Tuesday, September 26, 2006

And the Band Played On

Last night I mowed the lawn. Both lawns. They might not look like much, but the back had been neglected, and was too long to mow easily. And I ended up trampling a lot of mushrooms in the front yard that were hidden under the weeds. But still, mowing is done, for this week.

For some odd reason, there was a marching band playing for a significant length of time last night. Almost like there was a football game or something. I can't find anything in the news or the school calendars to account for it. Especially since it was still going after 9pm. That's pretty late for a school event on a school night.

And I bought two bags of Take 5s, two bags of Milky Ways, two bags of 100 Grands, and a bag of Twizlers for Halloween. While I was at it, I bought 4 little "pumpkin" gourds for my windows. Let's see them run me out of candy this year! (The fancy Reese's peanut butter cups are for me to eat between now and then. ;) )

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Autumn Decorating

Well, yesterday I did some shopping. I wanted to pick up some Halloween and fall decorations. I had intended on getting a nice wreath at the craft store, but there weren't any that really said Halloween. And I was wishy washy on the others. So, what I did do is pick up a bunch of silk flowers and container to attach to the door. I'd much rather have used real flowers, but I don't want to be changing this out for the next couple of weeks, either.



While I was there, I picked up a strawberry pot. It makes an adorable planter for pansies. I might just pick up a few more, (and a few more pansies) next week.



But aside from that, the wether system that caused all those problems in Kentucky and Missouri has been dropping rain on us all day. It cleared up just enough for a spectular sunset.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Happy Equinox!

So, Autumn is here in truth. And the temperatures are down right chilly. I've taken to wearing socks in the house, and this morning, I flipped my heat on. Now, with the new AC, came a new heat pump. And there seems to be a lot of dust in the system to smell burnt. Eww. I'm glad I only turned it on for the breif period before I went to work. I'd never have slept otherwise. I'll have to give it a good airing and trial this weekend. And, while I'm at it, I should change the filter anyway.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Starting the Clean Up

Well, I'm starting the fall clean up. I deadheaded the hydrangea and removed a few branches that had overgrown the area again. I also yanked out the Virgina Creeper. I didn't mind it there, but in order to keep it small and managable, I figured I'd better pull it up now. Besides, it was too full of insect holes to be pretty in its fall colors. I also removed a couple other weedy wildflowers before they could go to seed.

It seems that I won't have to worry about the mushrooms in my front yard, some critter/kid already turned them to mush. The shame is that it was before I got a picture.

Six more weeks to Halloween. I'd better start thinking about what I'm going to do as a display.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Fungus Among Us!

Well, it has been damp and chilly. I think I'm in the midst of catching one of those change in the weather colds. It is supposed to recover later today and be beautiful tomorrow. However, I have five sizable mushrooms growing in my front yard. I'm talking coaster sized mushrooms! It will be a real shame when we get enough sun for me to mow them though....

And I finally spotted an early tree changing color. Aside from all the trees that just turned with heat stresses. No drought stressed trees this year. But the one maple in at work has red leaves at its feet already. *sigh*

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Cool Autumn Nights

Well, the weather has changed. It is that lovely time of year when the nights are cool enough to need blankets when the windows are open all night. It is also still warm enough in the afternoon and early evening to go around in shorts. This and spring are my favorite times of the year, because the weather is just so spectacular. Whether it is the leaves changing in fall or the leaves budding and flowers blooming in spring. Good sleeping weather, and you can still enjoy the days. Beautiful weather, even when it is adding to the rain surplus. And the clouds have been stunning.

Speaking of clouds, a good book on the science, whimsy and history of clouds and cloud watching is The Cloudspotter's Guide.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Volunteers

It appears that I have not been keeping up with my weeding sufficently. The side of the patio is usually easy to weed, since there is a layer of gravel there and dirt is not tightly packed. But I do have to weed it, since the people who put in the gravel, did not put in a weed barrier. Although, the downspout extender does smother a good chunk of it.

The other day, I found this:



What it is, is a very waterlogged morning glory in the afternoon. :) I like morning glories. I put off planting some, because they'd take over and reseed like mad. The only real spot to plant them, without having them climb the neighbor's fences is the shed, and I did not feel up to to creating or installing a trellis this year. But I have a morning glory!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Labor Day Rain

Well, when I woke up Monday morning, I felt that it was a shame that this beautiful, sunny holiday would probably see me out mowing the grass, because it was supposed to be the best day of the week. Unfortunately, it started clouding up. So, Zeppe and I hastened outside to do some weeding.

I've discovered that if I weed near one of the two "zones" where he likes to get into trouble, and really look at him, he behaves himself. I guess it isn't as much fun to get into trouble when you're being watched. I still don't get what his fascination with going behind the shed is. Although, he did take it as a challenge when I laughed at him looking out the gate. There is a couple slats that are bowed out, but not enough for him to get through. Not that he didn't try. I think he tried harder when I laughed.

But all good weeding comes to an end when the rain drops start to fall. Yes, early afternoon the rain set in. No picnics for me. It rained steadily all evening. Ernesto had gotten us caught up since June, and now we have a 6+ inch rain surplus for the year! That's a lot of rain!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Milkweed

When I went to Hershey Gardens, I came back with a pocket full of fluff and seeds clinging to the fluff. I did attempt to document the plant the seeds came off of, not that that is any indication of what they will look like. There were at least two types of milkweed in the gardens. The plant that I got the seeds from was Asclepias "Silky Gold". It probably was Tuberosa, since the sign had Milkweed/Butterflyweed listed as the common name.



I'm actually leaving the link for the bigger photo, in case you need a bigger one to go looking for the little nibbler in the middle left of the picture.

The other butterfly weed I spotted and photographed extensively, was orange, but there weren't any signs identifying it. There were a lot of caterpillars on that one. And even a shriveled up used crysalis. I'll get them uploaded in a day or two.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Eh for Ernesto

Ernesto isn't quite gone from the area, but he is over enough for a summary. He performed admirally. A good soaker rain that didn't cause too much flooding. That's because, although it was a steady rain, it was a light rain. Only 3" in the bucket over 28 hours. And it is only misting now.

Winds never got too hectic. Just a couple of good gusts. Not that I didn't fret about my siding most of the night. Although, the neighbor's tree kept making sounds on my gutter that in my mind approximated siding being ripped off. They really need to have that tree trimmed.

I don't know what would have happened if the winds had picked up. I had brought in all the stuff from my porch, since I didn't want my plants battered, but most of my neighbor's left all their junk piled out there. And they have a lot more junk and window boxes out than I do. There was a wind advisory for winds between 40 - 75 mph. Fortunately, that was just tree height gusts, but still. We lucked out, in that respect.

And my power stayed on all night! Wow! Not that there aren't enough people without power in the region today, but not even a flicker here! But then, that shouldn't be too, too amazing. I don't think I saw flash of lightning, let alone the crash of thunder the entire time. Just sedate rainclouds, not thunderstorms. And that rain back in June kept the trees from being too stressed out from the drought.

All in all, just what my garden needed.