Nine Turtles on a Log

Sunbathing in a NW Wisconsin pond

So as I'm writing this, why is the song, 'Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall...' running through my head? They're turtles, and they're on a log. Sigh. I don't know why my brain works that way.

Anyway, this wee pond is in our neighborhood and one of the delights of summer is seeing the little turtles all lined up on that log. They're so cute!  I had to approach the pond very slowly and as quietly as possible. I was thrilled to get this photo!

 Milkweed by pond's edge.

When I took one small step closer to my subject, the turtles, in unison, quickly slipped into the water.

 Resurfacing

I used my zoom in order to look for the turtles. Aha! There they are, every man for himself, climbing onto the nearest clump of grass and hoping the stranger will go away so they can resume their positions on the log.

'So what am I? Chopped chicken liver??'


And wouldn't it have been nice if I'd managed to get the bird, A juvenile blue heron, perhaps? rather than the weed, in focus.

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This post is linked to:
You're Gonna Love it Tuesday 

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'Sweet Baby! Calendula'
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Daffodils, Gardens, & Ponds

They're baaaaaack!!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  I heard from all of our kids with phone calls, gifts, and cards, even from the dogs and cats!, which was pretty wonderful. I still smile when I think of my husband in a card shop buying cards 'from the dog' or 'from the cats.' He's pretty amazing. Really.

We're hoping to have two of our little grandsons with us for part of the week. They'll get to go with us when we take our dogs to the vet for their Lyme vaccinations. That should be fun, but we may have to think of something a bit more spectacular to entertain them. :-) I'm pretty sure that riding with Grandpa in the Big Blue Truck to the BP for treats will be pretty exciting. lol

Our poor daffodils have appeared at last. In 2010, they were in full bloom mid April. But I'm not complaining (anymore) because we had pretty nice weather on the weekend. I even cleaned our pond on Saturday, which is a little like cleaning out a sewer, for a ton of dead, slimy plant matter (like leaves from the nearby maples and basswood) had settled to the bottom. It's worth the work, however, for it's such a pleasant thing to go out in the morning and sit beside the wee pond and hear the bubbling little stream.

Lydia in princess mode

I came across this photo last night. This is Granddaughter Lydia and the pond, both of which are a bit older now. Lydia is now 14, and the pond brick and stones are mossier, but I remember the day she was sitting beside the pond, singing a song from the movie Aladdin. It was so cute when she swept the water with her hand - and nearly fell in. She had a good sense of humor even back then, so it is a fun memory.  Wasn't she cute!! She still is.

My last fire
Good thing, for the ash bucket is full!

I built my last fire of the season (I hope) last Tuesday, I think it was. With a high near 70 degrees on Mother's Day, I have hopes that the good temps will continue and I will be able to plant peas and potatoes. Parsnips and onions are in.

Itty Bitty Carmens

I know. It's pretty pathetic. These little Carmen peppers have only one month to grow before I set them out in the garden, around June 5. I planted them indoors in mid March, but they seem awfully small. I've not been able to find Carmens at the nurseries. Let's hope that one more month makes a huge difference!

I hope you all have a good week!

Author, Second Chance - A Tale of Two Puppies

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August Flowers

At the very beginning of August, the echinacea were gorgeous!

Even now, although their color is much faded, it cheers me to see them. It's amazing how long those blossoms hang in there. I used to have white- blossomed echinacea also, but they seem to have disappeared over the winter, something that happens all too often in NW Wisconsin, zone 3.

The rudbeckia are amazing. So bright and beautiful, they're my favorite flower in the pond garden after the June irises, which are long gone by now, of course. They seem to do well even with the ever-narrowing window of sunlight they get as our trees grow bigger! The rudbeckia will bloom until we get a hard frost.

This beautiful zinnea is one that grew from seed I saved from last year's plants. Most of this year's zinneas had only a single row of petals, although last year's zinneas all were huge and full. (I think this is what you get when you plant saved seed from a hybrid plant). This is one of the few that also had many rows, but was still a smaller blossom than last year's. I figured I had nothing to lose, since the seed was free - and here.  Zinneas are among my favorite because they're so cheering (you see a theme here??) and also keep blossoming right up until frost. This particular pic was taken by Natalia the night of the hymn sing, using my camera. Great shot, Natalia!

Joe got me this red petunia for Mother's Day and it's been blooming ever since. We've had such a rainy summer, so it wasn't dependent upon my watering it. :-) I do best with plants that thrive on neglect. This plant is in a container on the deck.

It won't be long before we'll be covering the flowers with old sheets to protect them from frost. It was 46 degrees when we got up this morning, so that time is rapidly approaching. The sheets usually buy us another couple weeks of blossoms before they're gone for the year. Right now, what's blossoming in my pond garden? Rudbeckia, impatiens, purple salvia, liatris, and the last, rapidly-fading echinacea.

 Wildflowers in the ditches

In the little pond itself are the water hyacinths (and snails) that keep my pond healthy and the water clear. Each spring, after Mother's Day, I buy two water hyacinths. Usually, by mid summer I'm having to pitch many of them just so we can still see the water! They will quickly take over if I'm not paying attention!

I love this time of year, late summer, but I can even tell with my little pond garden that things are definitely winding down toward the big W, that season that sneaks up on us and sticks around for about 6 months.

Have a great Thursday. We're off to Indiana, for our daughter's in labor with their first child - a boy!  :-)


P.S. Don't forget to visit Sherry at her blog, Lamp Unto My Feet for her Blogiversary Giveaway! My handcrafted soaps are being featured there this week. :-)

Another Rainy Day

It's been raining off and on all week - mostly on. Tuesday brought a great 'farmers' rain.' The old expression regarding hope for the corn crop is 'knee high by the fourth of July.' This year, some corn around here was almost knee high by the fourth of June!  The farmers had perfect corn-growing weather. My tomatoes, peppers, and green beans appreciated it too! Now it's turned a bit cooler, great for peas, onions, and parsnips.

I'm not sure what's going on with my patchouli plant. It's not looking happy. Last year I had great success with it, and I'm trying to raise it again this year in order to dry it for use in in my handcrafted soaps.

I tried to get a shot of the raindrops splashing on the pond. It took several attempts, but I think the photo above does capture it somewhat. Unfortunately, it's just not as spectacular in the photo as it was in real life.

Can you see the little waterfall, mid picture? Granted, it's almost microscopic compared with some, but I love it and it gives me many hours of enjoyment. My little pond garden is also a great place of beauty where I can go for quiet time to read my Bible and contemplate God's grace - when it's not raining.

Irises, hens-n-chicks, impatiens, cleome, bleeding heart, astilbe, and my elephant ear hostas are what's currently providing the pond garden with the most visual interest. The goal is to have something blossoming all summer. It's not easy, and I'm not quite there yet...

What's happening in your garden?

This post is linked to Follow Me Fridays

Spring Survey 2010, Part Two

The first thing I notice when walking toward the hill is the sandbox. I have a head start on getting it ready with toys, for evidently I didn't take them into the garage last fall to be stored there over winter. I need to add a couple of new items, I think. The old ones are getting quite faded.

After years of a failed raspberry patch, where each springtime revealed nothing but 4" tall chewed raspberry canes, we finally got a chicken wire fence around the raspberries. After all, we have an abundance of bunnies, and there's only so much Bridger can do. It took some convincing to get Kevin to agree to the fencing. He couldn't see that it made economic sense to spend all that money on wire for 'a few dollars' worth of raspberries.' I'm not going to say 'I told you so,' but he's the one who pointed out the price of raspberries in the grocery store yesterday - $10.50 per pound. I think he might be convinced that the eleven gallons of raspberries we harvested from the patch last year were worth the chicken wire, though I'm not going to risk asking him.

This is not the beautiful garden that we saw last July and August. This is the ugly spring garden. It won't be much longer before we can pull up all that carpet, till the garden, place the plants and seeds in the soil, mulch, and then when the grass starts growing, cover the 'aisles' with carpet. Old carpet works great for keeping weeds out from between the rows, and is great on the knees when weeding around plants. It also dried out quickly after a rain, which prevented a mold problem for quite a while.

This photo of the little backyard pool was taken early in the morning, so it looks like there may be a film of ice on top. Shortly after Mother's Day, the nursery where I purchase water hyacinths (40 miles away!) will get in their shipment from the South, where water hyacinths are considered a noxious weed.

Shortly before then, I will drain all the murky water from the pond, remove all the stinky, decayed leaves, (truly, it's just like working in a sewer!) rescue the surviving snails who are a very important part of this little ecosystem, scrub the rubber pond liner, fill it with fresh water, and start up the recirculating pump. I love the sound of water falling over the rocks in the little stream we built.

Water hyacinths and snails ensure a clean pond all summer long, without having to resort to chemicals of any kind. The pond also makes a great water bowl for the dogs! :-) I can't wait until it looks like this again!

It's always much more fun to get the pond ready than it is to wash the windows on the house, but it would be nice to be able to see through the glass. I suppose I should put that on my list of spring projects as well.

Another all-too-frequent springtime project is bathing Misty after she's applied her favorite perfume. Now that the snow is gone, Misty wanders about, finding the most putrid, disgusting animal feces and carcasses and works at applying them with great care to her neck and belly. Isn't it lovely!

Do you have a list of springtime projects?