October 28, 2010 - Weeds?

I was happy to see the radishes growing in the little Arizona salad garden already, but what I wasn't happy to see were the zillions of weeds sprouting in the lettuce bed. I can identify them in the spinach/radish bed, as those vegetables are planted in rows. The lettuce seed, however, was scattered helter skelter over the other bed as a cut and come again crop. There is no way of telling what is weed or what is lettuce, at least until it all grows to an identifiable stage! In fact, it could all be lettuce. That's the bed where it was planted last year, and I left several plants in that went to seed. If that's the case, I won't be too unhappy about it.


The little garden is all cleaned up and planted. I'll be planting more seeds in the pots, and transplanting the chard (long container) to a larger pot as soon as I get to town for a bag or two of potting soil. I remembered losing a few seedlings to birds last year, so I covered the tops of the boxes with plastic netting, as well as the sides.


The radishes I planted on Saturday were peeking through on Wednesday.


The unknown weeds-that-might-be-lettuces are forming a green carpet over and everywhere near one bed.

Cookie is happy to be out of his travel cage, and back into the larger, airier one. It isn't a tri-level cage like the one up north, but he doesn't seem to mind. I brought his harness and leash, so I can take him out for exercise once in a while.

The dogs are adjusting just fine. I made a drastic change in their routine, but they seem to be taking it all in stride. They have always been my foot warmers in bed, which is fine in the king sized bed at home. Down here we have twin beds, and two dogs take up an awful lot of room. I felt like a pretzel sleeping with them last winter! I decided the change from one house to another would be the time to also change their sleeping arrangements, so the very first night I put two big soft blankets on the floor next to the bed, crawled into my bed and just ignored them when they sat there looking at me like "What about us?" They can't jump into bed without their little stool, and were at a loss as to what to do. Fortunately, it only took them a few minutes to decide they were sleeping on blankets on the floor. They now do it as a matter of fact, which was much easier than I thought it would be for them. Actually, I'm the one who misses their company. I love waking up to Annie staring me in the face, then giving me a sloppy kiss when she sees my eyes open up. I miss Otto's tail beating out a happy morning drum roll against the sheets. I'm sure, as the weather gets colder, I'll miss their warm little bodies against my feet and back. It will be a big decision to make whether to let them back in the human bed next spring.

I've heard nothing more about the WIFI across the street, so I'm not counting on it happening any time soon. For now, the library will have to suffice. It's open only three days a week, but I'm probably due for a bit of rest from all my blogging. There will be more to do and say once I get back home next spring, so I'll just spent a quiet winter with a tiny garden and a tiny blog! What I do miss is reading all of your blogs. I've been downloading quite a few to read off line, so I'm semi-caught up with all of you, but, of course, I can't leave comments when I'm working off line. Just know that I am reading what you are writing, even though I can't comment back. I'm also enjoying your comments to my blog, as my daughter calls me each evening and reads them to me before she publishes them.

Mr. H., yes we do have rattle snakes here. In fact, I think there are more varieties of them in this desert than in anywhere else in the world! The Mojave Rattle Snake is common here. This rattlesnake has a very potent venom which is considered ten times more toxic than other North American rattlesnakes, a fact that makes the Mojave rattlesnake one of the most dangerous poisonous snakes in the United States. I've not seen one, but two of our neighbors have killed them in their yards, and one friend's dog was bitten but survived. We did have a large hawk fly into some of the brush in our yard and emerge with a large snake, but we couldn't tell what kind it was. We've also had a visit from a gorgeous King snake, and a big gopher snake once slithered out from under the laundry shed and very close to my feet. Mainly we have lizards, small and large. In fact, I actually picked up a tiny lizard this morning. He looked like he was hurt, which must have been the case or I'd never have been able to catch him. I removed him to a shady area, where hopefully he can recover from what ails him. I haven't spied any Desert Iguanas yet this year, but here is a video I took of them fighting in our yard last year. These fellows are well over a foot long. OK, forget the video...it's taking forever, and the library is closing early today :-( How about a photo instead!




Until next week,
Granny



16 comments:

  1. I was just imagining Cookie in a harness and leash out in the yard. He must be so cute and love that! It must have been hard to not let the dogs sleep on the bed. We have one cat Dante that loves to sleep in the bed with us. He loves to rest his head on my pillow, I swear he's more like a person than a cat. Sorry to hear about the weeds in the lettuce. Hopefully it's all lettuce and not weeds.

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  2. Those seedlings do look like lettuce. Maybe they will be then you won't have to weed, you'll just have to thin. I'm sure you will be eating salad thinnings in a month. And radishes.

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  3. Awe, I vote you get a bigger bed! There is just nothing better than waking up to sweet little puppy eyes!

    Oh wait, I meant your husbands eyes. Right, that's what I meant!!

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  4. All those snakes. I loved watching the show "Venom ER," but I'm not a big fan of poisonous snakes. Glad we got out before having kids.

    Nice for you for the dogs. . . change can be good. Enjoy your small garden and your slight blogging rest.

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  5. I can just imagine Cookie out for a walk, don't think I have ever seen a bunny in harness before.
    You have quite a lot of wildlife around, watch out for those rattlers:-( Hope the WIFI works soon. Diane

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  6. I hate snakes! Even though I have to live with them too, I'll never develop an affinity for them, LOL! Those sure look like lettuce seedlings to me, weeds arent' that cute!

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  7. The Arizona mini garden is up and running! Twin beds are definitely too small for dog and person to sleep in - I think you are smart to change that up. Cool iguanas!

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  8. Aw, It's a shame that you don't have access, for entertainment if nothing else. We all , of course miss having you around. It's good to know things are settling in and everyone (even Cookie) is doing very well. Can wait to see your lettuc patch to determine if those are seedlings, or weedlings! :-D

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  9. Is he biting the other ones leg ? Penalty !!! There is no biting in fights unless you count the Holyfield-Tyson incident.

    P.S. Hope your lettuces are lettuces

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  10. Those do look like lettuce seed leaves. It will be interesting to see what they become.

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  11. Ggrrrrr- I have tried to comment twice now, and my stupid computer is acting up....watch, this one (which lacks all my previous commentary will go through!)

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  12. See? I knew it!! Well AG, I wrote about lizards and snakes twice now, and I can't bear to write it all again, especially given the possibility the originals made it to you.

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  13. I haven't been keeping up with the blogs lately either, but I just wanted to say hey. HEY.

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  14. Cookie reminds me of my rabbit, who lived do be 10 years old. I wish I had thought of buying a harness for her what a great idea, I'll bet Cookie loves his walks. Be very careful of those rattle snakes they sound scary!

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  15. Snakes.. yikes!

    Love the lizard photo! When did you get a bunny?

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  16. Cheryl, HEY!

    Kelly, your lizard and snake post didn't show up, please try again!

    Dan, I have tiny green things growing everywhere. I know it's not all lettuce, so much of it must be weeds. They are in an area that is being watered with a sprinkler now, but hasn't ever been watered, other than by the rain, before. No knowing just what will be sprouting.

    Gaby, yes he's biting! I have another photo that shows blood dripping from the wound, as well as a nasty bite on the other fellow.

    Barbie, Cookie (the rabbit) celebrated his 9th birthday last week. The seedlings are stil unidentifiable.

    Kitsap, I do wish I could have uploaded that video of the fighting iguansa! They are fascinating fellas, and don't seem to mind how close I come to them while filming.

    Erin, I've never met a snake I could like, although the King snake came real close. I was pretty upset to find out someone in the RV park killed it.

    Stefaneener, the older I get, the more hostile I find this environment. I don't worry about myself, but I do worry about the dogs. Coyotes and snakes and scorpions, oh my!

    Apple Pie Gal, at this stage of my life, puppy eyes are more appealing than husband eyes, LOL!

    Daphne, the radishes are coming up real fast. I can usually grow nice radishes down here, not so much up north.

    Toni, we got him 8-1/2 years ago.

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