This and That: A Blog

Another Monday, so more random things around here. Wild Grapes (California Wild Grape, Vitis Californica ) A reblooming daylily, Longfield's Pink .  May May is the other one blooming again. Morning Glories with rain drops.   A hummingbird visiting the morning glories.   China aster in the evening.  Delosperma  I have almost all the deck boards up. See how the deck went way past the edge of the house on the right?  It didn't need to do that, there is a concrete patio to the left of the house. I don't need the area to be out so far from the door either.   Mickey's a big help!  He seems unphased.  The only time he notices is when I use the lawn rake to get the smaller pieces of wood together, then he gets the zoomies.  Mickey had a disappointing park walk on Saturday.  Too many dogs off leash (it's not an off-leash park, and there is a fenced dog park there).  One, a yellow lab, was chasing a ball over and over, taking up th...

 Not a lot going on here.  It rained quite a bit for a few days, now it's warming up again. During the rainy period it was quite cold, and I pulled out Mickey's blankie.  Actually, it's "our" blankie, as when it's really cold we share! I scheduled my 'flu and COVID vaccines for Wednesday morning.  If you disagree with vaccines, go away.  Earlier this year I sprinkled a packet of Dollar Tree Wildflower Blend seeds in the "new" daylily bed in the front yard.  I got annuals,  alyssum, Chinese forget-me-not, globe gilia, calendula, and a lot of perennials that don't bloom the first year.  I see blue flax, anise hyssop, coreopsis, coneflower plants, and what looks like penstemon, which isn't one of the listed seeds.    I've sown these before, but this is the first time I got the China asters, an annual kind.  Lots of variety!  The Dollar Tree actually carries nice flower seeds.  I've not tried the vegetables. A few of the ...

 Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Monochrome   I disagree with Paul Simon, everything doesn't look "... worse in black and white, " some things look so much better!  My brother, Bret, who we lost unexpectedly last year, and me.

 Yesterday was the big indoor-outdoor flea market at the county fairgrounds. It was definitely not as good as last year .  It looked like a lot fewer sellers for one.  Worse, far fewer sellers of vintage mechandise.    Did see some fun things.  The restroom stall doors all had different quotes! A coffee truck had a beckoning ape. On second thought, it's probably Big Foot.  I only found two items (one was a set, so three if you want to be perfectly accurate).   Each dog has only one hole, and the hole in the bottom is smaller than most shakers.  I find this is totally normal.  Japanese shakers of the 40s and 50s sometimes had a single hole on top if they were to use with a specific spice, and were called "range shakers." Sure, having two with the same number of holes wouldn't help you know what spice they contained.  These are two individual range shakers, not a pair. The bottom holes were engineered for a specific closure, tiny...

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge The Crayola Box of 8 - Purple  

 I'll start out the week with an adorable photo of Mickey!  Here are some mushrooms in the park, probably in the Shaggy Parasol family.  It may be hot summer, but the trees in the park are circled with wood chips and usually damp. My son took this photo of a grasshopper hanging onto his car door.  It finally was blown off, but flew away fine.  Some bees in flowers. Tall Plains Coreopsis Chesapeake Crablegs Daylily This bee was caught in the sprinkler, and was drying herself off.  Excuse the background sound, it's my noisy neighbor warming up his noisy truck.  The entire family has noisy vehicles.  I think they test drive them to make sure the are the loudest possible. 

  Floral Friday Fotos   One mystery purple daylily blooming with the Chesapeake Crablegs .

  Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day  for June, 2026 Daylilies! Longfield's Pink Lullaby Baby May May  Moon Over Monterey (some places list this a Moon over Monteray , but that's a misspelling)  Ned's Choice  Ned's Choice has one of these spotted cucumber beetles on him.  These are the only pest I have in my daylilies.  Well, sometimes snails nibble newly planted ones' new growth. Stella d'Oro (I like that mine is yellower than gold) Wayside Knight Royale (supposed to be much darker) Apricot Sparkles It's going to be a good year for Lullaby Baby !  The weather is hot, yesterday was 100° and this week is forecast to be much cooler.