A Midweek Miscellany - September 17, 2025

 To start out the miscellany, here are the biggest morning glory leaves I've ever seen!  As suggested by a friend, this is the result of a volunteer plant coming up where I'm working on removing the wisteria.  Wisteria is a legume, and they are nitrogen fixers, so the morning glories are getting a lot more nitrogen than they should.  Nitrogen is great for foliage growth, but not so much for flowers.  I used to have a great plant food that would used only for the first growth, since I wanted green beans, not plants. 

Mickey likes to carry a large stuffy with him when we go outside.  The other night we forgot to bring in two.  Every morning he races around the yard sniffing, especially around his water bowls.  Since talking to the next door neighbor about how a toy of Mickey's ended up in his yard, unstuffed (I was glad to hear the aggressive dogs on the other side of his house had not gotten over the fence), I realized raccoons were coming in my yard at night.  The evidence was clear a couple of mornings ago when I found the two left-out-all-night toys.  One still "drowned" in the water, the other soggy and torn up.  Fortunately for me they were only from the Goodwill Bins, so cheap.

Unfortunately, Mickey will be looking for this sloth, it was his favorite.  It had one big squeaker in the middle.  I threw them out, and dumped the water.  Raccoons carry diseases.  In fact, Mickey is going to the vet Friday so I'll ask if he needs a leptospirosis vaccine.  He needs his nails cut, and his skin allergies looked at.  He will have to be sedated to do this, he doesn't let me, or anyone, touch his feet!  Or over-the-counter medicate his allergy red spots.  In just the past couple of weeks we've tried sprays (snarls when he sees the bottle), powders (snarled after the first bit touched him), hemp and mushroom chews (eats them if hidden in turkey slices, but aren't helping), and antihistamines (just make him sleepy).  Mickey is turning five in a few weeks, and this is the first time he's had allergies.  The seller of the powder (on Amazon) gave me a full refund and offered to pay for a competitor's product.  I refused the generous offer since I'm taking Mickey to the vet. 

The Sungold tomatoes are starting to die back.  The pot on the right end was the lemon cucumber.  A nice big plant, but zero cucumbers.  I'm not impressed with Lane's fancy potting soil!  Perhaps another case of too much nitrogen?  The large tomato, to the left out of the photo, has had two ripe tomatoes, and has three that just seem to be sitting on the plant, not turning color.  I looked that issue up, and it can be from too much nitrogen.  The Sungolds have been productive, however took a break during the hottest weeks. 

My other cucumber, Salad Bush, is the unhealthiest looking, ugliest plant!  But, it keeps putting out nice cucumbers!  

I go out with Mickey early in the morning on his first "potty" trip.  I don't trust him not to bark at 5:50 or so!  The grass is very dewy lately.  I noticed I get back to the deck before him and turn around to see what he's doing.  Here I did it twice before he agreed to come in!

Delosperma 

I went to St. Vincent de Paul yesterday to "check out the postcard situation."  I got 27 of the 5¢ ones, all Georgia O'Keeffe.  I really would prefer they stop tearing postcards out of books to sell individually.  5¢ each made them $1.35, yet an intact book could have been priced $3 or $4 and I'd have gladly paid it.  I also got some antique ephemera, which will be in a Tuesday Treasures post next month.