Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  I stood here watching the bees for the longest time as they gathered pollen from my blanket flowers. It was overcast and a nice breeze drifted through the trees. I do enjoy my alone time in the morning. despite HeWho telling me I could never go "up there" alone again. Just because I lost my balance and planted my face on that log! I was weeding in the shade where my caladium bulbs have come to life dramatically. I saw some hornets buzzing around close to the ground and decided to back off. One brave hornet decided to try his luck and was mutilated for his efforts! He kind of stung my inner arm, but I knocked him off before he could inject a whole load of his poison. Just a little sting. It was nothing compared to the attack before. So, I stood contemplating the bumble bees on the blanket flowers. They never bother me as I work around the gardens. Later this afternoon, as evening is approaching, the butterflies will be out in full force. Last week I saw a hole in the ground ...

  You might recall me being disconcerted (complaining) about my parking space not being under shelter. HeWho likes to think himself to be the solver of problems immediately put one of those cheap tops you might put up as a temporary shelter. The first rain (the next day) took it down. The legs being those spindly cheap aluminum ones. His wife had assured him that this would happen, but she is not one to say "I told you so". (snicker) He purchased another one straight away, it is supposed to be stronger. This was months ago and it lingers outside, still in the box. I am used to this. His solutions are bought, then never applied. Actually, this one is my fault. We have this nice big carport for the RV and the truck. This thing he bought looks like a storage tent. I don't like the looks of it and like the carport it will be one of the first things in sight when you come down my drive. It is hard to turn around to go up the drive, requiring backing out or in. The drive is ste...

  No pictures today of my latest adventure. It does involve canine calamities, so if you don't care for dogs, you might not want to read. Let me preface this by saying that my dogs go to the vet with regularity, are treated monthly with flea, tick, larvae prevention and bathed at least once a month. They are petted and loved and checked frequently for anything out of the ordinary. I never see flea dirt on my babies and I look specifically for it, as well as bumps that might indicate a tick. Our yard is treated with granules that kill fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes. Our entire yard, including the area around the She Shed. As I have said, I wait for cooler temps and work outside in the evening hours. I get mosquito bites from time to time, like the rest of the world. For the past couple of weeks my legs have been itching incessantly. I can see red marks that I assumed were mosquito bites. Yesterday, as I was sitting on my couch in my usual spot, a flea jumped on my cheek. I felt it cra...

  For years now, I have been using the OCedar spin mop. I like that it spins the water out for a dryer mop. I used it in the kampground , as well. I had three of them. What I didn't particularly care for, was that the dirty mop water was what I rinsed the mop in.  Solutions I could come up with, was to use two buckets. One with clean water , while the rinsed out dirty water went into the other bucket. Not a simple solution, by any means. It had me toting a mop bucket in each hand. Now that space is a real issue, I can't have two mop buckets in use at one time!! I mop every day. Yes, it is a big pain in my rear, but it needs to be done. Dog slobber, water from their dish and sometimes pee on the floor is just not acceptable to me. Let's not even tak about the dirt they track in. HeWho refuses to take his shoes off at the door. He does this in his recliner, so he is not a big help either. A rug on the floor is misinterpreted to be a pee pad by the canines.  So I did some re...

  Before my latest calamity, I changed gears in my front yard. You might recall that I had been vigorously removing the rock that seemed to cover the entire "yard" up to the steps going inside. I had been doing this for over 6 months, longing for grass. On a whim I bought 4 stepping stones, thinking to make a landing area under the first step. I was going to place them in a square, touching each other, in hopes that most of the dirt on shoes might decide to depart before entering the porch. I carefully started clearing the growth from that area. If I encountered grass, I carefully scooped it up and then finding a bare spot to plant it in the scraggly yard. All the weeds were slung behind me unceremoniously, this act affording me a measure of satisfaction. While involved in this endeavor I was suddenly hit with an epiphany. This happens to me from time to time. I stopped and placed the stepping stones in a row. I liked it more than my other idea. Everyday rocks purge up from t...

  I was happily laying mulch in my gardens, when I saw a weed I wanted to pull. I don't squat or kneel anymore, so I was bending over and reaching out to grab the weed when I felt myself going forward. I bent one knee, thinking to just land on my bottom, but once in motion I kept going forward and fell into the garden, the one that is on a slope. I didn't put my arm out to stop the motion, I just rolled with it. No, not gracefully! My arm was under me and my face hit the log that outlines the garden. That is not a tear, but sweat. HeWho was navigating his golf cart, bringing me a cold beverage and some wasp spray to have on hand and saw the whole thing. There I was face planted on the log, knees on the ground and my rather generous bottom end in the air. Good thing they didn't name me Grace! I rolled onto my side and got back on my feet. My face was burning where it made contact with the log, but nothing else was bothering me, so I grabbed that weed and yanked it from the g...

The day dawned deliciously cool, in the low 60's. I gulped down my coffee and headed out with my chainsaw. We are putting a drain pipe in the ditch down the drive. I want to widen the drive. It was pretty easy digging the trench until I encountered the rocky part. That required implementing the pick axe, but I am not opposed to a good challenge. I have to confess that HeWho is opposed to manual labor contributed his muscles to hardest part of the trench. I still did the longest part! Now that we have inserted the drain pipe it is time to bury it. We started last night and covered most of it. I noted some trees that needed to come down to accommodate my lofty plans and that was my goal this morning. I cut down 2 big trees (big to me means that I can't get the limb loppers around it to just snap it to the ground) and some bushes. I cleaned up all the debris resulting and then started hacking away at the embankment. I was making great progress and the dirt was coming down into a s...

  Cujo here. Mom has been crazy busy this past week. Not sure what that means, but she has spent a lot of time outside in her gardens. One day she came back in with tomatoes, a cucumber and some green beans. I like green beans, they are delicious! Tomatoes are an acquired taste and I have yet to acquire it. Cucumbers are downright bitter. I don't think she is growing these for us dogs. Eddie was not feeling well and keeping Mom awake at night. He has been itching a lot lately. His belly gets bumps on it and Mom has to bathe him more often. But yesterday, he felt really bad. He kept shaking his head a lot and walking sideways. Bo would not leave him alone. Bo likes to lick Eddie's ears. Eddie was growling at Bo. Mom decided to pick Eddie up and have a good look at his ears. First she lifted his ears and looked into the insides, then she sniffed them. I heard her tell Dad that Eddie had a raging ear infection. Raging? What does that mean? Then I heard Mom on the phone. She was ta...

  After my unfortunate encounter with the hornets, I haven't yet employed the shovel again. I can't bring myself to shove the blade into the ground without knowing what lays beneath. Yeah, I am scared to dig. I decided to work on my "fence" along the embankment. It is coming along nicely. A little labor intensive, but it will be worth the effort. After I reinforce it with some rocks, it should keep the mulch in place and help with the erosion. My soaker hose shows up like a big green slap in the face. I thought I ordered black. I will have to get clever about some camoflage. I don't intend to mulch this area, as it would take several truck loads to do it properly and mulching just atop the hose would look silly. Our next big project is the put drainage pipe along the ditch beginning just above the steps. A ton or two of rock could then be poured to widen the drive and make it easier to access my plants along the drive. It will also secure my "steps". You...

  After the torrential downpour, I decided to check on my tiny garden on the far side of the carport. I think it is safe to say that the peace lily liked the water. It is full of buds still waiting to bloom. I have never had this many blooms on this plant. Above it is the fern I hung in the tree. I got the fern at Walmart for $7, half price, because it looked a little limp. It has almost doubled in size. Another lily I have had for years. It produced one sad flower every season.  There are 6 on it now. I think it is happier here on the mountain!  Maybe I am happier here on the side of the mountain and all my plants and animals sense this.

  Yesterday was spent in a benadryl stupor. No, not poison ivy. I seem to have avoided any leaves of three as I cleared my woods and claimed my territory on the embankment. I know there is some, I have seen it and steered clear. I have been thinking about terracing the slope that I have cultivated and mulched. It is hard to maintain my balance while planting, then tending flowers. I had it all worked out in my mind. No, I didn't want any help or input from HeWho would want to go buy a piece of heavy equipment and then take over like a bull in a china closet. It would end up being a mess I would then have to deal with. I knew it would require a lot of muscle pain and sweat, but what else do I have to do? Gloves, a spade and my garden shoes that allow me to stand at an angle on the slope. Check, check, check. I trudged up the driveway in the cool of the evening and after positioning my sprinklers on my other garden beds I began to work. I decided to start with a gentler slope as you ...

  I spent the morning shoveling rock and sprinkling grass seed. Yes, the forecast said rain, but, as everyone knows, forecasts are fickle. Besides, even though I watered the areas I tossed seed on, a good rain would be welcome. It was a lovely sunny hot day. We decided to have some burgers on the grill. I cleaned the kitchen, gave Dora, the turtle her weekly bath and cleaned her habitat while waiting for the coals to heat. Folded the two loads of laundry while HeWho grills grabbed the meat I had prepared. I yelled to him to grill the package of hot dogs to reheat for lunch the next day. Said hot dogs were in the fridge, most people keep them there. He could not find them. Translation ... they were not immediately in his view on the top shelf. I found them and took them out to him. Then I carried the turtle habitat out the door to dump the water and turtle waste onto a flower bed. I noted the breeze had picked up and it was over cast. Suddenly the rain fell from the sky and after 5 ...

  This is where I started with my woods around my She Shed. Seems like a long time ago, but, really only months. You can see the electical wire on the ground that needs to be dealt with. Never a good idea to bury things around my gardens. I am likely to dig them up in my zeal to plant more flowers. My woods are looking more like this now. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I cleared all this!  I saved all the trees I thinned out. They came in very useful working on my handrail. Although that project is over, I will not be getting rid of them. Who knows what I will think of next?? Actually, I have many projects in mind. Just need to priortize them.

  Awhile back I decided to address the tiny garden at the end of the drive. It was just two benches and the ferns. I had some elephant ear bulbs looking for a home, so ... I cleared around the trees and popped the bulbs in the ground. I think they like it. I hung one of the ferns in a tree and moved my peace lily over to take advantage of the shady area. Look close and you will see a path between the trees and the bench on the left side. It leads to the water cut off. I figured I should make use of the shade since I needed to mow and keep that area clean. I had a lot of elephant ear bulbs in various sizes. The majority of them went up the hill with me and were planted in the woods.  I am looking forward to having them fill this area with their beautiful "ears"! This one looks like some sort of bugs are feeding! Its twin is looking healthy enough. I did some weeding in that area, but it will require much more and some more pine straw. This is what they look like before they un...

  Today found me up the hill with all my solar lights missing parts. They still work, just don't have all the parts to stick them in the ground. So I improvised. I have one lone doggie planter that belonged to my Grandmom. I had a bit of aloe looking for a place to grow and decided to use it to grow aloe and light the path. These frogs were on sale at the dollar tree. One was made to hold the toilet bowl brush, the other was a hand soap dispenser. They are now living there best lives as lighted path finders. What path, you ask? The path up the steps to the She Shed. HeWho loves me finished the hand rail for me!! I love it! He screwed it securely and then used twine to keep it all tight. Just so you know, I surrounded the ugly green posts with branches.  I could have asked for a sturdy handrail and HeWho would have, no doubt, gone to a home improvement store and purchased all manner of lumber to achieve my request. I didn't want that. I wanted a more rustic look, using what I a...

  I woke to a nice cool morning. I ventured out with the the canine contingent and encountered a swarm of bumblebees right outside my back door. See those two on the fence? Looking at me! The azalea bush is resting just above the ravine and at the back of the house near the back door. It is outside the fence, but the fence will not contain the bees. I know you can't see in this picture, but the bush is alive with bumblebees. They have taken up residence here. The only thing that might make this particular bush different form all the vegetation here is the fact that I toss the mop water on it! My mop water usually has dog pee and bleach in it! After my bee discovery, I gathered my tools and headed uphill. I planted 11 cone flowers along the drive two days ago and they need to be watered religiously to get a good start. They look a little dismal, but next year they will be blooming in full force. I rescued a pot in the clearance section. It had lots of spent blooms and brown leaves. ...