Lots of wild characters have been rolling through the Patch this past week,
“Don’t take your water-pistols to town son”
Waterpistol Hickok and his wild gang rode through, trying to escape from the infamous bounty hunter twins:
“FastPaw” Kumo and his terrifying brother…
Billy “The Ghoul” Hindlegs.
I lost sight of the pursuit in the midst of this blue mist flower,
Conoclinium coelestinum
the puffs of gunshot smoke blending in with the fuzzy brown seed heads.
Feather grasses have had haircuts, beds mulched, large amounts of seaweed and fish emulsions administered. There is not much more to do in preparation for our annual three month tour of garden duty on Mars except perhaps to prepare a couple of emergency iced turbans and some breathing apparatus for when I do have to venture out.
(lots of prodding)…
Based on his rather parched expression,
(more prodding)…
the recent thunderstorms and moisture came a little too late for this poor anole, yet another Pompeii Patch victim.
Don’t even think about it Bear.
Moving quickly along:
A break or two in the weather has been a most welcome reprieve this week.
The thunder storms greened up the hoja santa almost immediately. I would construct a small platform underneath these plants to hang out on,
but sadly by the time these plants reach this size, so do Texas mosquitoes.
These developing satsumas are also looking a lot less parched.
If it holds all of its fruit we will have a good crop in the fall.
I crave sushi when it is hot out, and this restaurant serves up some rather nontraditional fare. My waitress was very diligent, the only complaints I had was that the sake bottle and glass were filthy and I found the expression on my tako just a little too jovial.
On departing restaurants,
we always have the obligatory “got to find the spearmint” kerfuffle, (we all prefer them).
I always put on a despondent “I cannot believe they are doing this” look to the front of house staff, but secretly I am rooting for their quest to succeed.
Staying on a confectionery note…
Bubblegum Alley , a 70-foot long, 15-foot high landmark in San Luis Obispo, CA.
…Nice.
“Did he say Bubblegum Alley?”
Uninspirational image of the week:
This is a typical look for my steed at the end of an install.
I enjoy cleaning out pickup beds about as much as I do picking up leaves out of planting beds or trying to extract that tiny patch of Bermuda grass at the base of my barrel cactus.
What is your most horrific and miserable gardening chore?
Stay Tuned for:
“All Over the Map”
All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I kept getting distracted by the size of your Blue Ice AZ Cypress…wow, in 2 years since I saw it.
Hi David.
I love the Blue Ice as you know (non-breaking bad ref:-)…in fact I have planted another baby one on the opposite side of my property that is holding up well in the heat. They do grow relatively fast, especially in relation to Afghan pines (of which I am also a die-hard fan).
Most horrific chore? Cleaning out my homemade organic pond filtering system. Sometimes it is more organic than others, but always produces copious amounts of free fertilizer.
Yes…I forgot about that one Les.
Like you I harness the free fertilizer aspect but cleaning out the filters at this time of the year, with the tiger mosquitoes currently the size of humming birds, is now a life threatening activity.
I’ll admit – I get the heebie jeebies big time at even the thought of turning the compost heap. There are mysteries in our heap that do not wish to be explored, of that I am certain. A thorough “turning” takes weeks of mental loin girding, days of entirely necessary pitchfork “prep” followed by a head-turned-away, breath held, quick-quick-QUICK!!!, heart pounding two minute session of waving the pitchfork around over and occasionally actually THROUGH the heap. Oooof. Just thinking about it has me in the need for a bit of a lie-down.
Hi TD.
Who knows what resides in the center of the compost pile?..Ever since mine burped and squeaked (ever-so-quietly) at me, I have also had reservations of going back there with the pitchfork – I suppose that is why it has now surpassed 7ft in height :-) With composting drums you can pretty much guarantee what you will find in there but with a free-standing Teepee-sized brush pile?…Well best not to think about it.
If it makes you feel any better, we still have half a truck bed of decomposed granite from our last project too…Though of course, that could be because I have nowhere to put it right now…
I am sure you will find a use for that remaining DG Katina…now, a truckload of combined dirt, grass, Tejas black and flagstone that has turned into a foot of mud with our rains and no doubt shortly to be baked is another story :-)
So that was my question answered. The AC- I don’t remember even seeing it the last time I was over a the patch. It certainly is stand out. And I see you are still hard at work on other people’s patches! You children certainly have fun and games and clearly Kumo is such a sport! I guess he has to defend himself.
Hi Jenny.
The AC in the last year or two has really started to look like a tree and not a tall shrub, I really like it and for screening it is excellent. Some varieties grow a couple of feet a year though the ‘blue ice’ is somewhat slower.
Yes, plenty of patches out there to keep me busy and stocked up with Epsom salts :-)
Between my youngest and Kumo it really is a complete mad-house, they are just like each other on an energy level. The latest craze is apparently to try and sit on Kumo’s back like a horse with his water-pistols at his side. Needless to say the dog does not take kindly to this.
Named Bhoot Hill but very beautiful place. If I stay there. Thank you.
Trying to eradicate bindweed/dayflower/bermuda grass are my favorite deeds, matey.