Girls Coffeeshop Talk

[rfknauss]

Lisa ...... you are my kind of gal ....... you definitely deserve that beer after completing a project like that!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Lisa ...... you are my kind of gal ....... you definitely deserve that beer after completing a project like that!

Thanks! I made hot dogs for the family this evening and we ate al fresco on the side porch - the new furniture works great! And the best news is, my husband was inspired to get started on a couple of projects outside, too. He's replacing some rotted wood fascia board and getting some bulbs replaced on our outside lights.

Spring spruce up has begun... so glad winter's pretty much over.

[East Bay Rider]

Originally Posted by Lisa

... I didn't have to take a nap first so I could be well rested for the project. I didn't have to sit in my chair and watch TV for a couple hours first so I could think about how to go about things. I didn't swear one single time. I didn't stomp down to the basement five or six times looking for a better tool than the cheap crap that was supplied. I didn't roll my eyes at myself for using sewing scissors to open the box instead of box knife. I didn't throw away the instructions because they were useless. I didn't lose any of the washers and then cuss about it. I didn't growl or bleed any. I didn't come indoors afterward griping because nobody made me a sandwich. I didn't curse the stupid manufacturers for supplying inferior screws or nuts. I didn't throw any tools to the ground in contempt. I didn't yell at my daughter to run off and play when she asked me what I was doing...

You were doing it wrong.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

You were doing it wrong.

Obviously!

[kcmo]

Wow Lisa, I'm impressed! You are a skilled woman!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

You were doing it wrong.

Bill, I have to share this with you - I was teasing Dave yesterday evening about putting the furniture together - used some of the same verbiage in my post about how a guy would do it - and he said EXACTLY THESE SAME FIVE WORDS.

[chicfarmer1]

Originally Posted by Lisa

I I didn't have to take a nap first so I could be well rested for the project. I didn't have to sit in my chair and watch TV for a couple hours first so I could think about how to go about things. I didn't swear one single time. I didn't stomp down to the basement five or six times looking for a better tool than the cheap crap that was supplied. I didn't roll my eyes at myself for using sewing scissors to open the box instead of box knife. I didn't throw away the instructions because they were useless. I didn't lose any of the washers and then cuss about it. I didn't growl or bleed any. I didn't come indoors afterward griping because nobody made me a sandwich. I didn't curse the stupid manufacturers for supplying inferior screws or nuts. I didn't throw any tools to the ground in contempt. I didn't yell at my daughter to run off and play when she asked me what I was doing.

Hilarious--exactly the Universal Man Code, which you deftly tossed aside. Brava!

[Lisa]

Leo, thought you might enjoy some pics from the Crystal Bridge Botanic Gardens, in downtown OKC. We were there over the weekend. All the pics were taken by my 12 or 8 year old. Please don't ask me to identify any plants, though!

[rfknauss]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Leo, thought you might enjoy some pics from the Crystal Bridge Botanic Gardens, in downtown OKC. We were there over the weekend. All the pics were taken by my 12 or 8 year old. Please don't ask me to identify any plants, though!

Gorgeous pics Lisa!

[Rockrolex]

Very nice, pics, Lisa. You have a very photogenic family.

[East Bay Rider]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Bill, I have to share this with you - I was teasing Dave yesterday evening about putting the furniture together - used some of the same verbiage in my post about how a guy would do it - and he said EXACTLY THESE SAME FIVE WORDS.

We're all brothers

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

We're all brothers

Does that mean the same thing as, "You men are all alike!"

[Lion]

Lisa, I love the pictures of the Crystal Bridge Botanical Gardens.....I could spend all day there. Thanx for sharing the experience with us here. Now I have a destination to see when I come to OKC to meet with you, Dave and the kids!!!

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Leo, thought you might enjoy some pics from the Crystal Bridge Botanic Gardens, in downtown OKC. We were there over the weekend. All the pics were taken by my 12 or 8 year old. Please don't ask me to identify any plants, though!

Those pictures are stunning Lisa! I hope you had a great time!

[Lisa]

Leo, sorry I'm late with these but here are a few pics of the garden along the south fence at the retaining wall. This was the area we cleared and replanted last year. The iris were dug from Mom's garden and they're just starting to bloom. The roses seem pretty healthy and are just starting to bud. Hard to believe they were those sickly little bare-root things I got in a Priority Mail box last year.




We love the view of this neighbor's back yard - he's very into gardening.





Here's the area halfway through clearing (had to get permission from the other neighbors behind us to clear their side, too - not that they were very happy about it!):



And after:



Some more pics from yesterday...

The kid's garden - strawberries, corn and turnips (don't know why; that's what Violet chose!) I made the cages to keep our possum out... one more to go.



Hostas are doing well - caladiums planted between each one but not up yet.



The little dianthus are doing well - stayed green all winter.

[Andelain]

I need to post some pics of the gardens at this hotel here.

[Lion]

Lisa, fantastic pictures of your yard...thank you for sharing. I love springtime in the Midwest but would love to visit all over the country to see what spring looks like elsewhere....the climbing roses looks great and I do love Irises. Now I do enjoy Dianthus and are those creeping phlox around the one climbing rose? What are your plans for that newly cleared fencerow? And Miss V wanted turnips??? LOL!!!

I know you said you have some building plans set for this year...so what's on the agenda? Give the girls a hug from me and say Hello to Dave if you can get a grunt out of him when he's in his basement nirvana!!!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Andelain

I need to post some pics of the gardens at this hotel here.

Yes, please! We love that kind of stuff!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Lion

Lisa, fantastic pictures of your yard...thank you for sharing. I love springtime in the Midwest but would love to visit all over the country to see what spring looks like elsewhere....the climbing roses looks great and I do love Irises. Now I do enjoy Dianthus and are those creeping phlox around the one climbing rose? What are your plans for that newly cleared fencerow? And Miss V wanted turnips??? LOL!!!

I know you said you have some building plans set for this year...so what's on the agenda? Give the girls a hug from me and say Hello to Dave if you can get a grunt out of him when he's in his basement nirvana!!!

Thanks, Leo. Yes, those are creeping phlox among the roses - they do quite well in our area. As for the cleared fence row, that's a "before" pic of the previous photos. That overgrowth extended into our yard by about 8 feet!

Building plans - we'll be constructing a flagstone patio area behind the garage and restoring that old rock barbecue grill. There will be a cedar pergola for the top and we'll plant some climbing flowering thing. I'm thinking about wisteria, but our contractor thinks that might be too heavy and unwieldy. Then, since the old Ford Falcon stays in the garage, my SUV had to sit out under the pecan tree and it gets pooped on constantly by the birds. Plus, Phoebe will be driving in a few short years and we'll need a sheltered place for her to park, so we got plans underway for a cedar carport that will hold two cars. It's designed so that it can also be used as a covered patio.

Always fun to have a project in the works - more so because we have a very good contractor who is easy to work with. That makes all the difference in the world.

[rfknauss]

Lisa ...... great pics of your garden!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Lisa ...... great pics of your garden!

Thanks, Richard.

I need some gardening advice, though - what to do about those slimy stinkin' slugs that are eating some of the plants to the ground. There's an area on the front of the house that is always shaded and moist - there's a row of hostas planted there that would look very nice against the row of yew shrubs - but the slugs chomp them to the ground as quickly as the leaves grow. I may have to dig them up and move them to a dryer area and just leave that area of the beds bare except for the yew. It's pretty boring looking, though.

Hmm.... plastic flowers?

[rfknauss]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Thanks, Richard.

I need some gardening advice, though - what to do about those slimy stinkin' slugs that are eating some of the plants to the ground. There's an area on the front of the house that is always shaded and moist - there's a row of hostas planted there that would look very nice against the row of yew shrubs - but the slugs chomp them to the ground as quickly as the leaves grow. I may have to dig them up and move them to a dryer area and just leave that area of the beds bare except for the yew. It's pretty boring looking, though.

Hmm.... plastic flowers?

Lisa, I am not an expert on this topic, but I did a little research ..... check this out.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...0092926AAozTrB

[Lion]

Lisa, for the slug problem set out saucers of beer amongst the plants buried to ground level and the slugs will crawl into the beer and drown.....

[Lisa]

Richard, thanks for the link - I will look into that!

Leo - you expect me to share my beer?!

At least the slugs die happy.

[chicfarmer1]

Gardens looking great, Lisa. I'm surprised that you folks are so much ahead of us in terms of spring. But the ground is workable, so I've gotten turnip, kale, spinach, and lettuce seeds planted. And I transplanted a bunch of hostas today.

Yellow dandelions blooming in the grass already! In general we're two-three weeks ahead of normal schedule. At the end of the month my lambs should be on the ground.

[Lisa]

J, thanks. We've had an unusually mild winter - mildest that I can remember. Warm, spring-like weather started in earnest in very early March, so things seem to be growing about 3 weeks earlier than usual. Ordinarily our iris don't bloom until May, but they're now in full swing. And the azaleas are finishing now. Usually their peak is mid-April.

I know you're a real gardener and not a pretend one like I am () so tell me about your veggies - do you sell any commercially, or eat all that you grow? Do you can or freeze them?

I remember as a kid summers spent getting up at 6:30 to snap beans or shell black eyed peas so Mom could can them. I grumbled and griped about it plenty - but at least I wasn't out before daylight picking the things like she did! I used to envy the kids at school who actually ate fruits or vegetables in cans from the grocery store... that was pretty fancy and all we had was the home-grown stuff.

Bet your place is looking gorgeous - hope you'll treat us to some more pics soon. Maybe of your lambs, too!

[chicfarmer1]

Ah. You and Leo are definitely serious plant people, and I particularly enjoy your flower bed gardening.

Hmm, well, it's an eating garden. Not so much for keeping/storing. I love to give away veggies to friends. It's so funny: in this community, people just leave zucchinis everywhere you go. I mean on counters at the post office, in the bookstore, anywhere.

The only keeping I do with any success is roasting tomato stuff and freezing the pulp as soup or sauce, and cold storage of whole potatoes and garlic. I'm interested in dehydrator drying, and I think I'll experiment this summer with fruits.

We've reduced the garden size over the years, which is much better than having so much waste. Right now the arrangement is two main beds. The old man whose farm it was planted probably an acre just for the family veggie garden, so by that standard we are total punks.
---
Here too, mildest winter on record. Of course: we finally bought a snow blade and chains for the garden tractor. Kept all the bad weather away!

[Lisa]

Dehydrator drying - I love that concept. I've read about ways to do it with an oven, but have never tried it.

So funny about the zucchini! That brings back more childhood memories - in the early 1970s there were several farm houses around us that are now gone... but I think back fondly to the wonderful people who lived in them - elderly farmers who still had vegetable gardens and root cellars. We were often the lucky recipients of their home grown goods, and we always reciprocated... a basket of tomatoes for a bucket of cantaloupe. A loaf of freshly baked bread for a mess of okra. Sounds like that kind of thing still goes on in your neck of the woods. That's really wonderful.

In our case, the suburbs invaded.... the old farms were razed and the land turned into commercial and residential developments. I remember how steamed my mom used to get when she'd see construction workers walk across the road and help themselves to the apricots and peaches growing on our trees. They obviously didn't understand the unspoken rules of reciprocity!

I'm digressing... but there's a lot for my sister and me to think about as Mom's in her last years and still living in that house on 5 acres. She no longer can garden, but she still enjoys watching the deer and birds and other critters who live in the area. My kids delight in running around outside - last time we were there each of them took home a deer antler found right in her front yard.

My sister and I are looking after her affairs (I've probably mentioned she's got dementia) but already we've gotten a few requests to buy her property. Two are from commercial developers but one is from a soon-to-be retired couple who want the land for gardening, and they would either keep the house or build a new one (the 1968 house is still on a septic/well system and in need of serious repair/renovation). The sad reality is that the land is worth about four times more as commercial property than as a residence. I hate to see the property meet the same fate as the surrounding farms... but we have to make wise financial choices, too. So, some tough decisions down the road for us.

[chicfarmer1]

I understand your situation re the land, but--and I hope this is a note of comfort--"saving" a 5-acre property that's already in the midst of major development, or clearly in the path of it, is not actually much of a benefit in terms of preserving greenspace/farming. And hobby gardeners can always find somewhere to live and grow things. Let your self-interest flag fly.

I think it's a important consideration where farming and the area's ecology can reasonably be helped to survive, for sure.

The economic crash has been a "benefit" in the retention of greenspace recently, in a weird sense, in that commercial development has slowed a lot, and individual buyers are less eager to move out and spend lots of gas money commuting from the countryside. This may change back again, of course.

[Lisa]

Always wise words form you, J. I feel better!