Point of No Return

Back in the day, I was a frequent bus rider. 

City bus drivers knew me by my name. My brother and I rode the city bus to school, since the yellow school buses did not pick up in our neighborhood. We paid $.05 a ride and were dropped off right in front of our school.

Even after I began teaching, I rode the city bus to work each morning and evening. One time I remember that I was the only white face on the bus and even frightened myself when I looked into the mirror as I exited. But I had a ride. And for someone who waited until she was 30 to get her driver's license, that was important. (Story about the driver's license in a future blog post.) 

Buses were not always dependable, but they usually got me where I needed to go. (Or at least somewhere down the street or around the corner!) 

When I moved to a larger city in my state, the city buses were not so regular and rarely went where I wanted to go. So I was able to "carpool" with teaching colleagues who passed my apartment on the way to work. 

I also began making use of Continental Trailways so that I could go back home to visit my folks. I had traveled that way while in college in the northeastern part of my state, and the hassle of getting to and from the bus station was always a problem that sometimes was more expensive than the actual bus ride.

This morning our 30 year old son is taking a real gamble. He needs to come pick up an extra vehicle from our house, and the quickest and cheapest way here is by bus. A Casino Bus! As we live near a huge casino, we have seen tourbus after tourbus roll down the highway from the big city where he lives to the casino near us. 

So he is on the bus to arrive in a couple of hours. After a nice lunch at the casino and maybe a few slots, then he won't return. Not with the bus, anyway. We are taking him home with us. 

This was my lunch at the Casino. Fried catfish and tartar sauce, hush puppies, cajun french fries, cole slaw, and a roll. I brought home half of this! Thank goodness for "boxes."

Mama Deer Chases Dog

Flip was flabbergasted! He sat and watched in awe as our neighbor's small terrier was chased across our front field by a mama deer protecting her young one. 

Sadly, we have no video. It all happened so quickly, that only Flip, my hub, and I "recorded" the amazing event. (This would surely have been a YouTube sensation!)

Before lunch yesterday, my hub called me to the front door window to look at the deer drinking from our pond. As the only deer we have seen recently was one in my raised veggie bed, this sight was a treat. That was until Cara showed up. 

Cara is a small black female terrier that our beagle Flip "hunts" with every morning from around 7-10 am. Flip had already returned home, and Cara was still "huntin'" (as they say around here). She was sniffing in the baby deer's tracks down to the pond, and Mama deer saw her. 

At that moment, the chase began. But the deer became the hunter! Cara could not believe that the roles were reversed. And neither could our Flip. As the deer got closer to his girlfriend, he woke up to the fact that he had to do something. So he jumped up, began barking, ran cautiously down to the edge of the pond, but by that time the chase was on down the road and over in our neighbor's yard.

And that was our sensation for the day (week, month, year, etc. ) at Wetcreek.

Since we did not get a video, you might enjoy this one: Deer Jumps Over Dog

Boxwood Cuttings (Revisited)

Here is my original blogpost on boxwoods. Fifty Boxwoods

Today my blog friend Paulette at Cheerful Thrifty Door requested some explanation, so this is the email I sent her:

"My mother thinks we fill our time with crazy things like trying to root boxwoods, but with the cost of even small boxwood plants it is worth a try. And we have been successful both in The Netherlands and here in Louisiana.

In The Netherlands we just had to cut off a 4-6 inch twig, strip off the lower leaves and jab it into the ground where we wanted the plant to grow.

Here in southwest Louisiana, our soil is not so fertile. So we root the cuttings in good soil (usually composted from kitchen scraps and sand and rice hulls/manure). But I have heard of organic farmers who rooted their plants in wet sand.

This is what I do:

1.  Trim back my overgrown boxwoods. (We started several years ago with one $6.00 Korean boxwood from Lowes.)

2.  Prepare a window box or pot with the soil. Some stores sell special rooting soil. Never tried that, since we have "free dirt" and always some compost material.

3.  Make 4-6 inch long cuttings from the boxwood trimmings. Cut off the small branches and lower leaves. You want the cutting to give all its energy to making roots.

4.  I dip each fresh, damp cutting into rooting hormone that I bought at Lowes or Home Depot. So long ago I do not remember. Maybe it was even Walmart! I have read that you can use kitchen cinnamon instead. Never tried that, since my rooting hormone powder has lasted (and worked) so long.

5.  Then I just jab the powder coated end down into the wet soil and keep it moist for many months. You should see new leaves on the top and the stick will be pretty stable in the soil (roots).

6.  When you are ready to plant (early fall or early spring), lift out the rooted plants with a fork or your fingers. Then have fun planting."

Thanks for the request, Paulette. I will count my time as Master Gardener's time ;))). A lot cleaner than getting out in the garden! 

Drenched!

What idiots take their dog for a walk with an approaching rainstorm in sight? 

Well, you guessed it! We did last evening. 

Flip had cabin fever around 7:00 pm, and that is about the time for our daily walk. So off the three of us went. Two with open umbrellas and the third jumping from the canopy of one tree to the next. 

(Sorry, no camera shots! The camera would have been ruined from the downpour!)

After trying to dodge the sheets of rain, the three of us huddled in the middle of our gravel road under the two umbrellas until we knew that was a useless effort. (And, yes, our Flip was obedient and stayed right between us out of the rainfall.)

Then we headed back to the house. I don't know who was wetter, Flip or the two of us. Flip hates showers (the kind with soap), but he loves to be toweled off. So his bedtime started off well last evening.

And those 200+ boxwood cuttings (stekjes) that we prepared and planted yesterday afternoon got an extra watering to get them on their way to rooting.

Pond's up!  (We got 4 inches (10 centimeters) in that downpour!)

Hub's grass seed got water!

And we won't have to water the veggie garden for a few days!

Grow Babies Grow!

Missing the Beltway Apartment

Actually when the temps heat up here in southwest Louisiana, I miss the somewhat cooler temps in The Netherlands.

And I also miss some of this:Click Here

Before It Rains Today

We haven't had rain in a couple of weeks. But the raindrops are on their way. 

Here is what our yard/garden looks like now.      [;))) Miniviper]

Our old "Mama Agave" made it through the harsh winter. Her babies and grand-babies did not do as well, but they are alive.

Bottlebrush blossom.

Our grapevine canopy is back.

New boxwood topiaries by the front door.

Daisies that have survived many seasons and are still beautiful.

Who needs sunflowers?

Candy cane hydrangea. And yes, it is time to weed out the grass in the mulch. It grows right through the geotextile fabric and the cedar mulch!!!!

Aaaaahhhh!

My propagation miracles! Boxwood hedge that needs a haircut. Good job for rainy weather.

Another view of the first propagation crop.

These guys survived a cold winter, dry spring, and now hopefully they will take off running with some rain.

The "squirt fig" that seems to be making a come-back.

Maybe a handful of Ouachita blackberries this year.

These beautiful tomato plants were 3 inches tall when we went to The Netherlands in mid-March.We caged them before we left, but no one did anything to them for that 6 weeks or even the last 4 weeks we have been back home. (Oh, now they get 20 minutes of water every 7:00 am.)

Luscious leaves!

And huge tomatoes!

And that is what is happening in our garden. (Deer, possums, snakes, and caterpillars are busy, too.)

Let Us Not Forget

"Caring for veterans shouldn't be a partisan issue. It should (be) an American one."

Jennifer Granholm