Aquarium, Finished

Having finally gotten the plant light stand finished, I went after the aquarium again.  I tried sealing the leak in the old one twice, and failed.  Evidently, a structural failure in the glass just resists sealing.

So I bought a replacement 30 gallon high tank and got it in place.  It took a lot of pitchers of water to pill it 1/2 way.  I added all the plastic plants in.  I set a 12" long bubble aerator in place.   Oddly, it works better than it used to.  Bubbles all along the length instead on just in 2 spots.  I have no idea why, but I'm glad of it.

It was also good to get the several stylers of fake plants arranged into groups.  It looks a lot more natural now.    "Natural" being a relative term in such an artificial environment.  But I do what I can.

It is not a really fancy aquarium.  I have 8 tiger barbs, a few old serpa tetra, a couple of some rasbora that got added to a bag once by a really incompetent Wal Mart employee, and one really old plecostomus plecostomus (hypostomus plecostomus?).  That guy (gal?) is 8" long and my favorite indidual fish.  I think it is about 10 years old.  Possibly 15.  I didn't record the date.

It is SO LARGE I can't get it in a net.  To get it out of the old tank, I had to use a sieve.  To get it out of the temp tank, I had to put a pitcher in the water and encourage it to "hide" in there while I covered the opening with a net.  Fish are very strong.  I grabbed the pleco once and, at 8 ounces, it was like handling an angry cat!  And it had spines!  Not easy to handle.

So it was a relief to discover I could offer it a lace to hide in a pitcher and then cover the pitcher up with a net and slide it into the new tank!!!

You know where the pleco likes to hide?  Along the back of a piece of petrified wood!  You know where that petrified wood came from?  My dad brought it home one day in (guessing) 1957!  I've had that ever since and it is precious to me.  Cuz Dad gave it to me and I know about fossilized trees.

Hurray for the Pleco!  And hurray for the new fish tank!  I'm so glad it is finally up and running again.

The Aquarium

I mentioned weeks ago I had a problem with the fresh water "30 gallon high" aquarium.  It popped a fracture in the glass and leaked slowly.  I spend a long afternoon dragging stuff out of a deep closet to finally get at an old "20 gallon long aquarium" (same base size as 30 gal high).  I successfully moved all the fish to the 20 gallon long sitting on the floor (so I could siphon the water down).

I emptied the 30 gallon high of water, took out the plastic plants, and scooped out the gravel, and let it dry for days.   Then I bought a silicon aquarium sealer and applied it.  I let it dry for several days.  When I refilled it, it leaked again.

I drained it, let it dry, dried it mechanically  with paper towels and left the vaccuum cleaner exhaust blowing on it for hours, waited a few days, and re-sealed it.  It leaked again.  So I gave up and bought a new 30 gal high aquarium.  A 30 gallon high glass aquarium is not light.  I struggled to get it into the car from Petco (they had the vastly better price for the same aquarium).

I spent an hour removing all the plants from the old aquarium and scooping the gravel out.  Square food containers do a wonderful job of that!   It took some lifting to get the old leaking aquarium off the stand and onto a chair.  Then the new one in place.  I spent several minutes making sure the new aquarium was positioned properly on the stand.  That was after removing the background sheet from the old one and attaching it to the new tank.  It's just a colored sheet, but it gives a sense of depth to the tank.

So I filled up the new tank slowly, watching for any leaks at each rise in water level.  I didn't see any.  Sand first with square food container.  Then water, 2 qts at a time.  Man that is tedious.  A 2 qt pitcher takes 30 fills to get 1/2 way up!

But at least I could put the plastic plants back in at that point.  At least it looked better this time than the last.  I grouped the several styles better.  But having arranged the plants in the gravel, I couldn't just randomly pour new water in from a pitcher. Water-force too strong that way.  So I filled up a 5 gallon bucket on the top  and siphoned the water in slowly.   I filled the upper bucket continuously until it neared the top. 

I had an 12" long air bubbler working on the bottom to recirculate the water while the chlorine got evaporated out.  I remembered I had some powder that claimed to eliminate chlorine, chloromate/chloromine, and ammonia immediately, so I added some of that.  But I will still wait til tomorrow to add the fish back.  The old an new aquaria are both at room temperature right now so the fish won't suffer any temperature shock.  But room temp is too low for them in the long term.  As soon as the fish are transferred back to the new aquarium, I will raise the temp 1 degree per day to get the tank temp up to 76 where I think they do best.  I know, some people say 78 degrees, but they live longer at slightly cooler temps.

It will be great to have the fishtank working again.

But I have to tell you something that made me laugh about getting the new tank home.

I found the fine print of the guarantee on a small sticker inside the tank, facing away from view...

1.  They specified that the 5 year warranty only applied to their tanks on their own brand of stands.    What are the odds of that?  My aquarium stand is 50 years old and as solid as rock.  No new company builds them that solid anymore.  But it invalidates the warranty.

2.  They also demand that "the aquarium has not been lifted by the frame"...  Um, do you know any other way to transport one from store to stand other than handling the frame?  At some point, don't you HAVE to lift an aquarium onto a stand?  But there goes the warranty.  Who writes these things?

Idiots...   LOL!

Garden Harvest Starts

I finally got some garden harvest a few days ago,  Not much.  1 zucchini an 1 small tomato.  But they were good steamed together with some red onion!

I HAVE started getting italian flat pole beans and a few small cucumbers, but I forgot to take pictures (I had dinner on my mind).  My first main season heirloom tomatoes are getting large enough to start developing color soon.  The corn is sad again.  I JUST don't get enough sunlight for them.  They are tasseling at 3' high with 4" ears.  The celery is actually growing.  I've never successfully grown celery before. 

The flowerbed is doing OK.  I've kept the weeds clear better than usual, and the annuals are finally flowering.  They are in one large patch where I had some runner grass invade.  I kept digging it out and got rid of most, but I decided to just plant annual flowers there this year and dig it all up in Fall to get and the last of the runners.  I basically just used up all my annual seed packets, so there are marigolds, carnations, salvia, forget-me-not and wave petunias in small groups.  It will do for one year.

I need more sunlight.  Over the 25 years here, the neighbors' trees have grown huge and I get 6 hours sun at best.  I'm amazed I can still grow decent tomatoes (and they are getting leggier each year).

Kitty Litter and Trash Bags

I think I set a new personal record.  18 buckets of kitty litter, 5 bags of trash (and they didn't smell a bit),  and various non-recyclable stuff.  And a 30 gallon aquarium that refused to be re-sealed.  Old tape drives, a single CD player that was broken,   Old fluorescent bulbs...  Took 6 months. About 300 pounds,  $5  flat rate because it all fit in the SUV.

See those small trash bags?  Each is a whole month here.  I recycle or compost EVERYTHING possible.  Some stuff ISN'T possible.  I wish I could have NO trash bags.  But I do my best.

But it was a good day at the landfill.  I  resent leaving the litter buckets, but I ran out of space to store them and I can't find a use.   I have used all I can as growing containers.

Any suggestions?

Weird Neighbors

I had the strangest experience with some neighbors last night!  Basically, my side of the street are homeowners, the other side are renters.  The house across the street was rented by some nice quiet guy for 5 years.  Last year, two couples rented it.  They have been nutso from day one.

Right off the bat, there was a screamng late night fight between a guy and gal involving the guy trying to drive away and the gal standing in front of the car pounding on the hood.  Good start.  They generally sit outside on the side steps smoking, so I guess they are forbidden from smoking in the house.  They also seem to love having screaming yelling arguements.

Did I mention they also love to work on cars with outstandingly loud bass stereos?  At night and early morning?  Yes.  Yes they do.

They went at it again last night.  Screaming hateful arguements.  It penetrates my double glass windows and is louder than my radio plays.  I lost it.

I went out and yelled at them to keep the noise down or I would call the police.  I knew that was an empty threat.  The police have better things to do than worry about domestic noise complaints.  But one of the guys threatened to come over an beat me.  THAT was interesting!!!  But I was more worried about the threat to the woman there, so I went inside and got my cordless phone, flashlight, and camera and came back out to sit quietly on the front steps putting my flashlight on them.  They especially didn't like THAT, but quite frankly, I didn't care!

There ARE times I am willing to sit in quiet evidence.  I expected violence.  I told them they were better than most "reality TV shows and I had 911 on speed-dial".  THAT got some attention.

The guy got mad and said he could destroy a car.  He got in his and peeled into the street, then into the driveway.  I thought he was going to ram the car there, but he changed his mind and peeled off down the street out of the area.

The woman went and knocked on the neighbor's door.  Several times over many minutes.  With no reply.  I know that that neighbor and they seem close in some way.  But with no reply, I went to the street and again asked her if she needed any help.  I was prepared to call the police, but she said NO!

Here is where it gets strange....

I ended up talking to her for an hour.  She is the mother of the guy she had the screaming arguement with.  And the (she says) ex-wife of the neighbor who refused to answer the door she was pounding on.  I regretted getting involved immediately, but she had ahold of my wrist and wasn't letting go.

And she was drunk as hell!  I suspect they all were.  I drink a bit myself (I do like wine with dinner), but good lord, nothing like THAT!  On my worst day, I was better off then them on their best day.  You know what I mean?  As far as I can tell, they are all permanently drunk.  Or high (there were "druggie" accusations flying).  It seems that it takes all 4 (5?) of them to manage to work enough to pay the rent on a 1 bedroom ranch house that I think goes for $500 a month..

But as I said, I talked to her for an hour (wrist freed).  Such a sad story poured out.  Bad marriage, cheating, divorce, hateful (and hated?) children.  She had a cat she loved SO much, but lost it (I can't IMAGINE why it left, ahem). Ex living next door...

I pointed to the house next to mine ) on the "owner" side of the street) and mentioned that the guy there had an affair with HIS neighbor and that when it was  revealed, she killed herself and he has become an absentee owner.  She didn't even blink.

I think I need to move.

I can hardly conceive such a life.   And I didn't USED to live in the wrong part of town, but I've been here 25 years and things have been changing. There was the first gang war here 2 months ago 2 houses away.   A dozen kids with baseball bats going at each other and several police cars.  Adults screaming at the police who were trying to stop the fights.  Several cars (2 abreast sometimes) screaming down our dead end street to try to escape the police.  I sure never saw THAT before!  I guess I didn't notice what was going on.  My current home is no longer my sanctuary.

   

Groundhogs, and a Rant

I have a long-standing relationship with groundhogs.  Most people have never seen one.  I've seen too many.

I may have mentioned some of this before, but it started when my Dad was teaching my younger brother and I how to hunt.  We had been to "marksman classes" at a local shooting range and shown that we could handle guns safely and hit a target with some skill.  Visiting my paternal grandparents in NH when I was 13 (14?) Dad brought us to a field where groundhogs lived.  We sat around for a few hours waiting to see one to shoot at.

This was before I was old enough to stop killing animals for sport.  We saw none.  But just before we left, Dad whistled in a way he had learned to attract attention from groundhogs.  And one stood up a long way away.  I aimed carefully and shot my .22 rifle.  It dropped.  Dad said I missed it,  But I insisted we go find out.  I WAS a good shot.  But Dad never thought I could do anything well, s he laughed and said I missed it.

To his complete surprise, I nailed the groundhog right between the eyes.  To my comfort these days, it probably never knew what happened.  But I remember it mostly because Dad never even said "good shot".  I expect he assumed it was luck.  And besides, he thought I would miss it, so he SHOULDN'T be wrong.  Had to be luck, then.  No children were ever "competent" in Dad's eyes.  He always made it quite clear.

A sad metaphor for our relationship the rest of our lives.  His message to me was always "you are not as good at anything as I am".  I could defend his attitude as challenging me to be as good at everything as I could possibly be.  But I won't.  He was just a mean son of a bitch!

Golf was another problem.  He made me play it.  At 5'6", I am not a natural golfer.  I lettered in golf twice and soccer once in high school through sheer force of will (barely).  Soccer was more natural for me, but I got no support for that.  I was good enough at golf.  But I didn't have the same swing as Dad and he was always on me about it.  He had a classic swing, and I had a baseball bat-grip swing.  It worked for me.  In high school, I broke 90 often.  Not impressive, but good enough for the last slot on the team.  Dad kept messing with my swing.  When I went to college, I got down to 85.

Now, I have to say, Dad was a really good golfer.  When I was young and only caddying, I admired the way his tee drives started out low and rose to land straight down the fairway.  He had a handicap of "0" at one point.  He what what he was doing!  But I couldn't do that with my proper swing on the best day.  So I developed my own.

It worked for me.  A good swing is whatever works for you.  I once got an "eagle"  on the hardest hole on the army base course.  And Dad started messing with my swing again.  I should have ignored him, but, hey, he was my DAD!

I started driving up to NH to participate in the Member/Guest tourneys in the early 1980s.  It had a quota system.  Something about every score below your handicap per hole, you gained a point.  We lost every year.  Dad had me using nothing but 5 irons on every shot through some idea he had.  It was horrible!  His game was about consistency; mine was "go for broke".

It ended when I was facing a pond out in the fairway and pulled out my 4 iron.  Dad said to use the driver because I couldn't possibly reach the edge of the pond.  I stayed with the 4 iron.  And landed in the pond on the fly.  He gaped.  The pond was 250 yards away.  When I hit the ball right, it is awesome, and I knew that.

From that moment on, I ignored everything he told me.  I was pissed!  And guess what?  We won.  He played his exact usual good game precisely meeting his quota, but I obliterated my quota by like 10 strokes.

That was the last time I played golf with him and the last time I played golf period!  I was so tired of all the demanding pressurring crap that I had no interest in the game afterwards.  I proved my point.  I could play the game NOT his way.

End of angry rant.

Time is Relative

What do you do when you don't fit a 24 hour clock?  I was an early bird as a child, a reluctant waker as a college student.  I managed to keep a schedule that got me up at 5 a.m., home at 6 p.m. and to bed by 9 p.m. for 35 years in a successful career.  But now that I am retired and have no requirements or obligations, I can't keep a 24 hour waking/sleeping schedule.  I mentioned recently that I was on a 25 hour clock.  I understated it.  Its worse than that.

Its more like a 28 hour clock.  I go to bed and can't sleep for hours, then finally sleep for  8 hours on and off.  I end up in bed for 12 hours.  And then I don't feel tired for at least 16 hours.  That's just not normal!

I have, at times, engaged in computer games or discussion boards way too late at night.  I used to think it was because I loved the games or discussion.  But I am realizing that I just wasn't tired.  And who can go to bed when they aren't tired?  What's the point of going to bed when you aren't tired?  You can't sleep.  You just lay there aware and awake.

Its nice to have the cats there to scratch.  They aren't keeping me awake, but they are nice to have something to give attention to while I lay in bed frustrated that I can't sleep. 

So I finally get tired of layin in bed and get up at 4 p.m. one day and 8 p.m. the next and dress to get the mail and the newspaper.  I check the email.  I check the cat blogs.  I would say "depression", but I don't feel depressed.  I enjoy doing things in the yard/garden and playing with the cats.  I enjoy preparing meals.  I enjoy listening to political and news TV.  I feel fine physically.  I'm just OFF the clock and not sleeping well!

There is a reason I am writing this at 4:30 a.m.  I'm fully awake and not tired.  I can't blame the cats.  Iza sleeps peacefully in the corner of the bed.  Ayla sleeps quietly on the top of the shoe shelf or on a pillow on a chair.  Marley doesn't even sleep in the room.  He likes the computer chair or a platform on the kitty condo.  My personal clock is just all wrong....

It is really messing things up.  I am NOT going to try and then get stuck on sleeping pills.  That is not a road I want to travel.  Well, thanks for just letting me complain...  My Mom always said that "getting old isn't for sissies" and maybe all this is normal.  But all the old people in my life just got up EARLY each day.  I don't know what is going on. 

An Idea

Hey, I'm over 60, living alone..  And it occurred to me that it would be a great idea to have some telephone or USB device that ya could just plug in and punch a button every day to say "I'm Still Alive" to some company who would visit if you didn't punch the button for 2 days.. 

I can't find one.  Does anyone know of one?

Well, Sadly, NOT The Finale!

It seems the groundhog wars are not over.  I looked out in the yard today to see TWO mid-size groundhogs at my flowers.  I'M INFESTED by them!  Granted, my backyard is semi-wild and rather wildlife-friendly and organic, but I didn't expect an invasion of groundhogs as a result.  And being surrounded by nice suburban expanses of lawns on 3 sides and a swamp on the other, I would have guessed any problem but groundhogs.  Where are they coming from???

But it does mean war.  And I won't feel bad when I kill them in the future.  One small family of them errantly finding a place in my yard is "touching", but waves of them is TOO MUCH!  Even with a dead groundhog on their doorstep, they won't leave!  How stupid are they?

I will be calling a trapper tomorrow to see what they offer, but in truth, I am a person not inclined to ask another to do what I won't do myself.  My only question is legality.  I'll have to call the county animal control office to see what I am allowed to do.  And decide which rules I will ignore.  I'll be damned if I will pay someone $200 to do what I can do for free..

If I have to kill more of them, I won't be as sorry as I was before.  I'M PISSED!!!  This isn't like squirrels in the attic, the groundhogs are eating my food!  It is time to fill the pond and mete out watery doom.


That doesn't mean I will enjoy it.  I won't.  I wish they would just find a better home in an empty field somewhere.  But I will be rid of them, one way or another!

Groundhog Wars, Finale

A tale of regret and sadness...  And don't read this if you are squeamish.  Groundhogs were killed.

Some of you may know that I have been fighting with a groundhog this year.  It burrowed in under my shed last Fall.  I saw it several times running back to the shed when I went out to the garden.  I got pictures of it with my GameSpy camera a few ties. 

I used to hunt.  I was good enough at it to get a deer several years in a row with bow&arrow.  I stopped when I had to field-dress a lactating doe I killed.  Milk ran out of her.  My heart wasn't in it after that.  I have generally tried to live and let live.  When deer ate all the leaves from the pole beans one year and some neighbors sicced a dog after my cat a week later, I built a 6' fence around the entire back yard.  Prevention is better than cure.

If I see an occasional possum or raccoon on the deck or in the yard, I live with it.  Just yesterday, some raccoon or snake ate all the baby robins in a nest I was watching daily.  And I don't mind what the cats catch and kill the occasional bird or mouse.  Nature is nature, and I can't stop it.  That doesn't mean I have to participate in it.  BTW, I eat meat, so I am aware of my part in killing animals for food.  They are raised to be food, and I support systems that kill them as gently as possible.

But I raise some of my own vegetable food, and I am protective about it.  Groundhogs are a problem here.  In the past, I have trapped them and released them in unoccupied fields.  I read that was illegal. So I had to resort to other means. 

I had a pond and have a Have-A-Hart trap I have used before.  A dip into the pond, a minute of confusion, a few bubbles, and they are dead.  Short of a .22 to the head (which I cannot do in a suburban neighborhood nor safely from a few inches away because of blood-spray), it is the least-sufferring way I can thing of.  They don't seem frightened, just confused,   Then "blurp" and dead.

But the pond is dry from a leak I cannot find, and with all the heavy rocks on the liner, I just haven't replaced it.  I regret that very much today...   I very much wish I had had a pond to drop her into.  It would have been very much easier on us both.

It started when I heard a noise behind the shed while I was weeding the garden.  I ran over to find 3 groundhog pups in a pile.  I had a garden fork in hand, and I used it to kill them.  In spite of her fear, Mrs Groundhog came out of her den to yell at me.  I used the garden fork to set one dead pup in the burrow hole and one in the side of the shed.

I did not enjoy it.  It was far more than slapping a mosquito or stepping on a cockroach.  It was almost like killing a fawn.  They cried.  And I cried.  I did not do physically hard work, but I was sweating terribly afterwards.  It was very upsetting.

I caught Mrs Groundhog in the Have-A-Hart trap after, and tried to release her outside the fence.  I expected her to run straight away from the house, but she ran straight around the fence back towards her den.

I hoped she would leave for a safer den after that, but she didn't.  I caught her eating my lettuce the other afternoon.  So I set the trap back up, unbaited, right in her most-observed exit point.  She was in it today.

I could have spread plastic sheeting and filled up the dry pond temorarily.  I wish I had.  But wasting that much water didn't seem good either.  People are dying from lack of water in places.  I finally decided to "shoot" her with arrows.  A small animal ought to die quickly from that. 

I held an arrow just above her and slammed down a piece of 2x4 on it as a wide hammer.  It didn't even penetrate her body.  All it did was break the nock off the back.  It took several other tries to actually stab through her.  I felt sick.  But badly wounded, she could not be released to die of infection after days.

There are some things you start that you can't stop.  When you injure an animal badly enough, you have to follow through and end it.  My Father was good enough to teach me that.  When you injure a deer fatally with an arrow, you are obligated to spend all the time needed to follow the blood trail and finish it off to stop the pain. 

I was good at that.  One drop of blood in ten feet of woodland leaves, I could find them.  Because it was only fair.  You injure it, you kill it as quickly as possible for their sake.  You kill it, you claim it and end your hunting season. Even if it is found days later and the meat is wasted.  Because it is the right thing to do IF you are going to hunt animals.

I am very sorry that Mrs Groundhog lived an hour after being stabbed with arrows.  If I could have thought of some less inhumane way of eliminating her from my garden, I would have.  I wish I had refilled the pond temporarily.  And it occurs to me now that my bathtub is bigger and deeper than the trap.  I could have drowned her quickly in there.

But I don't want to kill any more groundhogs.  Its the shed that attracts them.  So I have decided to spray herbicides all around the edges, dig up the soil after a few weeks, and install mesh wire all around it.

I don't want to have to hurt another poor wild animal for just trying to live as best it can.  Life is hard enough.  Tangling with humans shouldn't be part of that.  I don't want to have to kill another Mrs Groundhog again. 

I an feeling rather horrible tonight.  I don't want to feel that way again ever...

Cavebear

Gardening Day

I had a great day out yesterday!  I finally got all those annuals planted.  Yeah, kinda late, but better late than never, right?  I had carnations, salvias, wave petunias, marigolds, forget-me-nots etc in cell packs I grew from seeds earlier.   And I finally found those basil herbs I thought I had lost. 

I had a large spot that needed soil improvement, so I decided to plant all the annuals there. That way I can improve the soil in the Fall after they die.  I got SO used to the County providing mulch for years that it was getting hard NOT to get it the past few years.  I guess it became too costly to run the loading equipment,  So without mulch to dig into the soil (after aging it 2 years), the soil was rather hard.

First, I spent 2 hours digging it loose with the leverage fork.  That's a great tool.  A spading fork with a bar on the back for leverage.  All steel!  It can REALLY pull the soil up.  It is the best thing to dig up all the grass weeds, too.  I have that nasty grass that sends shoots underground about 12" before sending up another grass plant.  I've been fighting it for several years and I think I finally have it beaten to extinction.  But that's why I wanted to fill the space with annual plants this year.  So I can do a final dig this next Fall after the annuals die.

And they will give great color this year.  Its a good idea to always leave some space for annuals, season-long color is a good thing.

It was actually awful outside today.  Not the temperature, the mosquitoes.  They were there in desperate swarms.  The child strength DEET works fine for a couple hours.  But they were at my face and ears all the time.  Thank goodness the stuff works!  2 hours out there in swarms and I only got 3 bites.

Here is the space before I started.   I had some sadly planted Knautia there.  An utterly unruly plant.  

I moved then to an enclosed spot where they shouldn't cuse a problem.  Then I double dug the whole space.  It about killed me.  I filled the area with annuals I grew from seeds.  They dont looklike much nowm but they will grow fast. and produce good flowers.

And here is the space when I was done. 

Not much to see there yet, but they will grow fast finally put in the ground and given some sun.  With some regular weekly watering, they will grow gret.  I should have got then planted a month ago, but that's life...

I bet they will be stars of the Garden Tour in late July!  But we will have to wait to see.

The Plant Light Stand

I finally finished it.  The final steps were awful.  The 2-bulb fixtures had a metal strip that fitted into the center to hold the wires off the lights.  Fitting them back in place upside down drove me NUTS!!!  They just DIDN'T want to go in upside down.  They wanted gravity.  Or its opposite, levity...  There were slightly bent spots all along the strip and it made it nearly impossible to get them set back in place.


Getting the 1st one back in took 30 DAMNED minutes!  I was screaming in frustration.  Then I forced myself to calm down an examine the problem carefully.  There were some bent spots from removing them previously.    I have a parallel pliers, and used that to re-make the edges are straight as possible.  Eventually, I got the wire-holding metal strip back in place.

The 2nd one took only 15 minutes.  I was getting the trick of how it fit in.  Ans I did that 4 times.  The last time, I had to crawl onto the bottom shelf and stare 6" away from the fixture.  I can't see anything 6 inches away even WITH glasses.  I'm, farsighted.  I had to do it by touch.

Basically, you have to install the wire hold-up strips by squeezing them slowly along the entire length a little bit at  a time.  I was pleased when I finally completed that task!  Here is what the stand looks like now.

You can see it better from an angle.

 This shows the difference between the double 2 light fixtures and the single 4-light fixtures.

I have good storage on the top, and good storage on the shelves during the non-growing seasons, which is most of the year.

It was a longer project than I expected, but it will be great for many years to come.

You wouldn't believe how much my basement has been cramped out of place because of all this.  I'll sure be glad to get it back to order.  But that is for tomorrow!

But if I had it to do over again, I would have just made the whole thing 5' wide of 1/2" plywood 16" deep.  It would have been SO MUCH easier.  But, you go down a path and you are stuck on it sometimes. 

All in all, I am happy with it, and I am pretty sure it will outlast me.  Can't ask better than that, I suppose.  But I'll always think I could have done it both better and easier.

Cat Fence Enclosure Idea

Well, Ayla getting over the fence is difficult enough.  Today I saw Marley descending into the yard.  Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if he had tried and failed or was returning to the yard.  But it makes the requirement to keep them in the yard more urgent.

I've seen systems of nets attached to fences at angles, but the cost is high per foot and I have about 450 feet of 6' high backyard fence.  And I have seen where smooth hard plastic sheeting is attached to the upper 2' of fencing (which I suspect works well).  But that is also expensive.

So I have been pondering other, less expensive, designs.  I think I have one and want opinions on it.  It seems simple enough, but I haven't seen it on any "cat containment" sites.  I know I can construct it (it is uncomplicated but tedious).  My concerns are first, will it work, and second, is it safe.

I would provide a sketch, but my Mac doesn't seem to have a simple drawing program that can be saved in the formats demanded by Blogger.  I can't figure out how to do something so simple in Photoshop, and I can't save in the required formats from Word Art, Excel Draw, or Google Layout.  And Photoshop won't open those to change the format.

But it isn't complicated.  There is a 6' high alternate board wood fence.  I can buy vinyl coated wire mesh fence in 2'x50' rolls.  I will cut the rolls into 8' lengths and bend them 90 degrees the long way.  That gives an "L".  One part of the "L" gets attached to the fence, the other part makes a 1' wide "ceiling".  In case I'm describing it poorly, it would look something like this:

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I could bend the wire at 45 degrees upward if that improved anything.  The vinyl coated wire mesh costs only $27 for 2'x50' roll, is easy for a person to bend, but pretty stiff to a cat.  I've been using the stuff as plant supports and cages for years.  The vinyl couating makes it quite weatherproof.  I'm thinking 8' sections because that is the distance between fence posts, plus I have a couple of 8', 4"x4" posts I can use to bend it.  I can attach it with a heavy duty electric staple gun.

So, I'm looking for errors, and PLEASE don't hold back.  Tell me ANYTHING you think might cause a problem in construction, in safety for the cats, or safety of wildlife.  Or anything else.  I spent a career as a project manager where negative ideas where often the most important contributions from the team.

So, thoughts?

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

I love playing board games.  Last week, I stumbled across risk.com.  I LOVE that game.  I stayed up til dawn 3 nights last week playing it over and over.  Thankfully it's free.

What I love about games is figuring out a winning strategy.  Then I get bored and try something new.  But I haven't gotten around the computer programs in this yet.  So I need to keep trying.

The first few nights, I lost every game.  The second few nights, I won a few.  The last few night, I won half. 

Off I go to try again...  I DO enjoy it.  But it would be nice to get a whole regular night's sleep!

Ayla Out

I kept Ayla inside for a year.  It got so difficult that I decided to experiment letting her out as long as she wanted to be out.  It wasn't an easy decision.  The first time, she stayed out 3 nights.  But the next two times, she stayed out 2 nights.  Then one night.  After that, she came in the same day she was let out for several days.  I consider that a good arrangement.

She stays near the fence and has no desire to wander further to the street.

But Iza complicates things.  Iza and Ayla and Marley all cuddle up indoors.  They eat together,  They play together.  Iza likes Ayla indoors.

But outdoors, Iza considers Ayla an introoder.  I cannot understand this.

This afternoon, when I called Ayla inside, she came running happily.  But when I opened the door for her to come inside, Iza sprang out and attacked her.  As a stranger and in apparent anger.  Ayla fled over the fence.

Iza does not do this with Marley when he is out.

Iza only reacts badly to Ayla when she is outside.  And just as she goes outside.  Something about Iza says that Ayla is an introoder when outside.  It baffles me.

Iza is a bully, but only when Ayla is outside, and not when Marley is outside or Ayla is inside.

Driving me NUTS!!!  What is it about Iza that she reacts badly only when Ayla is OUTSIDE?  It cant be outside smells.  Iza has them, Marley has them.  Iza loves Marley inside and outside.  But Iza hates Ayla outside.

ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Groundhog Wars

If you are sqeamish, don't read further.  I don't mean that I am showing bad pictures (there are none).  But I am fighting with groundhogs that damage my garden.  I mean, they destroy my food. 

Today, while I was weeding the garden, I heard an odd thrashing noise nearby the fence and old toolshed where a groundhog had taken up residence.  I had let Ayla out and feared she had tangled with the groundhog.  She is, in some ways, stupidly fearless.The only tool I had on the way was a gardening spade.  I grabbed it and ran toward the noise. 

I may also be stupidly fearless.

When I got to the fence, I saw the groundhog run into the burrow under the old toolshed.  I have GOT to make that space inaccessible!  But I also sawsomethng else.  3 groundhog pups huddled together 20' away from the burrow.

2nd Warning:  Violence ahead...


There I was with a garden spade, expecting to protect my cat from an adult groundhog.  What I found was future garden-destroying varmint pups.  I had the garden fork in hand.  They had no flight instincts.  I dispatched them as quickly as possible.  I didn't like it, but I did it.  Nothing needs be said further about that.

I did not enjoy it.  But I thought it was necessary.  Every year when a groundhog lives under the toolshed, my crops are ruined.  That is my food.  Last year, they ate all my cukes and most of my bean plants.  I am determined to drive the adult away.

I scooped up one dead pup and put it in the entrance burrow.  I moved a barrier board out of the way enough to place a second dead pup in there.  If that doesn't make Mom Groundhog leave the property, I will take further measures.  I am growing crops for ME, not her.

If I had a 10 acre farm and lost 100 sq ft to a groundhog, I wouldn't worry too much.  But last year, I lost every cuke and bean.  Between my organic safe food and the groundhogs, they are going to lose every time.  I have been tolerant for years, but the tolerance has ended. 

Mrs. Groundhog will die next!  And I will bury mesh wire 18" deep all around the shed to prevent any new ones coming back in the future!

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When I was 14, my dad took my brother and I out to a huge field to "hunt" groundhogs.  He had a whistle that made them stand up to look around for danger.  Toward twilight, he whistled at them again.  One stood up a long distance away. 

I laid down for a careful shot.  Dad laughed and said I couldn't aim that well.  I pulled the trigger and the groundhog vanished.  He said I scared him with the shot.  I said I got him.  I was insistent enough to make him walk with me to the spot.

There was the dead groundhog.  I nailed him right between the eyes.  He brought the dead ground hog home an made a stew of it.  Trust me, it doesn't taste like chicken.  He did it because he was being mean.  I made him look wrong.

I hate groundhogs...

Some Days Are Just Good

I love productive days!  It doesn't matter much what I am productive at.  Some days it is gardening, and it might be planting seeds, transplanting seedlings,  or weeding large areas.  Some days it is building stuff indoors.  Some days it is cleaning the house.  Some days it is organizing things.  Some days it is as basic as cleaning out the fish tanks.  Or other stuff.

It matters that I keep busy in retirement.  It is easy to waste time.  "Tomorrow" is fine...  I don't work that way.  I have less time left than I did when I was 20.  I don't mean to say that bothers me all that much, I stayed busy when I was 20, too.  But I don't want to sit around thinking I will do things tomorrow".

I could go into great detail (and I probably will in future posts), but lately I've weeded 500 square feet of flowerbed, planted small crops (carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, leeks, etc etc),  trapped a threatening groundhog and a rabbit with a taste for cucumber seedlings, cleaned out and rehabilitated an aluminum bass boat with floors, created a new plant light stand for seedlings, destructed the old light stand, drained the hot water heater of mineral sludge, cleaned the washer/dryer/dishwasher/oven, rewired several basement outlets to code, and about finished the new plant light stand (which was a real piece of work)

And then there are the cats.  I love them all dearly.  At least Iza and Marley come in when called.  Ayla doesn't. She likes to stay out a night first before returning.  So I had the idea of letting her out as long as she wanted til she was bored and preferred the food inside.  Its opposite feral adoption, in a way. 

After Ayla escaped out a couple weeks ago and stayed out three nights, I have let her out regularly.  She stays near the fence, just won't come back in when called.   The idea is that I let her out enough so that she gets bored and decides the house is good at least at night.  I don't know for sure that this will work

But she stayed out 3 nights at first, 2 nights the next 2 times, and not at night today.  It MAY be that enough outside time equals more inside time.  She sure loves my attention!  When se comes in she crawls all over we seeking my scritches and neck rubs.  So it may be that, let out enough, se will b more willing to come inside again.

I HAD TO relent.  She had gotten so frantic to get outside after a year confinement that she would hide behind the drapes near the deck door, stalk behind me, etc.  She just couldn't be kept inside anymore.  As strong as my desire was to keep her in, her desire to get out exceeded that.

Yard Wildlife

I bought a wildlife camera (GameSpy) in April and got some pictures, but forgot to post them as promised.  Since Iza ran into the groundhog (which was caught in a live trap) recently, I remembered the GameSpy pictures.

There is more wildlife living under my toolshed than I thought!  The shed is a foot above ground level, so there is lots of room underneath.

Some of the pictures don't come out very well.  I need to read about the autoflash feature more carefully.   This is a rabbit.

Here is the groundhog that I knew I had there, emerging from the entrance.

 Here is the best picture I got of it.

Seeing a possum emerge from the same hole surprised me!

The groundhog emerged again soon after.

I'm sure they don't share the same burrow, but they do share the access hole to below the shed floor.  The possum probably just sleeps in a corner under the shed.  I have most of the rest of the shed access blocked by boards.  But apparently the groundhog also tunneled through the compost bin.  I surprised it once and it dove in there and vanished.

Odd Remembrance

I was watching TV this evening, and saw a gas commercial.  One part involved putting a gas nozzle in the inlet part.  And I had a flashback to my first car.

My parents gave me a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible for my 20th birthday (1970).  It was a complete surprise!  As a freshman in college, I wasn't allowed to park a car on campus (weird old rules), so there was little point in my having a car before.  And I was never a "car guy".  I just borrowed the family station wagon if I REALLY had to drive somewhere.  Although I did get to drive the Lincoln for special dates.

But anyway, I was presented with a card with a car key in it when I turned 20.  It was one of those shiny red or green duplicate keys from the hardware store.  I assumed it was for the station wagon.  I hemmed and hawed about what to say, because it didn't seem like much.  I mean, I could use the car when I needed to already.

But then they pointed out the living room window to a different car.  The Bonneville...  I almost fell over.  I was speechless.  It was a great gift!

Here's the funny part that the commercial reminded me of...

After a week, I needed gas.   I drove into a filling station (as we called them back then) and the attendant came around to fill it up (yes there used to be such people who actually filled your car with gas while you just sat in it).

He asked where the gas cap was.  Think about that for a moment.  He couldn't find the gas cap.  I had just automatically driven to the pump on the side of the station wagon gas cap.  I got out and looked.  There wasn't a gas cap on either side of the car!

Don't laugh, but we actually looked under the hood for a gas cap.  I'm serious.  The attendant finally brought his boss out to solve the problem.  He looked, laughed, and tilted the license plate down to reveal the gas cap!

It had a 26 gallon gas tank, too.  Good thing, it only got 13 mpg!  On the other hand, gas was only 29.9 cents per gallon then.  I learned the gas tank size when I ran out of gas once and coasted downhill to a gas station and filled it up!

Who on EARTH thought to hide the gas cap behind the license plate holder?   Apparently, the idea didn't catch on.  On the other hand, I was always able to drive up to any side of the gas pumps available.  But I'll just say that was one of the funniest/odder things that ever happened to me.

Just wanted to share a great old memory...

Memorial Day 2011

Seedling Light Stand, Part 3

OK, so I have the new light stand about half assembled.  The 2 bulb fixtures were 1/2" longer than the shelves.  I was thinking "4' light fixtures, 4' shelves with the supports on the outside, should fit".  I should have checked more carefully.  But it wasn't as if I was going to buy more light fixtures, so it didn't really matter.  I had to attach them a little lower than planned.  The fixtures have attachment holes in them, but I had to partially take them apart to get at them and drill though-holes so as not to drill the insulation off the wires inside. 

The 4 bulb fixtures were easier in one way.  The wires were channeled around the attachment holes.  On the other hand, they were designed to hang from hooks on chain.  So I needed to drill a hole through the fixture anyway.  I ruined a drill bit trying to drill through what I thought was aluminum.  It was steel.  I should have checked with a magnet!  That was a bit from my REALLY GOOD set of bits.  I'll have to replace it.  I partially disassembled THOSE fixtures...  You may notice I keep having to do a lot of extra steps to make this project work.  I was not thrilled, but having started down this path, I have to continue.

So I got out my metal step-bit and the drilling went fine.  I reassembled the fixture and dropped in the bolts through the plywood.  Did I mention the plywood?  The rack comes with 3/8' pressboard shelves.  Strong enough for shelving or plant trays, but not much to drive a screw up into from below or countersink a bolt from above to support the light fixtures.  So I added 1/2" plywood below to hold the fixtures and counter-sunk the pressboard from below to cover the bolts.  It works great.  The resulting upper surface is nice and flat for the plant trays.  Looks good too. 

Here is the first 4-bulb fixture attached to the bottom of the 3rd shelf.  The top shelf will be identical.

Except...  You may notice a shelf support missing on the photo above (right side).  That's because one was 2" too short!  The box came with an information sheet asking that I call the manufacturer before returning the product to the retail store.  My interpretation of that is "we make a lot of mistakes, please don't tell the store.  Well, gee, it is about all constructed.  It would be a lot of work to take it apart and the box it came in is all ripped apart.  I emailed them about the problem.

The emailed back that a replacement shelf support is being shipped for delivery in 7 days.  That's reasonable.  I would have preferred a UPS overnight shipment on principle, but all my seedlings  are outside now and the light stand is for next year.

Here is a photo of the plywood base I used and the fancy cover shelf.  The are the same size, though the angle makes it look different.

It's been an minor adventure - more than building a box and less than building a shed.  I seldom get to build anything to specifications.  I end up having to craft things by trial and error.  Drives me nuts.  I have the genes of an engineer and the talent of an art major!


Which reminds me, I need to replace the roof on the shed.  I didn't know about roofing paper 20 years ago, and now it leaks.  Time to redo it right.  That's on the list.  The really really long list of major "to do"...

The lesson here is that I should have built the light stand as I originally intended.  3/4' plywood, 6' high and 5' shelves with the fixtures simply screwed right up into the shelf bottoms!  Don't get me wrong, the new light stand will be great for decades.  But the original plan would have been easier and worked as well.

Live and learn...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 2

Well, at least I have some pictures to add for the assembly!  And I have to admit, the assembly IS well designed and simple to do.  The upright posts have "keyholes".  Think of a hole with a narrower slot below.  The horizontal side pieces have mushroom heads that fit through the hole and the "stem" of the mushroom heads fits the slots below tightly.  The connections are indeed "rigid".  You tap them firmly in place with a hammer (gently - I used a 2x4 and a deadblow hammer).  So far, so good. 

 This is the old plant light stand.  I am taking it apart as I transfer the lights to the new one.  The old shelves had a 2 bulb fixture.  The new ones have TWO 2 bulb fixtures per shelf.  

Here are the old light shelves being disassembled.  I really over-engineered the previous light shelf.  I am learning to back off on the over-engineering.

Note the plywood shelf.  I made those.  It's tricky.  The plywood shelf supports the light fixtures below.  But since the supporting bolts stick up over the plywood, I needed to countersink the provided fancy shelfs from below.  In other words, the top cover shelf has a hole in the bottom where the fixture bolts stick up.  Does that make sense?

This is the new light shelf.  There are now 2 light fixtures per shelf (4 bulbs).  The fancy shelf sits on the light fixture supporting plywood

In this picture, you see two shelves assembled.  The green box is a support of the light fixture so I can feed the support bolts from above.

Each of the rigid steel horizontal bars have a double curve to them.   A lower curve is for strength, the upper curve has a flat surface that supports the shelving (a 2'x4'x3/8" engineered material).  I initially thought it was a sort of rubber/resin, but it is pressboard.  The instructions said it would support 800 poubds per shelf.  It also said not to stand on it.  Huh?  I only weigh 160 pounds.  They must have loaded the shelves VERY carefully to support 800 lbs  if I cant stand on it.  Well, I didn't buy it for the weight capacity.  Plants aren't all THAT heavy!

Next. I complete (almost) the whole shelf rack...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 1

A while back, I mentioned I planned to build a better seedling light stand.  The current one has only a 2 fluorescent bulb fixture per shelf, and even with good daylight bulbs, I find the plants get leggy.  I found 4 bulb fixtures at a decent price and bought a couple, thinking I could put two 2 bulb fixtures on the other shelves.  I planned to make it entirely of 1/2" plywood, 18 or 16" deep and 5 feet long to easily accommodate the 4' fluorescent fixtures.  I planned to attach cleats to the sides to hold the shelves.  The light fixtures would be screwed right up into the plywood shelves.  The shelves would be spaced at increasing distances so that growing plants could be moved to shelves further from the lights as they grew.  Simple basic construction.

It was a good plan.  I wish I had followed it...

But I saw an ad for rigid steel frame shelving at a really great price.  It was 4' wide, 2' deep and 6' tall.  Sounded great.  The shelf supports were adjustable in 1" increments and the shelves themselves were 1/2" recycled material that could support 800 lbs per shelf.  I measured the 4 bulb fixtures carefully and measured the floor display model.  It seemed they would fit right under the shelves perfectly!  It promised "easy assembly" (which, for its original purpose, was true).  I bought it. 

It weighed a ton!  Well, not literally "a ton" but I couldn't even pull the box off the stack due to the weight and friction.  I had to get a store person to help.  The top box was broken open (probably items missing).  The 2nd was fine.  We got it on a flatbed cart.  He assured me that there were outside people to help me get it in the car.  I planned to take the box apart from in the car at home.

Needless to say, no outside person ever became available.  In fairness, they were there, but backed up helping other people.  I finally did manage to wrestle the box into the car.  I'm not weak, but I'm not a weight-lifter either.  Fortunately, I do know some simple mechanical principles...

But I should have known I was off to a bad start!

Next, assembling the stand...

Aquarium Leak

It is almost funny.  I was sitting watching TV an heard a little "Pop".  I assuned the cats had whapped a pen off a desk.

But when I went to feed the fish, I saw a small puddle of water; only a couple of spoonfuls.  Tracking it up from the base with a paper towel, I found the spot.  There was a tiny fracture in a corner.

This is going to sound weird.  To get at an old 20 gallon tank, I had to empty out an understairs closet I have not investigated in years.  It was so old, I found a manual typewriter and an old 8 track player in  there!

But the 20 gallon long was still waterproof, so I got the fish in there.  I will try to seal the 30 gallon high with the silicone sealant I bought today.  I'll give it 2 days to set, then add some water to see if the leak is fixed.

Seedlings, Yay!

Well, I have seedlings of my large-seed crops up now!  You may recall I had pre-soaked them a few hours and drained the water out of the individual containers to let the initial seedroots develop before planting them.  It works really well!  It is guaranteed germination.  You have to handle the seeds gently so as not to damage the 1/4" root, but it is well worth it.

Of the 10 cukes I planted, 9 are up and there is time for the 10th.

2 of the three cantaloupes are up in each of the 2 places I planted them, as are 2 of 3 of the watermelon seeds and honeydew seeds in their single spots.  In any case, it looks like I will have a good initial growth of those this year.  We will see later if there is enough sun for the melons to ripen.  I mention that because I have not had success with melons previously.  But 2 years ago, I had a couple of trees removed that I think provides 2 more hours on sun on the garden.  Last year was just bad all around, so that doesn't count.

The flat italian beans are emerging; only 2 so far, but I expect all of the 10 to emerge. I expected the beans to come up first because they are robust seedlings, but they ARE planted deeper, so I guess it balances out.

The heirloom tomato seedlings are thriving.  They got 4 daylight fluorescent bulb treatment this year (2-bulb lights make them leggy) AND I waited a week longer to set them in the ground (til the soil temp was over 60F at the coolest).  That seems to have helped.  They are greener and stockier than in past years and the stems are noticably thicker after 1 week.  I am looking forward to a superb harvest this year.

In case you are wondering why there are 2 cages, it is because something ate 1 of the seedling's top off and I had to replace it.   The small green cage is to discourage the groundhog or rabbit (I have at least 1 of each in the fenced yard).  I didn't know any mammals ate tomato plants!  Well, that's why I grow extras...

I have 2 Brandywine, 2 Cherokee Purple, and 1 each Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches.  Everyone has their favorites and while Brandywine generally wins contests (and I love it too), here in MY yard with MY conditions and habits, Cherokee Purple is the winner.  The taste is more complex, it is more productive, and it is more disease resistant.

I also have a hybrid Stupice as an early tomato, and a Sweet Million in a hanging pot for snacking in the garden.

I am not using the permeable red plastic groundcover this year (supposed to reflect the best light frequencies back up to the leaves).   It may or may not work, but I noticed last year that water was not penetrating it.  Maybe the pores get clogged after a few years.  I don't want to have to buy it new every year!

I planted bi-color corn, too.  It is just a 2'x3' block of 6 (its just me and I only eat one a day at best).  But I will plant a 2nd 2x3 block next weekend and another 2 weeks after that for succession.  I know how to maximize pollination in small plantings.  In case you are wondering about that, you snip off a tassel each day and rub it around the silks for a week.  If it is a really calm day, you can tap the stalks to make pollen fall straight down.  If you REALLY want to maximize pollination, you can put a plastic bag over the stalks and THEN tap them.  Here, 1 ear per stalk is good.  This is NOT "corn country".

I don't know why I bother to grow corn.  At harvest time, bi-color corn is available cheap.  I should grow something more expensive like red lettuce  That stuff is ALWAYS $2 a pound.  Bi-color corn is sometimes 25 cents an ear.  But its the challenge, I suppose.  I stopped growing green bell peppers when they were 10/$1.  But just once, I want to grow really good corn.  Straight from the garden to boiling water in 1 minute!

The flowerbeds are doing great.  I probably have them in better shape than in the past 10 years.  I got them pruned of old stems early, got the beds weeded early, fertilized them with organic slow release 6-10-6 early (a blend I make from 2 sources), and (for once) I got cages around the large sprawling ones early!  I let the cats show off the flowers in their Garden Tour Thursday posts.  You can see that HERE.

OK, no plant in its perfect conditions should need cages.  But I get less sun than they would like, so several are a bit leggy.  The cages help that.  With the slightly increased sun and good fertilizer, the troillus are standing on their own, the coneflowers are stockier and other larger patches of flowers are standing up aganst the weeklong heavy rains.  OK, only 2", but it comes in heavy downfalls.  In past years, they would all be bent over.

So things are looking promising here.

Catching Up On The Yard Activities, Part 2

I have had the darndest time with the soil in the small crop bed.  The soil is unusually clumpy.  Not wet-clumpy, dry clumps.  And they are hard.  That is unusual.  I can usually just crush them by hand easily.  I even added compost this year.  Maybe I dug the clumps up from deeper in the bed this year.  I need fine soil for planting carrots and lettuce, etc.  Fortunately, it has rained for 2 days so I think I can crunch up the hard clumps in a couple days.  And maybe I better add a couple inchs of leaf-gro to turn in!


I cleaned out the small 5' pre-formed pond last week and siphoned it dry.

Then I repotted all the waterlilies and sweet flag, refilled it, and waited a week.

I added some mosquito dunk and was surprised to find ( a week later) that there were larvae all through it.  I took a full dunk and crumbled it up all over.  I am glad to see there are no larvae to be seen now!


So I added 4 small orange fantail goldfish to the pond.  They like to sit under water plant leaves, so they are hard to spot, but I stood by the pond for a while and finally noticed them moving around.  They stick together.  I may put some netting over the pond to keep the goldfish safe.  I had 3 that lived there for 4 years then all disappeared in a week.  I suspect a raccoon.


I pre-soaked some other crop seeds several days ago.  It gets the initial root started so you know which seeds are viable.  Flat Italian beans, corn, cukes, cantelope, honeydew, and watermelon.  I got those all planted just before the rains came Saturday.

So I'm waiting for the first seeds to come up.  I'll bet on the beans to show first.

Catching Up On The Yard Activities, Part 1

I should have been posting a few times the past week, but I get distracted by other things (cooking,  cleaning, yardwork, cats, MSNBC, etc).  So I will try to catch up a bit now.

I've spent the most time in the yard.  Last week was wonderful outside.  Temps around 70F, low humidity, mostly sunny.  I was greatly encouraged to spend time outside.

First, I introduced Marley ( my new cat from January) outside for the first time.  I got a harness he couldn't get out of.  It was a trial to get him into it.  Took tries on 3 days before I succeeded.  But he was stunned to be outside and didn't fight the harness (much).  It wasn't that he tried to get out of the harness, but tried to walk around things that would entangle the leash.

 He couldn't figure out why he couldn't walk under the deck, or around poles, or through tomato cages lying on their sides.  But he was happy to be outside so he didn't complain (too much) about being "guided" away from those places.  He had a grand time outside until I brought him in (30 minutes the first day, an hour - twice - the second day).

 Since he showed no signs of running or trying to escape the tall fence, I let him out free the 3rd day for an hour while I was out with him (close to him all the time).  The 4th day he liked to just sit on the grass in the shade and wander around a bit.  I feel free to let him out when I am out and Iza is out.  Iza is protective of the yard and if a stray cat came in, she would be right at it before Marley had to defend himself (he IS still only 8 months old.  Reminder:  Get him microchipped next week!  Just in case...

The Spring weather has been fluctuating so badly (highs of 50F one day, 80F a few days later) that I have not been sure when to plant the tomatoes.  Tomatoes can be permanently stunted at 50F.  It finally settled out last week and I got them all planted.  I only like the heirloom tomatoes these days.  I grow them from seeds.  There are 2 Brandywine, 2 Cherokee Purple, 1 Aunt Gerty's Gold, 1 Prudens Purple, 1 Tennessee Britches.  There is also 1 Stupice.  It is a hybrid that matures fast.  It hasn't worked well the past 2 years and this is its last chance here.  And I better get the hanging pot with the cherry tomato set up soon!

The space to the right will be for bell peppers and basil.

Mothers Day

I feel a bit odd today.  This is the first year I don't send a Mothers Day card...

She died last Fall of "natural causes" at age 83.  Her death was not unexpected.  I've already not sent one birthday card.  But somehow Mothers Day seems more specific.  It shouldn't.  She had her own birthday, and every mother shares Mothers Day.  Maybe that's the problem.  So many children got to send a Mothers Day card this year and, for the first time, I didn't.

I don't feel forlorn or lost or abandoned or anything.  I'm too old and sensible for that.  I miss her, of course, but it's that I had been making or sending cards to her for, oh, 55 years and it feels odd to stop.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom...

Lysimachia vs English Ivy

OK. so I have about 20 sod chunks of the invasive Lysimachia 'Firecracker'.  I also have a raised area in the center of the backyard that has become covered with english ivy (well, if you have a wild area, ivy isn't bad looking).  The raised area is too rough to mow and I have considered at times hiring someone to level it, or turning it into a wildflower area.

I can mow entirely around the area, so nothing can actually escape.

That middle area as been a problem for 25 years.  When I moved here, it was covered with thorny locust scrub.  It took 5 years to finally cut them all down.  Then it took another 5 years to actually kill all of them.  Thorny locust is TOUGH.  I read stories of farmers using the cut trunks for fenceposts, and the trunks would ROOT and start growing again.

So, anyway, now it is basically a area where english ivy has taken over, poison ivy keeps trying to get established, and tree saplings keep trying to get growing.  And brambles love it.  I can keep the saplings and brambles chopped down.

I'm going to plant the Lysimachia chunks every 5' throughout the english ivy and see who wins!

I know from several years experience that the Lysimachia grows so tall and thick that there are never any weeds in the patch.  That's one thing I like about it.  And it does have a nice flower and the purple foliage is impressive!

So I am going to see what happens for a few years.  Which invasive plant do you think will win?

Corralling The Lysimachia 'Firecracker'

I recently wrote about what I thought was Coreopsis 'Golden Gain' invading the neighboring plants.  I discovered it was actually Lysimachia "Firecracker' (thank you Gardenweb Forum), which is a VERY invasive plant.  It seems to be a type of Loosestrife, which is a real invasive family.

It had suddenly spread into some stokesia on one side and into some asters in the back.  It had totally smothered a patch of Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'.  It has fibrous matted roots that are impossible to disentangle from other plants.

It was sold to me as the Coreopsis 'Golden Gain' and since it had a golden flower, I didn't realize I had been sent a mislabelled plant.  Fortunately, the vendor is making it as right as they can by sending replacements.

Still, I had to do a lot of hard work to correct the situation.  As it actually IS a rather good looking perennial, I wanted to keep what I could.  If I had a sunny spot surrounded by paved surfaces to fence it in (like driveway/sidewalk/house) I would have dug it up and moved it there.  But I don't.

So my solution was to dig up the plants in the invaded area, install edging barrier around it, and replant the lost stokesia and asters.  Looking back, I am thinking I should have just used Roundup!  But all's well that ends well...

First, I dug up a foot around the area I wanted to keep, a nice 8' diameter circle.  It was just like digging up turf sod and about as much fun.  I am saving the dug up sod because I have an idea what to do with it!

Here is one side cleared out.  Digging around the soaker hoses was not fun, but pulling them up through the existing plants and trying to nestle them back down afterwards seemed worse.

Here is a picture of them invading the asters in the back of the garden.  They seem to spread the roots out 2' in Fall, then the new stems emerge suddenly in Spring.  You don't get much warning.  Last year, I thought they were self-sowing, so I snipped the flowerheads.  Alas, that wasn't the problem...

After I dug them all out leaving the 8' circle, I dug a trench around them.  Since they haven't spread under the path edging, I think more edging will contain them.  It took a spade to cut through the matted roots, a mattock to dredge the trench, and a trowel to scoop out the soil.  Loads of fun...

I threaded some old edging under the hoses through the trench...

And backfilled on both sides.  The edging looks high, but that's because I removed a lot of soil with the dug pieces.  I will have to add more soil to return it to level.  The edging should be sticking about 1/2" above ground.  Mulch will cover that.

You can just see the space for the 3 replacement stokesia to go.

Any Lysimachia that try to escape the edging will get a vinegar spray first, and a Roundup spray if absolutely required.  And if the edging really won't stop it, I will make a cardboard circle around it and give the whole patch the Roundup!  I'm taking a chance even giving these plants a second chance.  But if they will stay in bounds, they'll have long happy lives.

Now what am I going to do with the parts I dug up?  Future post!