Saturday, June 23, 2007

Alabama Drought '07

The on-going drought here in some of the southern states is absolutely devastating! My fish pond is down by two feet and I worry about all the many stocked fish we have. So far no fish kill, but my dh tells me fish are dying in ponds in Montgomery now. I pray for a tropical storm or tropical depression daily...in fact off and on ALL DAY! Since I live on a wetland, it's not as bad as some have it, but I am starting to see leaf kill on some of the plants on higher ground.

We have a new puppy. His name is Little Boo and he is twelve weeks old now. He is a PekeaChi. Have no idea if that is a recognized breed now or not and really don't care. He is a doll. Am having no problems with house training him but am exhausted from going up and down the steps so many times a day to make sure he doesn't have any accidents. He is black and white and looks more Chi than Peke.

Our son left for Florida on Monday where he and a buddy have moved. He loves the ocean and this was always his dream so now that he is 21 he decided this was the right time. He wants to eventually become a police officer and has had to wait till he turned 21. He wants to make sure that he is happy there before he joins the police force, though. Only time will tell, but so far so good.

Now that I have a completely empty nest, I find myself in a bit of a slump. I am so used to taking care of others that I feel lost. You would think with all the critters I have to care for that I wouldn't feel this way, but you can't cook for your critters and find yummy recipes to try out just for them. Well, I do make my own healthy puppy and kitty snacks) I'm sure this will pass as I have sent off two daughters into the world over a decade ago and I survived, but then again Chad-E was just a little guy then and I had my hands full.

I bought that tonic that is supposed to be so great for plants with all the vitamins/minerals/hormones. Well, guess what? It's not what it is cracked up to be at all. I have noticed absolutely no difference in any of my plants since I started using it. My own secret plant tonic does, though, so I will just continue to use it instead.

The banana plants are taking off like a rocket with these super hot days and I am keeping them well-watered so they keep it up. I must remember to water the Butia palm that Db and Chad-E gave me for Mothers Day. It's out back by the chicken coup and clothes line and I tend to forget it when I get busy out there. These 100 degree days are murder though, and I can't forget!!!

Well, It's 6:20 and I want to get out in the gardens before it gets too hot so I will quit here for now. Later gator!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Where has time gone....?

I can't believe how fast time is slipping away from me. It is so depressing to get on this computer with my slow modem. The internet is so far advancing and not considering the hell we folks on slow modems have to go through just to read our email, let alone try and surf anything on the web!

I live out in the country on a main Hwy. that is fast growing with homes for the rich. You would think that they would get DSL out here. The more the area grows, the harder it is to use the internet as the phone lines (old as it is) just get too much traffic on them. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Can't something be done about this? No, not interested in Satellite. Have heard nothing but complaints about it from folks around here.

Well, as far as the gardens go, the drought is bound to take it's toll eventually if we don't receive some blessed rain soon. The sport fishing pond is down by two feet and losing more water every day that passes with no rain or measurable rain. My water bill jumed twenty dollars last month from having to water despite using as much mulch as I can get my hands on. Guess I will have to go out into the woods with a tarp and start raking up leaves for more mulch. Unfortunately, I need to make more borders around the beds/trees in order to keep them contained or else the night wildlife just rakes it out everywhere by morning in their search for bugs.

Db has been working on the dock since the water is down. We bought a really attractive screen room at Lowes last month and had to enlarge the dock by about six inches all the way around for it to fit. We did that Sunday so now all we have to do is paint the new boards and then put the screen house up. That will be a wonderful place to get away from the nasty mosquitoes that drive us in every night.

I stopped selling plants and still have a goodly amount of Tapioca, Papaya, and some Tree Tomatoes left (Tamarillos) Guess I will pot them up to one gallons for next year and raise the price a few dollars then. Too hot to continue shipping, unfortunately. I could put up some more Yucca trunk cuttings. They would make it through the heat with no problems.

The area was cleared for the shop this morning. The gentleman was out there for about three hours bush hogging and grading. It will really be nice to have Db back here on the homestead, just like the good old days. He is really excited and has drawn more layouts for the shop building than I can count! My job will be to landscape it all, which I, too, am looking forward to.:-)

Enough for this go-round. I need to get out there and take photos of the progress from start to finish and now is as good a time as any. Later gator!