Daily Jots

The three of us bundled up last night and went for a walk. Britt and her dad were interested in burning calories after dinner, I was looking for a little bit of Christmas decorating inspiration. None of us are too keen on climbing up and stringing lights, and that seems to be all I saw last night. But I do have a small garden at the front of the house, so this candy cane fence might be one way of decorating our yard.
And from what I have been reading, the little fence looks as good during the day as …read more

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Well, I have to admit, it doesn’t look half bad. At least I don’t think so. My daughter the landscaper, just shook her head. “What were they thinking??” she muttered to herself. “Just look at the spacing!”
Actually I couldn’t wait for her to get home, so I could tell her the names of the plants. It’s not the real names, but the names that the guy planting told me. He obviously does not know his shrubs very well lol, but I didn’t know that at the time. So, I asked him what he was planting.
He pointed to a juniper… “that’s …read more

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And I didn’t even see it arrive. My office faces the street and I don’t know how I missed the arrival of whoever built our “rockery”. To be honest, I knew that we were supposed to get one, but I had no idea what it was going to look like. I found out last night.
Britt asked casually over dinner what I thought of it and seeing that I didn’t know that it had arrived, I had no idea. That, of course, prompted me to leave the table and take a look…
It seems that someone had dumped two rocks… and not …read more

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“Pleaching is not exactly garden variety as building strategies go, but it’s certainly among the most ornate, natural, and “green.” German landscape architect, Rudolf Doernach, used pleaching and other techniques in what he broadly called “biotecture” or “agritecture.” Like permaculture, these methods are set up to be largely self-sustaining, meaning that once the initial planting and early training of the branches is complete, the structures continue to grow on their own, requiring minimal external energy while providing maximum agricultural yield (as in the Fab Tree Hab, which is meant to provide food for the inhabitants). Permaculture is also about inclusion, …read more

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Wow… I never thought of this, but what a great idea. Cassie over at Cassie-b informs us that when her husband cuts the lawn, he leaves a large oval around two of their bird feeders. This is what happens!

I never know what I’m going to find at Cassie-b’s blog. She always has something interesting to offer!

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“Here’s a set of plans for a pair of bird feeders that can be made from the scraps left over from other jobs. Whether you’re feeding birds for the winter or attracting them to your yard in the spring, these feeders are a great way to recycle your shop scraps. This also makes a great project to share with a child. You can use the project to teach a child some basic woodworking skills with an emphasis on shop and tool safety.”
Well, chances are that maybe even I could put this together. It looks easy enough!
Directions

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Well, we have half a yard with sod, but the front of the house is still… dirt and with the rain we have had at night, a lot of it has simply run into the drains. Not sure just how much we are going to have left by the time we finally get grass in the front. But that’s not the topic of this post anyway. Just this morning, I found this container pond idea and I just might try my hand at it. Well as soon as we have more than four patio stones to make up a patio. …read more

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This morning I was awakened at 7:20 by the sounds of dump trucks and bull dozers in my side yard. Yes, it is our turn to have our garden graded. Unfortunately, I was in a deep sleep and not quiet ready to face the day.
So, I could either be in a mood for the entire day, or simply look out the window in anticipation of what lay ahead. I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but it actually looks as if it is going to be a gorgeous day! It’s quiet (other than the dump trucks) and it’s kind of …read more

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“Hummingbird feeders make an excellent backup when your flowers are not in bloom. They are also great to have if you don’t have a place to plant flowers. Even if you do have flowers they will feed from feeders. And you can draw them right in close so you can get a real good look at ‘em.”

How these gorgeous little guys can exist on sugar water is beyond me, but they seem to do quite well on the stuff. I wonder what else they eat?? Okay I just looked it up…
“Nectar also contains very small amounts of protein, and sodium …read more

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