leder legends

It is still hot and muggy and although cooler air might arrive next week, I had a two bucket goal today. Two buckets of weeds from the east side of the house. Surprisingly, I was able to go through the entire bed and 2 buckets were filled.  Apparently it is only 77 degrees so it must be the humidity.  This used to my main hosta bed but it has been reduced to stems instead of luscious leafy beauty. I plan to water and water with the hope that not all is lost. I also plan to take a small division of each one and pot them for the backyard. I did find two lovely surprises in the backyard...hidden jewels.

From a friend's blog:   I talked to my neighbor about my new vehicle on his porch... I wondered how her truck ended up on his porch!!  

The heat and humidity are so energy zapping when you are my age. Today I told myself it was a one bucket day!  I weeded and did some dead-heading until my bucket was full! It didn't take long but I was awfully wet when I came in... and not from the hose.  I was happy to see that my last day lily was looking more stunning than I!

There is a flowerbed in my yard that is always  neglected.  I decided that this year I was going to change that.  I took out some plants, I really weeded, I cut back the grapevine,  I added two new hostas that should grow large. It looked great. Then we went to visit our daughters in Alaska.  I had three people come to water and per usual that flowerbed was somewhat forgotten.  The weeds flourished but the new hostas did not.  They survived. I forced myself to start with that flowerbed...before anything else.  This morning after 2 hot and sweaty hours it is looking so much better. The tall weeds have been pulled so the plants can breathe again. Now I need to bag up all the detritus..my least favorite task. Look ...no weeds just deer damaged hostas! One full bucket of weeds Sad new hosta! A very sad hosta but there is hope...it has a new leaf! Time to water well!!

We got back to a clean house and even clean sheets on the bed. It was so worth doing that before we left. The zucchini and the subsequent activity in the kitchen led to the discovery of a clogged drain.  We have a  VERY LONG copper drain pipe, that does not have very much slope, from the kitchen sink to the other end if the house.  I remember that we had the same issue 15 yrs ago or so.  I tried all the things I could think of, to no avail.  Hubby took it apart but was not able to dislodge the clog. So, I was sent out to rent an electric sewer drain cleaner.  I went to Home Depot...$41 for 4 hours. It was a dirty job and a team effort but we got it done.  There were a couple of good things about this, if that's possible? One: this was NOT sewage.  Haha Two: we saved at least $200. Hahahaha

I have spent a lot of time using up the zucchini.that someone gifted me. 5 large loaves and 10 small loaves of bread and 8 jars of zucchini relish later, I needed a break. Today I cleaned...not just picked up...the kitchen including the floor, I did the same in the bathroom, I ate zucchini bread for breakfast and coffee time, I wandered the backyard and discovered new destruction so I made a homemade version of liquid fence.  I'll spray later. 

While watering the flowerbeds last night I was encouraged because more hostas than I had at first thought survived the deer that visited the yard the day before we got home. Basically only 4 had been left as stems.  This morning I discovered that it had returned. 4 large hostas are now just stems.  It's so frustrating.  I have grown hostas in the backyard for many years and have never had a problem until this year. I wouldn't mind sharing a leaf or two but this is ridiculous. I think I'll blame it on the neighbors who put up high fencing around all their flowerbeds and even higher around their vegetable garden. It's not really pretty but seems to be very effective. I'd like to shoot them but we live in the city. I use Liquid fence but that has gotten very expensive plus we have been gone for 3 weeks and it has to be applied fairly often. 3 or 4 years ago I bought a 2.5 gallon container of concentrate that lasted untill 2 months ago. That same container now costs ove...

Why go to Alaska right now? Alaska is quite determined to keep the covid 19 cases low in their state and while that makes going there a bit complicated it was not as difficult as we thought it might be. COVID TESTS We arrived with proof of a negative test that was less than 72 hrs old and with that we were able to file a declaration that was sent to our phones.  They gave us a voucher for a test to be done there within 7 to 14 days.  We did it on day 15, left on day 17 and received negative results via email the the day after we returned. RESTRICTIONS They ask that tourists do not go to crowded venues like restaurants and movie theaters.  We did a lot of take out.  Many places are closed.  Masks are required everywhere.  THINGS TO DO We go to Alaska frequently to visit our children and grandchildren so we don't do many touristy things. We decided to drive to Talketna and take a flight tour over Denali State park.  Although the peaks were socked in by c...

4 zucchini awaited us on the porch when we returned and the next day we received 10 more.  That's a lot of zucchini! I have grated 10 zucchini and the result was 12 cups for a zucchini relish recipe , and 12 for two double batches of zucchini bread.  I have 8 jars of relish, 10 small loaves and 5 large loaves of zucchini bread.  That's a lot of baking and relish.  I hear it can be grated and frozen in 3 cup portions for 1 recipe of zucchini bread.  I wonder how many baggies I'll get from the remaining 4 zucchini??

We just got back from 18 days in Alaska. I tried not to think about my yard after all  I  sprayed it well with Liquid Fence and Milorganite before I left.  I also had 3 different people coming to water.  All to no avail.  All the hostas in the front and some in the backyard  have been eaten down to stems. Hostas that have never ever been eaten in previous years were part of the salad bar while we were gone.  So frustrating!  So depressing! The front lawn has been mowed- the mower had to work hard it was so long! There was one bright spot in the yard. A clump of cleome was blooming and obviously not of interest to the deer!