Posted on

Conversations with a frog

Was out in the yard and garden tending to the birds (filling their feeders), flowers and veggies (giving them water and a dose of fertilizer) and talking to myself (out loud – don’t tell anyone) and occasionally singing a few snatches of some song.  While on the front walk at my concrete planters, talking to those flowers that are doing well and scolding the blue ones that are not looking so good, I  heard a frog croak in response from the pond.

Yes, Phinneas wanted to chat a bit and thought that perhaps I should stop talking to inanimate objects.  So, I took myself to the rock wall on the back side of the pond about 3 feet from where Phinneas sat hidden in the reeds.  How did I know it was Phinneas?  Well, I hate to admit it, but, I recognized his deep, manly (frogly?) voice.  And the fact that he actively exchanged words with me in our conversation.  I would speak and he loudly croaked in his Leopard Frog dialect.  Then I’d speak, and he’d have more to say.  And he had a lot to say.   Our back-and-forth conversation actually lasted about 10 minutes.  Then, it got too hot where I was sitting and Phinneas had told me all that had been going on pond side, so I went in.

Can’t believe that I actually was called to the pond for a visit by a frog.

Summer by the pond — precious time!

Posted on

Spring Flowers, Fish, and Kitchen

So — work progresses here on the final stages of the big kitchen remodel of 2010/2011.  The tile back splash was put up today and will be grouted tomorrow.  The painter was back doing the outside work on the new bay windows and the new detached garage front that hubby installed a week ago.  And some spring flowers are blooming — irises in the pond, wild daisies next to it.  It was a beautiful, absolutely beautiful day here today.  One could not help rejoicing in the beauty of a perfect spring day.

The day in photos:

tile back splash
the view from my kitchen window -- painter's legs
wild daisy
Lady
Hoover
Posted on

Home sweet home

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home  —   —   —

home-sweet-home

Back at the end of April, I set an arbitrary deadline to be home for Memorial Day weekend, and I made it.

I said good-bye to Des Moines, Iowa, but just for a short time —   —   —

"goodbye Des Moines, for now"
"goodbye Des Moines, for now"

Sunday, the first day I was here, was not great weather wise, but neither hubby nor I cared.  We spent the day relaxing, watching the rain, and went out for dinner at Southwest Cafe, one of our favorite hangouts.  I also picked some wildflowers from my garden —   —   —

wildflowers-from-my-garden

And on Memorial Day, hubby and I went to the parade here in Ridgefield.  Lots of armed service veterans at the front of the parade followed by the town firetrucks.   Some wisdom from the back of the truck —   —   —

Never Forget
Never Forget

Lots of flags too — waving everywhere — every parade unit — half the people on the street — almost all of the kids —   —   —

fire-truck-flag

And, the last thing packed into my bag before I left was a crocheted gift from my sister’s friend  —  some kitchen towel wisdom — and probably the only reason that I have been able to hold it together the past 9 1/2 weeks — faith.

kitchen towel wisdom
kitchen towel wisdom

“All things are possible for those who believe”.    Without the faith and prayers of my hubby, friends, church friends, and the church prayer team, I don’t know how I would have come through the last few weeks.  And the prayers continue . . . . . . .

Posted on

Groundhog Day?

Why would you dedicate an entire day to a groundhog?  Supposedly, Puxatawny Phil comes out sees his shadow (or not) and goes back in for the rest of winter.  No matter what, Spring is still 6 weeks away.  I saw the groundhog on TV this morning and he didn’t look too happy to be out of his burrow.  Cannot blame him.   It is icy, and cold around here and we’re supposed to get at least 3 more inches of snow tomorrow.   I’m really looking forward to spring — except for one thing.  At that point the ground hogs really will come out of their burrows and start eating my garden and the battle for the plants and veggies will begin all over again.

Posted on

I know why they call it Fall

The leaves are quite pretty here, but a gentle breeze started baring the trees today.  The Japanese maple is still hanging onto some beautiful red leaves.

The front walk
The front walk
Posted on

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Gardening, particularly working in flower gardens is one of my favorite things.  For some reason I am a bit behind in getting everything planted and am now putting annual flowering plants here and there where the property needs a bit of color.  Last Sunday, Hubby and I took the garden tractor and wagon down to the bottom of the drive and worked on the very steep flower bed there.  I planted some impatiens and hubby did some bush trimming around the mail1313box.  All-in-all a much improved driveway entrance.  We don’t really own the property down there, just have an easement for the drive, but no one else does anything, so we try to keep it looking nice.   We came back up to the top of the drive and started each working on his/her own projects.  I decided that the old wheel barrow at the bend in the driveway needed to have some plants put in it and started digging up the soil.  Apparently a yellow jacket had made his home there and was none too happy to have me rooting around in it.  He buzzed around and I swatted at him and this battle went on for a bit and he eventually flew away.  But, apparently, not too far, as suddenly he swooped in from somewhere, landed on my right hand, and stung me through a very tough gardening glove.   Ouch! — or some such utterance!  I took some benadryl immediately and went back to work with hubby instructed to watch for any weird symptoms showing on me and to listen for further calls of help.  Well, it’s Wednesday and my hand is still swollen and when I use it, gets even more so.   It’s a constant battle with Mother Nature around here.

Posted on

Gardening challenge # 1

Hubby and I worked hard in our pond, yard and garden on Saturday and were enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon being “trapped” inside by thunder and lightning storms in the area.  I was sitting in my favorite chair by the east windows in our living room, reading and watching TV, when something moving outside those windows caught my attention.   One of this year’s fawns was approaching a flower bed by my patio where I grow the plants and flowers that “deer don’t eat”.   What I have discovered is that the fawns don’t know what deer don’t eat and must taste and try everything at least once.  This spring I have found tops eaten off of plants that deer have never touched before.  I had found the outside edges of this plant munched on earlier this week and asked hubby to spray the area with Bobex (a horrible smelling liquid that deters deer from eating the plants you spray it on).  It was amusing to watch this fawn start to nibble on this plant and then sort of spit and stick out his tongue.  You could almost read his thoughts —- “this plant tasted much better on Thursday!”.

Fawn munching on Penstemon, Husker Red

I ran and got my camera — and this photo’s poor quality is due to the fact that I was photographing the fawn through a not-so-clean window.   And no, I did not zoom this photo — that’s how close he was to the house.  His nose has just been pulled back from the funny smelling plant and he seems to be staring at it accusingly.  So, perhaps now he knows this is one of the plants that deer don’t eat.

And on the other side of the house the fish in our pond were in what I called before “crazy fish” mode.  Swimming in circles, darting around the plants and through the falls, and swimming about as fast as I think they probably can swim.   We do have a hatch of very tiny, almost invisible, fish in the pond from an earlier spawning and if hubby is correct in that this circular swimming and chasing of one fish in particular is spawning behavior — well, there are more to come.

Crazy fish II

Posted on

Pink snow

Spring has been very cold here in Connecticut but this has seemed to make the blooming trees hang onto their beauty for longer than usual. Well, today — they are really letting go of their “beauty”. We have a Kwanzan cherry right outside our front door. This means it is also right next to our pond and waterfalls. We were supposed to have a storm today with lots of rain, but all we are getting is the wind. The big puffy pink blooms are being blown off the cherry tree in enormous quantities.

big pink

There is “pink snow” everywhere — sidewalks, flower beds, front steps, my bench, my flower pots, and unfortunately, the pond.

pink snow

The petals from the blooms, and in some cases entire blooms, are filling the pond surface, being drawn into the skimmer for the pump, and eventually getting so thick that they are stopping the flow of water into the pump. Talk about your ripple effects!

pink snow floats on water

Hubby turned off the pump this morning as he left for work and I headed off to a quilt guild meeting. But now I’m back home having used the leaf blower to blow away some of the “snow’, used the net to skim the top of the pond, and turned the pump back on. I’ve set a timer and every 20 minutes I go out and check the skimmer net — turn off the pump — clear the net — turn on the pump — come back in and reset the timer. I’m using this as an excuse to sit in the living room where I can hear the waterfalls and knit — claiming I cannot get anything else done in 20 minute intervals. So my summer vest is making good progress (I may even get it done before summer) and the pond is being taken care of. Note that, during this whole time, the fish are nowhere to be seen. They are still quite shy in their new home and I’m guessing that they are at the bottom of the pond in their cave wondering why the waterfall keeps going off and back on.

summer vest front

Here’s the vest front — in progress — ready for armhole shaping.