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Spring in Maine means apple blossoms.. and my (not so little anymore) favorite tree puts on quite a show.
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The photos don’t do it justice, but trust me this is one gorgeous profusion of blooms.
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And the fragrance?
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Ooh la la!
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Pure heaven.
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Just be careful of the bees. The tree is positively buzzing.
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I love this time of year in Maine. It’s warm but not hot, we have ample rain and things are blooming everywhere you look.
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Pansies are always the first things I plant in pots. They’re frost tolerant and because that can still happen at the end of May here … they’re a safe bet.
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Lilacs!
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We have two massive bushes that reach for the sky… taller than our roof. It’s fabulous!
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One white, one dark purple. I wish WordPress had Smell o Vision…. because trust me peeps, it is seriously fragrant up in here.
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I planted my annual marigold rotation in front of the mini barn last week.
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And some color coordinated geraniums next to the bulkhead doors.
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More butt shots from my ongoing adventures in cat walking.
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There seriously isn’t a bush or plant on the property that he doesn’t have to crawl under.
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And when he can’t find a shrub?
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The weirdo just plonks himself down and stares at the wall.
🥴
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I didn’t pee on my garden before I read this, but rest assured I shall be passing it along to my husband who has been known to relieve himself off the barn porch.
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I have never in my life urinated on a lawn and I don’t plan to start now. But men can be very dog like when it comes to marking their territory as evidenced by this photo of a conspicuous patch of dead lawn adjacent to the barn porch.
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Apparently that goes for grass as well.
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(Title should be sung to Lesley Gore’s ‘It’s My Party’ melody for full effect)
This is a scraggly flowering plum tree my husband transplanted to our backyard a few years ago.
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It’s hanging on to life but isn’t nearly as full as it used to be…. so when I saw a brown tail moth web in one of the top branches, I carefully gloved up, cut it out and burned it.
If you’ve never heard of these evil little bastards, read on…
The browntail moth caterpillar has tiny poisonous hairs that cause dermatitis similar to poison ivy on sensitive individuals. People may develop dermatitis from direct contact with the caterpillar or indirectly from contact with airborne hairs. The hairs become airborne from either being dislodged from the living or dead caterpillar or they come from cast skins with the caterpillar molts. Most people affected by the hairs develop a localized rash that will last for a few hours up to several days but on some sensitive individuals the rash can be severe and last for several weeks. The rash results from both a chemical reaction to a toxin in the hairs and a physical irritation as the barbed hairs become embedded in the skin. Respiratory distress from inhaling the hairs can be serious.
The browntail moth is an invasive species found only on the coast of Maine and Cape Cod. This moth is an insect of both forest and human health concern.
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I’ve been covered in their nasty rash multiple times before and trust me it is beyond awful. No amount of Benadryl, cortisone or calamine lotion can relieve the itch. It’s like poison ivy times 50 and makes you want to take a wire brush to your skin. So when I say I was careful? I was careful. Gloves, long sleeves, limited contact and proper destruction.
But still….
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I got a mild dose and am completely miserable.
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Both my arms, stomach and back are speckled with rash because once those little microscopic hairs find you and you take a shower? You’ll gladly take sandpaper to every inch of your flesh.
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You know the drill. The following excerpts are from a Mary Roach book about sex. You have been warned…
While Viagra is a relatively new treatment, cures for male impotence have been around for a long time. Two testicles not getting the job done? No problem, just get yourself a third.
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Yes, they really did have an add a testicle procedure, though it was not without its issues.
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Ponder that for a moment.
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Feel free to whip up that cocktail at your next dinner party. Gin, orange juice, grenadine and absinthe. Not sure what that recipe has to do with the family jewels, but I’m sure it will be a hit all the same.
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If that’s not trivia to impress your friends, I don’t know what is.
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Sodomization does seem a trifle extreme for pilfering a tomato, but clearly the Romans took their gardens more seriously than I do.
( If you want a good giggle? Do a Google image search on Priapus. That is one massive cucumber. 😳 )
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Trees are being planted at Casa River at a rapid rate.
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Along with two more Autumn Blaze maples, another Japanese flowering cherry was purchased for yours truly…
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And though it wasn’t placed exactly where I wanted …
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Technically I can see it from our back windows so I have to call that a win.
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Now how gorgeous is that!
❤️
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You know the ones, they start out innocently enough, swerve and then drive you straight to Hell. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Mine was this past Saturday when I attempted to do some gardening. Pansies needed to be planted in my pots on the barn porch… but this did not go as planned.
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All I did was pick them up, I swear! The bottom fell out of one, the other split in half. I should have quit then, I really should have… but no. I decided to fire up the old weed wacker and trim.
I trimmed around my garden beds, I trimmed around the apple trees and then I trimmed around the septic tank access block.
Bad idea. Very bad.
The ground was still wet… which caused my foot to slip… which caused the weed wacker to knock the cement cover askew… which rammed a piece of rotted wood in the frame….
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And… well. It went downhill from there.
Literally and figuratively.
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I’ll spare you the odoriferous details, but trust me… they were epic. 🤢
Suffice it to say we spent the entire afternoon with our heads in the septic tank.
I do not recommend this as a relaxing weekend activity. Not one little bit.
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A new concrete tank cap was purchased and maneuvered into place (God damn! Those things are heavy.) and a new frame was built so yours truly is not able to repeat this mishap.
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I kept trying to tell my husband it could have been worse. The cover could have fallen into the tank and someone… I’m not saying who… would have had to climb in to retrieve it.
Oddly enough, he didn’t find that the least bit funny.
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💩
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More trees were replaced/planted yesterday…. this time as far away from the house as is possible.
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And after all the rain we’ve had, I don’t think watering them will be necessary for a while.
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There’s a reason none of the trees my husband plants in our far back yard live and it’s called clay. While there’s nice topsoil near the house, our property slopes down to the woods and eventually to the banks of a river…. and around here that means clay. Saturated with water in the spring, cracked bone dry in the summer… but that doesn’t deter my husband. No sir.
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Two of these beauties were purchased and planted.
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Marrying an eternal optimist makes for a lot of work.
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Whether theses trees will last any longer than the previous elms, oaks or apples he planted is any one’s guess.
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Hard as it is to believe after the apple tree planting fiasco of 2021, my husband was back at it the other day … ripping up the dead apple twigs and filling the holes with bigger and better new trees.
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He came home with a beautiful flowering cherry I would have loved for the back lawn where I could see it every day….
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So naturally he planted it on the far side of the barn where it’s completely blocked by the building and out of line of sight from our house.
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It will however be prime viewing when playing pool in the man cave.
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It’s a pretty tree and was an immediate bee magnet. In no time flat they were circling and we were stepping away.
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I might just have to buy another for my viewing pleasure.
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River's world..... 