Friday, February 5, 2010

-Insert Clever Title Here-

This is the time when I sit down in front of my computer and realize that I haven’t a single thought in my head. No thought except to wonder what in the world I am going to blog about. I stare at my monitor screen glowing white with a blank document, certain that it is mocking me behind it’s digital mask. No doubt it just is wondering how we humans ever made it to the position that we are currently hold and quietly biding its time till the “Big One” finally takes us out. “Oh yeah? Well, I’m watching you buddy and I know where the plug is! Just you keep that tidy bit of info stored in your evil little data banks. That’s right, I know where the plug is Mister and I’m not afraid to pull it either!”
 
I’m sorry you had to see that. It’s not pretty I know, but every now and then you just need to let them know whose in charge. I mean, if you don’t lay down the law once in awhile it’s going to be Terminator landscaping all over the place. They start with ruining our finances then move onto deleting family photos and email addresses just to be mean before getting down to the real horrors—crashing You Tube and Twitter! And besides, that evil little cackle was really getting on my nerves.
Speaking of landscaping and segues smooth as sandpaper… I finally got all 700 bulbs planted. Whoo Hoo! When I bought those babies back at the end of Fall I joked that I would be planting them in the middle of December. It was a joke, right? No. The joke was that I wouldn’t even be planting them in the middle of January. I was going to be planting them in February. And yet even that wasn’t humorous enough for the powers that be; powers that happen to be just a little sadistically twisted in a “Oh ha ha, isn’t that cute, you actually thought you knew what you were doing didn’t you?” sort of way.

Well those little packets of future sweetness are finally in the ground and hopefully making velvety petals of color for our viewing pleasure. Please, please, please, be doing that in there.

It is unfortunate that I must report the water heater is still on the questionable list. It doesn’t seem willing to produce the hot water that was promised on the outside of the package. Now I will say that it is doing a far bit better than the ice cold shower it was offering just a short time ago but it is no way near the hot steamy fiesta my winter wimpy self longs for. It is also making some unusual sounds that are most likely some sort of water heater death rattle. Sigh. At some point here I am going to have to make a decision about that blasted thing and either yank it out or learn to live with lukewarm showers and overly dramatic death rattles. Guess we can all see where that one’s going.
Like most things in life this will all pass and just as winter seemed to pass this year with hardly a nod in our direction my memory of this will drift away as uneventfully. I may still flinch a little when I see cold rushing water but as long as it stays out of my shower and my bedroom I’ll be OK with it. Between the 100s of bulbs I planted last year and the 700 I planted this year something will show up and I’ll never be the wiser for what doesn’t. At this time, though I can’t make promises, I don’t plan on counting all of the flowers that actually show up. That is of course unless you think I should?

I started this post by exposing the evil plans of world domination by our modern technology with its Terminator landscaping goals and I couldn’t help thinking of some small tenacious sprout poking up from the ashes. Life is just like that--stubborn.
Our warm weather has me marveling at how the garden has barely finished blooming before it is back up for another round. My entire garden is built on bedrock and gravel and yet there are seedlings sprouted everywhere, the lily pads are already growing up toward the light and rose bushes are flush with new growth. There isn’t a stitch of earth out there that doesn’t have something growing on it. Today I thinned some daisies and had to use an ax to chop through them they were so thick. There are plants that were pulled out of trash bins which are now growing strong and vibrant. This planet absolutely teems with life of such an undeniable power, such unimaginable determination that all you have to do sometimes is look at a tiny speck of green pushing its way up through the dirt, reaching for the sun, to know that we were made to strive. We were made to take a little dirt in the face once in awhile so that we can strengthen our roots as we push up toward the light. Sometimes we need a cold winter to rest in before the warm summer sun calls us out to bloom again.

14 comments:

  1. Those evil machines. ***Smirk***
    Hey, have you looked into Tankless waterheaters? We installed one and the hot water never runs out. They are pretty small ingenious units. Google it, if you are interested. You can't have two showers going at once but the hot water NEVER runs out.
    Can' wait to see all your hard work come to fruition in springtime blooming of your bulbs.
    Rosey

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  2. Lesan, I'm impressed by your passion and effort to make your garden smiling on bed rock and gravel. Terminator landscaping concept is also new to me, how scarry that time will be when machines will be playing with the innocent nature.

    Have a nice day :)

    Saif

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  3. *** This planet absolutely teems with life of such an undeniable power, such unimaginable determination that all you have to do sometimes is look at a tiny speck of green pushing its way up through the dirt, reaching for the sun, to know that we were made to strive. We were made to take a little dirt in the face once in awhile so that we can strengthen our roots as we push up toward the light. Sometimes we need a cold winter to rest in before the warm summer sun calls us out to bloom again. ***

    Oh so true.

    Glad you got all of those bulbs planted. Looking forward to seeing them in full bloom.

    I'm heading out to plant some seeds.

    Hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  4. It is wonderful to hear of new growth in the garden. Maybe it is envy also because we are getting slammed by a winter storm now. LOL! Glad you got all of those bulbs placed. It is going to be quite a show when they all bloom. We want loads of pictures. ;-)
    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  5. I'm glad to see that the cold water phobia therapy sessions are beginning to work LeSan!
    Dump the water heater and get a new one .....you know you want to ;)

    That dose of flu I got from reading your blog has been a nasty little so-and-so, so it's a good job you've redeemed yourself by cheering me up with an amusing post to make me laugh (and cough!)and gorgeous photos to cheer my day!

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  6. Hot water? We have solar powered hot water (I know, wouldn't work for you) with electrical assistance for the winter (doesn't do it for us either then!) As soon as we got it, it leaked, just a little. Then a lot. Got to an enthusiastic flow. And we had to replace it. Still going good, and hot!

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  7. The irises look so pretty! It's been great gardening weather the last few days. It does seem like around here the garden just stopped and now it's already back for more. I guess having no winter this year helped that happen.

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  8. I'm so absolutely green with envy that you have a teeming garden! I don't have that yet, but it's really nice to know that you do. And I can live through your photos till mine decide to come through.
    Brenda

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  9. LeSan, I love the contrast of your beginning and ending! You are right on about the computers... soon it may not matter if we unplug them or not. I once knew someone who worked on computer 'brains' ... he was a geek and was frightened of what might come to be. I am trying to imagine all your green sprouts pushing up through your bedrock and gravel... plants do like good drainage... well most that is. Looking forward to seeing your bulbs! Yes... and I would like a count!! ;>)) Enjoy your early spring! May it stay that way for you. Carol

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  10. Wow, you have planted all your bulbs and so many too. Now, I can imagine how beautiful your garden will be when it blooms. Good luck!

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  11. Wow! 700 bulbs? I'd say that's quite an accomplishment. I don't expect you to count them, but I would sure love to see pictures of the colors when they come up. :]

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  12. Hi i am new here, just came in via Autumn Belle's and been amused by the way you put your thoughts into sentences, i like it, smooth flowing litany with passion for gardening. I am even enticed with your titles, those nice titles have not been coming to me at all. I am glad i can find them elsewhere like yours. But that 1st photo of your garden is very beautiful. We will wait for the photos of the 700 bulbs, haha.

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  13. ROSEY POLLEN~ Oh yes, we have looked into the tankless heaters. Then we looked into our wallets. LOL Well, we have the silly thing in now so I guess we’ll just go on living like cavemen with our old fashioned heater. I’m looking forward to the tulips as well with my usual trepidation. I always expect everything to die for some reason. I know, real optimistic of me huh? I guess I’m just optimistic that everything will die. Yeah, I’m saving up for therapy.

    HORTIST~ Saif I think that nature will never give into machine. Even if we nuke ourselves off the planet entirely, life will come back eventually…just not with us. I still remember that tulip garden you showed us a few months back. It was stunning and put my measly 700 into perspective. Wasn’t it something like a million bulbs? It was some incredible number and it really did take an army to plant them. The show was amazing!

    FLOWERLADY~ You should know all about tenacious plant life. Florida is one green growing machine. Some of those vines you have are stunning and your garden just gets going like gang busters during the season. I don’t know where you’d have room to plant!

    HOCKING HILLS~ You guys have been getting slammed by snow and it feels so weird for us here to be having such a mild winter. I can tell you one thing; we are going to rue this mild winter when we have to deal with all the weeds and bugs this summer. We could have used just a touch of your snow I think. I promise an obscene amount of pictures come bloom time. hehe

    NUTTY~ You know I told you to wash your hands after visiting. LOL I’m so sorry you have this bug and you’re so right—it’s a beast of a hanger on. I do hope you get better soon. In the meantime stay out of the Tea House! Nut. LOL

    ELEPHANT’S EYE~ Yeah, I think the Northwest is a pretty sorry place for solar stuff. But I could be wrong on that, I don’t know much about it. I do know that we have some pretty long stretches with grey cloudy skies. You on the other hand…famous for sunshine!

    CATHERINE~ We are in for some interesting times around here aren’t we? I fear the flea and slug population as well as all those other bugs I don’t know the names of. I’m already thinking of laying out some slug bait. I know you’ve been doing the Flower and Garden Show but your own garden must be ramping up like crazy down there. It will be fun to see!

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  14. COZY LITTLE HOUSE~ Brenda you have a wonderful outdoor space that is very envy producing not to mention all the sweet little pockets of garden throughout the whole area. I am looking forward to seeing what blooms in your garden. While your waiting please feel free to come by for a visit and a cool glass of tea or fresh lemon aid.

    CAROL~ You are so generous to me. Contrast is right-LOL I just couldn’t help but think that when I see how determined stuff is to grow. I have a tremendous amount of faith in the planet and life itself. It has a mission that is far beyond anything we have bothered to contemplate and it will kick our butt every time. I’m sure you’ll laugh at me but I have kept a tally of all the bulbs I’ve planted so it is quite feasible to give a count. I think I have something like three thousand bulbs out there. I don’t know how many of them are still viable though.

    AUTUMN BELLE~ Thank you Autumn. I have planted a few. I guess I’m addicted but a bulb addiction isn’t so bad when you think of it. One year there were the most amazing shade of lavender tulips in the Skagit fields but it was before I had a garden so I never had any of those for my own. I keep hoping they will bring them back so I can buy a bunch. I would love to have those.

    TARA~ I was just telling Carol that I have kept a running count on paper and I have around three thousand bulbs out there. What I don’t know is how many are still viable. They peter out if you let them flower and don’t divide them. No way that’s going to happen for me so I just plant more. There will be plenty of photos here I can guarantee that. I love those things!

    ANDREA~ I am so glad to meet you. Thank you for visiting my blog! Autumn Belle has such a wonderful blog and I am proud to know that you found me through her. Your compliments are very kind and generous, I am most grateful for them. Those titles are little beasties aren’t they? LOL I never know what to say and I usually just stare at the space until I get frustrated and write the first thing that comes to my mind. Now that’s taking a risk isn’t it? hehe. I too am looking forward to seeing the bulbs and as always I’m nervous and anxious that there will be some great bulb disaster that only befalls my garden. I just can’t help myself.

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