Random Thoughts

Today is a quiet gloomy day.  The kids are in school, hubby is at work, the cat is following me around like a little lost soul.  It's Friday, and I think we're feeling kind of bored. 
I have a Pampered Chef Party to host tonight, so at some point I'll clean up the house and get things ready.  I'd like to light some candles and have a nice over all warm feeling to the room, maybe even light a fire in the wood stove, it's a chilly day today.

I did spend the last few days in the gardens.  It has been terribly rainy, and this April has been recored as the wettest April in .... History??....seems unlikely, but that is how I heard it.  I had to save day lilies from drowning the other day, pull them from their new beds to place them all somewhere else.... the ground is soaked and pooled up in some spots.

Yesterday was a day to work between the rain drops.  The first chore was to move strawberry plants into the raised bed that Greg built.  I had clumps of them growing all over the spot where they were placed last year.  They were going crazy, and I wanted them under control....without having to fight weeds around them all the time.  Strawberries are a lot of work.  I really didn't want raised beds, I prefer to work directly with my soil, but in the case of strawberries, sometimes you have to choose the easiest option.... and it does look good.  Not to get me wrong, there are some raised bed gardens out there that are gorgeous!  And if my soil was sandy , it would be my main option, but I've been blessed with super rich soil here, and I'm going to take advantage of it!  ..... It rained three times while I transplanted strawberries..... I changed my clothes three times..... I was I finally stopped and allowed myself to get filthy.  Onto the next chore.....

< -- This Rose bush has been growing in the back yard at the field line since we moved in.  It must be a good fifty years old..... the previous owner didn't put it in. It is a very fragrant one time bloomer with beautiful flowers, and  I've been wanting to move it for a couple of years now.  I went out with my shovel yesterday, alone and determined.  The bush is all spread out and has new bushes growing all around it.  I knew the one I wanted and started to dig it out.  Well, this monster of a root came to the surface, and I thought that the rose roots went under this one, and assumed it was a tree root..... nope.  It was attached to my rose bush.  The thing was bigger around than my arm.  I've never seen a root so big on a rose bush.  And all the children rose bushes were also attached.  ...but yes, I did say I was determined.  So I heaved, dug, heaved, dug ......and yes, water was everywhere, sinking into the hole I was making, sucking the bush down every time.  I really had to use all of my strength to get this baby out.  It finally let go and I had it in my hands, triumphant!  Probably not the best way to dig out the rose, but I was alone and I do lack a lot of upper body strength.  I was careful where I knew I'd have to be.

So the bush is in its new spot.  Along the edge of the herb/rose garden, right where I need to continue expanding the edges out.  I loaded it with some compost, set it in and gave it a proper pruning, removing all the suckers and giving it some nice shape.  The image shows the finished product..... the fruit of my labor.

I slept good last night.



Today seemed like a good day to give Holly a debut on the blog.  :)  She is my Blue and Gold Macaw.  She's 20 years old, I've owned her for a little over a year now.  She's kind of a brat, since the people who owned her most of her life did very little with her.  She was not friendly when I got her, and I spent months of getting bit, training her to accept my hand.  Now, she is solely my bird.  I play with her, she talks to me, I take her outside in the garden on nice days, and she really likes me.  No one else can touch her, UNLESS she steps from my arm to theirs.  She will probably always have underlying trust issues, even with me, sometimes she reacts in fear when I move at her too fast, but I love her and I couldn't part with her.  She needs a lot of understanding from her owner, and she has that with me.  She's not the sort of trouble making parrot that a lot can be.  She's usually quiet, and is never destructive.  She's happy sitting on her perch all day where she can see everyone and gets an occasional pet and a hello...and of course, a peanut.  She's a sweetie.