What's Happening in Your neighborhood-visit with friends #17

Getting us back on track.. thought you would have noticed the error..2 - no.15 threads..lol...

Yes, it is in the 60's today Betty. 18 C. Next week is supposed to be in the mid 20'sC. Woo Hoo! Can't wait, and yes, it is very exciting, watching everything opening up and growing. ^_^

20C here in TBay today .. Delphinium is popping as is the 'Pig Squeak' (bergenia) and ..maybe some creeping phlox .. more awesome temps tomorrow !!

SAD folks here in TBay (and other cities as well) our LARGE paper mill 'Abitibi Bowater' has declared bankruptcy .. hundreds (thousands) of lives affected.

Had painting estimate #5 today .. and I am 99% sure I will go with the young fellow who came today .. you know you're getting older (wiser) when you call someone who is 38yrs old, a "young fellow" LoL
Have no idea when this will commence .. still have to pick out the paint.
He says he'll be here for 4 full days .. gimmee strength and COLOUR ideas .. I am going darker in the living/dining areas (a light cocoa) .. and the rest of the house will be a lighter colour .. I can see this being a MAJOR headache ..
AND .. I will put up border ( I love it) on my own .. have been giving stenciling some thought as well (less messy)
I wonder if I will be eligible for the 'renovation' kickback in Ontario ?

Thanks for moving us Betty .. and, as always .. good luck with all your projects ^_^


~M~

Hi folks, I haven't written much, but have popped in to read. Am keeping busy and haven't even been in the garden much.

Have a good evening.

Ann

How exciting for you "M" to have the entire place painted at once..a mess for sure but then it's over...I'm not very brave when it comes to color, not at all..went to Suzanne's to start her bedroom flooring last night, her bedroom furniture arrives tomorrow, talk about leaving it to the last minute..anyway, she did her room in perriwinkle blue, purple tint to it..bit dark for me but perhaps when the white bedroom outfit and co-ordinating bedding is in the room and white trim it won't look so dark...going to finish the project tonigh..shouldn't be late because we got a lot done last night and organzing of project..

Sorry to hear about Abitibi, much like the steel mills in Hamilton..entire town is affected and not much hope of bringing in other major companies to employ all who have lost their jobs..sad times for sure...praying for the economy...

It will reach near 20 today..cooler over the weekend but with sun being so strong we should see major growth in the gardens..still no flowers in mine..keep looking though..

Cathy who looked after the animals while I was away enjoying myself with the boys raked the entire yard, now that's a lot of raking..when I got home all leaves were tarped..managed to burn a few barrels full..then when I got home last night, she had been to the house and burnt everything...got to find something special as a thank you..she will not take $$$..that will make my life easier and now I can enjoy watching my plants grow..

A zillion seeds to plant but still much too early, most likely not until mid-May..

Don, what are you doing in your garden?

Ann, you are as busy as i if not more so...

Good morning,

Another glorious day here. I've been out to aquafit and to coffee. Now back for a short time before heading out to Raging Grannies meeting. Here are some crocuses for you. Enjoy. today will probably be the last day for them.

Ann

I have been pruning roses, and preparing space for 4 Heather Plants that I ordered from The Heather Farm on Vancouver Island. They are being shipped on Monday. I have also prepared Pots, Urns and Hanging baskets with a good mix of potting soil for the upcoming annual season. Am expecting an order from Botanus to arrive any day now and I want to be ready. Have a new Hybrid Tea Rose coming as well, so it's spot is preped and waiting. Can you tell I am anxious to get "growing"? ^_^

Today, I am going to check out a local nursery ...just to "Look". Wish me Luck!

Good luch with your 'CHEQUE' at the local nursery Don LoL

We have a dreary day here today .. I;m on call with VCARS so don't mind too much. Besides .. I BOOKED the painter today .. he was quite happy .. he will come on April 27 and be here 4 full days .. before then, as I have said, I have to go and pick COLOURS .. THE most unenviable job in the world, at least to me .. I am NOT a decision maker .. but .. maybe with a dealine looming, I'll be better.
Have already started taking down the borders that are up .. NEVER ever think when you buy 'dry stripable' wallpaper that when it is removed .. it's a breeze .. YES it comes off nicely .. however .. it leaves behind this teeny thin layer of paper stuck true to the wall !! .. have to wet that leftover with water and fabric softener then scrape it off !! .. BIG job .. glad we have help !!


Best get back at it ..

~M~

Sunday .. and it is COOL by big ol Lake Superior today .. a brisk wind from the north east is making the wood stove happy as it has a brief reprieve from it's mini slumber.

No yard work on the agenda .. just Lilly walks and lots of happy (and noisy) Black birds/Ravens and Sea Gulls and Blue Jays. I cleaned out the fridge freezer and found about 10 lonely and decrepit hamburger buns that were shall we say a bit FROST BITTEN .. so .. the wars are on for who takes claim of them since I threw them out on the lawn.

My bud Jo-Anne is on her way out here to try and help me make sense of all these colour swatches .. here's hoping when she leaves I will be more content and able to sleep .. stuff like this niggles at me until such a time as I am able to make a decision ..

Hope everyone is well and warm

~M~

Warm in Ottawa today and sunny. We got quite a bit more garden picked up - mostly oak leaves which drop long after we want to work in the garden. Also started screening last year's compost and mulching certain gardens with it.

And we decided that a small area of the back yard should be turned into garden since the lawn is mostly violets anyway - very poor quality grass. So we layered it with wet newspaper and I dumped all my large patio pots onto it. Usually I save about half the soil from season to season, but it was readily available to get this garden started. I'll get some bags of soil and maybe mushroom compost and add more but this will hold the newspaper down.

Have a rehearsal tonight; so I'm off to make dinner.

Ann

Good luck with your NEW garden Ann .. I bet it'll be awesome :-)

I am looking out the windows at a SNOW FLURRY .. which has been active for about an hour !! I don't expect the snow to stay ...

My bud and I did the marathon colour selection this aft .. and .. I have my colours chosen ^_^

I best go and see where my shovels are :-(

~M~

MERRY XMAS !!!! From Thunder Bay .. 10cm on the ground and 6-7cm expected before the rain starts to fall.
Thick heavy snow ... only one happy about it is Lilly cuz she LOVES to dive into the snow and roll LoL

The Robins are quite confused ...

Cleaning off the tops of the kitchen cabinets today in preparation for the painter ... the dish washer will be busy !!
Hadn't quite realized just how dusty it can get way up there !!
Will have to wash the Toby Mug collection by hand ..

Hope everyone has a great week

~M~

...only in Canada, ya' say? Pity...

Ann your garden plans sounds wonderful..there is a lawn filled with purple flowers down the block..I'll have to take a photo to show you, not sure what they are, deep blue purple...if it were my place I'd hate to cut the grass..lol..

OMG "M" not the 'snow' word surely...please don't send it my way..it's dull and cold here today, calling for rain until Wednesday I believe..

Had so many ups/downs this weekend that it just took my energy away..Thurs. evening after work went to Suzanne and we started her bedroom floor...Friday after getting off at 3pm headed back there and not only got it finished but a hallway as well..her bedroom furniture was arriving Sat. so talk about being under pressure...

Early morning I was up, cleaning out my craft studio, my laundry room, woodworking room, basement entrance and family room filled with all the supplies/tables, etc.

By 9:30 my girlfriend Darlene picked me up, we stopped and picked up another friend Diane and off to class registration..I booked I believe 4..portraits, memory booklet, daisy 3d painting, cards..might be another, can't remember..lol...home we came, Darlene brought painting clothes and shortly after arriving home Diane brought her DH and within a few hours the room had 2 fresh coats of light grey paint..

Was at a standstill so had the rest of the evening to put my feet up, thank goodness, knees ached, wrists hurting from all the clicking of flooring so I enjoyed every minute of it..Darlene called to say she and DH would be at the house early am and we'd get the flooring done...

First roll of 20' was put down, fitting each cut with perscision..2nd 20' roll put down, ooops, they shorted me 5', change of plans, had bought 2 - 8' rolls for the side room, we'd work on that..looked at it, and although it was the same color and design, one was matt and one semi-gloss so there went that project down to tube much to my dismay..

Mike packed up his tools..they were heading to Midland to shop..to save me a trip they picked up door trim and baseboard/paint materials..I was so disheartened and no energy that I said, forget it...this morning I was up early, sorry that I didn't do paint so did it before leaving for work, I'll give 2nd coat tonight..in the meantime I went to the flooring store this a.m. - told them all my wooes..they have another 30 mega rolls of it and are hoping one or two is semi-gloss, otherwise all the prescision cutting will have to be redone...

I is not a happy camper...

Everyone sounds so busy with their gardening plans!
Mine are mostly clean-up - the church yard needs de-thatching, and prepping of the flowergardens (perennials, mainly - much easier to keep up!), and the fallen tree limbs to get rid of.
We just bought a Toro leaf blower that says it has a speed of 235 mph (yikers! watching out for stones.....), and reduces 16 bags to 1!!! It's ours, so we'll be using it @ home, too - bye bye leaves!!! I think we have 16 bags worth in our tiny yard alone LOL

My hen & chicks are looking good, and I have some buds on the johnny-jump-ups (violas), so that looks good. Otherwise, I guess it's going to be green for quite awhile so it's a perfect time for clean-up :-)
Other than Christmas, this is my fav time of the year - everything is so STARTLING in it's newness and we get to promote a fresh, clean start to our year. Everything we do now is the groundwork (pun intended lol) for the beauty we see later.

I love popping in to hear the ups and downs of everyone's lives. I imagine that each of you is a strong force for good in your community.

Ann, what was played on the viola recital?

I met another Positive Living person in Whitehorse this week (where I was adjudicating at the music festival). She was one inspiring lady.

There is still two feet of snow on the ground in the Yukon, food for thought if you are tired of winter. And on Friday up there it snowed heavily all day.

Here at home, I finally got some of my plants in the greenhouse yesterday, so there is room to repot. It really feels joyful! My favorite time of year!

theresa

Theresa - what kind of greenhouse do you have?

2 feet of snow?!!? I was hoping the radio weather was right an we'd get all of our snow gone by the end of last weekend! I don't know how I'd do with Yukon's snowfall. I'm just getting used to Calgary's late spring as compared with Winnipeg's. Winnipeg has a few more weeks (Victoria Day long w/e) before the frost is out of the ground and they're planting. lol Calgary has to wait until Mid-June for it LOL

It is a beautiful time of year!! 21c today wooooooo hooooooooooo!! Already 16c now! :-)

Hi folks,
I stopped by the FC to check mail since I've had no power at home since 5 am. Can't go on too long.

Violist - that student played all of Schwanendreher, Vieuxtemps Elegie and a Brahms Sonata. wonderful to hear it on an instrument which I loved.

I'm heading home. Warmer in the garden than in my house and I can get some work done.

Ann

Ann, hope you have power back on..

High winds and heavy rainfall last night..can't believe just how much a 100 year old oak tree can sway from side to side..still standing this morning so all is well in my world..

Did a quick walk around in the gardens..although NO flowers, the plants must have grown at least 2 or 3" since last weekend..flowers can't be far behind...

Dull and cold here, goodness the dampness goes right through you..I've the micro heater on to keep me warm, something I rarely did in winter time..

Good news is they are calling for 20 -24 this weekend..drats, we'll have to start the flooring early morning so I can play in the gardens..


yep, prep work will surely give those plants a boost...


What are you all up to today...

Weather has been wonderful here in Southern BC over the past several days. Yesterday the mercury reached 25C and more of the same today. All it takes is a little heat and the trees are bursting open with leaves. Planted my Heather yesterday and they look happy and healthy. Botanus order is on it's way by expedited mail; should arrive today. Expecting my Hortico Rose to arrive any day now as well.

But our luck will end at the end of the week with below average temps predicted. No matter...live for today! ^_^

Oh I forgot to 'watch' this new thread so I have missed everything! Have had some nice weather here and yard cleanup is going along nicely - have about 2/3 of the front left to do. Lots of little things popping up and blooming and other things showing green - I have lots of spring blooming perennials .Under the layers of leaves the daffodil border in front is up maybe 3-4 inches.. I am being rather lazy this year which is typical after a year of the garden competition - leaving lots of leaves on the ground and generally just tidying.
My new lasagna bed has not done so well - the newspaper over the grass just did not deteriorate over the winter - guess it was not wet enough and I did not start it until well into Sepember I think. And the soil has not settled down of course. I have a lot of hostas coming to plant there so trying to keep it wet and hope the papers start disappearing!

Don, sure am hoping to get some of your sunshine..

Fancyvan,sorry about the lasagna bed..will you be able to salvage it?

Slog/slog/slog .. through our MUD,MUD,MUD !!! Spits and spats of snow and freezing rain today .. the sun came out while I was in visitng my Hospice client .. we both got so excited .. then .. POOF it went away.
Her room is on the 5th floor .. and th hospital is just a few blocks up from the Lake .. so we watched some lake boats slowly making their way into the city .. slow going as the port just opened last week and the ice is a bit .. hmmm .. well I guess 'chunky' would be the best word ...

Nice to hear everyones gardens are popping .. my east perennial garden continues to prevail .. most especially the Delphinium .. I am sure it grows an inch a day or more ..

Anyone experiencing the warm temps ENJOY .. our turn will come ^_^

Wonder if Ann's power came back .. thought we might lose ours yesterday as things were flickering intermittently .. but .. so far so good ....

ENJOY

~M~

Betty yes it will be OK I will just have to dig holes in the newspaper when I plant! I am keeping it as wet as possible , running the sprinkler on it every couple days - should be OK by next year. I did it so late in the year I guess the paper just didnt have a chance!

now you cover the ground with newsprint, do you add anything to it...

Hi folks,

We got power back around noon yesterday - shortly after I left home. it had been out since around 5 am. I had a bank deposit to do and tried to shop at Loblaws only to find the store closed while they did some renovations. They WERE handing out coupons for a free shopping bag.

I was a bit miffed because I had interrupted a bus ride home last Friday to pick up a few items only to find the store closed because of a computer problem. I don't think that was planned, but given the number of people in hard hats eating lunch outside yesterday, that had to be planned.

Once home, I DID work in the garden a bit - screened three more large wheelbarrow loads of compost. Started raining last night (needed) but that means no yard work today.

This morning - aquafit at 8 am. Home for breakfast and to teach two students before heading downtown to get my hair cut. Did grocery shopping on the way home. now catching up on Internet and will practice a bit as I have rehearsal this evening.

Fancy - some of my newspaper didn't break down by last spring either, but I had the soil deep enough that I could plant and by the end of the season, most of it had. Its main purpose is to kill off the grass and I'm now hoping maybe violets as well. I'm still adding soil to the small garden extension in the back yard this spring but I won't put anything except annuals there at first and I tried very hard not to make holes in the newspaper until I was SURE the grass was dead.

Marilynne - sure hope you keep your power. You warmer weather WILL come, I'm sure. It's quite chillly here today along with the rain, but they are promising us sun and close to 30 degrees on Saturday. My earliest tulips started blooming right on cue before the crocuses finished. The Pulmonaria is blooming and so is the Scilla. It will be awhile yet for most of the tulips though. (Should have daffs soon in a few places).

Ann

You guys are always so busy! I'm going to start taking my camera with me when ever I go out. I missed a perfect shot yesterday. I was on the grounds of a local retreat centre when I saw a mama deer, followed closely by her Triplets! They were all kind of mottled in their fur. I was in the car, engine off and windows open. They came as close as 10 feet. What a picture it would've made.

i've segregated my iris pot because yesterday they were covered by brown aphids. All my plants are back in pots, we have about 4" of soil cover over bedrock. I am growing a nice crop of dandelions though, removing them keeps me busy.

Betty there is a layer of compost and then topsoil over the newspapers. I only put the newspaper down because it was grass area and I soaked the papers before the loam went on. I shifted some of the loam off because it had not sunk and there are actually stonestepping stones thru to the side yard which is a dog run ( unused) and I store things there.

This is what it looked like when I finished last year - I see it was the end of Sept.

Probably something like I did with a cloth type material..did it in the DG friendship garden, each time I plant something I have to dig a hole in the mesh..

Betty this is how I did my last lasagna garden - http://www.violaann.smugmug.com/gallery/4580246_FZnab

I did it at the end of summer and didn't plant anything permanent in it for the first winter.
Most of the newspaper had broken down by the end of the summer.

In zones that are warm enough it can function as a horizontal composter, but that wouldn't work well in most area of Canada.

Ann

Ann I so enjoyed your gallery..very interesting...I'm sure this year it will be spectacular...your yard is simply elegant...thanks for sharing..

Guess you have to leave it untouched one season before planting? that's the hard part..

Rain and damp out there..dressed as though it's winter..now they say that come Friday we'll have a heat wave..

Not sure I posted this last weekend, but everything was taken out of the craft room, had bought 280 sq.ft. of wood looking linoleum to do the floor..started out Saturday with a few friends and the room was painted light grey, Sunday, Mike and Darlene came to help me lay the flooring..the most difficult piece 20' in length was cut and fit like a charm, out came the 2nd piece, they cut 15' rather than 20', drats now what, so we decided at least we could do the side room of the craft room which would take 2- 8' pieces, layed one down and it wasn't the same..what I wanted and what was down was semi-gloss type sheen, these 2 pieces were matt...couldn't finish the project, all the rooms downstairs look like a disaster as all my craft junk is now stored in them..Monday I was able to exchange the rolls..I've painted the new door trim and baseboards ready for Saturday..counting the days..wouldn't you know, now that I've scheduled a work weekend, it will be sunshine...

This message was edited Apr 22, 2009 10:08 AM

Got 2/3 of the front beds cleaned up yesterday, maybe finish today - maybe not - they are predicting S.................!

My senior foster Trouper has been moved upstairs to my bedroom - anticipating he will be here for a long time so he might as well join us. I had to teach him to go up the stairs! My stairs turn half way and when a dog looks up from the main floor they just see the wall so often they are afriad to go up.
City's blue box recycling program has started this week - lots of complaints, lots of compliments. I am annoyed to pay for something I have done free for years but it is certainly more convenient - and - in the two weeks I have been filling the box - that plastic was apparently taking up more room than I imagined - I have only one small bag of regular garbage ( in addition to the two bags of animal poo) . Now if they would just start taking the compostable stuff I would be very happy!

Hi everyone.
Here is a photo of my mimulas from my greenhouse. It's where I am getting my spring infusion as everything else is still brown!
It's only 9 degrees out there today and at least -10 tonight so I will be bringing my tender stuff in from the GH just to be safe.
I have seen the robins back and the nuthaches so I figure we should be a bit warmer.
Oh well I need patience.
Ann

Ann, they look real nice. You best put the heat on tonight. Yesterday the car outside thermometer read 26C. I think it's about 9 out there now, overcast and windy. A good day to stay in and get those wretched taxes done.

Linda

Linda, do you think the plants will survive the aphides?

As for weather, it's cold and dreary here, hard to believe they are calling for summer over the weekend..

Ann perhaps you best bring those beauties inside for the night..

Went over to the little restaurant down the street, next to the grocery store, see they have the tent set up for plants/shrubs etc. so drove to see if it was open, not yet..imagine another week or so ..

O sigh a blizzard.

OMG no, say it isn't so...you are not having snow are you?

Yes it's flaking.

My back yard a couple of hours ago!

Should I make cookies Dahlianut?

This message was edited Apr 22, 2009 3:43 PM

This message was edited Apr 22, 2009 3:44 PM

Outside