Shopping Spree; and Gardening News

I went on a pretty big shopping spree today. It wasn't a spur of the moment frivolous thing, though - I'd planned it.

For starters, I desperately needed some new work clothes. I mean, desperately. I detest clothes shopping, so only do it under duress. The last time I'd bought anything for work wasn't even a 'shopping trip' - I'd just, in desperation, picked up a couple new tops, and I think that was about 6 years ago. Before that, I couldn't tell you when I last shopped for clothes.

For years beyond count my work clothes consisted of black jeans (worn until they were a mess, then thrown away and a new identical pair bought) and sweaters in the winter, whatever top I could scrounge up in the summer.

The one exception to hating clothes shopping is vacation, when I always buy a bunch of pirate t-shirts.

So when it got too warm for sweaters I would wear my couple of decent tops, then have to resort to the pirate t-shirts, which, since most of them had gaudy pictures of ships or skulls and crossbones on the back, I had to camouflage with a cardigan or a zip-front hoodie.

That was barely working till this year. Two of my three decent summer tops had finally got some irreparable stains on the front of them, reducing me to nothing but 1 good top, and pirate shirts. I was sick to death of sweating my ass off in layered clothes and black jeans when it was 85 degrees outside.

So, I went on a work-clothes shopping spree. I actually kind of enjoyed this one, since I was so desperate for something new to wear. I only went to K-mart ... where they have what some people aptly deem "K-mart clothes." Well, whatever. I'm no fashionista. I admit I'd like to have a wardrobe of things that were a little more unique, a little more exotic, a little more 'me.' But I didn't have time for that just now. I just needed some basic, serviceable stuff. And, I didn't want to pay a fortune for it.

K-mart's great for that. I got 4 pairs of pants, a pair of shorts (not for work, just for me), a skirt (!! my co-workers are liable to fall over, seeing me in a skirt), 5 shirts, a pair of shoes, and some new unmentionables, for about $180. Cannot complaint about that. And most of it's pretty nice ... only one or two things are mildly frumpy, but ... it will serve just fine for work until I can get around to making some stuff.

Because ultimately that's my goal - start making my own clothes, where I can alter patterns to make uniquely designed things that more reflect my personality. But that's a real challenge, and will probably be saved for winter when it's cooler upstairs, and I can't be outside.

Speaking of outside, I also got some gardening things today.

I got the rain barrel for the other part of the dining room garden.


This is a manufactured one because it's much more out in plain sight. While the generic white barrel with PVC fittings worked great, I wanted something a little more pleasant to look at in this spot where it's going to be so much more on display. But it was a definite trade-off, as this one cost $99.00 (compared to $15 for the other barrel, plus maybe $25 or $30 in parts and fittings). This is the only one of these I plan to get.

I got a new bird feeder, a veritable buffet this time, as some days I had 8 or 10 birds vying for my little tiny bird feeder.


I don't fill it all the time in the summer, I let them forage some. But come winter this will give me quite a show.

I also bought some hummingbird nectar (yes, I know you can make your own, but I happened across this, it was $4, and I knew I'd be more likely to dredge the hummingbird feeder out of the garage and clean it up and fill it if I just picked this up today). Maybe later, if I start attracting any hummingbirds, I'll start making my own.


This was my dad's hummingbird feeder, and although he always put it up in the summer, he said he rarely attracted any hummingbirds. It's supposed to help if you have other flowers around that they like, and as of yet, I don't, but I'll see what happens. I like that it's in a very nice little decorative 'house' - which is cool, because otherwise hummingbird feeders can be so tacky looking. Hummingbirds are beautiful, but I swear by their choice of feeders, they could be the white trash of the avian world. I picture them setting up in an old beat up Airstream, pink flamingos and white plastic birdbaths in the yard, maybe a tattered nest up on blocks somewhere.

The gardening thing is frustrating me. Part of the reason I bought the birdfeeder vertical buffet is because I needed something with some heft to hang on that side of the double-sided hook, the other side of which you can't see, but is holding a hanging planter. There used to be two matching planters, one on each side, each holding calibrachoa (a beautiful flowering annual). But I've killed off several batches of calibrachoa this year. The one still there is only half-alive, but it's counterpart on the right had completely died, and I needed to take it down. And this was the second planting - the first time both baskets of it died. I don't know what I did wrong, unless this spot's just too shady for it.

In fact, I killed half the plants I bought at the garden center back at the beginning of the month - in part because despite it was June, I wasn't ready to plant them (meaning, didn't have places picked out that were dug up and ready), and that's the first cardinal rule of gardening not to break - don't buy plants you aren't ready to plant. The second problem was, I thought I could be ready sooner, but it kept raining, and raining, and raining every time I had the time to do anything, and the fence was consuming all my time, both of which put me way behind.

Oh well. Live and learn. I've realized I do far better focusing on small areas at a time, so I'm going to rein myself back in to just the dining room garden areas this year. They seem so small, it doesn't seem like it should have taken this long to get no further than I am. But, it is what it is, and I have to work with that.

I still need to decide what else I'm going to plant in the shady garden (where I planted the fern and hostas yesterday) and put in some type of water feature.

I have to move the azaleas in the other part of the dining room garden (got them planted too far forward) and decide what else I'm going to plant over there. This year's temporary planting of impatiens and violets has done so-so. The impatiens are just starting to take off and branch out, but the violets are dying. Next year I'd like to put some perennials in there instead (trying to limit my use of annuals somewhat), but I haven't figured out what will do well in that spot, and not dwarf my still-tiny azaleas. Eventually the azaleas will be much bigger, and then it won't matter as much, so maybe I should wait a few years. "Kim's Knee-High" coneflowers only get a couple feet tall, and supposedly do well in semi-shady areas, so that might be the ticket, with the bonus that they're Ohio native plants.

Still have to put up the fence (it's leaning in place, but not yet screwed to the support posts), then plant the impatiens along there. This late in the year I don't expect them to do any good, but I have them - a whole flat of them - and have managed not to kill them yet, so I'll try it.

The rest of it I'm going to mostly forget about till winter when I get in the mood to do garden planning again, and maybe, hopefully, next year I can make a little progress beyond the fence.

Baby, baby steps. But hey - with the bunnies and the birds, some chipmunks and a mole or two, at least I have the wildlife thing starting to get ramped up. That makes me happy ... and the moles don't bother me, they haven't given me any grief yet, anyways.

A Little Gardening

I got to work a little more on the 'dining room' gardens this evening.


I planted a Japanese Painted Fern and Halcyon hosta which I bought a few weeks ago at a local garden center (both on the left of the barrel), as well as an unidentified hosta - it was a Father's Day gift to Greg a few years ago, and has been growing in a pot. He told me to plant it here with my other shade garden perrenials.

It doesn't look like much yet, but I have some small hope for this space. The barrel that's sitting there is just a place marker for now, I hope to put in some kind of small fountain or water feature, but I haven't found what I want yet. And there will be other plants (hence the odd spacing of these first ones).

It seems an area this small is all I can cope with at any one time. Every time I start considering a wider swath of yard, I just get overwhelmed. Maybe I'll just have to do a bunch of little tiny gardens. Although with as much trouble hitting tree roots as I had even here, I despair of ever getting any significant gardening done in the front yard.

Rhys had suggested filling an area around the tree with mulch, and I would love to go that route, but I've read that you can't add anything to the top of the ground over tree roots more than a couple inches, or it can smother them. Arrgh. I love trees, especially maples, and love the way they shade and cool this house in the summer ... but they're really wreaking havoc with my gardening plans.

Well, gardeners have to be adaptable and work with what they have. I will just have to ponder some more on how to work with my landscape..

Oh well. Maybe I won't be here long enough to worry about it.

Bunny Fest 2010

My yard has been invaded by Bunny Fest. I'm not complaining! It's kind of amazing.

Tonight I discovered four bunnies running rampant around my yard, and apparently the entire neighborhood, or else there's more of them (which is likely, of course). I saw bunnies playing in my front yard, then I saw a couple of them run across the road (which scared the crap out of me, this is a busy street), then I saw four of them playing and chasing each other around the neighbor's yard across the street. A little while later I took Tyler for a walk, and there were two gallivanting about a few houses down, actually hopping down the sidewalk as if just out for a stroll. One of them started hopping right towards us, totally unconcerned. Tyler's mostly blind or he'd have went nuts over that. As it was, when the bunny finally veered off through the yard, he caught it's scent, and that got him going for a bit.

Then I came back and was sitting out in the front garden when a bunny came careening around the garage and up to within about fifteen feet of Tyler. I clapped my hands and shooed him off, as I was afraid Tyler would suddenly get a whiff (or sight) of that one and take off after it. He's tied up, but I didn't want him hitting the end of that rope at a dead run and choking himself.

The bunny ran back around the garage towards the back yard, and I figured that's where they were hanging out. So I took my camera back there to see what I could catch.

There were four of them back there cavorting, and based on where they were running to and from, it looks like their base of operations may be under the porch - which would make sense, it'd make a great rabbit warren.

Once I sat down in the grass and stayed still, they seemed totally unconcerned about me, and came amazingly close, it seemed - though I didn't get any great pictures. Here's a few decent ones.





There are three bunnies in this picture ... but they're hard to see in the tall grass. See if you can spot them.


Does this help?


That was really awesome. I'm glad they're here and hope they survive running back and forth across this damned busy road!

Northern Oaken War Maneuvers

Tyler made it to his second-ever event this weekend. We went to Northern Oaken (aka NOWM).

NOWM was my first-ever camping event, 8 or 9 years ago. I went two years in a row, then haven't been able to go back, first because no one I knew wanted to go and I didn't want to go by myself, and later due to dog-sitting problems. They allow dogs, but Tyler used to be too high-strung to take to events. He's finally mellowed (at the age of 15, I'd say it's about time) and now he can easily go.

We try to make him comfortable in the car.

He had a good time - he was in a pleasant mood, often wagging his tail and curiously exploring, and he generated lots of attention and petting, as many people who saw him wanted to come pet him, since he's so cute. But he was pretty exhausted by this morning ... as evidenced by these before and after pictures.

Ready to go on a road trip ...



Ready to come home and go to bed ...


We had a good time too. We finally broke down and bought a new, decent-sized tent ...


... all our previous tents have been nowhere near really big enough for two people at an SCA event, which is why for a long time we set up two separate tents, a kind of odd thing for a couple to do. The new one worked out very, very nicely - I'm pleased.

Robin ran the kavehane (Turkish coffee shop and bardic outlet) most of the day.



I almost didn't go since NOAA was calling for a 60% chance of thunderstorms, possibly severe, on Saturday and Saturday night. I'm glad I decided to chance it, as the only thing it did was sprinkle lightly a few times during the day, then there was one pretty torrential downpour with some nice lightning, little thunder, and no severity at all, sometime after 10:00. It did kind of put a damper on Saturday night for me, though, and I ended up going to bed, but that was okay - I'd had a great Friday night and Saturday, and by the time the storm hit I was pretty toasty anyway, so bed was a decent place to be.

But a good time was had by all, including Tyler, so it was a winner.

I Wasn't Going To, But This Is Ridiculous

I was going to keep my comments to myself about the oil spill, and not go on a social activist rant.

Then I read a news article on msnbc.com, wherein some extremely ignorant comments were made.

I'm starting to wonder if England is working hard to stick it's collective foot in it's mouth.

First, some days ago (not in the above article), Tony Hayward so very sensitively commented that no one wants this disaster over more than him, as he said "I would like to have my life back."

Really? So would the 11 dead oil rig workers, and their families, and the thousands of people on the Gulf Coast affected by this spill, not to mention the dead and dying oil-soaked wildlife. So sorry you've been so terribly inconvenienced, Tony.

But he was lambasted enough for that in the press, and actually tried to apologize.

But today I read the msnbc.com article, where:

Richard Griffith, an analyst with Evolution Securities (in England) says "given the overwhelmingly hostile nature of the U.S. government ..." BP may be forced to suspend payment of dividends. (emphasis mine).

Overwhelmingly hostile?? Because we're demanding accountability for the worst oil spill in US history?

A little further on, London Mayor Boris Johnson said BP is paying a "very, very heavy price for an accident." (emphasis again mine)

Really? An accident? He says this as if it was a mere fluke, like they dropped something in the water - "oops!".

If I decide to drive my car down the interstate at 65 mph wearing a blindfold, when I wreck, can I claim it was all an accident, and not be held responsible?

If I'm having a back operation, and the surgeon slips and slices my spinal cord and leaves me paralyzed for life, should that surgeon be allowed to say, "it was an accident, so sorry" and send me on my way, and not be held responsible?

Of course this was "an accident" in that no one planned it or made it happen intentionally. But to imply they are being overly burdened with responsibility because it was 'an accident' and, presumably, 'not their fault' is ludicrous.

So, I'd like to know how Griffith and Johnson would feel if this was washing up on their shores, putting thousands of coastal Britons out of work, poisoning their seafood supply, and slowly and painfully killing their wildlife?

Let's see - why don't you try this on for size.

Second - define 'accident.' BP already has a "years-long history of legal and ethical violations"

That article goes on to say: "Over the past two decades, BP subsidiaries have been convicted three times of environmental crimes in Alaska and Texas, including two felonies. It remains on probation for two of them."

There seems to be good reason for an investigation into the cause of this disaster, and while I realize nothing is definite yet, based on BP's past practices and some information that has come to light so far, it's awfully hard to believe this was an unforeseeable and unpreventable accident, just blindsiding poor, innocent BP out of the blue.

Yeah, they're going to pay heavily - they and others involved in drilling that well - because they screwed up and are wrecking our coastal environment and population (both human and wild), with the potential for the destruction to travel much farther than it is now (if it gets in the Gulf Loop).

BP's 'response plan' for this very drill site claimed they absolutely could handle a 'worst case scenario' spill. Obviously they have very tiny imaginations.

Mayor Johnson claims to be hearing a lot of "anti-British rhetoric" coming from the US. Well, I don't know what he's listening to, but I've been following news of this oil spill pretty intently, and I've yet to see anyone say anything the least bit negative about the UK or Britons ... unless he's taking negative comments about "British Petroleum" way out of context.

But he may begin to hear a lot more of it if people like Hayward, Griffith and the Mayor continue to exhibit these symptoms of foot-in-mouth disease. I don't know why they are panicking, but I agree with one thing Mayor Johnson said - there do indeed need to be much cooler heads - but on the other side of the pond.

Update:

This explains a lot.

I still think it's ludicrous, but it explains a lot.

Rain barrel works!

We had enough rain to fill the barrel, and then some, so we got to to test the overflow. Works perfectly! We have corrugated pipe running the overflow out into the front yard, where it is away from the house, and the drainage is so good that even after heavy rain it disappears very quickly.

Sweet! Now all we have to do is add a couple more barrels ... since this particular downspout generates so much water, I should have plenty for watering plants (when I get the garden really going).

I forgot to add ... this is a temporary set-up, that overflow pipe will be re-routed so it looks better when we set up the other barrels. But this hook-up works really well, using the already-existing openings in the top of the barrel - no cutting of holes and trying to seal them up. The only place we had to cut one hole was at the bottom, to install the spigot.

Too cool.

This Is Dangerous

I got a Droid. OMG. This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! It may make the netbook almost obsolete, except as a glorified word processor (or when I really want to ramble on, as typing with my thumbs isn't my preferred method of communication). But I can do email and blog from the phone, meaning ... well, I'm sure you see the implications.