A few days after my employer had us haul our potentially infected asses out of our cube farm, I decided to do something I haven’t done since I lived in a house with my ex. Make a garden.
It started off fairly normal, but maybe things got a little out of hand.
I suppose it’s a weird thing to do, considering I’ve lived like my existence here is a temporary thing that might be uprooted at any second. But, in the face of worldwide instability, I believe the most normal & sane thing to do is to carve out somewhere where the feeling of stability and sanity can be present. I don’t think I’m alone as most of covid lockdown seems to involve nesting behaviours like gardening, cooking & crafting.
The projects continued past just a few potted plants or the big ass cloth planter (what was I thinking?)
I repurposed some dumped chairs & a table, plus old pine wood. Surprisingly, I could sit in the chairs strung with boat rope. Things are, once again, changing the minute I decide to embrace stability. I did fear that. But, the respite of this spot has been helpful.
There are no cat pics outside. I’m right up against a busy roadway – super FUN for voiceover – and kitties don’t get to be outside in my household. But I got them a 6foot tall mega-cat tree and I’m their favourite entertainment anyway.
Here’s Hime assisting for Zoom Yoga & Odoroki providing system support for video & voiceover work. I hope you’ve made an oasis where you are at and that it holds you, completes you and gives you a respite. Open Thread, play nice.
SiubhanDuinne
What a really lovely post! You, your
kittykitties, the wine, the garden — all beautiful and restful. Thank you.Kent
I put in a reasonably big garden this spring and the deer and rabbits ate damn near everything. They leave the landscaping plants alone and go straight for the fresh garden shoots. We live on a down sloping hillside that backs up to a greenbelt. I don’t want to put up a big fence because without a fence it feels like the greenbelt is ours, a deer fence would show just how small our yard is.
Once daughter #2 leaves home next year I’ll put the trampoline that she still uses on craigslist and turn that flat space into a raised bed garden that I’m going to fully enclose with netting to keep all the wildlife away. That’s the only way I can see doing a successful garden here. Even the tomato plants I have on the 2nd story deck get robbed by the squirrels.
VeniceRiley
Kitties! I’m going to try this gardening thing next summer. Sadly, I think I’m going to miss UK summer this year entirely. Good luck green thumbing.
ruemara
@Kent: You could try this anti-deer & rabbit stuff https://dengarden.com/gardening/how-i-saved-my-garden-best-deer-deterrent-ever#:~:text=The%20most%20effective%20natural%2C%20homemade,following%20sprays%20have%20worked%20wonders.
debbie
I decided to conquer my fear of and tendency to kill succulents, and I made cuttings of two well on their way to an overwatered end. I can tell they’ve taken root, and I hope to keep them alive longer than this damned pandemic.
Kent
@ruemara: These are suburban deer and rabbits. They aren’t deterred by anything. Even the dog. All that fancy deer repellent stuff is just wasted money. I’m just going to do this kind of thing next year and be done with it. Except DIY rather than store bought: https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/structures/aluminum-crop-cage-with-netting-door-gr–cc
satby
Books, plants, kitties, wine, and repurposed furniture: all my idea of heaven on earth. Nice, ruemara!
BruceFromOhio
Yes, and it’s been a genuine respite, in every sense. And most of the senses, too. Your garden is awesome! I like the pots for the naughty herbs like mint that will take over everything if left unchecked. MrsFromOhio kept ours going over winter, and it has responded by flourishing in its confines.
You know us so well. =) Thank you for the words and pictures. What kind of wine do you like? It’s been hot, so we’ve gravitated towards reislings, margaritas, and lotsa cold beer. The reds will likely come back out when it cools off a tad.
eclare
Your garden is lovely!
BruceFromOhio
@Kent: My neighbor across the street built a 8’x10′ enclosure with chain link. The varmints mow everything down otherwise.
We went with the 6′ fence around the “back forty,” and it has paid off handsomely.
Dorothy A. Winsor
It’s good to have a project. I think projects make us happier.
If anyone’s interested, I had a blog post go up today about the process by which book covers are designed. I’m not very visual and have trouble telling bad covers from good ones.
Ruckus
@Kent:
When I lived just northeast of Columbus OH the deer inside the city were like ants, everydamnwhere. They would cross the streets in the middle of traffic and not have a care in the world. The city park had no foliage below about 5 feet. None. You could see any plant taller than that had all the green eaten up to that point, and then leaves above.
Scuffletuffle
Yay, welcome awesome “new” front pager… love your garden!
jnfr
Love your garden! And it’s so nice to have a spot where you and yours can sit outside and feel rooted for a little while.
Don’t know if it will appeal to you, but they do make small kitty tents you can take outside and zip your cat into so they can look around and be with you. Our cats have always been indoor-only too, but alas both of ours passed away last winter. Thanks for sharing them.
Barbara
@Kent: My husband strung rat wire all the way around the yard where he wanted to keep a garden. It actually does keep almost all the rabbits out. We then enclosed our tomato plants with mesh, to keep squirrels out, and that has worked as well. We are not what you would call successful vegetable gardeners, but we have tomatoes galore this year, and I am hoping to be a bit more intentional next year.
This was a great post. So glad to see a post from Ruemara!
Yutsano
@Kent: It’s too bad you couldn’t borrow a few coyotes. Yes they have their own issues but it would hopefully get populations under control. Actually for the rabbits you need a fox.
Kent
@Ruckus: Yep. I live in Camas WA on a hill at about the 600′ elevation level. A riparian green belt runs from the top of the hill behind our house, all the way down to the Columbia River, meandering through subdivision after subdivision. The deer, coyotes, rabbits, and bobcats just roam up and down it at will. They aren’t quite as brazen as you describe, but I see deer and coyotes all the time out on the city streets when I walk the dog every evening. And rabbits are so common that my dog can’t even be bothered to chase them anymore. What we really need are some wolves to keep the population in check. That would be cool.
I honestly don’t really mind. I’ve learned what landscape plants they don’t like (lavender, hostas, sages, Japanese mountain grass, etc. But there is no way to put in a vegetable garden without complete impenetrable fencing.
And the coyotes don’t seem to be doing a good job with all the rabbits. I see coyote scat nearly every morning on the trail behind my house (looks like dog but full of rabbit fur and seeds). But they don’t seen to be denting the rabbit population. The do a quick number on cats left outside though, judging from all the missing cat notices on NextDoor. I haven’t ever seen any foxes around here but that doesn’t mean we don’t have them. They are more reclusive generally.
Sab
Cats’ whole point of garden is to lure in rodents.
Sab
I dug out my siberian iris that had plugged my downspout. Supposed to thin every 5 years. It has been 20. Didn’t find anyone who wants them ( midweek). What a waste, and all my fault.
ruemara
@Sab: That’s why they have a missive cat tree by that window that looks over the garden. Plus a hummingbird feeder. Don’t tell the birds they’re starring in kitten tv or they’ll want royalties.
TaMara (HFG)
Lovely post. Totally understand feeling the need for some stability when everything is up in the air. But somehow a little garden makes it all better. And pets. Pets always make it better.
WereBear
Good thinking ruemara. Not easy to cat proof a patio. Especially for cats who like six foot cat trees!
Lovely spot.
Roger Moore
@Kent:
Sounds like it’s time to get a bowhunting license.
VeniceRiley
@Kent: I think you have the right idea. Just need copper strip at the base to keep snails out.
Elizabelle
Your garden looks great, ruemara. Happy kitteh, and a very good self portrait: writer/creator/gardener with wine. After dark.
Did you plant any catnip??
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
Coyotes will go after rabbits, too. I think every predator big enough to catch them and small enough to bother will go after rabbits.
Elizabelle
@ruemara: Noticed the hummingbird feeder. Thought it was for the hummingbirds. It is for the kittehs. All good.
Fair Economist
Happy kitties, happy life!
I like plants, but I’m terrible with them. Enjoy them!
Mary G
My cats Shiloh and Chenille are the only things keeping me from going nuts these days. I did get an unexpected lift from having my main hang out space rearranged yesterday. My family room/office isn’t that big and when housemate B brought home a gigantic television one of his clients had given him, it seemed like the only place for it was in front of the french doors leading out to the patio. I didn’t love it, it made the room much darker and blocked the air flow from the big screens I had made for the main doors in addition to the little ones on the side, but it was nice for the once in six months times I watched something that’s better on a big TV. I did finally ask him this week to pull it forward, open the big doors, and put it back because it was just too hot. I came out yesterday and he had rearranged the whole room so the TV could be on the side wall. Now I have tons more light, air, and greenery to look at and I love it.
My other entertainment is this twitter thread adapted from reddit’s r/Am I the Asshole subreddit. Hopefully most of them are fictitious, but they make me laugh a lot sometimes. This one with two of its replies was hilarious:
It’s a guy who likes to take his wife and child out to see nature in the family Subaru and insists they use a car toilet he bought. His wife and child hate it so much that when he got out to buy fruit at a stand, they drove off without him. (Spoiler Alert, he is the asshole.)
These two replies:
(The picture is of Twitter’s translate from the Malay of Poo-Baru to Poo-New.)
A Subaru and Malay for our dear friend Amir Khalid, what could be more Balloon Juice? I guffawed so hard my stomach hurt, but that could just be me.
Dan B
Great post about how even a small plot makes a huge psych boost! We’ve got a 5000 square foot lot that we went crazy with (35 years in landscape design and 25 years in design and construction). We’ve got a rectangular 4 foot deep x 15′ x 20′ pond we call Atitlan. The soil was used for a raised terrace called Tikal. We sit outside in tge evenings when it’s dry. The cats race around, wrassle, explore the neighbor’s, and show off for us. It’s a lifesaver. We had a friend over on a drizzly afternoon so sat under big umbrellas. My partner – brush cut, scruffy beard – held a shocking pink parasol. Didn’t seem to alarm the neighbors. Yesterday we spent time in friends’ garden. He just finished treatment for lung cancer and they’ve been hermits, afraid of being exposed. It was a morale boost for them. What we do this winter is not certain.
OT Theres a derecho moving across Lake Michigan that hit Iowa and Chicago earlier with 80 – 100 mph gusts. It’s headed towards northern Indiana and Toledo. Stay safe!
Kattails
Lovely post and garden! Good for you for carrying on. I love the nice dress (top?) drinking the nice glass of red wine, red hair bow. (just saw an article about a woman who’s 102, survived the 1918 flu, a bout of cancer, and now a case of COVID! Credits a good immune system, avoiding unnecessary worry, and red wine. “Jesus did not change water into wine so I could look at it.” My new motto.
I’ve been so lucky to be in the same house for many years, in a great, woodsy neighborhood, in a safe part of the country. There have been many challenges and sometimes I’ve gotten completely overwhelmed. I have a bad habit of taking on too much. Being home has let me clear up a lot of old messes. At the same time, I’m able to take a break, go pick a few beans, see what the hummingbirds are up to, there are little froggies everywhere this year, half a dozen kinds of dragonflies.
My sister’s been walking her cat, I’d like to try that with one of mine who might take to it. Need to carve the time out. She says he understands when the harness comes out and stands by the door. But no highways nearby.
jl
Thanks for very nice and uplifting post.
” I’ve lived like my existence here is a temporary thing that might be uprooted at any second ”
On the bright side, due to how the US has handled that pandemic, we know for the time being that our lives must be lived in the US since nearly every other country in the world is afraid to let us in. So, a little comforting certainty there.
Cambodia is a nice place to visit, and one of my Cambodian friends says it has lowered the bond we USAers have to pay up front before we can go there. So, that may be a nice vacay option for the time being if you have the dough.
steppy
That doesn’t look out of hand at all. I think that is a great use of space. You’d be surprised how well a small nurtured spot will do.
Sab
@Kattails: Thank you forever for introducing me to Bernadette Banner. Who knew there were clothing historians?
Sab
@Kattails: Great idea. My cat was feral his first year and moved inside in November sleet storm. No way we could get him outside for anything. Inside might be boring, but it is dry and warm with food and water.
Kent
The problem in this part of the world (Pacific Northwest) is that most disturbed wild areas are overgrown with Himalayan blackberries which are the Kudzu of the PNW. They form impenetrable thickets of thorns. The rabbits have all kinds of secret little trails through the blackberries that they can scamper into to hide and the coyotes simply can’t follow. Maybe a small fox could get in and catch them but the coyotes stand no chance.
Benw
Deep belly sigh. Thanks for this post
prostratedragon
Coming to you from Chicago:
opiejeanne
@ruemara: That anti-deer/anti-rabbit stuff works really well, but just don’t get it on yourself. Pee-You!
Happy gardening and also kitties! Thanks for sharing. You didn’t like the growing bags? Is that what you meant by the fabric planter?
I like your title of Breathing Room, because gardening is what has done the most to calm me when I feel distressed by everything. I was going to say it keeps me sane, but you’ve met me.
We have a garden every year because we are old and retired, but this year since we haven’t been able to go anywhere and were here to take care of everything when it got too hot and replanting radishes and beets(micro-managing the garden!), so almost everything is thriving, plus we’ve been repairing/replacing beds that are breaking down after ten years. And we have built a bunch of stuff, like a wooden frame inside the greenhous to return it to useful life, and an 8 foot tall trellis for the pumpkins and cantaloupe to grow vertically on. We started a lot of plants and seeds that we’ve never thought of before, like artichokes and tomatoes.
Picking and either cooking or processing it all has become a minor project. Maybe it’s a major project. We’ve picked and frozen a lot of sour cherries and blueberries, we’ve eaten salad greens from the garden with our dinner, we’re drying onions and garlic on the deck, I pickled 7 pints of vegetables, all but one were cucumbers with garlic, and right now I feel a pressing need to pick green beans , carrots, and cucumbers. .
CaseyL
What a lovely spot you’ve created! It is amazing what can be done in a small space.
I’ve been growing tomatoes, strawberries and lettuces the last couple of years in containers on the rather large balcony off the living room.
I’m still very new to this, and can’t identify a baby plant to save my life. Last summer I left a bunch of tomatoes in the containers hoping for “volunteers,” and whatever plants poked their little heads up this spring got watered and taken care of. Turns out every plant in two of the containers was a weed!
I do have actual tomatoes in the other container, though they don’t seem to be maturing at the same rate as last year (when they came to me as starts, nurtured by someone who knows what he’s doing).
The strawberries are doing really well, though. Got quite a few yummy berries off them.
opiejeanne
@ruemara: And, that’s a lovely garden.
jl
@Benw: “Deep belly sigh”
That the good, the Baud, or the ugly kind of sigh?
I gave a wistful, upward inclined head, hopeful and relieved sigh, but maybe that is TMI.
Benw
@jl: lol I’m always down for a Sergio joke.
relaxing sigh
opiejeanne
@prostratedragon: Thank you! I didn’t know such things existed. Well, I knew there were alpenhorns, but I didn’t know they were capable of this. Wonderful.
MomSense
Wine, gardens, and kitties! Wonderful!
laura
Thank you for this lovely post. It’s been a Monday and am glad for a Ruemara check in plus lovely garden and kitty and Ruemara pics to boot
We’re having a pot of beans and french bread for dinner. It’s what we ate once or twice a week growing up because working poor and now it’s the comforting dish that creates much jealousy from any sibling not having beans and bread. It’s the first thing we make when we get together. I need that meal bad right now.
opiejeanne
@CaseyL: I will start some tomatoes for you next year, if you like. We were surprised at the success we had with growing them from seed. The only variety we bought is Brandywine, the ones from seed are Early Girl, Super Fantastic (always makes me laugh when I say the name, because of The Manolo Shoe Blog), and Juliet which is a small Roma type.
opiejeanne
@laura: Today we had our septic system pumped, I dealt with a financial adviser who REALLY wants to get his mitts on our savings account money ( I mean, every last nickel we have laying around) but graciously concedes that is not ever going to happen, and we had to clean up for the cleaning ladies so they don’t think too badly of us. We pick up so they can do the cleaning and not have to lug our crap out of the way. It’s a good thing; they come every two weeks, so the books and other stuff does pile up.
geg6
Your garden and furniture look great, kitties look content and you’ve got a glass of wine. What more can you ask for in these times?
Ever since I left campus in March, I’ve been working out of our bonus room, which until them was just storage for a lot of my stuff from when I moved in over a decade ago and where Cleo mainly lives. Slowly over the late spring and summer, John and I have turned it into a real retreat/office for me. Set up my old couch, end tables, some old chairs and a new tv for a living area, my dining table and chairs for a games/food area, food and litter box and cat tree area for Cleo and my desk in an office area. It’s a huge room (I think 18×35) and, uncluttered and cleaned up, accommodates all of this comfortably. In the last two weeks, John has built in shelving along the back wall, all the way across and about halfway up the wall. That’s 17 feet of shelving. I bought myself a new ergonomic desk chair because the old one was just a straight back chair. Spending eight or more hours a day in it wasn’t cutting it. John has a few more finishing things on the shelving and then we paint it. It will be really nice when it’s done and we would never have gotten it done if we weren’t mostly stuck at home.
LuciaMia
Is that Tom Servo there in the back?
zhena gogolia
Great post. We finally managed to reschedule the party (deck, social distancing, pizza) that I tried to have in early June before orthopedic disaster struck. It was lovely. The bug candles actually worked. I can get used to dinner parties where I don’t have to cook!
zhena gogolia
@LuciaMia:
Where? I love Tom Servo!
LuciaMia
@zhena gogolia: In the second picture.
Yutsano
@LuciaMia: The hummingbird feeder? Does kind of look like him.
laura
@opiejeanne: I can so relate! I only lost a few hundred dollars after being worked over to move into a money market account and outside of FDIC protections- but I’m sure I helped Wells Fargo make a profit each quarter. One of my few law school friends has a niche area of practice – pensioners who were bamboozled into turning over their retirement for a guaranteed rate of return who then lost every single penny.
And dont feel guilty about the preclean for the cleaning lady- I cleaned houses all through school and work and being able to get to the work that needed doing was a boon to not have to move stuff that you didnt know where it belonged.
NotMax
Slipped under the personal radar until now (WaPo link); gagging on the Kool-Aid:
Kay
@Dan B:
It’s wild. Came on so fast!
zhena gogolia
@LuciaMia:
@Yutsano: Yes, it does sort of look like him.
He (or one of the other robots) had a joke once that really got to me. The robot was dressed up like a butterfly and said something about how its tongue “doubles as a party favor!” The next morning I was in the garden (not my own, I was house sitting), and saw a butterfly extend its tongue, and I just cracked up.
zhena gogolia
Reposting here because it’s just so brilliant — J.-L. Cauvin is doing Trump Bible Study every day at 3:16 ET on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1G-x2Zse4
CaseyL
@opiejeanne: That would be delightful, and I would love it! Thank you so much!
Origuy
@Sab: There’s an English fashion historian named Amber Butchart who has written several books. She presented a TV show called A Stitch in Time that I thought was very interesting. She and a team of historical costumers produced clothing that appeared in four famous paintings. One of them was the green gown from the Adolfini wedding painting. It’s streaming on several platforms, including Prime.
Gin & Tonic
I had commented yesterday about the apparent impossibility of finding Mason jars. Today, acting on a tip from my daughter, I scored two dozen pint jars at my local Tractor Supply. For normal list price.
Lapassionara
@Kay: yes it did. We lost power for about an hour, so I went on the Weather Channel to see what was up. It seems we now have a new term for a sudden wind storm, and it is kind of Spanish sounding.
what if we used Scottish terms for storms, like the “wee bustin,” or the “wide gloamin.”
just a thought
FelonyGovt
Great post and so nice to see you, Ruemara. I don’t think I’ve spent this much time in my back yard in all the 30+ years I’ve lived here. Being outside (without a mask!) and looking at plants is a source of solace.
jl
@prostratedragon: I’ll meet the Alpenhorns and raise you one set of hunting horns.
G.P. Telemann / Suite for Hunting Horns & Orchestra in D major
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4MNQliSKds
That Telemann, what a laff riot!
jl
@zhena gogolia: Thanks, I’ll watch everyday.
I hope there is one on Jesus’ parable of the dishonest servant. If a person could understand that one, could always make some sure fire quick money right before the lawsuit and bankruptcy.
Edit: also want to hear about the jubilee, and why it’s really meant only for rich people.
FelonyGovt
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Just FYI, I read your post and was going to comment but it said I had to be logged in to post. When I clicked the “logged in” link, it came up with “Page not found” on your website.
I was going to comment how deeply annoying I find certain book covers (NOT yours!)
satby
@Lapassionara: The term derecho has been around a while but it’s specific to a certain kind of windstorm. It was a derecho in 2016 that toppled the tree onto my house in Michigan, rendering it too dangerous to continue living in it.
Kent
The jars are easy if you are willing to accumulate them slowly. I buy Classico pasta sauce at Costco that comes in perfect Mason quart jars. I just save them. The canning lids are a different story.
Dan B
@Lapassionara: Derecho is a longstanding term. This was a massive front of intense thunderboomers in a curving line more than 100 miles wide. The radar pictures give an idea of how it would arrive out of calm air.
O believe derechoes are the cause of haboobs, sandstorms that precede the derecho by a short distance. Lucky you only lost power for an hour. In Iowa it knocked down one wall of a brick building where Mayor Pete had a rally.
I see Satby beat me to it. She should have just experienced the derecho.
satby
@laura: How do you cook the beans, and what kind? I have my Rancho Gordo beans waiting for some recipes that take full advantage of their flavors.
satby
@Dan B: I did, it went through between 6:30-7. It was losing steam though, no 80 mph winds here. I heard a lot of sirens west of me though.
Elizabelle
@satby: We had a devastating derecho come through the DC area on June 29, 2012. So many trees down, roads closed, power out. For days.
Learned that word but good.
satby
@jl: I loved Cambodia and hope to go back, but no tourist visas for Cambodia (only diplomatic, official, and essential business travelers) and long list of test and quarantine protocols.
Delk
@satby: whipped through my part of the city around 4:00. Was surprised to hear my neighborhood mentioned on the warning.
satby
@Elizabelle: this one was really bad west of Chicago and in the city, but it definitely didn’t have as high winds by the time it got here. Blew through fast but not many tree branches or leaves knocked off the trees.
Contrary to the last time, I have a strong brick house and full insurance and could use a new roof. So of course nothing fell around here even though I have two old sugar maples in front. ?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@FelonyGovt: Oh crap. I had to move my blog to a different host and things apparently aren’t fully set up. Thanks for telling me. I’ll contact the host tomorrow.
I can’t always tell a good cover from a bad one, so I don’t get annoyed. And these days, most of my books are ebooks so I hardly ever see the cover.
jl
@satby: Aw shit. My friends, married with kids, have dual citizenship. So, probably different for them. Maybe that was a little detail we skipped over.
Lapassionara
@satby: thank you. I am evidently uneducated in weather terminology.
jl
@satby: And OMG! US State department says Cambodia is a hazardous place to visit because they have covid-19 disease. Maybe almost as hazardous as New Zealand. I don’t want to go anymore.
Whew, that was a close call. I’m so glad my all-knowing Dear Leader and his always benevolent and kind all-embracing presidential government is ever watchful for my poor and worthless welfare, out of his His Gracious Mercy.
laura
@satby: dry pinto beans – sort for rocks and dirt. Rinse one or two water changes – I add just a bit of water to cover and circle the hand around a bit. Fill a big pot to cover beans by about 4 to five inches add a half onion and a clove or so of garlic. Cover and rapidly boil at least 10 to 15 minutes, lower to a gentle bubbling simmer, add a tablespoon of tomato paste, a bit of olive oil or a ham hock and if you are ok with msg add a few shakes of maggi seasoning if you’re so inclined but NO SALT!11! NO SALT. Move the lid off to the side enough for steam to escape and simmer at a gentle bubbling for about an hour to 90 minutes. Occasionally check for water level and use a flat head wooden spoon or spatula to scrape around the bottom of the pan- avoid scorching but expect a certain amount of delicious bean slurry. Once tender and yielding, adjust with salt. We always added parmesan cheese because we always had a green can of cheese around and if you ever find yourself with a scrap of rind of parmesan, that would be serious leveling up on the flavor, we’d have a simple oil and vinegar salad and really sour french bread. The bakery – Franco American has been in business about 100 years and is just so good as a vehicle for butter and shopping up bean juice. Day 2 of the beans is so much better than day one as all the flavors meld and even more bean slurry develops.
Do it! Make a pot of beans and enjoy even with buttered sliced grocery store bread but do add the parmesan cheese.
satby
@Lapassionara: I never paid that much attention until one smooshed my house.
Edit, and I think they may have become more common, or now we just hear about them better?!?
Lapassionara
@Dan B: thank you. Where have I been?
Kattails
@Sab: Oh! I’d gone back to my desk and popped back on to find this. Probably dead thread but anyway, so glad you’re enjoying her. She seems to have been picking this up just over the last 3 years or so, which is amazing. Doing a great job with the videos too. Really deserves the audience she’s getting.
hedgehog mobile
@zhena gogolia: That was a hoot!
satby
@laura: nummy, thanks! Probably make them tomorrow with my Ayocote Morado beans because it sounds perfect for them. Plus I wasn’t sure what else to make with them.
Dan B
@Lapassionara: My father was a weather geek. We had many books on weather and clouds – heard of mamatus? (spelling may be off / rusty) Derecho was new to me a few years ago as were haboobs. Helping this full service blog.
I like weather watching in Seattle. We get huge storms off the Pacific and Gulf of Alaska and the mountains make dizens of interesting clouds. Today there are only a few puffy ones near the foothills so we can see 90 miles to Mt. Baker near the canadian border. No haboobs or derechoes.
zhena gogolia
@hedgehog mobile:
He’s so good. I love Pence in the background smiling.
Uncle Cosmo
@Elizabelle: Friday night, right? I was at a swing dance north of Baltimore when it blew through. Bunch of us were supposed to gather afterwards at one guys house & there were so many trees down in his neighborhood it took me ten minutes to find a road out that wasn’t blocked – after nearly running into a live power line wrapped around a downed limb.
I got home & of course the power was out. Tried to tough out the heat & humidity in the basement (coolest part of the house). Hah. Next groggy morning I packed a bag, headed for my brother’s place in Columbia (where the power lines are underground) & claimed a spot on the carpet for the duration (3 days IIRC).
(Just FTR, if we’re talking about the ongoing disaster in DC these days, that’s spelled DeWretcho.)
Dan B
@satby: Sugar Maples are notorious. They’re not native to the west and are illegal as a street tree. With our mild winters, some years there is no freezing weather, the wood stays soft and very brittle.
MoCA Ace
@Kent:
Them’s some pricey cages. You could do it a lot cheaper by getting canopy fittings and galvanized electrical conduit. They make any fitting you could ever want for everything from 1/2″ conduit up to 2″ conduit. and you can customize the size and configuration. You cover it all with plastic netting and zip ties.
StringOnAStick
@Dan B: Good idea making silver maples illegal as street trees. They are very common here in the Denver area, heaving sidewalks, shattering when the snow shows up in September before the leaves are off, and their heavy mat of surface roots means they are thugs to other thirsty plants. There are enough stately old western Catalpas that I wonder anyone plants anything else, beautiful in all seasons.
I’m busy going through all our possessions since we plan to move to another state next May (hopefully it won’t be total Mad Max by then). I’d planned on a good yard sale but may end up donating everything given the situation. CO is doing reasonably well right now but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk and effort.
Johannes
Kittehs! And books! A slice of heaven.