March has us sloshing in our galoshes here. It’s been raining part of just about every day lately. The temps are climbing too, averaging 40+ days now. My daffodils are up about 6″ and starting to get buds, Lillie’s are starting to rise, as are bearded irises. The forcythia bushes have tiny yellow buds, looks like we may have a better flowering year with them this season. Last year was ok, but 2022 was horrible. NO flowering at all on the forcythias! They went straight to green!
I’m excited for Spring, dryer weather that I can more comfortably work outside in and start to get the yard cleaned up from winter’s wrath, wind damage, all the broken sticks and branches littering the ground and collections of leaves blown into corners of the house and up against the dog fence. Yes, I have some clean up to do for sure! The wind may do a bit of it for me over the next couple of days!
I have quite a few outside beautification tasks to get done this year. The place looks bad right now. I took photos, I will post some of them, but I’m NOT proud, believe me. It needs paint and some fixing up here and there. The gardens will be completely cleaned out and reworked. I have a great plan for a hummingbird garden complete with water features to attract more of them!
Both entrances need major renovations. The front needs the porch rehabbed completely. I’ve got a lot of board (PT) and most of the lumber to do the wood repairs and upgrades. I’ll need to do a LOT of paint removal – scraping and just getting it back to the wood so I can prep it and paint it and have it stay looking nice longer than 3-4 months! It’s a 6′ x 14′ porch with a 3 wood step entrance that needs a short railing. It’s going to be my “bigger” outside project this spring. I am also going to jazz up the front door, probably find a good color and paint it. Then the siding needs to be pressure washed and the front of the building – which is a different kind of siding, like a composite 8″ wide stuff…can’t recall the name – needs to be painted. I’ve been studying on paint for siding, this climate and what I need it for. Now, because I am working with a monthly limited income I have to break a project like this into manageable pieces – labor and financially. I got the long front side figured at approximately $225. in materials, plus I’ll borrow the pressure washer from Charlie and I have all the tools for everything else. Now just to divide the task up into forward progress incremental pieces and start scheduling/tackling each phase as weather permits and my health holds out!
Indoor plants have been my major project this last week. Plus working on some miniature book-shelf models. One is a library room and one is part of a community house. Both are adorable and very very small. 1:24 scale. TINY.
My indoor plants are so healthy. I’ve added a couple of humidifiers to the house and it’s made a huge difference in the plants and in our breathing! I repotted, propagated and split plants this last week. I fertilized EVERYTHING – even the air plants got a fertilizer soaking. Those are doing particularly well, lots of baby pups on many of the air plants. In about 3 weeks I will have a couple of dozen newly propagated Hoya, philodendrons, purple passions, jades, money plants, and a couple of others I cannot recall names to. Looking forward to potting all of them and selling or giving some away.
Easter was today. I worked for a few hours early this morning and then went to my youngest brother’s home for Easter dinner and gathering of the family. It’s been a year without Mom. She died near to last Easter, actually on April 8, 2023. We will honor her on Monday, April 8, 2024 – during a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse that we are in the direct path of! Here I am at 87%, but just a tad inland I can see a 100% eclipse. So we are all going to gather where we can all view that together in Mom’s honor. She would be excited to see it if she were here. I can remember making cereal box eclipse viewers with her when I was a kid. She helped all 5 of us make a viewer box so we could all participate in an eclipse when I was growing up. I don’t recall the year, but I do recall making those view boxes out of Cheerios boxes and Kellogs Corn Flakes boxes and standing out in our backyard trying to see the eclipse with them…Mom continually saying “Don’t look at the sun! Use your boxes!!!” I love my Mom memories. I am one lucky duck to have had a terrific mother raise me up and love me my whole life. Thank the Goddesses.
Peace to All~ Angie aka MainelyButch
MainelyButch: Private Label 