Rare Sighting

It's a beautiful sunny day outside and my daughter Sarah sighted a bird outside that we have never seen here before. It was a beautiful male ring neck pheasant and he was fat and sassy. He was outside our fence and we quickly ran and got the camera and got some great shots. He was behind the grape arbor on the other side of the fence pecking away at the grapes that had fallen to the ground. I was able to get pretty close to him and get some great shots. He was really pretty. His markings were beautiful. Mark says that they are pretty rare around here and we've certainly never seen one before.

I finally got two seed catalogs Wednesday and I have been devouring them ever since. It makes me so excited for Spring and it isn't even winter yet! So many flowers and vegetables and so little time. I can dream and dream about next spring and have the most beautiful garden of all in my head till the real one starts to bloom.

My three Viburnum "Dawn" bushes have lots of buds on them and will probably be blooming here pretty soon. Can't wait! Well, that's all for now. Ta ta!

What's in the Garden

I had a small window of opportunity today to get a whole lot of things done and I did. Walk the dogs, go to Costco and Fred Meyers all before 12:30 when I needed to get Jacob from school. Then after I picked him up the sun was out for just a little bit and I went outside to walk around the garden and yard to see what is still blooming. I took a bunch of pictures and actually put two on here. It takes a while for them to download so I only put two on today. But I had a lot more blooming than there arepictures and there are things already starting to come up all over the place.



Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and there are so many things to be thankful for. Family, friends, faith and the list goes on and on. I am truly blessed with so many friends I love. Life would be so empty without people we love. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone. Ta ta for now!

Raking leaves......

I was able to work outside today and what a cold pleasure it was. The cold crisp wind. I had taken the dogs for an almost 2 mile walk when the sun was shining and went to Vassey's Nursery to look at what they had. They have some large hydrangea on for 1/2 price. But I promised Mark no more plants. He came home last night with a bag of leaves for my compost pile. What a guy. He really knows how to make me smile.
As I go around looking at the different beds, I am so excited about all the things that are or will be coming up. I think I saw garlic starting to come up in the garlic beds and I know that some of the other bulbs that I planted have started to come up. I got the plants that I bought on Saturday heeled into the nursery bed on Monday morning before it started to rain. All except the hardy fuchsia, which I planted in the lasagna bed in the front. There are so many beds I would like to put in and get going but I know that I have to take it slow.
I also want to do another worm composting bin. Am I getting too many things going? That's usually what I do. Well, that's all for now. Ta ta.

Barganis, bargains, bargains

I went back to McClendon's today because my good friend Carla (that would be flower Carla) bought me a Beauty Berry Bush. It was a great deal at $2.50 and I wanted to see if I could find a couple more. I didn't find any of those but I did find 8 other great deals!

First, I found 3 mock orange bushes. I have always wanted one of those and now I am going to have 3! Next, I found 3 miscanthus grasses, Mark wanted those. Then I found a hardy fuchsia and a Russian Sage. All in 1 gallon pots for under $20.00 including tax. How fun is that! I'm really getting my nursery together so that next spring when we start to do our new beds and borders we will have things to plant. The next thing I need to do is get them heeled in to the nursery bed. Oh, the deals to be had at this time of year. Well, Mark is making chili for dinner and it will be done soon. So, ta ta for now.

While out walking the dogs today I picked up some acorns and some beautiful leaves. I know that this is something people do all the time but I love doing it. As I bend down to pick them up the dogs are pulling me in different directions and I really have to be careful not to fall. Of course they are both onto the scent of something and think that what they are doing is much more important than picking up leaves. But I am thankful to be able to get out and take the time to walk in the crisp fall air. The trees are so pretty right now. I'm going to enjoy them as long as I can. The leaves I use to decorate the counter when I have guests over and they look so nice. The acorns also look fun mixed in with the leaves.
I love to take a walk around the yard at least once a day just to see if there is anything new that I haven't noticed yet. The other day I found the Bee's Jubilee Clematis had a bloom on it and we thought it had died! That was very exciting to find. I'm sure there will be other surprises around the place as long as I keep my eyes open. So that's it for today. Ta ta for now!

The sun is shining again!!!

I am going to plan to have a plant exchange this spring. I will invite all my gardening friends to bring over plants that they have divided and we can all trade with each other. I hope to have at least 11 other friends who want to do this. I know that I have a lot of plants that I can divide and would love to get some new ones.

I am do looking forward to getting chickens next spring also. I think it will be a hoot. I have some names picked out already. But I won't write them down yet.

I scored on three 5 gallon Viburnum "Dawns" on Monday at McClendon's Hardware. They were marked down to $9.95 apiece! Am I excited or what! They are safely dug into the ground in the vegetable garden right now in their pots until we figure out where we are going to put them this spring.

Well, everyone will be home soon and I better go. Ta ta for now.

This was a beautiful day and I was thankful to be out in it. I walked the dogs and worked outside. What a blessing! I finally put up the wire for the honeysuckle. I've been wanting to get that up for a long time. It will support the vine as it grows its way across the carport....then across the garage and across the shop and then over to my garden room and around the corner and past the wood shed and then around the back of the mower shed and then the garage.....but I dream on.


I hope just to write about my garden and hopefully chickens next spring and the new garden beds. How fun will that be. Ta Ta for now!