Still Preparing for Fall

I'm still clipping things in the flower bed to prepare for fall and winter. I'm cutting off dead things, peony greenery, tomatoes, peppers, ragged iris greenery, and things I've decided shouldn't be there next year. I'm trying to picture next year's flower bed and prepare the spaces.
I've also called the pest people to come back and spray for wasps in my art room.

Fall Hickory

It's nice to look around and identify trees in the fall by their colors. The buttery yellow shading toward bronze means it's a hickory tree.

The short reds and burgundies are dogwoods. The bright red bushy type things are sumac. The golden brown leaves are oaks. Cyprus trees are lush green and start getting rust colored. The poplar trees are yellow and scattered with a narrower shape than hickory.

Fall Crepe Myrtles

 I love the colors of fall. I like crepe myrtles because the provide flowers in the summer with very little care.

I didn't really think about the bonus of the lovely fall foliage, but I'm thinking about it now.

Healthy Fried Chicken

 I got the recipe for this fried chicken from Just Bento. It's easy. Lightly coat chicken with kosher salt and let rest an hour in the refrigerator, lightly covered with plastic. The recipe actually calls for thighs:) Then blot the moisture and salt from the chicken, removing fat but leaving skin. Place skin-side down in a skillet and cook on medium until the skin is golden brown. Turn it over and let it cook until done. The first time I served it, I had slaw and broccoli with it.

The next day I warmed up the chicken in the toaster over trying to maintain the crispiness of the skin. I still had slaw but the broccoli was finished so I had spinach that time.

Order Arrived

Last week I placed an order for the gift shop. It was here today so I spent a lot of time checking the shipping list, pricing the new stuff, and putting it out. I will take the cardboard box and packing paper home to use under mulch:) I bought three things that have led lights. I hope they are as cute for others as I think they are.

Not a Good Idea

 I liked having the gardenias inside with lights strung on them, but they started dropping leaves. So I unwrapped the lights and moved the ones with yellowed leaves to the greenhouse. When I picked them up, they were very light so I guess I wasn't watering them enough.

Hallelujah Chorus

I used to have feelings of intense excitement for lots of events...Saturday, Christmas, end of school, birthday, whatever. Now everything just seems to coast along.

Data Usage

I've checked email and downloaded books on my data plan at home. I'm blogging on free wi-fi. I turned off the automatic updates. I only used half my data package this month. I think I will go back to blogging at home.

Quiet Countryside

We live in a rural setting so it is usually pretty quiet. But dove season is open now, and it is anything but quiet. It sounds like a war zone out there. Or maybe not. I've never been in a war zone. But close and loud...maybe like the loud sounds in vineyards to scare off birds.

Praying Mantis in Greenhouse

 We didn't bring the praying mantis into the greenhouse on purpose, but it must have been on a basket we brought in. I'm surprised because we cut the plants back severely before bringing them inside.

Not the Porch

It's getting cold so I've transferred to the greenhouse. It still feels like outside, but is warmer:)

Low-Carb Treat Breakfast

Low-carb bread was used for my French toast. Sugar free syrup and bacon is the rest of what made up my breakfast.

I'm sure I could have gone lower on the carb count, but this is not bad.

Lunch at Pebble Isle

 I had hot wings and half a serving of grilled vegetables.

Larry had the wiener, no bun, and the other half of the grilled vegetables. 

It's getting cold so the grill at the marina won't be open much longer. It kind of reminds me of our Thanksgiving trips to Norderney.

Don't Touch

Today as I was coming in to volunteer at the hospital, a woman was leaning against the wall moaning loudly. A patient was standing beside her patting her gently. She said she found her like that. I edged my way around them and went to the emergency room waiting room and rang the bell. When somebody came, I reported the woman. Soon, a half dozen people were coming to help.
I thought about trying to walk her on into the emergency room, but I was worried she'd collapse on the way. Volunteers are told not to touch patients, but she wasn't a patient yet. If she'd started to fold, I didn't think I could hold up her dead weight.
So I reported it. I'm really ok with being told not to touch patients.

Bee Keeping

I'm thinking about keeping bees. I've been to a couple of meetings of local beekeepers and ordered a couple of books. It seems more complicated than I'd initially pictured.

I've also discovered that herbicides are bad for bees. I thought pesticides would be bad for them, but not herbicides. Round up is bad for bees. The farmers use it extensively. I don't know that I'll have much luck with bees in that case.

Carport Flower Bed

I haven't taken my cuttings from here yet. When I do, I'll rip these up and beat them around trying to get the seeds to open. Then I'll toss them places there I might like to have some next year:) Some of them may make it to the compost pile.

Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, bacon and tomatoes (all cooked in the bacon drippings) makes a good breakfast. I don't think I'll have tomatoes much longer. I really overestimated my enthusiasm for scrambled eggs.

Front Porch

I haven't finished with the porch yet. The angel wing begonias are cut back to the ground and put in the compost bins. The dichondra silver falls needs to be pulled up and thrown on the ground so maybe they'll sprout next year.  The baskets need to come down but I'm waiting for them to dry out some so they won't be so heavy. The porch really looks different.

Greenhouse Oct. 14, 2015

 I've taken my angel wing begonia cuttings and put them in dirt plugs in the greenhouse. I'll take coleus and impatiens cuttings next...but not as many.

These are cuttings I took last fall and never needed. It's hard to know how many to take because some of them don't live as cuttings or even in the flower boxes. So I have enough to plant and give away:)

Composting Flowers

Last year I let the frost get the flowers in my flower boxes. It was messy and not very pleasant cleaning them out. This year I took my cuttings and put the rest of the angel wing begonias in the compost bin. It's nicer working with the flowers before the frost hits them.

I put the soil with the roots in around in places where I will like having it. They make rectangles that remain in shape. I'm waiting for a good rain to soften them, then I'll use a shovel to break them apart.

When I took the soil from the flower boxes, the bottom was neatly lined with the disposable diapers I'd put there in the spring. As I peeled the diapers off the soil, I was amazed at the 1/2 inch thickness of gooey moisture stuff. It really worked amazingly well to help retain moisture in the flower boxes and hanging baskets.

Gourds

I'm making hanging gourds for plants. I don't know how well it will work, but it should be all right. I've drilled drainage holes around the sides almost at the bottom so there will be a bit of a reservoir for water...but not too much. I drilled holes around the top for fishing line to suspend them from tree branches or whatever.

After cleaning the gourds inside and out, I put oil paint on to give it a nice warm light brown color. It is apparently going to take a couple of weeks for the oil paint to dry enough for varnish. I was going to put a design on them, but I like them like this.

Discovery Park

 I managed to take no pictures of the regular exhibits at Discovery Park. It's a great place to visit. My favorite thing to see there is the earthquake simulator, but the other exhibits are interesting and well done, too.

 McDonalds put up a pumpkin display that was new to me. Kids apparently enjoyed it a lot. It was behind the trains.

Rich and Larry

We had a nice visit!

Rich, Playing a Game

I may get one of those. It looks like fun. I'm seriously tired of free cell. 

Great visit!

A Ride

 A ride went by. About once a year we see a bunch of people go by with horses and wagons. I have no idea what kind of organization they belong to, but it is good watching them go by.

Greenhouse, Sept. 2015

The greenhouse turns into a mess as I drag things out in the spring and don't do anything constructive until fall. I've started filling my plant plugs with moisture control potting soil in preparation for putting cutting into them for next spring. I'll put a few coleus, a few impatiens, and tons of angelwing begonias. I won't put many cuttings in until I dismantle my flowers outside in preparation for frost. So it's time to get the greenhouse ready to receive the things I intend to save.

View from the Porch

When we were in Germany, I enjoyed the flowers that were everywhere. There were a couple of sidewalk cafes that I thought were wonderful, as much for being surrounded by flowers as for the milch coffee.

So I've recreated the milch coffee and being surrounded by colorful flowers. Some of them don't show up from the road, but they are certainly an eyeful from my porch.

Front View of House

I've spent several days weeding the flowerbed I call the carport flowerbed. I'm pulling up some of the annuals and weeds, cutting back perennials, and deadheading oregano. I'm also adding pine bark nuggets.  The outside view of the house is coming along all right.

The Girl....

I'm currently listening to The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. It is part two of a trilogy. The author is dead but a fourth book by a different author has come out featuring the girl. She is a fascinating character. I haven't bought the fourth one, but am relistening to the original trilogy. I am as intrigued the second time around as I was the first.

Praying Mantis

This is a female praying mantis eating a fuzzy caterpillar.

Post-coital Snack

I had read that after mating the female eats the male. This is the first time I've seen it!

Well, buddy, I hope it was worth it.

Gardenias

I moved my gardenias into the sun room for the winter. I'd been thinking I'd like to find a couple of ficus trees and string them with white Christmas lights, but the gardenia cuttings are so big now that they would take up too much room in my tiny greenhouse. Once I'd moved them into the sun room, I decided they could be strung with the white lights. I'm really going to be sorry I did this in the spring when I have to untangle them. But for right now, they look great.