One of the worst parts of middle age is that I’m always awake early. No more sleeping until noon or even 8 o’clock for this chick. So every weekend I’m wide awake at 5 am ready to start my day. Then for the first 3 or 4 hours I’m awake I have to be quiet because it’s so early. Which sucks monkey balls because everything I’m eager to work on today involves power tools. Even chores I just want to get out of the way involve waiting for the rest of the world to wake up. Usually it’s the weekly grocery shopping, but I took care of that yesterday while it was raining.
A Turtle Update
Just look at this guy! He’s gorgeous. The best part about not using hens and chicks for his shell is there’s no waiting for them to fill in. Here he is just a month after planting and everything is lush and full – and flowering! I just adore the flowers on some of these dwarf Hosta, they have all the bloom of any hosta but it’s condensed into a tighter more compact sturdy form. If you missed the post showing how I made my turtle you can see it >>here<<
Hosta in Bloom!
I like the flowers on all hosta, so I was shocked to find out a couple of years ago some people cut the scapes off before they can bloom! Above is a close up of the bloom on Blue Mouse Ears.
Prairies Edge is flowering. I wasn’t sure if I liked this one when I first got it, but it adds a nice bright spot to the garden. You can see the stupid May Flies hanging out on some of the leaves. Some of the leaf damage might be from slugs, I suspect maple keys are the culprit for the two holes though.
Diamond Lake is also in bloom. The leaves on this one are more silvery than blue. Both Diamond Lake and Prairies Edge seem to have a more upright habit. It will be interesting to see how they look in a couple of years with some size on them. Both seem to like their new home in the back garden.
Mosquitoes are fierce this year
With so much rain this spring there is a lot of standing water around. Since mosquitoes can basically breed in a bottle cap, there are a lot of them this year! I’m just one giant mosquito bite at this point. Our backyard has always been a haven for them because of all the shade and I’ve been back there a lot this year working on the new garden.
I know there are tons of “Plant This To Keep Mosquitoes Away” type articles out there. Personally I think every one of them is absolute hogwash. They all smell lovely, but mosquitoes don’t give a flying f*** about some lemony smelling citronella. So I rely on two things to make the mosquitoes bearable. DEET and an oscillating fan. An oscillating fan on the deck makes it possible to sit outside in the evening, and even keeps the flies away when they’re being miserable little jerks and chewing on ankles.
May Flies
I made a horrible mistake this week. One evening I went to sit outside and turned the outside lights on. I realized it was raining and went back in the house. I left the lights on! So now my house is absolutely covered in fish flies. It’s a bit soon to wash the siding – I don’t know if they are finished yet – but I suspect I’ll be looking after that chore one evening this week. I have swags of cobweb and dead fish flies hanging from the outside lights and it’s looks disgusting.
I used to use my power washer for that job, but it’s a cranky beast. Now I just use a scrub brush on an extension pole and a hose. I can have the house entire house clean in the time I would normally have spent fighting with the power washer and sulking. My favorite detergent for the flashing and eaves troughs is Mean Green Cleaner. I don’t know if the green refers to the color or that it is environmental, but it does a wicked job of getting the white flashing clean.
And that’s it! Finally it’s almost late enough to start working outside. Have a great Sunday!
