I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. The hooligans enjoyed Christmas as Santa came to visit them. They got some rawhide chews, a pull rope, and a bag of a new Purina Proplan food called Savor which they really liked. After I handed out the rawhide chews, Blackie stood there for ten minutes trying to decide if she was going to eat it of bury it. Decisions, decisions, she wasn’t hungry, but the risk of loosing it to one of the other Hooligans won out and she chewed on it for a while.
With the economy in the condition it is, the pets are really suffering. The shelters are full and a lot are being dumped out in my section of the country. Coming home yesterday I noticed what looked like a basset hound bird dog mix in the middle of nowhere and covered with ticks. I stopped and asked her what she was doing here and a little short haired starving dog comes running out of the ditch. I could take the little guy to my house as he would have been toast. It was five minutes before the shelter closed; I opened my door and the little brown one jumped in and made a several loops around the truck looking for water and something to eat. The basset mix tried to get in but her legs were too short, so I got out and boosted her in the back floor board. On the way to the shelter, the little one rolled up on the front seat and went to sleep. I felt so bad, but three Hooligans are a handful. I took pictures at the shelter and posted on all of my Facebook pages and also the shelters page. Maybe they will find a home. They both loved to ride. With a shelter so close why do people dump their animals out in the country? I’m not sure how strays happen to find me either.
Patches has renewed her love/hate relationship with the filly in the pasture behind my house now that they are allowed back in the pasture. My garden area is cleaned off and tilled waiting for spring. My mediation circle is coming along. I’ve transplanted some daylilies to it last fall and have few of my potted plants overwintering in the piles of sawdust berm.
This past weekend while the temperatures were cool, I decided to burn out the yellow jacket nest in the compost heap since the traps didn’t catch them. Next time which I hope doesn’t happen; I’ll try some sort of fruit juice instead of cider vinegar. After two days, it’s still smoldering like a bale of hay. I hate wasting a good compost pile. When or rather if the temperatures get cold, and it’s stopped burning, I’ll take the tractor and make sure they are gone. Then I can tell the complete story of their attack on the Hooligans and myself and their demise.
Ever wonder who started this New Years resolution thing? I’m not one who usually makes resolutions, as I can’t keep them for very long, so why bother? For 2011 I made a resolution not to buy any more plants until I had the potted ones from 2010 in the ground. I’m not sure how many times I broke that one. Before my November knee surgery, even up to late in the evening before surgery, I worked diligently to get potted plants into the ground and moving and dividing plants from one bed to the appropriate theme bed. Problem was that I kept adding to the collection. A couple of weeks after surgery, I found a close out of shrubs ninety per cent off. I came home with a truck load of Encores, gardenia, sky pencil and rhododendrons, normally around two hundred for a little over eighteen dollars. I put them in the greenhouse until my knee was back in digging shape. Later when I went to water them, I noticed that several of the shrubs had limbs chewed off; field rats had gotten in the greenhouse and were eating everything they could in sight, even the half length toilet paper rolls that I use for starting seeds. Blackie was outside digging up tunnels and leaned on the siding and a piece broke out. That was all she needed to burst through to get after the mice. The sun pounding on the western side has made the plastic brittle. For now a hooligan cage and a leftover piece of clear siding being held up with a couple of concrete blocks covers the hole. The contractor didn’t follow the greenhouse plans and it gets too hot in the summer and it’s too drafty for winter use. I plan to turn it into a screen room and order a greenhouse kit
For 2012 I made the same resolution, and again worked diligently get beds divided into new beds and the rest of the potted things into the ground before cataract surgery in November. I only have a few peonies and daylilies that didn’t make in the ground and have them hilled up in a pile of sawdust for overwintering. Just about the time I was hunting for a plant anonymous club, my cousin sent me information on a relative Herman Gusmus who was the Head Gardener for the King of Germany. He went around the globe collecting plants for the king’s garden and even has a plant named after him ‘Primulaeae Gusmus (Herman)’. Alright! I wrote Pat back, it’s in the genes! I come by it honestly. I have a good excuse to collect plants. If you go back and read last January’s resolutions for 2012, they would basically be the same.
1. On my try to do list again this year is not buying anymore plants until I get the rest of my potted plants into the ground. I ordered my plants and seeds the first of December so I have that one in the bag. However a couple of seed packets, Kiphofia hirsute traffic lights and Courgette zephyr, I have no idea what I ordered and will have to go back to the website and find out what they are. The names are England English and don’t have the common names on the packet. I also picked up a Shooting Star hydrangea in full bloom. I just couldn’t resist. After moving it from a 4 inch pot into a half gallon pot, it was added to my collection overwintering in my garage. How did I use to get two vehicles in there?
2. Decide the location and whether I want an arbor or two pergolas. I put up 2 poles a few years back for a pergola and then decided to do an arbor for kiwi on the other side of the garden and put 2 poles up there. Then after thinking about it again, I thought about doing a pergola in each spot. This year finally there will be a decision. Note to self, this resolution is three years old.
3. Repair the sheetrock and repaint the wall where the water pipe ruptured from moving the washer and dryer into the utility room I added on to the house. The contactor nicked a water pipe several years back when installing the baseboard back and it eventually ruptured flooding the back entryway. I hope the three colors of paint are still good, I don’t’ have to repaint the whole room as I ragged rolled it.
4. Run a new summertime waterline along the creek to replace the one the mad tiller chopped up last summer. I have a couple of 100-200 foot sections that I took out when I should have hee’d instead of haw’d. While the ground is moist I’ll take a middle buster down as deep as I can so it’ll be safe from shovel or tiller.
5. Finish the stackable retaining walls around the house and garage. I started this project a couple of years ago. Knee and cataract surgeries have slowed this one down.
The hooligan’s resolutions haven’t changed much either:
Patches
Stop playing with skunks.
Stop playing with skinks, especially if they run up a screen and up in a downspout.
Don’t help Blackie dig up trees chasing after mice.
When Mom walks to the barn to feed us, use dog door to get in instead of standing scratching on the walk through door.
Don’t worry Mary when the batteries get weak in our collars. This one is a piece of cake.
Chase Noah up a tree (neighbors cat who teases the Hooligans) when our collar batteries get weak.
Stop bumping Momma in the rear with my nose while I wait for my bowl, thinking maybe I’ll get mine first.
Stop pawing visitors for attention. It’s okay to paw Mary even if she doesn’t like it.
When playing with sticks don’t poke Mary in the leg.
Don’t fling around my tire toy and hit Mary in the knee
Continue to play keep away when Mary reaches for something I have.
Stop playing with skunks
Blackie
Stop playing with skunks.
Stop playing with skinks.
Don’t help Patches dig up trees chasing after mice.
When Mom walks to the barn to feed us, use dog door to get in instead of standing scratching on the walk through door.
Don’t worry Mary when the batteries get weak in our collars.
Chase Noah up a tree when our collar batteries get weak
Try not going through walls after mice, Mary seems to get upset.
When Mary opens the garage doors stop, say hi first instead of running past her looking for mice.
Stop playing with skunks
Levi
Start playing with skunks.
Start playing with skinks.
Start chasing mice.
When Mom walks to the barn to feed us, use dog door to get in instead of standing scratching on the walk through door.
We have a battery in our collars? Why do I need a battery in my collar?
Don’t moan while rubbing on Mary especially when wet, as she doesn’t seem to like my singing.
What the hooligans and I wish for you in the New Year: We wish you health for those sick, prosperity for those with out a job. Take time to enjoy the beauty that has been given around us. Stop long enough to watch a sunset and take time to smell the flowers. I ask that if you suddenly think of a friend or family member and think to yourself you need to call them later, please do it at that time. That friend may not be here tomorrow.
Oh my oh my, I just got in garden catalogs from two of my favorite companies. Maybe it won’t be a piece of cake.
I’m ready for spring and the return of hummingbirds.
