My Cat is snoring.....

She sleeping in the clutter I'm trying to clean up and she's snoring so loud it's unreal.  At night she snores so loud we can hear her in the bedroom and she's in the living room!  So here is my cat snoring while I try to pick up my clutter and sweep.  I have to wait until she's awake to finish......

Up-cycling and Zero Landfill - Austin

So this morning we got up and remembered that this was the first weekend of ZeroLandFill - Austin free giveaway.  No knowing what to expect we wandered over to see.  (me forgetting my camera).  At first I promised myself that I would be good and only pick up a couple of things since it was for school people and artists.)  I still think of myself as a beginner when it comes to art....

So anyway, we got there and had just a blast.  Looking at stuff, seeing what was out there and talking to tthe other people as well as the volunteers.  They were so nice - they even got me a chair to sit in when I pooped out..  We would dig around in boxes and boxes of stuff for all kind of projects.  So I took some pictures along with my trusty assistant Niobe, who had to micro-manage.  It's on for two more weekends so we will go back and I will take photos of the place.  Gene decided to think about making chess boards with some of his pieces and I've thinking about all sorts of stuff.  Now to get moving.

We took a few more of the other pile of stuff for the chessboards.   That's Niobe helping again.  She finally wore out during the last round of

photos and is now taking a nap. 

Recycle or rather up-cycle!

In case anyone reads this, the next two weekends in August (the 20th and 27th) are also on schedule for the ZeroLandfill.  They say they have more stuff coming.  We're returning stuff back so we might see you there. 

Unknown flowers

First off - I love wildflowers.  One of the first books I ever bought myself was a book on California Wildflowers.  I used my allowance to pay the bookstore off and bought that book and a book about animals.  I was 10 maybe.  I was so proud of buying my own books.  I still have them.  So as I've moved and grown, this love of wild plants has pretty much stayed with me.  I have to know what they are and if they could be useful.  Included in my job list is working with a friend who would wild food forage and I would usually go along.  So I know bull cane is edible at certain times a year and where to pick mustang grapes, how to make agarita jelly and buffalo plums (which are actually legumes). 

So when i was helping Blinda - my landlady with her community garden I found a plant that I just can't identify.  It's slowly driving me nuts.  It's either wild or an excaped variety of sunflower.  I can't seem to get a good picture of it and I cannot identify it.  I know there has to be a picture somewhere but who knows. 
If anyone reads this and knows what it is please let me know.

It is a Cowpen Daisy.  I was happy I figured it out finally.  

Greener times

I found this photo I took in the spring and marveled at the greenness of it.  It's a Ten Petaled Anemone or a Texas Anemone (Anemone berlandieri ) which I happen to love but many people consider it a weed.  It comes in a blueish color as well as this white but I think they are so very special.  Right now the area where it lives in my back yard is brown and crispy.  Nothing alive there thanks to the over 100 degree weather and the drought.  I snuck a dribble of water in the area since my sage and my rosemary were looking peaked.  Hopefully we can get water and things will green up.  I always marvel at how quickly weeds bounce back.  As I look outside my window I see tiny wild petunias blooming with no additional moisture.  I'm always amazed at how no matter how stressed or horrible we think something is...nature seems to be able to produce beauty from it.  . 

Watermelon Summer

One of my favorite foods n the summer is watermelon.  How could anyone not enjoy the cool watery fruit especially now that the seeds are missing from it.  (Although we shouldn't dismiss the childish practise of spitting watermelon seeds at siblings).  My brother and I often had seed spitting contests and would manage to spit a great many at each other until my grandmother would catch us.  We were being vulgar -- one of her favorite words to denote lowness of character.  As children we ate the rattlesnake watermelons with the highly attractive green and white zig-zaggy stripes on them or the dar green it was almost black with a yellow spot on the bottom variety..  Now we eat the roundish seedless variety.  I've always wanted to grow them but they take a good deal of moisture to grow them and these days it's probably better to buy them from someone who grew them to keep the bills paid.  They never tell you the names of what you buy in the store - not like the apples or the pranges.  Everything is just watermelon-- seedless or seeded.  

Watermelon is also one of the fruits my SO will eat on a regular basis.  He even cuts up chunks for the fridge so they stay nice and icy. The rind that's left he takes and tosses it outside so the squirrels and the birds get some extra moisture.  The backyard squirrels hold and eat it like corn on the cob.  We find the dried up tough skins lying about the dead weeds in the back.    It's been so hot and rainless both of us worry about the outside wildlife.  We have bowls of water out, which unfortunately, the grackles view as a public toilet so they crap in it all the time.  We're constantly cleaning it out.  The other day I found a small headless bird floating in the water which makes me wonder if we have a serial killer of some sort.  I dumped the body out and when I went back to clean it up, it had mysteriously vanished.  (dun, dun, dun.) 

   It's been so hot the various small birds sit around with their mouths open panting (birds don't sweat so they pant.)  Well Gene couldn't stand it anymore and bought a cheap little circular sprinkler.  We hooked it up to the hose and hang it from the bushes around the house, dribbling enough to make a small waterfall for the birds.)  They love the shower - the cardinals especially.  I've been trying to catch one of them for a risque shower shot but they see me coming with the camera and run away.  I guess no one wants a picture of them in the shower.  I did manage to get a shot of the sprinkler in the bush.  I knew we have to be careful about water usage but we only water the bushes and that's only because our landlady is so proud of them.   If it helps the various birds - warblers, wrens, cardinals and the blue jay family - then I hope no one begrudges it.

Becoming a Sharecropper!

In my search to find new meaning in my life (ALO-after lay-off) I was paying rent to my landlady who happened to mention that she had a community garden plot that she was behind on and had received a warning that she needed to weed it.  I jokingly offered to make a deal with her and suddenly find myself with a farming job.

She wants tomatoes and peppers and I want some way of making sure I can continue living as long as possible at the house.  Plus I'm sure I could get peppers and tomatoes as well as other stuff.  So this afternoon I'm traveling with her to the spot to see what's up and will weed and water to my hearts content.  Maybe it will help me lose weight and get going on stuff.
Of course I could do it when it's in the cool of the evening.  We'll see.

Growing potatoes

Well my friend Hal had these potatoes in his vegie basket and he was going to toss them out.  I couldn't bear for the poor things to die trying to grow so I took them home and planted them in pots (two potatoes to a pot)..  I started slow and mounded dirt on top everytime they showed their heads.  I have no idea if I will get potatoes but it's fun thinking about it.  I need a bigger pot - or at least a taller one.

Here's a photo of one of them . I'm hoping I get at least one baby potato out of three pots.  I grow almost anything but have to admit I'm a somewhat lazy gardener and will forget them.  I used to be better at it but age and creaky joints are slowing me down a tad.  My avocado I raised from seed is starting to send out side branches and is looking good despite the Kitty Girls and Minerva eating the leaves when's the tree is inside over the winter.  Gene, my crazy SO bought a weird pepper from Fiesta and decided to grow it so after he ate it he planted the seeds in a pot nearby.  Yesterday I noticed that a few seedlings were coming up.  I have a sweet potato that hung around so long it sprouted (It ran away to behind the microwave which we never use).  I'm thinking about planting it. It's sorta fun to see what happens.