Speaking of Milkweed

Lysimachia clethroides, gooseneck loosestrife

This is the first mild temperature day we have had in a long time, in the 80’s with 60% humidity. 

It is super nice in the shade. 

We have had rain steadily this week. So the ground is nicely hydrated. 

My neighbor has three groupings of Lysimachia clethroides, gooseneck loosestrife. One grouping has stragglers escaping. She offered them to me earlier in the summer. But it would have been a real struggle for them to survive a transplant in the high, dry heat. I told her I would get them as soon as the weather broke. 

And I was pretty worried her husband was going to pull them before I got over to dig. 

So late this afternoon, middle helped me dig. My mom helped us plant. 

They went in the far corner of our property. You have probably never seen this corner. 

They are on the backside of a planting bed (top picture).

In the second picture they are on the right side. On the left side is MINT. Most people do not plant mint. (I also have a milkweed patch.) And like the ivy and the Lilly of the valley in the front, it will be a battle of the invasives.

Blanket flower

We looked at this pool up-side-down over a chair, on the driveway, for at least a month. 

But it worked. All the Blanket Flowers survived. They are thriving.

When my husband was planting, he packed them in pretty tightly, because they did not look good. We put up the shade and I watered very carefully. I thought at best, a couple would survive. 

I will see what they look like next year and either spread them out in that same area or move a few to a new area. 

Coneflowers - none of these pictures are from my house

Coneflowers used to be purple. 

Now they come in a variety of colors. White. Red. Pink. Green. 

https://m.brecks.com/search?keyword=coneflower&oq=Coneflower

And they also come where one plant has many different colored blooms. 

Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower (below, I took this picture at the nursery.)

My (dog) neighbor planted traditional purple coneflowers on one side of her house. And white coneflowers on the other side of the house.

And she now has a combination of white and light purple on all the plants.

First photo/below, there are now a couple light purple blooms mixed in with the white, one is peaking out from under on the left side of the picture.   It will be interesting to see what color they are next year.

And the color (in the former purple ones) is now watered down and white ones are appearing, so not good at all, in my opinion. I hope she keeps them, I am super curious to see what they do next year.

Another neighbor planted mums at her old house. Each plant a different color. A variety of colors, and she ended up with sort of muddy/brown no color on any of them. 

I looked on line, but there did not seem to be a clear answer on why this sometimes happens. 

I have seen beds in pictures where they have every type/color of coneflowers planted together, but I would now be scared to do that. 

Sedum experiment

Sedum is planted in a bed near the street, under the Rose of Sharon Tree.

I filled in the sedum this spring. There were several plants already there, I dug/moved/added several more from other parts of the yard, and I bought several. 

It has been interesting because tiny sedum I planted this spring are now (all) the same size as the established sedum (which has been there for years). 

And it is all getting ready to bloom. New starts do not always bloom. 

In other words, I absolutely can’t tell which plant was what. It is now all mature size. 

I like my flower beds to be very full. And I do not want to have to weed. So I want edge to edge sedum on its end of the bed. As it grew this summer, it filled in pretty well. There are just two empty places that need additional plants. 

A friend told me I can just cut a piece of sedum off a plant, stick it in the ground, and it will grow. 

We have a couple days of rain forecast. So I stuck one piece of sedum in an opening/empty spot in the first picture. And four in a larger opening/empty spot in the second picture. 

And we will see what happens.

Day lilies and irises

In case you are wondering, I am trying to document my yard.

I know almost everything growing in it (except the yellow flowers that are not daisies, in the littler bed down by the street).

I think I missed getting a picture of these day lilies (below) in bloom.

The bed of day lilies is actually a bit bigger than this picture shows.

And this year I added miniature daffodils between the day lilies, so there should be good pictures next spring. Assuming nobody (🐿 🐰) ate them.


But I did get a picture of these irises in bloom. There are clusters of irises many places in various beds.

I am not sure if I ever said - but  irises come/packaged sort of unidentified. And I like “like things together”. It makes weeding much easier. I have large beds and it makes things very pleasing to the eye. I like the style of masses/groupings.

So one fall we planted all the irises. All over the front yard. And then they bloomed the following spring. And we dug and replanted them according to color. I never remember which color is where, but when they bloom, they are all the same in each section.

Orange honey suckle, nicknamed “the beast”.

It is very good that I planted this on a very sturdy wooden swing set, years ago. Because it is now massive and very heavy.

You can see the dog rope hanging in the middle. The pup can play tug of war with herself. She also likes to dead weight hang from it by her teeth. And she also swings on it (by her teeth, jumping up and catching it as high as she can.)

The orange honeysuckle self starts all over this end of the backyard. One just happened to start right by a leg on the other side. I tied it, and it is happily growing.

These pictures were taken right as the sun was setting

 The light was very interesting.

I think you might have to click on each picture to see it. 

This is a small section of a large bed that runs the length of the driveway. You might recognize the stump and the millstone. These are the only Black Eyed Susan’s in the yard. They nearly glow in the dark, if you click on this picture. (That is the neighbor’s house.) 

You can see two flower beds in the picture. Both are near the street. 

The bed in the back of the picture very large. It has probably 20 trees in it. It is full of Ivy on the street half, then Lilly of the valley on the half on the right edge of the picture. Those two each hold their own, equally invasive. On the edge, after the Lilly of the Valley are hundreds of jonquils (in the spring) and a dozen day lilies, in the summer. 

The bed in the front of the picture has ivy near the street, a row of boxwood, a birch tree, red coral bells, the mystery yellow flower, a Rose of Sharon tree and sedum.

This is the garage window. It is a large window and a huge window box. There are six big pots in the window box. I do not put dirt directly in any of the (3) window boxes. They all have pots. There are light yellow petunias. White salvia and white geraniums in those pots. The bed is planted with boxwood and pachysandra. 

Husker Red Penstemon (blooms in spring)

It self seeded from the neighbor’s yard, in a great spot behind the Black Eyed Susan’s. It is a very nice patch. I weed, water and let it go to seed, so it will come up again each year.

I am trying to catch him before he hits 1000

SideHustleSchool by Chris Guillebeau is a short daily podcast. I would guess he averages under 10 minutes (each day) most of the time. He does a special longer version occasionally.

I did not start listening to SideHustle podcast when he launched on 1/1/2017, instead I began listening to his archives, starting with the first one/in chronological order, early this summer.

I downloaded all of them to my phone.  So there have been hundreds of SideHustle podcasts in my queue, all summer. I saw that as a positive, a fun summer thing.

I enjoy him very much. I like his voice, his humor, his personality and his education.  I have not decided to start a home based business, I am listening because of the variety of topics. All kinds of gift ideas and interesting concepts.

So all summer long, when I was caught up on my other podcasts, I always had Chris Guillebeau available.

As of this moment, I am on SideHustle podcast #750 which he recorded January 2019. So I am in the current year (yeah!) and headed toward the home stretch. He recorded #954 today, I am hoping to be current before he hits 1000.

If you are wondering about the math, 1000 - 750 = 250 / 46 = about 5 1/2 podcasts a day, which is usually under an hour. Very doable even if I only listen when I am out walking dogs.

But when I am current, I will really have accomplished something fun and educational and current, this summer.

Audible queue

If a book (mentioned anywhere) looks good, I have just started getting it on audible. 

If I start it and do not like it, I simply return it. I think returns must be done within a year of purchase. 

So then I always have a few books in queue, ready/available.

It is rare that I see a book reviewed or mentioned in a podcast and think “that sounds good”. 

Most often I think the opposite. 

If it is a classic, many times I have already read it.

So when a title does sound good, rather than putting it on a list, which I might forget I even have, I simply use an audible credit and put it in my library.

Charging station, really good gift idea

https://authenticallyemmie.com/2019/07/everything-on-sale-day/

I love her pictures and posts.

I have never purchased anything she has featured, previously, but I jumped on the charging station when I read her post in July.

The station has been “charging central” on my kitchen island ever since.

Yes it has a lot of cords, but they are much more organized and visually appealing than the multitude of long cords that were there previously. (And I was always worried the pup was going to chew on one of the long cords.) It is nice to be able to set the device in the slots of the station. We have mostly iPhone cords attached, but I think there are two android which also work on our headsets.

The (now) 11 year old was here this past weekend and loved it. Her mom was here also and thought it was great.

I ordered one for them, also, shipped directly, they should have it Monday.

Honeysuckle (bush with the delicate white blooms)

This is a bush. It is growing in a hedge row on the side of the front yard. 

The row has a variety of things on it, we planted, and also some self starters. 

They are all big and green and totally blend together.

These white blooms are very small and delicate, I only noticed it,  because we were trimming branches in that section of the yard, right when it was blooming.

Anyone know what this is please?

Plant identification help please - they are not white daisies

Every year I wait for this to bloom, to confirm it is white daisies. 

By the next year I can’t remember what it was and I wait for white daisies.

This year, I PAID ATTENTION. 

And I was shocked it is not white daisies.

Looking thru pictures, once upon a time, there WERE white daisies in that area. 

But comparing the leaf, to my actual white daisies, it is different. 

Anyone know what this is please?

hibiscus (the big pink bloom in the middle of the back bed)

Weeding the long, back bed that is now mostly Hosta, earlier this summer, this looked like it might “be something”.

In other words, I did not pull it as a weed, I left it.

I thought it might be a peony, but comparing leaves to Peonies on side of house, no match. 

Yesterday it had a bud. Today it had a bloom. A big bloom.

Anyone know what it is? 

I am guessing in the hibiscus family. 

Ode to a pig

He is still standing, but very fragile.

I appreciate him each summer, because the end is coming.

When my husband put him out this spring, the pup came flying around the corner a few days later, and had a total freak out. She thought he was real. She jumped in surprise. And so much barking.

Genealogy blogs

I keep my genealogy documents in red three ring binders. I have a lot of binders. And most of the documentation is on closer family members - My parents and grandparents, the greats, aunts and uncles, the greats, etc. I also have  a lot of things on my computer. . I save documents, pictures, invitations, news clippings, obituaries, etc.

My mom has a friend whose genealogy research is all hand written. Binders and notebooks full.  (She is in her 80’s).

So where my binder has a copy of a death certificate, hers has handwritten notes on what the death certificate said. To be honest, I shake my head at that methodology.

I question what is actually going to happen to all that handwritten data. But I also wonder about mine.

My kids, my brother, my niece and nephew live in a very digital world. I would assume it will continue to get more digital. And decluttering and downsizing  will continue as the trend.

I am not sure if I have mentioned, I am scanning family archives of pictures, steadily, to both preserve and share them.

It started with pictures of my brother, which I scanned and texted to him and  his kids.

Then we made a trip out of state to my husband’s cousin. And we scanned pictures for two full days. We bought a flatbed scanner that hooked up to my husband’s laptop. He scanned and labeled every picture. We saved to both the lap top and drop box. We are the only ones to have copies of all those pictures.

And I have been scanning documents.

Those pictures and all my documents and the facts and stores about each person, require a home. Family trees are needed to explain. Everything needs to be organized and readable/understandable.

I needed a digital structure. I wanted one that could be private, was free, and was easy for me to use. I wanted something that could be opened on any phone or computer with no special program needed. I wanted something that could be printed into a book if wanted/needed.

So as I write, I am in the process of putting all my information and documents and pictures in a blog format for various branches of the family.  I put each branch on its own separate blog, for ease of volume and use. But I can link between the blogs, which is quite handy. I am using lots of tags and links as I go.

I am using blogger, because I am use to it.

I will give access to extended family who are interested.

So I am not sharing the genealogy blogs  here, but I wanted to mention the idea.

And if you happen to know of any genealogy blogs like this that are open, I would be interested in seeing them.

Here is what I have come to realize:

I should be wearing my newest athletic shoes as my crud (painting, walking in fields) shoes, not an old pair on its last legs.



In 2012 or 2013, I bought 3-4 pair of identical athletic shoes.

This was after I broke my foot and had to switch brands/sizes. (I donated all of my former athletic shoes, so I only had 3-4 brand new ones.)

I put orthopedic inserts in all 3-4 pairs.

I labeled/used one of the brand new pairs for dirt and paint, even though they were pristine.

That was a hard thing to do! Think about putting on a new pair of shoes and painting with dark brown paint.

So those new shoes started to look old pretty quickly -

Last week those crud shoes were so tattered that they are now unwearable. The back of the heel, on the inside is too worn.

The other 2-3 pairs are still in good shape. (I wear them evenly, switching between the pairs. And most of the time I am wearing sandals, Keens, boots. It is not like I live in athletic shoes.)

So clearly I wore the crud ones a lot. A whole lot. Field, yard, painting.

And if I was smart, I would replace crud pair with new pair (and wear the pristine ones for crud again). Because they are the ones I wear the most and would have the most support.

Garbage man cometh

Knowing that the garbage man is coming, Mondays, is very motivating.

We had 13 tall yard bags full of clippings and weeds by 7pm on Sunday.

I got up and weeded in the far (other) back corner Monday morning.

I covered myself as best I could, wore my Muck Boots, and then showered with Dawn as soon as I was done. It was major poison ivy territory. 

I did not pull Ivy. I tried to pull everything but Rose of Sharon and Poison Ivy.
I will go back Wednesday and spot treat the poison ivy (and try to avoid the Rose of Sharon). 

My spot treating procedure involves putting a wooden paint stir-er stick under the poison ivy leaf to hold it and then dipping a foam paint brush in Round Up Concentrate (with no water added) and then "painting" the leaves. It is a slow process, but very effective. 

By noon on Monday our count was up to 16 large paper yard waste bags, plus two full cans. (Plus a full recycling can.)

The 16 bags were distributed to neighbors' curbs, because we are pretty sure there is a limit for one house. So three lucky neighbors' houses have 4 bags each. (Thank you).

I am taking it easy the rest of today, because I had three straight days of pretty hard labor and I am tired.  My body is physically tired. And it is supposed to rain. Hopefully. Because we really need it.

Six tall paper yard waste bags

Filled 2 1/2 on Monday

Filled 3 1/2 on Saturday

Plus filled the garbage can on Saturday.

I set the sprinkler up in the morning, long section in the back (that is now mostly filled with Hosta). 

I ran errands while the first section soaked, weeded it while the next section soaked. 

Worked from about 10am until 4:15pm Saturday. 

A bit more to finish on Sunday. 

Saved comments - book titles - Jill and Lisa Eirene

https://sassypear.com/2019/07/25/bonus-post-a-good-quote/#comments

I wrote:
I purchased this book from audible this morning. (I am not sure if I will like it, but they have a return option, so if I don’t, then I will just return it. That option has allowed me to try different things.)

And yes, I have returned – Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation
Book by Brad Ricca. I tried three times and just could not get in to it. But every time I read a synopsis, I swear it is something I would/should love.

I realized almost everything I have listened to this year (books and podcasts) has been nonfiction.

I went thru all of Gretchen Rubin’s again. I did Marie C and also the Swedish Death cleaning one. Then I did Gretchen and Elizabeth’s book club selections (Inheritance and Small Fry) which were excellent. I love their take on book club – assign book, everybody reads, they interview the author.

I think I might like to find a podcast that does some type of similar book review thing. (I sort of outgrew the book group’s in town that I used to love.)


And

http://www.110pounds.com/?p=57160#comments

I wrote:
I normally a classics person, but I am sort of running out of classics.

My recent reads are Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth (her sister) podcast book club selections Inheritance and Small Fry. Both great nonfiction books (and not normally something I would pick). I loved them.

So I got #1 and #6 from your list, from audible, to try (they have a return option, so if I don’t like, can exchange within a year). Maybe nonfiction appeals to me right now.

Thank you for mentioning them.

Shading transplanted perennials

Monday morning, working in yard, it was seriously hot.

I made a shade cover for the blanket flower plants we moved, and put a trickle of water on them, so they stood a chance of surviving.

It is working!

I have my stone wall back. Munstead Dwarf Lavender and a clematis.

A few years ago we dismantled a small stone wall that was around a small flower bed in the front.

The landscapers had just plopped the stones on the ground. Eventually everything was sinking and sliding and grass was growing up between rocks.

I regretted taking that wall down as soon as we did it. But at the time, I did not know how to fix it.


When we removed the stone wall, years ago, I tried very hard to get poppies to grow in this bed. I planted them at least three times. If they would have taken off, then the wall would not have been needed. It would have been a mass of poppies with the iron tree in the middle.

But poppies would not grow. So then I transplanted lavender.

Today, Sunday, we rebuilt the little stone wall in the front. And it is sturdy. It has paver gravel under it and it has a row of wedge shaped pavers under it too. The pavers are buried; the stones you can see sit on top the pavers.

It was a lot of work, with more work needed,  but I am very pleased.

This is the newly replaced curved stone wall. I need to add dirt and tidy up the dirt on the grass side, and replace the mulch.

We made  the bed slightly smaller than it was. So, I had to dig up/relocate the blanket flowers.

(I will post a picture. It was very hot here yesterday/today. I have a shade cover rigged up with a lawn chair and a kiddie pool to protect them.)

There is still Dirt around the outside that needs tidied, but the wall is built.

And I am so very very pleased to have it back again.

Hose is now neatly hidden behind the bushes, can't see it from the street

 Here is my hose holder, hidden behind the bushes in the front.

The stones piled next to the hose holder are holding a chipmunk trap. It is a kill trap, in a stone house, so it does not snap a dog or a cat.

Lisa Brennan Jobs' memoir Small Fry.

Lisa Brennan Jobs' memoir Small Fry.

This is the second book in the Podcast Book Club by Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth.

The first book:
Dani Shapiro's Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.

There is a podcast, with Dani participating, which discusses her book:
https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/212-dani-shapiro-inheritance/

Okay, I have to say, so far they are doing an outstanding job in picking books. Both of these are books that were totally new to me, not something I would have found on my own, and I enjoyed both of them hugely.

Next week, I think, Lisa will be a guest on their Happiness podcast and they will discuss the book.

I listened to both books on audible.

Making the first wall

This is a hand tamper, an 8" worked perfectly for this project. Digging the trench, we over dug, back filled and then used a hand tamper to get the bottom level (vs trying to dig a level bottom).

In the bottom of the next picture, you can see the edge of the driveway. The picture does not show it well, but there is a slight "hill" from the driveway to where you can see we dug the trench.

We put a wall in so that hill became level with the surface of the driveway, creating a flower bed.

I dug most of that trench and then could do no more. Stones were too heavy. Bags of stone were too heavy. I have major blister on palm of each hand. 

(The stone in the back of this picture is leftover from the front of the house and used to be in walls and paths in various places. We did not use any of that stone in this wall. It went to a wall we built in the front, I will post pictures.)

They make stone specifically to be used with pavers. It is small and dense and compacts very well with hand tamper.

That is a 14' 2"x4" wrapped in white plastic. My husband put level on top of it, and then could see level-ness of the whole wall at a time. 

Massive rain forecast, we covered the dirt pile. 

We tapered the end and there will be a path down into the snake pit at that end. On the left side you can just see the pole of the basketball hoop. On the left side of that pole is the trellis. So that end of the wall, is tucked into the edge of the trellis (for safety).


We are still in process . . .