What I Did

On summer vacation. Ripped out acres of nasty carpet, rented some giant floor sanding equipment, bought gallons of noxious chemicals, and made a beautiful floor that looks terribly out of place here at Squallour at Higher Ground.

As always, able assistance was provided by Me!, Jet, and Rapunzel, who toiled endlessly despite her broken metatarsal:

'Tis the Season

To troll the garden centers. Today's haul cost the grand sum of $30. The rose standards were $5; they're Knockouts to boot. Left at the nursery were the Beach Lantana standards and the Jatropha; tomorrow is another day, and they'll only get cheaper.

AfterMarket Upgrade

Using available materials - the broomstick was not taken from any of my current means of transportation:

Twenty Days Ago

The Princesses cut down the Horrible Hackberries. We now have peppers and watermelons. The herbs were doing okay anyway, but have really taken off.

Yesterday the tomatoes went in - don't judge - just a few transplants from the feed store. Two Celebrities and a Sweet One Hundred for reliability, and a Sun Sugar in the spirit of adventure.

I think it'll be a cool late summer and fall, so the broccoli and lettuce will go out soon the seeds turn up. Big broccoli heads are really spiffy, but this year we're trying sprouting broccoli (adventure!), after all, how many batches of broccoli and cheese have you made lately? Cut up in salad, spuds, and pasta is more likely; the sprouts lend themselves to that and will prevent that 'waiting for the right meal until finally the heads bloom' syndrome.

This year the new area will be used for onions and maybe some potatoes. Next year it'll hopefully be suitable for a significant number of 'maters; we didn't can any at all this year so the canning pantry shelves are pretty bare.

Oddly

I 'm on vacation; in south Texas where it should be hotter than Hades in August, but it's cool such that we're sending an expedition off to get some sweatshirts.

Later in the day it got Hot:

Got Bananas?

We do! Our first here at SHG, we had them regularly at Squallour by the Sea. Just a small little bunch this time. Bananas are like 'maters, once you've had homegrown, the things from the store can just...stay in the store.


It's also another cool day, we may break 80F later in the afternoon.

Big Social Event

Make sure you're sitting down; we got dressed up and went to a social event last night. Our good friend and gunsmith (builder of The Baconater), Mr Perfect, married his longtime girlfriend, Ms Always Right. The ceremony was outdoors (in the shade, thank goodness) in a beautiful wooded garden with rustic stone buildings and paths, pretty little bridges over a clear, babbling brook, and new but lovely landscaping. It was all done up in sunflowers and blue ribbons, and of course there were tiny, yellow topped Meant-to-Bee honey bears on the tables.

Mr Perfect danced his way in, as did all the groomsmen, including no less of a celebrity than Mr Colion Noir of NRA fame (whom you would never recognize without his now iconic cap). The bridesmaids were only a little more dignified, but the Flower Girls and Ring Boys stole the show. The BBQ was a disappointment; it's not clear why we didn't do the cooking as this is probably the first wedding for which we didn't. iPhone pictures just really don't do justice sadly.

You can see Mr Perfect and Ms Always Right, The Boys, and The Flower Girls. and a shot of Mr Perfect the way we usually see him:

Princesses at Work

You can also see some of the piles of stuff from cutting down trees last weekend, the monsoonal rain, and if you look closely, how much more sun is now on the Miniaturized Garden. I'm thinking it should be called The Fairy Garden due to its diminutive size. Before the Horrible Hackberries leafed out it was rather productive though..

It's pouring rain again so the last bits will likely have to wait a few days to get moved to the burn pile. Alrighty, gotta get back to work on The Ark!

Stuff in Teh Garden

Fall Garden

It's not quite time to plant yet, about two weeks or so, at least for around here. It is time to be getting ready though. The new miniaturized garden was getting way too much shade thanks to fast growing hackberry trees. There is no more miserable, disease ridden, bug infested life form than a hackberry tree, but I digress.

The offending trees were removed, thus making room for a generous onion planting and allowing for a few mpre hours of sun. Weeds were pulled, wisteria cut back, 'Diller fences given a fresh coat of spray paint, Black Kow spread, and finally, new solar lights installed. In a couple of weeks it'll be time for tomatoes; the peppers will hold over. When the watermelons are done it'll be time for broccolli or cabbage; there's only space for one so a decision will need to be made. The basil will be exchanged for cilantro and fennel.