Quint would say we survived July 4th. And July 5th, and the 6th. It’s anyone’s guess when the illegal shooting off fireworks will end. If it’s anything like years past, we guestimate around September 6th or 7th. He tried to sleep through most of it. He shook and whimpered through the worst of it. We might have to consider medication for him next year, a first.
Our across the street neighbor started firing his off at 12:06 Friday morning, after he arrived home from his late shift at work. Apparently, everyone should be awake at that time of night/morning and he really resents it when no one is. At 2:10 am, we finally got up, bundled up and sat out front fuming while watching the personal display he was still lighting off. He said he had to work the evening of July 4th so he thought he’d get his celebrating in when he could. He promised to do it again at or around 12:06 Saturday morning. He did not disappoint. The show ended just before 4 am, both nights.
Friday, the 4th, at 1:17 in the afternoon, the official thunderous house-shaking fireworks began, fired off by someone in an adjoining neighborhood, because everyone needs that one person who spent 10,000 dollars on the biggest and loudest fireworks available to the public to start things off, after which it was a free-for-all most of the afternoon and increased throughout the evening.
And then, at 12:03 am (we know because hello? who wouldn’t be awake?), beautiful silence fell across the land. It was like a light switch was flipped off and it was everything anyone could hope it would be.
Suddenly, it’s that time of year again. The boom, bangs and big noise time. Time to extend Quint’s safe place fort with blankets and boxes tucked between an old couch and chair, both of which are slated for donation, creating room to include all the kitties, toys and Mom who wouldn’t dare attend a 4th of July cat party without treats, a flashlight and cat books to read out loud. Perennial favorites include Cats for the Genius by Ramona Marek and I Could Pee on This by Francesco Marciuliano.
On Friday the 4th, everything outside that might catch a spark will be watered down and though fireworks are illegal here, we’re just outside the official city limits and where everyone seems to come to fire those off, regardless of what day it is. This year, we’re thinking of it as people choosing to support the economy by paying to blow up their dollars. Whatever works!
As is tradition here at Colehaus, we’ll be away from blogging until next week when, hopefully, the nightly 2 a.m. fireworks will have died down a little. Have a very safe 4th of July holiday. See you on Monday, July 7th.
We’re taking a last look at June and thanking the month for being more cool than many previous Junes. As usual, we could have stood for more rain but we very much appreciated not sweating through multiple 95-plus degree days. Let’s work on keeping this trend going, okay?
Of course, it could be 50 degrees outside and Mom would find a reason to break a sweat in the garden. We showed off the brick rework she did under the bird feeder post last Wednesday. Here’s her other project – re-doing the mulch border and gravel spillway for water runoff. Previously, it was very crooked and frankly, looked terrible. No longer.
Over the winter, we lost two white coneflower perennials and a couple of small salvia that weren’t expected to do much. The coneflower losses were disappointing and we think the raccoons just dug them up too many times over the wet winter despite surrounding them with heavier rocks to prevent that. Oh, well. Mom’s determined not to buy any more garden plants. We have plenty. In fact, with all the plants we have, we almost have our own nursery from which to “shop” from!
Maybe those raccoons traded us the white coneflowers for this yellow iris because we didn’t plant it and if you know the size of iris bulbs like we do, we’re pretty sure it’s not one of the bird poop plants that sometimes show up here (that would either be a big bird or a fairly uncomfortable bird). If this keeps up, Mom will never need to buy a plant ever again.
The iris is right next to these mystery bird “donation” plants we like quite a bit. Actually, we’ve had these around our property for a number of years; they multiple fairly easily but aren’t aggressive or a nuisance, and help create a woodland-feel alongside the native ferns that sometimes are aggressive.
This fern is not aggressive, was a bird “donation” plant and is one of Mom’s favorite ferns around (tied with Staghorn fern that does not grow here and looks very different). This maidenhair fern resides in a constant shady spot and has grown from a patch no bigger than a cat’s whiskers are wide to a mound about the size of three Pias.
Those pink Columbines that unexpectedly came up last year from out of the blue, returned beautifully this year. You better believe Mom will be collecting seeds again this year for next.
Not too far from the pink Columbine is a dark purple variety, one we intentionally planted, and behind that, is a slightly lighter purple one we did not plant. Hmm, maybe those pollinators are having a good time with our Columbines and we thank them for that!
This little Azalea is a relative of an Azalea that was original to this house from the developer, which would have made that one close to 26 years old. When it was badly burned by summer heat (they planted it in a really bad spot), Mom rooted a cutting before the mother plant died completely and that was successful. We love how the multiple petals make the flowers look like rosebuds.
Behind a big magenta Azalea that had grown out of control when the old Golden Arborvitae grew huge and blocked sunlight, this little, straggly yellow Rhododendron probably hadn’t bloomed in ten years. Until this year, when Mom finally trimmed down the last third of the Azalea. On bigger bushes, Mom subscribes to the 3-3 trimming rule: Trim down 1/3 of a bush the first year, the 2nd 1/3 the second year and the last 1/3 in the third year to prevent major shock and good regrowth. That Azalea ought to look really good next year and hopefully, this Rhododendron will return with more than two flowers.
Lastly, the daisies are coming up, both the wild and pretty, annoying aggressively seeding white ones and these pretty, long-lasting perennial ones that, again, we did not plant. Mom moved these from under the bird feeder to the pollinator bed and already, hummingbirds are humming all around them setting up their territory.
Tippy lets us know to not forget to mention he’s back, looking good and asking where’s the chicken catnip treats! We hadn’t seen him since February or so and hope maybe his owners wisely kept him indoors for the winter months. We still can’t get close to him but Mom has lots of patience.
Thanks, June. This was a good month. Let’s do it exactly the same next year!
