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Guess I am officially old now

Category: Life happenings | Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:01 pm

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My Grandmother had blue hair, from my earliest years of childhood I can only remember her having blue hair. In a perverse way I thought it was pretty cool to be the only kid in my grade whose Grandmother had blue hair....and who had been divorced. Considering the times (I started school in 1952) being divorced was not something talked about in polite company but being not quite the 'polite' child my mother would have preferred I did talk about it.

Back to the blue hair.....my grandmother started going gray at the age of 18 and by the time I was born when she was 36, she was totally gray. The popular way to treat gray hair in those days was to brighten it with laundry bluing.....why not, it was used to brighten white clothes. I am not sure that there were any official instructions for that use, my grandmother must have figured that if a little was good then a lot was better.....it turned her gray hair a pale blue.

When I was a young woman I vowed that I would never dye my hair when it started going gray. I certainly didn't plan on bluing my hair, that was cool on my grandmother but not gonna happen on me.

As I got older the gray coming in was a mousy color and with my dark hair it looked terrible so I gave in and started dyeing it. To make a long story short, over time I developed an alergy to the coloring used in the hair dye. I stopped using it and let my hair grow so I could get all the colored part cut off. I got my hair cut really short last week and realized that the gray is looking pretty good so I think I will keep it. Besides now I don't have to prove I am eligible for the senior citizen discount when I buy something or we go out to eat....like the cashier couldn't see the wrinkles before? sheesh.

But even with the gray hair, wrinkles, a 42 year old daughter, senior discounts, senior sized portions at restaurants and aches and pains that were not there a few years ago being old hadn't really sunk in.

Then today reality hit.....I received my first Social Security Benefit payment.

But what the heck, I've got extra money and am going plant shopping.




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Whining, this past week and weekend plans

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:50 pm

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It is another scorcher today
It was a scorcher yesterday
It will be a scorcher again tomorrow.
And this evening we go to our nieces high school graduation ceremony which will be held outside in the football stadium. My luck we will be sitting where we can see the setting sun in all it's glory.....boy won't I be happy about that. But Amanda did buy me a purple and white parasol at the A-kon last weekend, that should help some.
Okay, now I have my summer heat whining done for the weekend.

Yesterday morning I finally got more plants in the new bed out front.
The two Mystic Spires Salvia, two Scabiosa atropurpurea - 'Black Knight'
two Coreopsis and a Maximillian Sunflower. Of course the wind was fierce all afternoon and thru the night, but it looks like they rode it out with no problems.

The three Sweet Violets are in their hanging baskets waiting for Randy to get the hooks installed.

In potting up the new herbs the other day I found one that I had forgotten to include in the previous blog entry. I have two upright Myrtle plants. No info from the grower other than the name but it appears they will grow into large shrubs. That is a good thing since I want to use a variety of large shrubs to 'fence' off our front yard. I have a Texas Lilac and the two Myrtles, now to get a Rose of Sharon, a couple of Butterfly bushes, a Weigela. I would love to have a Burning Bush too.

I fenced in the massive and very prolific white shrub rose out front. It always looks so unkempt, now it has a woven wicker type short fence around it to help define it's place. That corner of the fence on the right side of the picture looks crooked because it is, the new entrance to the front garden will eventually be between that fence and where the white trellis is along the front.


Also started putting in a bed along the front of the house. Randy sprayed the area with soil sterilizer last fall so I just covered it with mulch. The trellis will have a Clematis and some painted birdhouse gourds hanging from it after this weekend.
There will be another trellis/clematis combo in front of the window too.
The pots will hold Coreopsis, Mexican Mint Marigold and Goldenrod.


This bed will extend down to the other end of the house but that is way too close to where we killed poison ivy a couple of years ago and considering what that stuff does to me, I am not going near it. That also is on Randy's to-do list for this weekend.

I wonder if Randy coming up with things to do away from home on the weekends lately has anything to do with the to-do list I have on the front of the refrigerator? Ya think?

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To Garden and Sweat or Stay Inside with the AC on Stun

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:38 pm

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I worked in the front yard for a couple of hours Friday morning. It had been 8 days since I had been able to get anything done out there, it has been longer since I worked out back and I know the weeds are loving my absence but their turn is coming tomorrow morning.

Friday afternoon, it was only 92 degrees and that was the coolest it had been here in over a week, we took a drive to the other side of Dallas to one of my favorite garden nurseries. They have more different herbs than any place I know of and even tho the herb bed isn't ready yet, I can grow the herbs in pots until it is.
So with sweat running down the back of my legs I wandered thru the covered plant area digging thru the packed tables looking for the ones I wanted and eventually came home with.......
Borage
Comfrey
Lemon Verbena
Lime Balm - I have Lemon Balm trying to take over the back yard already.
Aloe
Hyssop
Anise Hyssop
Wormwood
Patchouli
German Chamomile
St. John's Wort

Also picked up a Eucalyptus citriodora, according to the growers tag it is supposed to be 3 to 10 feet tall. I can't find any info on one remaining that short or info on growing them down here, but it came from an Herb farm just the other side of Dallas so I hope they do know what they are talking about.

A Bat-faced Cuphea, never had one before and just couldn't resist that cute face. It is considered an annual this far north so I will keep it in a large pot and move it into the bloom house this winter.

A scented Geranium with no ID tag and 'Mr. Personality' working there was no help at all. I swear there are just some people who should not be allowed to work with the public!

The last two Milkweed plants they had. I got some milkweed seed from the Monarch Watch group a couple of years ago but since they don't guarantee there to be actual seeds in the envelope, I bought 5 envelopes....no plants ever came up. We were on the migration path for the Monarchs coming up from Mexico this spring and usually see several in the fall, the Milkweed should give them some food for their journey this year.

There are still some herbs I need to look for, should have just bought seeds to begin with and I would already have the plants.

Now I have the plants....I just have to find the fence panels I want.

Early this morning we went to Lowes for mulch, organic potting soil and some edging. Another project for the front yard. One of these days the heat will be too much even early in the morning, the mosquitos are already too much to be out in the early evening. COME ON FALL!!!!!!!

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