Good Morning!
How are you this fine mid-September (gasp!! already?) morning? The days are flying by! You can see from the picture above that I have planted a pinecone! I'm hoping to get at least a few of the seeds it contains to sprout. There are various on-line videos about this and I thought it would be fun. The tree by our mailbox was our Christmas tree the first year we moved into the house and this year has turned out to be a banner year for pinecones. There are tons of them! Fingers crossed my little experiment works.
Thanks for your notes about Mabel. She did (of course) show up after I posted looking for a bit of breakfast. All weekend she pretty much stayed around the house, disappearing for short periods of time, but always coming back and meowing at the door. This morning she wanted to go out at 5 a.m. When I came downstairs at 7 she was ready to come in and since then she has been in and out several times.
Our weekend was nice, though filled with chores. I did make it to Ikea on Friday morning. I had not been there in maybe a year or longer. Traffic was horrible and there was lots of road work, but I made it. It is easy to get carried away in that store. I found the wine glasses I wanted and a few other things including a couple of girlfriend gifts. Then I almost got lost trying to find my way out of the store - LOL. I'm sure they arrange the store the way they do on purpose. Once I found all the plants (and successfully was NOT distracted), I knew I was on my way to the checkout point. I made it home in time for lunch with Fletch. Fun times and I will go back sooner than a year from now!
Friday night I made Carne en su Jugo for dinner. Looking on line, I can't find the recipe I used, but it was delicious!!
Other than keeping thistle seed out for all the finches, we typically do not feed the birds during the summer. But last week I noticed a chickadee kept coming to the window feeder (office room front window). When it discovered the feeder was empty, that chickadee started pecking at the window!! We bought some sunflower seeds and Fletch filled that feeder for me (well, for the birds). Since then the chickadees, finches, cardinals and wrens have all been enjoying it. I'm pretty sure the hummingbirds are gone now. The hummingbird feeder that was hanging from the clothesline came down and there is another feeder hanging from a branch of the apple tree to come down. It's time to put out the regular sunflower seed feeder as well as the peanut feeder.
Mundane chores seemed to fill Saturday and Sunday. The kitchen floor was scrubbed (definitely needed), curtains in the bedroom, living room and office were taken down, washed and hung on the lines to dry. Then put back up. Definitely need new curtain rods! A little cleaning in the living room was completed - that will be finished today. Fletch washed a bunch of windows. Whew!
Yesterday Colin was over and helped Fletch get 24 bags (40 lbs each!) of top soil into the garden area. A few went into the raised bed with the rhubarb and the balance will be spread in the large raised bed at the back of the garden where Garlic will be planted in October. Naturally, Mabel had to come into the garden to investigate what was going on.
As far as the garden goes: we now have 2 sunflowers in bloom and the hibiscus continues to bloom. We are picking cherry tomatoes and peppers and there are still some figs to ripen. Last night we had a delicious salad with greens (red and green lettuce, chard and spinach) from the garden. Fletch put the sets in a week or two ago and they have taken off!
Thankfully there was time for reading, stitching and knitting. Planning more of those things today. Hopefully your weekend was nice and cheers to the week ahead!!
You were very productive this past weekend. Now I have to look at my own curtains. Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteChickadees have way more personality than their small bodies would indicate, don't they? We had one that used to follow Rick back and forth as he mowed the front lawn. No idea why, but it always did.
I'm laughing at the chickadee insisting it be fed! And I'm a little sad that the rabbits and deer killed the one sunflower I got to grow this year before I could get any actual flowers -- I always liked to see the birds snacking on the seeds. I suppose I'll try again next year.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear Mabel didn't stage another great escape!
Kat has clever bluejays and you have a smart chickadee! I already washed my kitchen curtains and I'm going to ignore the bedroom ones. That is a chore for another day! I don't think I've ever been to an Ikea as there isn't one nearby, but now I'm tempted since they have wine glasses and plants.
ReplyDeleteThat genius chickadee! LOL I really love the birds! We still have hummers on our feeders... I am planning on keeping their feeders replenished through the end of the month to give them some sustenance for their long migration! I have my fingers crossed your pine cone sprouts!
ReplyDeleteMy hummingbirds are still hanging out - there's a lot here for them to eat with all the flowers
ReplyDeleteBirds are flocking here and planning their trip South. I’ve seen quite a few small birds feeding on the hedge berries by my front door. A Fall nip is in the morning air.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of topsoil! Glad the birds are fed!
ReplyDeleteMY goodness you got a lot done over the weekend. I would like to get some curtains for the. camper but not sure what we want. It makes it so much more homey. As I type, we're driving up I-29 through Iowa on the was to SD. We'll stay at a KOA tonight and then head to the Black Hills tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and hugs,
Betsy
You are busy! where do you get the energy? I'm back from a long weekend trip to the Boston area and I need a weeklong nap :)
ReplyDeleteI hope your pine cone sprouts like you want it to! My hummingbirds have been gone since early last week as far as I can tell. I still have the feeder out, just in case there are any older birds who aren't making the trip, but I haven't seen any activity/
ReplyDeleteWhat a busy weekend. I hope the pine cone experiment is successful and I hope you report back on it. I never heard of trying that but I do live a sheltered life. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI envy you your trip to Ikea! I haven't been in ages. It's hard to believe that they will have their Christmas things out soon. If you don't' get them by Halloween, they are gone.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of planting a pine cone. I gather them up every fall and put them in my pots for decoration but I've never seen one sprout. I think the squirrels get them though. I find them all over the yard sometimes.