I’m doing my best not to be daunted by a weather forecast that shows no sunny days until May 16th. Ahem. That’s ten days from now. And our temps look to be in the fifties, which is cooler than normal at this time of year.
Ah well. What can you do? Absolutely nothing.
Rain all day yesterday and more headed our way today. I’m hoping I can find a pocket of dry weather because I have to load up the car to recycle today.
I know. My life is very exciting.
This morning:
Right outside the living room window.
When he turned in this direction and proceeded to head into the big garden bed, the front door was opened and a voice said “Ummm….No.” And he obligingly took off. I don’t kid myself, though. Someone, who shall be nameless as he could be any one of a number of bunnies, ate my hyacinth flowers and chomped on a day lily.
There are plenty of weeds, my friend. Please limit your dining to them.
Outside the kitchen window:
A tiny sparrow.
A tiny female goldfinch.
And her flashier partner, the male.
All three of them were dining on dandelions.
Be my guest!
Don has had to grow his hair long for this role he’s playing. He sent me a selfie the other day and I nearly gasped. Wow. It’s long. In fact, when he face-timed with Little Z the other day, Z said, “What happened to your hair?”
Yep, Little Z, it’s a bit too long for my taste, but the actor’s life involves sacrifices. (I think Don is actually enjoying it.) I had a long conversation with my little nephew last night. He was unusually chatty and made me laugh out loud several times. I love that boy.
Well, off to tackle exciting things like recycling (aka going to the former dump which is now called the Transfer Station) and running to the grocery store.
Happy Saturday.
All of your wildlife and the perky spring greens popping up—beautiful. I’m getting excited to be there, in your neck of the woods!
I take it that you are not a fan of dandelion greens? They are tender and relatively sweet this time of year. Wilt some by chopping the leaves and marinating them for an hour or so, in a mixture of salt, balamic vinegar, minced garlic, and olive oil. Pretty yummy, and a staple on our menu whenever our Argentinian son-in-law visits. He’s always so amazed that they grow wild around the lake!
Any photos of long-haired Don?
Not that I’m not a fan, just have no desire to pick them and cook them! I leave them for the critters!
The photo he sent me, but I’ll wait until he has one he approves of!
Oh, no cooking! Just the salt and vinegar wilts them.
Lovely photos as usual, Claudia.
We have a bit of drippy rain this morning here in SoCalif; kind of a shock, since it’s been so hot.
Wondering why you’ve never taken to growing a veggie garden. Did you decide to limit to flowers because you have good farmers’ markets in the area?
Don said it was raining – which he had been missing, so I’m sure he’s happy.
I have no interest in growing veggies, for some reason. We have plenty of farms around here and we can get veggies readily. Plus vegetable gardens take a lot of work and don’t thrive when one or both of the gardeners have to be away for long periods of time!
I guess it’s my husband (enjoying it) and our dearth of farmers’ markets – can you imagine, in the center of AG-Calif, that they are so few & far between?! – which got me hooked on a few veggie plants grown at home. I continue to be horrified by the amount of pesticides on veggies and fruits I love; I want what’s do-able, for us, in the yard. It is indeed a lot of water and work if you go bigger but I’m mostly ‘farming’ (ha) in just a few containers and three raised beds my husband threw together. I’m looking forward to my lemon cucumbers, Japanese cukes, mini eggplants, yellow squash, two varieties of zucchini, lots and lots of different kinds of tomatoes, bell peppers and pole beans (weren’t going to do green beans this year but then my husband couldn’t resist; he’s gonna try a patch of them up on our hillside which will be all his ‘deal’ because it’s a pain to haul water up there); it all mostly takes a surprising amount of small space (our raised bed planters aren’t big). I grow mints, basil and rosemary – mostly just because I love how they smell when I pinch a sprig between my fingers or when I water them; heady scents. I’m no cook in the kitchen; I know I should be utilizing the herbs for consumption and not just decoration. I’m going to start trying some of the chocolate mint in chilled seltzer water and a new plan this summer is to see if I can utilize a spiralizer I got, to make zoodles (zucchini noodles) so that I can enjoy ‘pasta’ dishes without it being such a carb load when really, for me, it’s the sauces that really send me anyway when it comes to Italy-inspired food. If I had a nearer, trustworthy farmer’s market, I doubt I’d be doing the grow-your-own thing. Although a little bit of a home veggie garden is kinda fun; again, you can stick a tomato plant just about anywhere here and, before you know it, little cherry tomatoes on the vine appear, almost reminding me of a Christmas tree with ornaments! A medical clinic I go to has some requisite blah landscaping and the back-office staff has planted a few tomatoes amid the no-name shrubs, just for their own fun and use while they’re at work, like on their breaks and lunch hour; I think it’s pretty clever of them. I’ve seen this two places now; must be a trend. I bet they share the yield with the doctors who gave them the nod they could go ahead with the ‘project’ in the first place!
The ‘rain’ where we are (‘way north of Don) was a big bunch ‘o nuth’in but it was VERY nice to be cooler today; I’m sure we stayed in the 70s which was a big treat after so many days of hot-hot-hot. Lots of magnificent cloud play. Hope you get to dry out a little tomorrow!
It was raining when I got up – groan – but it seems to have stopped. Yay!
xo
If you are conducting a poll….yes vote here, to see Don’s long tresses! We have a neighborhood chat line…there has been discussion as to what’s happened to the bunny population around here. Prevailing thoughts seem to blame our red fox population. Guess they gotta eat too. :( If it’s any consolation…we went to the dump yesterday with our yard waste. Excitement abounds! ;)
Poop on those red foxes! I know they have to eat, but this is the part of the natural world I don’t like. Sigh.
Yeah…I know it’s survival of the fittest and all that…but….I do miss my bunnies! ;)
Can’t they just eat greens and healthy things? I do!
Well, after further research, it appears they will eat berries, and grasses…they also eat crickets and other insects. And of course, rabbits and mice. I think you also have to consider the Cooper’s hawks that live here…and the coyotes too! It’s a relative jungle out there! ;)
Yes, we have hawks and coyotes, too!
Sorry about your wet and gloomy weather. I have a carload of donations to go to two thrift stores. I’m assuming you don’t have curbside recycling pick-up where you live? We get a choice of two sizes of garbage bins (mine is the smaller one, since the most waste I really produce is the cat litter), and paying for garbage pick up entitles customers to have a large blue bin for recyclables and a large green bin for compostables. Every week, my garbage bin is usually filled because of cat litter, and my compostable bin is filled with kitchen and garden compostables. I can take my blue bin to the curb every other week if I want, since I don’t generate enough to fill the bin every week. I’m really trying to be mindful of buying in bulk, not buying packaged foods, and using reusable produce bags.
We live on a county road. If we want curbside trash pickup we have to pay for it. We have to pay a bit for our Transfer Station, as well, but it’s less than curbside pickup, so we do it that way.
I pay for the pick up too. We’re required to have curbside garbage service. The fees come with free hazardous waste drop off and one small dumpster a year. In my over 20 years at this house, I’ve never ordered the complimentary dumpster. I never have large items or too much garbage the weekly pick up can’t handle.
Gosh, I wish they’d give us a small dumpster once a year! We need to get rid of things in the shed!
We are a bit soggy here too, but that being said the grass has never looked better! You have a chipping sparrow, they do not appear here in RI. We have house sparrow and we have to keep them out of our feeder with small wires. It is in their nature to avoid them. Funny, it bothers no other birds. Don’t feel too bad I do have one unwired feeder just for them. In NH they have transfer stations but my daughter still calls it the dump. in fact they have a dump story at NH transfer stations. You just leave thing there and they are free. Lots of “stuff” from people cleaning out houses, dishes ,toys, lamps, ski things. Fun to shop at the dump store. Stay dry.
Everyone around here calls it the dump, too!
Loved the bird pictures! I have my car loaded with recycling as well, and sometimes it stays all week due to the sketchy schedule of our recycling center. It doesn’t look nice when I open the back of the car and there are bags and sacks and boxes of newspaper and plastic. Being a friend to the earth …..worth it! Have a great Saturday!
Our transfer station has cut its hours, so we are limited as to when we can use it. Only three days a week, which is a pain in the tush!
I love dandelion greens in my morning green juice, but I have to buy them when they are available. Pesticides around here. Living in the country does mean pesky animals eating the garden beds, but look how cute they are. I would love to see Don’s new look. xo Laura
They are very cute!
Ha-ha! Little Z is a hoot! Both my boys had very long hair for their passport photos, which my husband doesn’t like … they both have short hair now, so always get a double take when presenting it at customs. Sweet bunny and birdies. If only the little critters of the world would eat the free stuff. :) . I’m sure my boy is not liking constant rain. We’ve had dust for so long but it’s getting a bit better.
I wish they’d become vegetarians, than all the animals would be safe – at least from each other.
It is sunny but cool here today and the wind she is a blowin!! I love your bird photos. I have screens on my windows so my photos out of them are awful. If I open my door the birds fly away. So I just enjoy them through my windows. I too would love to see a long haired Don, will they take promo pics out there? Anyway, he sounds like he is doing well but missing you and home of course. Oh Little Z reminds me so much of Tiger when you or Meredith talk about him. Tiger has lost his first tooth and was quite excited about it. I took Mom to get a haircut and to the grocery store today and now I need to pot a few things we bought the other day. I think tomorrow will be a day of rest after church! Hugs!
We had a lot of wind this week and some more this afternoon, but it’s finally calmed down! They’ll take production photos at some point so maybe we can get one of them for the blog!
Love the bird pics! I love Chipping Sparrows. That tiny chip sound they make is adorable. My wrens showed up yesterday. Every single year the 1st week of May. Their song makes me so happy! They are already moving into all available bird house real estate in the yard.
My daughter and I visited the Amish greenhouses today. So very beautiful. I found some amazing things to plant. Hanging baskets, which are just huge were $15.50 to $18.50. Just wonderful things to see. We both took a lot of pictures. Lots of people in the fields with their big teams of horses plowing as we drove through the countryside, too. That was so interesting to watch. Very different making a turn in a field with a team of 6 horses across ~ compared to a tractor. A very fun day, indeed!
We have so many bunnies! And gophers! (And gopher holes.) I hope the forecast is wrong and you have sun a lot sooner than in 16 days! We are supposed to have a very cool May. We brought all the flowers and plants home and put them right into the garage. Frost warnings for tonight and tomorrow night for sure. We are only in the low to mid 60’s all week.
Hope your trip to the Transfer Station was successful. Something to cross off the “To Do” list. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.
I guess our wrens must be here, but I haven’t noticed them yet! We have at least two bunnies (that I’ve seen) I’m sure there are more and I’ve only had one sighting of Henry so far. He’s elusive, that boy! Your day with your daughter sounds like it was lovely!
Are these Amish greenhouses in your state or do you drive to a neighboring state? It sounds fascinating. I definitely want to visit Wisconsin in the next few years. I don’t know why, but I tend to associate the Amish with Pennsylvania although my husband just reminded me that they are spread out over many states.
I spoke at length with a guy from Madison the other day while waiting for my husband to get an xray and it was so clear how much this young man missed his home state, talking about the friendly people and the rural areas of Wisconsin with so many farms. He seemed homesick, miles away here in Calif. (Said his girlfriend is from Calif.) He was a very tall, blonde, ruddy-faced (handsome!), strong-looking, husky (not fat) guy; kinda reminded me of someone maybe with Scandinavian ancestry. (I had an uncle who was Swedish; reminded me a little of him.)
Yes, this was in Wisconsin. We live about 25 miles west of Madison, and the Amish area which we adventured to today was about 35 miles north and west of us near Loganville and Hillpoint, WI. It was a gorgeous day, and seeing those farmers out with those big horses as they disked the fields was just jaw-dropping to see. They stand as they drive the horses through the field with the disk behind them which was pretty impressive. Then a few miles away are fields with “today’s farmers” using huge air conditioned tractors. Worlds apart in just a few miles.
There are many Amish areas in the midwest. They likely are not as concentrated with the population that there is in the Pennsylvania area. And there are many, many Scandinavians in Wisconsin ~ Minnesota (i.e. Minnesota Vikings) for sure!!
I’m terribly ignorant of Wisconsin, Minnesota (Iowa, the Dakotas; Illinois, etc.)…so thanks for educating me and replying. (Also thanks to Claudia for a little ‘shared’ conversation on the blog!) I couldn’t get that vision out of my head when you said what a sight it is to see a farmer make a turn in a field with a team of horses compared to a tractor. I can’t wait to see so many interesting places in the U.S. that I’ve missed so far, out here on the ‘edge’, many miles west in California at land’s end. I happened on to a PBS show today (P. Allen Smith, the gardener guy) all about Natchez, Mississippi and its endeavors to preserve historical buildings (1700s, 1800s; antebellum-era). Funny, the things we eventually learn, but I’d always thought it was a big city, only to read later that Natchez has a population of just 15,000. Anyway, another intriguing place to go! One of these days, I’ll be one eager tourist…