Wolf's Den

So this year I got a late start, but I finally got my seeds started last night.

( Continued.... )

I did manage to get off my ass, get out of my pjs and go to the store.

Need corn on the cob for dinner after all. And milk. Can't have iced chai without milk.

And I wasn't carded for Mark's Widmer Hefeweizen.   *sniffs*

I also weeded the front Iris bed. Where those weeds came from is beyond me, but damn that soil felt good. Nicely warmed from the sun, and still cool where the peppers were. Just barely moist from 2 days of rain too. Mm... silky dirt under me nails and between me fingers.. ahem sorry.

So I like gardening and playing in the dirt, sue me.

But it pays off....

Train tix to Michigan have been reserved. I'll stop stressing when they are actually here, in my greedy hands. Greedy? Yes, because I want them NOW. Because it confirms that yes, we ARE going home, well, my home, this summer for an entire week. And my mom can now reassure Allison that yes, Aunt Wolf is coming home this year. Doing this once a year doesn't seem like near enough anymore.

Ok, that was ... odd.. my delete key quit working for a second or two. So not a good thing.

I could go outside and finish that last brick bed that needs mortering, except it rained for the last 2 days, so it's rather wet right now. Not that I'm complaining, as we needed the rain badly.
Can't transplant the Irises, as I want to wait until a week or so before we leave to dig up the ones I'm taking to my parents. No sense getting them re-established only to move them again.

Can't really play Sims2, because it is rather discouraing to play for 5 minutes, finger poised over the windows button for when the screen starts glitching. And never knowing if when it goes to the desktop, if the game will come back up. Or if the computer will shut down. Or a myriad of other issues.. like it suddenly takes a nose dive out the window. Ok, so it won't do that.. yet.

Hoping to get a new card on Friday- 512mb ATI Radeon X1950 Crossfire. $430.00 at Best Buy. Yeah. Steve, a regular, is supposed to be talking to his computer guy and checking into getting me one at cost, if possible. Not holding my breath while keeping my fingers crossed. Talented, aren't I?

As far as fabric art goes, the most recent thing I've been working on is a quilt block for 'The Sunbonnet sue fights Breast Cancer Project'. I'm supposed to be doing a 'Bad Sue' block, yet compared to some of the blocks I'm looking at, mine is rather tame. No naked Sue on mine, sorry. Mine does, however, reflect my green thumb abit. Heh. Need to get it finished by Friday, so it can be sent out on Monday. Yes, yes, there'll be pics. Cripes.

Random Sims2 pic spam-

Rohan TreGarde, modeling awesome clothing/piercings by Aikea Guinea. Also is a sneak preview into the next chapter of the Ramaswami Clan.


The chickadees are showing their youngens where the bird feeders are. Namely, the only one I keep filled regularly, on the porch. Man are they loud. Had a Hairy Woodpecker pair on the Woodpecker feeder yesterday. As soon as the photos are uploaded from the camera, as well as the video, I'll post them.

Dante isn't much likeing the weather lately. She's moving well, but super slow. I think she's also losing bladder control when she's deeply asleep. She is 13.5 yrs old after all, so it's be to be expected. Really glad I have a steamcleaner though. Haven't seen much of a difference after 2 months on Synovi , honestly. She just doesn't move around as much. Reaffirms my belief that this is her last year.

The tumor/mass has grown as well. It's nearly twice the size it was 2 months ago. Still not doing anything about it. Old age will get her before any cancer will. And I refuse to believe that it is possibly cancer anyway. There's no point.

Still bored... guess I'll go do the dishes and get tonight's steaks marinating.

They're calling for a Frost Advisory tonight. SAying to cover or bring in young plants, etc.

DO THEY REALISE HOW MANY PLANTS I HAVE??!?

My porch is now covered with potted plants. My two purple Wisteria in their pots look like plastic wrapped blobs, the poor things.

Last Frost/Freeze Date for here was supposed to be yesterday. Mother Nature is playing tricks again.

Hunt down and KILL!KILL!KILL! that very preggers Black Widow Spider that I wounded ( Idropped the brick it was on when it flipped over, I saw the hourglass and it was an inch from me fingers, it lost at least a leg, possibly got squished abit more, but I can't seem to find the damn thing now, so I'm hoping it crawls off and dies) and is now hiding in the very large and mean (it likes to stab me with its leaves) Yucca plant.

Yup.


Oh and finish mortering the front brick flower bed so I can dig up the dirt and mix some good topsoil and fertilizer in it for transplanting the Irises to after they all (ye gods there's alot of flower stalks this year) finish flowering.}:P

Ok, so it rarely fails..

I just finished running the sprinklers on the gardens... what there is of them after all this heat.

And it'd clouded over, threatening to rain. Maybe this time it actually will, instead of playing with us.

Real update in abit, I swear.

Edit- 154pm- Oo! look! Real downpours! Real thunder! Yay!

Edit-221pm- Well that lasted maybe 15 minutes. But the temp dropped from 92 degrees to a balmy 79 degrees. Wow. And there's more storm clouds rolling in, so hopefully, more rain will be on the way. 

starsong- I'll have some photos that you'll drool over and gnash your teeth at me for in abit.}:P

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley



Off to see if I can find more Eastern Black KingSnakes in the yard before it decides to rain...

Happy Summer Solstice.

229pm- Well that took less time than I thought. Got the kennel moved up against the fence. Got the rest of the main leaf pile cleaned up. Got the leaves that were behind the kennel(between the kennel and the house) raked into a pile.

Moved the 2 landscaping timbers to the bottom of the hill. Moved the old pallet the doghouse had been on to keep it out of the wet when it rained. And found exactly zero snakes(damn). Am hot and sweaty now, think I even got abit of sun, though I was in mostly shade.

Now to attempt to enjoy a glass of iced chai in peace.... yeah right, Aries will put a stop to that.

Tomorrow if it's not raining, I'll cleanup the rest of the leaves, after the garbage runs and I wake up of course. Then work on clearing the rest of that area out. I forgot how open it is without the kennel in the way. Looks a hel of alot better already. 

Hopefully by the end of summer, I'll have a patio to dye on out there, and the rest of the fence up.

Well, maybe not the rest of the fence, but the patio for sure. After we replace the cracked water pump on the Banshee Car. And get an oil change on the Demon Truck.

If I'm lucky, I'll have the reworked pond up and running by the end of summer as well, especially since I have the liner and pump already, and the rocks of course. Just need to finish digging the expansion out.

Oh look, a thunderstorm is moving in. Guess I'm definately done outside for the day. Bummer. 

But that's ok! I have 16 pieces of fabric that's been stewing in dye for...*mutters* 4 days....oops. Ah well, they come out intensely dark after that long anyway.}:P

After I make Turtle Brownies...

Mark made me stay in bed most of yesterday. So with much gnashing of the teeth and flailing of the arms, I did. Actually, it wasn't much of a protest. Heh. I feel 75% better today and can talk without breaking into a coughing fit, and actually got more than an hour worth of sleep due to coughing last night.
Anyway. 
The Robin's Egg Blue came out the exact same shade as the sample, I worried for nothing. The green (Desert Green, Light Hue) is still in the dye bath(oops, but so not my fault, it's Mark's for not letting me get out of bed}:P), it'll be rinsed tonight, but looks relatively good, some mottling, not too much tho.

The construction over the hill where they've cleared the dense woods is definately driving the smaller wildlife down into my neighbor hood. This big guy was in the backyard Friday afternoon. The photos aren't real good due to the swiftness with which he was moving.
 
(Woodchuck, back hill, May 2006)(Japanese 6-2, Bronze(large rings),and Copper(small rings) )



I recall seeing entries about fish that SOMEONE was cooking up Fri? Sat? night? for their hubby. Well, this is why Mark keeps me around-

(Grilled Steak, Broccoli in White Chedder, Rice)

Cause I can GRILL like no one he knows.}:P Damn that steak was good. Nice and tender, perfectly seasoned. *pats self on back*

Is this not the epitome of laziness in a cat? Yes, Max is laying down with his head in the measuring cup drinking the water. I learned that I have to keep it full when he started drinking out of it while I was ironing that 45 step color wheel. Otherwise I get serious Overlord Glares.


(Max, May 2006)

He actually misjudged a jump today and fell, and DID NOT land on his feet, poor guy. He was so embarressed. Methinks he seriously needs to lose some weight before trying to be Mr. Graceful again.


(Dante-Inu, May 2006, with her 'Go away Mom!' look)

Dante is being Dante. She is seriously acting as if there was never anything wrong. I've taken up calling her Miss Drama Queen now. She pouted yesterday because she had to stay downstairs with Mark all day and couldn't hang out with me. I've been brushing her every other day lately, as she's blowing coat now. I'm up to 3 bags of shed fur from her. Need to find someone who can clean and spin it for me, then can make a small blanket of something out of it for me.}:) any takers? }:P

It took a few weeks, but my fingers remembered finally how to do Japanese 6-2 chainmaille.


I tried doing some Dragon Weave earlier, but unfortunately, I don't have large rings in a small enough gauge to work with, but I figured out how to do it, so as soon as I can get some more rings in a smaller gauge, I'll be working up a cuff or two in that.


(Japanese 6-2, Bronze(large rings) and Copper(small rings) )
In the meantime, I'm working up a 1 1/4" wide cuff in the Japanese 6-2, which if you want to be technical, is really Japanese 12-6.
Just need a clasp for it, as I don't have any in copper or bronze at the moment. But it's nice and substantial, with a good bit of weight behind it.}:) Will make a nice piece.

It got to 92 degrees here today. Can you say A/C time? Well, actually, the A/C's been on since Weds, cause it hit 88 degrees then and was 85 degrees INSIDE. O.o  It's now a comfy 73-75 degrees in here.

So I had the shit startled out of me this afternoon while outside blithely raking leaves into boxes.

This explains not only why Dante was playing in the leaf pile late last night when I let her out to go to the bathroom, but why she also was practically ujnderfoot while I was raking.

This big guy is an Eastern Black Kingsnake(confirmed by Wildlife rehab people). I was 99.9% sure that's what he was, but not positive, so Mark called Animal Control who told him to call 911(!!!???!!!), who said to call the Wildlife people.  Dante had been immediately put in the house to be safe, as she would have gone after it, most likely out of curiousity rather than protecting me, funnily enough. Luckily, she never saw it.

The pole is my garden rake, to show an approx. length of the guy, close to 5ft.  If he had been venomous, yes, I would had him killed to protect not only Dante, but the other dogs around my house.. oh and the small kids as well.  He didn't wait long to find a new hiding place after I walked away.

I know why he was in my yard. They have cleared the thick woods up the hill and are currently building houses in it's place. Driving the wildlife down and out? No, not at all. Of course not, don't even go there. Pfft.

Here! Enjoy a video of the big guy. If you listen closely, you can hear his tail rattle.}:)

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(I don't get it- the damn video shows up in my edit page, but not in the damn post???????)

"black then white are all i see in my infancy.
red & yellow then came to be, reaching out to me,
lets me see.
as below, so above & beyond, i imagine.
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
push the envelope. watch it bend.

over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
withering my intuition, missing opportunities & i must
feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

black then white are all i see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me,
lets me see there is so much more &
beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
as below, so above and beyond, i imagine.
drawn outside the lines of reason.
push the envelope. watch it bend.

over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.
feed my will to feel this moment, urging me to cross the line.
reaching out to embrace the random.
reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

i embrace my desire to,
i embrace my desire to,
feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside & weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty,
to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral,
to swing on the spiral,
to swing on the spiral of our divinity & still be a human.

with my feet upon the ground i move myself between the sounds & open wide to suck it in.
i feel it move across my skin.
i'm reaching up & reaching out.
i'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
what ever will bewilder me.
& following our will & wind we may just go where no one's been.
we'll ride the spiral to the end & may just go where no one's been.
spiral out. keep going.
spiral out. keep going.
spiral out. keep going.
spiral out. keep going."

-Tool, 'Lateralus'

Spent the last 2 days weeding the raised beds, and doing general yard cleanup. The beds look great now. Alot of stuff is up, and quite abit is blooming.

The 'Rites of Spring' Bearded Iris now has 5 open blooms, and one gone past, with several more on their way. The majority of the irises, Siberian, Bearded, Japanese(called 'flags') all have buds coming on.

The three Clematis I planted along the fence have bloomed multiple times. The Dwarf Columbine is blooming. The Black HollyHocks are a foot out of the ground and growing strong.

Two of the four Clematis at the top of the hill have bloomed, one didn't last the winter. The others are growing well tho. Found Wild Violets growing on the hill. Grass seems to have found a solid foothold there this year as well. Hopefully it'll help keep the hill from washing down so much.

Transplanted the Lamb's Ear that was trying to take over the raised bed along the fence. It's now under the Birch Tree and will have the majority of that bed to itself. Moved the yellow Bearded Iris from the side of the house, the clump at the opposite end didn't survive, knew I should have moved them last year.

The Wisteria has bloomed already. When I finish the big bed at the top of the hill, they'll most likely be transplanted up there, they aren't really happy in their containers and are grumbling about wanting more room.}:)

The Boys came outside with me for a little while. They mainly hung out in the front bed under the window, where the Butterfly Bushes and Dwarf Azalea are.

Must be nice to be a cat. Aries and Max, April 2006

 

Next up is finishing digging out the expansion for the pond.  Lost a few WaterLilies over the winter, they could only stand being in a small container for so long.  But once the pond is finished, they'll have plenty of room.

After the pond, the front yard will mostly be general upkeep. Then I can start on building a patio behind the porch for an area to do some outdoor dyeing. And we plan to finish up the fence by summer's end.  The top of the hill will be an ongoing project. Once I finish building the large brick raised bed, then I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the space. But the fence will come first. That way, I can work up there with out having to listen to Cedric and Sissy , the Shar-peis at the top of the hill, barking their fool heads off at me.

Made egg bread today, actually made Challah bread dough. It's still in the bread machine, rising. Few more minutes and I can dump it out to shape it and bake it.}:P Added a touch of Cardamon to the dough mix, so it'll be a nice sweet bread with a hint of spice. Good for snacking.

Need to get more Olive Oil. Found a recipe for Rosemary-Olive Oil bread that I want to try. Might do that tomorrow.

'Rites of Spring' Bearded Iris
The first bearded iris in my gardens to bloom this season.
More  will be here.

As it was supposed to be in the high 50's-low 60's, I decided to do some early spring cleaning/prep in the gardens.


Started by refilling the bird feeders, and suet, accidentaly shutting Dante's foot in the door, spending 15 minutes making sure she was ok and apologizing, moved the backyard fence sections that fell over and that Dante keeps getting her lead stuck on, then I went out to the front porch to cut down the dead and hibernating vines on the side of the front porch.

As I filled the feeders, I took note of the dark clouds coming over the mountains. I thought it would probably rain or snow in abit.

The intent was to chop from the top, pull them all down, go around and chop about 2 feet from the base of each vine. Then the intent was to clear off the old morning glory vines from the fence.

Got started on the chopping and not 5 minutes into it, it starts raining.

So I got the vines down at least. They are now in an untidy pile next to the porch. Heh.

Dante is now in the house. And now the kitchen floor needs mopping again. Ah well.

As an aside, new movie coming out on Jan 13th, 'Tristan and Isolde'. Wonder how badly they'll screw this legend/myth up.

20'x15' heavy duty pond liner

1,000 gal pond pump

1,000 gal pond filter, dual filtration, above ground

pond lights.

water lettuce.

free advice.

all for 550.00

Heh. Sometimes its good to know people in the business.}:P

Look! You can see the pond! And its not completely filled with waterlettuce(give it a week)! And the rest of the rocks!

( *grabs first aid kit, heh... )

There are very few plants that I can not seem to get to grow for me. Lavender is one of them.

I can not get Lavender to grow from seed whatsoever. Usually, when I buy a seedling, it dies fairly quickly. So imagine my surprise, when having bought 2 plants in 3 inch pots, and repotting them into 8 inch terra cotta with cypress mulch on top to help with the moisture retention, then almost completely ignored them...

That they not only are surviving, but have tripled in size and one has bloomed repeatedly.  (they are the two silvery green plants in the front, to the right is my Spicy Globe Basil, and Lemon Balm, in the rear is my Rosemary and part of my Jaspanese Maple, to the left is my Black Prince Daylily which will bloom for the first time this year, under the leaves of which are my Hens and Chicks. Background is the pond.)

Now if I can keep them alive through the summer, and the week I'm in Michigan, I may be able to keep them alive through the winter as well.}:) By then of course, they, as well as nearly everything else, will need bigger pots. Heh. And I'll once again scramble to find room in the house for them all.

Any one want a spider Plant baby or two or three? Mine are reproducing madly. I have 6 full grown plants with nearly 3-4 DOZEN nearly ready for potting babies and my oldest has 2 dozen stalks on it alone. I'll send them to you ready to pot, for a mere snail mail addy}:P

Some are ready NOW, some will take a week or two to grow the rootlings out more to my liking, but I'll take names if anyone wants one or two or three or a dozen...

Going to go play with dyes and fabric again, have to work tonight so will sleep this afternoon, but the morning is all mine}:P

( From my garden green... )

Beneath the Sacred Tree,
and within the protected Earth,
Nature relaxes in
Tranquil peace and quiet.

-Wolf 2004

('Unknown' Bearded Iris, Spring 2005)

The blue moss clumps
doth idle much in
the warm spring after
icy winds, dreaming of
morning and lingering in
lazy deep summer streams.

-Wolf 2004

(back- 'Rites of Spring' Bearded Iris, front- 'Unknown' Bearded Iris, spring 2005)