Mowing Mullings

Unlike most Americans, I do my best thinking while on the lawn mower. After Alana picked up Gabriel tonight I filled up the mower and started on the yard.

Now that I'm sitting here typing about my thoughts, I can't remember any that I had! LOL It's hell getting old.

The lawn is still green and lush, which is very rare for this time of year. Usually only the Creeping Charlie is happy. The cool temps along with the generous amounts of rainfall that we've had here in central Illinois have made for a good lawn. Unfortunately it has also made the weeds happy! Now is not the time for me to use Weed & Feed, though. I will wait to do so during the first week or so of September. In the meantime, I use Round-Up in spots where the Creeping Charlie is really bothersome. My mower blade is set as high as it can go. I won't lower it again until fall, when the grass is actively growing.

I wish I could have a lawn mower designed especially for me. I love the Sears Craftsman special anniversary edition that we have....for the most part. I would be happier if it had arms so that I don't slide around on the seat when I'm trying to mow on a slight slope. I'd also like the blade mechanism to work easier, and to be closer. Each time I turn the blade on I am almost off of the seat, and the lawnmower stalls. This thing wasn't built for a 5' tall woman. (Oh, it wouldn't hurt if the mower were pink instead of shiny gold.)

The darn poison ivy is popping up all over the place. Oh, how I wish I could clone a Japanese Beetle that would dine exclusively on poison ivy and Japanese honeysuckle! All of the other Japanese beetles would breed with them, and the normal beetles would become obsolete. My roses would be safe forever! (Yes, I think crazy thoughts while I'm mowing!)

I couldn't finish the back yard as I found a baby Downy or Hairy woodpecker. I'm not sure which it is. The poor thing was on the ground with his head twisted oddly to the right. I thought perhaps it was dead, but the loud mower scared it. The fledgling tried to fly but couldn't do so. I didn't know whether I should put the bird over the fence and into the woods in back so that Sioux and Lakota, the dogs from hell, couldn't get him or if I should let Mother Nature decide the bird's fate. I finished mowing around the dog kennel on the east side of the back yard and, when I got back over to the bird area, the thing was gone. I hope it found safety somewhere.

There have been two or three sick raccoons in the area. The conservation folks said that distemper was the culprit. While I was mowing near the woods I got the strangest feeling of being watched....I started thinking "What if it's a sick raccoon watching me, and it decides to try to attack me?" Silly, I know. Just to be on the safe side I went to another part of the yard.

People in Alabama tend to name their homes. I decided that this place should be called Hickory Hills. I can just see a big sign hanging above the driveway....

I know there were at least a hundred other random (and some pretty weird) thoughts that went through my mind, but I just can't remember them. Maybe next time I mow I'll take along a little hand-held tape recorder. With my luck, I'll probably run over it!

Happy mowing,
shel

This, That and The Other

The last few days have been relatively busy for me so I haven't done much online. Here's a few highlights of my days:

I shook things up a little bit by going to the 9:30 p.m. showing of "The Ugly Truth" with some gal friends. It was a blast! The movie is FULL of foul language (thus the rating) and I could have done without most of it. However, I enjoyed the plot and the skill of the actors/acresses.

I painted the front door deep purple. Yep. I still need to put on another coat, and paint the Adirondack chairs to match, but I think it's going to look perfect. I don't know if the purple was an act of defiance against my husband (he hates change) or in honor of my deceased mother-in-law, or just a touch of HGTV getting to me.

Today I went to my parent's house and trimmed the holly, yews, and spirea. I brought back many boxes of landscape waste to add to my compost pile (the big stuff went in the burn pile, though.)

The daylilies are starting to peter out, unfortunately. Luckily the rains have kept the other perennials and annuals looking healthy so the gardens, although they are weedy, look great. My hosta is really filling out nicely, and the fallopia japonica is stunning. My roses are showing off, too. Part of my success with them this year is due to the lack of Japanese beetles. I've been very fortunate.

I am going to take my hedge trimmers and give all of my mums and asters one more good trim. The blooms will be great toward the end of October, when I want them to really shine. This will be the third or fourth time that I've trimmed them back so they should be nice and bushy.

The vegetable garden is, well, just sitting there. This fall I'll have to till in a lot of the compost. I hope to actually do a raised bed next year. Either way, the surrounding trees are going to have to have a good haircut. There's too much shade in my yard!

I hope you're all enjoying your gardens during this mild July.

shel

Morrisonville Picnic/Frog Jump

On Thursday, Max and I took Bryan and Gabe to the Morrisonville Picnic. There was an hour long parade (I was impressed!), a carnival, and the much-anticipated frog jump.

Bryan loved the tractors and fire trucks that went past. He didn't care much about the candy, but he came home with a bag full nonetheless. During the parade, little Gabriel sat on Aunt Kara's or Aunt Kayla's lap. Bryan latched onto Holly and stayed at the side of the road.

We let Bryan go on the airplane ride and the car ride, but he was just as happy running around. Gabe watched all of the people passing by and slobbered.

shel

I tried to download a picture, but once again my computer wouldn't cooperate. Darn the luck!

"Are You Grumpy?" YES!!!

Little Bryan loves to ask the question out of the blue..."Are you grumpy?" in his cute little sing-song voice. Normally he asks because I tell him "no" about something. (I know that my family members are saying "You NEVER tell Bryan no!" but I do...really I do!) My answer is usually no, Bryan, Gramma isn't grumpy... but if I were to be asked tonight, I would give a resounding YES.

The day started out well enough. Gabe spent the night and slept like an angel. Alana got here early to pick him up and invited me to go to Bloomington with her. We had a good time shopping for bargains and I was able to control my urge to splurge.

Things went downhill when I got home.

I went down to the freezer to get a roast to thaw, and the floor of the garage was slick with chicken juice, blood, and other gross freezer-type liquids. Everything inside the freezer was thawed, including the peach sherbet. The freezer was running and everything was slightly cool, but I didn't trust any of the food to be safe to eat. Everything went into the garbage can. I had three big beef roasts, a few t.v. dinners for hubby, four Cornish hens, a bag of chicken breasts, a bag of french fries, three bags of frozen mixed veggies with asparagus (yummy), the sherbet, a half of a box of frozen biscuits from Market Day, and so much more that I'm starting to get depressed all over again. It's hard telling how long things were thawed out.

We have a $500 deductible for homeowner's insurance, so we're out of luck with making a claim. I have a few ideas of what could have happened...I think Max was browsing and didn't make sure the door was closed. It's happened before on the upstairs freezer and on the 'fridge, so I wouldn't be surprised. That, or the evil garage gnome decided to play a trick on us!

I spent the better part of an hour cleaning freezer juices. It was disgusting. Thank heavens I had two rolls of paper towels handy! Everything had to be disinfected, and then put back together. Then I had to mop the garage floor because the meat in the garbage can leaked out through the split in the bottom, and the can was drug outside leaving a slimy trail, almost like we were visited by a gargantuan snail.

I turned the freezer back on and am hoping that I will go down in the morning to a frigid area. The side-by-side set is in good shape, and I just LOVE having the extra room for storing the pop, water, platters for parties, hundreds of cookies and hordes of meat. I'm sure that it was human failure instead of mechanical failure.

There's been a few other incidences tonight that have made my grind my teeth, but I won't bore you with all of the details. I'm not grumpy often, but tonight I definitely am. Guess I'll go suck on a few peanut M & M s and work on a crossword puzzle before I go to bed. I'm glad my grumpy day is almost over.

shel

daylily pics?

Here's another try...

YES! It worked!

Okay, I give up for tonight. I tried to download another but it wouldn't work. I hope you enjoy the pictures of my 'pretties'.

shel

daylily pictures

I am having luck with downloading tonight, so I'll put in a few pics of the daylilies that are blooming.

This first daylily is an unnamed variety that is up by my mailbox. It has lots of buds and the flowers are huge. They are a soft peachy orange with yellow toward the eye.

Let's try to insert another picture...oops, that's a picture of Gabriel!

LOL, that's ANOTHER pic of Gabe! I can't see which pictures I'm getting when I download. I look at the number, and remember which ones I needed.

I'm going to publish this and try another one. Really, my daylily shots are beautiful!

shel

I Cleaned the Front Porch!

I was outside working by 6:30 a.m. this morning. The first thing that I did was start the burn pile going in the gully. Boy, did I regret that later on. I have asthma and by late morning I couldn't catch my breath. I had to use the nebulizer and the inhaler.

Before the lack of oxygen to my lungs hit, I was able to get the front porch cleaned off. Somehow it accumulates all sorts of junk up there. We're far enough back from the road that people driving by can't see anything, but when folks come to visit it's an embarrassment. So today I took everything off of the porch, swept well, threw out a bunch of junk, brought the Adirondack chairs up, and finished planting impatiens in all of the planters so that it looked nice.

Hey, look, I was able to download a picture! Cool!!!

I didn't do too much after the asthma attack today. I did, however, take care of the world's best little baby boy. Gabriel is SUCH an angel. He made new noises today, kind of like a motor boat. Since his teeth are trying to come in, he is a real slobber box. Poor kid!

Tomorrow Brandon, Jessie, and Bryan are coming over for a nice lunch. They are bringing steaks to put on the fire pit. I'm going to ask Brandon to cook them because I want to be able to do stuff tomorrow and not be connected to my inhaler or nebulizer. I plan on making a homemade chocolate cake for dessert, potatoes, corn, and a salad. In the early morning I'll start a loaf of bread in the bread machine. I look forward to visiting with the kids.

shel

Poison Ivy!!! Zanfel, Save Me!

Since we live in the country, I have an overabundance of poison ivy that pops up just about everywhere, included in my planters! I am one of the unfortunate people that gets poison ivy VERY badly. At least twice a year I have to go in for a steroid shot in the butt and a Z pack (prescription steroids).

Last year I picked up a tube of Zanfel at the mom and pop drugstore in Decatur. It cost an arm and a leg...over $36 for a little tube...but man, is it worth it! Zanfel reminds me of the old Lava soap because of the coarse texture. As soon as I discover that I've been into poison ivy, I run into the house, start the water, squirt on an 1 1/2" length of Zanfel and start scrubbing. So far (knock on wood) I haven't gotten 'the itch'. Supposedly, if you DO have poison ivy already, you can use Zanfel and the itching will ease and you will dry up quicker.

Today I have little Gabriel. The weather is absolutely spectacular, so I hope to get outside and plant a few hanging baskets before he wakes up.

Erin gave me a few Japanese eggplants, and I cut them into chunks last night. I also cut up zucchini, summer squash, green pepper, an onion, and some garlic and threw a marinade over the veggies. I am going to roast them and have a sandwich with Swiss (I'd prefer Provolone, but am out) for lunch. mmmmmmmm, I love veggies! I have a jar of roasted red peppers so I'll use a few of them as well.

Tonight, after Alana picks up Gabe, I'll spread more mulch and put Preen on top. Using Preen discourages the seeds from poison ivy, dropped by birds in their poo, from germinating. If I can stay on top of that this year I hope to have a smaller ivy batch next year!

shel

Daylilies Part II

I walked around the front yard tonight and picked out a few more of my favorite daylilies.

'Burgandy Babe' is a heavy producer. The dark Burgandy blooms with the even darker eyes are about the size of a half-dollar. They really show off early in the lily season. I have crossed them with 'Little Sioux' with good results.

'Little Sioux' is another mini lily. It, too, has a heavy bloom. The flowers are slightly smaller than 'Burgandy Babe' and they are a dark peachy color. The petals are more rounded and chunky looking than most daylilies. I love them!

'Texas Sunlight' is one of my other minis. It is a sunny yellow, proficient bloomer.

There's another daylily in the same bed as the 'Texas' lilies. When I purchased it, the handwritten tag had rubbed off part way. Therefore I'm not sure what the name is, but it is two words with the first letter being C and the first letter of the second word being J. It has HUGE dazzling yellow-orange flowers that seem to be covered in diamond dust. I can't bring myself to divide them yet since they are so beautiful.

I have a 'Gordon Briggs' in the garden by the greenhouse. I've always loved the color of this dark flower.

Once again, I am not having luck downloading my pictures. When Steve comes over (he is an absolute genius with the computer...I'm envious) I will ask him to help me share my pictures.

shel

Daylily List and Descriptions

I think that it was 18 years ago or so that my sister Shannon purchased a group of mail-order daylilies and planted them in front of her cottage-like house with the white picket fence. At the time I (foolishly) wasn't impressed with them, simply because I didn't have enough experience with the flowers.

Now I can't get enough daylilies.

A friend of a friend crossed daylilies and sold the undesirable (to her, anyway) offspring for a mere $5 a clump. Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, IL had a $10 a clump sale a few weeks later. After visiting both of these places, I was officially hooked on daylilies.

Somehow the tags on my named lilies in the back yard are AWOL. I suspect that the two huskies, in one of their many Wild Dog moments, have kicked them up. Either the lawn mower has eaten them or the mysterious canna stealing critter walked off with them. Hard telling.

Here's a list of some of the daylilies that jump out at me:

I have a sunny yellow, rather tall lily with an extraordinary amount of buds that I thought was 'Karen Sue' but is not (according to the google image search that I just did.) This is one of the daylilies with the tags missing The show this daylily puts on lasts for at least two weeks. I have tried my hand at making my own daylily crosses (which is discouraged by the professionals...sorry, I can't help myself) and have found that this daylily is a good parent. I'll see if I can find the original sale tag to find out her true name.

'Fuzz Bunny' is a medium-sized double yellow daylily. There are only two to four buds per stem, but the unique bloom makes this variety a must-have. I haven't had any luck with crosses.

I believe the daylily on the other side of the deck is 'Little Grapette'. I LOVE the dusky purple-brown bloom with the darker eye. It is a small flower, and cute as can be. When I crossed (both ways) with what I thought was 'Karen Sue' I got muddy, disappointing blooms. I think 'Little Grapette' should be left as it is...just perfect.

'Ice Carnival' is a REAL work-horse. It is a tall, proud daylily that produces bloom after bloom after bloom. The flowers are large, pale yellow (almost white) beauties that are easily crossed. I have divided and shared this daylily many times, and it still gives me a full bushy plant each season. If you have a large area to fill in and want a mass of solid color, try 'Ice Carnival'.

'Winnie-The-Pooh' was purchased in honor of my niece Erin. She loved the fuzzy little bear. Too bad the lily isn't nearly as cute. It is a medium-sized plant with a orange-tan color. Personally, I don't think it's the same color as the Pooh bear, but maybe I'm just color blind. This plant hasn't multiplied much, and I've never tried to cross it.

'Strawberry Candy' packs a punch. The smaller plant has a medium-size flower that is a bright strawberry ice cream pink with a darker center. It has three to four buds per stem, so the show doesn't last long. It is a desirable plant simply because it's so darn cute.

'Exotic Love' is a WOW for sure. I have a great close-up picture of it that I will post if I can. (Darn it, the computer won't let me attach the pic. It says 'error' across the top in a big red band. Perhaps you can do a Google image search for it. I'll try to do another post with that picture, and pics of other daylilies as well.)

'South Seas' is a very tropical looking lily. It produces only a few buds and I haven't tried to cross it, but I do enjoy the flower when it is in bloom.

I have an unnamed cross from Hornbaker's that I like to unofficially call my 'Shelly Lily'. It is a bright pink with a bright yellow throat. I have shared this lily with many, many friends.

I haven't had the chance to write down the daylilies from the front or east yard. I will do so, and blog about them, at a later date.

Daylilies start blooming around the last week of June and put on a show for about a month in my yard. They are easily maintained, grow well in my clay soil, and demand little attention once established. If you haven't given daylilies a chance in your gardens, you should really do so.

shel

p.s. I still can't add an image. Curses!!! I did a Google image search and got pictures of all of the above-mentioned daylilies except 'Winnie-the-Pooh'. Notice how the 'Ice Carnival' blooms looks different in each picutre...sometimes a camera just isn't able to capture the true color. 'Little Grapette' is the same way.

If you get the chance, go to Hornbaker's in rural Princeton in the next week. The fields of daylilies will be in full bloom...it's a glorious sight! Get information by visiting www.hornbakergardens.com

Iris Borer Blues

Now is the perfect time to thin and transplant your crowded or diseased iris. If your iris have failed to bloom well, it is possible that they are overcrowded.

Dig up the rhizomes, cut off any diseased parts, cut the green leaf spears off at an angle so that the foliage forms a fan shape about 4" in height, and replant the rhizomes. It is said that iris prefer to be sunburned, which means that you shouldn't actually dig in the soil. Instead, use a trowel to dig a shallow trench and place the iris parallel to the surface of the soil. Cover the roots with soil but leave the top part of the fleshy rhizome above ground (if it were skin, it would sunburn.) Water well to get rid of air pockets, and wait patiently for next year's show.

Do NOT put mulch on or near iris!!

I have noticed that my iris foliage is in sad shape. There are dark brown oval spots over most of the foliage. That's a sure sign of the dreaded iris borer. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the borer.

I will dig up my iris rhizome and carefully inspect it for signs of damage (a hole, rotten spots, or a tunnel like area). The iris borer is a ugly, naked pinkish-brown fat worm-like borer that has one goal in mind...eat every bit of the rhizome that it can before it must pupate then turn into a month. Rotten parts can be cut away with a clean, sharp knife that I dip in a water/bleach solution between each cut. If I do cut into an iris, I leave the rhizome unplanted for a few days so the wound can heal over. When I find a borer, I dig it out of the iris and destroy it immediately. Any damaged parts are cut away. Some people dip their iris into bleach water, but I have never done so.

Mulching iris is a no-no because the mulch overwinters the borer. I have been lax in keeping the oak and hickory leaves off of my iris in the fall and winter, so I am guilty of providing the perfect habitat for the dreaded killer borer.

Did you know that the original big portion of the iris will never bloom again? You can cut off the "fingers" of new plants that grow out the sides of t original and replant them. Put the original potato-looking piece into your compost.

I love iris, and have at least 30 varieties that I need to dig up and divide in the next few days. Luckily iris multiply well so I will be able to share the beauties with friends and family.

For more information on the iris borer and for great gardening education, go to the Master Gardener's web site at http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/state/hort.html You'll love it!

Happy gardening,

shel

Is Anyone Out There?

Is there anyone out there that reads my blogs? I know my niece Erin does, as well as my Aunt Sue (big hugs to both of you) but I really want to know...are you interested in what I have to say?

I blog because
1.) I enjoy writing.
2.) I talk too much, and my husband and daughter ignore me so I have stopped unnecessary conversation with them. I need to tell SOMEONE what's going on in my brain before I explode from too much pent-up jibber-jabber.
4.) I have discovered that I'm lonely. I shouldn't be, but I am.
3.) It's cheaper than therapy.

Please give a shout-out if I'm not alone here.

While mowing tonight, I thought of many subjects that I need to write about. Tomorrow I'll work on the iris borer problem that I'm having. The next blog will be a list (with pictures) of some of my daylilies (favorites, most productive for crossing, prettiest, etc.) I think that I'll also do a garden chore list, and then blog about what I have crossed off of the list for the day. It's a BIG list, believe me. Here's an interesting one...a list of 100 wishes that I would like to have come true. I'm not talking about the obvious (world peace, end of hunger, etc.) but of trivial wishes that would mean SO much to me!

What are yo ur wishes?

shel

The Case of the Missing Cannas

Cannas are multi-talented plants. I appreciate them not only for their flowers (my hummers love them) but also because of the exotic foliage that they offer. They also come in various heights, which gives my garden layers of the WOW factor.

In my zone 5B garden, I am instructed to dig up canna bulbs each year before the first frost, but I never seem to get around to it. I live in the middle of the woods so my gardens are actually in a microclimate which allows them to come back after mild winters. This year, however, my cannas, dahlias and glads failed to return.

A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale that offered large, healthy canna bulbs for only fifty cents each. I purchased six of them, and planted them in the ground as soon as I got home. A few days later I wandered around the garden to find that the cannas had all been dug up and stacked neatly beside the empty hole! I replanted them immediately and went on my merry way, thinking that perhaps a skunk, possum or coon had been playing tricks on me.

Tonight I went outside while the baby was sleeping, and to my horror I found just an empty hole. There weren't even any canna carcasses to be found...not a root, shoot, or skin!

I have no idea of the guilty party, but I do know that if I find a critter lurking around my cannas next year I'm going to have to kick some butt. (Of course, it could be my bah-humbug husband playing tricks on me!)

shel

Mulch vs. Rocks - The Great Landscape Debate

I tend to be very outspoken when gardeners ask my opinion on whether they should use mulch on soil or rock with landscape fabric when creating or redesigning garden areas. Instead of yelling "NO ROCKS!!! STAY AWAY FROM THE ROCKS! NEVER USE ROCKS LIKE THAT!!! DOOM ON YOU! DOOM ON YOU!" I try to calmly point out the pros and cons of each and let the questioner come to their own decision, but I admit that I can be rather theatrical when pointing out rock cons.

ROCKS - Pros

*Rocks are cool (but not in the temperature way).
*They never need replaced.
*You can get everything from white marble chips to tumbled river rock to pea gravel to lava rock.
*They are successful at keeping the moisture in the ground during dry spells.
*For the first year or two, rocks used in conjunction with landscape fabric will be weed-free.

MULCH - Pros

*Mulch breaks down, and therefore adds nutrients (especially much-needed nitrogen) to the soil.
*You can get mulch in many colors, sizes (chips to nuggets), and wood types.
*Mulch keeps the moisture in the ground.
*A proper layer of mulch will keep the garden weed free.
*It does NOT attract termites contrary to the rumors. If you read up on that, do an advanced google search using the domain .edu or go to uiuc.edu.
*If you have a garden walk or guests coming over just throw a sprinkling of mulch on the beds to make them look freshly groomed and remarkable.
*Mulch bags are easily handled. Even when wet, I can carry two bags of mulch.
*You can get mulch in bulk.
*Phone or Electric services will occasionally offer mulch for free when they are cleaning lines in the area. (Note - I have a huge mountain of wood chips in my front yard, behind some bushes so that no one can see it, that I will be spreading on my gardens this year. ALWAYS age fresh wood chips at least one year before spreading it on your gardens. If you sit on it long enough, it turns into a beautiful and nitrogen-rich compost.)

MULCH - Cons

*Mulch must be replaced each year. The first application should be approximately 4" thick (not touching the stems of the plants, however). Subsequent years require only a top dressing of mulch to make it look good and work properly.
*If you leave a bag of mulch sitting at the edge of the garden and forget about it, a baby garter snake may take up residence inside the bag and scare the s*** out of you when you open it up a few weeks later. Yes, I'm speaking from experience here. No harm was done to the snake, but I ruined a good pair of shorts that day!)
*Unless you spread Preen over the freshly mulched area, you can still have the occasional weed pop up.

ROCKS - Cons
*Dust particles are everywhere. They land in the cracks between the rocks and create tiny pockets of soil. Weeds LOVE to germinate here. You won't notice this for the first year or two, but after that it's all downhill.
*If you have rocks and landscape fabric, it's next to impossible to plant NEW perennials or annuals in that bed. You're stuck with what you have.
*Removing rocks from an area is a back-breaking, time consuming experience.
*Disposal of the aforementioned rock is difficult, unless you'd like to bring it over to me and drop it into my rut-filled driveway. Please.
*Rocks add absolutely nothing to the soil. Soil breaks down because plants use the nutrients, so you must use a liquid fertilizer to spot-treat if you want good blooms, root systems, etc.
*Face it...rocks are heavy. You can get a truck load delivered, but be prepared to have Ben Gay applications for days after distributing the rock. You'd better be in pretty good physical condition to shovel those babies around.
*Bags of rock are available, but ditto on the heavy part.
*Bags of rock also tend to rip. It's a pain in the patoot trying to clean up the spill when it happens on the lawn.
*Rocks soak up the heat from the sun. This can be good in the spring, but deadly in the summer and during breaks in the weather in the winter months. (Heating the soil causes plants to heave, which is one of the leading causes of plant loss.)
*If kids play in the rocks and happen to throw them onto the lawn, and you happen to run over them with the mower, the rocks can cause great damage to windows, the skirting around a trailer, or the eye of your pet dog...again, speaking from experience.
*If you use too many rocks, you'll cause the Earth to go off of its axis and we will all die. Okay, that's where I tend to get a little theatrical.

I love to see rock WALLS, or decorative boulders strategically scattered around for the zen aspect, or even football-size rocks used as a border around a bed. Rock Gardens are beautiful, but there is a combination of boulders of various sizes, as well as pea gravel, for this special garden.

Rocks DO have their place in the garden, but, in my opinion, they shouldn't be used as mulch.

I'll get off my high-horse now!
shel

Annuals Out My Ears

I still have tons of double impatiens, rex begonias, and Waves to plant. Today (since we didn't go to Morrisonville) I went to mom & dad's house and planted some of the impatiens and left left the nicotiana and some begonias for mom to use in a planter.

Tonight I am totally exhausted as I haven't slept well since Phyllis' passing so I didn't have any energy to put the annuals in the ground. Perhaps in the morning I will be able to at least do a few containers.

In the meantime, I will cut the top 4" or so of the leggy impatiens, dip them in a rooting hormone, and stick them in a soilless medium. This will give me even a bigger crop to plant and share with friends, and will make the original impatiens bush out and become full.

I look forward to a day at home so that I can start my Phyllis garden, which will be filled with nothing but purple flowers.

shel

Phyllis A. Klinger - Her Life and Death

At 12:15 this morning, Phyllis A. Klinger, my mother-in-law, passed away at the Taylorville Hospital. Unfortunately, we had left an hour earlier, and were not at her side. My heart bleeds to know that she was alone.

Phyllis was an excellent mother-in-law...she never interfered with our private life, hosted Thanksgiving dinners that were delicious beyond belief, and was incredibly easy to buy presents for.

In the past, she collected apple items for her kitchen. Recently her passion turned to Campbell Soup stuff. I had a blast looking for the familiar red and white can in unique situations..did you know they made a porcelain Campbell's Soup Christmas tree? Yep, she had it. Phyllis was passionate about the color purple, and loved just about anything in that color, except for lavender. I could never go wrong with purchasing for Phyllis.

I loved to hear the stories that Phyllis liked to tell, even though I'm not from Morrisonville and had no idea of whom she was referring to. She loved to stay abreast of the latest news from Morrisonville, Taylorville, and the surrounding towns.

Before I married her firstborn, Phyllis was a teacher. She dedicated many after-school hours with projects that would make the lives of "her" kids better. At the funeral home today, as we were making arrangements, one of the sisters (Kara, Kristy, or Kayla) told a story about how Phyllis used toilet paper to "tie" one of her problem students to a chair after she had done yet another destructive thing to the classroom. The original story was hilarious...I left out a lot in translation here. The girl ended up learning her lesson, grew up to have two children of her own (hopefully as ornery as she was) and be a productive member of the Morrisonville area.

Phyllis has been in and out of the nursing home in Taylorville for quite a few months. She was diabetic, with septic ulcers on both legs. I didn't know that she had been in renal failure for quite some time; she was very closed-lipped about things like that. The infection in her legs had pretty much overrun her body, making it impossible to bring her back to our world. I could look into her eyes, clouded over with agony, know that she wanted the pain to stop whatever the cost. It was hard to feed her ice chips, pat her shoulder, tuck in her blanket, and keep up a positive attitude. All that I wanted to do was yell at the nurses (they were only following doctor's orders and protocol, I know) for not being able to give her more morphine or change to a drug that would ease her pain.

On the whine side, I just have to say how unfair her death is. There were people that had been in the nursing home for years, minds and bodies gone, just waiting for their hearts to stop. Some wandered the corridors, singing songs and calling out for long-gone spouses, having no idea of even being there. Others sat in their wheelchairs, heads draped forward as they slept the sleep of the forgotten. Phyllis was still mentally alert, and, up to that point, only slightly out of whack physically. She used a wheel chair due to the condition of her poor legs, but was able to feed herself, go to the bathroom, and roll around to catch up on the happenings of her "neighbors". My selfish side thinks " WHY HER?????" In my heart, I know that she is in a better place, and, most importantly, out of pain.

Phyllis, I love you. You will be missed.

shel

Counting my Money Before It's Hatched

Yesterday I spent all afternoon in Lincoln giving my resume to any business that I am even remotely familiar with. (Not Auto Zone, as I don't know my cam shaft from my rear end.) After depressing hours on my feet, dressed in a professional manner...terribly uncomfortable...and smiling my fake confident smile, I was ready for some good news.

Jessie brought Bryan to me at Wal-Mart so that I could bring him home for the weekend. Foolishly, I drove the Honda Civic instead of the van. We made the exchange and then I was on my merry way.

The portable greenhouse that was set up in Goodie's parking lot called to me as I tried to drive past it. "We're Making Deals", the sign beckoned. Although I had less than $20 in my pocket, I had to pull in. Good thing I did! The lovely young saleswoman was in a VERY generous mood. Annuals were $1.59 each, buy one get one free. The majority of the plants looked marvelous and weren't root bound, so I started packing in Rex begonias and double impatiens. Then the gal advised me that it would be cheaper to buy a flat for $8.99 and she'd give me one for free. To make a long story short, I ended up with four flats of+beautiful double impatiens and yellow, orange and red Rex begonias, a big planter overflowing with Wave petunias, four ten inch hanging baskets of ivy geraniums, two large tomato plants, and a few odds and ends. Out of the original $20, I came home with $4 plus some change!

Poor Bryan was surrounded by flowers as I tried to pack everything into my already loaded Civic. He probably got dizzy from the scents.

My original plan was to sell all of these plants at Farmer's Market this morning. It's held on the square in Clinton, and costs a mere $10 to participate. Last night I made price signs, cleaned up the geraniums, loaded everything into the van, and prepared to leave bright and early this morning. Unfortunately, rain started falling sometime in the early morning, and it hasn't let up! With both Bryan and baby Gabriel in my care today, I was unable to go sell my wares and make some extra money to pay for gas and groceries for the next week.

My mother always told me not to count my chickens before they were hatched. Guess I should have listened to her!

shel