I ended up watering my plants on the patio three times yesterday. Each time many of them were bone dry. That’s what you can run into with containers on a hot cement patio.
My cucumber plant looks pretty bad. I don’t think it’s going to produce any more cucumbers. And the first two went bad before I even picked them.
Yesterday my daughter and Andrew and I went to the KFC in Jenks where they have a daily buffet. I sometimes get hungry for their fried okra, which is much like what I ate as a kid.
Andrew ate chicken strips, grated cheese and peaches. He doesn’t like any of the drinks so asks for water. He doesn’t seem to like carbonated beverages, which is great.
He wanted to go to the neighborhood pool where they live, so they didn’t come in afterwards; just dropped me off.
I settled in and watched a few episodes of “Ozark.”
This morning I was thinking about all the different houses I’ve lived in at various points in my life.
The biggest house was about 3000 square feet. I remember going through the rooms marveling at all the space. But that was another time and place. Another chapter in my life.
I’m truly satisfied with the space I have. It’s all I need. All I want to clean. Dust is going to gather no matter how much room you have.
I don’t live in a fancy place. If you saw the front you’d probably think this complex is a bit rundown, and it is.
It’s what you see once you’re in the door and through the patio doors that is special to me. I don’t really give a tinker’s damn about the front. Well, I probably would do more out there if they took better care of it. But it is what it is and I don’t live out front.
I watched a few more episodes of “Bloodline” on Netflix last night. The last scene I saw was Kyle Chandler (John) sitting on the beach with Danny lying face down in the water.
If you’ve watched this series, you know that Danny is the oldest child of the clan and very troubled. You can trace the veins back in time to figure out why.
Families are complicated. Who knows why some people go through trauma and come out unscathed. While others are tormented all of their lives.
Danny has deep, deep resentment of the family everyone admires and looks up to because he knows what lurks underneath. He was the recipient of his father’s wrath his whole life and he is angry with everyone in the family who ignored his plight.
That seethed and kept a light ablaze in him all of his life.
What a fascinating series this is.
I’ll be taking Charlie to see the animal acupuncturist this afternoon. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes.
Loved both Ozark and Bloodline ….. family complexities!
Glad you get to spend time with your daughter and Grandson. I think what you do with your inside and patio living space is so charming, you have the talent to make any space homey.
Glad you got to have a little excursion with your family. It is heating up here too now, but nothing like you have there. I am having to watch the plants more on the patio too but ours does not get much direct sun…
I think some trauma is just too extreme for any human to completely ever recover from. Even though mine is less than some of my friends, it still impacts me and at my age now, I doubt the time will ever come that it will be 100% gone too. We just do our best day by day…
I also garden on a hot patio. Last year I tried mulching my pots with black dyed wood chips. It really helped retain the moisture during the day. Have done it again. A bit messy to work with as the dye gets on my gardening gloves but worth the effort.
Hi Brenda. I am enjoying the photos of Ivy and Charlie today. I’ve never lived in a house larger than 1800 square feet, and a couple have been 1100 square feet. Our current home, a 1950-era cottage, supposedly is only 850 square feet, but I think it actually could be a little bigger. But not much! I don’t remember seeing a photo of the exterior, but did see some great shots of your back yard with a deck, and I remember seeing the kitchen. It was a beautiful place, but you have seemed the most content where you are now!
Today a neighbor took me on a tour of the grounds of a historic home, the Morehead House, his brother owns here in Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital. The home was the residence of an early governor of the state. The brother is a bachelor and a general surgeon and he lives in a condo. The historic house is his hobby. He works on it constantly and often gets my neighbor to help him out. They have planted hundreds of boxwoods and other plants and have laid out yards of walkways using bricks from the appropriate time period. It was fun to walk around but I wouldn’t want to have to trim all of those boxwoods! Now, after working on it for years, the brother is thinking of selling it and finding a different historic home out in the country to work on. All of his efforts makes me feel pitiful when I complain of having to work around my small home and yard!
Hi first of all I think you are great, just keep looking to GOD who makes our gardens grow, I have so much fun with my garden, nothing ever grows right, but my peppers, the story of my life, but what the heck, I just love to keep on trying !!!
Brenda I wanted to tell you that my son has his 15 year old dog on many meds but with the vet’s approval he is now giving his dog CBD oil. It has really helped her with pain and anxiety. You might ask your vet about it. Acupuncture, hydrotherapy, CBD oil… I’m for trying different things to try to keep our babies happy and comfortable. Hope the acupuncturist can help sweet Charlie. Glad you had a visit with your family . I’ll hopefully see mine next month in the Adirondack Mountains. Sorry about the cucumbers. It’s probably the weather with all the rain. Stay cool and I’ll keep Charlie in my prayers.
It seems the entire Plains states all the way down to northern Texas, etc. and the Great Lakes states are in the grip of a horrible heat wave, just like most of Europe is. We are more “equipped” here to deal with such heat waves because more people and public facilities have central air-conditioning that provides relief. In Europe, during the last big heat wave in 2003, about 70,000 people died of heat-related causes. It’s just shocking to think that in this day and age we still lose people to death because of weather. We truly are no match for Mother Nature at times, and we should never assume that technology is the answer to everything. But boy oh boy, during this heat wave, I sure am happy I have AC. Right now I’m visiting relatives “up north” in my state where the normal used to be it was 10 degrees or so cooler and less humid than where I live! Not anymore, it’s just as hot, humid and buggy here as at home, the only difference is that we are cabin-bound here, not house-bound 🙂 But somehow or other the local townships will have their 4th of July celebrations, and covered from head to toe in bug spray, we will venture out to watch the fireworks displays.
My cucumbers weren’t fit to eat, either. They were bitter and white. I think you have a lovely apartment, and I’d be perfectly happy there, just as you are.
Brenda I have been following you while you were in the big house (ex ) & I love your patio. Is there any way I can go back & look at that now. Although I love your patio now , but still would love to see some of your ideals back them. Thanks. I might not see what you answer here so e-mail me if you don’t mind or put it on my face book. Lou Dailey .
I’ve had to water my containers a lot this season, too, which is bizarre with all the rain we’ve had. I think the sun is so strong in between the rainy days it just sucks all the moisture out. We’re still in the midst of a heat wave, which is strange for us….normally we may have a couple of days a summer where it’s hot and muggy, but this is lingering. I’ll be glad when it’s over!
Hi Brenda,
Glad you had lunch with your daughter and grandson. Those visits I am sure are very nice.
Ozark is the best. I have to check and see if the new season has started.
Have a great 4th. We are so hot here too. I have had to water twice a day too.
Kris