Topic: Today I smiled because...

[patches]

Thanks, Rita!  I've got quite a few varieties of Echinacea and I'm running out of places to plant them where they will get sun.  I was just wondering which one it was because the only one I have that is a light pink like that is 'Hope'! 

[duh]

Woohoo I separated the ornamental varigated grass and spread it out on the burm.  There was enough to cover the entire bare area perfectly.  I'm so pleased.  Now the question is if it will be able to out grow the weeds lol.  That's a new area that I'm trying to gain that's been allowed to be all weeds for years so there are a lot of roots and seeds in the soil.  But I'll get there. 

[Dianna]

I got most of the "trim" work done with the push mower, so that Jim won't have to do it! I can't believe I got that persnickety lawn mower cranked!

[Jim]

I don't have to do the trim work tomorrow when we start mowing.  Thanks honey! 

[Patty S]

With every one else's Daturas opening up lately, I've been watching mine pretty close. I'm going to check on it even more often over the next few days, cuz I see that she's getting ready to pop! ...and when they open, they'll do it suddenly & be gone the next day.

Tonight I hung around THE birthday party longer than I should have & ended up watering gardens in the dark. I was amazed that this pic turned out...
     

I couldn't help but smile, cuz it wasn't that long ago that we'd never waste the "film", trying to take pics unless we thought for sure that they'd turn out!

Gotta LOVE these digital cameras!

[patches]

I couldn't help but smile, cuz it wasn't that long ago that we'd never waste the "film", trying to take pics unless we thought for sure that they'd turn out!

Gotta LOVE these digital cameras! 

Oh, Patty, I remember those days too well.  Of course, now I regret all the pictures I missed, but with the cost of film and developing in those days, it just was't an option.  Geesh, I thank God every day that we have digital cameras now.    They are wonderful!!!

I smiled today because I have my first cucumber and it's so exciting.  Actually, this is the first cucumber I have ever grown in my entire life.  I'm a late bloomer in the vegetable category, except for tomatoes because I've always grown those.    

[duh]

congrats on your cucumber.  I've never grown them.  I'm smiling because there is a second pepper growing on the plants. 

[barleychown]

I smiled because I found several sets of buds on my hoya plants...while they are houseplants, it still made my day!

[patches]

I smiled today because I have some more Sunflowers blooming and they bring a smile to anyone's face.  Here are some of them.

[Patty S]

Pretty Sunflowers Patti, & gorgeous flower bed!

I smiled today when my brainstorm about constructing some sorta temporary deer stopper worked! (Gotta keep the deer outta the back yard until Keith gets the deck back on.)  The step ladder was the only blocker I had to put there, & I got tired of unfolding & folding it every time I had to go in or out of the back yard... especially when my hands were full.

BG helped me put it up, & we used some scrap wood from the pile of old deck boards. The 2x6 is only "hooked to the house" by the 1 long nail that goes through the rain gutter, & there's a short board propped against & toe-nailed in, at the bottom.  The board up against the house is there to support the header, which is nailed onto both of the side boards, & a folding wooden gate is hanging by a nail on the header. (All I have to do is reach up & lift the gate off the nail, & BG can just raise the gate & go under.)  It'll work for now, till he gets the deck back up.

     
BG was worried that the deer would crawl under the gate, but I told her that only bears would do that... & we don't have any  bears in town!  (I had to make the header high enough that Grampa wouldn't skin his head every time he walked through it!)

I also smiled when I managed to get a pic of a couple Quail families, hanging out around my succulent wheelbarrow!  (I put that in the Pet Palace.)

[Dianna]

I smiled today because we got most of the mowing done. It won't take us much longer to be through (for at least a week) and we can call it done.

The yard sure looks like a hay field out there. Sure don't feel like raking it up, but that is in store for us, I am sure. I can smile again knowing that Jim brought pallets home to make us a compost bin and we can just toss them in there when we get them raked up.

Anyone wanna help rake five acres? We only mow the back field (three acres) every other time, so I can only imagine what it is going to look like the next time we mow....

[patches]

Pretty Sunflowers Patti, & gorgeous flower bed!
 

Thanks, Patty!  Well, I guess it's a pretty bed if you can just overlook the support cables for the power pole that is in my yard.    

   That's quite a good idea you had there and it look great!  Hey, do you think you could design one for me that would keep out all the squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, and other critters in have in my yard.   

[barleychown]

Patti...why don't you use those cables to your advantage and grow a vine or two of them? Not a perennial, but why not an annual like black-eyed susan vine or cypress vine...the possibilities are endless!  And being an annual, it would only cost you the price of the seeds, in case the power company had to do some work and has to remove the vine (which is highly unlikely).

[Dianna]

Today I smiled because I spotted two new blooms on my Wonder Egg plant and I think some of the other egg plants are trying to make a comeback!

[patches]

Patti...why don't you use those cables to your advantage and grow a vine or two of them? Not a perennial, but why not an annual like black-eyed susan vine or cypress vine...the possibilities are endless! 

  Sarah, what a neat idea!    I never even thought about doing something like that.     I already know what I can plant.    It's the Fushia Pink Morning Glory!     They are beautiful and I love them!!! 

[Patty S]

I got plenty of smiles in today, cuz I got a lot of the little things off my list that I keep putting off, by involving myself in bigger projects.  Of course, I have to attribute a lot of today's accomplishments to my sidekick "motivator" (BG), cuz she likes to work from a long list & see how fast she can put check marks through everything!

Our main "project" was to make pickles out of the cucumbers we picked from the garden last night, but before we got to that, we:
   

• snipped the flower stalks off all the basil that's growing in the deer barrier,
• set up a little bird bath & put some bread out for the quails,
• shredded some newsprint for the worm bin, after moving it to the garage & feeding them some grass clippings & wilty lettuce,
• hung a load of wash,
• filled my pill-minder for the month,
• went through her dresser & sorted out clothes that don't fit her anymore,
• and watered the house plants.

She went home before we got the wash off the line, but I'll get to that tomorrow. It was a good day here, but I'm dead on my feet... (besides the things on "our" list,  I had a list of my own!)
                         

[Patty S]

            HEY!  WAKE UP OU THERE!
Am I the only one smiling around here anymore?

Today I smiled cuz my Datura opened!

     
I intended to get a pic of it last night, cuz I saw that it was waking up, but I got busy & didn't think about it again until this morning.  I hope she stays open & doesn't start to fade away before dusk, cuz it's so blinding-white that a good pic can't be taken in the sunshine.
(Had to lean over it like an attacking zombie, to get this shot!) It looks like there's going to be another one opening up right on its heels!

[patches]

Hey, Patty, that is certainly something to smile about.  It's awesome and lily white!  What a gem you have there. 

[Dianna]

by Patty:

HEY!  WAKE UP OU THERE!

Looks like you were half-asleep yourself!

No, you aren't the only one smiling in the garden, Patty...

Today I rescued two lisianthus plants. I posted them in the Sensational Summer Posies 2 topic...

I, also, smiled knowing that we wouldn't be hand raking leaves tomorrow!

[Jim]

I got to sleep late, took Dianna out to Golden Corral for lunch, went shopping and then played in the pool with Angel. 

Thanks for the lawn sweeper, Sweetheart.  It will be much easier to pick up the "hay" out there now. 

[duh]

I'm smiling because it looks like the ornametal grass made it through the division and transplanting. 

Now I'm wondering if I can snip off the brown leaves without sending the plants back into shock.  Does anyone know?

[patches]

   Today when I went outside for a quick look I found my Sunflower 'Sunburst' blooming.     So far, this is probably my favorite one!    I'll get it loaded into photobucket and post it in the Posies thread!   

[barleychown]

Yesterday I smiled because I found one of my hoyas had bloomed.

[patches]

  Sarah, that is gorgeous!!!  Actually, I don't think I've ever seen any of those before.    Would you post a picture of the whole plant so I can see what it looks like and how big it is.  :   Whis:

[barleychown]

Here ya go, Patti!



Hoyas are a houseplant that thrive on neglect. This one lives in my bathroom window...actually there are three pots of them in there, and I guide the vines around the edge of the window on cup hooks.