Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

The froggie count is now eight. I think there are more, but I have only actually seen eight at one time. There are three different species (mink, leopard, pickerel) in the pond, and some toads and tree frogs live in the yard. Today I was out doing the frog count, and a chipmunk popped out from under the ornamental grass next to the rill and stared at me. Yesterday, a squirrel meandered past me on his way to the birdseed on the ground (the jays and sparrows throw seed off the feeder platform as they eat).

I played Esme for the first time since she came back from the shop, and the first time in nearly a month -- there are some new pads and they're a little leaky. That was a bit disconcerting.

I pulled a lot of blanket flower out of the east garden today. It rather takes over, and I was tired of it being the dominant flower in the bed. There's still some out there, and it will be back next year anyway. Next up, I need to thin the sea holly. ick (it's got pokey leaves *and* flowers, especially once they've dried out a bit). The milkweed in the NE garden got pounded by the hail last week, and many of the stems are falling over. I may go out and put the peony rings on them, just to keep the leaves & seedpods off the ground.

DB has band rehearsals T-W-R this week in the afternoons. Of course, it's supposed to be hot. OTOH, we need to move SR up to campus this week, and it's supposed to be even hotter in MP than it is here. OTOOH, she's doesn't have Band Camp this week, and by the time DB and the high school band step off in the fair parade on Saturday it's supposed to be much cooler (and fair parade uniform is T-shirt and shorts anyway).

J's been laying new concrete (see?). He's nearly done with the floor, but then he has to move everything back in. I'll help some, but a lot of the stuff is things that I don't know where they go, or are too big/bulky for me to handle.

It was probably inevitable, but in my second year of double Band Mom, I have a direct conflict -- both kids have games on the same day. Unfortunately, it's a Central game that I really don't want to miss (Navy), and it's unlikely that the game will be moved, as it's ESPN2's Friday game. But I really should be at the CHS game. I think SR will probably have to do a big game without me there. bummer.

Elder Urchin successfully moved. yay. Student housing has come a long way since I was a student. Apparently, the complex is mixed housing -- undergrads, grad students, and the 'general' public. She's closer to campus than she was, and there are sidewalks all the way.

Spent about 45 minutes pulling QueenAnne'sLace out of the east flowerbed, where they were blocking the view of the hibiscus *and* the sea holly. There's a lot of dead stuff in that garden. Some of it is to be expected, because there's a lot of cornflower and california poppy out there, and they die back once they've flowered, but the second flush never started. But it rained last night, and again today, and it was cloudy and cooler today, so stuff may actually come up soon.

I am going to take some credit for the rain, as I dug out the sprinkler and watered the vegetable garden on Wednesday. We're still way behind on rainfall, though.

Current frog count is 12 plus three tadpoles. There's a leak in the pond. We hope it's in the hose, not the liner. I think it's too fast to be the liner. We'll see tomorrow, after the pump's been off for 12 hours.

More white peonies, and they're gorgeous. This is the best they've looked. Then again, this is only the third year for the plants, and they usually take a couple of years to establish themselves. Looks like I'll be making a trip out to the cemetary in Flat Rock sometime this weekend. Maybe I'll have some solid deep pink ones to take out as well -- they're beginning to unfurl.

DB twisted his ankle yesterday, and called home for crutches after class. sigh. (apparently, he was reaching up to get something off of a cabinet, jumped a bit and landed wrong.) He says it's better today, but still sore and he's limping a bit.

( more garden natter )

SR is out there, somewhere.

I know approximately where she is in Boogie Woogie, but the Sing!Sing!Sing! drill was new for this show.