From 6 inches of snow two days ago—to bare earth.
The fence, which is falling down, has several posts gone, and we are trying to keep it upright until the guy from Home Depot can get back from the Caribbean and fix it. We are having the darndest time. Home Depot can get the fence we want, but everybody there wants to talk us into another (cheaper and less attractive) fence they have in stock, and their installer was going to come out and measure, but he ran into his cruise date…so we are patching and propping and trying to keep this rickety structure somewhat intact until His Highness can get here and measure, so that HD can finally get the fence ordered…
I think we have finally rounded the corner toward spring…and we urgently need to get Preen down on the garden or we will be hip deep in weeds.
How have you all gotten through the winter?
I have returned from vacation to the wilds of AZ to a back yard that requires a machete, or at least the attentions of The Goat (my electric mower). A very enjoyable visit with my parents, then DH and I went to Space Ranch, a dude ranch in Tucson that was hosting a series of activities centered around science pursuits. The three GoH were Charlie Walker, a Shuttle payload specialist; Geoff Notkin, meteorite collector and co-host of the TV show Meteorite Men; and Phil Plait, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer. All three had brought their families with them, so it was one big happy confusion of science nerds of all ages from 8 to late 70s. We took a field trip to Mt. Lemmon Observatory; at 9000 feet and wind chill dipping into the 20s I have a reasonable referent for Saigiadi Obervatory! One wishes to note that if one is accustomed to HI temperatures, this is a systemic shock, no matter how many sweatshirts one might pile on. We also take full credit for breaking the drought over southern AZ; weather is DH’s old adversary, especially if sky-related activities are involved, and somehow we managed to cause a solid downpour for a day. Fortunately, the indoor presentations occurred during this time frame, so the only problem was scuttling from building to building in the cold rain sans umbrellas. Too many good things went on to list, so I will simply note that we may have
connedtalked the organizers into coming to the Big Island for the next Science Getaway.We had a couple good cold spells, and 8″ or more of snow, both unusual in recent years. We have some hope it might have killed some of the the lace bug (not carnivorous “lace wing”) that has been a plague on our rhododendrons and azaleas the past several years.
Last weekend I put some “snow” peas in water to soak. I love pea pods in stir-fry, even a handful tossed in, lightly cooked, with a bowl of ramen noodles. Yesterday I put 3 dozen in 4″ pots to germinate, then turned a flat upside down over them to keep the “bushy-tailed rats” from digging in them. I usually plant 3 each in 3 containers on the patio with “tomato cages” for them to grow upon. These were seed from last spring’s crop–I didn’t get a chance to start a fall crop last July–house rennovation. Some will hide successfully and ripen, fo become this year’s fall crop (hopefully).
Looks like I’m going to finally break down and spend the monthly money to get hi-speed FIOS internet and off dial-up. If the government is going to expect everyone to have internet access for paperless tax filing and health insurance management, they can bloody-well make it a utility!
p.s. If you notice lacebug, Stephanitis pyroides, yellow/white speckles on top of a leaf, black fecal spots underside, and little flies slightly larger than Drosophila, then your best defense is a neonic applied after spring blooming. I prefer the granular form. Be warned, they can and will suck so much chlorophyl from the leaves they will kill the plant.
I’m not a fan of neonics, but then, I’m a beekeeper, and neonics, especially imidoclopin (sp?) used in such applications as termite traps, etc., work on the short-term memory of the insect. They “forget” how to get home. This is especially bad for the workers out in the field, since they can’t remember how to get back to their hives. Colonies generally lose 1,500 – 2,000 workers every day, and the queen lays sufficient eggs every day to replace those lost, as well as some population growth during the early spring (prelude to swarming). But those workers in the field comprise a lot more than the 1,500 – 2,000, so if they’re lost, the hive takes a significant blow to its honey and pollen stores.
I go to the grocery, buy a bag of chewing tobacco, steep a couple of fingerfuls in warm water for a few hours, strain it, and put it into a compact sprayer. That seems to take care of most parasites on my roses and other plants.
Please note, I was explicit about “after spring blooming”! We had an issue here last year when maintenance workers sprayed a neonic on blooming trees in full bloom. So make that part of the labelling directions. “Violation of Federal Law to apply…”
It’s imidicloprid, and that’s what I use in granular form. In any event, the amount we homeowners would use is “raindrop in ocean” (Chanur’s Venture”) compared to all the coated commercial seed Big-Ag uses. Change it where it’ll make a difference. And I’ve had evidence that, contrary to some unfounded fears, it doesn’t last from year to year.
The reason I recommend neonics is the bus spend all their time under the leaves. Contact insecticides would work only if you can get it on ’em.
but the second and third sentences of your first paragraph apply…most people do NOT read the instructions, don’t care about Federal law (“It’s MY garden, and I don’t give a hoot what the government says, I want nice flowers!”).
I’m just sensitive to the fact that even if they’re judiciously used, there’s always spray drift, and if there are other flowers in bloom, they get it on them, especially if it’s someone that I described in paragraph 1. Well, if a little is good, then more must be better, and they flood the whole area with it.
Imidicloprid has been banned in some EU countries, I know France for one. There are calls from not only the hobbyist beekeepers but also the commercial beekeepers to have its use severely curtailed. It might be effective, but so was DDT, and you see what an impact that had on the environment.
Some of the GMO crops that are grown on farms have a built in systemic insecticide which also affects bees collecting pollen or nectar. I wish I could say what caused my hive to collapse last year, but the hive had over 60 pounds of honey in it and no live bees.
Roof still has not been repaired, they’re waiting for it to get warmer so they don’t break shingles that are too brittle from the cold. The tarps they put up there on Dec 21 are still holding fast, even after all of the other storms that have blown through.
I got a call from the electricians, they’ll be out on Monday, 3/10 to upgrade my electrical panel from 100 amps to 200 amps, and hook up the GFCI outlet and the necessary cabling to that outlet, and then hook up the hot tub. So, maybe by this time next week, I can use the thing. I’ll have to get the city inspector to come and check it out, though. I need to turn the tub 90 degrees so the wiring run from the wall to the tub is as short as possible. It only weighs about 275 pounds or so…..urk!
I’d like to get tree branches trimmed, especially the ones that threaten to take out an eye or to rip a hole in my back when I’m mowing the lawn. I took my chain saw in to have it looked at, they said the carburetor was gummed from old fuel. The guy who fixed it then said, “Try not to foul it up again.”, not quite loud enough for me to hear, but the assistant manager did, and asked me if I heard it. No, and he repeated it for me. I didn’t say anything to either of them, but if I get a reception like that from someone who’s getting paid to fix one of my tools, I don’t need the snarky lines. I haven’t said anything to them about it, but I don’t have to take it in to their shop…..
I’d also like to put the snow blower up for the winter, find a spot where it can camp out and be out of the way, get the garage cleaned out, and use it for the car.
When I get done with all of that, I’m going to grow a pair of wings and fly to the moon for a vacation.
Do you have ethanol in the gas you use for your chainsaw? We do, and have found that if you don’t use your small gas-powered equipment frequently, the ethanol is the culprit in gummed up carburetors. That is what killed my gas powered lawnmower and my weed whacker. It was first discovered by the people using small outboards to get to their larger boats anchored offshore. Usually they would only go out on the weekends, and after the dinghy sat over the week, it would refuse to start…
Yes, we have 10% ethanol. Every station here in town has it now. Stihl said that up to 10% is acceptable. I had to get a new gas cap for my trimmer because Stihl found out that it was eaten by the ethanol, so they used a different gasket.
As you’d treat a good horse, “Don’t put ’em up wet!?
We just called Home Depot, and found that nobody had put our fence repair into the system. We have to start all over again. Theoretically a handful of guys are going to contact us, measure, and bid.
The gate is ajar because the gatepost is broken. The back fence is leaning in again and the ground is too soft to get to it to nail it back…
Now, that is just plain frustrating. You want to ask them how they expect to stay in business if they don’t treat customers properly……grrrrrr.
That might inspire me to go out and in a fit of irritation yank out the whole darn thing, if I wasn’t certain it would completely ruin my back, or something else equally infelicitous. The HD guys can go out and make measurements from the post holes and stumps.
Still deep winter in Maine. The six-foot pile of plowed snow behind my car has compressed itself into four feet of what is basically ice. The thermometer in the sun says it’s 32, the thermometer in the shade says it’s 24. Car is in the shade. Might not get it out until May. Driveway is snow over ice over snow over ice. Thank goodness for woodstove ashes! Brought in wood two days ago, and my upper back is seized up. Wintertime fun in the northeast!
We had about a week of rainy weather, but that looks like that may be it for Winter; we’ll be in the 80s this weekend. Unfortunately, SoCal took most of the rain; oddly, we get most of our water from the Sierra, mid-state, so the water just ran off into the ocean.
“Noah? How long can you tread water?”
I didn’t know what Preen is, so I looked in Wikipedia. This sounds alarming, “Trifluralin has been banned in the European Union since 20 March 2008, primarily due to its high toxicity to fish and other aquatic life.”
We have more snow now than we’ve had all winter. The weather has been crazy with record highs one day and down in the negative numbers twenty-four hours later. You just can’t be prepared for weather like this.
I’ve been trying to stay snuggled up in blankets at my desk and write, write, write which is the best escape from annoying things. The cats have taken over the bed with the electric blanket.
it was 10 degrees this am just north of NYC, and it is not expected to be a whole lot warmer for several more days. We have icebergs on our yards. I feel like the ice age has come again. this afternoon there was a huge hawk in the big oak tree in back, watching the bird feeder. That has given us a bit of pause.
WE don’t like Preen’s toxicity either, but we live remote from any drainage, and don’t let runoff reach the street drain. It has a 3 month life. It’s safe around our pond: we’re just careful where we put it and how we water.
Exactly so. Know what you’re using, know what the considerations are, use it properly, and keep aware of contraindications. “Do not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.”
We’re not done with it yet. Being in WNY means winter’s not over until mid-May. I wish I were kidding. The latest recorded frost in this area was May 27 (I forget what year). Once spring comes in, though, it goes great guns. Once the snow is gone and we get a couple of warm days, it will be BAM!-Dandelions everywhere, probably by end of March/early April. I’m hoping to get a couple of warm but not too hot days next month in which I can rake the dead stuff out of the yard and lay down weedcloth and mulch; also want to remove the front lawn and put in other plants instead. We shall see.
Here, it is still slightly possible to have cold weather or (doubtful this year) a cold snap or frost up until Easter, though it’s been several years now since that’s happened.
Our weather here is still yo-yoing between warm and cold every few days. Le sigh. When it’s doubtless over 100 for a few days again this summer, which has happened a few years now too, then of course, I will sigh that it isn’t cool out….
One still must pay taxes before one can do certain needed home repairs. Aarrgh. One hopes, however, to get to these in some order this year. … However, the A/C repair is still highly unlikely to happen, unless there’s a major increase in one’s income, unexpected.
One is, however, OK overall. If one were not quite so solitary, one would be quite pleased. But one is thankful, nonetheless. One still lives in one’s own house, and has not had to move (so far) as feared this time last year. One hopes still to avoid it.
A certain two feline associates claim their supper is late, and are campaigning for it. However, they got dry food instead of moist tonight. They are not as unhappy as they claim, and I know it. (Or else they’d be acting differently.)
The torrential rainfalls have begun out here in Oregon. We had snow a few weeks ago which was bad enough to close essentially everything for 5-6 days, but after that it was a slushy gray memory. I’m ready for spring, though, even if it means having to wear a tarp everywhere for the next few months.
I’ll give you a recipe for turning sod into soil if you have time: collect newspapers, get some weedcloth, and order in a considerable lot of mulch. Cover the patch in a typical multi-sheet fold of newspaper—ie, just open a whole section to the center, use it, cover that with weedcloth, and then bury it in thick bark mulch. It’ll weather down without any seeds sprouting: it’ll even kill bermuda, given enough patience.
I’ve tried something like that in an area of our front yard where I would like to plant creeping thyme. A thick layer of leaves, well-watered, a layer of newspapers, garbage bags, then a plastic sheet or packing blanket over all. One hopes it will properly rot and I can plant out the thyme.
So naturally, as soon as I have Declared Intent to get the mower out and take down the jungle in the yard, it begins raining. If it does this all weekend, I won’t be too put out, but doubt it will; we need the rain, but it is fickle. The lawn will be mowed, one way or another.
We are very much hoping that when we get home tomorrow afternoon the snow that fell last Monday will have melted so we can actually drive in to our driveway. We got out of MD on the last plane out Sunday night (had to get to TX due to a death in the family) and don’t really know how much snow fell at our house. This winter has been brutal, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the back of it. I discovered this year that this ex-Texan was not meant to spend months every year with snow all over the yard. We once thought of retiring to Maine, but have decided that’s definitely not in the cards.
Usually the crocus and hellebores have bloomed by now, but they are late this year. After some dastardly cold weather the last couple months, we’re now seesawing between 50F degree days and snow or ice. Yesterday was warm enough to open windows, but snow is in today’s forecast for KC, with 50s again tomorrow. And we’re officially in drought despite a couple of nice snowfalls — they were mostly air, and contributed little moisture. One is supposed to plant potatoes by St. Patrick’s Day — ain’t happening.
As the vernal day approaches, I still have four foot high snow banks where we have shoveled. If you want things to survive the cold here in NH, you don’t plant out until the summer solstice.
We’ve finally had a solid run of above-freezing days here in Wisconsin. Lake Michigan is blue again (at least as far as the eye can see), and the snow is mostly melted away. What remains is dense ice-pack.