Bogieblog

Pollinators Out and About

The pollinators were very busy a couple of days ago. Actually, they are very busy most of the time, but I had my phone with me so got some (poor) pictures. Unfortunately my phone would focus on the flowers instead of the insects, so they are a bit fuzzy.

I had bumble bees and honey bees.

Not sure what this winged creature is, but it isn't a wasp. It was quite the beauty when it flew, but it was so fast I couldn't get a picture of that action

Depending on how the sunlight hit, how open the buds are, and how old the plant is, the butterfly weed can show as different shades of orange or orange-yellow. The older the plant, the darker the orange is (as in, the plant in the previous post is the original plant, and yes, that plant is a dark orange that doesn't look quite real)

This year I once again got one yellow sport. I'll have to go check to see if it has opened up

Then as I was wacking back the winterberry and other bushes that are trying take over the world, I saw this wasp of some sort on the False Spirea that leans over onto my side of the line

I've also seen a fair amount of fireflies in the early morning hours, so the insect world is doing well at my place.

First Tornado of the Year

Yesterday evening I was in the tornado warning area. Rotation was indicated on radar and then it was confirmed visually (short video). No, it wasn't much by Tornado Alley standards, but still exciting since we don't get that type of activity here very often. The rotation did stay for quite some time, starting in Swanzey, going over 2 towns that abut mine and thru Manchester.

Had the kitties in the cat pen for about an hour in case I needed to wheel them into the hallway (a much safer place than the basement since I don't have a containment system for them down there.

The lower cell is the one that produced rotation. The upper cell went thru my town but wasn't bad.

Friend of mine in New Boston was in her basement with her dog as that system went right over them. She and her horses are fine.

And interestingly, my FB memories yesterday popped up that in 2015, on June 23, my area was under a tornado warning - so apparently that is a bad weather date :)

Driveway Garden Takes Center Stage

Friday afternoon I went around and removed all the spent peony blooms. I was thinking that there wasn't much color, but that was because I was looking at the roadside and south gardens (day lilies will be next and are setting buds, but otherwise they don't have blooms right now). Then I started looking in other areas, and there is plenty of stuff blooming - especially the driveway garden where butterfly weed and black-eyed suzies are coming into their own.

The false indigo had massive seed pods weighing down the stems so I started trimming those off. Of course it started sprinkling a few minutes into this job, so I only got about 2/3 of them cut off before it started raining in earnest and I was wet enough to call it quits.

Flowers and flower buds from what I believe is an ash that is in the neighbors yard, but hangs over onto my property (not complaining). Edit 6:30/2024 - this is a False Spirea, also called an Ash-leaved Spirea.

I've shown this foxglove in the backyard previously, but it is so impressive. The top of the spike goes to just above my eye level, so it is at least 5' tall and the spike itself is around 2.5' long

The just started blooming on Thursday and is welcome color in the shady parts of the yard.

The winterberry is getting buds and are so big I may have to trim them. I'm unsure what is going on in this area of the shrub garden. I've not had this happen before - almost looks like something big bedded down there and pushed all the stems over. Mountain laurel should be in there. It is possible that it is shady enough that everything just started leaning but I don't remember it being like that while mowing  - but that means nothing - LOL

Chokeberry are getting ready to bloom too

The next big event will be day lilies blooming. I think that will be lackluster in the roadside garden as the peony foliage is so tall and spreading that those lilies aren't getting any sun. And, some of the lilies, at the best of times, are not as tall as the peony foliage. Bad future planning on my part.

At this point it looks like I will not have the fantastic fall blooms in the south garden from the Sweet Autumn clematis. It has not put out any buds. I cut off all last summers vines in the spring, which I normally do, so I'm unsure what the deal is since I have never been able to kill them before. The winter was not harsh, nor did we have a late frost, so I'm perplexed. And the worst part is that the 5' tall pillar and other supports that I have out there look out of place and messy.

Travel Observations

Note: I thought I had posted this on Sunday (6/16/24), but apparently I only saved it as a draft.

I traveled back to see the family a couple of weeks ago. CC wanted me to bring home something of value.I declined as I usually have trials getting thru TSA. Sure enough, they were already lined up to pull my carry on, shoes and purse before they had made it half way thru the xray.

I'm not sure where they took everything, but it was a good 5 minutes before they came back and put them back thru the system. As a side note, they opted NOT to pull me out and use a hand held metal detector on my person this time - a small win.

Somehow, even before 9-11, I have always been singled out for having ridiculous additional over site done like running an electronic sniffer around and thru every crevice of my carry on, doing hand searches. The most egregious thing they have ever found to closely examine was an unopened bottle of saline for my contacts (that under a medical need was legal at 4oz) and a tube of toothpast that was too large - in which I had them throw away.

They usually don't even try to be discrete when checking my belongings, even tossing out my undies and bras for the world to see. I have literally been yanked out from under the metal detector for a more thorough wand and hand search - even though the metal detector didn't go off.

I'm pretty sure that if I had chosen to try to bring the valuable item thru the airport, it would have gotten confiscated at the screening. Not only was it valuable, but it was heavy and they would have claimed that either:

• It was ill-gotten gains (they don't even have to give you a trial for that to happen - and they don't give it back). They will even take "large" amounts of cash that they deem you shouldn't have.
• It could be used as a weapon (being heavy).

I'm not even sure they would have let me back out of taking my flight so that I could hang on to the item. Yeah, not even tempting fate.

And, putting it in a checked bag would have guaranteed that thing would have disappeared since my bags are, more often than not, searched. Not even saying that would have been a perscribed confiscation - if you get my drift.

Foxglove Season

Foxgloves, as biennials, are interesting. Behind the house, along the woodsy perimeter, foxgloves reseed. I've only planted one foxglove back there, in 2018, and it was yellow. Over the years the seeds have produced white, light pink and dark pink offspring (which I am good with). Since they are biennials, foxgloves don't stay in one place, so one needs to be accommodating to its wandering ways. Hmm, when these seed out, I should scatter some in the south garden and see if they produce something (as long as I don't pull the 1st year plants :D)

Different pink foxgloves at left of shady sitting area that I was taking advantage of after doing yard maintenance yesterday. The shade and nice breeze helped cool me off

View looking straight ahead from shady sitting area (just to the right of the foxgloves in previous picture

View to right from sitting area - with the rhodie in the front yard, I can barely tell there are two streets there.

And, back to the woodsy area, there are some Red Campion blooming

Red campion (not rose campion - different thing) is mixed in with the growth back there. I don't know where it came from, but I've had red and white campion back there for a couple of years. With the different form factors of both flowers and foliage (and indeed, different growth habitats), I don't believe it can revert from the rose campion I planted in the sunny, arid rock garden beside the house.

The peonies are all but spent so I will spend some time soon cutting off the flower stalks to neaten up the roadside and south gardens.

Differences in Linoleum

NO, this isn't a lecture about composition or methods of making linoleum - LOL. On a forum I frequent I had shown picture of the finished bathroom floor. A gal, who has an incredible memory, had thought it was the same linoleum I used in the basement.

My response to her:

The bathroom linoleum is not the same as I placed in the basement. That was a roll of Lifeproof in Travertine Plank cut off the huge rolls at HD. I still have a partial roll downstairs. That linoleum has too long and narrow of a pattern to go well in the bathroom to my eye. The "planks" are 24" X 5", with a "flowey" pattern and not much definition between the "planks". It made that bathroom look even narrower. Although, I probably would have defaulted to it if I hadn't found the roll that I found.

The sheet product I placed in the bathroom I bought in a pre-packaged 8x10 roll. The cushioning is different and the "tiles" are about 18" X 9", with much better definition and more of a "rock" pattern of random flows.

There may not be much of a difference, but the difference is very striking in how it makes a small room look and feel.

Here is a comparison of the two:

 

Peonies Busted Out

I was out of town visiting Cop Car, HH and the rest of the family for 5 days. I knew the peonies and rhodie would put on their show while i was gone and figured I would miss a lot of it. However,, much to my delight, Thursday morning I walked out to check on things and saw a glorious profusion of blooms. I should get more flower stakes

In the south garden, there were plenty of peonies also, but I'll just show the close up of a white one

The willow looks like it is blooming, but that is just new growth. When in shade, the new leaves start out dappled - and with more shade the more white they are.

The view out the living room window is not too shabby (although I need to pull whatever that is in the middle - LOL)

Later on Thursday afternoon I was headed for the composter and saw one of the resident robins fly off from between the back porch and the chain link fence. I didn't think anything of it until I saw a bit of movement and looked at my garden cart.

This fledgling didn't move while I went to get my phone to take pictures. Then I went and got the handy man to take a look (he has birds himself). After a few minutes he found his wings and flew off barely above ground and slowly to the other side of the chain link fence. He landed and then walked off towards the shade garden and I'm sure the parents found it there.

Finally Completed Bathroom Remodel

I remodeled my bathroom a couple of years after moving here. September of 2016, it was all complete, except for the flooring and window trim (which was completed that December). I deemed flooring as a non-DIY project since the toilet would have to be removed - and most likely it would take 2 days (and if I DYI'd, it would certainly take longer). I only have one bathroom, so the lack of a toilet would be, um, inconvenient.

As a result of my having issues with trying to find a handyman who I trusted to finish a job, and my procrastination, and my general cheapness, my bathroom has looked like this since 2016

At least I had a piece of scrap linoleum to protect the floor from getting wet between the tub and sink. Also, I scored a packaged piece of linoleum that was just the right size and color from Lowe's or Home Depot several years ago (basically a remnant from the manufacturer - not a remnant from the BBS). Don't ask the color or brand, I threw away the packaging without taking a picture of the label. I can tell you it was a fairly luxury-type linoleum with padding so I felt I had scored big when I got it.

I finally found a local handy man and got all set up to have the work done this past Thursday and Friday. Part of my preparation was also having this delivered on Thursday morning

It was fortuitous that I had pellets delivered earlier this spring and placed such that the porta potty could be dropped between the pellets and the big tree on the north side of the yard. This means the neighbors across the street don''t have to look at it thru their living room window - especially since it will be there until at least next Thursday (next time they are in the area).

Part way thru the installation

Amazing how much of a difference the trim makes

The handy man was smarter than I would have been - he had the foresight to install the trim before re-installing the toilet

Only 8 years to finish the project - LOL.