Tree question, stitching updates and planting

Cold but bright sunshine today, good for walking.  

 

Dogwood lovely against the bigger trees 

And further down the walk, is this sapling a young black walnut? There are nature ones close by,  self propagated, maybe with the help of squirrels.

And stitching is moving along happily 

Also I've been wanting to plant and the weather's been too cold to put in seeds, but today I planted potato eyes in a container for my annual two meal harvest.

The qtips are squirrel deterrents. Soaked in essential peppermint oil, not the baking essence, the real thing, and stuck around the pot, squirrels won't dig. 

Here's the kit, the bottle marked Not Food, and kept away from the spice cabinets.

I saw a squirrel burrowing away in the pots I haven't planted yet and staying away from this one.  It doesn't hurt them. They just avoid the scent.

No Friday knitting group today because our fearless leader was away and I felt a bit tired anyway. So I did a bit of walking and planting and stitching and reading, back with Elizabeth of York, in the middle of which I seem to have nodded off and missed a couple of battles and exiles. 

Happy day, everyone, try to stay alert for the main plot of your life today.

Food, movement, rest, weird dreams

 Yesterday was uneventful, thankfully, aside from resting and dozing on and off, and still sleeping all night. 

Weird dreams, about teaching some class about food and writing,  and protesting I wasn't well enough and being overridden by eager students. 

And writing a book or maybe it was a stitched piece, it kept changing, and hand delivering it, crawling up a frozen muddy driveway too steep to drive up. To what in the dream seemed to be a pet care client's house.

This part was so vivid that it took me a while after I woke to realize it was not a client in rl, but one I'd dreamed of many times.  I have recurring imaginary locations in dreams, based on actual ones I've been to. Also interesting houses with extra rooms I keep finding, that's always fun.

I'm probably expressing an urge to get back to weaving and knitting and spinning and generally making, but the neck is not up for it. So Haggard Hawks puzzles have been good. And it occurs to me that this might be a time to revisit my Arabic. I've been thinking about it a while.

Yesterday I   revisited food, cautiously, small chicken sandwich, small bowl of spaghetti without cheese and extra red peppers. So far so good.

Breakfast today, yogurt and tea, the big time.

I even made it to the mailbox, a round trip of about 100 yards, yay me

It's across the street from the white car, my front porch in the foreground. Retrieved a bill, oh joy.

About puzzles, here's a pretty easy one, or not, all depending on how you roll

Clever clues please, remembering I'm slow on the uptake at the moment.

Happy day everyone, storms yesterday took care of my plant watering, and someone disturbed one of my seedling pots. No qtips in that one. So I've put some now. 

 Let's attend to our seedlings whatever form they take! 

Happy Canada Day, and White Rabbits, eh?

Happy Canada Day to our Canadian and Canada-adjacent blogistas.

White Rabbits, too.

I did dull but strenuous stuff this morning, cut back the foliage from the very feeble iris this year, brought the Thai basil out front so neighbors can pick. Note the qtips and read on 

Witnessed the almost frightening advance of the squash plant. It had set off across the gate so just yesterday I turned it back and tied it in a new direction. Whereupon it said Ho, that's how you want it? I'll show you. And proceeded to commandeer the top of the fence. All the growth you see at the top is since yesterday

The tomatoes really like their new watering system

And I did the annual Riddling of the AC Condenser pipe. This is below grade, for some "reason" and if you fail to riddle out the buildup of debris that drifts in over the winter, the AC will drain through the living room ceiling. I riddled out a bit of debris and water began to flow out very obligingly.

 That bit of screening covers the mouth of it and the tile behind keeps the screening in place. Simple, works a treat. The various other visible pipes and lines are not related. The actual condensation pipe is underground and not visible here. 

If I'd held off a couple of hours, my neighbor would have done it. I met him later, and  he said he was about to do his, did I want him to do mine, too. But I was done. In a hot humid place like this it's vital to remember to do it. Some people have elaborate hoses and pumps and things.

Then we got talking about the caterpillars that have eaten his kale and broccoli, and I looked and saw just sad little skeletons, where there were plants last week. I don't think he knew about putting collars to interrupt the caterpillars' climb. 

He also has squirrels digging merrily in the house plants he put out for the summer. There I could help, and I gave him some qtips soaked in peppermint essential oil to put in the pots. As you see above in the Thai basil. 

 I've had some success with it. It's not the stuff you get in the baking section, but the real thing, much more pungent.

The best deterrent for squirrels is a pair of nesting Carolina wrens with young. They take no prisoners. I've seen them run squirrels off, one tiny bird pecking furiously at his head, one likewise at his tail. 

We had a squirrel free season up to a couple of weeks ago, and then I knew the pair that nested near here must be done with child rearing when the squirrels came back, ransacking the feeder.