I must read the labels more carefully!
We woke early to make our 9:00 am appointment with Mary’s contact specialist in Tustin. Since we’re always on the go, she needed a spare pair of contacts.
We took a quick garden walk as it was a glorious morning! The flowers seemed to be jumping with colors. We stopped and admired the redist of the red! The Geraniums were fantastic.
I looked like a three-alarm fire!
Scented geraniums can help to repel annoying insects, and save summer evenings on the terrace or balcony.The leaves of some species contain essential oils whose scent is pleasant for humans.
For insects like mosquitoes and wasps, however, it is a deterrent.
Geraniums that emit a lemon or an orange scent are particularly effective in this respect.
The apple tree was in bloom and should be loaded with apples if the Santa Ana winds don’t knock off the blooms like last year. The tree is quite pretty and hosts a load of little bees which the garden also likes.
The blossoms seem to be ready for Easter!
Can you spot Mary? She looks to be behind bars!
Seeing Mary in the distance gives you an idea of how large the garden is!
In 50 days, each of these steel cages will be loaded with tomato plants that are attempting to escape. We will keep them trimmed. Some of these cages are fifteen years old! They were called Texas Cages when I got them from H&H Nursery in Lakewood.
The straw mulch is about 2-3 inches thick and protects the roots from the sun.
Tonight, at 8:06 p.m. California time, the vernal equinox arrives, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Usually, the equinox falls on the 20th of the month, but because it’s a leap year, it’s a day early in 2024.
The grape vines are emerging from their deep winter sleep. In the next 60 days, they will become a jungle and, hopefully, be loaded with table grapes. We will be careful and learn how to properly trim them so that in a few years, we will have table grapes all summer long.
On our way home from the doctor, we stopped at Home Depot to pick up some last-minute items for our garden project. Mary fixed a great lunch, and then we headed to the office to collect our tax information for our 3:00 pm appointment with “the tax guy!”
We had our papers in hand and met with Doug, and our emotions went from ecstatic (we have a credit coming) to total demoralization (oops, I missed an item). We decided to file jointly to save some money, hopefully, and we did. We saved $1.03.
After the two-hour marathon session, we were exhausted, so we decided to go to the American Legion on Balboa Island for dinner, which was a mere few miles away. It was “Taco Tuesday,” so we placed our order and sat at the bar eagerly devouring a glass of wine. We thought about how we would probably have to sell the dog so we could eat and pay other bills.
Our taxes are the “Other Miscellaneous Receipts.”
When we arrived home, I suggested we go to the swim spa to drown our sorrows. We sat in the hot water for three cycles or 45 minutes. Finally, we began watching season three of Alien before crashing.
