November 2010 Newsletter
Today's Walk In The Yard
Today's walk in the yard is a good one. I have been tied up with taking down Halloween and cleaning the garage so I'm going to talk about what Robyn has been doing. I did contribute a little bit. A fond farewell is in order. That's right I will be signing off for the season. I was hoping to continue but with all the time that I'm throwing into the website and plans for next year I better call it a season. We were going to do the best of "Life Is Better" for the winter months, but as we have discussed before that only exist in my mind.
Out With The Old In With The New
The beds in the front yard looked really bad, our annuals looked dead, great for Halloween decorations, but now they need to go. I went to work today, and by the time I came back the beds were all cut back and the annuals pulled out (thanks to the magic of TV, actually Robyn and our maintenance guys). The weather has been so nice so we have had time to do a good cleaning of the yard.
The next day Robyn had grand plans of putting back her favorite violas and pansies. I can tell by how many she is planting by how many she orders during the season. Some of these guys look a little rough because of the cold weather that we had experienced. No worries just before we get snow or as we get closer to spring either she or I will cut these puppies back a little and they are going to come back like gain busters in the spring. They will fill in that void of color during the early spring (help scratch that early spring itch).
The last step is mine. I sprinkled and watered in some yum yum. I get to do that chore because as most of you know I like to pretend that I'm feeding chickens. I don't know where that comes from maybe I was an old chicken farmer in another life. That could be why I like chicken manure????
Blogger's Note: Absolutely no chickens were hurt during this segment or any other this year.
Ponder This Question
My pond is full of leaves. That's right, with fall comes the little annoyances. In a past issue of "Life Is Better" or the article in the newspaper "Put The Ah In Autumn (I don't remember) I compared fall color as the finale of a fireworks show. Now I can compare this part of fall to cleaning up after a ticker tape parade. What a bummer.
Back on subject (I feel like a little kid on the last day of school, could be the coffee or just because I'm done for the season with my blog) okay focus, I kept getting leaves in the pond so I turned off the pond for a week because it kept getting plugged up. I cleaned out the leaves with my handy dandy pond skimmer thing. I put the leaves into my garden area that I talked about last issue. Mixed with the leaves is moss looks great for the garden. I'm going to put my barley flakes in the pond as early as I can in the spring to help keep the algae down.
While I was cleaning the pond I saw Nemo (what a good name, Disney should make a movie about a fish called Nemo, I think it would be a hit) the only gold colored fish that I have left. He is probably an inch to two inches long. He is a ray of light to the raccoon massacre. I also think that I still have two larger fish that are really dark colored so there is life in the pond. For this reason I'm not going to cut back the perennials in the pond until spring. This will give them a safe haven before I break ground on the flagstone safe haven (with the recession our funding on the safe haven has been pushed back).
Year In Reveiw
I don't mean to toot my own horn but toot toot. I think that this blog was the best idea I have had in a long time. I have learned a lot about myself and about gardening (mostly that I have a little voice in my head, and it is me and boy does it talk a lot). This blog has given me focus and next year it will give me an extra day off to complete my blog. That's right Robyn has said that I will be given a set day off so that I can work in the yard and write my blog. This way I can be more consistent on the date that my blog comes out (I still run on Bagdad Time so maybe not).
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I also hope that you have learned a little along the way. I'm very thankful to those of you who complimented me and came in to talk to me. You don't know how much that helped. Doing this blog I kind of put myself out there a lot more than I am comfortable with and your kind words kept me going (not knowing how people would receiving it).
Like everything I could not have done this without Robyn she was the proof reader and encouragement. So if you have problems with any of my errors you should talk to her or my Bagdad High School Educators(Bagdad AZ).
I also would like to thank my good friend Jake, who redid our website and emailer and taught me how to use everything. (The music is starting to play I better wrap up this lifetime moment). If you are interested in a website, or anything graphic design call me I will pass on his number.
In Closing
Our online store is up and running and I will be adding tons of stuff, it's very exciting. You can even buy gift certificates. I will also be adding tons of stuff for reference so when you are getting cabin fever check out our website. We are selling live Christmas Trees at the store so if you are interested come on in and say hi.
Have a good holiday season From Robyn, Shaniqua, and myself. Thanks for a good year and we will see you in the spring. I can't wait to see what will be new at Viola's next spring. As Always Life Is Better In The Garden.
Art
