Category Archives: doing it wrong

Last fall I bought two new blueberry plants.

We originally bought 4 around 2018 but after the great heatwave of 2021 one of them gave up the ghost.

The ones I have aren’t super productive and the birds and I think the squirrels, too, get into them.

When I was reading about blueberry plant care, the articles said that the first year you shouldn’t let them flower and make blueberries and instead let the plant get established. Since I did not know that for the first 4 plants, I wanted to do that for the new ones.

But what does that mean? Do you clip the flowers back? Pinch them?

I asked at the nursery and they told me it was fine to let them flower but if I wanted I could just pull them off. (Actually, every person I have mentioned this to told me it was fine to leave the blooms on.) The new plants are very small and don’t have a lot of flowers and I haven’t decided yet.

For the first time I also pruned the older plants, but not very much. I didn’t realize it took blueberries a while to get established. I thought I would be buried in blueberries so I could freeze some and make jam and we would just have giant bowls full of berries everywhere. Photos of blueberries when I have them.

A couple of weeks ago we had a couple of warm sunny days in a row. I told Bob we should switch from the flannel sheets. I was at work and I suggested this via text.

He texted back that he was already in the process of washing sheets and remaking the bed and we should hold out for two more weeks.

Good thing. We have had plenty of chilly nights since then and it looks more nights in the 30s next week. Maybe we’ll keep them on a little bit longer. I love fuzzy sheets. Or maybe I just love bedding because I like fresh summer sheets, too.

As a random aside, it looks like the Archive page is broken. I do not want to wade into website fixing right now. Or ever. But the archives on the sidebar work in case you need to peruse the archives.

I have been drinking the tea on the left for probably decades.

The first time I tried it, we got a sample at some hippie jam band festival. “This tastes like dirt,” I announced.

But then one of my yoga teachers talked it up and I tried it again and it stuck. I don’t drink it in any traditional style. I use the tea bags at work and for the travel mug. At home I use the loose leaf.

Sometime around the pandemic it became harder to get. My market dropped the tea bags and I couldn’t find them at any other market. Also it became more and more expensive. Then I couldn’t find the loose leaf at the market, either. I started ordering a 6 month supply online.

Last week, when I went to make a new order, I couldn’t even put the loose leaf in my cart. So, I opened my search engine and searched for “teas like [the one I like].”

And a whole world opened up. I found a forum and took notes and went back online to make my order. For the price of my old little yellow bag, I ordered a new kind of loose leaf and a new kind of tea bag.

I opened my delivery box to that GIANT bag of loose leaf. “I hope I like it,” I said. My market has another brand of yerba mate but I don’t like it.

Good news: I had it this morning and it was terrific. Also good news: this will last me forever. It’s so big I don’t even have a good place to put it. It’s in the laundry room at the moment. I will try the tea bags tomorrow.

I don’t know why this video looks like this. Don’t subscribe. I don’t make content I just put videos up now and then. I don’t know how to fix it and do not want to problem solve right now.

One of my best wildlife sightings ever. This was yesterday morning driving home from Orleans.

Today I did yard work and as always, my first yard work day of the season means I am so tired I can barely lift my arms above my head.

This is my single blooming daffodil — all by itself, shivering out there among the birdfeeders.

I have this vague memory of being in a store I don’t normally go to and them having almost a half-aisle of Jelly Belly varieties. I remember thinking: I need to come back here when I have more time to pick out my favorites. I haven’t had Jelly Bellies (Is the correct plural Jelly Bellies?) in a long time. Is it weird I think of them as “healthy” candy?

But later, I tried to remember where this was. What is a store I don’t normally go to that I’ve been to lately? I can’t think of it. Or logically: what kind of store would have so many Jelly Bellies? I don’t know.

Did I dream about an aisle of Jelly Belly candy? If so, what a strange, random dream.

I bought a new strap for my trail cam. Actually, I bought 4 straps because you can’t just buy one.

Now that the camera is properly strapped up, it’s catching the backyard scene again. Looks like opossum has moved back in under the shed. I have the opening covered but there’s a gap and apparently it’s just enough for it to get in and set up a happy home.

Bunny hops through almost every morning. I often see one or sometimes two bunnies in my or the neighbor’s yard when I take off for work in the morning.

Raccoons regularly coming through, too. I haven’t caught a skunk on camera for awhile. The deer don’t seem to have me on regular rotation.

There was lovely weather early last weekend which would have been a great time to do the annual roses prune plus I was going to do a little clipping on the blue berries plus the raspberry patch needs some TLC. But I missed my window and when I finally had a moment, it was too cold and damp out there. The forecast doesn’t look too promising.

I made some new friends in my neighborhood and joined the Tree Squad.

We have stickers.

I joined them in volunteering to plant trees in my neighborhood yesterday with Friends of Trees.

When we first pulled away from the staging area we were following a bunch of people toting their trees with their bikes and I thought: what a great photo! But I was driving and it never occurred to me to take photos again for the rest of the event. All the photos are from the FOT website and used without permission. (Sorry!)

We planted 141 trees! It was their biggest planting event of the year. My team planted 7 trees, all a very short walk from my house and part of one of my walking circuits. I can’t wait to visit them.

We planted a Bigleaf Maple (Not actual size):

And a Firestarter Black Tupelo (also, not actual tree. It didn’t have leaves yet) and a few others.

I learned a lot about trees including a lot of information that would have been helpful years ago. I’m so timid with my plants and afraid of damaging them. When they showed us how to break up the root balls on the container trees — they weren’t afraid to be rough.

When I woke up, I was bummed that I volunteered but once I got over there it ended up super fun. Amazing how many volunteers they had and how organized the event was. Turns out people who love trees are really cool. I am going to get some help and figure out a strategy for more trees in my yard.

Image generated by ai on February 14, 2024

It seems like at the grocery store that either they have a package with way more than you need or else too small for what you want.

Example 1 is that I used to buy kosher salt in a cardboard box roughly the size of a dictionary or a big fat book. Bob picked some up for me and he got it in a plastic (frownie face) bottle about the size of a 12 oz soda. It’s already almost gone so I went to pick some up and there were no cardboard boxes. Only the inadequate and environmentally stupid bottle.

Example 2 is that, long story, but my bones are already getting old and I am investigating the doctor report and trying to be more mindful of protein in my diet. This makes me mad because I am a poster elder for clean living and I am getting diagnosed with pre-everything. Back to my story, I thought I might try a protein powder to add to my morning yogurt, fruit, cereal and I looked at the store and they were all 2 lb tubs. What if I don’t like it?

And honestly, in my dream version of myself I would do this but in real life it seems like too much trouble. I don’t like smoothies. I don’t like washing the blender. I don’t have a lot of time to make things to bring for work. I don’t see how anyone gets enough protein looking at these amounts.

I also know if I make it too hard on myself then I don’t do anything and I eat cookies when I get to work and that doesn’t seem like the best outcome.

For now I am sticking to my regular breakfast foods and continuing my research.