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.

Orange, Chairs, and Bears.

Waking up very early has its benefits.

I can use candles to light up my gourds and pumpkin display inside. The warm orange light is comforting as is the flickering from the candles.

 Then there is that advantage of getting out the door before the sun gets up.

It seemed that this day's theme was Orange. Orange and red sunrise, orange reflections on Bridge M, outside of Readstown, and orange reflections through the fog coming off from Blackbottom Creek at the bridge on Riley Road.

So on our morning walk we continued the theme.  In this shot there looks like a tiny dragon fly stuck in some sort of gossamer thread. You may have to click and enlarge the photo to see it.

Back inside I just had to take a shot of my Grumpy Planter. He never became a planter, I like his facial expression too much to stick a plant in him.

Perhaps in the future I will.

The only downside to waking up very early is on these shorter days, I feel like going to bed much earlier.

Evening hours are spent on my chair project. I like taking my time with it and enjoying the process.

Here is the chair and what it looked like after some sanding and cleaning.

So I started it. The colors were okay-ish but not quite what I wanted. I was using Chalk Paint as it is supposed to go on easier.

I checked into my acrylic paints and tried something different. I kind of liked the purple, but then I didn't.

I found my Brilliant Blue and tried it out on one of the rungs. I liked that.

The Linen White was much nicer and it looked cleaner.

I had some really fun colors in my acrylic collection so I added Lime Green to the lower legs. I liked it.  Fun and bright colors always make me happy.

I mixed two paints to come up with another color for the back legs. That utterly failed for the effect I wanted.

I wanted a warmish color for the back legs.  Hmmm. I wanted a more gold-ish tone, but this might have to do unless I can locate a soft gold color to layer over the yellow. 

Or...I'll keep the wild yellow just because it is unusual. 

It can be a reminder that days can be bright and full of light.

Here is Rich's ancient Teddy bear. I'd love to know exactly how old it was.

However his parents are gone and his sister in not in the picture.

The bear currently resides on the old Christmas Chair which may be my next paint victim. I might color it in a brilliant Christmas Theme.

I did use Google Lens on  photo of this Bear and it is a 1950's era Bear. 

I saw prices from $50 to $200 for this Bear. Not that I thought it was a beautiful bear, but it does let me know that my husband loved his childhood Teddy Bear enough to stick in his trunk of keepsakes for years.

 

He made mention that he thought he got it when he was about 6 yrs old.

That makes this bear around 70 years old?

Colors & Mojo

Fall is an amazing colorful time to be out and about if the weather is good. Through the fall, the sunrise decorates my eating area with unbelievable colors. I can't help but look at it in wonder.

Charlie and I took a drive to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve for a nice quiet afternoon walk. Note to self. Sunday afternoons are the busy times at the Reserve. 

However, there are enough trails that one can find a peaceful one to trek and not be bothered by others. On the main path, we encountered a lot of dog walkers, bicyclists, and a few horses. We kept to ourselves and found the trailhead to the Blackhawk Trail.

As expected, we didn't see anyone when we got on this trail.

Charlie got hot walking on the mowed path with no breeze, so I gave him a lift up and he enjoyed sniffing the air while I did the walking.

I really didn't pick the right time of day to go on this trail, but I felt the need to get out and get some fresh air after cleaning in the spare room most of the morning. I was making headway, but got stuck in a decision on how to pack things up or toss them out.

A hike would change my focus and then I could get back to the issue.

I've taken so many shots of this trail over the years I've hiked it, yet each time it seems new and refreshing to me. I didn't hike it hard as I had all the time I wanted. I could walk and pause when I saw something interesting.

With the winds we'd had a couple of weeks ago, so many trees have already lost their leaves. But deep in the forest I found a beautiful canopy of maples and other trees. The colors were just beginning to pop and glow.

Count me lucky. I found some glorious colors.

 

With the past two days being rainy and cold, I finished a purge and clean project. 

I identified the medals and ribbons on Rich's uniform and put the uniforms back in the bag so I can explain them to his grandchildren and even perhaps his daughter if she'd want to hear it. She might be impressed, though her father never talked about it.

I finished the table project and have given it a place of honor. Right away, I decided to use it for a fall Still Life.

I then couldn't help but set up another spot. This one is a planter, but I love the face on it. I use it mostly as a vase when I can.

This is the first time in ... a very long time that I've actually worked on something like Still Life or even Lego Photography. 

It felt good to goof off a bit. 

That table hosts my haunted mansion right at the moment. The Vampire Lady says, "Come on in, all are welcome!"

This is the first time in a long time that I've felt like having a bit of creative fun. I was afraid it had left me for good, but phew, there it is.

Bumper Crop...and what else....

 

Since there was a bumper crop this year once again, I am opening up my pumpkins to anyone on the ridge or friends of mine who would like some free pumpkins to decorate their porches or yards with.

Why not? I enjoy growing them and I really enjoy the fun when the kids come out and pick some pumpkins up.

I have a row of my own on my porch and some decorating parts of the yard.

I'm still trying to find my way through each day. The times I really miss him are the times we'd sit together and watch some Britbox on TV. Hmmm, or when we'd chat over coffee, or when he'd ask for popcorn, or ...well, he is always on my mind.

Most of my mornings involve some coffee and then a nice walk along the ridge with Charlie. So many September mornings start with fog. It is visually beautiful.

I think I'm doing pretty okay. With the yard, fences, pastures, all under control for now, I have time to take some hikes.

Sunday seemed like a perfect day for that.

The beginning of August

Welcome August.
We saw our first buck in velvet close to home while having coffee in the morning. He was walking amongst several does who just stared at him as he walked through the neighbor's field and woods.

Something alarmed the gals and they took off to the west while the buck took off to the east. They look hazy because of the smoke and some fog.

I have 4 o'clocks blooming all over the place. Each year, I collect the seeds and then randomly drop them into different areas.

Some of them have grown to nearly 5 feet tall and others are being entwined with morning glories.

It's a mess in this spot, but I am enjoying the mess. I may chop it all down after a frost and see what comes up again next year.

Thankfully, Little Richard has been busy helping with the yard work. I put him in some spots that seemed to be growing faster than the rest of the yard and he did a nice job overnight.

Mornings are still the best to go look at things in the garden. The past few mornings are cool with fog and smoke.

The bees are really busy in the pumpkin plants I planted ... ahem, sort of ... by accident in front of the house.

Actually, having them so close is nice. I can see how the bees work the flowers and I can watch the funky pumpkins grow!

These pumpkins are a cross between some gnarly bumpy pumpkins I had last year and the original whitish-yellow pumpkins I had. So it will be interesting to see how large they get. 

I have several other pumpkins in another spot in the pasture that I fenced off. 

I have tossed pumpkins in for the mules to eat the past few years and it seems that they eat them and then stomp the seeds into the ground.

Here are some more flowers to enjoy. All of them taken early in the morning with dew drops on them.

I sure do love the morning glories!