The Energizer Cowboys who kept things humming at the reunion

The Energizer Cowboys who kept things humming at the reunion
These kids know how to have fun!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Fall Planting For Fun

 
After spending two months putting together the ward history and slide show, I am happy to be gardening again.  Got my flowers deadheaded, and the roses fertilized this week, and am starting to bury banana peels and egg shells around each plant, to see if that perks them up. Sherry Redd recommended that.  Hers always look do good. They are blooming wonderfully since it's cooled off.

Sept. 29 working the soil and shaping the bed.
On Sept. 29 bought a Mock Orange bush and mums and bulbs from S and K nursery and got them all planted that very day. Expanded the flower bed on the east end of the garage, as the new sprinklers keep overshooting and I don't want to waste that water.  Can't wait until spring to see how it will look.  Put in new bulbs and pansies.
Oct. 6 Plants in, bulbs buried, and compost added


The day we met the former reservation missionaries in Cortez, Oct. 4, I bought about a dozen mums, panseys,  bulbs, and perennials in Cortez. This is how it's looking now. 

Coleus planted by front door did well this season
New home for Mock Orange
and mum and bulbs
 Also put in ground covers in various places.  Dug up and replanted the peony on the north, and put in a pink hydrangea there.  All perennials at Four Seasons were on sale at 75% off.  I spent about $100 altogether, so I'm expecting a great show come next spring.  Planted Clemantis by the north front pillar, and another on the west fence.

I've dug up iris, asters, zebra grass as well as peony to give away. Kim Hurst came and got several things Friday.


Raspberries and Swiss Chard
Now my favorite! Steve put in a berry patch last fall, and the raspberries have been doing super well.

We have a pretty good apple
crop this year, though wormy
I have been luxuriating in them with all sorts of wonderful foods and canning.
At their peak I was picking about a gallon every third day.  Notice the Swiss chard growing as a companion plant.  I also started drinking green drinks using chard, spinach and kale.  Steve has been a pretty good sport about trying them too.  Silvia even puts beets in hers, which I've tried too. After picking, I wash the leaves, pat dry and freeze them on cookie sheets.  Then when frozen, I crumble them into plastic bags.
  I'm not sure why the apple trees were so wormy, as Steve was very diligent about keeping them sprayed every two weeks.  We still had plenty to bottle and eat.


We've also had pretty good success with herbs and kale in the planter boxes at the top of the garden.  I've got cilantro, basil, and thyme planted.  It was too hot in the mid-summer, but they are all doing well now. The radishes, cilantro,  and lettuce have reseeded and are coming up again.  Have been making lots of green drinks lately with Kale.
The south flower beds have flourished all summer, so much so that I've
dug out some of the yarrow, and hollyhocks and large marigold and put in
mums, so I can have some fall color. The pink primroses have really spread!






End of summer YSA social

Texting missing people.

Sept. 5 we hosted a social for the 5th ward and dorm kids that Jim and Sally Hughes work with now. We shot of water rockets firstThose who caught them won a prize.
Jared and Andrew were the main competition for Paula and Dani,
who were new to the art of water rocket catching, but still were competitive
 



This was also the first time Paula and Dani had roasted hot dogs.  They also
tried grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire.
 
 


After we ate, they played Kubb then came inside to play cards (Spoons and Nines)  and watch the BYU game.

A week for missionary visits



We've had the great pleasure of being able to visit with eight different missionaries whom we served with on the reservation. This past week has been awonderful and unexpected fun activity.

Kitchen in the Hattaway home
On Sat. Sept. 29, Paula and Sy Hope from Rexburg came down and stayed with us.  They had served in Chinle, and Kayenta  We had a great visit,  did a walk about our garden and played Kings Crown.  They left early the next morning to go to church in Denehotso, and then to visit friends all over the Rez. 

The next day, Monday, who should show up in Blanding but our 3 favorite CNA nurses from the mission: Sisters Klepecz, Harris, and Hunsicker.  They only stayed about an hour, as they had reservations on the Reservation (in Chinle.)  When they headed back to SLC on Thursday, we met them again in Cortez for lunch, along with the Hattaways from Mancos and had another good visit.  Afterwards we all drove out to Hattaway's place, and got to see their gigantic big barn/home and their 80 acres.  We learned from them that Elder Eagan had died, but still don't have any details as to why and when.  Later when writing to Sister Eagan I found out he had a heart attack, though he had no prior symptoms, and went very quickly.


It was only 23 steps up to their home on the top level!
That's how they stay young!
The very next day we got a phone call from one of the sisters who served in the West Spanish American Mission with me in 1965-66.  Sister Elizabeth Jones Palomino and her husband Walter were on their way through to visit their son in Grand Junction.  It has truly been a fun week to reminise about the mission field and the great people we knew there.  I didn't remember to take pictures of the first and last visit.