Sunflower and Finch Day

I was determined to get some good shots of my garden birds today.  So I sat out in the yard for hours reading an e-book.  I left the camera on and just let it go into standby.  When I heard them, I'd pick up the camera and try to get them.

Success!  Today, Finches and Sunflowers, Tomorrow will be Hummingbird Day.


Finch on top of the Sunflowers - Hello there Birdy!

Sunflowers are about 10' tall.  Volunteers every year.

Sunflowers with a Bee.  I know it's not a Finch, but I liked the picture.

Bzzzz.

Finch taking off

Whhheeeeee!!!

Resting Finch

Looks like a yellow cottonball.

And of course, the most detailed, best close up, is of a bird butt.

Reminds me of a scene from Ace Ventura when he's talking to his friend at the desk.

Garden Update!

The snow peas have been yummy.  Not enough to save for a meal, but the snacking while I work outside is good.  I have to keep Penny away from them though.  She loves snow peas.  The problem is that she doesn't have the opposeable thumb thing going for her, so she tends to tug too hard and harms the plant.  Which is counterproductive to getting new snow peas.

The Lillies are gone.  Larkspur is hanging in there.  The hummingbirds just love them.  I have to regulars that are feeding at the flowers and feeders I put out.

Unsolicited Plug:  http://www.amazon.com/Aspects-429-Hummzinger-Highview-Feeder/dp/B003XL7WZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373042475&sr=8-1&keywords=aspects+hummingbird+feeder

You can buy these little stoppers that go on the inside of the lid to keep bugs out.  It works, and my feeders stay nice and clear.

The "Mighty Maters" are doing GREAT.  So far outgrowing the regular ones by double the size.  We'll see how it goes come production time.

These pictures are just because.  The pond Koi don't get a lot of press on my blog, but they are wonderful.  They beg for their food in the evening, play in the waterfall.

This Koi has my favorite coloring

Here is Sofie, the wonderful big dog that does NOT understand that she has very big paws.  She's always stomping on our feet.

A view from the hill

Have a wonderful weekend out there.

A busy day in Boise!

The conference is going really well.  So far, there has been PLENTY for me to do and learn.

Tomorrow, the IT Crowd will be out at the Meridian Center.

I am so proud of myself!  Armed with my phone and a complete lack of direction, I was able to go to the Boise Aquarium, the Boise on The Square Mall, and go Downtown for a meal in the Basque District.

The aquarium was crawling with kids.  Most of them were just adorable.  Being the mom/teacher type, there were a few that I had to set straight.  "Please don't poke the Iguana."  "Could you put those snails back in their tank?"

There were a few that I had some great conversations with on "What exactly DOES a stingray feel like?"  A young lady and I decided it was a mix of rubber and soft silky fur.  Whatever it was like, it was way cool.

I went in the bird cage and fed some.  I can't remember the type, but the lady said they were basically Australian Pigeons.  She said that they are considered pests there.  They were pretty though.  I have some pics on my phone that I'll upload when I get home.

Walked around the Mall, and didn't buy a dang thing.  Must be sick.

Got downtown where the most difficult thing was finding a parking garage that wasn't full.  I did find one though, right by the off ramp, so it was easy to find on my way back.

With my trusty phone by my side, I ventured to the Basque District and had a very nice Kobe Beef  sandwich.  I tried a watermelon beer (a small one, I was driving) and it was so refreshing.

That was a lot of walking.  Back at the hotel now, listening to a three piece combo playing jazz/blues/easy listening.  One female and one male singer.  I was at the patio bar, but it got horribly windy so I moved to my balcony at the room.

Now to just settle in and relax.

Garden Shopping!

My husband and I had a really nice day.  We went to Patt's Garden Center in Clarkston and spent too much money.  Went out to a nice lunch at Roosters, a restaurant overlooking the Snake River.

I bought two of those new grafted tomatoes - I'll be reporting on how they do compared to regular ones.  I hope they out perform them considering they were pretty pricey.

There will be a blueberry bush "Pink Lemonade" at the entrance to the garden.  Inside the fence of course.

I've been taking lots of pictures lately, so I'll just put a few here.



Markers of some of the annuals I bought:

The haul minus the blueberry bush.

Some of them potted up and placed.  The succulent bowl is repeats from last year stolen from various places in my yard.

There's a Rottweiler in my yard!  This is what she looks like when she's going full blast in her circle around the yard.  Those are snow pea seedlings in the raised bed.  Lupine, Garlic and Hollyhock to the far left.

And in Repose:

And that makes a perfect day for me.

Great weekend finishing with a Lazy Sunday

I shot some sports today, then came home and did some serious playing in the dirt.

Actually, it was more like playing in the dust.  I finally got all of my chipping and shredding done after the game.  Looks a lot nicer out there without all the piles and debri.  They are all nice and neat in their black composters.

When I came in, I was filthy.  Took a nice long shower since I was not fighting anyone for the bathroom. (You know who you are.)

The plant that tried to take over the world has been thwarted by newspaper and top soil.  There is some here and there that I couldn't do that with.  I'll just have to pull those by hand.

I'll have to go to Garden Web to look up what it is.  I asked last year and got an answer but of course never wrote it down here.  That is a great site by the way.

My next door neighbor's rose bushes died from being browsed by deer.  Dear Neighbor happens to live on the Deer Highway.  For some reason, they always take her garden to come down from the hill to the street.  There are plenty of other yards not fenced, so it's a mystery why they picked that spot. Having a big emplty spot, she asked me to look up some sort of prickly plant to put in it's place.  (ooohhhh, illiteration, my fave).

I chose a variety of barberry that is lime green.  I wish I could remember the name of the company, because the plants are minuscule.  They're putting on new growth and I'm happy about that.  They charged her more than $10 per plant that at a local place would have been a gallon specimen.  Locally, you can't get the variety that online offers though.  It's a trade off.  As long as I can get them to live through the summer they should be OK.

What's blooming:
Iris, Snow in Summer, Chives, Wigelia

What's fading:
Lilac, Tree Peony

What's done:
Laurel, Forget-Me-Nots (a wild sort), Forsythia.

What's always in bloom around here:
Sofie and Penny!

May the 4th Be With You!!!

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Back to my regular programming:

What a busy day yesterday!  A teen came out and pulled grass for me and moved piles of debri that I created over a week or two.  I have a motto.  "I make the piles, someone else moves the piles."  Now that I don't have teens of my own, that may have to change.

I had a a bunch of plastic pots of varying colors and textures that didn't really go together.  So I bought some spray paint and got to work.

All lined up waiting for flowers.  I need to figure out the kind of look I want this year.  I want to change it up and make it look really different.

Here's a shot of the early Spring garden.

I found this planter at Home Depot and thought it would look nice with the other pots.  It fits this spot perfectly.  I usually put my fish planter there, but like I said, I wanted to change things up a little. this year.

In a little bit, I'll be going out front to pull some more weeds.

A Wonderful Gardening Day!

All around, a great Sunday.

Sofie and Penny were nice enough to let me sleep until 6am - that's good.  Got up and had some coffee, read the paper, played my silly Facebook games.

Kermit got up later and I made a decent breakfast.  Bacon of course, toast, and some simple over easy eggs.  But it was yummy.

Then outside for some serious work.  Dug out the rest of the very large garlic.  I think it's elephant garlic, but I'm not sure.  I will pile it up on the hill, and it will grow.

Weeded some, and of course it is not a gardening day if I don't 
Move. Some. Rocks.
I don't know why I keep moving rocks, but it seems to be a favorite activity.  I had a teen move them down to the lower yard from the hill thinking I was going to build one of my walls.  That did not work out so I had to buy wall block.    As I look around, I believe, truly believe I will not be moving rocks down into the lower yard again.  I cannot say the same for the hill.  I see rock moving there.

So the natural rock had to be moved.  I was not going to move them back up the hill.  So I made some pockets for my neighbor, and some for me, and gave the rest of the rock away to another neighbor.

Kermit is at this moment working on the block wall.  He's really good at it. I'll find some old pics of the spot later, and post some before and after when it's all done.

In Other Gardening News

The last two years I had this plant show up in my yard.  It looked bamboo-ish, and I let it go.  Holy Guacamole that was a bad move.  I tilled that bed this year, and a bazillion of the seedlings came up.  After talking to the My Smart Puppy Brain Trust I tried the following.

First I tilled it again.  Then I put down newspapers and cut up grocery bags.  Kermit went and got me some top soil for on top if it.  Hope this works because I don't ever want to see that plant again.  The topsoil was pricey at over $2 a cubic foot.  It turned out to be a much higher quality than the normal stuff I've seen sold as top soil.  It had manure, dirt, and bark in it.  I've seen "topsoil" that was pretty bad clay stuff.