Xmas in October

The so-called xmas cactus that I obtained during last year's spinning guild holiday party is blooming. According to this site, there are several varieties of this houseplant; mine may be a Thanksgiving cactus. I don't try to force it to bloom at a particular time, so I'm happy with whenever it chooses.

Holiday cactus

Closer

Closer yet

I'm a little shocked at how healthy this plant is, as my houseplants suffer from benign neglect. This past week each of them received a layer of Black Kow composted manure, though, as a couple of them look a bit peaked.

That's what is going on inside. Outside, it was a different matter. Last weekend's rain softened the earth enough that the tulip tree lost its grip. I think the chain I wrapped around it helped prevent the house from taking a direct hit. The only damage was a small tear in one screen.

Timber!

Missed the bird bath

I had already made arrangements for its removal, but was probably fairly low on their priority list. Once I called to tell them the tree was leaning against the house, they came out the next day and took care of it.

All gone!

Relocated bird feeders

I removed the fencing along the rain garden (and the flamingos) before work began. Consequently, the view is more open not only from the tree's absence, but the fence as well. I may leave it that way (if the dog stays out of the rain garden).

Outside view

Indoor view

With the tree gone, the bird feeders can be closer to the house. We'll see how that works out. I'm not feeding them yet; that usually happens around Thanksgiving.

The cooler temps have left the yellow jackets by the compost bin less active, so I managed to clear out the weeds in that corner of the yard. This morning there was frost on the grass as well as the roofs, but not a killing frost yet. A drive through the countryside revealed that soybean and corn harvests are under way across the area. It can't stay summertime forever (thank goodness!)

Imperfect

Last week I was happy to report that my whole house generator kicked on during a brief power outage. This week I am not very happy with it, as it lost its connection to the wi-fi and can't get it back. It has lost its connection before, but with the help of customer service, we were able to get it back. Not this time - it just can't find the wi-fi extender.

Generac sends me daily reminders, via email and text, to reconnect, but the weather has been frightful - very cold and windy. It has warmed up a bit, but it's now rainy and windy. Sorry, I am not standing out there fiddling with the damn thing until the weather becomes a bit more cooperative. The generator works fine without the wi-fi, and that is all I really care about.

It's gift exchange season, and I brought home a xmas cactus from one. As you may recall, I received one of these plants several years ago as a gift, but it pooped out after its second season of bloom. I'm hoping to take better care of this one.

This past week, I've been catching up on "Wiser than Me", one of my favorite podcasts. The interview with Alice Waters, founder of Chez Pannnise and promoter of "California Cuisine" and the farm-to-table philosophy, made me want to grow food again. I wrote about this urge before, but my follow-through has been pretty lame.

What would I grow? I have a growbag that fits into a milk crate, perfect for a few green bean plants (not a new idea on this blog; in fact, I think the seeds are in the fridge). Store-bought garlic has been particularly crappy this year, so maybe some of that. Strawberries? The ones in the grocery stores taste insipid, bred for shipping and keeping, NOT flavor. Those are all possibilities worth considering.

OR I could put on my granny pants and frequent farmers markets, at least for those things that I don't want to grow myself.

Fox Island

Two years ago, a derecho came through this area. For those who don't know, a derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that here caused a lot of damage. Fortunately for me, the worst hit area was south of my house. Unfortunately for Fox Island, a county park and nature preserve, the storm did a LOT of damage.

The park had to close indefinitely. Donations and volunteers were requested, to help with the clean-up and restoration. Now, two years later, the park is about to open. And since I donated some money, I was invited to a pre-opening hike last month.

The bulletin board in the nature center tells the story. The company that removed the trees did so in exchange for the wood. New trees have been planted, and the park is starting to heal. But it will be generations before it fully recovers.

Where there was once countless trees there is now next to nothing.

The sandy soil did little to keep trees upright.

I have a bit of history with the park. While self-employed (many, many years ago!), I participated in a ground water study, hiking through the preserve to measure the depth of the water in strategically placed wells. Those wells cannot even be found now. I have cross country skied at the park, surrounded by winter-bare trees that are no longer there. It's all very sad.

While we are catching up, here is a photo of my Christmas cactus blooming in April. The plant was a gift, and the year after receiving it, I did manage to force some winter blooms from it. But I haven't been a very good plant owner to this thing, have debated over whether I should put it out of its misery, when it creates this rather large blossom. Go figure.

I don't think I mentioned my attempt to overseed a swath of quack grass in the backyard with grass seed and clover last month. It's really hard to tell if it is working, and I have been remiss in keeping the patch watered. I'm going to mow the area today, and we'll just have to wait and see.

As promised, here is a pic of a spiderwort blossom. It is recovering from being transplanted quite nicely.

Yesterday I planted the impulse purchases from Riverview Native Nursery. These include Queen of the Prairie, Michigan Lily, Purple Meadow Rue, Spotted Joe Pye. They all went in next to the rain garden. I hope they tolerate my heavy clay soil. I also picked up a couple of butterfly weed plants at the nursery, to round out the ones out front. Those are now installed as well. Now all that is left are the rattle snake master plants, which was what I went to the nursery to purchase in the first place.

Insult to injury

Not only am I recovering from shoulder replacement surgery, I now also have a cold. Not the flu, not covid, not whatever else is going around, just an old fashioned cold. Ironically, the only place I could have picked up this virus is the doctor's office, where I went on Wednesday to have the staples removed.

Otherwise, not much going on. A half dozen bluebirds showed up at the birdbath today, so I put out some mealworms for them; so far, no takers. Ditto the seed wreath and hot butter bark I splurged on. I'm sure that will change once my fine feathered friends venture from their usual feeding stations.

The xmas cactus continues to pop out a blossom, one at a time. I'm not sure how one keeps this plant blooming, so I've continued to cover it at night to see if that helps.

Its cactus cousins are... weird. One is putting on quite a show while the others look dead or nearly dead. Are they just dormant? Inquiring minds want to know.

Have a joyful week.

A-OK

Just a quick note to say the surgery went well on Wednesday. I came home Thursday, had a bit of a scare yesterday and went to the ER (everything checked out okay), starting PT tomorrow. I sleep a lot, with one cat or the other in my lap; the dogs are at the kennel until Tuesday.

Despite my erratic efforts to force the xmas cactus to bloom, it complied.

A flutter of sparrows

I find the descriptions for flocks of certain birds to be amusing. A parliament of owls, a murder of crows, a murmeration of starlings. Sparrows look like a "knot" when clustered around the millet feeder or perching on the bird bath, but they take flight in a "flutter" for no apparent reason at all.

I put up another bird feeder, the one for mealworms, but so far no takers, not even starlings. There is one more bird feeder to be cleaned, one that is too big and heavy for the utility sink, so it is sitting in the bathtub, awaiting a hosing down and a spritz of 10% bleach solution.

Sean from Sanctuary Natives and I had a great discussion this past week about the yard design. He spent two hours here, explaining the why's and wherefore's of the plants he chose. I learned A LOT, even why my elm tree surpassed the older tulip tree in growth. It turns out the leader of the tulip tree had been whacked, so it had to develop a new one before it could really get going. So if you are purchasing a tree from a nursery, make sure its leader has not been cut if you want it to get off to a strong start.

One change to the design will be more trees, like an oak and a hickory. There is a mature oak on the next block that I just love. The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago; the second best time is today.

Some of my guests this past Thursday came bearing gifts, including a xmas cactus. Did you know that there are apps that can identify plants? We were able to name the ones I received in October, so now I know that some of them are toxic to cats. (Beau the Feline Destroyer of all Things Nice has been nibbling on some of them and then vomiting, so I had a clue about that. And I moved the plants to where he can't reach them.) I wax and wane on houseplants, but for some reason am waxing strong recently.

I'm still busy with physical therapy. My shoulder feels almost normal, there is zero pain, and I feel five years younger. My energy is returning, too. By spring I should be raring to go.