Archive for April, 2010

How Will The Garden Grow?

Spring                                            Full Flower Moon A bit of rain last night and a bit now.  Some is better than none.  Kate and I spent the morning at Mickman’s Nursery  picking out additions to our 2010 garden.  I bought some mustard greens and ten more bags of composted manure while Kate bought a number of herbs, pansies, […]

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Life is a Conspiracy Against Nature

Spring                                         Full Flower Moon Dicentra in deep pink, iris in deep purple, tulips in yellow, red, orange and purple, daffodils in many combinations of yellow and white, plus, amazing for this time of year, lilacs, fill out the full flower moon here.   The moon’s light, silvered and slight, gives no presence for the flowers so […]

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Queens, Vegetables and Latin

Spring                                         Full Flower Moon Under the full flower moon I inspected my new colony of bees.  In this instance I checked the frames for larvae.  I couldn’t tell if they were there or not.  This is important because it indicates the presence or absence of a laying queen.  I’ll check again on Saturday.  The queen […]

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Emma’s Conversion

Spring                                     Full Flower Moon A quick update on Emma.  Once inside she grew more alert, though she remained on the couch where I put her last night until I carried her outside this morning.  Once out she stood on her own, ate some turkey, walked around, then drank some water.   Returning inside she ate some […]

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Living and Dying

Spring                                                    Full Flower Moon Death comes calling whenever it wants,  not worrying about the season or the weather or the inclinations of the living.  Kate’s colleague, Dick, suffering from multiple myeloma has gone on hospice care after two years of often brutal treatment regimens.  Bill Schmidt’s brother, who has prostate cancer, also chose hospice care […]

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A lot of manure

Spring                                     Full Flower Moon Moved two hundred pounds of composted manure by wheelbarrow from the garage back to the garden.  Gee, that got my heart rate up.  Moved the same yesterday, too.  Still amending beds.  I put down newspaper as mulch between my garlic rows, then layered composted manure on top of the newspaper.  Got […]

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Fitter

Spring                                                       Waxing Flower Moon Kate called from the Northstar.  She arrives in Anoka at 5:52.  She took the light rail to Target Field and caught the train home from there.  Feels like living in Connecticut.  I’m glad to have her home.  This is a two-person house and needs both of us to make it run […]

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The Great Wheel

Spring                                              Waxing Flower Moon As spring winds down toward Beltane on May 1st, the green up has taken on an accelerated pace.  We have leaves on trees like the Amur Maples, ash and feathery new leaves on the oaks as well.   The daffodils and tulips have brightened our April for some weeks now.  The more […]

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Leeks, Shame and Ancestry

Spring                                                           Waxing Flower Moon The new dog food must be a mistake.  The whippets did not eat at all this morning, the big dogs ate little.  Hilo (our smallest whippet) is in her crate with what I take to be a belly ache since she doesn’t look seriously ill.  How do I know?  Well, I […]

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I’m Ready

Spring                                                  Waxing Flower Moon I’m ready.  What a phrase.  So innocent.  Three words.  Could be I’m ready to dance.  I’m ready to walk.  I’m ready to go all the way.  I’m ready to quit.  I’m ready to start.  I’m ready to rumble. This phrase came into focus for me when Dick, a colleague of Kate’s […]

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