Today I army crawled through the desert!

Okay, so it wasn't today, but that sounded better than; Recently I army crawled in the desert. And it wasn't really the desert, but there were some similarities. It was very dry, dusty and dirty. When I showered afterwards I had to wash my hair twice! It was hot, but actually it wasn't. The humidity levels had dropped and it was rather nice out, unless you're army crawling in the desert. There were threats all around. Spiders, silverfish, bugs... There was desert wildlife; camels! Well, camel crickets. Hate them. I don't really know what an army crawl is, but I crawled lots. Kneeled and did the worm too. My core and arms were rendered useless afterwards. So, can you guess what I was doing?

 

I was knocking a biggie off my forever long house and yard to-do list. I was cleaning out under my front porch. It's a big porch. The width of the house and maybe 7' deep. There was a TON of wood under there. Crazy amount of wood and I did not want to encourage termites, so finally after 12 months I got it removed. Unfortunately it's still on the property. I moved it to the backyard and suppose I'll slowly throw some of it away and some of it I'll burn. A few pieces were good and I've kept as scrap lumber. 

 

In addition to a bunch of scrap lumber, old trim and who knows what wood, I found; 2 dead squirrels, a big old Sears mower attachment to catch grass (I guess that's what it was), two big circles of old wire (looked like barb wire but without the barbs), some brackets for attaching wood to other wood (decking), an old door thingy (looks kind of like a tar gun, but it's what opens and holds open the door), some odd (to me) cinder type bricks (I hadn't ever seen ones shaped like these before), two really heavy metal L things (they were maybe 3' and HEAVY), some trash, screws and a rabbit nest. 

 

There was so much more pulled out than shown in the pictures. I was too hot and dirty to take more pictures. 

I spread diatomaceous earth under there to kill the bugs and spiders. This stuff is good stuff. It'll kill spiders, silverfish, roaches, fleas, crickets, etc. If you get the food grade kind, it's safe for use around children, pets and poultry. I found it at Orschelns. Three quarters of my house sits on a basement, the remainder quarter is a crawl space. I plan to dust it and the garage with diatmaceous earth. It's safe for use in the garden, but will kill both bad and good bugs, so I haven't used it there. I have so few bees coming to my garden, I wouldn't want to do anything to harm them.  Oh and hopefully no one ever has to deal with this, but it is effective against bedbugs. 

It took me far longer that I expected and I have two lumps under my knees from kneeling and crawling on all kinds of stuff, but it's so good to have that behind me and to have had no signs of active termites. It was especially nice to have nice weather at the end of July to do it!

Zinnias!

The yard is a constant works-in-progress. I have so many plans for it and eventually I hope to have it filled with various perennials. Remember this springs bulbs along my driveway? I planted seed in one stretch. Zinnias, daisies, bachelor buttons, mini sunflowers... only 2 bachelor buttons and 2 varieties of zinnias came up. 

 

They're so pretty. 

 

 

 

I think next year I'll expand this seed planting area and try again to get more of a variety. 

Creepy Crawly!

Human beings are psychologically far more afraid of bugs than they are of driving a car, whereas people get killed by cars every single day, and there is hardly ever a story of people getting killed by bugs. Jeff Pinkner

I am amazed at the bug life in my yard and specifically in my little garden. 

Don't know what this guy is on my tomato, but I'm afraid he isn't a good bug. 

 

Spider-Man. He lives near my water faucet. We have a deal. I don't kill him and he doesn't move towards my bare feet. 

 

Yellow grasshopper. 

 

I think this is a flea beetle. 

 

Lightning bug or firefly. 

 

Bad cucumber beetle. 

 

Much welcome ladybug. 

 

Many I haven't been able to identify and will someday get by the County Extension office for help with. 

 

There's even a daddy long legs in my garden!

 

I think this is called a leaf hopper. He's so pretty! 

 

No clue what this one is, but odds are he's not a friend. 

 

This is just a sampling of the bugs I've found in and around the garden. Also interesting to see what I can find. 

First Anniversary Plantings

I hadn't really set out to plant something on the anniversary of my purchasing my first house, it just happened to fall on that date. On a recent trip to Walmart I found an employee taking clearanced plants to the dumpster! Wait! I'll buy them and three separate trips to Walmart found me with four dumpster bound, deeply discounted plants. I felt badly for them! 

Pussy Willow; 

 

Excuse the weeds. I don't spray for bugs or weeds. Nature is welcome here. 

Two forsythia bushes;

 

And one Rose of Sharon;

 

They don't look perfect and they were dry as bones. I've watered them in with plant food and will keep them watered in hopes they can survive. If they don't, they didn't cost much and I tried. 

Water Bill Savings

Even with all the rains Northeast Kansas has seen this spring, my plants are taking up the water and the pools need water added a couple times a week.  I haven’t noticed an increase in my water bill, but expect a jump this month and next.  I have barrels to make rain barrels out of, but need someone to assist in building them.  I think that’ll be a fall project.  Until then I’ve decided to help my water bill out a little by saving the water that runs when I start the shower or when I’m waiting for the tap water to heat to wash dishes in the sink.  I collect the water in a bucket, which I take outside and dump in my new trash can turned rain barrel I made with my father last weekend.  The top is an overturned lid with four holes drilled for draining the water into the can.  A spigot was added to allow water to flow out from the bottom.  Since the only water that collects in is the water I’ve added from the buckets and a little bit of rain water, no overflow hole was drilled.  I’ve added mosquito dunks to the can so that no mosquitos breed in the water. 

 

I can easily step out the back door, dump the bucket into the top of the can and return inside.  When it comes time to empty the water, I fill a different bucket using the spigot and dump it into a pool.  I might someday attach a hose. 

 

Speaking of mosquitos, I check the pools several times a week for swimming mosquito larvae.  I’ve found them twice in one of the tomato pools.  Both times the dunks were still there, but had gotten stuck up on a bag and not come down when as the water level lowered.  Both times I was able to find the mosquito dunk, move it back into the water and checked 12 hours later to find the larvae dead. 

 

A funny water bucket story.  I don’t always empty the bucket into the trash can right away and I had left it out on the bathroom floor ¾ full of water one night after showering.  I awoke at 3 something to the sound of Josey messing with the water.  She likes to dig in the buckets and splash water.  I noted that the bathroom floor would be wet when I got up, rolled over and went back to sleep.  I awoke again a few minutes later to the sound of water running.  It was rather loud and I flew out of bed.  Josey had managed to spill the bucket of water, which flowed out of the bathroom, across the hall and down the basement stairs!  Oh my what a mess!  I’ve learned my lesson!  Either dump the bucket right away or keep it in the tub so that water spills down the drain, not across the floor and into the basement!

They came up!

Late last October I planted bulbs along the south side of my house and hoped they'd come up, multiple and live until I die! Well, they've been up and I've been enjoying them for weeks. 

 

 

The picture below is of one of my favorite bulbs. 

 

The large purple hyacinths smelled so nice. There are also some crocus blooms, but many were eaten by the rabbits. 

Those shown below are volunteers. There are also some volunteer grape hyacinths and two volunteer tulips. 

  

Makes for a lovely greeting every evening as I pull down the driveway to the garage. 

 

I think I might add some more bulbs this fall and plant something in front of where the bulbs are this spring for further blooms this year. 

 

Long over due...

No one parks in my driveway. I do, my parents will, but my other guests all park out in the street. If they happen to be exiting their vehicle on the passenger side, they're stepping out into a pile of leaves. I forget about that pile of leaves until someone comes over and has to step into those leaves. I recently got out there on a nice afternoon with little wind and got rid of most of them.

Before.  

 

After

 

Five bags of leaves raked, bagged and carried from the street in front of the house to the alley behind my house. 

 

Maybe I'll get this done in the fall this year, not wait till late winter! 

The never ending project (part 2)

The project began in early October. 

 

 

 

At one time 3/4 of the back yard was covered in 2'-4' of brush. Cutting it down was probably the easiest part of this project. 

The never ending project (part 1)

Honeysuckle. It might be pretty, provide privacy and smells good when in bloom, but it is a nasty, invasive plant that is taking over our prairies and timbers. I knew the honeysuckle had to go, the sooner the better. I hadn't known it was going to be the chore it was! 

 

The before picture take this summer. That's honeysuckle around the chimney, some sort of volunteer weed tree to the left of the chimney, honeysuckle overtaking the cedar tree right of the air conditioner and that is honey suckle and some lilac at the corner. 

Bulbs

 

Bulbs planted and some replanted! I hope they come up, multiple and live till I die!