A Gardener's View

This post is for Wilma. I'm not the green thumb . . . she is. I enable her hobby, and gladly. That means roto-tilling and eating, and maybe some help picking and processing. I like to watch the whole process. We had some weather problems yesterday. As a result, I was out this afternoon, sitting on a 5-gallon bucket, sketching the withered remains of a tomato plant while another storm was blowing in over my head. When it started raining again, I came in to finish the sketching as it stormed outside. Hook cloud seen just southwest and headed for here, but will probably miss us. Needed to wait for the lightning to move on to upload this blog. And through the process I learn something from Wilma's perspective . . . a gardener's view.

First Crop

Love this time of year. The air warms up, rain storms begin, everything greens up. Our first produce this year is the asparagus and it's growing well. Wilma has been picking enough this week that we can freeze some for later, too. Rhubarb won't be far behind.

We had our first tornado watch and warning this afternoon. Tonganoxie, northeast of here, had one touch down. Kansas Speedway had to shut down the NASCAR truck race and had a few vehicles blown over and farm building damaged. It begins. Wilma just planted tomatoes (grown from seeds inside over several weeks), tomatillos, peppers, cabbage, etc. Sad to say the rain, wind and hail did a lot of damage. We'll know more when it dries out some.

Killin' Weeds

I can't help it there's been a lot of stuff to sketch lately. It's been a dry spell lately, but I figure I sketch when I see stuff, and I cool it when I don't. We finally had a calm dry evening so the wife and I jumped at the chance to spread weed killer for the dandelions. It's an annual ritual. I question the results, but we have piece of mind knowing that we did all we could to keep the weeds under control. Done 'till next year.

Opener Changeout

Well, I'm done! Both garage door openers are now changed out. I've changed out the two smoke detectors, too. That just leaves the phones and the answering machine to replace, and we'll be ready for the next lightning storm. This job took on a life of its own. I have that luck. Even now it's not 100% done. This morning Wilma's opener button #1 opened her side, but button #2 opened BOTH doors. I spent time tonight reprogramming. Thought I had it. Hers works fine. However, my button #1 opens both and button #2 opens mine. Go figure. I'll try again tomorrow after I sleep on it.

Last Burn

Yard work is done for now. Been real rainy lately. So, I'm back in the garage changing out my garage door openers. My radio's tuned to the weekend programming on our public radio station. A bit of chill in the air, which reminds me I need to summerize (as opposed to winterize) my kerosene heater. So I've got heat, music and I'm working with my hands on a project. It doesn't even bother me that lightning caused all this trouble. It's a project that I can handle and gain some experience from. As I watch the glow of the mantle, feel the heat rise silently as I look down on it and smell the slight kerosene odor, I couldn't help think . . . SKETCH.

Spring Sprung

Well, my sketching has been sidelined a bit lately. I'm trying to replace the two garage door openers that the lightning killed, and the project just seems to keep growing. Stay tuned . . . sketch to follow. But, while doing yard work lately these darn tulips kept insisting that I sketch them. The yard isn't really green yet and the trees aren't awake yet. Kinda blaa. So, when these darn tulips spring up with the hyacinths they radiate color on steroids! You just gotta stare. Told myself I really didn't have time now to sketch. That worked for two days. Third day . . . I'm out there with my journal sketching. While doing my first mowing of some of the yard I see other things going on, too, that needed some sketching. Now that this sketch is done, I'll finish up on the garage openers.

P.S. Happy Birthday to me, or at least my identity as john-alooking.blogspot. Just noticed that one year ago today I started this blog! Glad I did.

Gig Night

We, the 89th Street Bluegrass Band, perform at a local coffee shop three or four times a year. Last Saturday night was the latest gig. Things went well (sometimes they don't). A few mistakes but we covered most and had fun. For once, all band members had people in the audience to see them, be it family, church or just plain 'ol friends. We do three one-hour sets. A sign of success is when you don't scare them off before the first set is done.