1. cleaned the office. That was major. Ever heard of the Augean Stables?
2. I filed all the stack of papers, and did, filed, and paid the quarterly business taxes.
3. I designated some stuff for the upcoming garage sale among the Methodists (the people who helped us with our garden last year.)
4. I put the 2×3′ bag of sponge bits into the waterfall filter to increase filtration area: a careful check of filter media said we were short, so that will help, I think. OTOH, when I squished it down into the filter it flooded a green gunky mess into my nice clear pond, so I am back to hosing out filters more than once a day. This involved a broom handle, all my weight, and two heavy rocks to make that dry sponge go friggin’ DOWN so I could get the lid on! But hopefully it will do better at keeping the pond algae-free.
5. the weather is blowing and cold again. Feels like early March. Definite sweatshirt weather.
6. got Jane’s prescription picked up, got some fluorescent paint marker to designate paths, because the Methodists are coming back!!! They show up with 20 people with a willingness to do things like lay paths, and we are so happy! We have a lot of stuff to donate to their garage sale…they raise money to take a Habitat for Humanity type operation down to Mexico to help build snug houses for people who need the help. It’s a good cause.
7. and I got the car tires. I get to count the fact I called Jane and we went to Swinging Door for lunch, because it means dinner will just be a salad tonight and my cooking work is already handled for the day. 😉 so 7 1/2.
8…now I get to get down to regular writing. Cept my back is having small protests over the wrestling job with the sponge sack, and I ate a wee bit too much at SD. But I’ll live!
Have you tried pain relief patches, like Salonpas or Satohap? They’re good for spot relief, although be careful if you have bad reactions to things like Ben Gay or IcyHot. DH is presently battling carpal tunnel owieness in the R hand; wrist guards, gel filled rests, and a night brace later, it seems to be slowly subsiding. We hope to avoid surgery, which means being out of commission for up to 6 weeks!
This has been the day of weirdness. Working on replacing the front door, which succumbed to termites and I found is little more than a shell, although fortunately it seems the termites skipped the frame; someone decided it was a good idea to use an interior, not an exterior door…! The door I found and like was only available in an inch too short for the current frame, so I am working on adding a sill. Made the acquaintance of one of the 3 or 4 feral cats who have been hanging about; he is a handsome young man with substantial Siamese in him, but white tips overlaid on the usual Siamese points. Got sideswiped by someone who merged into me at a light, but as it was just paint scuffs, decided it wasn’t worth involving insurance on my 18 y.o. car. Quite baji-naji, so far.
Sounds like Saturday. Or a month of Saturdays. Or heaven.
CJ, glad you had a great productive day with not too much (gunk aside) hiccups. Didn’t the Augean Stables involve a lot of water?
Chondrite, your pretty boy sounds like a snowshoe Siamese. We have one and she’s got more personality than any cat I’ve know –and attitude.
And for carpal, there is an orthoscopic alternative that’s much, much less invasive with way less down time.
But yes it has been a day of weirdness. Slipped off a rock into a 2 foot deep plunge pool last Monday while crossing the local river (creek in most places of the country) and ouch! Slammed down hard. Though I just tweeked the calf, never hit the knee, but hurt like mad, especially when I had to hike out 3 hours later. Emergency room x-rays the next day didn’t show anything. Follow up with my primary doc today had me off to get x-rays of my knee (which still doesn’t hurt) but now shots a fracture near the top of the left fibila. Oh goody. Off for an MRI, keep all weight off that leg (really? After a week without it being an issue?), and get crutches. Which I view as suicidal. So a friend brought over a walker. And husband has been gone for a week running a wildfire base camp. Could get ugly when I run out of chocolate.
I looked up ‘snowshoe Siamese’, and that is pretty much spot on what he looks like. His face looks like he stuck his muzzle up to the bridge of his nose in milk. It makes what’s left of his points look like a mask; I believe he will be called El Zorro 🙂
Great name! They usually have white feet and a white bib too.
There’s a breed / variety called Birman, if my memory’s right, that have white toes on an otherwise Siamese coat. Many moons ago, I had a cat who invited himself in and stayed, Siamese with those Birman toe points, and something else, as he was a large, already senior, neutered tomcat who’d been through much and went through more before the old fellow came to the end of this life. His name was Sepia (for obvious reasons). Very fine, if eccentric, old cat.
Congrats on getting acquainted with one of the feral cats. He may decide it’s the place for him.
Alert: My Eushu almost-twin, Smokey, is now about 2 1/2 and…I believe I will need to get an anti-meatloaf device of some kind, perhaps one of those big stepping trees, but something he can exercise on. He has officially gone from svelte to spare tire, and I had to admit same. Meanwhile I, as staffer, have to figure out how to keep Goober and Smokey separate for mealtimes, and enforce “this is not YOUR food bowl” with young sir (Smokey) who still wants to take Goober’s. I should never have scolded Goober for fussing at him. Poor Goober took it way too much to heart, and being a sweet gentleman, has never smacked the greedy little upstart. Sigh. So now I have one smaller cat eating twice what he should, and one already long and lean cat not getting enough…but not feeling the need to ask for more…but not assertive enough to do so if he wanted it. Aarrgh. Cats! So…the staffer must find a way around the feline crew’s, ah, interpersonal issues.
My kitchen got some straightening, needs more. My office? :: shudder :: I *will* (must!) get to it soon. — Also to do: Shelves and organizing (paper) books…and what to donate or sell. — I seem to recall Herakles did ten great labors to work off a, uh, disagreement with a certain royal person, generally making himself a hero or a pest while doing so. If he was good at office work, that’s quite a bonus. Hmm, Herakles isn’t necessarily my type, but perhaps I’m too picky and need to broaden my horizons. 😆
I’m envious of your progress with the house and office. I will have to tackle mine further. — Some garden work ahead for me. Weeding, for one.
What a very nice arrangement with the Methodists. Glad both sides benefit and enjoy each other.
Oh, ow! So sorry to hear that. They make an elastic tape that you get from a medical supply store (or Amazon) pricey, but good. I hate that kind of injury: it’s the sort that come back on you when you’re older and a front rolls in. Ask me how I know…
I tried walking on the 39 Chevy roof in the closed garage, slipped, and rebounded between car trunk, garage door, and bumper and garage door at least 6 times before I hit the concrete. I had it coming—Dad told me to stay off the car—but to this day I remember that progress in intimate detail. NOt to mention a few similar ones involving the barrier wall and the ice…
Advil is your friend.
As we age 😉 it’s rare for anyone to escape getting at least one or two good thumps. There’s a reason the oldsters could always tell when the weather was going to change, after a lifetime of hard work and associated damage! With me, it’s the wrist that shattered when I went tail over teakettle off a bike, 15 years ago. It’s a more accurate barometer of what the sky is doing than the National Weather Service!
Oh my sinuses are a great barometer too! The whole thing is just so bizarre. It hurts but doesn’t hurt like a break usually does (I’m very talented). I’ve broken this and that over the years, had horses do interesting things, dislocated shoulders, and thunked knees up good. But never had anything major missed before. Guess the emergency room doc was wrong when he happily told me I had great bones. But it’s the walker that really gets me. I’m still coming to grips with being over 50 and being old enough to be just about everyone I work with’s mother and that walker is a serious smack to my dignity (vanity?).
Which river did you divert? The Spokane or the Little Spokane?
My knees, my shoulder, my hands, and my feet, all victims of Arthur Rightus, let me know when the weather is changing. Fortunately, no allergies, and I’m glad for that.
Have finished both Rusalka and Chernevog, waiting on Yvgenie! BTW, are there plans in the works to put Morgaine and Vanye in ebook formats, not to mention a new Morgaine/Vanye novel?
I went outside this morning and was assaulted by pollen. Whew! Whatever is active now here — is hyperactive. Whew again!
The decorative floral vine, legacy from the previous homeowners, is beginning to grow back on the trellis. I had thought it had completely died in the only strong freeze we had last December. It is doing nicely and I’m very happy to see it back. — But I cannot remember the name of it. It’s flowering now. I’ll take pics and see if anyone can ID it.
My tomatoes are thriving. One plant has flowered. But no signs of tomatoes yet at all. I would presume only the one that has flowered will produce. Sigh. Still hopeful all three will do so. The basil is doing so well, I may be able to use some next time I need it. The marigolds are happy, albeit inedible.
The plan for next week is to put down grass seed, front yard and maybe side and back yards, fertilize, and water like the dickens. There’s still time to put in whatever plants and flowers I might add this summer, so they can get acclimated before the worst heat or before winter.
Right now, my back yard has a crop of very aggressive weeds plus some clover and some sort of scrubby not-grass. The not-grass has taken over about 2/3 to 3/4 of the back yard, with the rest still dry, dead straw from last year. Once the weeds are cropped, then I’ll come in with grass. The front yard…is *dirt*, grey and barren, what happens to black earth with too much shade from trees, too little water from drought, and grass having given way due to both. Hoping I can solve that.
— Any tips on encouraging my tomatoes to…actually bear fruit, put out tomatoes, would be appreciated. 🙂
@BCS, are you pinching out the sideshoots from your tomatoes? You’re supposed to do that early in the morning when the stems are full of sap, preferably when the shoots are still young. The sideshoots (Dutch gardening slang calls them ‘thieves’) take energy away from setting fruit in favour of making unnecessary leaves and stems.
Pinching the sappy shoots close to where they emerge from the ‘armpit’ where the leaf is attached to the stem breaks them of easily: don’t tear them off as it damages the stem and lets in mold spores.
Also, tomatoes need sunlight, and are ‘greedy’ plants: did you give them some compost or manure when you planted them? If not you could try feeding them. Letting stinging nettles and/or comfrey leaves steep in a bucket of water makes good and free liquid fertiliser, but it stinks just like the animal-origin stuff!
If the plant is doing poorly and the leaves are yellowing along the veins, the plant is short of magnesium.
Nitrogen encourages leafy growth, and potassium helps improve the quality of the fruit. So if you’re using chemical fertiliser, choose one with potassium and if possible some magnesium; though a known susceptibility for a shortage of the latter may be a local condition that’s not necessarily the same for your area and soil.
After they’ve started flowering my gardening book has more advice.
If they have trouble turning the flowers into fruit you can encourage spreading the pollen by trembling their supporting string or stick, or skaking the flower-bunches slightly, or spraying them with water.
It says that tomato plants outdoors generally set no more than 4 bunches of tomatoes, and in an unheated greenhouse the usual maximum is six or seven. It advises to pinch out the growing tip 2 leaves above the 4th (or 7th) bunch once it starts setting fruit, and to keep on pinching the sideshoots when they appear.
It also says that when the greenhouse plants reach 120-150 cm, you can take off the lower leaves up to the first bunch of tomatoes, to help avoid mold developing on them.
And that is probably more than you wanted to hear, from someone who only grows one cherrytomato-plant a year…
And remember tomatoes won’t set fruit if the night temperature stays above 78-80F (26C about). This has been a severe problem for us the last year or 2.
This year we planted a hot-weather variety of tomato. They are supposed to produce fruit throughout the Texas summer. We shall see how this works out. We have flowers but no fruit, yet.
Hanneke, thank you. I’ll have to work through your advice and apply it. That means my plants have been putting out lots of new growth that should’ve been put into flowers and fruit. No pinching yet. I’m brand new at this. I’ve now bought a couple of books that claim to tell me how to grow tomatoes. We shall see.
Tulrose, 78 to 80*F? Well no wonder I never got tomatoes last year! Though it might have been other factors (drought or not enough sun where they were).
Sgt. Saturn, good to know. What variety did you get? At least that tells me I’m not too far from the curve.
make sure you don’t accidentally break off the main stem at the top, or the plant won’t get any taller. All those “suckers” in the “armpits” are just like extra branches on a fruit tree. All wood, no fruit.
If you don’t have any bees around where you are, you can try this: When the blossoms have been open for a couple of days, put your finger into the blossom so you contact the stamens and anthers, then move to another blossom, and continue until you’ve gotten as many as you can, or you have patience for.
Also, remember tomatoes like an acid soil, and will need calcium to prevent blossom end rot (the black spot at the bottom of the fruit), water, and I stake the plant’s main stem, using old rags loosely tied around the stem and stake, crossing the strip in the middle so it looks like a figure “8” around the stem and stake.
If you see long green caterpillars, fairly thick, with horns on their posterior, those are tomato hornworm larvae. They can’t bite you, but will eat the leaves of the plant, leaving bare stems. Easiest way to combat them is to just pick them off the plant when you find them, and drown them in a bucket of soapy water. Kind of what I do for Japanese beetles on roses, too.
I hear you on the Augean Stables. Between my office needing a major rethink and overhaul and the rest of the house needing a cleaning spree, I’m about to reach critical mess. Busted kneecap, barometric sinuses and a torn rotator cuff here, plus a case of scarlet fever at age 21 that got my finger joints, followed by 25 years of typing for a living! Nary a peep from the carpal tunnels, but there are nights when my fingers ache like the dickens. Tylenol 8-hour and Aleve are my best buds — especially since I’m allergic to all the good stuff!
Not sure if you have a water feature (fancy name for a little waterfall) in your pond, but we use to use small compact barley bales under the feature to help control the algae. Apparently as it decays it releases an enzyme that inhibits the growth, yet is not toxic to Koi and such. Just a thought.