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| Roses |
On Thursday, we had another sunny day, but, the temperatures were a bit cooler, with a high of 75F. There is supposed to be a heatwave in some parts of the state, but, so far, we haven't had what I'd consider a heatwave.
I washed the insides of the windows in the living room and the dining area. There are only three windows, but, the living room one is a big picture window. I think I am now done with the living room as the room of the week. I also dusted and vacuumed the family room. I cleared one horizontal surface (the coffee table), but, I still need to tidy up the folding table that is masquerading as a dining table in the family room. Right now, it is covered with piles of mail and some bits and pieces that are waiting to be put away.
Aunt C called in the afternoon and I had a long chat with her. I also watched some videos on gardening, on zero waste life in Japan (a family business repairing special items of clothing, a young woman who knits scarves, etc., using the ends of spools of yarn bought from clothing manufacturers, another young woman who makes botanical candles using imperfect flowers that would otherwise be discarded, etc.) and one about things people have said they wished they had known before they retired. It's going to be six years since I retired, this October; I like to think that I planned well for it, but, I had assumed I would have made more progress on some of the projects I had planned to do.
On Thursday, brunch was a scrambled egg with toast; dinner was leftover rice and curries.
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| Blueberries (Can you spot Mama Cat? She's at the top left) |
Today, Friday, the afternoon highs were back in the low 80s. I folded and put away two loads of laundry (and decluttered one worn out pillowcase) and picked blueberries.
In the afternoon, Dancer had an appointment at the vet's for his injection. I gave him the sedative one hour before we left, but, he was still meowing a bit in the car on the way to the clinic and, just as we turned into the parking lot, he gave a really loud cry and very soon, I realized that he had had an accident and pooped! Poor kitty! I apologized to the technician and offered to go inside with her to clean it up, but, the technician was very kind and said it was not a problem. She took Dancer to the back room and almost immediately came right back out to ask me if I wanted the towel I had put on the bottom of the carrier, back, as it was rather soiled. I told her that she could toss it. So, a towel was decluttered, too, in addition to the pillowcase I decluttered, earlier! The return trip home was uneventful and he's been sleeping it off all evening. I wiped down the cat carrier with disinfectant wipes and sprayed it, as well.
M was here, later in the evening. He brought me another packet of corn to plant, a different variety, because the other packet didn't germinate that well. Hopefully, the new package will do better. He refused to accept the money for the packet of corn, saying it was an early birthday present (a very early one, since my birthday isn't until November!) But, he did accept a bag of freshly picked blueberries, instead.
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| Peaches |
- Dancer had gained just over one ounce
- M's kindness in gifting me with another packet of corn
- Blueberries to share with M
- Being able to borrow books from the online library
I wouldn't worry about Dancer's accident as I'm sure the vets are used to it happening. Kind of M to give you an early birthday gift of a packet of corn and I'm sure he'll enjoy the blueberries. It rained again this morning but the sun is shining now, I must tidy our conservatory so we can sit in there for a while.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; I felt very guilty about Dancer's accident and the technicians having to deal with it!
DeleteIt was very kind of M to buy me another packet of corn and make a gift of it! Of course, if we get any corn, I will share some of the corn with him.
I'm glad you had some sun after the morning's rain and I hope that you were able to enjoy it. :)
While all of our cats were stressed with trips to the vet, Lucky got the most stressed because of some procedures he had to have done there. He peed and pooped more than once in his carrier. :( I'm assuming that the injections are helping Dancer. We had high hopes, but didn't see much difference in Leo and Annie when they got them.
ReplyDeleteThe peaches look wonderful. We aren't growing any, but I am eagerly awaiting peach season here.
Yes, I suppose the cats get stressed when they have to go to the vet. I am also wondering if the sedative had an impact, with him needing to go. It was the second time he pooped in the carrier when we got to the vet's. Yes, the injections seem to be helping him. He is able to climb up onto things more easily - he's jumping more than pulling himself up with his front paws. At $100 per injection, they are not the cheapest treatment, but, I'll continue with them for the near future.
DeleteI picked the first peach, today! There are already at least two on the tree that the birds have already eaten!
I'm glad the vets visit wasn't too stressful for Dancer. Bless him. I hope he managed to sleep it off.
ReplyDeleteYour blueberries are looking fantastic. It will be a long time before I get any here :)
Thank you, Jules; I give him the sedative before we go and that does seem to help.
DeleteThe blueberries are wonderful! I am freezing most of them for my daughter, but, gardener M has been inquiring if I ever make blueberry pie, so, I think there might be a blueberry pie, one of these days! :D
How is the nectarine tree coming along? I don't really love peaches, but I might be tempted to try a freshly picked, home grown one - especially if you peeled it for me! ;o)
ReplyDeleteI didn't think Mama Cat came so close to you generally. The neighbour's calico cat gave me a shock the other day: I was going in the back door and met it coming out of my house! I don't think it can have been inside very long, but it shows how easy it is for cats to get shut into places, if people don't know they have gone exploring.
The nectarine tree is coming along well and I took a couple of photos of it because you asked. It has lots of leaves and not much else! LOL.
DeleteMama Cat will let me come close to her, as long as I don't try to touch her. Patches, the newest stray will now come close to me when I am in the garden - she is interested in seeing what I am doing and, of course, always hopeful that I might give her some food!
Oh, wow! You must have got a shock to see the neighbor's cat coming out of your house!
Ha, ha, of course I'll peel a freshly picked peach for you! Actually, the skin just peels right off when my peaches are ripe! I picked the first one, today, but, I think I'll eat it myself - just to taste test it before I offer you any! :D
By the way, I thought of you and your snail/slug problem when I was watching a gardening video, the other day - it was a garden in Wales and the solution the gardener put into place to deal with the slugs was 1) cover the soil in his raised bed of kale with a wool fleece and 2) keep a flock of ducks! The ducks apparently love to eat slugs! My gardener M suggested something called Sluggo which is supposed to be safe around pets and wildlife, although I don't know if it is available there.
A house nearby has a pond in the front garden, and I sometimes see ducks on it. Maybe I should invite them over for dinner some time. Pretty sure Sluggo is not available here. In any case, without tempting fate, the munching molluscs have stopped over the past few dry days. Next week is forecast to be wet again so let's see... The remaining bedding plants are now quite vigorous. I'm going to do a garden update soon, but I will say that I was given some vegetable seedlings today. They don't look very strong but are already very leggy so needed planting on quickly, which I have done. The giver was despairing of slugs too, and she said she puts straw down as apparently it's difficult for the greedy little thieves to grip and slide over it. Even so, she had some casualties. She didn't offer me any straw but I might know where I can get some if ever I decide to try it. For now, whenever I see a mollusc, even not feasting, I remove it. I did have a salt session a few days ago but I feel mean doing that.
DeleteI'm glad Patches is feeling more secure around you. I hope she thrives in your care. I feel a little sorry for her.
Just read an article suggesting planting chives around important plants as molluscs don't like the smell. Ditto garlic. Apparently putting garlic in a spray bottle and filling up with water to spray on the plants works too. I didn't even Google this - it just came up as yet another slug-related story online! Apparently dog fur works too. I'll have to ask G's dog to let me have some. (He usually gives me a generous helping on my clothes whenever I see him anyway!)
DeleteIt sounds like you might have a couple of options to deal with the slugs! I'd try the straw and dog fur, if you can get either, and then, plant some chives and garlic, too! Spray with the garlic and water spray, too, for good measure! Then, you can invite the ducks to dine on garlic marinated slugs! LOL!
DeleteHaha. I was being facetious about the dog fur. Zak moults a lot while being stroked but I would need tons of his hair to deal with the problem. I wouldn't mind putting straw under/round the containers (when I can get it) but I don't think I want it over the whole garden, getting damp, going mouldy and generally making a mess - specially once the squirrels, magpies and pigeons decide to play hide and seek! After several hours' rain overnight I went out at 8am and found about forty slugs. I'm afraid I went straight back in the kitchen and dosed them with salt. It is easy, cheap and effective. I looked for an empty spray bottle but I think I have thrown them all out, after getting fed up with moving them around. I will have to save the next one in case of future need. One newly-planted chrysanth has been badly damaged (had six slugs on it) and a newly-planted dahlia also had six on. However the existing bedding plants are fine, and most importantly, my veg seedlings are too. I am just going to have to put up with the problem in the short term, deal with it and hope for the best.
DeletePS I have been watching squirrels and magpies rollicking around in the veg today. It's annoying but if I went out every time it happened, I would never get any work done! (But I may have taken pictures to show in court as evidence!!)
Definitely use salt as it works and cheap, too. The squirrels and magpies sound cute! I have not seen a magpie in this area, but, we had plenty of them in Sri Lanka. I hope you'll share your photos on your blog, when you have time to do so. :)
DeletePoor Dancer!
ReplyDeleteI am so envious of the peaches and blueberries. They are just beautiful!
Yes, poor Dancer. He's not very happy when he has to visit the vet!
DeleteThank you; the blueberries and peaches are coming along very nicely, this year.
Poor Dancer, it's so stressful going to the vet. My cat goes Monday for a checkup. Your roses are gorgeous. Mama cat is protecting the blueberries from the birds for you! They look delicious. I am wondering if I'm really prepared for retirement! Financially yes, but I'm not sure emotionally. I had plans to do decluttering at home, but I've not even started. Well, it's only been two weeks ! For now I'm being lazy.
ReplyDeleteYes, poor Dancer was not a very happy kitty, yesterday. I hope that your cat has a good check up on Monday and doesn't get half as stressed as Dancer does!
DeleteThank you; I have some red roses in the front that I forgot to photograph.
Yes, Mama Cat is protecting the blueberries from the birds! I now need her to project the peaches as birds have already started eating some of them!
You have to give yourself at least a month to relax and enjoy not having to work, before you start getting your projects done! One of the things they mentioned in that video I watched was not to feel guilty about not being productive! That it's OK to just relax and enjoy yourself, that you don't have to be doing all the time. :)
I have roses too, now! My rugosa rose bush has some flowers open but unfortunately the rain has messed them up, but there will be more. I'm always amazed by your blueberries and I can see Mama Cat thinks they are in a good place for her to hang out. We had a White Admiral butterfly on our porch, just opening and closing its wings. I was fascinated and watched it for ages, wondering why it chose to be there of all places as it wasn't sunny!
ReplyDeleteI am sure your rugosa rose bush will look lovely once the rain dries up! I remember seeing hedges full of them when I was in Wisconsin, all those years ago.
DeleteI am so pleased with the blueberries. For years, I thought that they wouldn't grow well in my garden, in my climate, but, M assured me that they will grow well, because he had some growing in his garden. Then, last year, his plants died during a heat wave. Mine, however, seem to be doing well.
I actually didn't even see Mama Cat under the blueberry bushes until after I took the pictures! She was on her way to the water dish, I think.
Maybe the butterfly was just resting and enjoying a break on your porch!
Oh poor little Dancer. I know you hate to see him get so upset.
ReplyDeleteBut things were handled very well by the kind veterinarian assistant so that was helpful.
The colors of the blueberries this year - and the quantity! continue to please.
You were busy in your living room and have now moved onto the family room. Is the family room the next room of the week?
I hope you have more luck with the new corn seeds.
Yes, the staff at the vet clinic were very pleasant and helpful about the whole thing. I've been taking Dancer there from the time I got him, so they do know him well.
DeleteThe blueberries have been wonderful, this year!
Yes, I got the living room tidied and the family room had been dusted and vacuumed, too. The room(s) of the week for this upcoming week will be the dining room and laundry room. I moved on to the family room as part of my weekly cleaning. I try to do a quick clean of one room or area each day of the week. Don't always manage to do that, but, I try.
Oh, I hope that the new corn seeds will germinate and grow!