This and that.
The wife's new job seems to be going ok but the hours suck, she leaves at 5:00AM gets home at 7:00pm. After dinner and one TV show she's off to bed. I'm doing all I can to make it sure she doesn't have to deal with anything on the home front. I used to work those kind of hours and it was frigging exhausting. Her employees are calling in because the swine flu shut down a bunch of school districts and there is just no child care available for the parents. Strange times indeed.
My daughters were picked by their ballet teacher to come in for extra classes and help teach the 3 to 5 year olds the dance steps for their recital. The good part is they get 3 times as many classes for the same price, the bad part is I think their teacher is a kook. I asked her a question about the schedule and she couldn't seem to shift gears between speaking to 3 year olds and adults....ever hear a grown woman communicate in baby talk? Sheesh!
I planted a small victory garden yesterday. I can't dig in the ground or do raised beds because we have a sprinkler system in the yard so I bought a bunch of 5 gallon pots and use those instead. I planted 3 kinds of tomatoes, Jalapenos, Anaheim peppers (green chiles) Yellow squash, Zucchini, Basil, oregano, Spinach, cilantro, Ancho chiles and habaneros.
I got everything potted and I put them on a glass patio table next to the deck. The last time I planted something at ground level our puppy "rusty" dug it all up and shredded it. Now I just need to keep the birds off my pepper plants....did you know that birds are not affected by hot peppers?...pellet guns are another story..
About 10:00 last night I heard the dogs going apeshit outside. I looked out the back door and there was a fat fucking possum standing on top of our privacy fence. Rusty was doing his damnedest to jump up and bite the sombitch but the possum was so dumb he just froze there in fear. I tried throwing charcoal brickettes at the thing but I couldn't spook it. I couldn't use a pellet gun because the neighbor's large glass windows were right behind the possum, so I grabbed my son's airsoft pistol. After 10 shots I couldn't tell if I was I was hitting it or not. So I picked up a soccer ball and chunked it at the little bastard and he finally started to run. I would have just let him be but he was just going to sit there and make the dogs bark their heads off all night.
posted by Bill Rowland @ April 30, 2009
30 Comments
30 Comments:
Wow, habaneros? I didn't have very good luck with those when I tried to grow them. I didn't know that birds were not affected by the capsicum oil. Maybe that had something to do with it!
Yeah, it's hard to make a possum hurry. Nasty, mean critters with their own agenda.
Hammer, check with one of the local livestock feed stores, or a local vet that does the free spaying etc.,they might have a humane trap they would loan you. I catch about 8 possums,10 coons a year,coming to the barn cats dry food.I haul em down to my folks, at the old homestead,and let em go. They don't have pets,and got plenty of woods for new habitat.You could take yours to the SPCA,and tell em you was havin trouble house breakin them:) I know they are a pain in the ass,where dogs are concerned,my black mouth curs,will catch em and kill em.
looks like you might have to do that every night. That's why I'm not going to plant any vegetables (besides the fact the yard gets too much shade)-it's too much trouble keeping the birds, squirrels, and God knows what else from eating what I'm trying to grow.
I feel for your wife's long hours - you are indeed a King for taking care of everything at home. I'm sure she appreciates it a lot. Are these hours more or less permanent or will it ease off in time?
Until you mentioned the dog shredded everything planted at ground level, I was going to suggest using used tires as raised beds between the sprinkler heads. I remember years ago people painting old tires and using them as planters. I also read that it's a great way to grow potatoes as you can keep stacking them as the plant grows and harvesting is pretty easy too.
Just John: Yep birds love habaneros more than any other it seems.
Joan: you ain't kidding. Stubborn as hell.
Diller: Last time I did that I got skunked for my trouble hehe. I might have to try it again if it gets much worse.
janet: I'm thinking of getting some kind of screen to put over the table..not sure how it will work.
Jeannie: I think once she gets comfortable with the job she will be able to come home in the afternoon and just field calls.
Thanks for the tire idea. I have seen that done before and it would work great for potatoes.
I feel for your wife. That's a LONG day. I'm away from home eleven hours a day and that's more than enough for me. And the house suffers when I'm gone, so all my off time is spent cleaning and doing laundry. It's nice that your wife has you to make it easier on her.
Jabaneros grow really well in Minnesota. We had some a few years ago. Mark dehydrated and chopped them and now he sprinkles them on his food.
Peppers are my best thing to grow, have been doing it a few years now. Jalapenos (sp?) are what I've done the most, bec. you get a million of them off just a couple plants. So I dry them or freeze them.
Last year I did those and reg. green peppers, which worked out well.
This year I'm adding in cherry tomatoes.
The birds didn't seem to go after the peppers, but now that I've said that they prob. will this year.
Kath
You are a sweetie to help take some of the load off your overworked wife. :) As to the gardening, if I even look at a plant it's a goner. We have that sprinkler restriction too, so I just have a cactus patch in the unlawned area out front.
I haven't killed them yet, but they've certainly tried to kill me.
Death by a thousand pricks.
Wait... that sounds far too porny.
I tried growing tomatos one year and ended up with grass hoppers eating them.
Wish I had the time & energy to try again. I love home grown veggies.
you're such a good husband! my husband is working about an hour and a half away from home now, so we have pretty much the same schedule as your family.
your plant starts look great - our local amish bakery has the five gallon buckets with handles and lids for $1.20 if you buy a dozen and $1.50 otherwise - pretty good deal if you ask me and even if you don't! don't forget to put holes in the bottom for drainage...
when we had chickens, we couldn't put our pepper plants within their ability to peck at them - they'd go after them and it didn't matter which kind - they'd decimate the leaves also - they have no tastebuds from what i'm told.
Oh man, the visual of a grown man hurling charcoal brickettes at a possum just cracks me up for some reason. :-)
Looks like he came to see your newly planted garden and was mesmerized by it.
That's totally great though that you are planting your own veg and herbs. I can't seem to keep a garden going. Every time I try, I realize the only thing I grow well is a fantastic assortment of weeds. They look great, but I can't eat them. My next attempt is going to be peach trees.
I had an old lady neighbor who used a fake owl to scare away birds and squirrels. Kind of like an animal version of a scarecrow. I don't know if that would help, but I felt it my duty to say it anyway. :-)
squirrels are digging in my dads pepper plants. Our damn dog is tumping over my flower pots chasing his damn ball
I planted cherry tomatos for the first time ever. I hope they grow. I love tomatos.
Terri: I like using dried ones in salsa they have a ton of flavor they are a little hot for the sprinkling ..at least for me.
Kath: I use a ton of jalapenos I hope mine are as sucessful as yours.
leeann: lol before this all I gree was cactus..it did pretty well.
Maeve: I'm getting the sevin dust ready for those bugs.
Nanc: yep I bought a big stack of 5 gallon buckets at the nursery for .35 cents each I planted the big stuff in those.
MTB laura: I need to work on my throwing arm...I hear dandilion stew is quite good :)
Elm: You know my daughters have been bugging me to get a fake owl I'll have to try it.
snowmanpoop: Damn I forgot about the squirrels.. I think my dog will keep them away.
Marianne: me too and they taste really good roasted.
Wow, 5 AM-7 PM - is your wife working in a coal mine?
I had to give up on a garden due to the about of tree rats in my yard. Now I just sit by the pool drink beer and plunk away at them with my bb gun. Not stron enough to do any harm, but damn it's fun.
I think my kid's a possum at times.
Good luck with the garden! We're enjoying ours. The squash has gone insane, and everything else is doing well enough. 'Maters are getting ripe already!
I'll pretend I didn't read the part about attempted aggravated assault on a Marsupial-American. Especially if you'll pretend I didn't just call possums "Marsupial-Americans."
I like the possum story, I've never see a possum, must be cute in real life. Like alo the potted garden good idea, hope it gives fresh organic vegetables without too much bothering.
Sornie: Close..transportation
Old solider: I've been getting them with the red ryder cause it's quick but the 1000fps pellet gun when they piss me off.
JihadGene: Fence sitter?
Kelly: even after one day my garden is looking pretty good. I tried less than lethal force on the marsupial American but he just wouldn't obey my orders to disperse.
Kitem: possums are cute in an ugly sort of way.. I have a feeling I'm going to have to buy larger pots for these vegetables.
Your potted garden sounds wonderful - More good things to eat coming out of the Hammer kitchen :)!
Dude, possums suck. They are nasty things that scary the shit out of me. They'd probably eat my dog....
If you never used pots for a garden before, remember that a raised garden (pots, box, whatever) drains quickly and does not hold the water or nutrients like ground level soil. I used Miracle Grow once a week instead of every other week, since the nutrients drain out. And I had to not miss a day's watering. I hope you worked peat and manure (or loam) into the soil before you planted.
Jabaneros are a good plant. When they come due, you can pick them and dry them in the oven (lowest possible setting - you're not trying to cook them, just dehydrate them, then let them warm overnight with all the windows open) so they don't rot on you.
Annie: Yes indeed!
Mike: their teeth look like nettle spines
MTS1: thanks for the tip I have a big box of miracle grow I'll start using.
Hmmm. All this "garden" talk reminds me I need to try to dig up and rake through the former flower bed site alongside my house so I can plant a couple tomato plants, etc. there and maybe figure out a couple other ways to plant some more stuff all without having to have someone come in and plow, harrow and do whatever else would be needed to have a regular backyard garden -which would be way too much for me to handle.
Wish you weren't posting so many things with videos right now cause my sound on the computer disappeared the beginning of this week and I can't figure out what the heck is wrong. How do I determine if I need a new sound card and then, how do I install one? It sucks to be this kind of computer illiterate ya know!
my neighbor has trapped three possums so far this spring...he also gets a feral cat damn near every night. I killed the first possum but since then he has been calling animal control who comes after the animals..damn if I don't think the cat is the same one every night...animal control may just be going up the road out of sight and releasing the damn thing. I think I'll start shooting them
I run into that same speech phenomena with middle school teachers and I always have an urge to say, "I'm not your student, I'm your EMPLOYER!"
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