Foggy Morning Fun

Does it sound weird to say I'm waiting to dry out so I can go have my shower? Might as well blog about it, eh?

We awoke to a fairly heavy fog, though we didn't know until there was enough light to see outside. Actually my first clue was a TV news shot of Minneapolis in fog. I'd been distracted by the TV and hadn't actually looked out the window yet. As soon as I noticed, of course I went for the camera. Barefoot. So I didn't go far, but the concrete apron in front of the former garage was clean enough for my tender feet to get my favorite shot of the end of the driveway where the river birch branches hang low enough to brush our small hatchbacks as we pull in or out. Eventually we'll trim them like every year, but for now they seem to enclose our private little kingdom of greenery and flowers.

After breakfast, it was time for outdoor work. I judged with such a fog the mosquito wings would be heavy enough to prevent them flying, so I didn't bother with OFF! I was only wrong on one of them, but it was easily deflected and didn't return. My uniform for yard work is jeans and a long sleeved knit shirt from Rocky Mountain National Park. Somehow the shirt never gets stained, even when I don't wash it for a month, though that's a month of one or two hour stints in case you are appalled at the lack of laundering. If you recall last year's embarrassment with the jeans I was shrinking inside, I did go find a wonderful belt with holes its entire length. They stay up now!

The job needing to get done was planting at least the first pot of daylilies I purchased last week. I've been hunting dark purple ones for a year, and found two varieties that promise to do the job. One is Little Grapette, and the other two pots are Nosferatu. The Grapettes are already budding, six stalks in the one gallon pot so far. I'm waiting to plant those until some bloom. Things tend to happen during planting, like brittle flower stalks snapping off. They get lots of watering and sit in a safe spot near where they'll get planted.

So today was Nosferatu. One pot only, as it turned out. First there was a whole lot of weed removal, many of which were small trees, the rest grass and thistles. Once those were gone, there was a porous groundcloth to dig out. You know, it's the kind that's supposed to keep those weeds from growing there. I guess after 28 years it might be expected to fail a bit. I happen to know that it failed to keep the grass out in year one. This is on the south side of the house, in a spot about 5 feet wide where the blueberry patch failed to thrive longer than, say, 26 years. These daylilies will get full south sun, bury their roots in rich well mulched soil, and get the runoff from the roof when it rains. If they are like all the other daylilies in the yard, they will do a great job in ten years or so of choking out the weeds and grass.

The first pot got separated into three small clumps. The other will be either two or three but I won't know until I unpot it. I'm just waiting to see them bloom.

I'm almost dry enough now to be able to pull my clothes off and take that shower. When your shoulders aren't cooperative, it's a real challenge to get shirts either on or off, but especially against damp skin. But I think I've been writing long enough to give it a shot. There's still plenty of time. Steve and I aren't planning to hit the theater for the new Jurassic Park movie till 1:00.