My busy messy gardens. Hannah update too...

A post by a friend AC, got me thinking about my own gardens and yard. The mowing is done by a zero turn and push mower and it looks pretty nice. Unless you count all the overgrown areas of pasture [not safe to mow] and weeds growing around old equipment.

So I've always tried to make a very colorful and brilliant bunch of little gardens.

They may be messy and weedy, but the birds and the bees are really enjoying them.

Creeping Thyme flowers.

Morning Glories on the porch.

Self seeded Sunflower in the yard.

Happy Birds

Sunlit Nasturtium. These flowers literally take over the SE section of the porch.

 

Not a hummingbird.

Blazing Stars being watered.

My outhouse garden looks amazing and is nearly surrounded by Bee Balm plants. I can sit on the back stoop and watch bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds dodge around in the flowers. 

If I move closer and am patient I can get photos of them.

The East garden. It is one of my free for all gardens. I have creeping thyme, vinca, iris, day lilies [not shown] bee balm, zinnias, cosmos, a pumpkin plant...😁 along with nasturtium and corn flowers. Basically I took a jar of seeds to the one side of the garden and tossed them in, raked, and stomped and thought I'd see what happened.

There is actually a hidden path that goes through the garden. The dogs and I use it.

Yes the garage is still there crumbling slowly. No word from Frank on when he is thinking of tearing it down. I'm okay with waiting because Frank is also busy with working on two farms with crops. He also raises cattle and runs a Excavating and Gravel business along with hauling things for farmers. His wife believes he should clone himself.

Below is another mess. I had Borage Flowers that grew to 4 feet tall and got taken out by last week's winds and 6+ inches of rain. But the surviving flowers are filling in. I don't do a strict border, but just mow close to the plantings. Love in the mist, Borage, Morning Glories, and it looks like some self seeded black eyed susans are going to appear between some marigolds and nasturtiums. I like my untidy messy gardens. Lots of crazy textures to admire.

I've ignored this spot-- below.... 

But this spring I had a tiny field of tall Sweet William which I just let grow. I'll probably save some plant seeds from these and dig the whole thing up this fall to start over or let it grow to grass. It is a mess and overgrown.

I'm going to pick my battles and do less next year as it is obvious I can't keep it all up. I didn't have time to properly care for it last year either. So perhaps it is time to go. Though I hate to dig up the black eyed susans that put themselves here too!

My one tidy garden is this one.

I may do the same for the other half of the porch next year. But I'd rather have cosmos and zinnias along with all the reseeded Love in the Mist flowers.

I love looking at tidy well done gardens, but for the life of me, I like to mix up as many things as possible and see what happens with no rhyme or reason.

I'm finding out what flowers like to grow together on my own and which plants like which places the best.

I suppose I could study some garden books, but the gardens they suggest are too rigid. I like wild and untamed.

Hannah and I saw Dr. Grimm, she is an awesome vet and Hannah loves her! Hannah does have what is called a seroma or pocket of fluid that is to the side of the incision. Her surgical incision is healing perfectly, the seroma is a small concern and we want to stay ahead of it.

So instead of my solution to keep her from licking it open...we changed tactics.
The area must be open to the air yet keep her from irritating it. 

I have a cleanser to swipe the spot twice a day.

So not a gross shot but here is a photo of the incision and the area points to what seems to be a seroma: Clear fluid that is next to an incision. 

Doc and I want to stay ahead of this as it could be serious and hard to treat if not taken care of.

I learned something today!

She has a new look with a PJ top from Olive's house, she gave me some shirts that her kids didn't wear anymore.

So Doc gave me some cotton balls in a solution to swab the sight and she came up with this to keep the area aired out and keep her from licking it.

It is a toddler t-shirt with leg holes. It is super easy to do and she was embarrassed at first, but is not bothered with it by bedtime.

Humming birds/moths/Infrared tour

The Clearwing Hummingbird Moths have finally showed up to feast on the Bee Balm. Of course they generally show up on the hottest days of July, but if you wish to see them, you have to sit patiently and watch for them.

I was fairly far from the flowers... on the back step to the house which was in the shade. 

 Remember the crooked and ancient looking outhouse in March? It looked SO pitiful! 

Well, it looks like an aged old beauty right now. Maybe that is why I've kept from demolishing it.

I enjoy trying to 'catch' the hummingbirds doing their thing with the Bee Balm also.

This is 3 shots combined into one. 

Thankfully, the camera has an exceptional image stabilizer and ON1 allows for layers to be aligned when loaded!

I like to do these kinds of shots, they just seem so fun to look at. I think I'm going to do a bird calendar next year for all of my favorite birds shots from this year.

I can't wait to capture some action with some butterflies. I would hope to see some Swallowtails and Monarchs just because they are so incredibly beautiful.

Sunday morning I had to run an errand in town to pick up some milk and other 'stuff' you know, the stuff you forget the last time you shopped.

Since I went very early [hubby's early morning nap time], I took a little more time driving to town and back. I took my Infrared Camera with me. The fog here was dense and it had been such a l-o-n-g time since I'd been able to get out and admire the morning light and take some shots.

Along a ridge road --> a not shortcut road to town. The fog was so dense there was no sky but I thought the telephone/power poles made a neat shot with the road curving off into the distance.

The fog started to lift as I came through this ridge towards the county road that leads to the highway....that leads to town!

I just love the undulation of the different strips of crops and lines that the eyes wouldn't see in regular color.

Here the morning sun comes out on another cut across gravel road I took. 

A bit further down the road the sun came out peeked between clouds. I was following buggy tracks. The buildings on the left side of the road belong to a few Amish families. 

More photos taken on the way home from town on another gravel road between the highway and the county road. One of my favorite ways to go home.

This shot was taken on our road as I headed home with a cooler of ice cream and all sorts of good veggies to make cold meals of fruits and veggies. 

I had hoped to get some nice steaks. I looked at some steaks that I've purchased a month ago for $25 to $30 bucks. That would feed us 2 suppers and one lunch.

The sticker shock of $45.00 stopped me in my tracks. I won't be able to afford to eat beef! I picked up pork chops and chicken. 
Hubby is going to have to forgo eating steaks [which is what he is so into right now].

It makes me sad to think I let my little beefers go a few years ago. I am also thankful that our friend Steve has supplied us with some amazing fish and venison.

The sky and ridge as I turned onto one of our gravel roads.

And then....

down this lane and into the woods to our place....

All these shots were done with a camera that was modified to take Infrared photos with different 
filters of different wave lengths. I use the 665nm filter for all shots. 
I normally take this camera out a lot when driving to and from places when

there is an interesting sky. 

Today is supposed to be blistering hot so I did all the chores before 7am and even did my last bit of mowing with my little mower. Boy that mower hated the wet tall grass, but I got it done, cleaned the mower, and put it away.

Crazy minds and creative thoughts...

I am not always at play.

I do have a complicated life. I run our place and am a full time Caregiver. There is always something I need to address and work on for our place.

 Thankfully, I can have great daydreams. Some would think that a person my ahem, age, shouldn't be like this. My father was a very creative and imaginative person. 
He had no talent for mundane things. His brain was always on the go. My mom was the opposite. She could plan things to the smallest of details. She is regimented in thoughts and actions.

I may be a bit of both. 

Funny how things come to you when you are mucking out a stall [Lil' Richard is the one equine won't try to tear apart our large stall.]

Sunday was MY day of stall cleaning. I filled the skid steer bucket with manure and drove the skid steer to dump the pile of old hay, straw, and shavings. Rich said he was too unsteady to climb in and out of the skid steer.

So it is my job to keep that machinery running and useful. I would much rather use the little 4 wheeler and cart to clean up stuff and dump it, but he sure loves his skid steer. 

I abide by his wishes as my 'job' as his caregiver and wife is to make his days as pleasant as I can.

Here I was dumping and spreading manure when I thought about the recent Lego build we did together. 

The Alpine Lodge build has a cute skating rink, an outhouse, and rooms to rent. It is like having a doll house to play with.

During my shoveling I thought .... wouldn't it be funny to have the Lego Batman sign in as a guest? I mean what on earth would the Dark Knight be doing at a winter lodge???

Wouldn't it be funny to take a photo of Santa Clause being interrupted in the outhouse by one of his elves?

And why would all of this occur?

Oh...And what of The Brothers Odd?

How would this fit in with the much anticipated delivery of the 9th deer for Santa's Sleigh on the MOC build??

As I refilled the bucket with manure and hay chafe, my mind skipped from one thing to another with a story line of images jumping about like quick movie clips.

Did Batman sign into the Lodge because he knew Rudolph went missing for nefarious reasons? 

What did the Elf give Santa as a reason to be interrupted while doing his morning constitution?

How would The Brothers Odd even fit in?

I drove the skid steer to the pile and dumped it, then spent time backing it into the shed to the spot where it can be plugged in on cold mornings for using. That effort took all of my brain power.

I dusted myself off and started towards the house.

What IF a Hunter chased Rudolph into the woods? What IF the Brothers Odd decided to help search for him and found Chewie?

And to think that I kept letting these thoughts engage in the back of my mind while I prepared supper and set up appointments on my calendar for the week.

All because of a Lego Outhouse and an Etsy order for a 9th reindeer.

Santa: What the $#@#$%???
Close the door and let me...
finish!
Elf: But I have important information! 
It seems we've lost Rudolph again!

Santa: Oh NO! Not again!
That foolish reindeer!

Maya is right. The more I think about something fun and creative, the more fun I have. 

Haha. My husband just came over and patted me gently on the head. He says I will be committed to the nuthouse before he goes.

Poo oh Poo!

No one wants to talk about it. 

Let's just say, my husband takes meds that need another med to control his ummm, bathroom activities. Most of the time things go rather smoothly. We have low flow 1.6 gallon flush toilet. New 4 yrs ago. But now things have changed.

I'm pretty sure it isn't the toilet's issue. Hubby has some dementia so he doesn't recall what happens when ... ahem, there is a huge voiding due to meds. He just hits the flush and BAM.
Plugged.

The first time it happened in August, it was a weekend. The old fashioned plunger didn't do squat. It isn't built for the newer toilets. I read and watched alternative ways for unplugging 'material' with dishsoap and hot water. Or Baking Soda and Vinegar. I solved the first plug in about 6 hrs. I became a quick study of the YouTube Videos. 
Of course we didn't have a 'snake' and the shops were closed. No neighbors had a snake that time either.

After the clearing, the event was forgotten. I warned hubby that he needed to check with me before flushing a huge void. He forgot. I didn't pay attention to him behind closed doors until I suddenly heard a bit of cursing and him calling my name. He kept flushing desperately. 

Do you ever get that sinking feeling? Like OH Sh*t. Literally. I hollered at him, "Stop Flushing!" I burst in and was thankful that the toilet was clean but the water wasn't going down. But it also had not overflowed! 

He grabbed the old plunger and went at it with gusto until it was obvious that the old style plunger didn't work and ... he was out of breath from the effort. I gently repeated the discussion regarding old plungers and modern toilets. He said we had an old toilet. You can't really argue these things, so I just indicated that perhaps this plunger no longer worked, it was cracked and coming apart.

I grabbed my dishsoap and bailed the clean water. I poured in the soap, then slowly I poured in hot water. The water slowly seeped down taking the soap with it. I kept it up for a few hours, then swapped to the baking soda and vinegar method.

I gave up and went to bed.
Perhaps in the morning?

Old photo of our outhouse ...our back up facility. 

Well right now, a cold option, yet ...

A call to the plumber was considered in the morning. But now it was Sunday.

He suggested I run to town and find a snake. 

I did a bit more research and a bit more of pushing soap and baking soda/vinegar down with hot water.

Most biological material will break down eventually. The soap, the baking soda, and vinegar all assist in breaking down the material. Eventually the clog would break down. 

I ordered a new fangled plunger to pick up tomorrow one specific to low flow toilets.

In the meantime, let's just say we developed another method which conjures up  childhood memories of staying with my Aunts in very rural homes. The pot under the bed system.

I'm hoping that this incident sticks in someone's mind. It probably won't.

26 degrees out. The outhouse? Still a choice. 

I'm laughing today over this. 

We have a speedy internet, and all sorts of modern conveniences. 

Yet ...

I hope I get a very quick solution to this issue...before...

Welcome to my world. Where some days nothing make sense.

I have water in my Outhouse Basement!

Well...
I do.

July 19th started out innocent enough with a beautiful incredible sunrise. I went to the ridge and enjoyed a brief flash of colors.

I drove to Black Bottom Creek and the clouds rolled in darkening the morning light.
So I should have heeded the old saying.
Red sky at Dawn
Sailors take Warning...

The sky had turned an incredible red before I got to the ridge.

And the saying proved very true.

This was after the hard winds of perhaps 70 miles an hour raged through with 1.5" of rain in less than an hour.
However the sunset was stunning.

I received a warning on the Smarty Phone saying that more severe storms were on their way.

So I made a quick check of the fences and animals. The mules had gone down into the hollow and were fine. No trees were across the fences and the animals were quiet.

Then the next round came. And the NOAA noted that it would be a long night of heavy storms with heavy rain and lots of lightening.
They were not kidding.

The hail hit at about 3:30 in the morning. I'd given up sleep by then. I worried about the animals and wondered if the heavy rains would wash out the creek again.

I started to chore and noticed there were some limbs down and it appeared that a tree was over on the fence.
We had sort of expected something like that.
So I went to the outhouse which also serves as my storage for my nippers and machete.
I grabbed the nippers then glanced down into the hole.
It was filled with water.
The rain had come so hard and so fast that it ran down the hill from above and had come into the outhouse hole.
I shrugged.

This looked like a job for a chainsaw.

I did chores and checked quickly on the rest of the animals. They were all just fine.

The garden looked like a mess but as of this morning the corn seems to be recovering and didn't suffer too much damage from the hail.

We were lucky. In McGregor Iowa a tornado had come through with the first storm and tore up that little historic town. The storm raged across the river and winds tore up Prairie Du Chein. So we were lucky.

The total rain fall for our place in 24 hours was 6.10 inches.

We finished up the day and have started to make preparations for the next round of storms.
Heavy rains, flash flooding, hail, and high winds.

Yeah. And there is still water in my outhouse 'basement'.