Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

I’m all for an over-grown garden. I actually prefer plants that you can just let grow wild and tall… you know, like TREES. And especially since moving to Pennsylvania, I’m a big fan of hands-free gardens in the summer when it’s… HOT ALL SUMMER.

Wisteria, however, requires taming. Our wisteria has required taming all spring. It had become a little crazy – it was creeping up the side of the house, had already consumed a couple lamps and had rendered the shaded pergola more of a dark, sinister, green lair for mythical beasts with pointy teeth.*

Today, I geared up, applied copious sunblock and attacked.

It was 90 degrees. I’m sure the wisteria was not expecting me.

I ventured out with my faithful pruning shears. I bought really good ones a couple years ago and they’ve served me well. However, it quickly became obvious that they were not going to be up to the task for some of the bits that I wanted to remove.

Reinforcements would be required.

I sent the Fop to Home Depot for a bigger tool. While I continued to toil against the Wild Wisteria. Strangely enough, once I apply enough sunblock and accept that I’m going to be gross, it’s really not that bad to work out in the sun on a 90 degree day. Ok, now my hands are stiff and my back is unhappy with me… but at the time it seemed not that bad!

The Fop came back with Titanium clippers by Fiskars… They certainly did the job even if I’m still getting the hang of using long-handled clippers.

My other helper was my little green wheelie bucket. I have no other description for it other than “bucket on wheels” because it’s certainly not a wagon or a wheelbarrow. It held quite a bit more than I’d expected and was quite handy for removing the large volume of hacked off bits of wisteria. There’s now a rather enormous pile of dead wisteria in the back corner of the backyard.

I stopped for water breaks and to reapply sunblock. I trekked up and down the yard with my wheelie bucket. I had moments when I feared my faithful sheers were going to fail me and fall to pieces…

I was able to rediscover 2 lamp posts and several seating areas on the deck over the course of 3 hours. The grill is no longer in mortal peril of being claimed by the wisteria. And there’s something terribly satisfying about pruning a jungle down to something more civilized.

I suspect there may have been some over pruning on at least one side, but that was the creature trying to eat the house so I am willing to accept that loss if need be.

Then there was a dip in the pool, a quick shower, and a trip to Target for patio umbrellas that got slightly out of hand. I now have solar star lights for the wisteria. Why yes, you might call it a peace offering.

*I should point out that no actual beasts, mythological or otherwise, were found in my adventures.

destruction, gardening, pruning, taming, wisteria

Here’s a flower from the new garden because it’s been so gray (except yesterday) and now it’s going to be gray for another interminable period. At the old garden, the roses are exploding and the irises I planted last Fall are white. (Bulbs are fun because I always forget what I planted.)

There are 2 ovens in the new kitchen and this is the most exciting thing on the planet to me.

Last weekend, on a whim, Siobhan and I made toll house cookies as well as peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We actually couldn’t keep up with the ovens, not that we were trying all that hard, but having 2 ovens makes 2 batches of cookies a very quick project! The peanut butter cookies were a tasty hybrid of traditional peanut butter cookies and toll house cookies but definitely needed more peanut butter.

Wednesday, I had bananas so I made some banana nut muffins. Also very tasty but in need of more nuts. Next time I make them I’ll probably double the volume of nuts. Again, 2 ovens rock.

Thursday night I made apple-cheddar-chicken sausage wrapped in crescent rolls. Very yummy, especially with Bruni’s home-made mustard.

Today there’s Amish maple bacon, which is not as tasty as I’d hoped. The sourdough starter is restarting on the counter after some significant neglect – bread Tuesday is probably a good plan. In the meantime I’m considering making different bread, since the waffles were waylaid by lack of syrup and lack of recipe as my cookbooks are still mostly packed.

Of course, really, I should just unpack the cookbooks and go from there…

baking, cooking, kitchen

The first row contains 2 photos from last weekend.

The second row contains 3 photos from today.

The garden is totally flamboyant.

The crocus have gone by but the tulips are out. When the first tulip came out yellow, I was confused because I thought I’d planted tulips that contrasted somehow with the daffodils. A day or two passed and they started turning a lovely orange.

After all the rain and wind of yesterday, most of the blossoms have been stripped from the plum tree. The leaves have popped out significantly though. Rain is good.

I’ve made headway on packing today, which is Very Good. Not done yet, but making progress. T-minus 10 days to the move date.

flowers, garden, poppets, procrastination, spring

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Two little green poppets ventured into the garden today for a quick look at the crocus. Some of the daffodils have started to show buds too. I’ve opened a window to let in some fresh air which pleases the cats.

I’ve also replenished my supply of Zyrtec, so bring it on, Spring!

Tomorrow we’re supposed to see temperatures in the low 70s. And it’s still March. Weird. Luckily it drops right back down to 50 on Saturday. It’s not summer yet!

With apologies to my mother in Maine who probably still has snow drifts…

crocus, gardening, green, photography, poppets, st patrick’s day

I know, I’m a terrible person!

Actually, I blame the poppets. Clearly they are adventurous and trouble-makers. They’ve been encouraging the flowers.

These photos are from yesterday. Today was gray and gloomy all day, very Spring-like indeed!

This Spring is definitely going to be fun. I don’t remember what all I planted last Fall for bulbs. I do remember that I wasn’t sure at least one set of bulbs were viable though… they were… odd. Not that I remember what they were, so I won’t actually be able to say if they came up or not. But there are tons of daffodils and some tulips coming soon and then there will be irises for the summer.

I’m sad that my snow is all gone, but at least there are flowers to amuse me!

Now if only the tool I’m trying to use for work would do what I want it to do. *grumble* Tomorrow…

crocus, garden, photography, poppets

I decided that the photos needed a model to add some perspective. Enter: Little Yellow Poppet to help by providing a reference for scale! (A reference photo for scale of the little yellow poppet can be found here.) Poppets are curious creatures in many ways so it seemed logical to take one out to the garden. There are no buds showing yet, but it’s still early and chilly at night. (The lows tomorrow night are supposed to be in the lower 20s. No, I will not be knitting bulb cozies to keep the plants warm, but it did cross my mind.)

It’s nice out, spring-like even. I have to admit that I don’t recall what the plant is in the second photo. Possibly a poppy? I recall it’s something tall but that’s all I remember for certain. At any rate, soon there will be daffodils everywhere, and that’s the important thing! I should probably trim back the rose bushes soon too so that they’re a little more tame, at least until their growth spurts hit. I also need to start seeds this week or weekend. Tis the season for green and growing! And garden clean-up… not to mention general spring cleaning. Oh, and taxes.

The weather doesn’t explain why I’m looking at the world and asking, “How is it only Tuesday?” Lots got done yesterday and today, but apparently not enough to speed me through to Friday. I started Monday with a sleep debt so that’s probably the real problem here. More sleep tonight and then maybe it will be Friday when I wake up. Right? I don’t want to hear any silliness about having to sleep for 48 hours in order to wake up to Friday “tomorrow” morning.

gardening, photography, poppets, weather, work

Spring is definitely trying down here. The daffodils, crocus and a couple tulips appear to be ready already. I blame the super-warm weather last week confusing their little green brains. They will persevere, I’m sure… or at least I’m reassured by my mother that they’ll be fine. Given how fast the snow is melting, I really shouldn’t worry at all, right?

I spent 40 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym today. It felt great. I’m pleased to discover that the iPad is perfect for reading on the elliptical too – bright, high contrast and adjustable letter sizes. I’m sure another eReader would probably work too, but the iPad is what I’ve got and I like it. Of course, spending 40 minutes reading about Starbucks’ business and marketing approach makes it really tempting to stop for coffee on the way home. (I resisted, not because my usual plain latte is bad but because I’d already caffeinated for the day.)

I have a new trainer I’m starting with next week. His name is Steve and I didn’t giggle at the name.* For those keeping score at home, that’s Trainer #6 in the year I’ve been working out at this gym. All previous trainers have left the gym. Needless to say, I’ve canceled my training contract and don’t expect to renew even after I’ve used up my surplus sessions. Which is a pity… if they’d been able to keep my original trainer around (he left for a better job at a better gym), I’d probably be gung-ho to continue with this gym until the end of time. Seriously, he rocked that hard. I’ve considered going into his new gym, but it’s in the city which will only serve as an excuse not to go. I may need to reevaluate that sometime in the near future.

*”Steve” has long been my default name when I need an example. I tend to forget sometimes that Steves actually exist.

exercise, gardening, snow, spring, training

There’s nothing like super-saturated color to make peppers seem perfect! (Completely unprocessed photos, btw. I did nothing to it – didn’t even crop it.)

The cayenne are on their 3rd year or generation in my garden. I’ve saved the seeds from some of the biggest peppers each year and replanted them in the spring. These jalapenos are really hot so I’ll be saving some of their seeds too. The green peppers are tasty, but I feel like they could be bigger, so I’ll try another store-bought seed next year to see if I get better results.

Seed saving is remarkably easy… I just scrape out some seeds before I pop the peppers in the dehydrator and let them dry on a plate. I save them in a baggie until spring and re-plant them. Each year I’m seeing more peppers per plant and bigger peppers. For some reason, I always thought it would be more complex.

cayenne, gardening, green pepper, jalapeno, peppers

A good turn-around week, to some extent.

Great meeting Monday.

Big work document got shoved out the door. Of course, I’m still behind on everything else at work.

Laundry is on-going. The cow mouse pictured here is, in fact, fresh from the dryer. My laundry sorting of “Darks, lights, whites, reds, cat toys” apparently missed this guy.

I’m almost caught up with my online writing course. I’m really enjoying it and getting more out of it than I expected. Hurray!

Chicken fajita quesadillas (with home-grown green peppers and remarkably spicy jalapenos!) for dinner. Green peppers will be on the list of plants to grow again next year.

One pie is out of the oven, another is in the oven. A pumpkin pie will help the Fop survive the weekend allllll alone.

I’m leaving for the weekend tomorrow afternoon! I haven’t packed yet. But I have pie.

I’m gearing up for Nanowrimo… next month, 50,000 words!

cooking, gardening, nanowrimo, random, writing

My spooky and fun Halloween poppets have gathered together to make my desk more festive. They’re really quite friendly, I promise.

I got the bulbs planted today – lots of daffodils and crocus, some tulips and alliums, the irises that will replace the dead bush at the corner of the house, and 3 poppy plants. My hands hurt and tomorrow I’m likely to be more sore. But the front garden will be amazing next spring and summer! I also put some daffodils in along the hedge separating our driveway from the neighbor’s. We’ll see if those come up. There are a few more out back. I got all but a handful of the 100 daffodil bulbs planted. I have approximately the same number of mosquito bites for my efforts.

Of course, I’m sitting here procrastinating. Work has been busy and life-sapping lately so this weekend needs to be productive. So far, so good… can’t lose momentum now… Zoom!

bulbs, daffodils, gardening, halloween, poppets, weekend