Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I moved to southeastern Pennsylvania from the Washington, D.C. area about a year ago. I had a much smaller house and a much much smaller yard. It was pretty typical for the D.C. suburbs, but here in western Montgomery County my yard is a lot larger. One of the other things I have here is nature, and lots of it. In addition to the large variety of birds, we have rabbits, deer, foxes, moles, ground hogs, and, I’m told, an occasional bear is seen in town. A recent post was about my vegetable garden. One of the reasons for its success is the bee and butterfly population. When they’re not in my garden, I enjoy watching them from my deck. This post is about my butterfly bush. Continue reading
The green giant, or how many ways can you cook a zucchini?
As the first of my harvest comes in I am reminded of what it must have been like to live off the land. In the summer you ate whatever was in season. You went out to the garden and that was what you ate. No one at peaches in December or asparagus in September. For the past week it has been all about zucchini at my house. Soon it will be something else, and if I’m lucky, an assortment of vegetables. Unfortunately, when you have one zucchini you have ten. They don’t cooperate and ripen one at a time. There is no way I can eat all these veggies, so I am coming up with imaginative ways to eat, store, or repurpose it. This post is about the green wonder. Continue reading
How does your garden grow?
Cauliflower in front surrounded by tomatoes plants.
I haven’t written anything about my garden project in a while. This is part of my push for self-sufficiency and reducing my carbon footprint. Why drive to the store and buy food that has traveled in a truck or train when you can grow it in the back yard? Now, if I could only give up chocolate. Unfortunately you can’t grow that anywhere in my neighborhood.
After weeks of rain, we now have the opposite — long, hot days. I have to water every evening, carrying my two water cans back and forth to the standpipe to fill them, and then repeat. I finally got a hose to attach to my existing one to reach the garden, and a spray attachment. I promised to keep you informed about what was working and what was not. Mostly, it has been successful, but there have been some challenges and some failures. Continue reading
The Out of Towners in Florida
Anyone who has seen the classic movie “The Out of Towners” knows that it’s about a couple from the mid-west who visit New York because the husband is there for a job interview. During the visit a series of bad things happen to them. This past week we traveled to Florida to visit Larry’s family. I’m not saying that our visit was like that experienced by the poor couple portrayed in the 1970 movie by Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, but we did have some issues at our hotel. For the first time we packed up our bags and walked out. Continue reading
Energy independence, stage two
Stacks of solar panels waiting to be installed.
Two weeks ago we had solar panels installed on our south-facing roof. This is the second stage in our journey towards energy independence. Last fall we put in a geo-thermal system. It lowered our electric bills and made our house feel more comfortable with even temperatures throughout. Next, we replaced all the lightbulbs with energy efficient ones, lowering our utility bill even more. And now the final chapter: solar power. Continue reading
Getting beyond skin deep
I have been absent for a few weeks. I think about blogging every day, but never get to it. Where have I been? I haven’t been depressed or sick or even anti-social. It has been all about allergies at my house lately. First the dogs, one and then the other, and now I am suffering too. They toss and turn and so do I, itchy and uncomfortable. We are tired of having one foot in the world of the living. Continue reading
A man, a dog, and an altercation
I was out walking Barkley yesterday with my friend Nancy when something happened. We were on a street around the corner from where I live when a big German Shepherd came running out from the yard into the street and approached me. I have to say, it scared the S*@T out of me. The situation ended with no injuries except emotional ones. The owner of the dog called his dog back and then verbally got stuck into me. We had an altercation. First I was shocked, then angry, then I got to thinking. What did it mean? Continue reading
Garden Setup: building the beds and planting the vegetables
Earlier this month I blogged about starting a garden. I planted seeds and watched them carefully, hoping they would grow and thrive to later be planted outside. Last week I had two of the three raised beds put in the backyard. The third bed will be installed this week. Continue reading
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
There is an old adage that says absence makes the heart grow fonder. I was thinking about this recently because my husband is away for a while. When he travels he says that I don’t miss him, while he misses me. That isn’t exactly true. What happens is that I adjust to him being away, which in my book means that if I think too much about missing him I have a harder time during the separation. Continue reading
A duck, a nest, and a threesome
About a month ago I wrote about a Mallard duck couple that was frequenting our pond. I have since named them Mildred and Sylvester. We have a small manmade pond in front of our house. It’s so close that if I stand by the front door I can watch them. The former owner put koi fish in the pond. I have enough on my plate looking after two active dogs. Looking after fish is not in the cards for me. Continue reading
Explorations In Place 