Catching?
The Moosey animals are exhibiting silly signs of March Madness. As a lone gardener, the danger is that I spend a lot of time with them - will this mad mood be catching?
Monday 3rd March - Animal Reflections
Fluff-Fluff, my huge ginger fluffy cat, has suddenly decided he's part of the poultry, and follows the hens around the orchard. Then, when I call them to breakfast, he queues with them to come in the chook-door to the chicken-run - batty cat!
Mugsy the Cat :- Mugsy my disabled cat has her own cat page. Check out the animals section to read her story.
Mugsy, the least physical and weakest of all my cats, has started accosting Percy the ginger teenager, wrestling him to the ground whenever he slinks by her. Percy is a mass of rippling cat-muscle, a showpiece of fine cat-youth and splendid cat-health. Mugsy is a batty old female with one blind eye and one deaf ear and half a brain (I'm quite serious).
A Flying Feline
Yesterday a visitor in a downstairs bedroom was blissfully gazing out admiring the house lawns and gardens when - whoosh - a grey flash went past their window. For one dreadful minute they thought it might be the spectacular expiry of sixteen-year-old Jerome the Grey, a cat who lives 'upstairs'. No - it was little grey Lilli-Puss, the flying feline, leaping off the second story balcony into the Choisya shrub below.
The other afternoon the male Moosey tree frog was making a dreadful racket, calling his froggy heart out - Hello, beautiful! Here I am, gorgeous! Over here, sweetie! Except the sounds that set him off were my rubbish fire crackling and popping, and next door's chainsaw. All that frog-boasting for nothing!
Rusty the Dog
These, plus my plane-chasing plum-eating dog, are the living things with whom I have long meaningful conversations, sometimes for many hours, normally every day. Oh dear.
Later...
I didn't do any real gardening today - but I did do a lot of thinking and planning. I have a new idea for a small stone retaining wall to hold the soil in the new garden at the end of the Hump. Using the natural sloping contours of the land, I could easily build up the wall and the garden. The stone wall could enclose a tiny paved courtyard where the - cross fingers - soon-to-be-built rustic garden benches and table will live. This delightful area will be able to be seen from the house.
Autumn Sedum Flowers
The end product - I can imagine sitting on the garden furniture eating my lunch, surrounded by hanging wall plants. New ideas have to start somewhere!
Tuesday 4th March
Hmm... This is my last day chance to do some serious gardening this week. Tomorrow I'm off the West Coast (that's New Zealand, South Island, mountains, river gorges, native bush) for a four day hiking adventure.
Grass Seeds by the Water
Watery Thoughts
The waterwheel has decided to turn furiously fast, prestissimo. Why does it change its speed so? The water flow is constant - the amount of silt (rain in the mountains) being the only visible variable. My resident engineer has pooh-poohed the idea that water quality could somehow affect the power of those sodden wooden paddles.
Maybe Some Marginals?
Oh well. Maybe I'll just let the little pond downstream keep flooding. If I embark on a grand marginals purchasing and planting programme (I'd love to) the darn thing will decide to go slow and the pond will dry up. Anyway, I reckon my waterwheel has its own random, slightly perverse personality.
And - oops - I am also thinking about extending the small path in the Willow Tree Garden to join the little lawn where my Samoan (i.e., bright turquoise blue, the colour of the tropical sea) garden chairs sit. I would have to clear out a flax and trim the Willow tree stump. Better access to this peaceful, comfortable and colourful spot would encourage me to use it more for relaxing - my cup of tea would still be hot by the time I reached it.
Latest Craze...
My latest craze - borrowing library books on garden paths, walls and steps - is obviously having a profound effect on my garden thinking. Luckily I can't find any books on hybrid gazebo-bridges. Yet!
Middle Bridge
So what should I do today in the garden? More burning, definitely. More thinking about that stone retaining wall - what a beautiful feature it would make!
Lunchtime...
It's me again, still a non-gardener, still deeply thinking about this stone wall idea. Would Non-Gardening Partner let me use just a tiny piece of the ram paddock? Aargh! My new gardening ideas always seem to require more land, and I'm not sure this is a wise investment for the future - one day I might even retire from gardening! The best thing would be to shift in a low row of stones and then stand back and squint, to get the outdoor feel of the new wall. And leave the acquisition of the ram paddock for now. Softly, softly - where's my dog?
Much Later...
The best thing to cut a day-dreaming gardener down to size is to burn gum tree rubbish for three hours. All my creative energy for new paths and new walls has gone up in flames and smoke.
Wednesday 5th March
Goodbye dog, cats, tree frogs, chooks, piano, garden and lawns - and trees, shrubs, roses and late perennials. Sedums - don't flop over! Gum trees - please don't drop any more leaves. Waterwheel - keep turning in moderation. I'll be back on Saturday to check on all your - progresses?
Hmm... Goodbye weeds...