Hi again. I'll try to be a bit more upbeat in this post. Lately I've been recording
The Twilight Zone from the Sixties. I used to LOVE that show! I was in my teens back then and I waited and watched that show and also
The Outer Limits every week. Back in the day, if I didn't sit down in front of the TV set right on the time the show came on, I simply missed the show. Now I can just set it and record it, and I do! I was curious as to what I found so long ago that riveting a draw and I was surprised to find the subject matter rather deep, but fascinating. Today's story was about a player piano that, when played, shredded people's masks that they presented to the world and instead had them reveal their true selves and innermost thoughts in front of other people. One helluva story!!
When I watched it for the first time, I was in my mid-teens and MD was reaching the zenith of her abuse of me. When my father would go out to do his TV repair service calls (he owned the business, so he only worked when HE wanted to work: afternoons and evenings), MD would literally beat me from the time he left the house on a daily basis. When he'd return, she'd act all innocent and oftentimes chirp sweetly to me
in front of him, "I think that you and I should get along. Let's try not to argue or fight with each other anymore."
when only minutes before he walked in the door she'd been bitch slapping me and then back handing me REPEATEDLY across my face as hard and as fast as she could! Re-watching these old TV programs and seeing just what they were from a 75-yr. old perspective is fascinating! Looking back, I can also see that my father was just as autistic as my brother and I were, and each of my children, too. DB has but one child that is his by blood, and she's just like the rest of us. Our type of autism "runs in the family".
(Spot just had another TIA seizure and had some difficulty using her back legs for several minutes once she recovered and could do her wobbly walk into the bathroom to get a drink of water. It's sort of hard to be "upbeat" right now, although I'd prefer it. She walked over and is sitting on my foot under my computer desk. She's trying to recover. She wants to be close to me. No problem.)
Well, let's see. Lighten up. I now have one perky little Fordhook zucchini under my grow lights and 4 tiny SunGold cherry tomatoes on my window sill in the Hobby Room. I'm going to move them all, the whole shebang, in under the grow lights, too. DS fixed them up so I now have all 3 shelves on my grow lights with lights on a timer if I wish. I only have the top one "on" right now, but it's one of those chores that need to be done. I'm using MUCH less water this year and keeping the seeds drier (to avoid pests and diseases) and keeping them covered with these big clear plastic covers. I lift them up daily and use the old "touch with the finger" method to see how wet or dry they are. If dry, I add a TINY bit of water and then leave them be. The seeds are not the freshest (some are several years old!), but I've already gotten one healthy zucchini and four tiny tomato plants that look pretty healthy, too. I'm also watching my peppers (not any up yet) and the other squash (patty pan and crookneck) and <drum roll!> Bunching Onions! They're on the sideboard in the kitchen in front of a west facing window, but may go under the grow lights, too, soonish. They're in a one gallon pot, getting a bit of sun, but nothing is showing yet.
Last night I was making my final decisions about that surface-of-the-sun area right up against my southern facing back fence. I'm going to need something there (like the C that's super heat tolerant (100ºF+ DAILY in July and August),
REEEEEALLY TALL (so my neighbors can't peer down into my backyard and bedroom from their upstairs bedroom windows) and this one is 15' tall (and 15' wide, too): PERFECT!, evergreen (so their view is blocked year round), a hummingbird favorite (YEP!), fast growing, and even drought tolerant (for when I flake out and don't water as often as I should in the hot months). Once it grows up a bit, I plan to make it more of a tree, giving shade to some of the less heat tolerant plants that can deal with "bright shade". The bottom trims up nicely (bare) but that top will be solid and non-see through! It is a WALL of blessed privacy amid a 30' wall of true blue blossom plumes!
Ceanothus "Ray Hartman" www dot anniesannuals dot com if you want to see what it looks like. It's GORGEOUS!
But then I'll have a HUGE wall of evergreen with all blue flowers = ho hum!
I still have some Rose of Sharon trees with red-throated white flowers that were planted when the house was built over 20 yrs. ago and they have self seeded a couple more. However, they are deciduous and drop their leaves, BUT they well be in front of absolutely evergreen Ceanothus - and the Ceanothus will continue to block the ugly view quite nicely. Oh! Decisions, decisions!!
I also wouldn't mind having some bright orange or yellow or gold mixed in down in front with the blues of the Ceanothus and the white and red Rose of Sharon blossoms (sort of a patriotic color scheme, right?
) - all of these are real hummingbird favorites! And then keep the Ratties
out of this side of the yard in the daytime so the hummers can eat and flit about happily and undisturbed...and then let the pups out over here (garden side of the fence) at night (if they don't bark) to hunt and kill any rats. And oh my, there are rats!! You should see what the pups have done to Raised Beds #1 and #3!! Potting soil was flying out of there!! DIG DIG DIG!!! Then they'd cock their heads and listen...and DIG DIG DIG!!!! Noses thrust DEEP into the hole they'd dug, then heads cocked again...and they'd lunge forward and DIG DIG DIG!!! I have nothing growing out there ATM, so what do I care? But I am going to have to figure a way to make those raised beds more secure from my digging hounds. I have some ideas already.
I was just studying about HOW TO PRUNE AN APRIUM TREE since I have NO idea how. I have a brand new (still in the box) chain saw sitting in my front room along with the chain saw oil to run it. PLUS I have both a HUGE ratcheting BYPASS lopper (for fresh cuts) and a smaller ANVIL lopper (for cutting dead wood). So I'm set. I am having trouble maintaining my internet connection again ATM, so it's taking some time to locate and load some videos on HOW TO PRUNE (WHATEVER) TREE. I've never done it before, so naturally I need some considerable instruction on the HOW-TO. I was able to see an entire (although constantly interrupted) video on SUMMER pruning, but that's not what I'm doing here.
Every tree on this property needs (desperately) to be pruned! The wood cut from all that pruning will go into my new Raised Beds in the bottom
before the raised bed soil and
after I line the very bottom with FINE mesh metal "fabric" so the critters out there (rats, mice, and gophers) can't get up in them from below. Plus I'm getting the tall ones that the mice and gophers can't access from above. Up on top, I'm going to be using my metal cloches to protect my plants from the rats and the Rat Terriers that love them. I'm about to be getting a new raised bed right now (4'x4' Birdie's = THE BEST THERE IS!) to replace my old (VERY CHEAP!!) cedar ones that I got from Ace Hardware or something...CHEAPLY MADE!! And literally falling apart with help from my girls' digging. These new beds are made of galvanized and painted metal = BEEEEUTIFUL!!! Originally from Australia. And waist high so I don't have to bend over. (That kills me to do!!) If my computer were running properly, I'd have ordered it already today!
====================(later in the evening)
WHEW!! I just got in from some wicked weedeating!! I feel all sweaty, but happy, too, and strangely relaxed. I did just a bit (exactly one hour) of swinging that weedeater back and forth and cutting down the weeds that were on the brink of taking over (like they have every other year since I've lived here!), but not this year. I have things to do tomorrow (it got dark on me so I had to quit): weedeat in front of the strawberries (more stinging nettles there), weed the raised planters that they're in, refresh the soil and dig in some lovely "worm castings" (composted), and top with some fish emulsion 'tea'. That should get them off to a good start this year. Then clear the path from the back yard to the front path that the apple tree is partially blocking and save the cuttings for the new raised bed that is coming...eventually.
If I have any more strength left, I think I'll prune back my
Cot-N-Candy Aprium (LOVE that tree!! apricot + plum = yum, yum!!
), my Blenheim apricot, and my last remaining Donut peach, and then head for the Dog's Yard for more picking up garbage, filling deeply dug holes, and more weedeating (the steps before fetching the new straw bales). The fellow I watched doing a video on summer pruning (sporadic as it was with the internet connection starting and stopping like it did) gave me some courage to at least try pruning and not to be so fearful of it. The tree will grow back, and even if I do kill it (doubtful!), I know where the nursery is! I can always buy a new one. I also am understanding pruning and why I should always "prune to an outside bud" and to keep the tree opened up "like a cup". Duly noted. Now I need to learn to understand that chain saw.
Lordy!!!
The straw (as mulch) will really keep the weeds down so I won't have to weedeat out there so much, and on top of that, the straw mulch will conserve water usage as well. I have an idea for putting in an irrigation system of sorts, combining bricks, straw, and the natural curve of the land (drainage) towards the front of my property. But first is the pruning of ALL trees (huge job since they've NEVER been pruned before)
, especially the HUMONGOUS Fuji apple tree. I plan to either control it or kill it. It is diseased (fire blight and powdery mildew) and stands at least 30' high! I don't want to hurt it, but it's just SO BIG!! So I've decided to cut it back harshly, give up those wonderfully sweet apples for one year, and pray for the best.
I sound like I should be wearing a straw hat, don't I?
My dogs are terrified of the weedeater (GOOD!!!) and really keep their distance. I was afraid to use it around them as little puppies, but they are much older and wiser now and give me and that scary machine that I wield a wide berth!!
I'm going to be clearing out the 7' wide "Dog's Yard annex" that runs from the Dog's Yard along the entire length of the house out to the front yard fence. The whole fence line has been cemented underneath so the original Ratties of ours couldn't dig out due to going after the rats living underneath the fence itself. We have sandy loam here and for them to dig is very easy to do. But that entire strip of land is totally overgrown with bright red Salvia bushes and two Rose of Sharon trees (both plants are hummingbird favorites!), so I have to get over there and prune all of that back, too, and throw down a bunch of straw.
I've been watching the shows
1000-lb. Sisters and
My 600-lb. Life on TV, and I've noticed quite a few similarities between them and me. Being over 300 lbs at one time, I came too close to actually being one of them, but luckily I didn't. Nor am I considering "having the surgery". I'm doing it without the surgery. I'm noticing that my body is changing, but not how I used to change, all at once the weight would fall off and underneath was normalcy. Not anymore, sadly. My entire body is slowly recovering, but this time by my shape staying the same, and simply shrinking down. This has to be healthier than having my stomach sliced away. But Intermittent Fasting enabled by a high fat keto diet, although incredibly doable, for me is terribly slow! (4 yrs. and 3 months so far) But it does work and without much effort, and so far it is sustainable indefinitely.
So what is holding all this up? My age? Probably has something to do with it...but I think that the answer is simply EXERCISE vs the sedentary life I have been living. That little stint out in the yard today was really encouraging. It, like my WOE, wasn't particularly difficult, but I was sweating when I came in here and felt both happy and relaxed.
I can't argue with that. I wasn't even hungry when I first sat down here and actually thought about going to bed without eating, although it's been over 24 hours since I did eat last. So what I get out of this is: "If I just do IF and keto, I will lose, but it will be REALLY, REALLY SLOWLY. However, if I add some happy time in the garden along with some housework and maybe a bit of time out in the garage, I can speed this whole process up."
There is some leftover rotisserie chicken and some Brussels sprouts. I could warm them up, eat 'em to my head with lots of butter, add a bowl of Magic Spoon "cereal" as "dessert"...and go to bed after my shower. Oh, that sounds so good! I'm putting a "lid" on it for today.
I can't wait until tomorrow! I'll be damned if I'll let MD win and make me break my own darned spirit!!!!
Let's see if this will send...
Honeybera