Drats

Working for a living certainly gets in the way of my plans in my real life. 'STOMP' will be at Popejoy June 6-11, and of course that conflicts with Gay Pride activities, just as it did last year when 'CATS' came through at the same period.

This year is the first time ever that Pride will have FRIDAY night events, including being tapped for a 'performance' by the Wilde Bunch. So along I went making plans for the WB to perform, completely forgetting I needed to be at the theatre that night.

Joey, the (gay) Live Nation partner told me Friday that he MAY be there...I've already let the WB know that I can't call that night though. Maybe we can get it together by then...sigh.

June is going to be hugely busy with square dancing.

Drats

Working for a living certainly gets in the way of my plans in my real life. 'STOMP' will be at Popejoy June 6-11, and of course that conflicts with Gay Pride activities, just as it did last year when 'CATS' came through at the same period.

This year is the first time ever that Pride will have FRIDAY night events, including being tapped for a 'performance' by the Wilde Bunch. So along I went making plans for the WB to perform, completely forgetting I needed to be at the theatre that night.

Joey, the (gay) Live Nation partner told me Friday that he MAY be there...I've already let the WB know that I can't call that night though. Maybe we can get it together by then...sigh.

June is going to be hugely busy with square dancing.

Pleasant mornings

Mornings in Albuquerque in late Spring are just delightful...birds chirping away (waiting for me to fill the feeder), the dry heat of the day is hours away, the air is usually calm, and the neighborhood is exquisitely quiet. It's wonderful to just putter in the garden or enjoy the cool morning with a soda or juice on the back deck.

The drip system that I've installed (so far) has made a huge change in turning watering from an endless and frustrating chore to a time that I can actually DO the puttering I like. Last week, I planted a few more specimen plants to see how they'll do in the system, a Rocky Mountain Penstemmon, a Potato Bush, and shady-area yellow and green plant Japanese Aucuba. They're all flourishing, although the Aucuba has a few black spots, probably because it's getting too much sun. Time for a transplant.

The pyracantha I planted several years back, as well as some new ones this year have lots of new growth after looking sickly for so long. Although I would hand water those bushes, nothing ever grew along the east wall, and often just died. The Hall's Honeysuckle (all the ones I planted in 2000 and then more this year) is finally thriving along the north wall and the new decorative fence on the south. The dwarf plum and the several drought-tolerant shrubs in front are happy and perky looking. The tomato plants are thriving with virtually no care and are two feet tall now.

Yesterday, I started the morning productively by disconnecting the troublesome laundry sink in prep for the laundry room remodel. If nothing else, it's had a faucet leak for at least five years that's wasted untold gallons of water, and THAT is now fixed. It wasn't until yesterday morning that I figured out how to access the turn-off valves under it*.

A few other puttery type projects got worked on...readjusting the watering times, cleaning up the rest of last Fall's pruning of the ivy, cleaning up yard debris from the 2nd and 3rd windstorms, but I didn't get to extending the drip system around the west and south sides of the house and the remainder of the north walls. That'll be today's project. Vegetating felt very good, just watching TV or catching up on reading journals and the like.

Danny worked on the plans for the laundry room a bit after I had ripped the rest of the old shelving out, but spent most of the day working on the new website for our friend Joe Horton the artist, just breaking to have my meatloaf dinner and to watch "Jarhead" last night.

A day off...Ahhhh....

* It wasn't from being lazy that I let the drip persist. I did use some of the water saved in a pail occasionally in the garden. From time to time, I would spray more WD40 on the valve shutoffs, only to think again they were frozen solid from rust...they were set right next to the sink, so were very difficult to access and my arms would never bend the way needed to turn the valves. It wasn't until I took the drain pipes off yesterday and moved the whole unit away from the wall that I found the valves WOULD turn...I had been truly afraid I'd break them and then we'd have a flood. C'est la vie!

Pleasant mornings

Mornings in Albuquerque in late Spring are just delightful...birds chirping away (waiting for me to fill the feeder), the dry heat of the day is hours away, the air is usually calm, and the neighborhood is exquisitely quiet. It's wonderful to just putter in the garden or enjoy the cool morning with a soda or juice on the back deck.

The drip system that I've installed (so far) has made a huge change in turning watering from an endless and frustrating chore to a time that I can actually DO the puttering I like. Last week, I planted a few more specimen plants to see how they'll do in the system, a Rocky Mountain Penstemmon, a Potato Bush, and shady-area yellow and green plant Japanese Aucuba. They're all flourishing, although the Aucuba has a few black spots, probably because it's getting too much sun. Time for a transplant.

The pyracantha I planted several years back, as well as some new ones this year have lots of new growth after looking sickly for so long. Although I would hand water those bushes, nothing ever grew along the east wall, and often just died. The Hall's Honeysuckle (all the ones I planted in 2000 and then more this year) is finally thriving along the north wall and the new decorative fence on the south. The dwarf plum and the several drought-tolerant shrubs in front are happy and perky looking. The tomato plants are thriving with virtually no care and are two feet tall now.

Yesterday, I started the morning productively by disconnecting the troublesome laundry sink in prep for the laundry room remodel. If nothing else, it's had a faucet leak for at least five years that's wasted untold gallons of water, and THAT is now fixed. It wasn't until yesterday morning that I figured out how to access the turn-off valves under it*.

A few other puttery type projects got worked on...readjusting the watering times, cleaning up the rest of last Fall's pruning of the ivy, cleaning up yard debris from the 2nd and 3rd windstorms, but I didn't get to extending the drip system around the west and south sides of the house and the remainder of the north walls. That'll be today's project. Vegetating felt very good, just watching TV or catching up on reading journals and the like.

Danny worked on the plans for the laundry room a bit after I had ripped the rest of the old shelving out, but spent most of the day working on the new website for our friend Joe Horton the artist, just breaking to have my meatloaf dinner and to watch "Jarhead" last night.

A day off...Ahhhh....

* It wasn't from being lazy that I let the drip persist. I did use some of the water saved in a pail occasionally in the garden. From time to time, I would spray more WD40 on the valve shutoffs, only to think again they were frozen solid from rust...they were set right next to the sink, so were very difficult to access and my arms would never bend the way needed to turn the valves. It wasn't until I took the drain pipes off yesterday and moved the whole unit away from the wall that I found the valves WOULD turn...I had been truly afraid I'd break them and then we'd have a flood. C'est la vie!

Drip and a surprise

Got most of the rest of the drip system unwound and in place with abqdan's help this morning, and got the water regulated and emitters installed. That didn't really take too much time, but I get distracted so easily with all the other stuff that needs doing in the yard. Plus there are HGTV shows to watch.

Shoveled six bags of arborvitae debris from under just ONE of the trees so that I could pop in some emitters in that newly placed drip hose. Moved a large concrete stepping stone under the tree and...EEEEK! It's either termites or flying ants that were nested under it...I didn't have a spray bottle handy, so I just poured what was left of a bottle of bug killer over the nest. Ack. The ants were NOT amused.

It's mid 80s, breezy and 9% humidity, so I decided to pack it in. I guess it's a blessing that you can do yard work here in summerlike temps and not get heatstroke.

Oh, I AM calling the gay pride exhibition on June 9 after all! Joey in Salt Lake City called and said, "Go for it!" He was excited to hear that June 9/10 is pride weekend here...he's here that weekend AND June 9 is his 40th birthday.

Drip and a surprise

Got most of the rest of the drip system unwound and in place with abqdan's help this morning, and got the water regulated and emitters installed. That didn't really take too much time, but I get distracted so easily with all the other stuff that needs doing in the yard. Plus there are HGTV shows to watch.

Shoveled six bags of arborvitae debris from under just ONE of the trees so that I could pop in some emitters in that newly placed drip hose. Moved a large concrete stepping stone under the tree and...EEEEK! It's either termites or flying ants that were nested under it...I didn't have a spray bottle handy, so I just poured what was left of a bottle of bug killer over the nest. Ack. The ants were NOT amused.

It's mid 80s, breezy and 9% humidity, so I decided to pack it in. I guess it's a blessing that you can do yard work here in summerlike temps and not get heatstroke.

Oh, I AM calling the gay pride exhibition on June 9 after all! Joey in Salt Lake City called and said, "Go for it!" He was excited to hear that June 9/10 is pride weekend here...he's here that weekend AND June 9 is his 40th birthday.