my friday post

Good morning from a bit chilly Lansing.

It's currently 48 out. The coldest it's been all summer! But a heat wave is due back in a day or so.

It's been another busy week in the Salon.

Other than that, not much to say.

The mo-ho is still in the shop. I'll call today to see what's taking so long to replace that jack.

My sister from North Carolina flew in to Michigan yesterday for a surprise visit to our Mom. I'll go up to Muskegon on Monday to see her and take her back to the airport for her flight home.

And despite the lingering dryness, some late summer flowers don't seem to mind....

Helenuim, Perennial Hibiscus, and Ligularia Dentata.

Have a great weekend!

another weekend!

Good morning.
It's been a crazy, busy, exhausting, week at work, but now it's the weekend!
I'm a little stymied as to why the Salon has been soo busy the last few months. The economy here in Michigan hasn't changed much, but service sales are up and so is retail. I'm certainly not complaining, just a little puzzled.
It's looking like typical August here. The grass is brownish, and the plants look worn. We've gotten little rain here in Lansing as most rain systems seem to go north or south of us. I have been watering the veggies, and getting tomatoes, peppers, and I dug potatoes. The squash vines are recovering from the woodchuck, but I'm thinking it's too late for the fruit to set and mature.
We are currently on the downside of trips. 7 have passed and just 6 to go. We still have Van Buren State Park, Indiana Dunes, Pokagon, Holly, and Ludington, so still lot's of fun to be had.
There's also an RV show in Detroit in October that's also on our schedule. Love looking at the new stuff!
And that's all I got for now!

The rest of the weekend

Good morning.
As expected, after 2 days of very busy, I just didn't have any gumption to do much.
Oh, I did go in to the Salon and sit while the tech installed the new processor for the phone system, which appears to be in good working order.
Then we went and voted in the primaries.
Then we did our weekly grocery shopping.
I did manage to trim up a large maple tree on the side of the yard where the branches were drooping down almost to head level. Now there way up about 20 feet.
And I've been picking tomatoes. Mostly semi green ones to let ripen on the window sill. We've got some kind of critter eating the tomatoes. It started last weekend. The first tomato to ripen. I discovered something had eaten one side of it. The next day, nearly 2/3rds was gone. The next day, all of it was gone. The next day, it started eating the green one next to it. So it looks to be a race to get the tomatoes before it does. I have no idea what's eating it, but at least it finishes one before going on to the next.
And with our first ripe beef master tomato, we had a BCT sandwich for lunch. That's Bacon, Cheese, and Tomato. Actually, Turkey Bacon, Mozzarella, and Tomato. It was yummy!
And the rest of the afternoon was pretty much relaxing on the deck with some cocktails.
Dinner was ham steaks, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.
And now, another long busy week at work.

finally, my weekend update...late

Good morning.
It's so good to have the Internet again!
And now to bring you up to speed in our boring life. :-)
Last Sunday, after coming home from cleaning the Salon, I was doing a blog post and loading some pics when all of a sudden the page froze. I soon discovered my Internet connection was gone. I rebooted the modem....nothing. I rebooted the router.....nothing. I restarted my puter.....nothing. So a call to tech support eventually was determined that my modem went bad. They would ship it out asap and I should have it Monday or Tuesday. Of course, I didn't receive it until Wednesday.
Anyway, with no Internet, I had a lot of free time. I got nearly the entire mo-ho waxed. I scrapped and peeled caulking from the windshield and reapplied. The windshield leaks thanks to all the vibration from the roads, and when I first caulked it it was great, but all the vibration eventually cracks the new caulking and I have to redo it. Fortunately, the water just gets on the dash.
Monday found me cleaning the windows on the mo-ho, and weeding and deadheading in the garden. Craig while always busy with bookwork and laundry, mowed the yard and fixed a wonderful cheese layered meatloaf for dinner with asparagus and scalloped potatoes.

Tuesday morning with no Internet got me in a cleaning mood and I scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom. Craig was beginning to like me without Internet service.
Then we worked on fixing the car kaddy fenders. They put plastic fenders on the kaddy, and over the last few years, cracks have developed around the lights on both of them.

So we decide to give it some extra support.We drilled a hole in the center, and added another pressure screw.

It's not a real screw, but a plastic thingy with rows of flexible threads that fold when you push it through a hole, and spring back out to catch and hold.

It worked real good. Then I got some super glue to seal the cracks. We'll see if this helps any.

Then it was pork cutlets on the grill with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

And of course, Wednesday was back to work.

See, you didn't miss a whole lot did you?

Pizza meatloaf, umm good!

Good morning.
Yesterday, we ended up with about 3/4 of an inch of rain. A nice soaking rain. And it ended early in the day. I was able to work in the yard in the afternoon. Did some weeding and potted up another 10 plants.
Here's a tulip I've got blooming right now.

Isn't it just picture perfect?
And I've cut some branches off my Pussy Willow tree to root and pot up. I place them in a bucket of water to root.

I cut a bunch of them because only about half will 'take'. As soon as roots start growing from the stems, I'll pot them in potting soil. Regular garden soil would be too 'heavy' for the new roots to grow through.

And for dinner, Craig made a new variation of his meatloaf. He called it Pizza Meatloaf. You start with the basics, meat, eggs and bread crumbs. He used Light hot Italian turkey sausage instead of ground beef, and added in some diced tomatoes. Then he spread it out on wax paper, and added mozzarella cheese, diced turkey peperoni, and mushrooms. Folded it, and placed it in a casserole dish, and topped it with tomato paste and baked.

When done sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top. And here's Craig with the finished dish.
And I've discovered the trick to letting me take his pic....a couple of glasses of wine! hehehe
And it was real yummy! And another little hint. When you use low fat stuff in cooking, you tend to get a lot of water and this casserole was no different. So about 2/3 of the way through the cooking, suck out the liquid so the meat will dry some and hold together better.

And I'll post some more flower pics tomorrow!

busy, busy

Good morning.
As I expected, yesterday was cold, and wet, so no outside work. Instead, I cleaned the house. I also fired off a post at Dave's Garden which has got to be the most comprehensive gardening site I've seen. Several posts back I posted a pic of a plant I have but didn't know what it was. I was hoping one of my gardening readers would know, but no, so I posted it on Dave's Garden, and in a couple of hours had the reply.

It a Helleborus foetidus, or stinky Hellebore. According to the website, it's suppose to be hardy to zone 6 and higher. I live in zone 5, so I'm surprised it seems to be thriving. It's got very cool leaves.

In other news, we booked another campground for October, Ludington Sate Park. We have just 2 more to book and we'll be set for the entire season.

And what else do you do on a cold dreary day? You cook comfort food!

Craig made a delicious meat pie! Another variation of his Creamy Turkey Pie , but this one he called a Creamy Light Hot Italian Turkey Sausage Pie. And it was delicious! And big enough for leftovers. Click the links for the recipes.
And we watched the last episode of Spartacus. I hope they bring it back for season 2. It was really good!
That's all for this morning.....

Sunday morning

Good morning.
It was a busy week in the Salon. And this morning I've already cleaned the Salon and came home and did an hour of weeding in the gardens until my fingers started to get numb. It's a cool, damp, 51 out. We got some rain during the night, but right now we're in a dry gap with more rain coming later. It's soo much easier to weed when the soil is moist. I did manage to pot up another 28 plants on Friday afternoon, which was our last sunny warm day for a while. I have just over 200 plants for my sale and several customers have dropped off more pots, so I'm in pretty good shape to hit my 300 mark. If the rain holds off, I'll try and do some more weeding later, otherwise, it'll be house cleaning.
And now I'm going to jump in the shower, and then wake up lazy bones. It is after 9 already!

Spring is Sprung

The last few days have been glorious! Temps around 70! Of course, I've been at work, so not able to enjoy it completely. And my weekend, (Sun. Mon. and Tues.) looks to be cold (maybe a high of 50?) and wet. So I squeezed out every minute out side after work I could. I weeded some beds, cleaned out the fountain and got it running, potted up a few more pots of divisions, (you can see them here) I now have 53 plants potted up, and re-caulked the mo-ho windshield, and the seam on the rubber roof. Hopefully that well put an end to the leaks on the dash, we'll see.
And work has been busy, that's good. And I have a long day today of course, because it's going to be 70 again. But I'll be able to enjoy a couple of hours after work.
And this weekend, we'll un-winterize the mo-ho and stock it up for our upcoming first trip of the season!
And now, off to work!

bla bla bla

It's currently 5:30 am. Craig is sound asleep, and I'm here on the puter. I wake up every day around 5-6. Some kind of internal clock just wakes me up. But I do all my blogging and reading in the morning, so I guess that's a good thing.
This morning I'll clean the Salon as I do every Sunday that we're home, and then I'm off to Muskegon to spend the day with my Mom.
Craig has bookwork to do as usual, and laundry.
And as usual, I need to add a pic, so here's a couple of tomatoes I picked from the garden, that Craig added to our delicious home made Nacho's last evening.

We used to have quite the large vegetable garden some years ago, but grew tired of all the work, and now it's where our pond is. But this spring I put in a few things with the flowers. A Tomato, a couple of Pepper plants and some Butternut Squash. I'd forgotten how good home grown was. With the sky rocketing food prices, I think I may turn a flower bed into more veggies next year.
And that's it for today. I'm off to the Salon!

The little bastards!

This is one of my shrub roses. It is covered with small 2 inch flowers.

And this is whats happening to it! Those damn Japanese Beetles!Now they don't seem to like the flowers, just the leaves, but my Rugosa Roses, they eat the buds as fast as they form. I guess the only good thing about our cooler than normal spring, was that the beetles showed up later than usual, so I got to enjoy the roses for a little while.

And here's some more flowers they don't eat....

First up, a really cool flower, a Globe Centura, They look like little balls of sunshine!

A later blooming Pale Purple Clematis,

And a very pretty Cranesbil.

And more flowers later!

Before and after

I have a before and after picture to show you today. I posted earlier this spring about taking out a couple of flower beds. These were around a fountain, out in the middle of the yard. The flowers never seemed to do real good in the all day sun, and the beds were always very weedy, and I needed to cut down on some of the yard work now with all our summer mo-ho trips.
So here's the results.

The pics look a little different because the top pic was taken last spring, and the bottom just yesterday, later in the year. But I think you'll agree, the fountain is now more of a focal point, and the lack of flower beds there, opens up the yard and draws the eye out to the rest of the yard.

Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

pretty flowers

Been very busy in the yard.
Edged the driveway, to get it ready
to seal this weekend.
We do it on the Memorial Day weekend,
because there is very little traffic
on our otherwise very busy road.
We also use this long holiday weekend,
to finish any major yard work,
for starting in June,
we'll be gone just about every
other weekend this summer.
But things are shaping up nicely.
I seem to have lost a purple Lupine,
and also an Azalea.
I'm surprised about the Azalea,
since I've had it for several years now.
But that's gardening,
you never know from year
to year, what will come back.
And of course a few pics of some
more things blooming right now.
First is I believe a type of
Ranunculus, with tiny yellow flowers
in front of some early Iris.
Next is a ground cover,
called Sweet Woodruff.
One of my favorite ground covers!
Next is Creeping Thyme,
with itsy bitsy teeny pale purple flowers.
And it's growing next to Mother of Thyme,
which will bloom a little later.
And the orange flower is a Geum.
And last is a dwarf Cranesbill.
Only about 4 inches tall,
but very heavy bloomer.
great for a borders edge.

My Tree Peonies are starting to bloom,
so pics will follow soon!

As Spring continues

Another nice day in the yard.

Temps near 60.

Took out the rest of the 3rd perennial bed,

leveled and seeded it.

Grass is starting in the first one.

Will show before and after pics,

once the grass fills in.

I think it will look good.

And be less weeding for me!

And of course a few pics.

The first is a Flowering Peach.

Second is a Rose Tree of China.

One of my favorites!
Click on the 3rd pic!
They look like little pink carnations!

And as with all flowering shrubs,

they will last a week or two at the most.

But that is what's so cool about gardening,

always something else to see!

And so far,

I have 200 plants potted

up for my plant sale.
Right now, they are in

several parts of the yard.

I'll group them all together,

when I get a little more time.

My goal is to have about 250.

Last year I had 230.

I hope I have enough pots!

We have a cold front going thru today,

bringing rain, snow, (yuk!)

and colder temps, so I'll probably

be indoors working on the

name tags for the plant sale

and printing pics of the flowers,

since most of them won't be in

bloom for the sale,

and people want to see

what they're buying.

The sale is a lot of work,

but it's gas money for the mo-ho,

and they need thinning anyway!

It was good

Yes! We had just the best weather for this time of year! Low 70's (should be about 60) every day of my weekend. (Sun-Tues) And I took advantage of every minute. The big project this year is removing most of 3 perennial beds that have been giving me fits. They are the ones surrounding the fountain in this pic from last year.

They may look okay in the pic, but being in the middle of the yard, they're always dry, and they're always full of grass and weeds. You can see in the pic, the rest of my beds circle the perimeter of the yard. And I want to make the fountain more of a focal point, since it is in the middle of the yard.
I've removed 2 of the beds so far, and either potted up the plants for my plant sale, or transplanted them to other beds. I'll show a before and after pic when I'm done. So far 120 plants potted up for my sale, with 5 weeks to go. Should have more than last year (which was 230).
And now back to work in the Salon. I need some rest!

Spring bursts forth!

Spring has exploded!
Thanks to the unusually warm
weather we've had recently.
Our Star Magnolia has
come into full bloom.
As have the Daffodils,
and Hyacinths.
And assorted early spring bulbs.



A favorite Daffodil of mine is Rip Van Winkle.
A dwarf variety, and sooo cute!
We've also had a couple
of visitors in the yard.

First, a snapping turtle.
Now, I don't know how
he/she(how do you tell ?) got in the yard.
I have chicken wire all around the back yard.
Guess I better check on that.
I took him over to the creek,
just out of my yard,
He'll dig up my flower beds
when it makes it's nest.
So I don't want them!

And next is a Garter Snake.
Up near my deck.
But they're good,
they eat mice and voles,
even though they;re a bit scary!
So life has sprung forth!
and everything has come up so quickly!
I've been busy taking out 3 perennial beds. They have become such grass and weed pits! And I've begun digging and dividing perennials for my plant sale. Need more mo-ho gas money!
So much work to do! But it's suppose to be nice for the next 2 days, so I expect I'll get a lot done!
So I haven't visited many blogs lately, cause I am sooo busy! I'll try to catch up soon!

1 and done!

The plant sale is over!

It started a 9am, and ran to 1pm.
The weather was iffy,
scattered rain showers.
Fortunately, they were mainly light.
Started out with 230 plants,
divided from my yard.


By 11am, I had sold 146!
By 1pm, I sold another 46!
Leaving me with only 38 left!
Grand total...........$475.00!

So.... despite the weather,
people came out to shop!
But I priced the plants to sell.
Nothing over $5.00.


And the leftovers?
I put an add on Freecycle,
and Craigslist for free plants,
that should get rid of the rest.
Would hate to compost them.

Planned on taking pics of the sale,
but just got too busy!
Craig helped by hauling the customers plants to their cars,
while I took the money and answered questions about the plants.
And like I said, all the proceeds go to our mo-ho gas fund!

Let the sale begin!

Okay now, I'm ready for the Big Sale!



I've written name tags for all 215 plants,
and printed up pictures of the plants that
won't be in bloom yet,
people want to see what the flowers will look like.
I attached them to plastic stakes to put in pots.
There's a chance of rain Sunday, so I got some sandwich
Ziploc baggies to slide over the pics, just in case.

I also got 2 vinyl table covers, folded them to banner size, put plastic grommets in the corners with cords attached, and painted them. Now I have large bright signs to put out on our busy road to attract more customers.
The only advertising I've done is signs in our Salon, at Beaners Coffee Cafe, and on Craig's List, so the road signs should help.


On the down side, I picked up something from the yard. I've got a rash of some sort on the back of my leg, and also on the back of my left hand. And my right eye is swollen on the lid and below. Not a pretty sight! Hope it clears up before the sale! It's freaked out some customers, but I tell them I was working in the yard and must have touched something and rubbed my eye, just a little infection, nothing contagious. Gezz, people think you should run to the doctor for every little thing!

Wish me luck!

More flower pics

It has been one busy weekend!
We burned a huge pile of branches that came out of the trees during the winter, trimmed more bushes and trees, and dug and divided more plants!
And I'm still weeding!
I now have 207 plants for my sale on June 3rd.
God, I hope they all sell!
Also, took in the mo-ho because when we were in Muskegon
a couple of weeks ago, the TV Booster didn't work.
They got it fixed, needed a new cable.

Today we went to Van Attas Greenhouse to
pick out the annuals for our pots.
Here is our catch.
Of course now I have to plant them all.
We have pots on our deck and in the shade garden,
and by the pond.

And a new Tree Peony is open.
It's a pale pink and the largest of all the tree peonies I have.

Here's a pic with me and the tree peony.

They are absolutely huge!
And now off to plant!

the yard....continued

More things are blooming in the yard!

First I'll show you 2 of my Deciduous Azaleas.

This one is a white with a yellow streak,

and the other is hot pink!

Unlike ever green Azaleas, these lose all their leaves

in the winter and have larger flowers of more colors.

But they don't cover the bush like evergreen Azaleas.

Next is our giant Snow Ball Bush.

It's about 15 ft tall.

Was one of the few things in the yard

when we bought the house.

Then we have Lupine.

The tall pale yellow flower spike.

The little gold button flowers,

I don't remember the name.

Then along one of my walks is a small

ground cover plant called Thrift,

with little pink button flowers.

And last is a favorite bush of mine called

Japanese Keria.

Beautiful gold carnation like flowers.

The bush gets about 6 ft tall.

It doesn't do as well in my yard as I've seen in others,

but I keep it anyway.
Oh, and an update on my plant sale for June 3rd. I now have 195 plants potted up!

This will be the last weekend to dig and divide, as most plants are getting to big to disturb.

But I should hit my goal of 200.

More pics later!