Early Summer

Technology has been frustrating the heck out of me.  That and the fact that I never remember to take pictures at the right time and day.  I can't access my old photos to show the growth I wanted to show of some of the plants.  So here's my first video.  My brother (who's 15 years younger than I) "OK, Boomer"'d me when he saw this because I held the phone the wrong way.  I'd forgotten many names of things.  Too much pressure!  And of course, Boomer can't figure out how to edit or insert captions.

High Gardening Season

We had a very wet, cool start, although not as cold as last year.  Cold enough, though, to kill most of the buds on the white azalea. And wet enough to cause root rot on the peonies.  This is disheartening when you wait all year to see them.

The iris from my mother's garden bloomed this year; the light purple doesn't flop and the maroonish one was my grandfather's. I bought an Autumn Moon Japanese maple. Funny how when you go to plant something, the place you had in mind just doesn't work.

The maple is the orangey chartreuse plant.

I got rid of the dwarf evergreen; it just never looked good after the transplant. I transplanted two boxwood out back in its place; not sure if they'll live.  Ugh.  At least it's not my pretty Green Mountain box.  And the blue lacecap bloomed for the first time in a long time.  I have a few blooms on the macrophyllas, for which I'm grateful.  Last year was pretty much zero.

I have to finish transplanting stuff that I left last year - the Stella D'Oro daylily being crowded out by the Fairy Rose and the peach daylily being crowded out by the Tiger Eyes sumac. I also bought a white catmint, which I probably shouldn't have because I just read that they self-seed prolifically.

That's my Dusty in the background!

2018

Happy New Year, 2019!  I was on Twitter and saw a tweet saying to post your top three personal accomplishments of 2018.  I couldn't think of any.  Maybe I need to be more creative, and reflective.

I saw a bear.  I saw an owl.  I lived past the age my father was when he had his heart attack.  This year I want to record things, like in a journal.  Does anyone have success with that?

My pipes froze mid-January, again.  We had incredibly bitter cold weather last December and January.  Not much snow though.  Starting basically in August there were two very ill family members in and out of the hospital, one time together.  One got diagnosed and is waiting for surgery.  The other doesn't really have a firm diagnosis, or treatment plan.  I  was reminded of my control issues during this period while trying to advocate for these capable adults.  Did they do what I said, call the referrals I gave them?  What did the doctor say to them?  Did they interpret it correctly?  I was reminded of a wonderful song by Robin Mark called "All Is Well."  One verse goes:

All is well, with my soul,

You are God, in control.

I know not what You've planned,

but I know I'm in Your hands.

Right now I'm way behind on renovating my dining room (I started it in April!).  Scraping paint took longer than planned, then I wasn't able to paint over the popcorn ceiling.  So I removed it.  Now I'm stuck trying to remove the texture at the edges, abutting the crown molding.  There's also caulk there.   Ugh.

Spring, as is its pattern lately, was late and cold and brief.  Summer wasn't too hot.  I'm trying to remember what I did.  Oh, yeah, my major makeover continued of the first (back) garden.  In addition to what I mentioned in my last post, I planted a viburnum in place of a pink knockout rose I transplanted to the side garden.  My newer rose did much better this year.  I have to remember not to prune it so it can make rose hips.  The transplanted irises from my mother's garden didn't bloom so I'm looking forward to seeing what colors they are.  The transplanted daylilies from her garden bloomed.  They should bulk up next year hopefully.  I transplanted some more this year.  Seems like I moved some of mine around as well.  Wow, I really need to document things better.  Although it's fun to see what comes up in the spring.

The bleeding heart I thought died came back to life and kept putting out new foliage through August.  The white clematis didn't come back so I planted a yellow baptisia there.  Baptisias are my new favorites.

A couple hostas got a deadly disease, Hosta X Virus.  Hopefully it hasn't spread to the others.  My hope is that this continues to be a relatively warm, snow-free winter, and spring is just around the corner.

And lastly, my cats have finally figured out I'm not a pyscho serial killer and will actually lay next to me on the couch.  Progress.  They're both snuggle bunnies.

Update on the Kitties

After nine months Davey finally emerged.  Be careful what you pray for.  He became enthralled with the Christmas tree.

I finally got a good look at him.  He's a pretty tuxedo boy.

He's quite playful.  I'd heard him playing with a ball in the basement and saw that he moved his toy mouse around.  But this guy is hyper, like a kitten.  He pretends that various items are prey and makes that awful crying sound to show me what he's caught.  His favorites are cloths that I clean my glasses with and fabric samples.  Now he's dragging my clothes and slippers all around the house.

At first he recoiled from my touch but now he's my boy, greeting me in the morning and always wanting to be around me, moreso than Dusty.  He doesn't run away when I walk in his direction like his brother does.  I also can pick him up and pet him.  I miss my cats that sat on my lap, came when they were called and greeted me whenever I entered the door.  Oh, well.  Maybe some day.  In the meantime, Dusty's quite the clown.  He's very relaxed while resting and is a deep sleeper.

I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!

The boys are very close.  They get along great, unlike my previous three, although Dusty sometimes gets annoyed when Davey jumps up next to him to get to me.

Davey particularly loves to drink out of the faucet.  He races ahead of me like a puppy when he sees me heading to the bathroom or kitchen.

Dusty doesn't like to be left out, but he barely fits on the windowsill.

I'm hesitant to let them outside because they tend to wander.  I accidentally left the basement door open one night, and found them staring intently at something in the garden.  I was able to lure Dusty in with treats, but Davey decided to stay out until about 3:15 a.m.  I didn't speak to him the rest of the day.  I noticed he came back looking like this:

Two bare spots on either side of his nostrils, at the base of his whiskers.  My friend says he was in a fight but I didn't see any other wounds.  Any ideas?

So the moral of the story is if you get a shy kitty who hides continually, give him nine months or so.

Dusty

Meet my new ragdoll cat (above).  My very, very beloved favorite cat, Carly, died on February 24th.  Her dementia was worsening.  She was 16 years, 10 months and 5 days old, my favorite cat of all time.  I cried like an hysterical nut when she died.

Lovely, sweet Carly.

She had become a constant source of worry for me.  So, I went from three to no cats.  The house was unbearably lonely.  I had decided to get a dog in a few years when I retired.  But one day my sister-in-law texted me a picture of an eight-year-old cat she saw at Pet Smart.  She suggested I adopt an older cat who had fewer years left and could be with me until I retired.  So I started looking.

I found this beautiful boy at a no-kill shelter in the town where I work.  He was raised with another boy the same age.  The story goes that an elderly couple had to be cared for by their family, who was allergic.  They'd been in the shelter two months.

He's very low energy.  I may rename him Jeb Bush.

He's a seal point ragdoll.

What are you looking at?

He's ginormous.

So cute!

Look at the size of those paws.

I'd show you his brother, Dickens, but he's still in hiding . . . after almost three months.  Any suggestions?  They're living in the basement.  They prowl around at night.

Dusty doesn't like to come upstairs.  He is the biggest scaredy cat I've ever seen.  My friend says he just doesn't want to abandon his brother in hiding.  What do you think?  Any cat behaviorists out there?  I need help!

Sad Spring and Sad Summer

My mother and I came down with pneumonia around St. Patrick's Day.  I was sicker than she; I missed about 2 1/2 weeks of work.  It was a disaster going back; who knew I was that essential?

In April while sick we watched as two icy snowstorms hit our area.  It ruined the roses, azaleas, hydrangeas and possibly butterfly bushes.  So depressing because we wait all year for our lovely spring and summer, only to have our hopes dashed.  Now the drought is ruining plants; it's just too difficult to water everything every day.

I had to put down my beautiful baby girl Lucy two weeks ago.  The full impact is just hitting me because I am so very sad now.  Last week I went on vacation to Maine so this pain was slightly delayed.  She was 16 on April 19th and had just started to slow down this spring.  She was my great hunter and outdoorswoman, but she stopped wanting to go out and hadn't killed anything in awhile.  I think that's why I have so many chipmunks now.

Lucy was named for Lucille Ball, being that she was a redhead and all.  She was such a beautiful, affectionate, loving little girl.  She liked to sleep on my head or near my face and loved, nay, demanded, to be petted.  I'm pretty sure she had a really good life with me.  I got her when she was three from a no-kill shelter in North Haven.  I hadn't wanted another kitty after my previous little guy had been put down.  But two years later I decided I wanted an orange tabby girl.  I think it was because I was hanging out with people who loved cats, one of whom had seven.  My friend looked all over Connecticut for me.  We went to the shelter and saw Lucy (previously Jupiter), with her sister Carly (previously Snickers).  She was so affectionate, as was her chubby sister.  There was subtle pressure to not split them up, but I didn't want two kitties.  However, they won me over by their loving attention, even when I accidentally dropped Carly taking her out of the cage (I misjudged her girth; her weight has been harder to control than my own).  I brought them into my tiny condo and they promptly hid under my bed - for two days.  I remember telling my friend that my cats hated me!  Finally Lucy came out to see me in the living room.

Lucy was a scaredy-cat.  She would hide when people came over, except when she was super hungry.  I remember when I first moved to my house, my sister opened the front door, scared her and she went flying onto the deck and lept off two stories (she wasn't hurt)!  I was afraid at first to let them outside so I would only let them on the deck.  Well  . . . Miss Lucy figured out a way to climb down the side on the posts and would escape regularly.  They enjoyed being outside so much I relented and let them out.  The girls pretty much stayed in the yard and were terrified of people and cars so they would hide when either would approach.

Lucy liked her privacy more than Carly, who rarely leaves my side.  Lucy liked to sleep on cold days in one of two baskets I lined with quilts and placed near the radiator.  Sometimes she would lie on top of the radiator, I guess to warm her belly.  She loved to sleep and slept very deeply.

Now I'm so paranoid about Carly.  She cries all night.  I don't think she's in pain, maybe it's just dementia.  I'm taking her to the vet's tomorrow.

Lucy loved to garden - and ruin my catmint.

All tuckered out after hunting.

Always very fastidious, if not ladylike.

Taking a nap on the road!

The sisters.

Such a beautiful little face.

Always on the lookout for prey.

The girls hanging out in the front.

Streeeetching out on the front porch.

Guarding the backyard atop the stone wall.

OK, I'll stop boring you with my pretty kitty pictures. Our pets are so near and dear to us, aren't they? They really don't ask for much, and give so much in return. I try not to anthropomorphize them, but it's hard, you know? I don't have children so they definitely fulfill some of that for me. Do you think we will see pets in heaven? I know it's not biblical but just wonder sometimes.