25th Anniversary

They've not all been easy, but we're still together and looking forward to new adventures in the future.  

I love you, Kate.  Cheers to you, always and forever.

Plant Day 2026

Plant day isn't as big here as it used to be, but it is still an annual occasion.  We were thinking of planting some of these red plants directly into the stump, but the stump is infested with ants so just a couple pots.  That's about all we're going to do in that area except wait and see what wildflowers return.  Already we can see we'll have cone flowers all around the stump.

We got another attractive hanging plant for the front.  This one seemed small and healthy, and will hopefully last all summer again.

More of that red plant made it into a pot out front, along with a couple other flowers picked out by my wife.  In the big pot we got a similar plant as we had there the last few years.

In the gardens, two pepper plants join the few garlic that survived the mild fall; the others rotted in the ground.  Also two tomato plants in the top right.  Same as last year, I believe, so may become monsters requiring the old ladder and bird netting later in the season.  Lettuce will eventually fill the bottom left garden, while we wait and see what we'll get for raspberries this year.

Aside from all the planting, the grill got cleaned, windows washed and back steps are now power-washed for sealing soon.  A productive day for us, overall.  Tonight we'll grill out some wieners for dinner and I'll be watching the Brewer game.  Kate has to work tomorrow, so I'll be picking more projects from my list to keep me busy.  I'll also need to make more baguette, tortillas, flatbread and taco sauce very soon.

Sunflowers Planted & Starting Vacation

We planted 30 sunflower seedlings today, 6 more than last year.  They were planted 12 days ago and were already as tall as the tubes they were planted in.  In fact, they could have gone in the ground yesterday or the day before, but for time and our schedules.  Kate did the hard, low work of planting while I prepared areas and cages.  The dead sunflower from last year that was out front by the bird feeder is now gone, much to the birds' dismay.  We planted 3 new ones there, 15 in the area behind the steps by the air conditioner, 2 on the outside side of the steps, 2 in a pot by the garage, 3 by the wood rack, 2 on the back corner of the garage, and 3 by the compost bin.  All pictured after the break.

You will see two small gnomes in these pics.  One that was supposed to be by the compost sunflowers broke, and two others are not pictured in the stump area.

Yesterday was my first day of vacation this year.  I had a dentist appointment in the morning, which resulted in a referral for a possible root canal on Tuesday.  After that I trekked to Dodgeville to see Mom for a nice visit and to get a few spring chores done.  I came back about midday today and Kate and I planted sunflowers, and now I'm writing this and watching the Brewers game, a bit tape delayed for my enjoyment.  There is a night market downtown tonight that we were planning on going to, but are now having second thoughts.

Tomorrow morning I have a relaxing 90 minute massage booked.  I'll have to mow the lawn, power wash the steps to get ready to stain/seal, and take my wife's van in for a hail inspection at the body shop.  Depending on the information I get, we will decide how much work to get done.  Saturday we plan on plant shopping, so some more planting to be done yet.  Then on Sunday I may get to rest fully before considering my lengthy to-do list for the week ahead.

It's good to be busy when you have the time for it, but I'm looking forward to plenty of time with my feet up, too.

Sunflower seedlings after the break:

Spring Happenings, Gnomes, and Hail Insurance

Seemingly overnight, the yard and gardens look to be gearing up for summer mode.  The last throes of winter seem to linger a long time many years, and snow this late is not unheard of.  But by now the grass is green, the trees are getting their leaves and flower garden plants are reappearing.  Lilacs are blooming and the purple puff balls have been opening.  The stump area is showing wildflower plants that have self-seeded, after us sowing the last two years.  Lots of weeding everywhere, but that's what's required if you want a nice lawn and gardens with as few chemicals as possible.  Still an endless battle all year, but easier if you get on top of it early.  I mowed the front yard on Tuesday and the back yard yesterday for the first mows of the season.   It's low mow May, remember, if that matters for a yard with no flowering weeds for the pollinators...

We grilled out brats for the first time this season on Friday, and replenished the mulch between the gardens on Saturday.  Only a few of the garlics planted last fall survived due to the mild temperatures late last year, but plans have been made for planting the rest of the gardens soon.  Kate is planting lettuce a bit at a time indoors to hopefully keep waves of lettuce ready for us in the garden at any time for the foreseeable future.  I planted sunflower seeds for home yesterday, and in another week will start more sunflower seeds to take to work and plant with our clients.  I got plant stakes that they can decorate sometime while I'm on vacation that we will then use to mark where we plant them in the back yard perimeter.  (There is a landscaping crew that comes weekly to mow and clean up, thus the need for markers.)  I have a vacation starting in about a week and a half, so more plantings and pots and ornamental hangings will come then.

Summer has always been my favorite season, but right about this time of spring is feeling mighty nice right now.  The old gnome, now 14 years old, is looking rather battered where he lives under the lilac, from the years and now what may be a squirrel gnawing at him.  There are gnomes to come yet.  I have several smaller that I want to place around the yard that will make me smile when I see them.

On a different note, the major hail storm we had a couple weeks ago caused enough damage that I just had to call the insurance company and file a couple of claims.  One for my wife's car which sustained many good dents and the broken windshield, current repair estimated to be over 1300 dollars.  She has to decide now if it is worth it to fix or just eventually sell the wheelchair van, at a loss anyway, as is and just keep the check now or get the repairs.  Neighbor Jane said they totaled her car, though she intends to keep it.

The other claim is for the house damage, mainly consisting of the broken basement storm window, numerous dents in the siding, window flashing, gutters, and damaged window screens, mostly all on the west and south sides of the house and garage.  Then there's both roofs, new in 2016.  Late Neighbor Dave's house's roof is two years old and they said to me they were told it needed to be replaced.  We had an inspector for the insurance company out yesterday morning to inspect and document everything, and it appears to be much more than I initially considered.  It's possible we get a brand new roof and siding out of this.

The roof would be relatively easy, the siding a different story.  Any settlement I would not expect to include the entire house for siding replacement, so we would surely be upgrading out of our own funds, as well.  Plus, I suspect there may be a lot of rotted wooden siding underneath the aluminum siding we have now, so would expect extra expense for repairs.  Also, we have a bodged three season porch attached at the back of the house.  A very nice space that we greatly appreciate having, but is nowhere near built to code, and interestingly attached to the house but falling away slowly.  Another expense to work around it, and even more, much more, to replace the porch entirely.

Decisions will need to be made.