Plums, plums, plums

Friday, May 28th, 2010 02:47 pm
auntbijou: (Default)
We've had a plum tree, dunno what variety, in our front yard for three years. It's a lovely little tree, with purple leaves, and I thought it was purely decorative. The former owners planted it, and I have to admit, we thought we'd lost it last summer with the drought, but it survived and HOW!!!

Look!

Peeking out...

Holy Mackinoly!! It's PLUMS!!!

They're close to ripe, maybe another week or so. They're sour and tart, but with an edge of sweetness, so... I'm hoping the taste will improve as they ripen.

Here's one with the Husbandly One's thumbprint on it...

Nearly Ripe

I'll post later about the Impertinent Daughter's adventures on the last day of school. Right now I'm mellow, and I'd like the mellow to last!

LOOK!! LOOK!!

Thursday, April 15th, 2010 06:20 pm
auntbijou: (Blessed Bee)
LOOK!! MY RED RADIANT ROSE HAS BLOOMED!! LOOK, LOOK!!!

*is massively excited*

Red Radiant Rose

IT BLOOMED! IT LIKES ME, IT REALLY LIKES ME!!!

*dies of the happy*

Y'all... this rose bush is over sixty years old!!! And it had been failing and unhappy at Mom's, and I was so scared that the move would kill it, but it's so healthy, putting out leaves and IT BLOOMED!! IT BLOOMED, IT BLOOMED, IT BLOOMED!!!

*dance of joy, dance of joy*

I'm SO HAPPY!!!
auntbijou: (Blessed Bee)
At last, I can believe it's spring in Central Texas! It's green again, there are flowers, it's starting to get uncomfortably warm, we've been able to have the windows open for two weeks, and haven't had to turn on the heat at night for one! It's wonderful!

And now, I believe I promised y'all pictures!
Green is a wonderful color! )
auntbijou: (Default)
Took the kids to get their hair cut yesterday. Mr. Manzie's was so thick, a jungle expedition could get lost in there, and it was getting wild, cowlicks standing up everywhere, hair going where it wanted, especially in the back. Grandma's Crazy Cajun Hair gene had definitely struck again! In fact, I warned Sherri, our regular hair whacker, to be sure to comb through it before she used the buzz clippers on him, as it was sure to get hung up otherwise.

"Oh, it'll be fine!" she said with a grin. "His hair is so fine, it shouldn't tangle much."

*snort* Yeah. Right.

Five minutes later, she was combing through it. "I've never seen fine hair that was short tangle like that before!"

"You've been spoiled by my thinning hair," I said cheerfully. "Because mine used to be exactly like the Impossible Son's."

He wanted it short on the sides and spiky on top, and has asked me if he can get it high-lighted blue next time. *laughs* Of course, I said yes!

And, of course, I have pictures...

Clicky and see! )
In other news, I finished my [community profile] weasley_fest fic, had it betaed and sent in. Oh, what a relief to have that out of the way! Boy, that was a hard one to write, just because I kept approaching it from the wrong angle!! That and the constant interruptions! We'll probably have a discussion about giving Mama time to write (or she go explodey!) this weekend.

And the Husbandly One and I have come to the realization that we are going to have to rig a canopy for our vegetable garden. Some of our plants, like the pumpkins, just can't take the sun. Ten years ago, I had no trouble growing pumpkins in full sun during a drought, but now? They're wilting, even though they are getting watered regularly. We're not the only ones, either. There are a lot of folks out here who are rigging shade for their gardens, because they're burning up otherwise.

Last year, the corn and milo in the fields around town didn't burn up until July. They started turning to straw last week, and the corn hasn't even shown ears yet. The grass in our front and back yard is already gone, and only the gardens are showing any greenery, because that's where we put our water. Makes us wonder what we should put in the yard rather than grass. Well... maybe buffalo grass rather than St. Augustine, which takes insane amounts of water to keep green, and just isn't worth it.

So, all you folks who are getting too much rain are welcome to send it our way. We are dry, dry, dry!!

And now, off to the library!!
auntbijou: (Default)
Very well, actually!!

*pauses to squee*

We've got tomatoes!!! And wee peppers!! And pears!!! The pumpkins are coming up and the sunflowers, and I've got FOUR moonvines coming up! WOOT!!!

Image heavy, since I'm posting photos of my garden so... beware!!! )
auntbijou: (Default)
Well, after weeks of eating virtually everything in sight, the Impertinent Daughter had a growth spurt and is probably within one to two inches of being as tall as I am.

It hit me when I was watching her referee a game, and she had turned sideways to me. I thought, "Hmmm, the little pudge she was getting seems to be gone..." And I frowned and realized she hadn't eaten like a ravening, starving wolf the last couple of days, and I thought, "Ah... growth spurt." But it didn't sink in until later that afternoon, when we'd gone into San Marcos to get her some new athletic shoes. She was standing there in her socks, and I had just straightened up from listening to something the Impossible Son wanted to tell me and it hit me...

We were almost eye to eye.

The Husbandly One turned at my gasp, and his eyes went wide and he said, "Auntie, take off your shoes."

So I did.

And it was even more apparent.

*shrieks*

And the Impossible Son has had his own growth spurt. His legs are impossibly long right now, and his shorts are far too short all of a sudden. His feet look too big, and he's clumsy. I think he's about to grow again, and I can't help but think, "But, we just bought you three new pairs of jeans!!!"

My kids are both going to be taller than me. And possibly taller than THO, as well.

*sigh*

In other news, there is a squirrel in our backyard who is getting a little too... demanding. It's not like we're feeding him or anything. But he likes to come to the window where I'm sitting on the computer and peer in, and he whisks his tail and flirts with me. If the window is open, I talk to him, silly nonsense things like, "Hey, Booger, what's up? Find all your nuts yet? Hey, stop digging in my oregano, I just planted seeds in there, you damn squirrel!" etc. However, he has now reached the point where if the window isn't open, or I don't talk to him or make some acknowledgement of his presence, well... he gets a little ... squirrelly. See?

click to see the squirrel, if you like )

And that's not if the cardinals are at the window, chirping at me like I need to fill the feeders, or something. Except... we don't have feeders out, and haven't since we moved here. We used to keep bird feeders at the 21 House, but not at the Alamo house because... all the cats who got dumped in the neighborhood showed up at our house, and having a bird feeder would have been like serving appetizers...

Apparently, the folks who lived here before us had feeders out, not only for the cardinals, but for hummingbirds, too, because they buzz me when I'm working in the garden in the mornings or the evenings. I just about went cross-eyed last week when I stood up from clearing a bed by the porch and found a rather annoyed hummingbird hovering inches from my nose. If ever a hummingbird could look pissed off, this one definitely was, and ranted at me for about ten seconds before zipping off. It reminded me of my father-in-law, and the hummers at their place up near Texarkana. He always knew when he needed to refill the feeders, because they'd dive bomb him the second he came out of the house. I always wanted to get him one of those hummingbird feeders on a hat so he could sit on his front porch and watch them from up close! *snorts with laughter*

And we no longer have cardinals nesting in the jasmine vines on the front porch. Their nest has been taken over by a pair of vermillion flycatchers. Which aren't nearly as laid back as the cardinals were about our going in and out of the house. They fly off the moment they hear the door knob turning, or when they see us walking up to the front porch. They'd better get used to it, though, because I don't plan to start creeping in and out my back door just to make them happy!

Well, I must get about my day. I think I might finish clearing out that bed in the front yard and plant giant purple zinnias, some golden coreopsis... hmmm... maybe some alyssum, too... or should I plant bee balm?

*wanders off, thinking gardening thoughts...*
auntbijou: (Default)
What a day.

Ran some errands, though I found to my great irritation when I got home that I had forgotten to pick up rooting hormone for my rose cuttings, and teflon tape. It doesn't help that our local WalMart is remodeling, so you can't find anything. I swear, it's like going on a treasure hunt every time I go in, and not the fun kind. Half the time, even the employees can't help you because... they don't know where anything is, either. And I must say, I find their method of grouping merchandise eccentric, if not just plain entertaining.

Anyone want to explain why I found two shelves of sanitary napkins in the paint department?

And hey, you know, every time I go shopping for underwear, you know I'm really thinking about pork rinds, right? So, I guess it's handy to have them right there in the big middle of the women's bras and such.

*shakes head*

And the fabric department is gone. Not that I was wild about the fabric they had, but I didn't mind buying, say, denim, or tapestry fabric, etc, at WalMart, and it beat driving into Austin or San Marcos when I was in a pinch. Now, though... *grimaces*

I've dug and created a bed at the end of the back porch, and added compost to amend it a bit. The folks who lived here before us left the head and foot of a metal bed frame in the garden, I guess to provide architectural interest. I'm going to put the head in the bed I just dug, and plan to plant moon vine there. I love moon flowers. They're big and fragrant, and bloom in the evenings. I planted them at our first house in this area, and loved watching the sphinx moths come out to sip nectar from them. We used to deliberately wear white shirts so the moths would fly up to us land on us. They were so cool!

I'm hoping to plant purple hyacinth bean against the back fence, too. That won't bloom until August/September, but it will be so pretty when it does! And the hummingbirds love it.

I want to clear some of the flower beds in the front yard, but for some odd reason, I can only work out there for a very short time before I start feeling extraordinarily bad. Like, "Oh, gods, I have to go to hook up the nebulizer and go straight to bed," bad. And we have no idea why. There is no obvious difference between the front yard and back yard unless...

*is suddenly thoughtful*

In other news, I have discovered that the Impertinent Daughter will not find out if she's made the 7th grade soccer team at her school until the day before their first game. Which is on Thursday... this week.

They only started tryouts/practice last week.

O_o

You know, when I was in swimming, we started practicing for the season (which was November through May, though it didn't get really competitive until February) in September. And we started basketball practice in early October for the season that ran from November through April.

I find it sort of nuts to start soccer practices a week before the season starts. And what really blows my mind?

A lot of the girls trying out have either never played before or... they only started playing last year.

Out of 33 girls that were trying out, I only recognized maybe... eight, that played in our league. And one that I know plays select outside our league. So that's... twenty four girls with little or no experience.

o_O

*does not know what to think*

Well... it should be an... interesting season!

Oy... what a day!
auntbijou: (Default)
It's been a very busy week.

We bought a new (to us) car. A 2007 Honda Accord. And because we now belong to a credit union, we got a great deal. Made me realize that Washington Mutual's collapse was probably one of the best things that could have happened to us. And I am now much happier that the Husbandly One will now be driving a car that doesn't look like it was built by gnomes and is powered by hamsters on speed. It was just about to lose its trade-in value, so we got it right on the cusp, and we will now be able to pay off the minivan. The payment on the Honda is low enough that it's like getting $200 back in our pocket every month!

-Miss Priss is having soccer tryouts/practices this week. It's a bit of a snafu, really. The junior high and high school shares coaches, and the high school teams have their soccer season first, then the coaches go to the junior high to start the junior high season. Except... the high school girl's varsity team made the playoffs. So an assistant track coach was running the practices... kinda. And there were 24 girls trying out this week, plus nine to follow next week when track season ends. Did I mention their first game is on Thursday? And they still haven't decided if they're going to have a 7th grade team and an 8th grade team... or combine both.

*has a headache*

I've got a lot of writing to do, and... not much gumption to do it, at the moment. I think I would prefer to go back to bed, actually, except I can't, because Mr. Manzie is home with a sore throat, and his stomach's hurting.

He is currently curled up under a blanket on the couch, watching "Love, Hina" on DVD in the living room. We checked them out from the library in San Marcos. Oh, did I mention, we got tired of the utterly sucky library in our town, and went and got a family membership at the San Marcos library. It's nice to have a place where I can do research uninterrupted, and actually find material that I need.

Why does our library suck? I have no idea, but it may be related to the reason why every time someone's tried to open a bookstore in our town, it's failed miserably. Apparently, no one reads here. THO and I once had dreams of opening a bookstore here, because there's actually several storefronts that would work beautifully, but... it wouldn't work.

Oh well, it's probably for the best. I'd spend more time reading the inventory than actually working.

I think we're actually going to be able to manage a garden this year! I had actually planned to work in two of the front beds today, but...*shrugs* We had rain, sort of, yesterday, and THO had planned to cancel soccer practice for his little U8 team, because we figured the fields would be a muddy mess, but to our surprise, even though they got more rain out there than we got here at the house... you could hardly tell it had rained at all. The ground is so dry, it just... soaked it all up! So, the ground here should be just the right mix of moist/dry to work with. We shall see. I need to prep a bed by the back porch to plant moon vine seeds, too.

*is getting eager*

And now to call the doctor about seeing the Impossible Son today... busy, busy, busy...
auntbijou: (Default)
It's raining, it's pouring,
The old bear is snoring,
He rubbed his shoulder on a great big boulder,
And wouldn't get up in the morning!!!


It's raining!! It's raining!!!

*is very excited and happy*

When I went to bed last night, the rain gauge at the elementary school down the street said .06 inches of rain (it's a WeatherBug station). When I got up this morning, it said .69 inches of rain. And just now, when I checked it, it said 1.26!!!

*does a happy dance*

I've filled three recycled cat litter containers with rainwater, and my buckets are filling again. Those are for the kalanchoes, aloe, alyssum, star cactus, portulacas, bougainvillea, cyclamens, and antique rose I have on the back porch. I'm wishing I had the energy yesterday to turn two more beds for our vegetable garden. We've done three so far, having to do it by hand since we don't have a tiller. Oh well, it's good exercise, and I'm good with a hoe! Mind you, I'm not complaining about the ground being wet, because I'm telling you, there was no ground moisture at all when I was turning the soil! It was dry, dry, dry, even ten inches down!! I've even had to water our compost pile at least once a week, because it was DRY!!

I know this is just a proverbial drop in the bucket, rain-wise. It won't break the drought. But it's so nice to see everything wet, really wet, and to go outside to feel the rain, even if it is only 40 degrees outside, and not expected to get any warmer until Saturday. I can live with that! I got my thermals (yes, Chan, I finally found my CuddlDuds! And y'all, Chan is laughing her ass off right now, because she can probably hear me saying "cuddle-duds" in my Texas drawl), I got my thick wool socks, I got something to wrap around my neck... I'm good!

It's sad, though, that this rain won't be enough to fire up the bluebonnets in all their glory. It didn't get cold enough to crack the seeds (we need sustained periods of below freezing weather to do that), and we didn't get any rain in the last two or three months, which all adds up to little or no bluebonnets. Oh, well... there's always next year. Maybe we'll trek out to the Wildflower Research Center this spring and take pictures. It's not the same, though, as seeing waves and waves of hills covered in blue and white, with spots of red from the Indian Paintbrush, and the big red/gold faces of Gallardia spotted here and there among them. And the smell! One bluebonnet alone has little to no fragrance, but a whole field of them! It's such a light fragrance, but it's sweet and fresh, and cool. I'm going to miss that this year.

Now I need to sit down and plot out my herb garden, decide what I'm going to grow. Oregano, basil, peppermint and spearmint... rosemary... dill... parsley... balm? Comfrey? Hmmmm... guess I'd better get out my sketchbook and start planning...

*rubs hands together with glee*

I can't wait!!

Le Sigh....

Friday, December 5th, 2008 01:33 pm
auntbijou: (Default)
I really, really should stay away from the The Antique Rose Emporium website, because every time I do, I see roses that I want.

Y'all probably didn't know this, but Auntie is a major rose geek. If I could have rescued all the rose bushes I left behind in Houston (and I had to leave at least three of them behind, one of them over 50 years old and I still cry about that one), this house would have been surrounded!

As it is, I have major plans for an antique at my mom's house that is in danger of dying from neglect. First of all, I'm going to very, very carefully dig it up with a ridiculously large root ball and bring it here. Then once I nurse it back to health, get it stabilized and acclimated, I'm going to take cuttings to root and grow for my sisters. Not that they deserve it, but I'm nice that way.

See, that's what I love about roses. Every cutting grows up to be a whole and complete plant on its own and continues the species on. And if you're lucky, they'll have a family story behind them.

So far, I've been looking at the Cecile Brunner roses, which are known 'round hereabouts as a "Sweetheart" rose. Small, pale pink and fragrant. Some neighbors next to my parent's house used to have one that grew to immense proportions and covered the entire side wall of their garage (must have been the climbing version or something) and must have been a good three feet deep. I remember it always being full of little pale pink roses, and how it would make my parents' bedroom smell so wonderful, because we didn't have air conditioning at that time and always had our windows open. Cecile Brunner has good memories for me.

I tend to lean toward the older, more fragrant roses. For one thing, they're hardier, they smell better, and for another...well, I just like them!

*goes to browse through the online catalogue and drool some more*
auntbijou: (Default)
Did I mention how confusing and crazy the weather can be here?

Yesterday morning, it was 34 degrees (1.1 C), and it barely got up in the fifties (10 C). This morning, it was 61 degrees F (16) and will climb to a warm, muggy 76 (24).

I was dressing Mr. Manzie in shorts and a tee, and the Impertinent Daughter came in wearing jeans and a sweater and said, "You're putting shorts on him???"

I said, "It's 61 outside, babes."

She blinked, then went back to her room and came back in a tee with a cardigan. "How's this?"

"Yep," I said, and sighed, thinking, man, if it's going to be cold, could it just stay cold for a while instead of this day to day thing?? Because a front's coming through this afternoon, and THO and I need to move the plants inside again, because we're expecting a freeze.

GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!

I've probably mentioned this before, but in Texas, you can put your winter clothes away when spring comes, but... you can never put your summer clothes away. Because... you're going to need them. Because while it sometimes gets cold enough to snow here, it also gets warm enough to go swimming.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, and we're so dry, we've been raised to "Extreme Fire Danger." Yay. We were under a red flag yesterday because it was so windy, and the humidity was below 20%, and oh, boy, was there a huge grassfire north of town! And it doesn't look like it's going to improve rain-wise, either. I'm wondering if it's even worth trying to prep the garden beds for spring at all.

*grumbles*

I might do it anyway, because y'all, I seriously need some time with my hands in the dirt. That's something I've always enjoyed, and you know, gardening is just a grown-up excuse for playing in the dirt. I can't make mud pies anymore, but I can grub around in the soil and yank weeds, pull out rootlets that don't belong, fuss over the herbs and vegetables and determine where the roses are going to go and how much compost to add, etc, etc.

And how I'm going to water it all without driving our water bill through the roof.

Oh well, I'll figure it out. That's half the fun of gardening. I may not be able to take over the world, but I can at least tackle the challenge of a garden during drought!!
auntbijou: (Default)
It is spring here in Central Texas, and things are blooming. For the first time since we moved here two years ago, the jasmine on the front porch is blooming...





Click here for more! )
auntbijou: (Default)
"A lady's hands proclaim her habits."

This was one of those really strange sayings Great Aunt Nosy used to spout around me as one of her efforts to get me to stop biting my nails.  Of course, the fact that I STARTED biting my nails in order to give her nothing to dig under and "clean" never occurred to her.  

Well, if that's true, then my hands proclaim that I am in the habit of grubbing in dirt a lot, or getting into all sorts of messes, because my hands are often either covered in dry soil, because I just came in from trying to tame a garden gone wild, or spattered with ink, paint, food, whatever, because I'm always up to something.  Whether I want to be or not.

Right now, I'm taking a breather from trying to rip out wild sunflowers from the places where we plan to put tomatoes, squash, greenbeans, pinto beans, peppers, and whatever else our greedy little stomachs suggest.  Last summer was a bad year for my garden, one because of the drought, and two, because I was on bedrest all summer, and fortunate if I was allowed to put so much as my nose past the back door!

There are also various grasses trying to take hold in the vegetable beds, as well as squirrel planted pecan trees, and hackberry trees.  I have a lot of work cut out for me, and darn it if one of the neighbor kids didn't run off with my grubbing fork!!  I'm going to have to send the Impertinent Daughter to retrieve it, because I NEED the damn thing!

I also need to decide where I'm going to plant my moonflower seeds and the purple hyacinth beans.  Maybe along the back fence.  Should be pretty come August for the hyacinth beans.  I'd like to plant the moonflowers closer to the house though.  I love sitting out in the early evening when they start opening, and the fragrance starts floating in the air, and then watching late hummingbirds and sphinx moths fluttering around the big white flowers to sip nectar.    If you wear a white shirt, the sphinx moths will flutter to you, too, and try to sip from you, which is hysterical.  I've got pictures I might post later of the Impertinent Daughter holding these giant moths on her fingers, or standing while one flutters in front of her nose, nearly cross-eyed as she tries to focus on it.  

I'm also hoping to find some night blooming jasmine that my parents used to have around our house when I was a little girl.  We didn't have air conditioning (yes, in Houston, Texas, we lived in a house with no air conditioning until I was about 8), but we did have a big attic fan that drew cooler air into the house.  We left our windows open at night, and my mom had the night blooming jasmine planted all around the house so that when the attic fan cycled on, it drew the sweet fragrance into the house.  I'd like to plant it around our deck and back porch so that when we hang out in the evenings, we'll have that sweetness in the air around us.  

There's another fragrant plant I'd like to get my hands on to plant around here.  It's a Texas Mountain Laurel, and the flowers smell exactly like Grape Nehi.  I swear, it does.  The first spring after we moved to Austin, we were driving around with our windows open and I'd smell that smell and go nuts because I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  Then one day, we were at a mall, and parked next to this small tree with clusters of purple flowers on it and out of curiosity, I turned to sniff it and nearly had a cow.  "This is it!" I shouted.  "This is the Grape Nehi plant!!"  I finally found out what it was when we were at the Wildflower Research Center, and I did a quick sketch of one when talking to a native plant specialist, and she laughed and said, "OH!  Texas Mountain Laurel!  We hear that ALL THE TIME!"

Well, I suppose this lady should get back to her dirt-grubbing habit. Perhaps I'll see if my gardening assistant feels like playing in the dirt... er... I mean... WORKING IN THE GARDEN with me!  After all, I'm supposed to be staying off my knee (stop fussing at me, Alex, GEEZ!!) and behaving myself, but y'all know I never do that.  I only LOOK like a grownup.  I'm really just a little girl PRETENDING to be a grownup.

Perhaps I should finish plotting out my herb garden, too.  Anybody want to help?  Anybody?

*holds out gardening trowel invitingly*
auntbijou: (Default)

It's been a good day.  Got to do a lot of weeding and clean up in the front yard.  Still need to clear out the dead parts of the canna lilies (which I hate, by the way, but the Husbandly One likes them, so I guess they're staying) but I'm not convinced we're done with freezes yet.  Next weekend, I imagine we'll tackle the wilderness of the backyard, and get the garden ready for spring planting.  That is, if I can convince the kids to stop relocating my tools.  

Opened the house up to air out all the fustiness, and though it was on the chilly side of warm, it was still nice.  

The thing I like most about gardening is that it's an excellent excuse to get my hands dirty.  Without anyone saying diddly-squat to me about it.  I'm one of those gardeners who spend a lot of time on their knees, yanking out weeds and digging out stones.  Must remember to buy a new wheel-barrow, that'll save on dragging those weeds to the compost pile.  It was both fun and frustrating to try to teach the Impossible Son what is a weed, and what isn't.  

The Husbandly One decided to grill burgers, but felt he needed to be bribed in order to do what he already wanted to do anyway.  (Y'all confused yet?)  So he said, "What would you do to convince me to grill burgers?"

I paused to think.  "Well, you already have all my love and devotion."

"True." 

"Um, well, you know, any sort of favors I could promise, you would get anyway, so that's a waste of breath, too."

He grinned.  "Yep.  So... what do you got?"

"Um..." I pondered... what would he like that he doesn't have, that he would only be able to get like this?  "Um... how about a really cool piece of art?  A water color maybe?  To hang in your new office?"

He thought about it then grinned.  "Perfect.  I'll take it!"  And he went off to fire up the barbecue.

This ought to be interesting.  Guess I'll be going to the kids' soccer practices to take some pictures to use as models for the illustration I have in mind.  Because it has to be of our kids, of course.  *rolls eyes*  I even offered to try illustrating one of his favorite books, but... nope, he wants the Impossible Son and the Impertinent Daughter on his wall.  Beyond that requirement, it's up to me.

Maybe I still have time to rethink the sexual favor part.

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