So true!
Bright and early, we dropped off The Grey Shost sor servicing at Freeway Honda adjacent to the Elks Lodge. The old girl has 96,000 miles on her and is just now getting broken in. Since we do not use it a lot, I wanted to get an oil change and have the battery examined plus, I heard an odd noise from the passenger side (and it was NOT Mary!).
From the Honda dealer, we stopped by PT for the last time. Beginning next week, we both will go for Tuesday and Thursday gym visits to get us in shape for the Hawaiian vacation, which will be two weeks long!
We made it home and started working in the front yard when Havana, her husband, and her new baby dropped by to pick up two of our couches. Havana is Vicky’s niece; I have known her since she was a little girl.
Old Friends will be in good hands with Havanna.
After they departed, we went to Costo to get some additional barrels, and we also enjoyed a Costo lunch; Mary did a salad, and I dove into two ginormous hot dogs!
What do you call a hot dog race?… Wiener takes all.
As I downed the dog, I thought to myself, “Mary and I should start a make-your-own hot dog place. It would be called “What’s the Wurst That Could Happen?”
Hot dog with ketchup and yellow mustard.
Well, we got our stuff, and we met up with Tom on the way out. We also had an incident where a Lemon Meringue Cheesecake attempted to escape Cosco by jumping into our cart. Bravely, I fought him off with my bare teeth! We battled for at least three seconds before I overpowered him, but it was not easy! I think it was Mary’s Pom Pom’s that lead me to victory over this calorie ladened bully!
He was vicious, but we contained him, making him stay in the cooler!
We went home to put away the cold items, then dropped by Home Depot and donated $250 to bring home dirt, some flowers, cactus potting soil, a soaker hose, and other necessities. We need to buy stock in that company!
We replanted eight plants that were either root-bound or drowning because their drainage holes were plugged. I drilled eight holes in the bottom of the new pots and installed wire mesh to prevent them from getting stopped up and letting the water drown the roots.
The plants were Mandevilla and Plumeria, and both are pretty, providing color to our front yard patio.
We have yellow, red, and white Mandavillas on the patio!
Frangipani/Plumeria have a big appetite while growing, so we feed regularly with a bloom-booster fertilizer that’s relatively high in phosphorus and low in nitrogen, with added iron and magnesium.
We have four plants, each a different color!
What do you say when you want a flower to drive faster? Floret!!
Our soil mix is secret! It is a secret because we can never remember what and how much we mix together! Generally, it is local dirt from the south forty to which we add peat moss, potting soil, manure (Chicken and cow), and vermiculite/pearlite into a wheelbarrow, stirring frequently. We do use Plumeria food which is unique for the Plumeria plants.
Plumeria plant food features an NPK of Nitrogen (5%), Phosphate (30%), and Soluble Potash K20 (5%). Balanced ingredients encourage regrowth after pruning, containing five Nitrogen sources to ensure a constant feed. Higher phosphorus produces more blooms, while added elemental Sulfur helps increase soil acidity.
Making soil in the wheelbarrow; it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it!
The new containers are relatively large, requiring almost a small wheelbarrow full of soil for each plant. Dig the new cushions on the chairs! Those will wake up the dead!
The stick plants (Plumeria) get new soil and their bottoms get to dry out!
After several hours of work, we are done. Mary and I make a great team; working in the garden is good exercise and makes us forget the trials and tribulations of daily life. We do, however, have rules; two of us cannot be on the ground simultaneously because someone has to be up to help the other one!
We took a short break at Tea Time, 5:00 pm sharp (we were late today)! Mary brought out the honey pops Colleen sent us; they were perfect!
I was not entirely dressed for High Tea!
Putting on his best English accent, Scout joined us at the table and got to smell the honey pop right up close. It was a brew-tea-ful day to enjoy our tea. Scout offered to howl an Old English song, but we quietly suggested he do it later.
“Well, where is the crumpet shaped like a dog bone???”
Scout ran into the house and brought out a picture of his costume. It was frightening, to say the least!
We decided to save it for Halloween and hoped he would forget he had it!
I was fearful of taking a shower after working so hard. I might find hot dogs coming out of the shower head, and my plumber would probably call it a “meatier shower.”
After Tea Time, we had enough energy to wash down and put away the tools!
Everything is now watered, and feeling happy. The blank wall needs some decoration, so we are looking for hanging art. I suggested an enlarged picture of me from Gardening Naked Day, but that was immediately nixed by the boss.
We will also put a large umbrella on this patio for the occasions we use it later in the afternoon. We may move our portable umbrella from the backyard to the front to see how the idea works! We just need to figure out how to move 300 pounds of sand!
All cleaned up and ready to go!
The little guy is tired and ready for bed! We know how he feels.
He looks happy now!
Mary made stuffed bell peppers for dinner, and we watched “Dungeons and Dragons,” which was recommended by Colleen; it was a great movie making us giggle and laugh a lot.
Summary: A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
We crashed and should have done the hot tub, but it was already 9:00 pm, so we visited the Sandman!\
