The Sheepish Five and One Old Horse

Arnold was waiting for us.His five new chums came running over when they saw that we had an apple for Arnold.What do sheep eat for a treat?They have really helped to improve his life,their companionship has made such a difference to him.

I love this photograph.



Arnold is an old sweetie and thoroughly deserves all the attention we give him.Just to be with Arnold, even for a short visit,is to be happy.He gives us as much love as we give him.





These old buildings are in the grounds of where Arnold lives. In days gone by they were the village butcher's shop and slaughter house. Lovely looking, probably soon to crumble and collapse. I try not to think too much about what went on here. However, I do think they are very attractive, despite their history.





After our visit to Arnold we headed off on a long walk, the sun was shining and we were free for the afternoon!

Francesca's other grandma and an aunt had called to visit for the afternoon. It seemed only right to let them have some fun, so we got out of their way.





Time permitting I hope to show you some photographs of a couple of Tudor buildings, and share a little of their history, later in the week.

Embrace The GADS!

This post, "Embrace the GADS!", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin. Over at May Dreams Gardens, Carol gave some hints for living with GADS [that's Garden Attention Distraction Syndrome] while admitting that she no longer tries to overcome it but goes with the flow.
I agreed with her advice to go with the flow and commented that gardeners might do well to act "less like ants glued to a task and a trail, and more like bumblebees among the hollyhocks, appreciating every blossom." I had some ant moments today, but even without hollyhocks, it was better to Be The Bumblebee.
Friday and Saturday nights were relatively cold for Central Texas - down to 26 degrees F/minus 3.3 C. Before the freeze I hauled 4 potted roses and a few other containers inside the garage where the plumerias wait for spring. For the Meyer's Lemon planted next to the garage I tried a method I'd heard about from several sources - one may have been horticulturalist Skip Richter on Central Texas Gardener. In theory, the heat from mini-lights suspended under a sheet or floating row cover may be just enough to keep citrus from being killed by cold, without cooking or overheating the plant.
The air was well below freezing this morning when I ran out in my robe to pour warm water on top of the ice in the birdbaths. A few hours later the sun had warmed the patio so I buzzed out to look at the camellia - the open flowers were frozen, but there's a good chance the buds will be okay. I counted at least 2 dozen buds still unopened. The flowers look interesting - like faded fabric flowers pinned onto a real shrub.
I didn't like what I saw on the left end of that border - once again a branch on the 'Chindo' viburnum looks bad in spite of the zone 7 hardiness rating. More than half the original plant has died in the two years since it was planted, one limb at a time, always right after a dip into the twenties. This Viburnum awabuki 'Chindo' should have been a functioning member of the Green Screen team by now - maybe it's time to interview new candidates.
Back to the garage I went, staying glued to my trail, removing the sheets from lemon and palm and remembering to unplug the mini-lights. I started bringing out the roses but stopped before putting them where they belonged. As I passed the patio table I got the idea to first pull off some yellowed or black-spotted leaves, clip off dead twigs and remove dried tree leaves from the surface of the soil.
Hmmm - with the leaves gone I could see a funny sort of depression in this container - aha! A squirrel planted a pecan about 6-inches down. It had begun to split open, ready to germinate.
The other 'Champagne' rose had no pecan, but an acorn from a live oak landed in the pot, split and sent a root down. A seedling of "Coral Nymph' salvia hid in the base of the rose. With dozens of seedlings popping up in every border we're not likely to run out of 'Coral Nymph', so the Cape Cod weeder is fetched to tease this one out before it overshadows the intended inhabitant.
As I carried the roses back to their places in the Secret Garden I looked up at a scraggly crepe myrtle and remembered that mid-February is a good time for shaping them.... wasn't I supposed to look for a special pruning tool? And oh, look - there's something green next to the fence. I flew over to check it out.

I'm pretty sure these pretty, fresh-looking leaves belong to Ranunculus. Julie of the Human Flower Project wrote a compelling post about these flowers in the buttercup family. Last fall I finally remembered to buy and plant a package of Ranunculus asiaticus.

On the way back to the patio I stopped to admire more green leaves - they look similar because they're also in the Buttercup/Ranunculacea family - these leaves belong to Anemone coronaria - not the perennial anemones grown by Ki - but Windflower types sold in packages of corms in autumn.

Back at the table I took a photo of the nuts, feeling that it was a good idea to be the bumblebee today, stopping to groom the roses and admire the tiny red leaf buds. If I'd kept walking the ant-trail with those pots, instead of roses there would soon be a pecan tree growing in one pot and an oak tree in the other. Darn it - the camera shut itself off before I got a good shot - weren't there some batteries in the desk drawer?

Nope - no camera batteries in the desk drawer, but as long as I'm in the office I'll check email and oh, yeah - maybe google around and see if I can find out where to buy something called a concave cutter. Another gardener told me this bonsai tool would be useful for the kind of shaping I'm doing on the crepe myrtles. Maybe there's a source at the Austin Bonsai Society and ....oh look - here's a dealer in Pflugerville, not close but not a bad drive...and the shop is open now. Philo is interested enough in bonsai to go for a ride - just has to turn a pot of turkey soup down to simmer first. We find MBP Bonsai Studio without getting lost - and meet the owner of this charming place. Mike and Candy Hansen have studied bonsai for 35 years, first enjoying it as a hobby, then establishing their first bonsai studio 25 years ago. I buy just one tool, but notice wonderful pots, books and decorative items. I also notice Philo examining the array of tools and looking out at the plant nursery. He has "that look" - and I know we'll be back for another visit. Embracing the GADS enabled us to find this new tool, oust unwanted trees, meet a fellow gardener, discover an interesting place, and we bumblebees even remembered to buy batteries on the way home. This post, "Embrace the GADS!", was written for my blogspot blog called The Transplantable Rose by Annie in Austin.

A Lot of Biz...

I want to apologize for not having been very good about posting comments on your blogs. It's been a full and sometimes difficult week. I'll be going around the blogs tomorrow to say hey to my buds! Mom just not only posted her first video, but it's the first one she's ever taken, so she's come a long way. This is for Mason's wiggle walk gig - I was as motivated as I could get for my first movie.

I have received some awards and belatedly thank those of you who bestowed these lovely gifts upon me. To Chase ( http://chasethepuggle.blogspot.com/) for this super nice stamp that means "Proven. This blog has sweetness." I would like to pass this on to the Rocky Creek Scotties, Mango, Mason Dixie and Tucker and Daisy and Leo.

Secondly, I want to thank Honey the Great Dane (http://bighoneydog.com/honeys-blog) and Diego (http://diegodog.blogspot.com/) for Neno's award, which is a wonderful gift.
As a dedication for those who love blogging activity and love to encourage friendships through blogging. To seek the reason why we all love blogging. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award. Answer the Award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging. Tag and distribute the Award to as many people as you like.
This is not difficult to answer. I have received so much information and support that has helped
my peeps understand me better! We all love seeing what you do everyday and it's interesting and fun to exchange what we do in our lives all around the globe. My humans learn about better food, about doggies who need our help, about medicines even! We watch videos of you and study the pictures of all the different things you do - and you are all such individuals! We see puppies who have just been born and... read stories of how you help your sick and older doggies cross the rainbow bridge. DWB is a pawsome resource and even though I haven't been blogging for long here, I love having the connection to all my new buds and learning the live life to the fullest. Thanks to all my wonderful friends!
I want to pass this award on to the 3 Happy Heelers, Chester, Pipa, Charlie the Golden Retriever, Byte and Pu.
Finally, I have been sitting on this award for a while and have been meaning to pass it on for a ridiculous amount of time.

I'd like to pass this on to Chase, Eduardo, the OP Pack, The Bumpass Hounds, Nibbles... Treats and the Army of Four.

I send every pup a ton of licks and love,

xo Sammie

Football

Last night I actually attended a sporting event for the first time in years. I went to the football (note: that's what the uneducated refer to as "soccer") match between Australia and Paraguay. The tickets were a little more expensive than might have been wise for someone trying to save money to travel, but as a one-off I figured it wouldn't make a huge amount of difference in the overall scheme of things.
It was an exciting match, but the frustrating aspect was the Australian team's traditional problem of finding that final ball into the penalty area to actually make their dominance of the game count. Looking at the final score (1-1) one would conclude it was an evenly fought match, but that was far from the truth. Paraguay barely had a noteworthy attack all game, yet Australia's inability to create anything in the final third from open play kept them in the match.
When Tony Popovic headed in from a set piece to give Australia a 1-0 lead inside the last two minutes, I really thought we could hang on. As it was an own goal from Michael Beauchamp levelled things. Nobody in the stadium could believe it when it went in, but I suppose that's the nature of football. I had a good night regardless of the result, but I need to work on my photography of action shots clearly.
Below: The teams lining up for the national anthems at the start, a rare Paraguayan attack in the first half, and some of the Australian players celebrating what should have been the winning goal.

Being Ordinary

This quote is from the book The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison. "But as all the identities I worked so hard to construct over the years begin to slough away, I feel myself reconnecting with my own quiet center. It is as if I am, at last, catching a glimpse of myself not as I might wish to be, but as I am. I see a woman who is less ambitious than she once was. Someone less self-conscious, less invested in appearances, but also less "special" than the person I always thought I was meant to be. I see my own ordinariness. And I see that to be ordinary is okay after all."
This is what I'm becoming now in my mid-fifties. I'm not completely accepting the part about being ordinary though. I don't want to be ordinary, but I know that it's an okay place to be, I guess.

Recipe for Curing Grumpiness

I'm reading several books about the Great Depression to arm myself with knowledge just in case we find ourselves in another one soon. The latest read is called Little Heathens, Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.
There are recipes included and plenty of tips on how to make do with practically nothing. There's also good advice on how to rid yourself of grumpiness. I always did something similar with my own children which was when they were being grouchy, I had them go look in the mirror and smile until it became real. They always returned with a good attitude after that. Works every time. I've used it a few times on myself. Here's what the author says is her Grandma's recipe for grumpiness.
"Along with Grandpa, Grandma provided the solid, practical commonsense guidance in the lives of us children. She took the development of our character seriously and insisted that we improve ourselves. One of her more important observations was that it was impolite and unacceptable to visit your ill temper on those around you. If you wake up feeling at odds with the world, direct your attention outside of yourself, see what the world requires of you, and then get busy. The chances are that in a very short while, your grumpiness will soon be displaced by a feeling of goodwill. Her understanding of the psychology of moods was so keen that years later when I read the following passage from William James, I felt as though I'd encountered a soulmate of my grandmother's":
The voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully, and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. To feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and courage will very likely replace fear. If we act as if from some better feeling, the bad feeling soon folds its tent like an Arab and silently steals away.
Good advice from William James AND Grandma.

What's blooming

Strawberry bush, a.k.a. Hearts a burstin' (Euonymus americanus). My mother sometimes calls this plant Wahoo, but the internet says that's the name of a similar, more purplish-blooming plant. That kind of spoils my fun, since I liked to yell wahoo! whenever I found one.

I think this one is Grass-leafed Golden-Aster (Heterotheca graminifolia or Pityopsis graminifolia, I'm not sure which name is the more current.)

This one shows the grass-like leaves.

Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica).

I was about to call this one White snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum), until I realized that the leaves are wrong for that. It's actually Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum altissimum). (Thanks Ontario Wanderer for that correction! I didn't realize there were different types of Boneset.)

Same thing, whole plant.

The Ironweed (Vernonia altissima) is still hanging in there. I saw five Monarch butterflies on it at the same time - very nice since we don't see near the numbers that we used to.

White Crownbeard, a.k.a. Frostweed (Verbesina virginica).

A yellow composite that I've yet to figure out the name of.

Some asters I'm not going to get specific about.
The pics aren't as spiffy as I'd like... I set the camera to a tiny spot-meter and kind of forgot. So most of them were too dark, and were grainy and had to be manipulated.
The goldenrod and the ragweed are blooming too, but I didn't get pics of those.