after the rain
I actually didn't notice when it stopped raining -- Wednesday? Thursday? Friday? Anyway, yesterday, Sunday, I worked in the yard for a couple of hours (after first splurging on plants). The yard was paved in redwood trash. Those three little trees they planted in the parking lot behind our yard have certainly grown (and mulitiplied: there are now five or more). The first couple of the storms in that system brought high winds, which meant palm fronds all over the street from the scary tall skinny palms at the apartment building next door and pine trash all over the intersection: and redwood trash all over my yard.
This is not a bad thing. Even though the soil in my yard is from ancestral wetlands, it's more alkaline than acid because the water that makes the wetlands wet trickles through limestone before it gets here. So the redwood trash is generally welcome as it sours up the soil a little. That's a good thing because the lemons, the camellias, the blueberries and most of the shade-loving plants prefer acid.
However, there is redwood trash all over, and not just where it's convenient, so I was raking for an hour or so (and only managed to do half of what I should). The rest of the time I weeded -- mostly oxalis, and in this case I only made a dent in it -- and planted the things I splurged on as well as a couple of plants left from my Christmas gift (now they're all planted) and the Douglas iris I bought for the nice fellow way last fall. And in the process I transplanted a bunch of other things. Moving things around so they are more convenient for this year. And I planted some radishes.
Radishes are my hero. And cabbage, but I can't grow brassicas bigger than radishes, I don't know why.
The other thing I did was find vessels of water and pour them out. My dog, but my yard was a mosquito's paradise: fortunately, it's not mosquito season just yet. The most alarming things were a clay pot with a layer of water floating across the top and a wine barrel -- a half barrel of regulation size, say .75 meter across and .5 meter tall, is that right? -- anyway, it was full to a handsbreadth from the top. How did all that water end up there? Supposedly a handsbreadth is all the rain we got. Anyway, everything that had collected water I turned over so they won't collect water again.
On another front: I am back on track again, having lost maybe three pounds in the last two weeks (it's always hard to tell because of fluctuations and the accuracy of the scale). This is the key for my losing weight: eat enough nuts and legumes and brassicas. Eating less food across the board is dangerous and leads to food hostility and craziness and water retention and all the rest. I have to eat a lot of peanuts and nuts. On the plus side, I don't think I like white flour products at all anymore: they taste bland. I don't know if I like whole wheat products, yet.
Oh, and the camellias are blooming.
I love early spring.
And I died my hair and it came out well. But I still need a haircut.
And Maverick's is over, and the guy with no sponsors won, and all the finalists are splitting the prize equally.
This is not a bad thing. Even though the soil in my yard is from ancestral wetlands, it's more alkaline than acid because the water that makes the wetlands wet trickles through limestone before it gets here. So the redwood trash is generally welcome as it sours up the soil a little. That's a good thing because the lemons, the camellias, the blueberries and most of the shade-loving plants prefer acid.
However, there is redwood trash all over, and not just where it's convenient, so I was raking for an hour or so (and only managed to do half of what I should). The rest of the time I weeded -- mostly oxalis, and in this case I only made a dent in it -- and planted the things I splurged on as well as a couple of plants left from my Christmas gift (now they're all planted) and the Douglas iris I bought for the nice fellow way last fall. And in the process I transplanted a bunch of other things. Moving things around so they are more convenient for this year. And I planted some radishes.
Radishes are my hero. And cabbage, but I can't grow brassicas bigger than radishes, I don't know why.
The other thing I did was find vessels of water and pour them out. My dog, but my yard was a mosquito's paradise: fortunately, it's not mosquito season just yet. The most alarming things were a clay pot with a layer of water floating across the top and a wine barrel -- a half barrel of regulation size, say .75 meter across and .5 meter tall, is that right? -- anyway, it was full to a handsbreadth from the top. How did all that water end up there? Supposedly a handsbreadth is all the rain we got. Anyway, everything that had collected water I turned over so they won't collect water again.
On another front: I am back on track again, having lost maybe three pounds in the last two weeks (it's always hard to tell because of fluctuations and the accuracy of the scale). This is the key for my losing weight: eat enough nuts and legumes and brassicas. Eating less food across the board is dangerous and leads to food hostility and craziness and water retention and all the rest. I have to eat a lot of peanuts and nuts. On the plus side, I don't think I like white flour products at all anymore: they taste bland. I don't know if I like whole wheat products, yet.
Oh, and the camellias are blooming.
I love early spring.
And I died my hair and it came out well. But I still need a haircut.
And Maverick's is over, and the guy with no sponsors won, and all the finalists are splitting the prize equally.