little mysteries

My husband and I were on the way to the grocery store this am, taking the backroads on a beautiful June morning, doing some sight seeing. [That means, gee his corn looks good, they're just getting off the first cutting, look at that pretty little donkey, oh my God, that house burned, we should pick these rocks up where the grader came through.] Anyway, we came upon this older black cadillac driving very slowly, all right for a few minutes, maybe they were looking too. Then we noticed the plate, black with white lettering. Who has that type of plate? we wondered. As we got closer, she[ it's an elderly female driver] now had her right blinker on and there's no where to turn and we got a good look at the plate. It was a Michigan plate[ our state] but it's from 1979- and there was no updated tab on it. Something began to buzz in me. there's something wrong here. The lady is on and off the road. We followed her until she turned onto a main road, construction ahead and busier traffic. First one blinker on then the other, going about 25 miles an hour. We hoped she was going to turn into the grocery store where we were headed, it looks like it, but at the last minute she veered back onto the road. So I pulled into the parking lot and dialed 911, described the car and the direction she was headed, and they promised to send a patrol car that was close right after her. We got a quick glimpse as she passed, a tiny lady with both hands clenched on the wheel, looking straight ahead. I hope they were able to prevent her from hurting herself or anyone else. But now I am left with the mystery. My husband keeps laughing at me but I want to know what happened. Was the cadillac with the 1979 plates sitting in a garage somewhere until she decided she was going on a road trip? Would it still be drivable, the gas good, etc. after 28 years? My husband says no, it would have to have been started up every so often, new gas put in etc. There was no temporary plate on it. The car looked like the body was in excellent condition, but it was a cadillac from the 70's according to my husband. If she was stopped from driving 28 years ago would she still be able to make it to the car and get out on the road? Was the car her husbands, who started it up and keep it running for 28 years without renewing the plates, who recently died and she decided to use it? Was it put out by the road by her family to sell and she saw it, escaped from them and took off in it? I keep imagining she is suffering from dementia of some kind, but maybe she just decided years ago not to renew the plates because all she did was drive to church and the store and she has never been caught. Maybe she stole the car from where it was stored! Oh well, I will probably never know. I want to call the sheriff back and ask if they found her- it also worries me that she could have turned off the main road and is still driving. But my husband thinks I shouldn't bother the sheriffs department and he thinks its silly to be worrying about it. But still.... I hate this sort of thing. It will bug me forever.

the end of the world is not near

It's hot today, 92 with humidity over 60% it was actually raining a bit and thundering a few minutes ago- but I don't think it will last, although we sure need the rain. I guess this is what I get for saying I am not afraid of global warming. It's supposed to be warmer in the winter, not now. I still don't think gobal warming is going to be the diaster some alarmists say it will be, it will just be different. People may be killed but that is how nature balances itself. I don't believe all people will be killed, or even the majority of them. I think man contributed to a faster rate of warming but that it would have happened anyway and will happen regardless of what we do now. We have too high an opinion of what mankind can change about the natural order of things, whether it is nature or god in control. We need to take the lemons and make lemonade as the saying goes. Things are changing on earth. If it's getting warmer maybe the population can spread north, in the wilds of canada and siberia, where resources will be more abundant. Thats not to say we shouldn't practice treading lightly on the earth, conserving our resources is the only intelligent thing to do. But for heavens sake stop the noise about the destruction of the planet coming. We have a ton of problems to solve in just our own country, lets work on them instead of worrying about global warming.

Here's a crazy thought. Let's solve the Irag problem by moving all of one brand of muslims to Siberia, another to Canada and then taking over the country and its oil. We ought to get something for all the time and money we have sunk in that hole. See, global warming can be good. Nature is making a place for muslims. Maybe they'll be too worried about bears eating them to blow up their own innocent friends and neighbors as they go about their daily lifes. And they can drill for oil there too as the snow melts.

Well as you can see, heat makes Granny crabby. Here's another crazy thought. Let's send anyone who talks on a cell phone in public without it being an emergency to the far north too.
Send all these people north in SUV's and hummers and leave the cars there. Add to the traveling list anyone whose music or bass thump from music can be heard outside their car.
The north will be getting pretty crowded.

Now these are not my best ideas for solving the worlds problems. Let's just say I'm cranky today because of global warming.

plants, plants and more plants

I am getting real tired of planting things. First there was a few flowers and my vegetable garden to get in, some white pines I raised from seed to get planted, houseplants to re-pot and move outside. Now I have spent many hours planting some herb plugs I bought for an herbal talk I was giving, they didn't sell well and are getting too big for the plug cells. I was selling the plugs for a dollar- the profit was to go back into my work account, which I purchased the plants from. I may have broke even at this point. So far I haven't spent any money on soil, I recycled lots of soil in pots sitting around from last years fair exhibits, or pots, I have saved those for years. But I still have about 200 hundred plants to pot if I want to save them all. The soil is gone and the pots are getting low. I will work on more potting tonight if I can find more soil. Then there is the watering- it's been dry here and warm.

We are making a re-cycled garden as part of an exhibit for the Eastern Mi. fair. I am turning an old barb-b-cue grill into a planter. Some of the herbs will go on that, in old pots that will sit on the side racks I think, and I think I will fill the interior with that feathery celosia in red and yellow, sort of flame like. It just means I need to plant more plants though. We are also turning an old wringer washer into a water feature/fountain, making tire planters and various other neat re-cycling tricks. If you are near Imlay City, Michigan, August 8-11, stop by the fairgrounds and look for the Master Gardener Building. Also featured will be a tea garden, indoor garden, naturalized garden, wildlife garden, and fairy garden. And of course there's the rest of the fair, one of the best and oldest in the state.

Speaking of plants, I have more articles posted on my website www.gardenandhearth.com/plant-guides.htm stop by and take a look.

one mans weed is another mans treasure

One if the neighbors from down the street stopped by the other night to ask me if she could buy some of my ferns. I have a big bed of bracken fern in front of my house on the left side of the porch. The neighbor said she drove by every day and just loved how they looked. This year they are 3 foot tall or more and are drawfing the Sum and Substance Hosta, which is the only thing you can see besides them. They do look nice, I have to admit. The thing is I fought for years after moving here to get rid of those ferns- which just kept spreading. It's a partly shaded spot and I wanted rhododendrons and hostas and astilbe. They never grew well, however, except the one hosta, and finally I let nature work it's own plan. Same thing on the other side of the porch- only on that side it's common daylily - they just can't be totally removed. I did manage to get lots of spring bulbs and large oriental lilies planted there. The oriental lilies do great there, the daylilies shade their feet, which they prefer and they grow tall enough to get above the daylily foliage before they bloom. I used to cut and pull every spring but by fall the daylilies were back better than before. They do look pretty good when in bloom- after that they look ratty. Some day I will get that bed re-worked for good.

I wasn't dressed to go out into the garden when the neighbor stopped by- I had just taken a shower to remove all the dirt from earlier gardening, so I told her I would dig some ferns for her if she stopped by the next day. I knew there were some spreading to other areas I could dig.
I went out early the next day and dug some for her and put them in a bucket, but she hasn't came to get them and it's been a couple days. Maybe someone warned her how invasive they could be.

I noticed out by the pond today, in a flower bed I have basically abandoned because it's too far from the house and the goats used to eat all the flowers every year just as they got ready to bloom, that I had some beautiful white iris and big pink peonies in bloom. Right through the grass and weeds, pretty as a picture, they are blooming. I don't have any white iris left up by the house either.

I have comfrey growing everywhere too. People still want starts of that every so often, even though I warn them it's like a plague. But the bees and butterflies like it, so I let some grow in the back of my butterfly garden.

I went into town today to pick up a prescription and get a salt block for the sheep. While I was gone 3 of the dogs got out and when I came home my husband had nearly killed himself trying to save my chickens. He got himself out to the barn in his wheelchair and got the rooster scooped up and threw him in a stall, but one of the dogs went right over the wall to get it again and he fell trying to get into the stall. Then the other dogs cornered my Henny outside the barn and he hurried to save her. He was very upset when I pulled in and hurting. I got everyone put back in their rightful places and Henny looks like she will be ok- the rooster is up and walking but hurt so we will see. Steve is doing ok too. All I have to do is leave this place for a minute.... The dogs are really being buggers right now. We have 3 females in heat and the stud just won't stay in his kennel, no matter how many times we fix it. He climbs, digs, tears apart things, you name it. He has six foot tall walls of strong wire, a wire covered floor and every gate chained shut but he manages to escape. And this is a short legged Jack Russell about 12 inches high. If he would stay in the yard with the girls once he's out it would be one thing, but no...he has to lead escapes for further adventure.

I hope I can get to this blog a little more often. Why not look at some of my new gardening articles? You can see them at www.gardenandhearth.com/plant-guides.htm