October 30, 2009

Have everything ready for Halloween Night, Ann Stores is goign to have a giant pumpkin parade for all the neighborhood to partisipate in. Last Sunday I helped load the giant pumpkin onto a cart that 7Dee's loand us, we guess it weighs around 350lbs. This is "Little Terrorist # 1 Taeya with one of the pumpkins that I started in the greenhouse last spring, I guess I am going to raise them again next spring. I am going to miss the parade because I will be in Corvalis with Steve for the Beaver game.

October 24, 2009

MeMa is on a "Chick Trip" with Princess Jan, staying at the Inn of Spanish Head. So I have the whole weekend to work in the garden. I dug up all of GPa Potters Geraniums and put them in one gallon pots for winter storage in the garage, no room in the greenhouse. MeMa received flowers for her birthday from Jilly and I pulled out a large sprig of Rose scented Geranium and made about ten cuttings for next spring. Dug up all the pole beans and froze a bag of beans off them. Cleaned out MeMa's hen house and laid sawdust in the yard. Transplanted the large yellow Tree Peony to the back fence, I'm hoping that the reason it suffers die back every year is because it was in too shady an area. It will be in full sun in the new location. I put a large metal screen behind my climbing rose "Night Owl" that will give it twelve feet to climb. Transplanted climbing rose "Mme Alfred Carriere" into the edge of the vegetable garden bordering the path and installed another screen behind her as well. After filling the trailer with yard debris I gave the lawn a dose of Ammonia Sulfate to green it up. A good weekend in the garden!

Changes at the Manor

The end of August was not a good time at the Manor, It was Sunday night and I was doing some dishes. Old Otto had gone out to do potty and came back in and got into his basket after getting a cookie. I came back down into the room and noticed the lights were still on the Arbor so I opened the patio screen and went out to unplug them. When I slid the door open Otto jumped from his basket and scampered back out. I knew the only reason was because he wanted to get another cookie, I went to get him back in but Sophie came dashing out and she hadn't been out for some time so I said OK just get it done with and I went back into the house. I was inside for about ten minutes when MeMa came into the kitchen and said she had let Sophie in, I said I would go get Otto. As I came into the Sun-room I could see he was not on the patio so I went to the back garage door but he wasn't there either. I grabbed a flashlight and ran out the back door and immediately went to the pond....no Otto, so I started checking all the flower beds thinking he might have gotten disoriented and was stuck in the beds somewhere, still no Otto. I ran to the house and told MeMa to get another light and help me find him, I then turned and went back over the bridge and that is when I saw him float out from under the bridge, I grabbed him up and tried CPR but he had already been gone for some time....God Bless Otto.
A few days later I was headed to work after attending my second funeral for a friend and MeMa called in tears because she had a miss-hap with one of the canary cages that was hanging on the patio. She bumped her head on the bottom of the cage and when it dropped the bird died of shock.

August 19, 2009

Had the exterminator come today and spray and remove the Yellow Jacket nest that I discovered behind the Redwood. He told me that I could do the same thing for five dollars in the future. He said to just buy a can of wasp and hornet killer at Walmart, wait until night and spray the hole can down the nest hole and then put a large block over the hole so they cant escape , and then by morning they will all be dead. He said to remove the nest or the eggs will hatch and the young will just continue.

Sophie the "Baby Sitter", after her owner passed away, she was passed around from home to home for over a year before she came to us. She had never been around children but took an immediate love for them right away ( Little Terrorist #2 Brooklyn). She found her forever home with us. One of her previous (short term) owners told us that she was a terrible dog that barked and chased after everything and was better off being put down. With a little patience and love she has transitioned into one of the most loving animals we have taken into our lives.