Carla came by this morning to drop off two pots of brugmansias from her yard. She had rooted them in water, but had some problems once they were moved to soil. I'm going to babysit them for a couple months until they can be moved outside. Hers are pink. Once they settle in, I might have to "prune" them a bit and stick the cuttings in the cloner to make more. She also helped split a week's worth of firewood. It only took us just over an hour. I'll spend some time today moving it into the basement.
The compost is coming along nicely. A few weeks ago I took Janie's advice and tossed a half bag of 34-0-0 fertilizer into the bin. It seems that jumpstarted the decomposition process. I need to stir it. I want to move it. When I placed the bin here, you couldn't see it from the house. Now it's in plain view thanks to a crape myrtle that's gone dormant for the winter. I should know these simple things. Funny how I forget about deciduous trees and shrubs when placing things in the yard in summer.
Down the street, a cherry tree in front of the old stone church is in full bloom. My peach tree is threatening to start soon. Hopefully I won't lose these buds with the low teen temperatures in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday nights.
The rest of the day is mine. No real plans aside from a trip to the grocery store and another errand or three. I do intend to spend most of the day outside. It's 46 degrees and sunny. It's going to be strange waking up to cold and miserable conditions tomorrow.
1:36pm - Back from my errands. On the way home, I saw a landscape company committing crape murder on a beautiful dark red specimen that blooms fantastically all summer. I had to stop. I brought back a few limbs. Some have seed in the seed pods still.
I moved 4 barrows of wood inside. I'll do 4 more before dark. I'm heading outside now to play with my crape myrtles. I believe they're Dynamite.
2:00pm - Before and after.
I love my truck.
Simmering on the stove is a pot of black bean chili. I take 1lb of ground beef, browned and drained. I sautee half an onion, finely chopped. Drop the beef, two cans of black beans, and a large can of whole tomatoes that have been chopped and squished into a pot and let simmer for at least an hour, probably two. Salt and pepper to taste. Chili powder for flavor. Red pepper flakes for heat. Quick and dirty.
I'm going to relax a bit.
4:33pm - Done relaxing, I hauled another load of wood into the basement. I'd like to have enough to last through Sunday. I'll probably do another two in the morning.
It's 63 degrees with a touch of chill in the air.
11 comments:
chop, chop, chop!
They have the rain forecast for here tomorrow night and clearing out Saturday late morning...hope they are right. The weather has been lovely....Hey, my wintersown seeds in the bottles, some have this white fungus growing.......too wet? I bet those 8 inches of rain in a week or so did it....what should I do?
Can't hear you Jim. The 5HP engine is too loud!
Darla, are they outside? You shouldn't get fungus if they're outside. But, if you're worried, remove the tops for a couple days after this next rain storm and it should clear out.
Yes they are outside that's what I thought was weird...should I put them under shelter so they do not get more rain? I opened the tops today, praying that was the right thing to do.....sigh thanks Tom.
I've never had a fungus. It could be salts coming out of the soil if you used one with fertilizer in it. Miracle grow will sometimes do that. I would move them under the shelter, just until the rain moves on. Leave them uncovered for a couple days. If it's mold, it will go away. If it's salt, it won't.
Chili sounds good!
We are down to 30° and it is very dark and ominous looking. I think Tulsa is getting ice....not sounding good. They are saying we are in the snow zone of 6 to 8 inches.
Glad you got help with the wood and have it hauled inside.
I have tulips, daffs, and perennials up about 3 inches...hope they will not suffer too much.
Yikes, more winter weather for you. I hope it isn't too bad, and hope you don't lose buds off things that have them. ~ It must have been a chili day, as I made white chili in the crockpot. Your chili looks delicious. I found another recipe I want to try called Cincinnati chili.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
FlowerLady
You are a doll Tom...I found a couple of seeds that looked like they had mold on them.....plucked them out......we should be okay...I pray your weather will not be a severe as the weather (people) say it will be!
Very cool to pick up the crape cuttings. Not so cool for the murder stuff. My parents have a really nice single trunk (now after the late freeze a couple years ago) crape myrtle. I love the bark they get. It should root easy for you too!
Tom, you cheat! You've got a log splitter. We used to use a long handled splitting tool. You mentioned something about your nephew coming to help you split wood. Make sure he is wearing thick work gloves..I have a finger put back together by plastic surgeon when I got my finger smashed in a log splitter..over 30 yrs. ago. When it gets cold, there is no feeling in that skin graft. Ouch! I can still feel the pain!
Man, I don't wish that mess on anyone. best of luck, but at least you have the makings of a few warm meals!
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