Las Vegas Trip, Day 1

Arrived in Vegas, picked up our rental car, and checked into the condo.  Left promptly to drive two hours and spend the day in Death Valley, California.  What a beautiful, majestic place!

The Husband and me, cheesing at the gateway to Death Valley.

 

 

Badwater, the lowest point in North America, 85 meters below sea level.

 

 

Salt-crusted floor of the Death Valley basin at Devil's Golf Course.

 

 

Layers of rock in the mountains at Artist's Palette.

 

 

The Husband and I, finishing our day at Death Valley at Zabriskie's Point.

 

 

It's time to head out and get moving with our plans for today.  Later, Everyone!!

 

Packing My Bags ...

... and heading for Las Vegas!  Vegas in July, you ask?  This is what happens when one vacations with a teacher, who is only off work for five weeks during the summer. 

According to weather.com, it looks as if the West Coast heatwave will be over, and we will have a bit of a break from the historically oppressive temperatures out there for the past couple of weeks.

I will be traveling and will miss the 109 degrees in Vegas today.

All of the arrangements for me to be away from home are finished.  Ruby is staying with my parents. 

 

Our son-in-law will be here to watch the house and help with outdoor stuff.  He is working on a project for me that I can't wait to share with you!

All I have left to do is finish packing and I will be ready to go.  Las Vegas, here I come!!

Bye Bye, Birdies

Day 13:  The Carolina Wren nest in the pot in my greenhouse is empty this morning.

I didn't check on the babies on Sunday afternoon or yesterday, so I don't know exactly when they left.

I really enjoyed them while they were here.

Sunday Snapshot ... Baby Wrens

Mr. and Mrs. Carolina Wren's five babies are ten days old.  Seems like it's been longer than that since they hatched.  I checked my calendar to confirm ... ten days.

This is a photo from Day 9.

The babies have grown so much!  They are beginning to look like their Wren parents, and not at all like the naked babies they were last week.  There is very little room in the nest now, and the babies don't move around much.  They sit with their chins on the edge of the nest (do birds have chins?), waiting for Mama or Papa to bring them something to eat.

Another Day 9 photo.

It will only be a few days till the babies leave the nest.  I've said this before ... I am amazed at how fast these little critters grow!

Day 10

Today will be a very good day!  We are heading to Maryland to attend a friend's birthday party.  Jim and Dan are two of our very favorite people and they throw the BEST parties ... and their home and garden are a place of wonder. 

Have a happy Sunday, Everybody!

Goodnight, Crepuscule

'Crepuscule' is a Tea Noisette climbing-style rose that grows on the east fence of my Rose Field.  It is almost carefree, very disease resistant, has flowers in a beautiful shade of gold/apricot, and it is a favorite of many a warm-weather rose gardener.  It didn't start out as one of my favorites, but it has grown on me over the years ... this rose asks so little and gives so much.

 

 

 

In May, I found abnormal new growth on one of the canes ... Rose Rosette Disease.  Since the diseased shoots were on the far end of a large, mature cane, and there was no sign of disease anywhere else, I may have caught it early before it spread throughout other parts of the plant.  There was a chance that I could save the rose by cutting that cane off at the base ... which I promptly did, and I disposed of it in the trash.  (and I disinfected my pruners with 91% alcohol in a little sprayer that I keep with me at all times, for just such an occasion.)

I laid the cane on the front of our white golf cart to get the best contrast between the normal and abnormal shoots.

 

 

There's no mistaking this for anything other than Rose Rosette Disease.

 

 

The other evening as I was walking through the garden, I saw a new shoot on a different part of Crepuscule that showed RRD symptoms.  I don't play around when it comes to RRD ... the rule I use when dealing with this disease is simple:  If RRD symptoms are on one cane and localized, I can try to save the rose by removing that cane.  If the disease returns, the rose must be removed.  If the disease is in more than one location on the rose when I first find it, I don't attempt to save it ... I remove the whole rose as soon as I can.  It's a brutal way to be, but it has to be done. 

 

RRD is a fatal rose disease, but it can take years to kill an individual rose.  In the meantime, the infected rose is a potent source of virus the can spread to other roses in the garden. 

 

 

The red shoot you see here is normal, healthy new growth on a different cane.

 

 

In the case of this rose, I am fortunate that it is not one of my rare ones.  It still hurts to lose it, as this is the third rose with RRD so far this year that I am removing.

 

R.I.P. 'Crepuscule' ... and 'Buff Beauty' ... and 'Climbing Radiance'.

 

... sigh ...

 

 

 

Fourth of July

My youngest daughter gave this rose to me for Mother's Day in May.  I thanked her profusely and said, "oooh, 'Fourth of July'!"

"Mom, how did you know that?  You didn't even look at the tag."

I know my roses ... what can I say.

I hope this Fourth of July holiday is a good one for each of you!  Party safely and enjoy your day!

Meanwhile, Back in the Sewing Room ....

Outdoor work in the garden has come to a halt for now, because it has rained at some point during the day for nine of the last ten days.  For the past three days, we have had periods of fairly steady showers and the place is thoroughly saturated.  (For those of you who desperately need rain, please accept my apologies.)  Since I can't plant roses while the ground is like this, I have been keeping myself occupied doing other things. 
 
Yesterday's project was to make a pile of martingale dog collars for the Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg booth at the Heritage Festival in downtown Fredericksburg on July 4th. 

Those of you who are connected with me on FB saw this photo when I posted it yesterday afternoon.

When I started making collars years ago, I only made them one-and-a-half-inches wide and greyhound size.  Martingale collars, at that time, were mostly used for greyhounds and other sighthounds, so it made sense to cater to that market.  Since then, owners of other dog breeds have learned about the safety provided by a martingale's limited slip choke loop ... and that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to have a whole wardrobe of colorful collars for your dog.

These are some of the collars that my Daniel wore.  The one in front was my favorite!

To feed this new interest in martingales, I have added a smaller-size to our inventory.  As the photo says, these collars are 1" wide, and they are slightly shorter than the original size ... think of this as a Medium.
 
I use donated discontinued upholstery fabric samples to make my collars.  The samples are small, and I am only able to get two, three, or (at the most) four collars from one piece of fabric.  The benefit of this is that you're not going to see your dog's collar on every other dog at the dog park.  The downside is that once a pattern is sold out, it's gone ... get 'em while you can, because you may be disappointed when your favorite isn't there when you come back to the booth.

Anyway ... as I looked at the new collars, I realized that there was nothing there for the girliest of pups.  There is the brown rose chintz one, and the lime green one has polka dots on the lining, but something was definitely missing.  I dug through my fabric stash and I came up with this:

Pink houndstooth!  Such a classic pattern, small scale to compliment a more petite collar, and oh-so feminine.  It was hard for me to put all four of these collars in the pile for the booth ... one of them would look SO good on Ruby. 

If you are local and plan to come to the Heritage Festival, please stop by the GRF booth ... I will be working the afternoon/closing shift.  If you can't make it to see us in person and you are interested in one of these collars, let me know and I will pull it from inventory and sent you a PayPal invoice.  Or, if you have an idea for a custom collar, I would love to work with you ... I once made collars for a woman so her two dogs would match the couch in her office.

I donate my time and all supplies to make these collars, and every $ of the purchase price is donated to Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg ... to support canine cancer research that benefits ALL breeds of dogs, not just greyhounds.  This is a cause that is close to my heart, since it was cancer that took my Daniel in May (and Emma in 2011). 

I love this photo of Daniel and me!!

It is appropriate that I post this today, because it is a special day to celebrate.  Today is the three-year anniversary of my dear friends Kim and Andy's dog TJ's osteosarcoma diagnosis and surgery to amputate his front leg.  Three years survival is a miracle for this horrible disease, and TJ has thrived as a Tripawd ... continuing to work as an active Therapy Dog in hospitals, schools, and mentoring other Therapy Dogs.

Happy Ampuversary, TJ!!