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Post by emmsmommy on Mar 30, 2024 19:40:07 GMT -5
Easter breakfast at mother-in-law's this morning and spent most of the day visiting. Came home and spent about an hour outside looking things over. Peas in the garden are up, peas in the greenhouse are looking good and will start hardening them off this week. Noticed several lemon balm seedlings in the herb bed out back and think I'll transfer a few to the garden as I absolutely love the smell and I find it much less invasive than mints. Hoping to dig the catnip out of the garden bed soon too and already have homes for a few. The hard neck garlic bulbils are popping up through the mulch and I went scavenging in the fingerling potato bed and they're about to push through the mulch too. Bought some potted hyacinths for my mom and two pots on clearance for kiddo and I to plant along with more tete a tete daffodils.
Tomorrow will just be my parents and us as my aunt is sick. Taking my boots along in hopes of harvesting some ramps. I checked on the patch here last week and they hadn't popped through yet.
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 30, 2024 22:06:22 GMT -5
The morning started with the crew back to take down the rest of the neighborhood old willow tree. (it has been falling apart for over a year, one limb at a time).Today they brought down the main tree- probably 45-50 ft tall). It was sad seeing it come down but they were amazing in how they did it.. No fancy equipment. Just good ol' common sense and ingenuity. We dragged chairs to the end of our house that faces where the tree was, and ate our breakfast while watching them do their thing. It was down in 20 minutes or so!
Then spent about 5 hours working outside, doing various things. -Started in the greenhouse moistening seed starting soil, filling cells, and planting tomatoes,, basil, wild strawberries, zinnias, bachelor buttons, delphiniums. -Weeded and prepped a narrow bed along the side of our carport, sprinkled some hollyhock seeds and watered them in. -Cleaned out another section of our ditch, in preparation for water that will start running from the Acequia Madre in a couple of weeks. One more section to go. Quinn spent the afternoon cleaning out a large section of the ditch that goes through a neighbors property, which will be sending water to us. -Transplanted some volunteer lettuces that came up in the veggie garden. -Shoveled many wheelbarrows full of chicken poop/straw mix, from neighbor's chicken coop and added to my compost bins.
I am really tired. A good tired.
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Post by centralilrookie on Mar 30, 2024 23:21:48 GMT -5
The last three days have been exhausting……
Thursday I went to work trimming all of our bushes while sweetheart cleaned in her flower beds. Friday after my morning drs appointment we picked up horse feed, dog food and went grocery shopping. As sweetheart put groceries away and started housecleaning I fired up the new mower and mowed the lawn. The zero turn will take some getting used to. Today was clean out the garage day as we are having both of our families over for Easter. Moved everything out of the garage to scrub the floor, windows, doors and wiped down the walls. Before anything went back in it had to wiped off also, needless to say my sense of humor went away about midday. But tonight the garage meets upper management’s expectations and the tables and chairs are all set up. It really was a good day……
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Post by Mumsey on Mar 31, 2024 5:57:29 GMT -5
I went out at 11:00 yesterday and anchored down the plastic in the last garden path. Got out the red wagon and hauled the straw to the garden. Then spread it on all 3 of them. 2 bales did the job perfectly. I raked all the old straw to the bed first. It's pretty much compost. It was one of those outside days where you think you are done and then you see something else to work on. Dug rows for the peas along their fence. I think I'll toss seeds in later today before the rains come. If they don't grow it's OK, I have plenty of saved seeds. It may be a bit too cold for them to germinate yet. Straightened up the garden fence where the snow had bent it out of shape. Was going to replace part of it, but it's good now. Installed the garden "gate" which is nothing more than fencing and a garden stake. The Purple Globe Allium is almost a foot tall already. Daffodils are blooming despite the weather and wind. Found 2 more good size asparagus and dug them up. Raked up a tote full of leaves, mostly oak. Neighbor behind has 3 giant oaks. Of course the leaves fall throughout the Winter.
Took advantage of the warm sunshine and sat on the deck for 2 hours reading and actually took a nap. When I woke up Princess reminded me it was time for her supper. Slept right through walk time. I may have to clean house today......
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 31, 2024 22:18:44 GMT -5
Kept it a recovery day after another yard work marathon, yesterday. Talked with my sister. Made a Clementine cake (flourless) with chocolate ganache topping. And then proceeded to eat way too much at an Easter gathering. Am currently in a food coma.
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 1, 2024 4:43:30 GMT -5
We enjoyed Easter at my parent's house but came home around 5:00 because kiddo wasn't behaving. Declared no tablet time and no music for the rest of the evening and we proceeded to start cleaning her room. By bedtime she was back to normal but limiting electronics. Today is the first day of her spring break and hopefully we have at least one day when we can go outside.
We had torrential rains and dime-sized hail Saturday night that literally beat the heck out of the flowers I bought for mom and my mother-in-law. Didn't even attempt to go ramp hunting as I slid down the hill in the mud way too much when I was younger and not a fan of doing it again. However Mom grabbed me a few the day before and I'll prepare them later today.
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Post by Mumsey on Apr 1, 2024 6:17:08 GMT -5
Got the first floor vacuumed yesterday. At 0800 brother called and invited me to Easter dinner, he called sis too. So I stopped cleaning and decided to make something to take along. That something ended up to be green bean casserole, deviled eggs and choc banana/applesauce cake. Sink full of dishes again!! But I rarely get to cook much for others so thoroughly enjoyed making a new mess. When I got there, step mom told me I was in charge of mashing potatoes and making gravy. They had a huge ham in the oven. There was plenty to eat and I totally skipped the ham. We also had baked beans and kale with ham bits. Sis and I cleaned up the kitchen. I was in a food coma on the way home. Sis called and said she pulled over and took a 30 minute nap on her way home.
It hadn't rained yet when I got home, so went for a walk to rejuvenate. Watered everyone in the house. Put pea seeds in the ground that I had soaking since Saturday night. Rain came at 5:00. I will continue cleaning where I left off yesterday.
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Post by datgirl on Apr 1, 2024 10:04:32 GMT -5
Busy day yesterday with too much food and fun. Started the day with Easter mass them breakfast at a local breakfast place right near our church. Sisters arrived around 1 and the fun began. Kids had a ball finding the Easter eggs, older sister had a little too much wine, but she earned it after taking care of younger sister all those months. Rain held off until the evening. This morning I got the extra dining room chairs back d own into the basement. Emptied the dishwasher and put all the bowls away. Refrigerator is full of leftovers and 7 ,soon to be 8, year old granddaughter is enjoying her last day of spring break on the tablet for a little bit before I take her back to her moms house. I plan to finish planting up peppers and get the flats ready to plant the tomatoes when I have the place to myself.
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Post by Latitude33 on Apr 1, 2024 11:27:10 GMT -5
Settling into the new digs. Met a couple of neighbors, most are snowbirds. Planted bush beans, basil and poblanos around the new casa.
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 1, 2024 19:40:54 GMT -5
Wow- you did it! Latitude33 , That seems like a fast move, once you decided to go for it. And planting already! I imagined you were still selling/packing etc Are you renting or is this your place to do as you please? Do you think SoAZ area growing will be a lot different from SoCal? Seems there could be some similarities. Looking forward to hearing about your new adventures!
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 1, 2024 20:23:34 GMT -5
Since outdoor work came to a screeching halt today, due to weather, we did our taxes. Had hoped to have gotten it done in February, but with the above normal beautiful weather that month- and in March- we got a lot of extra things done outside and the taxes kept slipping back on the to-do list. At least we won't be doing them on April 15 (which we have been known to do and not a pleasurable day, at all, though any day preparing taxes is not particularly fun). Will look them over, one last time, tomorrow before filing them. We then, of course, had to reward ourselves with a meal out. Dinner was at our favorite local New Mexican joint.
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Post by martywny on Apr 2, 2024 5:42:50 GMT -5
Another interesting week...
The main event was Easter and the traditions. We went to The Broadway Market to pick up Polish fare for dinner, as I have been doing for 65 or so years. My grandma first took me there when I was 6 years old. It seemed busier this year, even though we went on Thursday.
We did a lot of house cleaning on Friday and Saturday, the serious stuff where you scrub down walls and floors, and even had the air ducts cleaned. Gunner got his bath and a good brushing since he is a shedder, and that made him happy because he loves bath time. I like the house clean, but even more so if we are having guests.
We did some cooking on Saturday morning and made up the Easter basket to take to church for blessing. Our priests and deacons have been rotating through four of the local parishes but stay in their 'home' parish for two weeks around Easter and ours got a nice goodie platter. Went to our usual 8:00 Mass on Sunday and returned home to finish up the meal prep. Everyone showed up early this year, one granddaughter had just returned from a two-week stay in Europe. The food was excellent and we had a good time visiting.
Eclipse prep - yep, we have our glasses! Our house is dead center on the path of totality so it will be interesting to see the eclipse if the weather holds out. There are some emergency procedures in place due to the anticipated influx of folks coming to see the event. I could have rented out our apartment for $2K for an overnight stay, that's how the demand is.
My second granddaughter and I played 18 holes of golf yesterday, our first time out for the pre-season. We will try to play at least once a week up until her team practice begins. We ran into granddaughter #3's Social Studies teacher on the golf course and had a nice chat. Walking and pushing a cart for 18 holes was a bit painful, and came with a little sunburn (I did use sunscreen) so I decided to compound the agony by working on the fence and 2 miles on the treadmill afterward. Mixed up a batch of Swedish pain reliever and was in bed by 9:30.
I received a letter from our nursery and our tree order is ready to pick up any time during the next six weeks. I still have a lot of prep work to do, fencing and hilling are the two priorities. Since the back 40 doesn't drain that well, I will create planting areas about a foot higher and do some ditching out at the edges. I think the gardening season is on, even though we have some snow coming this week, I see non-stop work in my future.
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Post by heirloomfan on Apr 2, 2024 12:13:32 GMT -5
martywny, we're not in the path of totality (Denver, CO area) but will be interesting to see how you and others do in the path. They do say that the birds, insects, etc all quiet down as if it is nightfall when it happens.
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Post by emmsmommy on Apr 2, 2024 14:16:19 GMT -5
Up at 2 am determined to pot up and move as much as possible outside to soak up some rain. Kiddo woke up around nine and I called it quits. One shelf completely empty and will sow tomatoes in a few days. Sowed the three new varieties of geranium seed and potted up two more cuttings. Asparagus got booted outside too and I'll likely be running the heater in the greenhouse by the weekend. Only two poblano peppers sprouted so went ahead and potted them up.
Early yesterday morning I found a set of battery powered LED string lights (or so I thought) and after putting batteries in them, I headed outside in the dark to hang them in the greenhouse. Turned out they were icicle lights but incredibly bright. Have them hanging to the left of the door over where the table will go once I bring it back in. This morning I took a few minutes and cleaned the shelves off in the mini greenhouse and installed two makeshift shelves in the back. At this point it can easily house 10 flats and still have ample room for the heater.
Our little community group is hosting a county meeting and we're preparing refreshments tomorrow evening. Thankfully I volunteered to make something in which I usually have ingredients on hand as the refrigerator is getting bare and no plans to go to town until at least Thursday.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Apr 2, 2024 14:59:08 GMT -5
Indoor day again. Counted out the eggplant seeds in the cups, to soak them overnight, but that's all I did garden related. One of the next two wet days I'll count out the tomato seeds - a lot more of those (22 varieties), and they get soaked Friday night, to plant Saturday. And sometime before that, I'll have to pack all those seedling pots, to get them ready for the tomato seeds. Gives me something to do while it's raining all that time!
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