental Lilies exploded the past few days.  From nothing...

To a few...

And more!

It will spectacular in a couple days.

And there is a volunteer in one deck pot from last year!  I will give it special attention!

And the lettuce/celery/pak choi trays are doing well outside now.  

I sure love Spring...

Flowers, Part 1

 Well, the blooming season has finally started!

The Stella D' Oros lilies started first...

I was amazed to see some Tithoniums blooming that I planted 2 years ago.  They are annuals, but described as "self-sowing".  Well, apparently they do!  I'm thrilled.  Self-sowing is as good as perennial.

This is something from the meadow garden I planted a few years ago.  Apparently they need a couple of years to bloom.  I don't know the name.  But they sure are a nice pure yellow!  And there are dozens of them.  I'll have to look through catalog to identify them.

This is actually some sort of weed.  Kind of pretty.  It doesn't seem to be a disease because they all look identical.  I'll allow them if they don't spread too much.

I brought variegated 'Snow-On-The-Mountain' from my parents home a couple of decades ago where it grew naturally.  They survive here in the hotter Mid-Atlantic area, but seem to convert to solid green leaves given the climate.  I am digging up the remaining variegated ones to transplant to shadier and cooler spots, but these do have nice May flowers.  

Quest For Wine

 I have been trying to find a decent inexpensive replacement for a Old Vine Zinfandel I have bought for a decade.  The winery shut down.  Some research suggested other Old Vine Zin (or course) but also Malbec and Merlot.  Visiting my regular local meat/deli/liquor store (weird combination, I know), I bought 3 Zinfandels, a Malbec, and a Merlot.

The first thing I noticed was that the price had nothing to do with how much or little I enjoyed the wines.  The 2 most familiar and drinkable were 1.5 L bottles and the cheapest.  And neither was a Zin!  Of the 2 most expensive Zins, 1 tasted "acidic" and the other "dusty".  I don't actually know the "wine terms" for that, but that was my impression.

One Zin was "OK", but at $17 for a 750 bottle, I wasn't very impressed.  Why is it that I liked the cheap Zin but not "better ones?  LOL!  The Frontera Malbec (Argentina) at $10 for 1.5L  was closest to the Twisted Zin I can't get anymore.  The Mondavi (Private Selection) Merlot 1.5L at $17 was better.

I'm obviously not a wine-snob.  I like what I like.  And the foods I cook probably have a lot to do with the wines I like.  So what wine I drink with dinner has a lot to do with my choice.  I mean, I cook a lot of different foods, but I do tend to use the same spices and such.  Regardless of whether I cook chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef, there is garlic, oregano, and sometime ginger involved.

So, after tasting a variety of other Zins, some Merlot, and some Malbec, I'm probably going with the Malbec for regular dinner and Merlot on occasion.  The local meat store will special order as many cases of either as I want.  It is easier just to order 6 or so at a time (so that I don't have to bother them to do it often).

I am sure you were all just waiting anxiously to see what I decided...  LOL!

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BTW, is there a difficulty commenting on this blog?  I get lots of visitors but no comments lately.  Has something gone wrong with my blog settings?  Or am I just boring everyone to death?

cavebear2118@verizon.net

US Memorial Day

Memorial Day should be more of somber remembrance than cookouts.  But I understand.  It is the right time to start Summer activities.  And it does celebrate the freedoms that our Fallen fought to maintain.  

And I don't mean just the freedom to burn a few hamburgers, eat some potato salad, and drink beer.  It is the gathering of friends and neighbors enjoying our own particular version of democracy.  It is a recognition of community.  It is not religious.  It is not really political.  It is not a time to speak in anger.   It is a time to ignore your crazy old Uncle who is wearing a tinfoil hat.  It is a time to ignore your Flower-Girl Niece who say "we just need more love in world".  And it is a time to ignore Communist Granny.

Yeah, politicians use the Day, but they take advantage of Groundhog Day too. (well, you can't stop them).

I seldom go to Memorial Day cookouts.  But when I do, I am polite to the Crazy Uncle, the Flower Girl Niece and the Communist Gramma.  I will listen to them all (briefly).  And to the children as well.  Cookouts are exciting to them.  They haven't eaten 1,000 hamburgers yet (LOL) and tried every version of one.  ;)

I enjoy the food well enough.  I mean, I've spent time camping (and primitive camping) where I ate stuff I would toss in the trash at home.  And some people's version of potato salad is depressingly bad.  I help clean up afterwards and thank the hosts later.  I've thrown a couple myself and other people did the same to clean up later.  

But I always keep in mind the true purpose of the holiday.  Sometimes Memorial Day and Veterans Day are confused as meaning nearly the same.  I trust you all know the difference.

Today, we honor those who died in our wars.  Good or Bad war doesn't matter today.  It is for those who lost their lives in service to the US.  My previous generation's family was fortunate.  On one side, my 3 Uncles went to WWII and they came back physically uninjured.  On the other side, my Dad and my Uncle built submarines and ships after being refused for active service.  

So these days, I tend to spend the day quietly at home, thinking about war and sacrifice and how many others did not return home to family and friends...