MouseNaround

I just remembered that I never posted these pictures. This is Spring 2007. Notice the small green mum (no blooms) in the center.

Now, check out the same mum, Fall 2007. We call it “The Blob” because it killed everything except the sky-pencil tree and the phlox behind the sky-pencil. After it finished blooming it was very ugly, so I murdered it. heh. Click on the picture to get the full view of the plant.

I attribute our enormous plant growth to my husband’s soil mixture. He mixes equal parts top soil, manure (preferably horse, so it doesn’t smell), and humus. Normally you should mix your native soil instead of the top soil, but ours is so bad, we throw it out… just lumps of clay.

I call this particular plant, Catherine… after my sister who suggested it. It is Carolina Jasmine with pansies. I had not realized how much it had grown until I compared it to last year’s picture.

We have a rather large hill in the backyard of our garden home which is taking some time to tame. Here is a picture of the phlox in bloom along the footpath to the top of the hill.

Aaaaaachoooo!! There you go Rebecca… THAT’s my weather picture. We have wonderfully mild winters here in Birmingham, Alabama… but last night was the coldest night this winter season and will probably be the lowest all winter. My thermometer registered 19 degrees. It was below freezing the night before and yesterday’s high at my house was 31. We’ve been in this house for four years and have never had a problem with freezing pipes. However, I guess with no thawing yesterday (which is VERY unusual here), we’re in trouble. We woke up to find no hot water throughout the house and the cold is frozen in the kitchen. So, I ran around opening the cabinets under all the facets and turning on all the faucets to drip. Better late than never? I hope.

I used to remember to prepare for nights like these. I think that was back when I actually listened to the weatherman on our nightly news. Now I check weather.com, get my local news via RSS, and national via NPR pod-casts. They don’t get excited like the local weather forecaster. Maybe I’d better re-think my media choices.

Changing gears… I take pictures of my flowers, but am remiss in posting them. Last summer we had a terrible drought, so the pictures are few, but here are a few to warm your winter day.

And, why not… here is my sweet hubby looking through the vacuum-cleaner bag for my earring. He’s the best. (I’m allergic to dust, if you’re wondering.)

A couple of years ago when my sister came for a visit, she recommended this Carolina Jasamine for my mailbox. Good job, Sis! Click on the picture to enlarge.