…and I ran the pond vac, which is a back-breaking sort of thing: you have to wait 20 seconds for it to void the collection chamber and come on again, and when it starts, the tip of the wand drops 2″, which can bring it down among pebbles (insta-clog!) or the water lilies if you don’t pose for it like a pool player over a cue and brace the thing so it won’t dip…
I have cleaned the pond filter about 12 times today, sometimes 2x in 30 minutes, as we stir up the bottom with the hose and let the filter catch the crud. I’m soaked and tired.
The tiller hit the sprinkling system again, this time involving a line under one of Jane’s favorite roses. That had to be moved and replanted, and the bush is heavily about-to-bloom. That meant digging, that threw the lower back out again—the si-lok belt got it back in, thank goodness: walking around with it is helpful. And we got the new rhody planted, the climbing hydrangea planted, and some of our ground cover divvied up and replanted. That’s spreading nicely, quadrupling its reach in one year.
The rhodies are blooming. I replanted my potted outdoor bamboo–again. We should be past freezes now. The dogwood out front is trying to bloom; the magnolia looks happy. I have yet to brace the contorted birch, which is twisting the wrong way. And then I’m going to have to turn that compost heap, all 14 yards of it.
But! since an actual though gross supper last night, I had energy and I could work. Dead-on about the diet having gone too far…I’m going to switch us to Chinese/Japanese when I get the scales and the rice cooker. I think I can do something proper with that.
Happy, happy. I’m looking forward to something that I can cook instead of boil.
@chakaal, I loved Williamsburg. Walking along Duke of Gloucester street, looking at the different things along the way. Is the Trellis Restaurant still there? I wonder if Marcel Desaulnier (“Death by Chocolate”, “The Burgermeisters”, “Desserts to Die For”), the Executive Chef and part-owner is still working. The first time I had Death by Chocolate, it was an experience. That first not-so-subtle impact of chocolate on the palate, and then into the system. But, 1,352 calories per slice puts it in the “once-in-a-blue-moon” category of desserts.
@joekc6lnx The Trellis is still here, but my husband hasn’t taken me there because he said it’s not like it used to be – my husband has lived in Williamsburg for 27 years and gives people directions based on what restaurants are on the corners. Desaulnier is still in town but he’s sold Trellis to the fellow who opened the Blue Talon Bistro, a place my husband DOES like, so we may well hit the Trellis to see how it’s doing.
There are a lot of nice things about this town but there is a price to be paid for living in a tourist mecca.
Oh, I’m sure about the price. One quarter at the College of W & M cost the same in tuition as one quarter at Old Dominion. Well, since I don’t plan to return to the Tidewater area, I’m not going to be too upset about not going to the Trellis.
I was referring to the Tourist tax – traffic, crowding, a Wal-mart whether we want it or not. I train with the WM Shotokan Club when school’s in, though, I’m the Assistant.
Trellis is pricey, yeah. But, I’m the fool who took her husband to the Inn at Little Washington because Eileen Ivers was playing at Chateauville… I am a total tightwad but every now and again I’ll blow all the money I saved. But Husband said that Trellis had gone down hill and if you were going to pay that much you should go someplace better 😉
My next Extravagant Meal Purchase might have to be at The French Laundry.
I recall the restaurant taxes, especially in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. 10% on top of your state-mandated sales tax. Which is why my ex-wife and I went out to eat only once in a while, but would go out usually to the local restaurants. Applebee’s, Arby’s, Pizza Hut, Captain D’s, sometimes Outback (if it wasn’t too crowded), but not really all that often because we could do most of our meals at home, and didn’t have to put up with crowds.
We very seldom went to the oceanfront, and my ex- didn’t like the beach, so we never went even to the military beaches at Dam Neck and the Morale, Welfare, & Recreation beach near where Atlantic and Pacific Avenues meet.
Yeah, in Williamsburg taxes are different on one side of the main drag than they are on the other. You can also not buy Certain Items on one side.
For restos we stick to the one-offs and avoid the chains, except for pancake houses. We avoid ALL pancake houses.
Ahhhhh, Tourism!
What about Pierce’s? Is that on the approved list?
I still have some DAT tapes of gigs at the Greene Leafe almost 20 years ago. Did that survive?
Nowadays, Billsburg is our Trader Joe’s stop closest to the interstate on the way back from Va Beach to Fredburg – Short Pump is just way too far out of the way.
Pierce’s is OK but they don’t provide enough Carne for this Carnivore… Greene Leafe is still there, right next to Paul’s. You have Allman’s in Fredericksburg, you do not need Pierce’s.
Allman’s even added a satellite location in a pedestrian friendly spot (that is from my house I don’t have to risk my neck crossing any major roads).
That one in the mall parking lot? We’ve been to that one as well. It’s a zoo up there in Freddyburg!
My lawn tractor died a horrible death a few weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to get it fixed, but it’s hopelessly gone. So, the landlady has graciously allowed me to shop for a used lawn tractor, keeping the budget under $1,000. Yesterday, we found a decent tractor, the dealer brought it over, and gave me a cursory instruction session and then took off to deliver another lawn mower. Well, I got it running, started to cut, and there was my first problem. The tractor has a hydrostatic drive, but it sure felt like it was a friction clutch to me. The direction engage lever (forward/reverse) has a plastic shield over the fender and it has the information for forward, neutral, and reverse printed on it. However, the transmission would slip out of full forward down one or two notches, or even into neutral, the plastic shield was held on with a single bolt instead of the clips the manufacturer uses, and it would slip out of alignment and I couldn’t move the shift lever back to where I wanted it without taking my hands off the wheel to wrestle it back into place. This went on for about 15 minutes and when the landlady came over to look at it, I told her and showed her the problems. She said, “No. This is not acceptable and I won’t buy it.” Fair enough for me. When the dealer came back, I told him the trouble, and he said, “That’s fine.”, loaded it up on the trailer and drove away. So I went out today looking for another used tractor. My grass is something like 18 inches high right now, and I’m afraid I’ll need a farm tractor to cut through it. Perhaps the one I’m supposed to see this afternoon will be the one. I can only hope, since it’s been raining, it’s June, and warm weather and rain make for even taller grass, but also prettier flowers for the bees.
I wish you luck.
We, as you know, stripped our lawn of grass (right now it’s growing dandelions and patches of grass—but we attack it when it’s not a mudpit.) Adding to our dandelion and grass problem, our neighbor’s lawnmower broke, and thanks to steady weeks of rain, thanks to which even if his mower worked, it wouldn’t work—his grass is now knee high and seeding onto our bare dirt. Sigh. It’s costing us extra effort. But I’m going to get out there with a whole bucket of Preen and scatter that, so at least we won’t get more.
Having had I don’t know how many (20+)feet of tame blackberries years ago, I tried a lot of creative bird preventions. Old nylon curtains, craft netting and finally bought some of the stuff used to cover tobacco seedling beds. It slowed the birds down. The blackberries that went over the old grape arbor were also covered and I have photos of the robins going under the cover and helping themselves. Craft netting can be stitched into strips of necessary width by hand and is cheap enough to replace once a year. I think I used clothes pins.
Craft netting will be found in fabric stores close to bridal. Don’t buy the fine stuff used for bridal, get the stuff to make a tutu.
I have an image from out of some deep recess of my mind of acres of berries covered with white fabric frames…I think they were raspberries? As I said, a dim memory.
My birthday rose bush is growing like crazy and beginning to put out buds. Do I let it bloom, or do I take off the buds to allow its strength to go into the plant? Do I spray for pests, molds, fungi? With what? I am very excited as roses have been my bete noir. 😉
Recipe for roses: go ahead and let it bloom. It shouldn’t hurt it.
1. Rose roots grow in a halo around the plant about as far out as the branches grow, the feeders near the surface. Mulch it 3″ deep in a ring around the plant that includes those roots, and mound your ring near the trunk of the rose. Fill that ring depression with water every watering.
2. Be sure your rose gets sun at least half the day, though it probably can survive on a third. If you live in a really hot area, be SURE of that mulch: it protects the feeder roots from drying out.
3. Next: get Miracle Grow Rose Food in packets (comes in a small square box) and get one of those hose/sprayer attachments. Put the packet into the sprayer. Hose down the rose with a sufficient (moist to the roots) watering of this solution (it can safely wait in the sprayer for weeks, as you use it up). Never mind the directions: use this once a week.
4. Every bloom should be cut after it ‘blows’ (petals fall). Trim its branchlet back to a juncture that has 5 leaves. You will learn to identify this pattern. Any joint with 5 leaves on it can produce another branch/bloom stem. If your rose starts to get ‘leggy’ with bare spots, trim back to another 5-leaf spot. It will branch there and improve the shape.
5. Should you get black spot or mildew, dusting sulphur is good. Should you get aphids (google) ladybugs are better than poison. I recommend an additional ‘systemic’ pest-killer n’ feed from Miracle Grow if you get other kinds of pests. Green ladybugs are not your friends. Red ones are.
6. All commercial roses are grafted onto a briar base. Protect the ‘canes’ or thick stems near the knobby bit at the root with your life. These canes ARE your rose plant. If you lose them, you only have red briar left.
7. You will not go wrong using Miracle Grow on your roses, and using it weekly. They are insatiable, and Miracle Grow is made so it doesn’t burn your rose. You may topdress your rose (dump stuff in the ring) with coffee grounds. Earthworms are your friends.
8. on vacation? if you don’t have a sprinkler system, set up a bare trickle of a tricklefeeding hose. Inventive tube watering systems from Lowes on a timer can also help…and deliver so little water so accurately they are exempt from water rationing in many areas (hose pipe ban, in England).
9. Your first bloom is always biggest, but with proper care your roses should bloom through the summer.
10. Go to the Jackson Perkins site for other info; also to the Miracle Grow site re roses.
11. In fall, your roses may bloom, and until you get a really hard freeze will not die back. If you live in an area with treacherous sudden hard freezes down into the teens, you can cut your rose clear back to the canes, about 6″ long, and pile 5″ of mulch over it, plus even cap it with a styrofoam dome if too large for that treatment. BE SURE to pull the mulch off at the first signs you are past that kind of weather, or you will get mildew and might lose some canes. Remember that roses have their own antifreeze and most are hardy to 10 degrees, so don’t overdo the cold protection. You’ll often see a rose still blooming after a light freeze. If, for instance, Spokane is headed for 20 degrees, I trim heavily and mulch my ‘southern’ roses [roses not hardy to 10 degrees: Tropicana, World Peace, Just Joey, and any of the Austin roses] —but my cold-hardy roses (Billy Graham, Mr Lincoln, and a couple whose names I don’t know) just fend for themselves through the winter and get a trim in spring.
They require frequent slight attention, but caring for 10 roses is as easy as caring for one, and they are a lot hardier than you might think. Because of those feeder roots, be careful when weeding around the base. You can lay down Preen in your mulch and you don’t get weeds. Keep that ring completely free of grass! Grass grown up through a rose is a disaster, and the only thing you can do is dig up the plant and replant.