We've been working around the yard.

The front herb garden is usually mostly weeds with a few herbs here and there but if you didn't know what you were looking at you would think they were all weeds. The pond/fountain has been mostly frogs until Chris decided to get some fish. He wanted coy but they are so expensive and it is a very small pond so.... he is making due with gold fish. So far they are doing great. But... we think we have a cat fishing them because Chris found half a one laying on the ground.

Chris's fake coy fish pond.

We planted a few new herbs and picked the weeds from around others. Every year I add an herb or two. Some make it and other don't. I found a mint plant that I thought was dead growing in a completely different spot than where I had planted it. I planted some basil (that I can never get to grow) and sage. I have oregano and dill and garlic chives. I also put out some marigolds plants.

This is lavender.

Other plants just seem to come up in this herb flower garden on their own. Last year I was weeding and there was this pathetic looking little flower on a tiny little plant. Chris said pull it up it is a weed anyway. But I thought it was pretty and let it grow. Now I have this huge bush that is loaded every day with the prettiest flowers.

Wild flower! It is a blanket flower a type of sun flower native to Florida. About the size of a daisy.

We finished the garden. This year we went small and sweet. We've got strawberries planted and tomatoes, peppers, onions, squash, the usual. We may expand with some beans later in the season and it's too late for lettuce so... I may do some in a container where I can move it out of the heat.

Garden!

The blue berry bush is loaded. I hope the birds leave a few for me this year. It has a lot of air plants growing on all the branches. We are not in agreement as to whether these plants are harmful to the blue berry or not. So far it has a lot of berries not many leaves.

Blue berries!

So for the last few years we have not gotten a single orange off our orange bush. Why? Because of a tiny little snail. We bought this expensive organic snail killer they didn't seem to mind too much but then I learned a trick.....

Baby Orange!

If you save your egg shells and... grind them into a fine powder then sprinkle it around the plants afflicted with snails... it is like walking on glass for them. Their little slimy snail feet get all cut up and they go else where. So far it is working like a charm. And egg shell is good for adding calcium to the soil it's a win win for my orange tree.

egg shells

smashing them

turning them into powder.

Chris has been planting all the plants he had in containers around the house. We got two gardenia plants that my mom grafted from hers and a maple tree from  a seed that blew over from the neighbors yard also a fern palm thing my Aunt gave us, she thought would never live. All free stuff that is finally big enough to go in the ground. Also we acquired a banana tree but he has yet to put it in the ground.

Banana tree.

Gardenia

He also finally planted the mosquito bush. I hope it keeps the mosquito population down although I have heard it's mosquito shooing powers have been exaggerated. I first heard about this and have been saving every wild geranium in the yard but if they don't keep the mosquito's away I guess I will pull them up they don't really have flowers.

Geranium or mosquito bush.

The youngest daughter always complains about helping in the garden so she planted her own. It consist of sunflowers surrounded by pinwheels. Hey it's hard to get teens to do anything. 

V's garden!

Hope y'all got some work done in your yard. There is always something to do.

It's February!

   

  Wow! This year has been flying by. I can't believe it's already February. I guess it's because I have been so busy. As some of you know I work for the post office and they have been consolidating everything lately. Trying to cut waist and save money. Well, the route I have delivered for the past 8 years was one of the routes that was consolidated in our office. (Basically that means it was dismantled, split up and tacked onto other routes.) In the end the route that had the majority of my route added to it was added to a part that another carrier, with more seniority, had. So she ended up taking that and I ended up on a completely different route. With a completely different mode of delivery. So it's like learning everything over again from the beginning. So basically a lot of 10 hour days trying to learn everything again.

Post office in the fog.

      We went for a ride in the rain. Every once in a while you get stir crazy from being shut in and that's what we all had. So not to waste gas but some times you just have to get out on the open rode and ride. (In the mini van!) We long for spring when the weather changes back to normal with not so many clouds. The sun was gone for weeks it seems like.

Around Lisbon in the rain.

     

We came across this missile in the woods.

Husband wanted to get a picture with it.

Turned out to be a veterans memorial.

We came across the best views on our drive.

This weekend, Presidents Day, to be exact is husbands birthday. He is loving it. We are all home for three days. And the weather for this weekend has been just wonderful. We have been socked in with clouds and rain for weeks and now finally the sun has appeared and I am obsessed with taking pictures of it.

Husband

Sunrise

Sunset

More set!

     In a short month the oldest daughter will be home from the army for good. She made a painful decision to get out and see what else life had to offer her. She has two small children and it just made more since to be able to be available for them. The army has single moms deployed and serving duty away from the kids for 24 hours all the time. From what I understand that was a major motivator for her decision.  I can't wait to see those grand babies. It may sound a little selfish but I'm glad she decided to get out so I can see those sweet little faces more than just on Skype.

Grand babies!

     

New Years traditions.

One of the biggest traditions my family has is... the eating of black eyed peas. It goes way back. My grandfather would make them for us every year. He used to say the peas would give you luck. The rice was for riches. The greens were the color of money.
 I've heard lot's of stories of how this tradition first started. One of the stories goes... that during the civil war the Yankees were particularly brutal in their warring. They would come through and take everything of value. Take all the food, take the animals. Slaughter what they couldn't take and burn the rest. The crops left in the field the homes everything was decimated and unusable by the time they finally left town. In most towns it was just woman and children and old men left behind as all the men had gone to war. But there was no way a good Southern woman would let her babies and elders starve. 'Where there is a will there is a way!' became a saying. All that was left once the Yankee raiders left town, usually, was feed meant for the animals that no longer existed. That feed, often time, consisted of black eyed peas. They ate the animal feed to survive. And after that in order to commemorate that god finds a way... we eat black eyed peas on New Years Day.
But I usually eat some on New Years Eve too just to make sure I get all the good luck out of them.

My peas are doing an over night soak they will be ready for when I get home to start cooking.
 

Thanksgiving stroll.

After getting so full of Thanksgiving dinner we traditionally go for a walk around the block before eating desert. This year since we were at my Aunt's house we decided to walk her property.

Delicious  and juicy bird.

 We had to decide if we were going to wear  jackets and shoes because for Florida it was pretty chilly. The high was only 63.

You can see the fireplace fire was pumping.

 All my Aunt's animals decided to go for a walk too.

Manx cat following and listening to us.

 We found some interesting things.

Gopher tortoise hole. Gopher tortoise's are endangered. And once one is on the property you can not disturb it.

 Scattered through out the property are places to stop and meditate.

Buddha

 As we walked and explored we felt eyes on us and realized we were being watched.

Barred Owl

 From our family to yours Wishing  everyone has a happy Holiday Season this year.

An update of what's been going on.

 

 

We acquired one of those plastic fish ponds set it up and be for we knew it we had a visitor. She's pretty unusual for a toad she was yellow. Kind of pretty for a toad. You can tell she is a toad and not a frog because toads have bumps on their backs.

 

Yellow toad

 

Southern toad or bufo terrestris.

 Eventually we will try and put some gold fish in the pond. I think it is too small for koi. It has a recirculating system ( water drips over the rock in the middle) and so that should be good for air circulation. I don't know about algae that might grow in it. We are going to have to do some research on these things. The husband planted some lily pads that should also aid with the oxygenation and frog landings.

 

 We have also been enjoying wonderful sunsets every night as Autumn moves in and brings cooler temperatures. Soon Thanks Giving will be here.

Sunset picture I took off the back deck.