50 cents plus my name

my feet are tingling. it's raining here again. the weather has been indecisive as of late and you can almost feel the pulling of the two seasons as they fight for the days remaining between them. the peacock is in the tree outside calling for the peahen who presumably is sitting on a clutch of eggs or has been taken by a predator. every car that drives by is answered by his meow-like call. i have a cut on my pinky finger that i'm not sure where it came from. i didn't go to the movies tonight like i had planned. instead, i put some corn gluten on the back garden where the wheat has sprouted, planted some oats and sunflower seeds by the creek, put some newspapers and grass clippings around the garlic, secured the meat birds pen a little more for the rainstorms to come, and sent away for about 50 sweet potatoes.

right now, i'm trying to track down the possible thief that took my money online for some rare breed chickens that i never received and actually looking into where corn gluten comes from. i'm not sure what i'm doing with the night. i have tomorrow off and am going to amish country to pick up 30 turkeys, the enterprise that i've been thinking about for quite awhile.

i don't know if it's the wet feet or the lack of plans for the night or the annoying cut on my pinky but i'm in this strange calm tonight almost to the point of numbness. my day went amazingly so far. i played in dirt, trimmed bushes, repotted plants, pet cats, watched chickens, and it rained and shined. my feet were wet most of the day, which could have thrown me off a bit, who knows. but my new job gave me two things that Triad never gave me. the first thing was a name tag. it's nice. it's got my name on it and lake cable nursery. i came in and it was jus sitting there by my time card. i like my boss. she's pretty chill. i got a bunch of free shirts AND a name tag. sweet. but then again... now everyone can pronounce my name wrong. ugh.
second thing that my job gave me today, drumroll please. are you ready for this? seriously, Triad would have never allowed this to happen, but i was sorting out wintered over perinneals when my boss informed me that i was getting a 50 cent raise! wohoo! i don't know where it came from or why, but it's awesome. i'm pretty happy. and it's not the money, i don't think because i'm still making a lot less than i was before. but it's just that she chatted with me and said that i was moving along and learning fast and she wanted to put me inside with more customers and in charge of more displays and whatnot, which is cool. i don't hate anyone that i work with and the customers for the most part are really fun... or at least funny to watch.

i guess i find is entertaining to watch people experience plants. some little old biddies that come in just coo and cackle like hens at the new bougenvilia or the hibiscus that are in bloom. they are only looking for the colors that they have loved for years and are always asking if we are going to have the same thing that they planted last year, that pretty flower... you know, the one that goes up with a little bit of pink and some broad leaves... oh you know, it looks like a daisy but then it doesn't.....
young couples come in looking for trees. recently, it has been this weird pink cherry tree that got published in one magazine and every couple in the area has got to have it. they all come in and say the name with hesitation, like i'm going to correct them, but instead i just apologize for us not carrying that variety, but show them the weeping cherries none-the-less to which they usually scrunch up their noses, look around the corner like i'm hiding something that looks better and then scoot out the back door when i'm not looking in order to continue their search for the cherry tree they saw in that one magazine.

i don't know a lot about shrubs, and lucky me, it seems like everyone that comes up to me asks a rather difficult question about a particular type of shrub to which i of course have to ask them if it is deciduous or evergreen. then i walk over to the correct mat and try to scramble to read the tags while bullshitting up questions to ask them about their hours of sunlight or how big they want the shrub to be. if i'm lucky, they ask about a rose because those all have pictures. just for once, i want someone to ask me what type of climbing vine they should get for their trellis or how to stake tomatoes. but meh, oh well. the more they ask, the more i learn.

in any case, i am learning quite a bit about pruning shrubs. i imagine when i'm pruning shrubs that i'm on a gardening show sometimes.

here's the script:

another very important aspect with the -out with the old, in with the new- spring cleanings, it is also important to remember your shrubs. it is best to prune in the spring or in the fall. by getting rid of the excess or some of the dead branches, your shrub will be much happier.

if you are timid about trimming, a surefire way to know that you are only taking what needs to go is to bend the branches. if they are brittle and snap, then they are dead and can be snipped off. if they are pliable, you can leave them.
if part of your shrub looks like it took a beating over the winter, just trim it out. this will encourage new growth and while it might look a bit lop-sided for a bit, don't worry. more sunlight and more energy will go to the remaining branches.

if you are overly brazen, take heed. some plants don't take too kindly to being hacked back in the spring. i have had housewives ask me why their hydrengeas are not blooming. i inquire i they pruned in the spring, which could be the cause and one woman's face turned beet red with anger as she screamed that her husband had after she told him not to and she was going to kill him for that! please, i cannot be held liable for a male with an itchy clipper finger. if you are scared for your hydrengeas, point him in the direction of some evergreens. men seem to like them and they are pretty forgiving as far as pruning goes.




le sigh. i guess that goes through my head while pruning, but then again, i do cooking shows in my head sometimes while cooking or surgical shows while examining a hen so i guess there's nothing odd about that.

anyway, it's a nice night, i'm trying to rehydrate myself and i like the achy feeling in my body right now. i'm two seconds away from folding up like a card table, i just have this feeling like there was something else that i had been dying to write about all day, but now my mind is terribly blank.

so anyway, here's my to do list:
-make shelter for turkeys
-get rid of mamma and baby raccoons
-email shrimp guy our shrimp order
-finish newspapering around the garlic
-try out my new router
-work on making my back deck a beautiful outdoor room with planters, refinished chairs, and possibly a potters wheel.
-give neighbors eggs
-ask neighbors about mooching off their internet so i don't have to pay for my own.
-order half dozen sized egg cartons so i don't have to give full dozens as free gifts and to expand the market to singles and other non-families who can't eat a dozen eggs.
-get grapevine out of the creek and make a few more wreathes
-water and plant more tomato plants in the basement


which leads me to my adios for the night. i can at least scratch off half of the last one withing the next five minutes. i can't believe how much i did get done today. i feel so accomplished. oh, i would also like to put a bird feeder by my window.

...not like i don't have enough birds already. sheesh.