Dora Meets Sammie

 I worked a little in the yard today. It was non-strenous. I was making a turtle out of hens and chicks. Confused? I shall explain.

I took a one of those hanging baskets that has a three point system with chains going to a hook. A half circle. This one was on the larger side and not very deep. Being shallow makes it so that you must water more often and I never use it. So, I took the hangers off and then bent it into more of an oval shape. It is old and bent quite easily. I lined it with burlap and filled it with soil, covered the soil with another piece of burlap and flipped it over.

I have been growing the little succulents called hens and chicks. I was on the deck, so all the dirt I spilled was not an issue. Just sweep it up and pour it back in the pot. Before I planted the ones I had, I carefully plucked some of the middle row of leaves to propagate more plants. I think I have 5 circles of the little petals all set up to make new plants.

After all the plants have filled in, I will place it on some feet and add a turtle head and a tail. I have the end of a small tree that fell over that will make a fine head with a little carving on my part and how hard will it be to make a tail? The feet are to be small terracotta flower pots. I have worries about the stability of the bottom, as the burlap will decompose with time. I am thinking that maybe a dollar tree pizza pan can be cut to fit the bottom and will give me a surface to attach the "feet".

Then I split some overgrown potted plants and made three new pots to hang. Oh, I did have one chore that needed my attention and a stepstool. The pavilion we topped the deck with had "curtains" of mosquito netting. It was kind of like hanging shower curtains, four of them, and they all zip together. Easy-peasy, right?

HeWho was working on all things deck, but this seemed to be beyond his understanding and he asked for help. The pavilion is 10 X 12'. So you would think that me saying "long side" and "short side" would be easy to comprehend. Not so much. I helped put the top piece on (thank goodness). He didn't think he needed my help and he was trying to stretch the 10' side to fit the 12' side. Left to his own devises I am certain he would have ripped it and we would have had to order a replacement.

Back to the curtains .... "Where are the instructions?" said his wife. He looked down his nose at me and asked if I really needed them, after all I had seen the picture. It was all zipped together. And he insisted we leave it all zipped together to determine which sides were long and which were short. "What are you talking about?" asked the man with the plan. It would have been easier to work with had it been in 4 pieces. We finally finished as the sky darkened and went inside.

The zippers had been placed in the corners and after he had left the last side for me to finish, I knew it was all wrong. So, this morning while he was taking the trash to the dump, one of his tasks that he likes, as it involves leaving the property, I took it all down and started over. No instructions, but I am pretty smart. Short side had 6 hooks, long side had 7 and the zipper goes in the middle of the "wall", not in the corner. We had it up all wrong and inside out. The corners had ties to tie it to the pole in each corner and elastic with a toggle to hold the curtains open and allow for access to the deck.

I have come to the conclusion that Mother was right about one thing ... I am smarter that most men! I am going to need some sevin dust for my vegetable garden. Something has wiped out my cauliflower and tomato plants. No horn worms have been seen in any part of my garden. I checked it every two hours one day. Snails have been an issue and crushed egg shells should take care of that. I found one attached to the siding on the house today and put him in Dora's tank. His name is Sammie the Snail. Dora has been ignoring him so far. Her belly is full today with food pellets and a worm. We will see how he fares with a turtle for a housemate.

Tomorrow I will enthrall you with what happened this evening. Stay tuned.