Short but sweet: Last week sucked. Miss Chef was out of town 'til Tuesday, I was exhausted all week, and very, very short-tempered from my lack of MC time (we don't generally see each other during the week).
Last weekend also started out sucky. Saturday morning, Miss Chef did get me to the farmers' market for the first time in many, many moons, and while it was nice to see some friendly faces, it barely made a dent in my bad mood. After all, I had to head into the office immediately afterwards for a half day.
However, when I got out of there, I still had several hours of desperately-missed sunlight, so I got started on some of that yardwork that had been "piling up" in my head. I started with trimming the hollies in front of the house (which I had originally started last month). I was surprised to find an extremely well-constructed bird's nest in one, and just as I was thinking "It's awfully early for the chicks to have fledged," I realized how right I was:
No, Mama Robin did not construct her nest sideways...if anybody can tell me how to stop Blogger from flipping my #@$%&!!! pictures, I will be eternally grateful!
I of course left the nest as untouched as possible, but I had already removed a fair amount of protective cover by the time I noticed the egg, and the parents were nowhere to be found, so I had serious doubts about this little guy ever hatching. But I figured, leave it alone, there's no point in hanging around scaring Mom & Dad away.
Sunday was finally together time for Miss Chef and me. We went to the movies, and saw How to Train Your Dragon, which I enthusiastically recommend to each and every one of you. It was truly amazing, and Miss Chef and I are trying to decide if it belongs in the top 5, 10 or 20 of our favorite movies ever. For realz.
On the way home, we stopped at our local garden center, to pick up a few necessities...parts for the weed-eater, drain cleaner....and about $50 worth of plants, seeds and tomato stakes. Yep, we finally got the rest of the garden in (mostly)!
The previous weekend, I had planted peas, beets, carrots and radishes. Sunday we added beans, broccoli, basil, cilantro and 3 kinds of peppers (2 hot, 1 not). The green stakes at the far end are outlining where the tomato seedlings will go when they've finished their nursery time indoors. I also sprinkled some "wild"flower seeds in our front bed where nothing wants to grow, just to see...We had to be persistent, because the weather was threatening rain the whole time. It did sprinkle just enough to chase Rosie inside for a little while, but in the end, we had to water in everything ourselves. We were very proud of ourselves when we headed inside at dusk to a well-earned dinner.
As we were finishing up, around 9:00, the weather came back. Lots of thunder and lightning, and damp wind, and finally, a good strong downpour. And then....hail. More hail than I've ever seen in my life. I called Miss Chef over to look out the front door with me, and we both stood there, my jaw literally dropping, as a cascade of white pebbles poured off the roof. Miss Chef says it only lasted a minute, but this is what was left behind:
This picture is also flipped, and fuzzy, but that's a quarter next to those hailstones.
Needless to say, we were amazed at the timing, and concerned for our seedlings. They did sustain damage, some worse than others...
broccoli plant...but I'm confident they'll recover, and in a couple weeks' time, the damage will be mostly forgotten.
And, in other good news, when I went out Monday evening to check on the robin's nest, not only did I startle Mama away, but I found these:
Happy ending!
Happy ending!Ok, gotta let Rosie out...I still have a blog award to acknowledge, and I don't know for sure when I'll be able to post again, but keep your eyes peeled! I promise...I'll be around.
Hope the hail did not do too much damage to your garden to make you replant. Robin's eggs must be a sure sign of spring! Finally!
ReplyDeleteYou sound exhausted! I don't want to gloat (says she gloatingly) but from tomorrow after school I'm on holiday for two weeks!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the seedlings, and I hope that's the last nasty little bit of left over winter you get.
Wow! Robins Eggs! A garden??!! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat hail is the reason I won't even let myself think about Spring yet. Up here we've got snow on Memorial Day weekend and hail into early June.
Nothing will get planted until mid June. We do have a very short growing season.
And the barn swallows won't even show up until the end of June. To me, they mean Spring has arrived!
We've had Robins around here for over a month...along with snow...and more snow. Those Robin eggs sure are beautiful. It would be cool if the eggs weren't broken too badly after the chicks hatch, and you could save the nest and egg shells as a memento. I remember seeing an art book years ago with a lovely nest filled with pretty blue eggs sitting on a book shelf. I just loved it.
I can't wait to see how your garden grows. I wish I could have one, the old fashioned way this year, but my knee won't bend and hold me. I'm thinking of trying a garden in large water troughs instead. Or maybe wooden boxes supported by woood horses, so I don't have to kneel to work in the garden.
That's great that you were able to find some time to spend with Miss Chef. The movie sounds great! We usually wait until movies come out on video because a family of 5 is too expensive to go to the theater to see a movie. Sounds like my kidlets would like that one, though.
Hopefully things will slow down with work soon,
~Lisa
Oh yay! Three eggs.
ReplyDeleteThe sunlight deficit makes me want to take a flying leap. Luckily the sun is back in Florida after a 3 month absence. So there is hope. EXCEPT our heat clicked on in the night last night. Today it's supposed to be in the low 70's and sunny. Why are the nights still so cold?
Brrrr.
I envy your garden and am putting a curse on the hail that hurt your broccoli shoots.
I'll have to Google How to Train Your Dragon, never even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteOn my windshield this morning, I had to scrape off a heavy frost although sunny now, but chilly.
Aren't those robin eggs just a beautiful color? wow. I haven't seen any robins up here yet but they'll show up eventually.
I've had to slap Blogger around a few times, a beatin' is all it understands.
For ctrl+v to work, I have to be in the html tab.
ReplyDeleteLovely post... even with the frustration seeping through, the focus is on the important things.
I really need to get focused on our garden. I'm going to toally cheat and buy plants this year since I'm pretty certain my mom's gift of starting plants for us last year was a one time thing. Plus, I want to really be able to pick what we grow this year (she waaaaay overloaded us with tomatoes).
My word verification is "lizzymen." That just makes me giggle.
Jennifer--I think we'll be ok w/out replanting. Glad to know you got your prize!
ReplyDeleteAlison--go ahead, gloat--I know winter's on its way to your house! Bwahahaha!
Lisa--I saw a picture once of a raised-bed garden with boxes built about 4' high, with gravel paths between. That's what you need! Also, you need to see the Dragon movie in 3D, so check out the matinees.
Alix--I know what you mean about the nights. I had to scrape ice off my car this morning...but it's supposed to get to 85 this weekend. Huh?
Joanna--I'd love to slap Blogger around, if I could do it without hurting my computer equipment!
Liz--We usually bought tomato plants when I was growing up. Part of what I absorbed from my rural childhood was knowing what was easy to grow from seed, and what it's better to just buy plants for. It's still better than buying tomatoes at Kroger, either way you go!