Let me tell ya 'bout...

OK – we won’t be addressing birds and bees here, for those who remember that Roger Miller song. Too many of you have young ones and your time to struggle with that conversation will come eventually. Been through it – and in some evil way, will probably enjoy watching you struggle through it.

But the flowers and the trees… planted 2 clumps of Aspens and one Emerald Queen Maple today to replace trees that had died off or just simply needed removing for whatever reason. Had a landscape contractor do it to save my back (and heart). Great result. TLMK is going to be pleased when she gets home tonight. The maple is supposed to turn bright gold in the fall – will match the aspens. And it’s a hard maple – will make good furniture a few generations from now, but not maple syrup. And never a MBL bat!

I’ve pretty much given up on tomatoes in this soil. Way too much clay, and believe it or not, not quite acidic enough. I’ll do what my Great White North relatives did last year – buy the tomato strainer and a bushel of Roma tomatoes at a Farmer’s Market and make sauce from there!

Ah, but we do have roses and day lilies and Asiatic lilies and Salvias that my landscaping friend is envious of. And one Holly bush that is quite vibrant – the best he’s seen in the Valley according to him.

I’ve been dead-heading my roses regularly for a couple of months now. Makes them thrive like you wouldn’t believe. I didn’t realize that there’s an art and science to trimming roses until I was asked at church “Does anyone know how to trim roses?” I have a lavender rose (free-standing) which by next year I hope will best the world record for the tallest free-standing rose. I have a deep pink rose bush which I just found out last week is a “Perfume Delight” bush. It’s one variety of roses that are used in making perfumes. We have one. Go figure.

I also have my three JP2 roses which I found out last week were requiring more calcium. So we’re saving up egg shells and crushing them up to put around the bases of the three plants weekly. A tip from a gardener friend.

I suppose I ought to take a few pictures of the place to let you know what it looks like. Or of course, you could come out here and see for yourselves.

(Oh, no – seriously. No need to thank me for the guilt trip – it’s on the house!)

Whew!!!

Finished planting everything except the trees this weekend... TLMK once again did an artful job of planting our herb garden just outside our back door. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (and Oregano and two types of Basil). I love cooking with fresh herbs during the summer!

Dead-headed all my roses today. A couple of years ago, I'd pluck off all the wilted petals, collect them, and when the wind was right, toss them with the wind into our neighbor's yard. Brought laughter to a 3 and 5 year old to have "confetti" blowing into their yard. That's a good thing.

Santo Subito (yeah, you Protestants will have to Google that) - I have three John Paul 2 roses in bloom. All young, but still there. 5 brilliant white double petal blossoms right now - 7 more to come probably in the next week.

We are tired but happy with our botanical results this weekend. No mondo huge veggie garden here, but we do what we can! And hopefully (in the case of tomatoes) can what we do!

A Month (or so) In The Life...

So my little sister got me thinking about where her time goes. So here’s mine. In the past 6 weeks:

4 trips over to the Front Range and back – average about 800 miles per trip.

1 worrisome day while my best friend had back surgery - quite successful, thank you.

2 trips to the ranch (12 days total, I think) to take care of chores and cooking and making sure said friend didn’t get too cowboy (read stubborn) on me.

Watch the much needed moisture at the ranch turn to snow and freezing temperatures while there, and then turn a bit warm and watch mud set in. There’s a reason why I keep a mud-laden pair of work boots and an insulated, steel-toed pair of 16” tall rubber boots in Chuck’s garage.

Watched nine calves die because of cold and disease and other reasons – one I had to put down.

Friend had to put a horse down. One of the best cow ponies he’d ever owned. I can attest to that. One damn fine horse.

Get new shingles installed. Ow.

Get a new swamp cooler installed. Ow.

Get estimate for new front door. Of course, the builder 17 years ago couldn’t use a standard size door – it had to be custom, just like the new one will be. Can you spell ouch?

Weed, water, plant new stuff and mulch the front flower beds, and also plant more tomatoes and herbs for our kitchen beds. Many heavy sacks of mulch and dirt moved on Monday. Once again, can you spell ouch? (This time for my back, not my wallet.)

Today, my steer went to the processor. A three year old, and while I don’t know exactly which one it was, I know it was an ornery critter. Suffice it to say, I’ll enjoy those T-Bones after all the grief that critter gave me over the last few years. And every other bit of Longhorn Beef I'll get from him.

I’ve been seriously cowboy for over a month. May take as long for me to return to "civilized".

Then again, it begs the question: What’s wrong with being cowboy? Slept sound every night and was up at dawn every day. Worked hard, felt good, and enjoyed the company of all who helped at the ranch.

Hard to beat that.