Our brick-painting has reached the hardest color to replicate: the yellow-earth bricks. Jane’s nailed it.
Jane also has got the back door up. What then happened—I leave it to her to tell, when she’s coherent enough.
I got the butterfly bush planted; I’ve painted brick. I’ve tinkered with pond chemistry, got that fixed. I’ve made real progress on the book; and I am in less pain than before—thank goodness! I think the cessation of pain has had a great deal to do with my concentration. I can ignore a lot of things—but that burning pain is amazingly nasty.
We have yet to pick up the panes for the storm door—but we almost have all the pieces ready. Jane has yet to paint the front door and a bit of trim.
I treated us to a quesadilla maker: it was on sale, and it’s a nice thing. Jane says she’s at the point she’ll eat anything. I think she just comes in for fuel.
The weather’s holding around 85 degrees. I’ve gotten to be such a wimp about heat it feels like 105.
We had a shocker on the news the other evening: a local doctor we share the ice with now and again —he’s 85—crashed his plane while trying to land up by Priest Lake. We hear he’s going to recover: he’s a very determined gentleman, and we hope the best for him.
We ourselves are faring quite well. Her Furry Grace has recovered somewhat—she was so weak this summer I began to wonder from moment to moment whether she was going to draw the next breath while I was holding her; but she’s full of it, now—she’s gotten to viewing both boys as rowdy teenagers, and has finally warmed to Seishi enough to sniff him over. This however, will be followed by a swat. Shu thought he would play with Her Grace’s tail for old times’ sake, and oh, my, yes, got swatted.
So the household is finding an equilibrium. We have some new ideas for Closed Circle and will be working on that. And we are not going to touch another repair project until winter, once we get that storm door up.
I’m so very glad that you (and Her Furry Grace) are feeling better. The kind of pain you’ve been enduring really wears you down. Please take care and continue to heal. With Jane feeling better and the “gitchee’ cats (as my neice used to call them) getting along, maybe you can all catch a breath. Good to hear.
I hope your butterfly bush isn’t one of the varieties that seeds all over the neighborhood! My across-the-street neighbor has a lovely one that seeds all over my property. You have to get the seedlings out asap as they immediately send down a tremendous tap root that isn’t easy to pull.
http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weed_info/buddleja_davidii.html
Glad you are feeling better and making progress with yardwork. I’ve been mentally designing trellis structures for honeysuckle to lure the hummingbirds from my neighbor’s yard to mine. The new crocosmias and salvias are making a start at doing just that.
Dear me, I believe it may be. We shall have to watch that fellow. THanks for the heads-up. Ours is a dark purple, but the habit is similar.
At least in western WA the butterfly bush seems to be as invasive as scotch broom. Both have pretty flowers (weak grin). I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get to the point where Buddleja became illegal to sell in WA. There appear to be sterile hybrids in development which would help. They may be available now…haven’t checked but something to research. More info (from 2005):
http://www.rainyside.com/forum_archives/032105ButterflyBush.html
I know I have difficulty with some Nymphoides species (aquatic plant similar to waterlilies) in WA state because they are now illegal. And they are such lovely little plants filling a great niche in smaller water features that can’t handle larger waterlily plants.
but butterfly bushes are great for butterflies. just as long as you don’t let them get a hold in your brickwork ….. 😀
And if you deadhead religiously to avoid seed set.
If they are half as invasive as the “tree of heaven” [sic] ( http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aial1.htm ) you have my sympathy. Between the TOH on one side and the paper mulberry trees on the other side, my yard is all over seedlings, including a couple from the Siberian elm that’s trying to fend off a brace of paper mulberries along one side of the house. That stupid TOH is also called “stinking shumac” and with good reason. The sap stinks and it stinks to high heaven when you burn it, which is a pity, because they grow extremely fast.
Interestingly, we have had no trouble with our butterfly bush here in the Boston area (but oh yes, the monarchs’ love it) or elsewhere in New England that I have noticed. I have heard it can be invasive but never spotted any seedlings. On the other hand, when I was in Ireland and Scotland earlier this month, esp. Ireland, there were butterfly bushes (light purple ones) everywhere there was half-abandoned scrub land, like at the edges of railway tracks, and I saw some in Scotland too. They were never there when I lived in Scotland in the early 80’s.
Another nasty invasive plant – in the North of England at least – is Himalyan balsam: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=480 . There are times I swear I can see it growing. Well done on the house progress, you are sounding well battened-down for the winter!
buddleia can be seen growing out of any neglected walls or roofs … on the way into kingscross railway station you used to see hundreds of them on neglected buildings next to the railway line … had to remove one from my wall where there is a ledge. so many introduced things are pests – rhododendrons kill native forest in Scotland and Wales ..
On the topic of Ysabel being weak – I remember when we brought our kittens home Py went on a hunger strike. I think she lost four of her 11 pounds in very short order. There was nothing organic wrong with her, though. I think she was just protesting the boys. She’s gained it all back now along with her vinegar.
Invasive species around here are either African Tulip trees or kiawe, a.k.a mesquite. The tulip trees have striking bright orange flowers, and the kiawe makes excellent firewood or hardwood for carving, but they both spread vigorously and are hard to root out.
I started painting the last section of trim yesterday, expecting to get it done within a couple of hours, and discovered a very termite-et section of a window frame. I had to cut it out, find a suitable piece of timber for replacement, and reset it into place. The new industrial adhesives are wonderful for attaching things where driving nails or screws is problematic, or for fiddly bits; at least the new piece is redwood, which is naturally unattractive to termites. My jobtime crept from 2 hours to 5.
THey can do that, for sure. Hardest was when we went to visit Jane’s brother, and she searched every room, calling and calling for Efanor. And on the way home she headed into the decline that nearly killed her. Now that Eushu has grown a bit, I think in her old-lady way she somewhat feels the world is right again: she tolerates things from her small black kitteh companion she just won’t tolerate at all from Seishi, who does not in any way resemble Efanor.
For invasives, get a weed wrench http://www.weedwrench.com
Pricey but entirely worth it. Our bête noir is privet. You should have seen my workerguy Eddie’s face when he first pulled a sixfooter out of the dirt roots n all. GLEE
oh I have a privet section in my garden hedge. 🙁 I HATE it. the first few years I was here the horse next door ate it down to practically nothing – unbeknownst to her owner, who was horrified when she discovered it. horse very elderly, eventually died – now we have sheep, and the shepherd has fenced the hedge off, very annoying, it is barbed wire, so I can’t get in to cut it on that side, and the hedge is now so wide there that I can’t reach across it. the sheep still eat what they can reach, privet, and ivy, which they love. I have a lot of hedge, which is cut once a year by the hedge man, but am just getting some new cordless hedge trimmers (Bosch) to sort that privet out early ….
Glad to hear you are feeling better, and that Her Grace is better as well. Here in the “old south” we’ve decided not to bother with big home improvement projects until winter, period…it’s just too hot!! This winter’s big item is getting the A/C in the house completely fixed (it’s in a state of half fixed, since the house uses two units…big house)…and finishing the cleanup/reclamation of our garage. There’s discussion about wallpaper removal but no consensus yet – no one wants to be the one carrying the bucket on that one hah!
The one project that’s really close to *my* heart, is the patio garden. This summer it was a collection of empty containers, due to general lack of motivation and budget; but year before last we had all sorts of lovely things, and I’ve got some ideas about how to make it work even better next time…praise whatever herbology gods that be, that we live in a place that most plants adore. Sun in liquid and non liquid forms at all times of the year, that’s us! Sometimes at the same time…but I’m looking forward to another try at (not) killing a mint plant or two, and having Salvia again. I’m not sure if I’ll try growing tomatoes in a container again though. It didn’t work very well for me, and I’m still not sure why.