Month: December 2020

Hello 2021

I think we are all ready to put 2020 behind us.

Wow-what a year it has been so much stuff has happened and then COVID stops us all in our tracks.
We became hermits staying home and not ever getting to roam around in public or go shopping. We all felt so restricted but at least we have plenty of facemasks and we are some of the ones being safe.

I think most of us know how to wash our hands and disinfect things. I hope most of us stayed home and did the right thing.

Surgeries were canceled, vacations were canceled, retirement trips were canceled all to stay home and stay safe. Picnics and family gatherings were canceled holidays were changed like never before.

I think most of us are grateful to see their is a vaccine and will graciously wait our turn to get it.

The first 2021 DIY project is a potting bench I am always potting plants or repotting plants so this will be a good thing and I can keep stuff better organized.

Here are a few pics of some ideas I like I need one with a back on it I love the idea of the door as a back but want a wider one than the one pictured so I might turn a door sideways instead of tall. I actually won a stainless steel sink at auction for my potting bench.

Once we get started I will post some pics of whatever design we come up with.

Happy New Year everyone have a safe and Happy Day and please know 2021 will certainly be a better year than 2020 was.

2

Squirly

Squirly was in and out of the large birdhouse box we had fixed for the black-bellied whistling ducks. They never used it but I have seen squirrels in and out of it several times.

He was on the roof top deck getting a little sun.

There is nothing better than wildlife right in your own backyard posing for pictures.

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Aloe Vera Bloom

Years ago my mom gave me some of her big Aloe Vera. This was a very old plant but I am not sure how old.

A few years ago it bloomed then again last year and now there are blooms all over several plants this year.

I have about 8 pots of the Aloe Vera scattered around the backyard plus Jack has about 30 pots in the greenhouse that are ready to be sold.

They are suppose to bloom 1 x a year but I think there are a lot of factors that go into them blooming.

Aloe Vera is very easy to grow and it likes to be neglected and not over watered.

Our two youngest granddaughters who are 6 years old Karina and Sophia love plants so I have given them several of the plants we had rooted. They have airplane plants, ivy, and aloe vera and they have quite the green thumbs like their mom does. They keep them on an Ikea Cart and roll them in and out of the sunshine indoors and sometimes they take them out on the front porch.

A simple plant that has several medicinal uses creates such a beautiful bloom even if it is only one time a year.

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Greens in garden

We have green cabbage, napa cabbage, swiss chard, and mustard greens just to name a few things in our green arsenal this fall.

This was our first time eating & growing Napa cabbage it’s a different type of cabbage. We made cabbage rolls with part of it and roasted the rest in the oven with olive oil and red pepper. It’s a stringy cabbage compared to the regular cabbage.

I love eating regular cabbage raw with salt on it but not the Napa the texture is to different. Its more soft like a lettuce and its curly leafed.

Jack has decided he would like to try and find a few neighbors who want to share in the work and share the yield of our garden. Kind of like a neighborhood garden but with fewer people.

He truly enjoys the garden and we are still planting in the ground, several different types of raised beds and buckets.

Here are a few pictures first up is regular cabbage as you can see the leaves are starting to turn in a make a head. Then there are mustard greens and swiss chard.

Life is green right now at The Lira Gardens.

2

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

If you are traveling please stay safe wear your mask when in public or in groups of people you are not around on a daily basis.

If you can have your get togethers outdoors do so if not turn the heat down to limit the spread indoors. The reason hospitals keep it so cold is to keep germs from spreading you can do the same indoors.

Get tested 5 – 7 days after being around this group of people this lowers the chances of COVID spreading even more. You are not just around a new group of people you are around everyone they have been around.

If you want to stay safe and keep others safe limit your exposure to people until you get test results back. There is a 15-minute rapid result test if you are really worried about exposure. There are even drive-thru testing sites.

Our family split up celebrations this year yesterday we had lunch with my mother n law and we had a picnic outdoors with seafood which we picked up. She will be around a large group today and will be getting tested next Friday 7 days after being around the large group.

Since our son and his family will be around a large group today they will not see my mother n law or us until after our testing next Friday. It is better to do it this way than take a chance of someone getting covid.

If everyone would do their part we can get through this much quicker.

Enjoy your holiday and stay safe.

4

Weenie Dog Wedding

On Monday we had a Dachshund ( weenie dog ) wedding for Little Lady and the Tramp he is about 2 1/2 years old she is 2 years and 4 months.

She is expecting her first litter of puppies and due this coming Sunday but we figure it will be sooner.

I think she is going to have 5 puppies sometimes I am right on my puppy guesses but I have never guessed one this small.

They are both Miniature long hair Dachshunds that are AKC registered. She is smaller than him as you can tell by their faces.

There will be puppy pics in the next few weeks.

They both have great personalities but he is more hyper than she is. Here is the link to our daughter Jeanelle’s WordPress Blog for further information.

https://shadyacresrosharon.wordpress.com/

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Painted tree trunk

This painted tree trunk is in the secret garden it is a hackberry tree they have smoother trunks with no chunky bark.

One day I decided to paint the trunk with acrylic paints this has been a few years ago and it has not really faded much. For me, it was about using the tree trunk as a canvas for a spot of color in the secret garden. This is not the entire tree but it is a section that is about four feet tall and as wide as the tree.

There is an artist who does blue trees that have been done in Houston before but he uses blue pigment instead of paint and only uses one color.

My husband is not a fan of the hackberry trees they fall in line with the tala trees and are known as a junk tree in Texas. He would cut them all down. I like the smooth trunk of these trees. All of ours are planted by the birds on the fence lines.

I am a tree lover and I know how many years it took us to have large trees on our treeless property which was once my father n laws hay field.

The hackberry tree makes a fruit that is loved by winter birds like the cedar waxwings, mockingbirds and robins. These tree also attract several kinds of butterflies.

When I look at a new property it is always the heavily wooded pieces of property that draw my attention. The kind with trails through it where you can get lost in nature and explore the beauty that is all around you.

I think we all need trees in our lives they shelter us from the harsh sun and provide nature a place to hide and build their homes. Trees filter the air we breathe and provide an umbrella in the rain.

2

Blue Jays

I caught these juvenile blue jays in the bird feeders.

They shared nicely with the red birds, doves, and redwing blackbirds. They do not seem to be bullies like some of the older ones are.

Nature puts on a show every day for all of us to see if you miss the show it is because you did not take the time to watch it.

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Boxer dogs

The boxer dogs are doing fine and seem to do quite well putting up with Cricket.

Daisy can get a little sassy sometimes when she gets aggravated at Crickets rough play.

Zoee goes with the flow shes easy going and laid back.

I snapped these pics Saturday while we were in the backyard with Karina and Sophia they were picking up crawdad mounds. It’s a lot easier for the little ones to do all that bending over than it is for us. We did not count but I am figuring since they dumped their bags 5 times there were at least 250 mounds that they picked up.

Zoee seems to think the girls belong to her if they are laying on the rug in the den she is right beside them. If they are in our room watching tv so is she where ever they are she is right there with them.

The beauty of boxer dogs in natural light enjoying the day and they did not even realize they needed to pose.

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