New adventures in Minnesota

 The other day we were heading out of the park when a voice from down by the river called for help.  The man who was mowing apparently got a bit too close to the edge of the river bank and he and his mower both went in.  He was not hurt, just embarrassed, which is why there are no photos of this. I couldn't resist telling him that I thought he may have flooded the motor.

Left Brain and I made a human chain of sorts to pull out the mower and the man was able to crawl his way up the bank.  Left Brain did the pulling and I acted as ballast.  I knew that extra weight would come in handy someday. If I was a thin little thing he'd still be stuck down there...or all of us might be in that river.

Today was the scheduled delivery of our new Sleep Number bed so we spent the morning preparing for that.  The crew showed up on the early end of the 11 - 2 delivery time we were given, which was great.  We put the cats out in the cat kennel so they were safe during the process of dragging out the king sized mattress and replacing it with the queen sized bed.

The king size bed was just too big in there.  The first bed they brought in and started to install was actually a king sized one.  Oooops. But they had a queen one with them. Whew.

Since we have a lift bed for storage we needed to dismantle the upper part of the platform that goes over the outside storage and drill two holes to insert the hoses .  Left Brain took care of the drilling and I followed behind with the small vacuum.

We were just getting to the part of learning the bed and setting up the app on our phones to operate it when the tree trimmer showed up.  They were doing the other street earlier, but now were at our doorstep...literally.  

We ran outside to grab the cats and lock them in the bathroom to avoid the loud noises and falling branches.  This involved Gracie getting her foot caught in the door as she tried to escape while I was putting George in, and George escaping for a brief minute but soon they were contained. I'm getting too old for this much excitement.

After getting all the instructions on how to operate the bed, they sleep number guys left and we were able to watch the tree trimmer for a bit.  

Then it was time to pick up branches and sticks in the yard to haul away.  The big ones stay by the side of the road and will go into the wood chipper later when that crew comes by.

After they departed, we had some corn on the cob for lunch and Left Brain went to get the skill saw to cut the platform on the bed down to fit the new mattress.  I again followed with the vacuum to clean up. I know it "sucks", but somebody has to do it.

Now we have a sleep number bed AND space to walk around the bed.  The king size bed pushed up against the end tables and it was a bugger to make the bed. It fits so much nicer in our little house and it opened up another few precious inches in which to store things...always a plus.  It was a busy day.

When Left Brain brought back the mail later that day I had my written confirmation that my Covid 19 test was negative.  I had been having a lot of weird symptoms for about a week when I decided it was time to do the drive through testing.  It's a weird sensation having a small brush pushed waaaaay up your nose.  Not painful, just uncomfortable. It makes your eyes water and provoked sneezing, but it was quick and not too bad.  It felt good to be sure since we had a couple in the park with it and now two more are quarantined after finding out their granddaughter has it.

We're both looking forward to a shower this afternoon and testing out that new bed!

Long Live the Queen

Sunflowers = Smiles

Today I met up with a friend to see the fields of sunflowers.  It took a few phone calls to realize I'd turned the wrong way and was at the wrong sunflower field.  Yes, there are several of them.  But this one was spectacular.

Johnny Fish and his family have been planting sunflower fields in the north metro for five plus years.  This year he's planted 10 fields, all with with different bloom times.

The Fish family does this simply to provide hope of spreading positivity.  This is a true labor of love an is a most welcome diversion during these troubled times.

There were paths through the fields, which frightened me as it appeared to be similar to a maze; something my granddaughters delighted in tormenting me by watching me get totally lost. But Jan has a good sense of direction and we returned unscathed.

All the sunflowers face the same direction.  Well, there's always that one that doesn't take direction well.

We found a tractor parked in the middle of the fields and my friend Jan couldn't help but to take it for a spin.

She brought along a glass ball and at first I was expecting her to transform into a gypsy and read my future, but it was for a photo op. 

The images are concave and upside down and pretty cool.

There were even some red sunflowers.

There was a lovely farm across the street and a piece of antique farm equipment.

All in all it was a nice way to spend time with a friend.

Long Live the Queen

Evolution of the cat habitat

For years we used the tent and tunnel system for the cats to spend time outdoors.

It worked for a number of years, but eventually the mesh wore out and I couldn't find the product any more.

So it was time to go to plan B.  Enter the dog cat kennel.

But officer, we can explain!

I feel much safer with them securely behind bars and it's also fun to grow the clematis on it.

Long Live the Queen 

Changing up the garden

Since the garden was basically done I figured I'd change it up.  It's what I do.

First I added edgers to the existing garden.  This involved moving the cat condo forward, thus creating a larger space behind it for large hostas...yeah!

I decided that the central part of the garden really looked blah and should be much more spectacular so I decided to revamp it by creating a berm.

All the plants in this area were pulled out and stored while I dumped 25 bags of topsoil in place to create a little height and provide good soil.  Then plants were replanted and my favorite hostas were pulled from other areas to be added to my new specimen garden.

Here's the new area with a slight rise and edgers

                 

                    Now we'll take a little stroll through the garden.

Curly Fries hosta

Empress Wu hosta in front of the red dress form. It's one of the largest hostas, but she's still a baby...give her time.

Engleman Ivy on the trellis - talk about instant gratification!

Paul's Glory

Forbidden Fruit hosta - gotta love the name

Jurassic Park hosta - so he gets a little dinosaur by him

Komodo Dragon hosta - so he gets a dragon

Praying hands hosta

One of my favorites - Rainforest Sunrise hosta

A cute little astilbe

This heuchera had such an unusual yellow bloom I just couldn't resist it.

Long Live the Queen

Long Live the Queen

Evolution of the shed

After writing up the blog about the garden expansion it made me realize how much the shed has changed.

The shed started out sitting on the little deck area.  Left Brain added a little raised garden on the side and I have tried various things to make it attractive.

I added a little sign about it being a private dock and set up a flower stand.  Better, but still pretty boring.

The following June 2019 Left Brain made it into a raised garden and I added the bright blue door for a pop or color and this funky sink.  Having good soil finally made it a joy to plant.  

Long Live the Queen

Gardening In Far Places

One of my latest gardening adventure was at the home of my friend and adopted daughter, Christy. My daughter Stephanie and I joined with her to create a more invited entry garden to her townhouse.

We met in the morning to have some breakfast.  I attempted the recipe I saw on Facebook, an egg bake in a bundt pan.  They show the photo of the dish while in the pan and now I know why.  This is what it looked like when we pried it out of the pan.  I guess I needed to grease it better.

But the girls liked it anyway.

First we removed the weeds and assessed the soil and then it was time to dig in!

It was fun to watch the girls working away and knowing I was able to pass down my love of gardening to another generation.

Stephanie had rescued the variegated hostas from a waste dump and we used them to create this hosta garden.  They should bounce back once they recover from transplant shock and be just fine. 

Here is the before and after photo.

Long Live the Queen

Gardening Outside My Yard

Since my gardens are getting full I've expanded into other areas...with their approval.

My neighbor wanted to do something around her tree as the roots make it hard to mow.  So I discussed the option of a rock garden to fit into the woodland feel of our park.

She ordered two tons of rock and we went to work.

First we circled the tree and then started adding lots and lots of good topsoil.

Then we filled in with plants and the fun began.

It's nice to have dirty friends to play with.

Long Live the Queen