A New Kind Of Pennsic Panic

Well, this is the first time I've done this. I've been going to Pennsic since 2001 (I think). (For those who don't know, Pennsic is the biggest annual SCA event - the SCA being that medieval re-creation group I belong to - Pennsic being a two week camping event every summer in western Pennsylvania). This was the first year since then that right up until the pre-reg deadline, I wasn't planning to go.

There were a bunch of reasons why I wasn't planning to go. My boyfriend, that I camp with, got scheduled through work for a week of training the same week (second week) that I always went to Pennsic, meaning he'd be there the first week without me, and I'd be there the second week without him. I suppose it should be doable, especially since he's always so busy that we often don't get to spend that much time together anyway - but it just didn't sound like as much fun. And there were other reasons, too.

But today was the pre-reg deadline, and throughout the last week it had been much on my mind. I was afraid that if I didn't pre-reg and didn't plan to go, then that week would show up, and I'd be really mad and disappointed that I wasn't going. Then I realized that I don't have to pre-reg to go. You can just check in at the gate. No camp gets land for you if you do that, which means if you're planning to spend the night someone just has to 'accommodate you.' But I figured I could work that out when the time came. Or sleep in my truck. (technically not allowed, but a few discreet nights, I thought I could get away with it).

But when today showed up, I began to re-think the whole thing. If I was pretty sure I was going anyway, why not go ahead and pre-reg (you save a couple bucks on the cost by pre-registering), give my boyfriend's camp my land, then when / if I do go out, at least I have a place I have a right to be. I could even set up a tent (something I wasn't even planning to do, just going to wing it this year, only planning to go out for maybe one night at a time, then come home).

So at the 11th hour, almost literally (8:00 p.m. on the last day of pre-reg) I finally did go ahead and do it.

And now I don't know what the hell I'm going to be doing for it. I have nothing ready. Usually by now I'm already well into my Pennsic planning, but since I'd been thinking I wasn't going, I didn't bother. I don't know what condition my garb is in, or how much I have that fits. I don't think I have a working air mattress. I have no plans about food or anything.

Yeah, and you know what? That's okay. I think part of the reason I got so tired of Pennsic is the insane 'pre-planning' and complication that went into it, only to usually have things all screwed up anyway. Maybe a year of just flying by the seat of my pirate coat is the best way to do it this year.

I had a grand idea a few weeks ago, but scrapped it because I wasn't planning to go. Now I'm not sure whether it's something I can still do, or even should or want to. Big Lots (and other places, but that's where I saw them) sell these cool lawn pavilions. I couldn't find a picture, but it's basically a metal frame with a pointy canvas top, and side corners of something made to look like wrought iron or something decorative like that. I was thinking about using one of those as my tent instead of a regular mundane tent.

Why? Lots of reasons. First, there would be more useable space. Being square and having a high roof, every square inch inside would be useable, as opposed to sloping dome tents, where there is a lot of space that is not conveniently useable. Second, I always get so freaking hot at Pennsic, and having this type of pavilion, I could open the side walls during the day and just hang out in my 'home' and have shade, with whatever breeze there might be making it's way through as well. Third, I'm antisocial, and like to spend a lot of time by myself at Pennsic. But with the heat, the only place I can usually do that is in the common area of the camp (the common shade pavilion) - and that always makes me rather angsty, having to be around people that much. If I had this pavilion, I'd have my own personal, private shady place to stay during the day, reading, knitting, napping, doing whatever I wanted. I can't do that in my mundane tent because it usually gets too hot inside, and because it's usually pretty uncomfortable, cramped, can barely stand up all the way, etc. It's just not a fun place to hang out for a whole day, like one of those lawn pavilions would be.

My concerns about them are (a) the cost, and (b) whether they'd be sturdy enough to stand up to Pennsic storms. It usually storms pretty good at least a couple times there, and although I'm sure these are meant to be set up and left up in one's yard for the summer, it still makes me nervous, whether a bad storm might come and the whole thing would blow away with my stuff.

I would also have to have tarps for the floor, and peferably decorative rugs to cover them with - which aren't cheap, I don't have, and would have to buy.

Well. That's something to think on, but doesn't have to be done this year. With my last minute pre-reg, my idea was to just wing it, and make it as simple and stress-free as possible this time around. So ... we'll see how that goes.

Saturday Rambling

1. The morning glories and moonflowers are growing fast - they are almost tall enough to begin enticing around the trellis. I don't know when (or if) they'll bloom, but so far they're doing great.
   
   



2. The black-eyed susan vines that I also planted from seeds are growing, too. Their job is to hang over the edge of this planter. We'll see how that goes.
   
   



3. The two geraniums that lived are doing great. No sign of the third one.





4. Daisies: One continues to do well. One that had been growing has now shriveled up and disappeared. Something is coming up in the spot where I planted the third of the daisies and had yet to see any sign of life. But I'm not sure if it's daisy that's coming up, or weed. Will have to wait and see.
   



5. I like the way the impatiens spread out and filled their space. The violets didn't do such a hot job, and look kind of thin and puny. Next year, for continuity, I may just plant impatiens all the way around the border of this bed.
   




6. I'm really going to have to see about giving this rose some more support.
   



7. I finally did some more knitting! This is the current status of the front right. (The front left is done).
   
   
   And the best news of all - Tyler's doing grand. (He had another run-in with eating something he shouldn't last week, but no drastic action was required, although a wee bit of panic did ensue). But he's fine, and we had a great day lounging around, napping, and just hanging out.
   
   
   
   And that's about it for today. I did next to nothing today. I didn't run errands, didn't go grocery shopping, didn't cook for Tyler. Just had a lazy day. And I'll probably go lounge in the living room, veg with some TV, and knit the rest of the evening. Which is all just fine with me. (but will make tomorrow busy).

Nothing To Say

Not a whole lot going on worth blogging about. But I can show you this.


This is a rose my dad got and planted for me one time. I have no idea what exactly it is, or even specifically how it's supposed to be growing. It doesn't look like a typical shrub rose, it's not a climber - at least, it's resisted all attempts to train it onto the fence. I tried tying it to the fence one year with string, but over time the string rotted and fell off, and it went back to this floppy state.

I think next year, or in the fall, I'll trim it back to about a foot high, and see what it does then. I know I did that one other year, and it just grew huge again that next spring. So it certainly won't hurt it. I'd like to trim it up some way that keeps it looking full and well-shaped, but I don't want to limit or stunt it's beautiful blooms.

Speaking of roses that live on despite neglect, this is another little rose my dad got me, a miniature that I think he just bought at Giant Eagle (our semi-local grocery store).

It's been in this spot for, I don't know, maybe 10 years or more, with little to no care. One year I remember taking pity on it and trying to feed it on something like a decent schedule, but I think I stopped halfway through the year, and don't remember doing it any other year. Yet this little thing blooms like this through the first frost and usually right on up till snow.

One early spring my dad accidentally cut it off with the weed trimmer. I was heartbroken, thinking he'd killed it, but apparently not. I haven't trimmed this one, since it's a miniature anyway, except that every year there are a few ends of stems that seem to have some winter damage, and I'll trim them off. But it's starting to get a little leggy. Maybe I should start covering it with something in the winter, and maybe it too would benefit from a cut back to even it up this fall or in the spring. It originally set several inches back from where it is now, but the main stem died off, but enough little new shoots came off of that to keep it going.

That's about it around here. I haven't been in the mood for knitting - a bad sign, but there it is.

Who Moved Ohio To The Mojave?

I'm telling you what, this is the hottest June I remember since ... I can't remember when. In fact, for years I've complained that June isn't 'summer' anymore because it's routinely cold - to me. I'm pretty cold blooded, and am not really happy unless it's in at least the high 70s. Often June around here is only in the 60s.

Not this year. It's been in the 90s every day for almost a week. Makes gardening challenging. Of course, mornings are good times for me, since I don't have to be at work till 10:00 a.m., and I get up around 7:00, I have a lot of nice cool morning time to play. Although this week even the mornings have been muggy and hot too.

But I did get a few things done today. I moved the fern. This is before (the fern's hiding back in the corner by the gnome) ...



... and this is after.


It looks a little wonky right now, in part because I didn't plant it exactly the same way it was growing. How it was growing was a natural form, but it got tweaked around a little in the move and looks kind of lopsided now. I trust it will straighten itself out over time.

That big bare spot behind it also looks strange to me, but I'm not sure I want to do anything with it. It is a mother bear to get back there to do anything (I hurt my hand and almost fell head first into the pond today trying to dig up the fern, and then dig up a spot to replant it, which is mostly why it didn't get positioned as nicely as it might have). I think I would do just as well to leave it alone, and hope that the fern eventually grows large enough to fill up and mask the space. As I trim the lilac, it too should 'shrub up' and fill its space a little better. If not, maybe I'll just find a big-ass rock to drop back there. Yeah. That'd do it.

I hadn't taken a before picture of this, but right next to the pond is my gas meter. It's an eyesore, and to make it worse the area underneath it, between the air conditioner and the pond bed, had become a catch-all for junk. It rarely got mowed, so it was mostly filled with weeds, a pile of unused and half-buried rocks and bricks, and lately an empty compost bag of yard waste, among other things. I cleaned that out today, raked it up a bit, and put down a bunch of grass seed. I'm hoping to get something to grow there yet this year.


But ... I have a new gardening adventure to try - building something! Here's the teaser ...


... 1x12s, spray paint, sanding sponges, and hinges. Hopefully tomorrow you'll get to see what it's destined to become. (Hopefully it will actually be what it's destined to become).

No knitting today - bummer. But I was taking advantage of the good weather, and my hands hurt way too much for that now.

I Must Be Doing Something Right

I have two geraniums now.

Yeah, those are two separate ones. The first one had a few stems on it when I planted it, but then seemed to die off ... and has now come back. The second one was the one I posted bad pictures of Tuesday - which looked like a dead stick when I planted it. Looks like these two are going to make it. I can't imagine when they're going to get big enough to look like real plants ... I don't know if they'll grow that much this year, or not. I'm sure they won't bloom until next year at the earliest. But that's okay ... watching something grow from such a tiny stick-like thing is pretty cool.

Just as cool are my morning glory seeds ...

... which came up so fast! It hasn't even been a week yet. I blame it on soaking them first, the compost, and a good dousing with Miracle-Gro when planted. It looks like the vines, at least, are going to do well. I don't know how well they'll bloom due to lack of sun ... but we'll see.

And then there's this clematis ...


It's not new, my dad planted this for me many years ago. Now most of the flowers look like this ...


... except for this one, which just showed up this year, and is part of the same plant ...


I don't know how that works, but I find it pretty cool.

I'm pretty excited about these developments. Nothing else really going on.

Geraniums! And knitting.

Check this out.


It's one of my dead-stick geraniums, deciding to live and breaking out. Yeah, I know, it's hard to see in this picture, but I know that's what it is, and not a weed, because one of the others looked like this when I first planted it, although it abruptly shriveled back into the ground, and I haven't seen any signs of life on it since. But this one looked as dead as anything, so if it could make it, I have more hope for the rest now.

Although it does make me wonder why I didn't just go buy one at a local gardening center. Well, assuming they had them, but this isn't that uncommon of a plant. Take, for example, one of the daisies ...


... it is growing. But this is all it is. Compared to the ones being sold at the local gardening center which are already more than 12" tall with daisy flowers on them.

Oh well. Live and learn. Although I'm not very sure my local gardening center would have all the varieties of things I will eventually want. And watching something grow from a dead stick into (hopefully) a fully grown plant some day is kind of exciting.

Greg built a vegetable bed.

And then we realized that we have bunnies living behind our property, not to mention Tyler-The-Dog-Who-Will-Eat-Anything. So we thought it might be a good idea to put up a fence.

So this is another new aspect to the year's gardening frenzy.

I have been knitting - especially the last two evenings, as last night I was just being lazy after the weekend's work, and tonight it's gently raining (I love it! Great for the plants). But there's really nothing to take a picture of. I'm about a third of the way through the second front of the cardigan, so it's chugging along nicely.

Speaking of which ... I think I'll get back to that.

I love summer!

It's been another one of those glorious weekends, playing in the dirt.

I did opt to take out the waterfall, so my pond's back to just a small fountain.


I will be working in that area behind the pond over the next couple weekends. My fern (currently clear back in the corner, in front of the gnome - you can barely see it) is doing very nicely ...


... last year, when I first planted it, it only had about 3 fronds on it, so it looked kind of puny. But it's planted in a very difficult place, in fairly poor soil (this was planted before I'd 'gotten' the whole conditioning of the soil thing), so I'm thinking about moving it up, right to the edge of the pond in that empty space where the waterfall base was. I think it would look nice there, hanging over the edge of the pond (and hopefully when it gets big enough, camouflaging the pump cord and maybe even the outlet box). The lilac's in the middle of a three-year serious pruning, in an attempt to get it back to being more compact and shrubby, so that it will bloom better, and the blooms won't be clear up on the top of it, 10 feet in the air. If I succeed, then anything planted directly behind it - like the fern is now - won't be visible in a few years anyway.

I didn't want to get rid of the waterfall components completely, though, so I moved them and did this.




I kinda like this, and I like having a second small water feature in the yard. As a bonus, Greg's kids can play in this one to their heart's content. They are fascinated with my pond, but I always have to disappoint them by telling them they can't play in it. Now they'll have a water fountain all their own. It's final resting place will be a few feet back from where it is now, and then we are going to plant some things around it, too, to give it a more settled, permanent appearance.

Meanwhile, back at the pond - I have that tall evergreen thing on the left-hand side. Its branches were growing all the way to the ground, but I noticed much of the bottom layer was half dead. Not to mention the big dead hole in the side of it where I pulled up one of the round evergreen shrubs which had been growing too close to this one.


While poking around I discovered this had a nice sturdy trunk, and I thought, if I trim off these dead bits on the bottom, it'll just make it look more like a little tree. So I did that, and opened up all this space underneath it - not only hopefully making this shrub / tree healthier, but making more places to plant stuff around it. (and I can decorate it for Christmas this year!)


It's not exactly even, because I didn't want to trim it clear to the top of the dead spot - it would have been too much. Hopefully over time that will fill in, or ... it won't, and I'll just have a lopsided tree.

There's a large oak sapling growing behind it, self-seeded from the other backyard trees. Since it's reached such a decent size I think I'm going to plant it out front. But I'm not ready to transplant it yet (that's a project for another weekend), so it's going to live here until I am.

I got my vines planted - morning glories (which bloom in the morning) and moonflower (which blooms at dusk) intermingled. Lisa was right - the shells on these seeds are so hard that they need something to help them along - cutting or sanding them slightly, or soaking in warm water for several hours, which is the route I chose. But then I didn't get to plant them Saturday, and didn't want to leave them soaking too long, so I placed them between damp paper towels for storage until today. I'd read that was a good thing to do with seeds right before planting anyway. It seems to have worked, some of them have cracked open and have tiny tips poking out, so that's a good sign.


We'll see how they do, direct planted in their new home. I don't think the spot gets nearly enough sun, so they may not do so well ... but that's okay. If not, I'll find something else to plant in that spot next year. It's all a big ongoing experimentation!

I bought a fern for the porch.


This is the hugest potted fern I've ever seen, and it was only $10. I love these airy ferns on the porch in the summer, it makes it look so tropical. When I've had these before, I usually just let them die off in the fall, because they aren't perennial outdoors here (I don't think, anyway) and I have no place inside to let it live for the winter.

I also bought another lined hanging basket, just because I love these types of planters (lined with the coco matting or whatever it is), but when I got it, had nothing to plant in it. Then I found a hanging basket of this calibrachoa - this is the same stuff I planted in the fence basket behind the pond, only that version was purple. I saw these and really liked them, and knew they would look wonderful in my new basket, so ... another planting.


I've invested a lot in annuals this year, which has it's good points and bad points. On the good side, they're relatively inexpensive, bloom profusely till late frost, and quickly fill out empty places, while waiting for my new perennials to take hold and grow. The only down side is that none of them come back the following year, so I have to do this all over again. I think it's a good trade for small areas and hanging baskets. Perennials are nice to fill larger areas, and as accents, but I think (with my limited reading about them, no actual experience) many of them don't have very long bloom times. Although it seems like they are starting to come out with more perennials that bloom for longer during the summer. The Johnson's Blue hardy geraniums I bought are supposed to bloom most of the summer till frost, as are the Alaska Shasta daisies. When choosing my first perennials, I tried to pick ones with longer bloom times, but as I move around the yard filling in different areas, I think I will be branching out further into the art of mixing plants with all different bloom times, to have a varied and changing garden throughout the year.

But I'll probably always use annuals for instant and constant bloom along the borders of beds, and for the porch planters and hanging baskets.

And last but certainly not least, Greg was busy building the third and final phase of the patio.

So there it is, all completed. That last bit is for us to stack our firewood on for the brazier. As far as I know it isn't getting built any larger, because the next big scheme is to put in raised beds from the end of the patio along the side of the garage - Greg wants to plant some vegetables.

My dream is slowly becoming a reality ... to have all but a few tiny patches of my backyard planted and pathway'd and patio'd and landscaped into my own little garden paradise. And when I get done with the backyard, I'll start on the front.

Hmmm ... I think for my next backyard project I'll design the 'knitting garden.' Speaking of which - it's 2:50 p.m., and my plans for the rest of the day consist of a shower, and some knitting.