Just a log post

In Bloom:
Early Tulips
Grape Hyacinth
Regular Hyacinth
Dandelions are starting

Budding:
Lilacs
Narcissus

Planted:
Huntington Carpet Rosemary
Zones 8-10, so it's a long shot that they'll be here next year.

Blood Veined Sorrel
Annual Ornamental/Culinary

First day of GARDENING SEASON!!!

It's the middle of February, and I planted seeds.  Lettuce and Snow Peas.

I must have had my act together in the Fall, because I have 2 beds that are completely ready for planting, and one where I need to fill it with compost and dirt, and I'm done with that one.

The beds I use for flowers and vegetables are pretty much ready too.  I'm not going to till this year.

Since I cannot rotate my night shade crops, I need to do some research and see what I need to do in order to recharge the soil. I really don't want to pull up all of my supports in order to plant a Spring cover crop and till it in.

Things I want to plant this year:
Lemon Grass
Roma
Early Girl or other early variety 
ONLY two sungold plants  (last year was the year of the cherry tomato)

Of course, I saw a bunch of things in the gardening catalogs that I would like, but don't remember them now.

We've had a LOT of birds in the backyard already this year.  Finches, Woodpeckers, Juncos, Grosbeaks, and some Tanagers (I least I think they were).

I saw one this morning that I need to ID again.  I've looked it up before, but I don't see them often enough to remember.

Today was "Clean Up Day" in the yard.  Sifted dirt, put dirt out, turned the compost.  There were soooo many worms.  A few really large ones.  Trimmed some bushes, raked up Fall debri, cut back the roses.

One piece of advice I got from Marc McGrath of gardening fame was "Leave the tomatoes up on the supports if you live in the North.  When Spring comes, it will be easier to clean up."  It definitely is.  They're all dried up and just snap right off the supports.

Raked the bed that were ready to plant, put out eggshells.  Last year, I think a lot of seeds got eaten.  This year, I put welded wire with netting over it up to keep the birds and our new dog out of the bed where I put the lettuce.

Here's to Spring!

A day in the life of a Fleuron Puppy!

I'm such a good girl.  My name is CiCi

I like to play bitey-face with Auntie Sofie ALL the time.

Sometimes Mom has to Lesson Plan or Grade Papers (whatever they are).
Then I have to go in my x-pen.

That's OK.  I like it in here.  She gives me lots of toys, and I....zzzz.

I go outside quite often.  I have no idea why.  Then we come back in and play some more.

Sofie and I play tug, and she always lets me win.

DAD's HOME!!!  I greet him at the door with Sofie.

This is Penny.  She loves me.  We nuzzle.  Dad still gives her plenty of attention.

When Sofie and I are playing, sometimes she gets concerned.
Or maybe she just thinks we're crazy.

Then I flop over again.  Being a puppy is HARD WORK.

I can't help being cute.

I get lap time with Dad.  He says to enjoy it while I can.
I do not understand this.  I'll always be a lap dog.

When it's really dark, and the humans start yawning, we go to our crates.  I am soooo good, I only cried for 10 minutes the first night.  I needed to let them know I am just a puppy.  But I like it so much in there, I've given up the ruse and just flop myself down and sleep until Mom or Dad's alarm goes off.  My Aunties and I wake them up on days the alarm does not go off promptly at 6am.  They must have forgotten to set it!

Catch up Post!

I had a great garden year.  I pickled many cukes, processed and froze many tomatoes.  Flowers didn't do so well this year.  I will try to be a better blog citizen next year just for my garden records alone.  I will not like the Iris of Garden Season 2015 when I go back and find....nothing.

We went to Oregon for a week and had a great time with my friends Steph and Wulf.  Met two of their friends who are very nice people.

We got a puppy!  Sharon Marples of VonMarc Rottweilers had a bitch available from the litter we met in August.  What a lucky break!  We thought they'd all been placed, but Sharon kept two and decided to place the last one.  WITH US.  Whooo Hooo!!!

The story of a girl and 5 birds

A few weeks ago, I was puttering in the yard and thought I saw a weed in the middle of a plant.  I put my hand in to get it and pulled out...a bird's nest.

After closing my mouth  - it was gaping open stupified at the dumb thing I just did.  I shoved the nest back into the plant as best I could.  It had three little spotted eggs in it. 

Anywere from a few days to a week later, I was in the spot checking to see if I had woven it in back in well enough.  Obviously not, because the nest was on its side.  I looked down, and two of the little ones were on the ground.  I'm talking brand new with hardly any fuzz on them.  Now this is in the Dog Yard.  Luckily, I have very lazy dogs that never go out to their yard while I'm at work.  I picked them up, put them back in, and then devised a way to fortify the nest.

Fortified Bird's Nest.  That is garden fabric that rain goes through. 
I stuffed it with straw then put the trail of plant and nest into that approximately where it was built.

Momma or Poppa Bird in the nest with the wee ones.

I felt so bad for disturbing them in the first place!  Since then its been rainy and windy with no ill effects.  Mom and Dad bird take turns feeding, and they have not abondoned the nest.  If I get in a particular spot in the yard, I can see the fuzzbies in there.  All three are still there and are getting fat and sassy.  Definitely more fuzz on them.

Hard Working Duo taking care of the Fuzzbies.

Since it's in the Dog Yard, no cat in their right mind would be back there.  That's a plus.

I feel much better now.  It's a part of the dog yard that I'm in quite a bit and they have gotten very accepting of me being around.  They'll dart back and forth while I'm out there with the bunny.

Here's two pictures of who I believe is the Momma Bird.  I think the one that is male is a little fluffier with a bigger darker spot on its chest.

Mmmmmm....bugs.  It's what's for dinner.

Now that I have a nice picture, I'll re-look up what they are and edit this caption.

Now that they are settled, I hope all three make it to the flight stage.  Live and be well birdies!

A sneak preview of Spring!

What a wonderful day!

Got some bills paid, did a little tech research.  And then something great happened - the sun came out!

I had some errands to run so I did those first.  When I got home I leashed up the girls and took them out for a nice long stroll.

I started a new Ann Rule book on my tablet.  I love the Kindle app.  

The outdoors kept beckoning me.  Out I went and got really muddy.  I pulled some perennial Vinca out of my border and transplanted a dwarf Rhododendron.   When I pulled it out I was really disappointed in the root growth.  It's been in the ground for two years and it popped right out in mostly the same shape that it was planted in.  Which means it was horribly root bound and the roots are probably just still circling in.  I might dig it up again and box cut the roots. 

There were some Lillies that stuck out like a sore thumb after they bloomed last year, so I dug those up and put them behind some bushes so the foliage would be hidden but not the flowers when they bloom.  They came with the house, I'm not sure what kind of Lillies they are.  They were about 4' tall last year.  The corms were huge.  I was able to split one into three sections.  So more Lillies this Summer.

No early fake Spring day is complete without playing in the compost pile.  I have MAJOR wormage.  That's my term for big, fat, multitudes of worms.  

The fish have come out of hibernation and were greeting Sofie and I.  Penny opted to stay in and cuddle by her heat register.

It started to rain a little and I don't work outside in the rain.  I brought my muddy self in and it took a good 10 minutes to get all the mud out of my fingernails, because of course I did not wear gloves.  As if the day could not get any better, I look up and there is a FULL RAINBOW.

Cooked dinner, now I'm sitting on the Sofa with Sofie listening to Jazz and Classical.  With some Trip Hop thrown in.

Bliss.

Yup, it's still Winter here.

I must say I find my Weather Bug notifications amusing.

Every day - "Hey, it's Winter!"  Snow advisory, wind advisory, etc. etc.

In honor of Weather Advisory, I give you Snow Pics.

Sofie and Penny in the backyard having fun:

Penny always walks on the perimeter of the yard.

I took a big pink ball out for Sofie to play with.

"I hear a neighbor - Constant Vigilance!"

Digging - "There's Bunny Pan Mulch down there!"

The Pond in Winter.

We saw a new bird!  The color is off because I had to take these through the window.  If I tried to even squeak the window open it would fly away.

We looked the birdie up last night, and found out it is a Thrush.  Very poofy and LARGE.  When it sat on a small branch to eat the crab apples, the branch would sag.

Thrush in a Crab-Apple Tree

It's great to see a new bird!