We live in a rural area of Maine…. and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Peace and quiet.
Visiting wildlife.
And beautiful scenery.
Some days more than others…
Living across the road from an organic vegetable farm has it’s benefits.
And fresh veggies aren’t the half of it.
Right now, the poppies are in bloom.
Glorious, riotous bloom.
And I’m enjoying every minute of it.
I mean really….
How can you not?
We’ve been busy with other things outside, but I’m still managing to keep Amazon afloat during the pandemic.
And if you’re dying to read the new Hunger Games book? Don’t bother, it was rather disappointing. And while I’d given up on Stephen King… this new collection of short stories has my late BIL in it again, thinly disguised but still recognizable to those who knew him. He and Stephen went to school together.
And no, I won’t tell you which character. I’m evil that way.
The fabulous rose I planted last year has finally decided to bloom.
And it was worth waiting for.
On another note, isn’t it great when your friends get you?
My girlfriend gave me this the other day and damn, it’s perfect!
As is this beauty.
Have you ever tried to photograph butterflies?
It’s not easy. This was the one lucky shot out of 20.
Our raccoon decided to take a bath, dig through my garden bed and then attempted to climb up the garage the other night.
Why? I have no idea.
But even I can’t argue with that.
The woodchucks.
Adorable, but hungry.
And there’s no rhyme or reason to what they’ll eat.
This echinacea?
Stripped to a stalk the same day I planted it.
They devoured it before I could even get a picture, and if you know me? You know that’s fast.
This candy cane Dianthus? Nope. They left it alone.
The exact same plant on the other side of the garden bed?
A mere shadow of itself.
WTF?
So when it came time to replant the bed I had removed the woodchuck chewed mallow from, I went to the experts and got a list.
A list of woodchuck proof flowers they were guaranteed not to eat.
Blanket flower? Check!
Planted two, they haven’t touched them.
(Please note dianthus is on the list and we all know how that turned out.)
Foxglove? Check!
They literally took one bite and ran.
Good thing since it’s the source of digitalis.
Last on the list? Yarrow.
If you’ve ever had deer nibble your gardens to a nub, you know they hate yarrow.
Every critter hates yarrow…. so I planted yarrow.
So…..
Yeah.
The little buggers are screwing with me.
There’s no other explanation.
And look at that belly…
They’re getting fat doing it!
Flowers –
For a pure burst of summer color?
You can’t beat peonies.
They’re bright, lush and smell heavenly.
Flags –
Or as my husband calls them…
Guest towels from the spare bathroom you nail into a long piece of wood when your wife isn’t looking.
Foolishness –
The gift a friend gives you because she knows you’re allergic to horsefly bites.
With a name like the Bug Bite Thing, you don’t expect it to work.
And no surprise, it didn’t. A horsefly bit me, I suctioned my arm as directed and still swelled up like a politician at a pay by the plate fundraising dinner.
More foolishness –
Contains 40% urea.
WTF!
Don’t know what urea is?
Google it, I’ll wait.
**********************
Right?
Who in the world wants to rub urine on their feet.
And on the off chance I ever do? I’ll save myself some money and ask the neighbor’s dog to pee on me. Lord knows he’s been trying to for years.
Remember the beautiful mallow I planted this spring?
They were doing so well.
I’d found the perfect spot for them and was looking forward to years of beautiful blooms.
But it won’t happen.
Because…..
So I sprayed.
And they ate right through it.
I sprayed again.
It didn’t repel anything. Matter of fact, I think they liked it better that way.
So I sprayed a third time.
You know where this is headed right? I spread red pepper flakes, I scattered moth balls… it didn’t matter.
And now?
My beautiful mallow look like this:
The adorable and quite ungrateful, I feed them apples for Christ’s sake! little furry creatures discovered my mallow and decided to keep noshing no matter what deterrent I tried.
Yes, I’m talking to you.
Apparently mallow is a tasty woodchuck treat, and they made short work of my once gorgeous plants.
They nibbled so much and so quickly, I had to dig the plants up and put them in pots on our deck.
And then….
Yeah.
The I still love them but they’re trying my patience tiny devils climbed up on the deck, tracked down the mallow and tried to munch them right in front of me.
That’s balls.
So now?
My ugly ass, half dead, skinny, leafless stalks of mallow are up on the table looking ridiculous while I ply them with Miracle Grow and hope for the best.
But I am really not happy.
We were invited to a few get togethers last weekend, but passed on all of them. I’m afraid I just don’t trust people well enough to gather in groups yet.
So I took a picture of my new, appropriately patriotic flowering plant….
And we stayed home to mow the lawn instead.
Yard work is an all day event ’round here, but it’s quite satisfying.
The daylilies are popping…. and when we were through mowing and whacking and trimming we fired up the grill.
And had an adult beverage while the husband stared, still enraptured by his new toy and it’s viewing window.
( Latest Seagram’s flavor review: Wild Berries – meh. Won’t be buying that one again.)
After some truly marvelous steaks, husband raked grass clumps…. and while I was cleaning up the kitchen?
I looked out the window….. and took a picture through the screen which looks like a bad acid trip.
( Or so I’ve been told. I have no personal experience. No. Not me. Uh uh. )
But yes.
That cute little bugger was at it again.
Eating one of the flowers he’s not supposed to like to eat.
Someone needs to revise that list.
I think I forgot to post the final results of all the husband’s he didn’t want to do it and grumbled the whole time hard work bordering my garden bed.
And while I’m not usually a huge marigold fan…..
I do like the yellow and orange colors against the red barn, so I filled the bed with them and mulched.
With a baby chucker watching me the entire time. Thankfully marigolds are unappetizing to wildlife….. so he sniffed and moved on.
Viola.
Baby barn beautification complete.
First my husband wanted to clean out the barn.
Then he planted some trees.
And if those two things weren’t miraculous enough? I woke up the other morning to this:
The husband, behind the baby barn.. with a pick axe.
Rototilling some dirt the old fashioned way.
I couldn’t believe it was happening.
But he was finally willing to do something with the giant patch of weeds he wouldn’t let me turn into a garden bed.
He turned the soil over.
He raked it.
He even *gasp!* spread grass seed.
I couldn’t believe it.
Then he pulled this out…
And I could.
No new fangled high tech sprinkler for my husband. No sir.
Not when one from the middle of the last century he bought at a yard sale for a quarter is available.
Did it work?
Well, not quite.
The twirling sprinkler didn’t twirl…. but the husband was not deterred.
He twirled it manually with the rake handle while I tried (unsuccessfully) not to laugh.
But the biggest miracle of all?
Was his sacred pile of dirt.
That weed encrusted dirt pile has been an eyesore for almost 5 years. I was forbidden to touch it because, it’s dirt.
He might need it one day.
But…
He dug into it….
Leveled it flat and spread grass seed.
Though he did switch to my more modern hose attachment for the final watering.
So there you have it. Proof positive miracles do happen.
And come in threes.
At the beginning of the season I bought 2 large pots of various blooming pretties for the big barn porch.
They were gorgeous, and looked like this:
They were absolutely thriving.
And then….
They weren’t.
Today?
Yes, you adorable little devil.
I’m talking to you…
And I am not happy!
No, not the Hendrix kind.
The Japanese Iris kind.
They don’t last long.
But they sure are pretty while they’re here.
Especially after a rain shower.
At night.
