Garden Tour

Here's a tour of my yard:

Sunchokes from Swap

Cypress Vine from Swap

Dwarf Burning Bush $2.50 @ Lowes

Daylilies that came with the house

Hyacinth Bean from the swap

White Butterfly Bush $3 @ Under The Sun

Clematis from Mom.  They might make it!

Angel Trumpet.  Gonna have to move it somewhere else

Front bed with daylilies and salvia and lots of things yet to bloom

White Hill Salvia.  I love this plant!

Rudbeckia $3 @ Under The Sun

Baby Zinnia from seed

Anyone know what this is?  It was $1.12 at Lowes so I brought it home.

The north side of the house post plumber.

Apricot Hibiscus tree $5 at Lowes

My Begonia is blooming!

Ornamental Peppers with petunias.  Peppers $4, all in one pot, purple petunia $1.50 at Lowes, Laura Bush petunias from swap.

New gardening shoes, $7 at WalMart

Fig tree from Grandma Carol

Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) $14 @ WalMart

Our house works again

On Monday I got much less done than I had hoped. I took lots of pictures for DH since he was at work but still wanted to be in control of the situation. I made lots of tea and lemonade for the guys and then I brought DH home at noon. Guess he just couldn't take it anymore! It was still too hot to do any work so we sat around in front of the fans and watched the plumbers. It took them longer than they thought because our main sewer line wasn't as deep as they thought and so they had to add lots of piping and go out further into the yard to connect it. Something about the grade. They left at like 8:00 and we had AC, laundry, and the sink back but not the dishwasher or the garbage disposal. Those got fixed the next day when they finished up. That was the day of the tornadoes.

Mic digging up my yard

Michael leveling the ground for the new pipe

My pretty soil!

Tuvok is ready for the AC to be fixed

Since Richard is from California, he had no idea what that day meant. I don't know if he watches the news or anything but he had no idea what tornadoes are capeable of or what a PDS tornado watch means. When I explained it to him he thought I was just trying to scare him. The storms fired up at 1:50 and I watched them on my phone radar until we decided to make a break for it at 4:00. The government offices had all shut down at 3:30 and many other companies had followed suit, which just meant that rush hour was an hour earlier. Everyone was in a panic and the highways were at a standstill. I took side roads home and it still took me half an hour longer than it normally would. That was kind of scary. I was listening to KFOR storm coverage on the radio, stuck in traffic, with the giant storm looming in my rear window. David Payne was busy driving into a tornado and Mike Morgan kept marvelling at the debris balls. Since the broadcast was meant for TV, they weren't really saying where they were. Little bit of freaking out there! All the cell towers were jammed and it took several tries to send text updates at stoplights. So there was no way DH and I could communicate about storm prep until I got home.

Since I hadn't seen the radar in 45 minutes I thought the tornadoes were much closer than they were so I was in a hurry, and then DH and I argued for a few minutes before we realized what the deal was. Then we were fine. We got the shelter set up and popped a pizza in the oven. The tornadoes were still half an hour away. We were in the line of the Chickasha storm and it got right on top of us before it started to fizzle. We were standing in the living room, eating pizza with our coats on, ready to run to the shelter any second. It was kind of funny. It reminded me of a couple of years ago when we had Dave and Froggi over and a storm came. We were all standing next to the closet, peeking around to see the TV, and eating potato soup.

But the storm fizzled and we only got a minute of small hail and a ton of wind and rain. The backyard was a muddy mess from the plumbing reroute. But everything was good so DH turned his attention to cleaning up two weeks of plumbing disaster. And then I had a meltdown.

All the stress of the plumbing, the yard being dug up and trampled, and the tornadoes just came out all at once. And I think they had stirred up something I'm allergic to, because my legs were super itchy and my feet were swollen. And then we realized that I ran out of my Effexor sometime during the last week but we were so distracted we didn't notice. So yeah, meltdown. But DH handled it with amazing skill and he held me until I felt better and then he developed a plan to get things cleaned up but not too much at once so I wouldn't be overwhelmed. And we refilled my meds.

Needless to say, I felt progressively better over the next few days as the meds got back in my system and we got the house cleaned up.

Prickly Pear flower

This weekend we decided to have a staycation.  It is our 7th anniversary.  We have basically just hung out at home and then gone to eat at restaraunts.  Yesterday we ran errands.  Thrill-a-minute!  We were going to visit the Museum of Osteology yesterday but I didn't wake up in time.  No biggie.  Today DH is going to go to work to get caught up on stuff and I'm going to shop some more, and then we're going to have dinner at the inlaws.  Oh, and I'm going to make a blackberry cobbler for that.

It is super windy today.  We're in a wind advisory.  Blech.  At least it feels cooler when it's windy.  But my poor plants are not liking it at all.  I went out and took some pictures so I'll make a new post fot that. 

The Best Laid Plans...

Well, they cleaned the air ducts, but then we realized that the air conditioner has condensation that goes into the plumbing system.  So we call Rick and he says either to not use the AC, or saw the drain pipe and divert it to a bucket.  That sounded easy... until I get in there and realize that the pipe is, 1. almost to the bottom of the closet to begin with, 2. there's another pipe blocking the path out of the closet, and 3. the part I need to cut is encased in the previous metal drain pipe.  I thought about pulling out the drywall under the closet to see if I could do anything but that's right where the cats' bathroom is and Bones would almost certainly get himself in trouble under the closet.  So no AC.  Yesterday was hot.  Today was hotter.  It's 83 in here right now.  It got up to 91 according to the Mesonet but our reading was 95.  I think our temp sensor is in the sun part of the day.
I forgot how much the heat saps the energy out of you.  And I forgot the simple joys of stand fans and iced tea.  Celing fans are nice and all, but they just don't have the power you need in these conditions.    This really brought back memories of growing up.  I remember chasing the fan as it swiveled back and forth.  I remember talking and singing into the fans to hear my distorted voice.  I remember planning meals around whether it's cool enough to use the oven.  Playing in the sprinkler.  Renie's gallon jugs of iced tea with a tablet of sacchrin in it.

It was a little cooler out on the porch in the shade than it was in the house- as long as you didn't actually do any work.  So although we planned to clean out the garage this weekend, the only thing we really got done was taking 2 weeks of dirty dishes out back and spraying them with the hose.   Looking back, I'm not real sure why we haven't done that all along.  I guess we're just too used to our normal way of doing things.  I also repotted a bunch of houseplants.  Well, they're porch plants during the summer.  The rest of the time we were all splayed out being miserable.  Even the pets.

I meant to take pictures of the plants.  Some neat things are going on.  I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow.  Since I'm staying home to babysit the plumber again.   Maybe this time he'll actually show up.  I shouldn't be too hard on him I guess.  Lightning is dangerous.  But I wish he had canceled the day before  I could have gone to work on Friday.

DH says the insurance is actually paying reasonably so we should be ok despite all my lost work. Too bad the medical insurance isn't as good. They are still refusing to pay for DH's post-surgery glasses. And this is supposed to be the best insurance available in the state. I guess the next step is involving a lawyer.


Random Picture: Bed 2

So then we went camping.  Last fall we were planning to camp in a campground but it was full so we had to go to overflow camping out in the middle of nowhere. DH really liked it because there weren't lot of people and lights.  He could even see the milky way.  That's a big deal when you're blind.  So we decided to try wilderness camping.  We started small and safe on my family's property.  There's a creek that wanders onto the back of the acreage for a little bit so we went out there and camped on the sandy bank.  That turned out to be a mistake because sand gets everywhere.  Plus the creek is about 20 feet below the surrounding area and we had two loads of heavy gear.

 I found a great spot for the bathroom!

 Here's the view looking both ways.

 Tuvok had a blast!

 We learned a lot and we have a list of things we want to make the next trip better. Like a camp mattress.  Regular air mattresses are heavy and take up too much room.   Army duffels are not made for backpacking. And I found a couple of good spots to set up next time that don't require scaling a 20 foot sand cliff.  I thought we'd use the creek water more than we did.

Back to real life.  These bugs are on my tomato plants.  I posted them on GardenWeb so we'll see if anyone knows what they are.



For the most part, the tomatoes are doing well.  I've been skyping with my aunt who happens to be a Microsoft Applications trainer and she helped me get my trial spreadsheets in order.  I was doing ok but she showed me some things that will help tremendously.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the format painter!!!  I know I don't have to be this detailed for the trial but this is what my degree is in and I've missed doing scientific experiments.  Data collection rocks! (when you're a nerd like me.)  Seriously, I'm having a blast going out there and measuring the growth every day and documenting the bugs and the number of flowers, etc.  And I'm really looking forward to analyzing the data at the end of the season.

So anyway, I'll be home again tomorrow but hopefully this time it'll be for a purpose and then we'll have our kitchen and our washing machine and our AC back.  Won't that be nice!  The ice storm and week-long power outage of 2009 helped us appreciate electricity.  This experience is really driving home the wonders of plumbing and climate control!  I really hope I don't have to appreciate my car next!

Ok, let me think back to what seems like years ago but was actually like 2 weeks.  I got all the plants in the ground finally.  Only a few of them didn't survive the transplant which is better than last year.  But one of these days I AM going to get some of Paula's plum trees to grow in my yard!!  RRGHH!

But on the upside, FIL brought me two sand plums that he mail ordered and they're doing great.

The lilac I brought home was looking good for a few days but then I tried to make it stand up straighter and I must have broken roots or something because it went downhill pretty fast after that.  The thing I'm the most upset about is the passionflower didn't make it.  That's another one I'm determined to grow eventually.

The cypress vine, Jerusalem artichokes, hyacinth bean, black&blue salvia, Laura Bush petunia, purple garlic, autumn joy sedum, and the unknown purple leaved thing are all doing well.  The cuban oregano can't decide yet.  I think the main growing tip may die and all the little shoots around the base will end up doing ok.  Not sure on the lilies.  They look stressed but are still making new leaves.    There's another something-or-other in the sun bed that I can't remember the name of.  It looks like it might be in the salvia/sage/mint family.   The hummingbird sage died but I think its a butterfly plant of some kind.  Should be a fun suprise.

Oh, and I'll get to the reason for my being home today later...

I'm having one of my favorite rainy day lunches: egg drop soup.  It is so easy!  Heat a can of chicken broth to simmering, turn off the heat, and drizzle 2 beaten eggs into it.  It is just as good or better than restaraunt soup.  160 calories and almost all from protein.  It is suprisingly filling too!

I've got mixed beans in the crock pot for dinner.  Yum!

So here's the plumbing saga:

For a little while, we were thinking that something died in the air vent system.  We tried waiting it out but it didn't go away.  So last week DH checked all the vents and noticed that the one by the stove had the concentrated gross smell and had reduced flow.  There was no way I was investigating that one myself so we called Roto Rooter.  Apparently the plumbing pipes under the kitchen had broken and all the waste water from the washing machine, dishwasher, and kitchen sink (read: garbage disposal) was leaking into the air duct.  They said they could jackhammer up the kitchen floor and replace the broken section.  We'd have to get new flooring and possibly new cabinets and counters depending on how much they destroyed.  I was not particularly happy with that because I like my kitchen the way it is.  But I thought I'd be a good sport and think about what kind of tile I wanted since right now we have stick down tile.  It is in good condition and matches the rest of the kitchen perfectly but it is linoleum so it would be nice to have an upgrade.  But the cabinets are hand stained and I don't think they'd be matchable by anyone except the very best.  Insurance doesn't pay for the very best.

Insurance also wanted a second opinion, so we called out Rick the Plumber who was recommended by one of DH's friends.  He ran the camera down under the floor just like Roto Rooter.  He said he could reroute the plumbing on the outside of our house, save the kitchen, and fix the underlying problem (old, disentegrating cast iron pipes) for just a little more than Roto Rooter, plus, no kitchen remodel costs.  He said Roto Rooter does that all the time; they say they'll make a 2' x 2' hole in the floor and patch the problem even though they know full well that the pipe will keep falling apart across the entire area.  We used to be happy with Roto Rooter but now we are pretty impressed with this Rick guy.

We then had OKAir come out and look at the air ducts and give an estimate on rerouting the entire system to run through the celing instead of the slab.  Insurance didn't go for that at all but it was a long shot anyway.  They'll pay for a cleaning and sanitization of the duct system.  Since there's pretty much no chance of this problem happening again with the rerouted plumbing, we're cool with that. 

So we set it all up and Rick is going to come on Friday (today) to fix the plumbing and we can start using our laundry and kitchen again.  Yeah.  No sink, dishwasher, washing machine, or air conditioner for this whole process.  Well, then Oklahoma happened.  More specifically, the rain.  We called him yesterday to make sure he wasn't going to cancel due to rain and he said he'd be here no matter what.  So I take off work to babysit.   Guess what?  This morning, at his scheduled appointment time he cancels.  He cites the lightning as a problem for his equipment.  So now I'm a little less impressed with Rick the Plumber. 

Blackmon Mooring is coming tonight to clean the ducts so at least we'll have air conditioning again tomorrow when it's supposed to be 88F.

The rain has moved on and the birds seem to be making up for lost time.  Everyone is singing at the top of their lungs.  I texted DH to see if the plumber can come now that it isn't lightninging.

Ok, my belly is full and I have no more motivation to blog right now so I'll post this one and come back later to finish up.  Nap time.

Wrapping up some stuff

Mom brought it to my attention that I never finished the story of the lost snake.  Well!  He'd been gone a few days and  one evening I had to run to the store real quick because I was out of something for baking.  I forgot my phone.  As I drove up the street back home I noticed DH out front waving at me in the way that you know something's not ok.  So I stop before the garage and he tells me the snake is in the laundry room and he isn't happy (the snake).  The cats were apparently harassing him and he was all slithering around and hissing at them.  So I'm like, great!  He's not dead!  I look under, over, and inside everything in the entire room.  No snake.  I heat up a mouse to see if he's hungry.  Nothing.  So I give up for the night.  The next night I'm in the kitchen and Bones is sitting on the floor looking at the refrigerator.  It crosses my mind as something odd for Bones to be doing but I dismiss it.  I even move him out of the way to get in the fridge at one point.  As soon as I closed the door Bones was right back in the spot, staring intently at the space between the fridge and the cabinet.  Picture a cartoon light bulb above my head at this point. 

So we move the fridge out and there's Garak, looking pretty upset that we stole his heat source.  We couldn't get the fridge out far enough for me to feel comfortable getting back there with an angry snake, so we messed with him until he came out and started trying to find a place to hide under the cabinets.  He was easy to grab at that point.   So now we have Garak back and Bones saved the day.

Skipping ahead... My Hoya pubicalyx 'Red Buttons' is blooming.  I got a generous cutting about a year ago from one of the hoya folk and it's been trying to bloom since I got it but the buds kept blasting.  It's finally stable enough!  I say "finally"; it's a minor miracle to see blooms this soon.

Bones thinks it's cool.

He and DH like the smell of the blooms better than me.  I think they're too musty.



I'll have lots more exciting tales to tell soon.  We have a major plumbing ...thing.  We have plans for a new lawn.  And we're going camping tomorrow.  And I'm going to bed now so you'll have to wait for the rest of it.

Recent Pictures and Backyard Tour.

The tomato container garden is finished.  I am tired and sunburned but happy.  I still have lots more things to plant but I'm going to take a break for a while.

This is a dry line forming just east of us...again.  It was a few weeks ago.  We're supposedly getting storms in the next few days though.

Here's the sunset that night.

I picked up this Hoya wayetti at Lowes

Here's the nest that the House Finches are building in my Krimson Princess

At the arts festival there was a place where you could decorate your own pottery and they would fire it Raku style.  It was cool.

Here' the tomato container garden.

Here is the herb container.  It has rosemary, cuban oregano, stevia, regular oregano, pineapple sage, and thyme.

Here's the orange climbing rose.  It isn't growing very fast.

This is the native grapevine.  I need to get a female to go with it.

Here's the hyacinth bean

The irises.  Only the purple ones had blooms and not very many.  Time to divide.

The fig tree sent to me by DH's grandmother.  Can't wait for figs!!

Don't know what this is so I'm letting it flower.  This is a good year to let the volunteer plants in the yard flower since the grass isn't growing and I don't have to mow.

There are sand plums here.  You'll have to trust me.