Tag Archives: weeding

Friday 8-9-2024

I’m going to do as much weeding as I can this morning. Temperatures are down a bit today, so it’s a good morning to be outside. I particularly want to get the trio of planters running between our front yard and the top of our driveway under control.

We have a CHANCE for rain tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, so it’s added incentive to try to have some good sessions outside today.

I had a happy surprise when we went for my husband’s haircut yesterday. I had wood-burned a plaque for our hairdresser, Michael (“MICHAEL’S MIRACLES”), and gave it to him recently. When we entered the salon, it was hung just to the left of the entrance, where you stand when he’s giving you your next appointment. To say I was thrilled is a vast understatement. :0)

I’ve started a new piece in my art room.

Heidi Stone-Pinterest

I’m becoming a ‘tough old bird.’ Our insurance company denied part of a claim on blood tests I needed for my lack of thyroid. I played the game of talk to the company, then the biller, over and over. I finally paid the bill, notified my doctor, then filed an appeal with the insurance company. Hopefully, I won’t croak due to old age before the ‘decision,’ but I refuse to simply give up without a fight.

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

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Happy August 2024

Poster My Wall

In Arkansas we’re welcoming August today with a heat index this afternoon of 112. GACK! Happily, I had a productive morning outside yesterday, reprogramming our irrigation units to each run 15 minutes. We monitored the watering yesterday afternoon and all went well.

I didn’t find any ripe tomatoes, but 2 of my tomato suckers plants are still alive, so I’m a bit hopeful now. I started on one end of the house and got 5 flower planters weeded before I got too hot. They were in the shade and the ‘excessive heat warning’ didn’t start until noon. Still, with the outside work, I came in wringing wet. I showered and washed my hair for the second time yesterday before lunch. :0)

My husband took our dog, Amber, to fill up the gas cans in preparation for the new mower to be delivered some time tomorrow. We have four, so we each grabbed two from the back of the truck to take out to the shop.

I haven’t decided if I’ll work outside again this morning or take the day off. Even with working out there in the coolest part of the day – in the shade – it took me a long time to get back to a normal temperature.

The Organized Mama

I’m going to try to get up to my art room today. I’m starting to ‘wood burn’ in my dreams now, a sure sign I need to get up there and get the new piece started.

Stay cool and enjoy your day.

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Nice Harvest 4-30-2024

Spinach
Lettuce

I had a nice harvest from our little garden this morning. I just finished washing it and putting it in gallon bags for the fridge. We’ll have some of it tonight in a chef salad for dinner.

I’m going to look online for cooking fresh leaf spinach because I’ve never done that before (even though I’m older than dirt, there are lots of things I haven’t done yet :0) )

I still have some pruning, supporting, and weeding to do out there. I’ll do another session soon.

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Tuesday Thoughts 10-3-2023

We’ll get our Jack-o-Lantern mailbox decoration up this week. We have my husband’s haircut and a couple of errands, but otherwise, a quiet day.

We took Amber back to the vet yesterday. If the cone was OFF, she messed with the stitches on her arm. If it was ON, it aggravated the mass in her neck. Her neck started to bleed pretty heavily yesterday and the stitches on her arm were in shreds. The vet looked her over, decided she was healing well. The blood was draining from the abscess in her neck. End result – the cone is OFF. She is free to kick and chew whatever parts she wants. The draining has stopped for now. We are still giving her antibiotics, applying eye cream, and cleaning the wounds daily.

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I’m doing several weeding sessions each day, trying to clear the area to the side of the shop that is between our house and the garden. There are a gazillion or so ‘weed trees’ that are too much for the weed whacker. I’m pulling them out, 15 minutes or so at a time, until I get to the place I can cut the rest down with the weed eater. When I finish THAT, my plan is to spray the whole area with KillzAll. There is no reason for grass or weeds there. There is some gravel underneath. So this is a multi-layer project I’ll do a bit at a time.

We’re supposed to get a cool front and rain tomorrow and Thursday, so I’ll redouble my efforts on the weed trees today.

I hope that you have a really nice day.

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Law of the Rain

Jae Margal on Twitter

My husband said he was taking the dog and they were going to get the mail. I reminded him that this was Labor Day, so no mail. I told him I was going to mix up some KillzALL and was going to weed the rocks in the back bed. He decided to go with me – an unusual, but welcome thing.

I mixed up the spray container of KillzALL and brought my knee pad and gloves. I started weeding the rock bed and he started to spray the weed killer around the deck.

The skies opened up and POURED on us with no warning whatsoever. We dashed – as fast as old people can – into the garage and laughed as we dripped. We closed the garage door and came in. I’m still dripping a bit as I type this. We both have a cup of coffee and will probably try to work again after lunch.

Murphy’s Law – Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives – whichever or both – says that particularly when the TWO of us agree to work in the yard, we will get summarily drowned.

Mother Nature has a keen sense of humor.

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‘Niche’ Planter – Before and After

This is obviously “Before” this morning’s work.

It looks a bit better now, I think. When I got the weeds and Bermuda out, I found that grasshoppers have been gorging on the iris spears. I’ll go back out later with my EIGHT spray and hose the sweet iris plants down.

The NEXT outside project is gathering tomatoes and then cleaning up the two planters. This has been an awful year for veggies. My main square foot garden plants started out well, then got drowned by all the rain, beaten down by hail, and then baked by the sun, over and over again. I’ll need to clean that up later, as well.

The tomatoes LOOKED like they were doing well, but the tomatoes were cherry tomatoes, rather than fulls-sized, and were ‘off’ in flavor. I’ve gathered the few full-sized ones from time to time. My husband pronounced THEM ‘mealy’ and wouldn’t eat but a sparse few here and there, so I lost interest. I’ll see what I can salvage and then clean things out. Some years just aren’t good ones for veggies.

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Wednesday 7-12-2023

Unknown

After the rain stopped yesterday, I had two good sessions in the yard. I re-weeded the trio of planters

that run between our front yard and the driveway that had already sprouted up with the rain and the sun we’ve been having.

The second seession also included weeding the brick planter that faces the front yard to the side of our garage where the elephant ear plants are trying to come up.

After the two sessions and before bed, I took a long shower. That helped, but I’m still feeling much older than usual this morning.

This morning I’ll tackle the two brick planters on either side of the garage pad. Both are terribly overgrown, as you can see in these pics –

I’m not sure how far I’ll get, since we’re under an “Excessive Heat Warning” today, but I’ll take it a bit at a time and rest and drink a lot of water between sessions.

If the grass dries up sufficiently, I think my husband is planning to mow. Then the yard will start looking like someone cares. :0)

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Monday, July 10, 2023

Devon-Pinterest

I would LOVE to have a mural like this in my home. At least I can enjoy it here with you…

It is NOT raining this morning and the sun is actually out. Of course, NOW the weather folks are warning of intense heat again. :0(

We’ll get our chores out of the way soon with gathering trash and driving it down for pickup tomorrow, getting our mails, and replenishing groceries. The rest of the day is free.

The Arkansas Democrat

We took a walk around the yard last night to get a bit of exercise and fresh air. Everything needs to be weeded. The combination of daily rains and then sun has made the weeds explode with health. EVERYTHING needs my attention. It makes me tired to even LOOK at it.

Veronika’s Kitchen

Yesterday I did one of our grilling recipes, but INSIDE, since our weather has been so unpredictable. I fixed kielbasa, onions, potatoes, broccoli and tomatoes as a kind of stir fry. It was a nice change and we enjoyed it.

If the stars align, I’m thinking of getting up to my art room for at least a short time today to get things going on the Christmas presents I want to make for my friends this year. I’m planning to try to etch some drinking glasses, personalizing each one. We’ll see how things go.

Have a wonderful Monday. Make this the start of a happy, calm, productive week. Take care!

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Phase 1 Done

Phase 1 (of 3) is done!

I just came in from weeding the garden boxes. (Phase 1)

I will harvest the head lettuce over the next week or so, depending on the weather. (Phase 2)

The last phase is finishing cleaning out the 2nd of the two boxes whose bottoms gave up so that we can rebuild them when the time seems right.

Since my spinach and head lettuce crop has gone so fast due to Mother Nature sending way too much rain, yo-yo temps and premature summer temperatures now, I’m going to think about whether I want to replant with whatever is available that looks good at the sources in town.

I brought in 3 heads of lettuce that are soaking in the sink now. I’ll clean them up in a few minutes. I’ll take two of them to give to our terrific hair stylist when we go for my husband’s haircut tomorrow. Guess who will be having some salad tonight!

Tomorrow I’ll check on the tomatoes on the opposite end of our yard and take some pics to share with you.

Hope you’re having a nice Tuesday.

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Thursday 6-1-2023

World of Printables

I’m hoping that June will be a wonderful month for all of us. Mother Nature has decided that summer has begun here in Arkansas. It’s hot in the afternoons with high humidity now, causing us to keep the house closed and turn on the a/c. I hope we’re not finished with spring yet, but I’m having to adapt my time outside already so I don’t boil like an egg out there.

I only put in one session of weeding yesterday. It was simply too hot for me yesterday afternoon. I think I told you that my spinach was already bolting, so I pulled all those plants out. This year was a bust for spinach after I was SO happy to find a whole flat of great looking plants. The weather was totally wonky, going from cool to too hot and back over and over, plus severe weather rains, hail, and flying hairballs. The spinach just finally gave up, sending shoots up into the air in surrender. Now I’m trying to save the head lettuce. The first step is the weeding, and I’ll try to get more of that done this morning.

I’m in a bit of withdrawal now that Iam Tongi won American Idol and there are no new performances each week. I really enjoy watching him perform. His latest is a single, “I’ll Be Seeing You.” He will also be performing in the “Beach It “ Country Music Festival at 2:40pm June 23rd, so that gives us something to look forward to.

I hope that this month brings you joy.

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Saturday 5-13-2023

Tenor

You probably won’t believe this, but it’s been raining here – AGAIN. It has stopped for a minute now, and the sun is out, but we’re due for thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. The exact quote is, “Off and on downpours.” Oh, GOOD!

IF the weather cooperates, I’m planning to do more weeding in my veggie garden and check my tomatoes this afternoon. I did some yesterday, but the weeds have sprung up while I was unable to get out there, so there is a lot to do to get things good out there again. I may also do more harvesting this weekend.

The rose bushes I cut WAAAAAAAAY back for the winter are blooming! I took these pics recently, and I’ll take more to share with you soon.

My next big project is to move the deck furniture from the back porch to the deck and then use the pressure hose on everything to make it nice to use outside. Then I’ll be able to wash the furniture on the back porch, plus the floor. That will probably take a couple of days or so, but we would like to get ready to cook outside, so this will be the first step if Mother Nature is smiling on us soon.

I wish you a nice Saturday.

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Progress in the Garden 6-27-2020

I recently got caught up on weeding our raised-bed, square-foot garden. In this picture, you can see that I have onions in most of this planter box and part of another. I read that the ones which have shot the greenery up and have bloomed are the ones we should eat first, because they won’t dry and store well. I have also read that it doesn’t matter that the others are losing their greenery. They will continue to get larger if I just leave them where they are.

 

 

This is another wide shot of the garden. It’s hard to show you the whole thing at once. What you are looking at is SIX 4’x4’x8″ wooden boxes with drain holes set into metal supports about my chest level. They are tied together with hoses, with a sprinkler in the center of each box, so we can water each day for a specified time. (Later on in the summer, the sun will be so strong that it doesn’t matter how much you try to water, things will simply burn up.) For now the plants are happy.

I have planted zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. I will add some radishes at some point, but I’m keeping things simple this year. The plants have gotten larger, but haven’t shot out vines yet.

It took me two days to get everything weeded and under reasonable control.  You can see the size of the onions.

I also have empty, weeded squares now, where I can plant radish seeds. My two little bitty celery plants are still alive. I have no clue when I am supposed to tie them up (this is supposed to result in the nice celery stalks you get at the grocery store. I’ll see if I can find some information.

I showed you the tomato plants yesterday. We are looking forward to enjoying some sliced tomatoes with our dinner tonight!

Today will be hot and humid. Right now we’re enjoying have the doors open and a nice breeze coming through. Later today, though, we’ll close up, not only because of comfort, but because the dust cloud from the Sahara is due this afternoon and tomorrow.

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Yippeeeee!

picturequotes.com

Things are quiet so far today, and for that I am truly thankful.

I’m planning to head out to my garden after lunch to catch up on the weeding in my veggie planter boxes. I’m going to TRY to transplant two celery plants I started in the kitchen recently. If I have time and energy, I’ll do more weed killer spraying. This is all dependent on our weather cooperating, though.

Our forecast is for 100% chance of rain this afternoon. We had a good shower yesterday, and more is forecast for tomorrow. I should have expected all this rain. We just finished repairing our irrigation system. :0)

Yesterday I vacuumed the first floor tiled areas (kitchen, pantry, utility room, dining area, and two half-baths.) I also did PART of the carpeted first floor area yesterday, finishing it up this morning. I’m always amazed and disgusted at how MUCH dog and cat hair, plus dirt, plus ‘whatever’ I get every time. I’m lucky to have good vacuums. I refuse to vacuum more than every other day, though, so animal hair reigns here.

I was really tired when it was time to fix dinner. My husband twisted my arm :0)  and we called in and picked up fried rice for each of us. The restaurant is still on take-out only, and has simplified to offer only the medium size, so we have plenty for dinner tonight, too. That said, I’m planning to make a loaf of keto bread this afternoon.

I hope you’re having a fine day today and doing something FUN.

 

 

 

 

 

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Progress in the Garden 5-9-2020

I spent most of the day in my veggie garden today. I started weeding and harvesting the lettuce, brought that in and rested. Then I went out again and did the same, bringing in another full basket. I then weed whacked under the garden boxes, and finally sprayed weed killer under the boxes and around the inside perimeter.

Our weather forecast for next week is rain every day except Thursday, and we have a 60% to 80% chance each day. That’s a LOT of rain. We may need a boat by the end of the week.

 

So that meant that we basically had today and tomorrow to try to get the yard and garden under as good control as possible before the rain starts. My husband mowed the yard.

 

I got the garden under control and will do a lot of weed whacking and clean up tomorrow.

 

My plants are doing well so far. Everything is looking healthy and happy.

 

I took this close up to show you that the lettuce, as well as providing lots of leaves for salads, is starting to form heads!

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Fun Outside

Since we’re supposed to have thunderstorms tomorrow, I got outside and tried to get some things accomplished before the rain comes.

Our onion sets are still doing well. I weeded another 4 foot x 4 foot planter in the garden today. I have two more to weed (we have SIX 4 foot x 4 foot planters that are chest high) and then I can start adding Mel’s Mix to top them off for planting when the weather calms down.

I spread fertilizer in the flower planters around the yard, hoping it will soak in with the rain tomorrow.

I told you that my seeds in the greenhouse failed to sprout, so I started over day before yesterday. I checked them for water today and hope I will be able to show you sprouts soon!

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I Lied…

Jen's Creative Media Blog

Jen’s Creative Media Blog

It’s just before 5pm and it’s starting to get dark outside. I just came in from pruning and cleaning out the last of the large planters. I didn’t even THINK about mulching today, or get to my last section on my yoga DVD. :0(

Tomorrow is another day, however, and my INTENTIONS are to get three things accomplished by the end of the weekend:

  1. spreading mulch into the freshly cleaned out planters,
  2. getting the snow tires on our Honda truck
  3. Do the “overall flow” section of my ‘yoga for old folks’ DVD set

If I get anything ELSE accomplished by the end of the weekend, that will be gravy.

Now I’ll figure out some dinner for us and then do some serious relaxing tonight.

I hope YOU had a wonderful day, too.

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