Garden ⁽¹⁰⁵⁾

Brian Bilbrey July 20, 2014

Cool July

We've had several days of unseasonably cool weather. I'm not complaining, mind you. But all the same, it's weird. Temps in the early mornings in the high 50's, and barely breaking into the low 80's. Who'd a thunk? But they let me take Lexi on a two mile walk this afternoon without arriving back home as a sweatball holding a dead dog. The garden, it fares poorly. I gave it virtually no attention in the days leading up to Marcia's surgery, nor in the weeks that followed that event. Bugs have killed my zucchini plants, the tomato plants are small-ish…

Brian Bilbrey July 13, 2014

Improbably So

A relatively lazy day for me today: just shopping, laundry, and coffee roasting. Yard stuff consumed the Saturday. Hot and muggy, still tonight, but storms are coming, and cooler weather is (unusually) due by mid-week (yay!) The garden is starting to produce some tomatoes and more peppers to join the zucchini and cucumbers. Maybe first salsa next week! Marcia's doing great. Up and down the stairs like a champ ... a hobbling champ, but much progress every day. She may be done with the cane by the end of this week, too, which is stellar. In my tiny elective time,…

Brian Bilbrey July 6, 2014

Summer Arrives in Force

Yeah, we're making mid-90's and up this time of year (both temp and humidity), although that storm gave us a couple of nice days in the mid-80's, Friday and Saturday. Marcia news: She's mostly tapered off her pain meds, with a plan to be fully off by week's end (or earlier), and driving, too! She got fed up with the walker by Friday, and put it to the side. Now she's using the cane everywhere, which is much better for her in several ways. Her gait is better, and she leans less on the cane than she did on the…

Brian Bilbrey June 1, 2014

Five Down, Seven To Go

Months, that is. The year, it flies by too quickly. We're approaching the heat and humidity of the year, sadly. The upside of the unpleasant months is fresh veggies out of the garden. Soon, soon: Things are going well ... I cleaned house yesterday. No, really. With a car wash mitt and a few buckets of soapy water, I cleaned everything I could reach on the front of the house. Doing it that way was a pain in the ass, and frankly exhausting, but the method did a much more consistent job of cleaning than using a pressure washer to…

Brian Bilbrey April 24, 2014

53

Another birthday done. Whew. I "celebrated" by taking the day off, aka working in the garden: planting and fettling. It was a good day for working in the yard, about 15°C. Three quarters of the plants are in. Lots of tomatoes, some cucumber and zucchini, and habañero peppers. More peppers are needed, and potatoes need starting. The herbs are still pending in the small bed near the house. I got the watering system setup and running, and finished up by getting some bird discouragement netting over the snow peas and young cherry tomato plants. The birds have been slaughtering my…