Holy Moly it has been a while!!

Don't you hate it when a pretty consistent blogger stops writing for a bit with no explanation?

Me too.

So I apologize. :-)

I had a bit of an emergency with my small dog, Killer. I ended up taking some time out of work - and I have been playing catch up ever since (I usually update at the end of my work day before I go home) and then when I am at home - well, the sun is shining, it is the time of year to get outside and get wet! LOL.

You know I love to share pictures - so here is my poor little puppy and his booboo.

Poor thing is so sad because he is not allowed to be up on the couch with me.

In case you are wondering why he needed this - weeellll - the hubby tripped on him on the stairs, and while the hubby landed on his butt and bounced down a few steps, he is no worse for wear. Killer, was not - he was under the hubby when he bounced and ended up breaking his left pelvis bone - and his right leg/hip. They left the pelvis alone, as it isn't a bad break, and there isn't really much they can do about it - but they did have to go in and repair his hip.

I do have some garden news - I harvested my first few cherry tomatoes.

No I haven't tasted them yet (be giving them to the little one) because they smell a little too tart for me - but I will. :-D

I need to take some more current pictures of the garden, since the last ones I took were of a couple weeks ago. I will get on that!

Mimima's Garden *Graphic Intensive*

I have been mentioning here and there - perhaps just in comments when admiring other's gardens - that I wanted to doa picture post of my mother garden. The time as finally arrived! (and Mimima is what my daughter and her other grandchildren affectionately call her)

Just a couple of notes about my mother's garden:

• It was originally professionally landscaped, but my mother keeps it up - and the plants have been changed out several times since it was done. So - imagine the concrete and such as what the landscapers contributed - everything else was her. (or her neighbor - who helps her when she is out of town)
• The water ficture is clorinate - she did used to have a koi pond there - but the upkeep was tremendous - so she gave away the koi and converted it to a chlorinated bond. Less maintanence, and less frogs - so she is happy.
• The top part of the waterfall is very dry - the rest of the garden stays moist. This has presented special problems when deciding what to plant.
• None of these pictures truly do the garden justice. One of these days I will figure out how to do a panoramic view thingy in windows (that darn 6 year old on the TV commercial knows how!)
• Please click on the pictures below if you want to see a larger one.
• Yes - that is my daughter in one of the pictures. She loves to help Mimima in the garden.

Beautiful Moth

I really don't like moths for the most part. I don't dislike them - but I don't like them swarming around me when I am trying to get into my house at night - or when one gets inside and gets the cat all worked up trying to catch (so she jumps all over everything).

But I left my house the other day and I found this beautiful moth. It had markings like a butterfly, but was dusty brown everywhere else, so I knew it was a moth. And it was HUGE - bigger than even any butterfly I have seen. The moths I normally see are the small ones that are kind of a khaki or tan color.

I told my mother about it (I was heading to her house when I saw it) and she said this is becoming an endangered species. (I don't know how accurate that is - as I don't even know what kind of Moth this is) So I went home, found it still on my door, and was feeling all nice and eco-friendly by allowing this moth to perch on my front door.

Then a bird (bluejay I think) landed on the same door - and a I watched, horrified, it gobbled up the poor critter. My husband was laughing at me by this point (MEN! hehe).

Anyway - took me down a peg or two! I SHOULD have shooed it away instead of admiring it and leaving it on my door. Had I shooed it away - it may have found a less conspicuous hiding place.

Ah well - the circle of life I suppose.

Master Gardener Program

To explain how I came around to find out about this group, I have to start with Meetup.com. I am a member of a local gardening group that is just now starting to pick up - and through them I found out about a couple of upcoming classes being help by Extension Education Center for our county. I will go into that more later - probably when I take the classes.

Anyway - I was nosing around the site and came across the Master Gardener Program. Now here is what is is about:

Mission of the Master Gardener Volunteer Program:
To train a core of volunteers to assist the county agent in delivering information to residents on how to design, plant and care for their plants and landscapes in an environmentally friendly way.
The Master Gardener program is a volunteer based program for those people interested helping others. It involves going through more than 70 hours of education encompassing all areas gardening. In return for this education, we ask that you pledge to donate at least 75 hours of volunteer service during the following year. Most of this time is spent answering homeowners questions on the telephone.

(this information and logo were taken directly from here)

I found this absolutely fascinating. I myself don't think I have near enough the mastery to do something like this - perhaps there are those of you that are, and would think this would be worth your while. Look into it - maybe there is a offshoot in your area if you are not in FL.

Gifts

My mother was visiting with her sister and mother this past weekend, and she came home with such a pleasant surprise for me.

My very first lawn ornament! I am thinking it is supposed to hold Bird Seed - and I briefly thought about purchasing some. However, I have been reading the World of Yardcraft blog - as well as other blogs - talking about pesky squirrels. I decided I did not want to put anything in my yard that would attract them.

I realize this next bit is a little late - but when I was at the farmers market mother's day weekend, I found the perfect gift for my mother (I know - last minute, but that is me, hehe), It was from the same booth I found my banana tree, they had this beautiful "Firecracker" plant - I looked at it and immediately thought of my mother's garden. (I really need to do a picture post of her garden) So I picked it up - took a picture of it and send her the picture on Mother's day (since she was out of town). I found out that she has been looking for this plant, and has wanted one for a long time - what luck!

Red Banana Tree

Don't you love it when you can see how much a plant loves a spot? I have this little corner of my porch where I have placed all of my plants. It is a great sun spot, and when we water the yard, the water gets through the screen to water all of the plants as well.

One of my plants that seem to be loving the spot is my Red Banana Tree. When I purchased it (see left picture), it only has about 5 leaves, now it just keeps on shooting out more and more leaves! (see right picture) I think I am up to 8 now, and it looks like a new one is about to pop out.

Kitchen Gardeners

Like yesterday, this is another post about the gardening community - but this community is not specifically for bloggers or those that like to blog. It is a community similar to myspace or facebook - but it is for those that keep a kitchen garden. There you can find groups for specific things (like herbs, composting, preserving, etc.) find garden buddies, participate in forums - and so on. Of course you can also keep a blog there as well, but it isn't the central part of the site.

I hope to see you there! And if you join, don't forget to add me as a friend. :-D


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