Wednesday

[Shirlv]

Good morning all, sunny and cold. Got maybe 3-4 inches of snow, roads seem to be clear and dry. Traffic outside my window hasn’t slowed down. Nothing new here. Going to call my favorite garden center and ask about spinach or lettuce plants for my container. I was too late in the fall. Think it’s too early with temperatures in the low 39s but will ask the experts. Was so nice to walk out on the balcony and cut lettuce for a salad. Liz, can you grow cold weather plants in Florida? I’m not familiar with temperatures in your area. Still watching Prime and I did subscribe to Britbox. Be safe

[Liz]

Yes, Shirl, in fall and early spring. I have some lettuce I started with seed inside and picked up several other kinds of leaf lettuce plants at the nursery. I’m already getting enough for sandwiches. I’m waiting until I think the last frost is past to put some in the ground outside. I’m using a wooden pallet. Covered the underside with landscape fabric, filled the pallet with potting soil. Room enough for 3 or 4 rows of plants. I’ll post pictures later when I have things going in the containers. Waiting for warmer weather. 31° this morning.

Have repotted 3 blueberry bushes in larger pots for my new container garden patio. They are already blooming, so we’ll see how that goes. I need to do the same with 3 potted raspberry bushes. I bought several strawberry plants already established in pots and have transplanted some to the ground and several in a large pot with pockets on the side for the plants. We’ll see which do better.

We’ll be getting our 2nd vaccine shot next week. Church is opening back up for in-person attendance, but we will probably wait awhile. The service is broadcast live on our village TV station, and we are comfortable with that for now. Small group activities are starting up again too.

Good hiking and biking weather right now in the afternoons once the sun warms things up. There is a large flock of robins in the neighborhood the last 2 days...a sign of Spring? They always stop by coming and going on their migration.

Hope everyone finds a blessing in this day, no matter where you are. Tell us what it is. Mine was the flock of robins in the yard.

[Redetotry]

Shirl, we have Prime video and my husband particularly loves Britbox. I like it too they don't seem to have all the loud noises as American videos! I am watching The Hill an High Seas currently.

Good to see talk of gardens this morning as we are looking at temps around zero this weekend. We have been lucky so far.

Mobile Groomer is coming to groom Mitzi and we are trying not to think about it as the little brat reads our mind. Last time she picked up on it she worked herself into a frenzy. Thankfully the groomer had a water issue an had to cancel.

I need to get to the bank and get $$. I keep ones, fives, etc so I can have the exact change when I pay with cash. It is shocking to see how many tellers struggle with this task! I would think everyone could count out money but maybe it went the way of the memorizing the multiplication tables. One teller placed all the ones in front of her and counted and then proceeded on to the fives etc. I was speechless! Another time the teller took over 15 minutes then debited my savings instead of my checking as was indicated on my withdrawal slip.

I'm enjoying the sunshine today after many days of clouds.

[Cudedog]

Yes, Shirl, in fall and early spring. I have some lettuce I started with seed inside and picked up several other kinds of leaf lettuce plants at the nursery. I’m already getting enough for sandwiches. I’m waiting until I think the last frost is past to put some in the ground outside. I’m using a wooden pallet. Covered the underside with landscape fabric, filled the pallet with potting soil. Room enough for 3 or 4 rows of plants. I’ll post pictures later when I have things going in the containers. Waiting for warmer weather. 31° this morning.

Shirl and Liz - You ladies have definitely inspired me not to give up on trying to grow some greens. I have not had any lettuce - or any other kind of greens - in, literally, months. I am afraid to eat greens from the store due to the pandemic (have been eating tomatoes and cucumbers, however, because these are easy to wash).

I have planted lettuce, spinich, carrots and onions in my backyard under a "cold frame" three times now (it is warm enough for lettuce here if one covers it at night). Every dang time the plants come up in a long, beautiful row they seem to be flourishing - and the next morning, when I uncover them, about half the baby plants are just. . . gone. By the second morning, the rest of them have disappeared.

Whatever-it-is doesn't seem to be eating the onions, so will try planting some onion seed in the cold frame instead of the lettuce.

The third time I planted, I used diatomaceous earth to discourage bugs (there are earwigs out there) when the plants were barely up. This time. . . ALL of the baby plants were gone the next morning. Almost as if the diatomaceous earth was some kind of yummy "seasoning".

I am now thinking it must be rodents (ick) and have ordered some mouse traps (Joe once in a while has cornered a full-size rat - EWW! - in my back yard, so I am sure there must also be mice).

In the meantime, I ordered some large clear plastic tubs with clear lids (a kind of mobile, instant, mini-greenhouse), drilled holes in the bottom, put in a layer of scoria at the bottom for drainage (scoria is volcanic cinder - a type of light-weight, porous lava) because I didn't have any gravel lying around (of course a volcano fan would have this kind of material - I picked up several five gallon buckets of the stuff from the Medicine Lake Volcano in Northern California for a Boy Scouts talk I gave some years ago) then filled the rest with potting soil, with a layer of seed starting mix on top.

At the moment, there are six rows of lovely green lettuce (three rows per tub) sprouted in the tubs, with no sign of depredation! I take the clear plastic lids off during the day, and cover the open tops of the tubs with garden cloth (to keep the hungry birds out - lots of birds out there.

In a week or so (I hope!) I the plants should be large enough to allow me to begin to harvest a few leaves.

I wanted to see how this worked before doing more tubs; since it seems to be going well I will prepare a few more tubs to grow cilantro, spinich, carrots and cabbage.

Have ordered strawberry plants which should come soon - need to get the garden predators (whatever they are) under control before putting these plants in the ground.

We’ll be getting our 2nd vaccine shot next week. Church is opening back up for in-person attendance, but we will probably wait awhile. The service is broadcast live on our village TV station, and we are comfortable with that for now. Small group activities are starting up again too.

No where to get the shot here. Looking online twice per day, although it says that I am "eligible" there is no one offering the shot for my age group.

Hope everyone finds a blessing in this day, no matter where you are. Tell us what it is. Mine was the flock of robins in the yard.

My sweet Joe boy is a blessing to me every day, in every way. Without him I am quite sure I would not have "made it" during these trying times. I thank God every day for his constant, warm and comforting presence in my life.

I think it is no accident that the word "Dog" is also the word "God" - spelled backwards. The canine species, Canis Familiaris, is one of His greatest gifts to the human race.

Anne

[MandysMom]

Anne, could your yard have moles? Look for small holes maybe an inch diameter with a tiny mound of dirt around them. They stay mostly underground and can pull plants down by the roots. Gophers are quite a bit larger and more noticeable .
I don't plant a garden because we simply don't eat many plants and son will only eat iceberg lettuce. he calls other lettuce weeds!
Dreary day here, not sure if we will see any rain or not, but likely only a sprinkle if that. Will wait for a sunny day to get to recycle center as I am not into sorting cans and bottles into bins in the rain. I need to call chiropractor as sons back is out again. Tomorrow I take Mandy cat for checkup and blood draw which means sitting in parking lot reading, while they come get her and examine, then bring her back. New vet I knew when she worked at place I've gone for years. Their owners sold to a corporation and this gal and a friend opened a clinic a couple miles further down the road from where we have gone for twenty years. Next day I do same trip with Suzie , our parrot. We have had that silly bird over 41 years ! she has watched her human brothers be born and grow to adults and has seen 5 cats live out their entire lifespans plus 16 years witn these two!
I walk on treadmill almost daily and do at least some reps on my Total Gym every day. Helping me rebuild what I lost during the early months of the pandemic. Still no date to get vaccine or for Curves to reopen to indoor workouts. County still says 65 and older, but no one is offering vaccine except to 75 and order yet. I keep checking.
Not much else to report. Have a good day.
Velda

[Cudedog]

Anne, could your yard have moles? Look for small holes maybe an inch diameter with a tiny mound of dirt around them. They stay mostly underground and can pull plants down by the roots. Gophers are quite a bit larger and more noticeable .
I don't plant a garden because we simply don't eat many plants and son will only eat iceberg lettuce. he calls other lettuce weeds!

Thanks, Velda.

Moles are a possibility. Good thought, thanks, I will keep that in mind. But there is something else going on there - some of the baby plants are just gone (moles a definite possibility), others (if I look really closely - these are hard to see) are just "stubs" barely sticking out of the ground (where before there was a leafed baby plant). These "stubs" (all that is left of the stem of the plant) make me think rodents.

Any of you gardeners out there have any other ideas?

The mouse traps should arrive tomorrow, I will need to think of a way that Joe can't trigger them (I don't want him injured).

LOL. Your son and I definitely think alike in the lettuce department. I LOVE Iceberg lettuce, in fact it is the only kind I will buy. That is, back in the days when I was still buying lettuce. . .

And, yep. . . other kinds of lettuce are just weeds, I agree there, too.

On the other hand, I am getting desperate for greens, so am trying other 'weedy' lettuce varieties.

Iceberg just can't tolerate the hot summers we have here in the central valley (although I have started some Iceberg seeds, hoping for some harvest before the weather gets too scorching). I am also trying a lettuce "Hot Weather Mix" from Burpee, which is (supposedly - everything is relative, I guess) 'heat tolerent'. Burpee also sells a variant of Iceberg called "Igloo", that is also supposed to be a bit heat tolerant - have planted some of that as well.

Will post photos of my "plastic tub mini-greenhouse" project in a day or so, when I get around to it, for anyone who might be interested.

Anne

[snowball]

spent some time outside today... just sitting in my chair fed the birds watched the quail go through had put some chicken scratch down for them they came through most by passed the scratch then some stopped and more then all the sudden I heard this sound in human words it would have been would you slow pokes hurry up as those tarring behind scooted out and on there way... it was way fun watching
I did my dishes was going to vacuum but Shadow was sleeping I will stick with that excuse... so don't know where the afternoon went dishes did take a bit though... oh yes that nap took some time out of the day
I was sitting here reading scriptures and happened to look out and the sky was just a blaze... so beautiful and lasted for a very long time wish that I had looked at the time but didn't
that theory that my friend had about the lights being moon reflection on a trailer or solar panels??? doesn't work.... the lights were 'on' last night and the moon??? hidden behind clouds...
sheila

[BarbaraRose]

Whew! Another long busy day! My co-worker who was supposed to open with me didn't show up so I was by myself for the first hour before another stylist came in. So it was just the two of us and it was very busy again. Our manager did send over a receptionist for us so that helped quite a bit. Made almost $130 in tips today doing 21 haircuts!

My feet and lower back are sore again. My big toe toenails were too long so they really hurt at the end of the day too. I meant to trim them the other day but forgot, so I got that done tonight. Tomorrow I will be working at another salon and that will probably be busy all day too since they just opened on Monday. I sure hope I get a day off this weekend!

My blessing today was a gorgeous pink sunset behind the mountains when I was leaving work! Also my kitty, Lola has been sleeping next to my pillow the past couple nights. She never sleeps that close to me. She is what I call a "look but don't touch" kitty. She usually stays about arms length away most of the time. She sure has a thing with white cats. She absolutely is terrified of them! When she sees the white stray cat, she just shrieks!! But with the black kitty, she will sit and just watch it as it eats on the deck and doesn't say a word. She freaked out with the white cat my old roommate in San Diego had too, and also with Lily, the stray Maine Coon that my neighbor now has.

The wind has really picked up tonight! But it is warm out so I have the bedroom windows open for some fresh air.

Have a good night!

[MandysMom]

Anne, this year is the first time I recall in 30 years that I've seen evidence of moles! Maybe because the early years we had indoor/ outdoor cats and then neighbors had cats but now we aren't seeing any felines patrolling. Found their holes next to front porch and out next to redwood, which might be the same mole. Haven't done anything about them yet as I have no plants I care about. But handyman Sean told me there is a trap like funnel thing you shove down in hole, they stick their head up and then can't get back out, so they become fertilizer. Not for animal lovers but if it's ou and your food supply against them, I vote for you not a mole and that type would be safe for Joe as its underground.
,
Velda