Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Tell The Truth Tuesday -- Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill

As if raccoons wreaking havoc and digging stuff up above-ground isn't enough of a hassle, I also have moles. They used to be confined to the beds, but have recently moved out into the lawn.

"I knew I should've toined left at Albequoiquee!"


What monstrosity, or just plain minor annoyance, is bothering you in your garden this week? Tell us about it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Wednesday Vignette

It's been ages since I've participated in this meme. I want to point out as well that the photo I'm sharing today isn't mine.

My friend Camille Paulsen, who gardens in a nearby town, took it one morning recently while she was getting her youngest daughter ready to face the day. Can you imagine what it's like to look out your kitchen window and see this view over your garden?

Mt. Rainier casting a shadow on the clouds -- photo by Camille Paulsen

Occasionally at this time of year, when the cloud cover is just right, at sunrise the sun causes Mt. Rainier, a 14,000+-foot high volcano, to cast a shadow onto the sky. You can read about this phenomenon here in a Huffpost article, and see more photos from various other photographers here.

They say a red sky at morning is supposed to be a warning of bad things to come, but it's hard not to simply feel awe when you see a sight like this, isn't it? Nigel and I sometimes talk about downsizing to a smaller house and garden eventually, but if we do, I want one with a view.

Anna at Flutter & Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. You can check out her post here.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Tell The Truth Tuesday -- The Trouble With Gardening Under Douglas Firs

The last three weeks have been a black hole of lost time. On Christmas Day I came down with a bad cold. I thought at first it wouldn't be too bad, the first three or four days I was only mildly ill. But by New Year's Eve I was flat on my back after unbelievable congestion and a fever hit me like a ton of bricks, and turned my head into an enormous, dripping, slurping, sweating, throbbing, disgusting snotball. I spent two days in bed not eating, barely aware, followed by a long, slow claw-back to a semblance of health. I'm actually still coughing as I write this post.

On New Year's Eve we got a powerful windstorm, which Nigel says woke him up when he heard what sounded like a crowd of people running across our roof. I was too sick to be aware of it, I never heard a thing. But I did see the effect the next day. The storm blew thousands of twigs and lots of large branches off the Douglas fir trees that surround our garden, and sheared off one of our fence posts and toppled a fence panel (the fence that separates us from the angry, barky dog).

The fence got fixed within a couple of days (Latticetop Fence Company), but it's two weeks later now and I still haven't cleaned up the branches. I got out of breath just walking around taking these pictures.

Branches blew onto the porch even though it's under a roof





The lawn strewn with twigs and branches

The Douglas firs are a constant source of cones


The biggest pile


Branches in the stream




The fence, which at first looked like a bull had charged through it, has since been fixed (Nigel went out and stood the fence panel back up for this picture)

Have you ever been too tired or sick (or just plain sick and tired of gardening) to clean up after a storm? What's the longest you've left debris in your garden?

Do you have some other ugly garden truths to show us today? Or are you too distracted by what's blooming on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? I don't have much to show on this January day.