A beautiful rainy day

Today was rainy and overcast. Not to worry, it was still a beautiful day. So I had to stay more indoors and do laundry and straighten up rather than be outside planting, cooking out and traipsing around the county looking at plants I really don't need.

Because of the lack of sun, it was a wonderful day to be taking pictures as well. This one is of our favorite view of the house. It's nice to see things growing in now.

I remember being so happy when the house was finally finished and we could move in. But it still felt so barren and hot, almost like a desert. It was also dry that year, one of the worst droughts we had in years. There was no grass in the garden either; nothing to make the house feel like a home and none to come any time soon.

We struggled that year with the plants that came in tow. Many of them suffered horribly as we tried to get them in the ground as we laid out our beds.

I don't know if I would have done it any other way. We had the opportunity to lay out and form the beds before the grass came the following spring. The plants were in and the mulch was spread. There was no question how we wanted the garden to be seeded.

Nearly all the garden beds we put in that first year are still the same beds you see in these pictures. Oh, there were a number of them added in the back yard especially, but most of the front one are the same beds as when we first moved in and put them there.

We had also hired a service to help us bring in the grass seed once it was planted. He helped us for two years until we felt comfortable handling the upkeep ourselves.

Times does fly when you're having fun or have a mission to accomplish. I remember when we first moved in and how I wondered if we had done the right thing and if I would ever feel comfortable in my custom home.

Now, with these pictures, I can see how things have really grown in. How lush the garden is looking and my attitude about living here has changed greatly. I love it here. I'm content and can feel the stress roll of my back whenever I come here after work or being away.

These shots were taken today and I am pleased.

A beautiful morning, a beautiful day

Today, instead of going to my Rose Society meeting, I decided to go to Tudbinks, a local greenhouse where I like to get my summer hangers. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conestoga-PA/Tudbinks-greenhouses/352988283486 Their hanging pots and planters are generally a good bit cheaper than other greenhouses around and I find the quality of their plants are comparable. Besides, it's a good bit closer than most of the more popular greenhouses. They are a diamond hidden in the mountains.

I ended up spending more money there than I had anticipated. Of course. Over the years they have expanded from annuals and baskets and hangers to perennials and now a few shrubs. They have five greenhouses and two covered open areas where the shrubs and perennials are.

After leaving there with our loot; one shrub, two beautiful hangers, several veggie plants such as eggplant, cantaloupe and honeydew, and several very nice perennials we went to the Conestoga Wagon for lunch. http://www.theconestogawagon.com/ There are several small eateries here that are absolutely wonderful, but I really enjoy the food at the Conestoga Wagon; move over Ruby Tuesday's. The "Wagon" is a tiny restaurant, country store, and gas station all rolled into one - the main hub of the town as country stores were 100 years ago. Nearby there are hairdressers, antique stores and a vet's office where I take the fur kids. The Conestoga Historic Society is also right next door. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacahs/index.htm

On the way into the restaurant, I over heard a woman telling her son "You can now say you ate at the Conestoga Wagon." This struck me as funny. It seems that only a handful of folks even know that Conestoga exists. I always thought this odd with the history of this tiny village. This town is home to the Conestoga Indians before they were slaughtered by the Harrisburg's Paxton brothers as well as the pre-train form of freight delivery, the Conestoga Wagon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_wagon Move over UPS. You weren't the first! Nonetheless, we rarely get visitors here. As Husband puts it "We don't even have a stop light!"

Conestoga sits in the out-of-the-way hilltops of southern Lancaster County http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga,_Pennsylvania, however we are not without our benefits. We are home of the Safe Harbor Hydraulic Power facility as well as the Turkey Hill Ice Cream factory.

With all this history, you'd think that Conestoga would be better known, but I'm glad it's not. I love the openness here; the wildness of it. To sit on my deck and watch the birds and wildlife ramble through the property is quieting and wonderful. Husband mentions occasionally about selling the property. I always stare at him and then say "But you won't find another piece of heaven anywhere else." I plan on staying here a long time.

The day vacation

Taking some much needed time off work, this is a bit earlier than I usually take, but like I said, I really needed it.

The stay-cation was mostly done at home being the time off that we set our sights to finishing the garden and getting it ready for spring. Usually this is done in early May. This year, however, since spring came with such a passion, a little earlier was called for. That's OK.

Of course, I can't leave work for any length of time without finding something to do to make it a bit interesting and breaking up the work around the house. Since yesterday was forecasted to be the last of the really nice days, a trip to Longwood Gardens was in order.

I've been finding going places and doing things other than the garden on really nice days kind of hard to do. My garden is starting to grow in now and I'm finding it very pleasant. But we also needed the break. Taking care of the garden does take up the majority of our time off, so this was a good thing.

We usually don't get to Longwood this early in the season, but it was pleasant since we did get to see plants and bulbs in bloom that we don't often get to see. The wisteria was in bloom, so of course we had to visit the wisteria garden. It is very pretty and very fragrant this time of year. The plants are impressive, though I wouldn't want them in my garden. They are to big and aggressive for me. Besides, the Japanese wisteria, as these are, will attract the bees, but not much else. My wisteria is an East Coast American variety that is somewhat different, smaller, less aggressive and blooms throughout the summer, though the blooms are smaller and more plentiful.

Longwood's spring bulb and summer annual walk is always spectacular! These two photos show the wonderful array of color that really draws the eye and begs you to walk through and enjoy the lovely fragrance and display. This is just one of the displays. There is a second one around the children's garden that is just as colorful. We also had to stop to watch the Blue Martins flying around the house, taking insects that might be a problem to the growing vegetables in the vegetable garden. That gave us ideas for our vegetable garden until we also discovered that you might want an owl guard for it at extra cost of course. We might have to change our minds about this. The owl is one predator that we do seem to have around here. They often go for the baby rabbits that run all around the garden, but if they also harass the Blue Martins, maybe it's best we not put one up. We'll think about this more.

We ended up spending the usual amount of time at Longwood but we didn't stop this time for refreshment at the Terrace Restaurant as we normally do. Nor did we see as much of the garden as we usually do either. It was such a beautiful day and we just leisurely strolled around the garden taking in all that we normally don't see when we're here.

We were drawn by the color, so everywhere there was color, we went. We were particularly interested in the daffodils and tulips, the growing new vegetables and how they had their berry vines such as raspberries growing. It was interesting to see while you could still see the skeletons of the plants and the way they had them growing on wires and trellises.

We stopped on the way home at the local nursery to pick up a new variety of dwarf lilac that sounded interesting to put in a hole that really needed something interesting in the garden. The variety is Boomerang. It is very fragrant and will be next to the deck and my office window where the scent will be greatly appreciated. We will hopefully get that in today before the rain comes. I also got two yarrows for the back perennial bed. We are cleaning that bed out now, getting it ready for the season and a lot of the stuff in there will unfortunately have to be dug up with the wheat that has taken over the entire site. I'm planning on broadcasting some wildflowers there as well in hopes of keeping the farmer's wheat out of that bed. Anything that is aggressive with spreading is welcome (except mint). The yarrow will prove to be a good addition here.

On our return home, there was a box on the front porch with two roses in it; Brigadoon and Falling in Love. Brigadoon I've been wanting for at least 7 years and now I finally got it. Falling in Love, I've been looking at for the past two years. These came from a company where I had a gift certificate to that I had won as a door prize at the Mid-Winter's Rose Convention in February. These were both lovely, large bare-root roses with really strong root systems. They got soaked and planted the same day.

I need to go as I can see the clouds pushing in overhead and I want to get some of the wildflower seed in before the rain comes. There will be more later.

More Spring Stuff

I've been working on the garden this week. It's been fun, but also a lot of work. I also am taking the time I want to enjoy the garden and watch the birds. I'm surprised at the number of Chickadees we have in the garden this year. We've never had them in the garden before and this year we have two breeding pairs. They are constantly squabbling with each other even though one lives in the Crimson maple in the front of the house and the other pair lives in the little house under the beech in the back of the house. They are funny to watch.


Years ago, we were given a tiny Japanese maple of undetermined variety by the wife of a deceasd friend. She said that her husband would have wanted us to have this tiny tree, so we took it in honor of the friend. Six years later it is growing nicely on a hill, still in honor of this friend. It was a gift to him by another mutual friend. I'm pleased it is growing so nicely.





Not far from that Japanese maple there is another, almost directly across from it. This little Threadleaf Japanese maple, again of undetermined variety resides near the beech tree and is doing amazingly well despite the rough winter we had. We had found this tiny tree at a box store, nearly dead from abuse and neglect for $25. We brought it home, planted it almost immediately and kept it well watered. Well, Mother Nature did most of the work. This spring it leafed out very well and is now looking at being established. It is growing nicely as if it didn't know it was planted there last fall.


In between the two Japanese maples we are planning on putting in a pondless waterfall, hopefully next year, and a set of steps alongside to gain easy access to the upper level of the back garden. Although our garden will always be a work in progress, this waterfall should be the last of the major projects. We are also thinking of putting in a stone path from the driveway around to the patio, but this shouldn't be so expensive that we can't do it at almost any time.


We've been keeping up with the garden very well this year so far. I hope we can keep it up. We wanted another tree for the back garden and looked around at a few, but eventually decided on a sweet birch that was growing along the back fence under the electric cables. We moved it to the spot where we wanted another tree. It is in deep shock right now, but looks strong. I'll give it another dose of root-start and it should be fine. It is actually growing for me. I'm hoping that the immature roots it has will be able to sustain it until they are large enough to truly support it. I won't know the strength of it until next spring when it blooms again.


Husband wants to finish the last of the mulch today and I want to continue with the back flowerbed, preparing it for the wildflowers I will broadcast throughout it. This should be another good day and just in time for the rain that is coming.


The forsythia still needs serious attention and that will come. Then the garden will be up to date with the care. I did notice that the weeding needs to be started again in the front. It just goes round and round it seems.

Snow Fountain Cherry

This spring has been exceptionally warm and beautiful this year. The garden has exploded as if it just couldn't wait for this wonderful weather. No wonder, after all the snow we've had.

Anyway, this was the 1st year in 7 that I've actually been able to appreciate my snow fountain weeping cherry. It's grown well, but blooms so early that I am still rarely outside to appreciate it - and it's beautiful fragrance. I never realized how beautiful this tree was before.

Everything is doing beautifully this year. I spend more time outside now (as much as possible). The roses are pruned and fertilized, the evergreens are fertilized and it's time to start with the trees and their yearly care. We've already transplanted a sweet birch to a place where it will be more appreciated and a few acquired perennials have gone in. My temporary greenhouse has gone up and my seedlings are in there as well as any plants that need hardening.

The nights are still cool and I find it hard to get up in the mornigs. The evenings are warm and waiting for me to return from the jobplace to work on the garden. Most weekedays I make dinner and then work on the garden for an hour before it gets to dark to see.

Last evening I planted my onions and finished the fertilizing of the evergreens. It's projected to rain today so my planting will be good. So far in the garden I have peas and lettuce and I'm sure the carrots are working on it. I should know soon.

Time now for the Garden

Today I got my first of two rose orders. I didn't order much this year. Just a few plants which include 4 roses and three perennials.

The roses I got today were Fourth of July and Crimson Bouquet. I ordered these from Northland Roses, a new company to me because of a gift certificate I had won as a door prize at a local rose convention. I was impressed with the roses when they arrived. Well cared for, well rooted and very healthy. I have high hopes for these babies.

Yesterday I went to the local garden nursery and bought another pink dogwood. I seem determined to have a pink dogwood tree in my garden somewhere. The one I have has had a very bad couple of years since I over fertilized it. It's been going down hill since and it now appears to have lost the best part of the tree. So, my trip to the nursey was to get a repalcement. However, now that I've bought the tree, I'm not so sure about the little sick one. It appears to have improved this past day, so I will allow it the rest of the week and this glorious weather to prove that it truly didn't lose the best part of it. If that is the case, the new little pink dogwood will go to another spot that is crying for a tree like this. Or maybe I'll just plant it in the new spot and replace the other one should it finally succumb.

I'm working on the roses. Many of them were broken badly from the worst snow in 8 years but I lost only one of them. That one is one that seems to want to be an annual anyway and it didn't surprise me. Many of the others did though by surviving the winter with flying colors. I have most of them pruned now and want to finish them this weekend. I'd also like to get the fertilizing done as well.

We are right on schedule for the early spring clean up and will hopefully have time to do some other things to the garden we couldn't get to last year. We had mulch delivered yesterday. This is about 2 months earlier than we've gotten to it before.

The weather's been beautiful and the recession has been keeping us at home. This is a good thing for the garden.

Lately

Well, it's been quite a while since I've been writing here. I hope not too long.

Anyway, it's been quite a winter for me. The month of February with it's 42 inches of snow, making the total for the year so far at 58 inches. It's been a mess. Now, I'm quite sick with what appears to be three different types of virus. YUCK.

I've been keeping myself busy this winter though. I painted the master suite; still working on the last two doors as well as doing some sewing. Those of you who know me, know I love to sew and will do so at every opportunity. Do I save money by making my own clothes? No. But you can tweak the garments some making them fit a little better sometimes. Here is the list:

This is a short sleeved shell, or at least will be when it is finished. I still have the sleeves to set in. They are made and this is the next step. After this, the hem and the shell will be finished. If you think I'm wearing it with the next garments, think again. That, in my opinion is a bit much blue and flowers for one outfit. I will wear this with a pair of black or white pants or a black skirt that I have in my closet. I may use the sash with it though. I'll see how that works.

This is a skirt and sash made out of the same material as the shell above. I had originally gotten this material for a skirt, then thought about a dress, but decided on the skirt. I order a really lovely banded bottom summer sweater to wear with this in black, but I also have a nice white sweater that will go well too. The sash was a plus. When I had gotten this fabric, I didn't realize that it was so wide and it made all three of these garments with only a small amount to spare. I hadn't planned on making all this but it is a lovely draping material and I'm glad I had enough for all three pieces.

This is a smock dress. The fabric is 100% cotton and a bit heavier than I had anticipated, but it is pretty. I had problems with the pleat in the front of the dress, breaking a couple of sewing needles before I finally was able to get it together. I am very unhappy with the instructions for this dress. This was the first time I had made one of these and followed the directions to a "T" only to discover that when it came time to do the pleat in the front there was so much bulk material to work around it was nearly impossible to get it done the way the directions said. So, should I decide I like this pattern, and want to make another, I will finish the front of the dress before sewing up the side seams. That way I can ease a lot of the bulk out of the way. This dress might still need some tweaking, but I will know that when I wear it the first time. It is pretty with big pockets and nice for more casual wear.

I found this material in my sewing trunk. I remember getting a bolt of this a couple of years ago and even thought I had made this shirt. I couldn't find it anywhere and was surprised to find the material in my trunk. Now, Husband has a really pretty summer dress shirt to wear to the theater when we go see "Phantom" in June.

This is another camp shirt I made for myself, again with fabric I found in my sewing trunk. More material I got at the same sale as the shirt above and never got around to making anything. I was surprised however to find that when I went to take the picture of this shirt that the button holes weren't finished. Amazing. I will be finishing it really soon.

One last accomplishment for this February. I won a 1st place for my picture of Summer Wine in the American Rose Photo Contest for this year. This is a very beautiful rose and a beautiful picture. I'm proud of this win.

March is here now, the snow is leaving us and the gardening will hopefully begin in a week or two or three. It will soon be time to prepare the garden and plant the peas, onions, carrots and lettuces. There will be a lot of heavy pruning this year as the deep snow has taken it's toll on the shrubs and roses. I see a lot of broken plants out there, but none that can't be saved. All my plant orders are made and I've ordered some new spring clothes. I'm ready to start the season as soon as I get over this virus that wants to harass me. I'm looking forward to a glorious spring.

Crossing the Conestoga River

Bob was at the Conestoga River Bridge today and this is the movie he made. I think it's pretty good!

Following the Three Mile Island Generators

In anticipation of tomorrows move, we went to see what was going on with the generators that are being towed to Three Mile Island and are now within three miles of my home.

The pair of huge cranes with cables that will support the Conestoga River bridge as the generators are transported across this bridge on their next leg of the journey. This road has been closed for the past month as PennDot prepared the roads and bridges for this event.

The two turbine generators are now parked at the Rock Hill Tavern, where many of the patrons park when they visit this establishment for the great beer and sandwiches this 200 year old tavern is known for.

These next photos are of the generators.

It was a beautiful day today. We couldn't just drive up to the generators, but parked a few hundred feet away and walked to the tavern and the generators.

The generators are accompanied by their envoy of police, and transporters including the travel trailers for the folks with them.

Shenck's Wildflower Preserve

Not far from my home there is a Wildflower Preserve called Shenck's Ferry WildflowerPreserve. I visited there today. This first picture is a shot of the road we followed to get there. This is Greenhill Road right near my home.
As you travel further south on Greenhill Road, it becomes a one-lane country road. Here it is near the intersection of Shenck's Ferry Road.

You still go further south on Greenhill and follow the signs to the wildflower preserve, the road turns into a small cow path that is totally unpaved and cuts through the woods. This is a wonderful find! And a great place to hike. Taking a car on this road may not be such a good idea because the ruts are almost 1½ feet deep in places.

A wildflower with a bee

A pond near my home.

The typical government sign for the area.

An incredible find!!! Who'da thought! A tunnel in the middle of nowhere! It leads nowhere but maybe once it was a bridge over the road for a railroad. There is now no sign of any type of railroad any longer.

Looking through the tunnel.

The tunnel from the other side. The mountain runs over top of it and trees are growing nicely.

The plaque is hard to read but it says that the tunnel was built in 1905, probably before the horseless carriage came here. It also has listed the contractors and builders of the tunnel.

Another wildflower along the way.

A wild Widdow's Tears.

More wildflowers found along the way.

We didn't travel the entire length of Greenhill Road. It would be an entire day's hike and that's not the time to get there or climb the mountain to get home. We were out about 3 hours today and this is what we saw. It is lovely there.

See if this works

This is home.

Roadside shots

Between the struggles at work and concerns of family, I've been keeping myself fairly busy the past couple of months. This morning I went for a walk to just enjoy the quietness of the morning. Most folks don't know about the small cluster of homes on top this mountain. We are surrounded by woods that meander down the mountain and small country roads that wind through them. Each year I live here, the woods encroach a little more on this small cluster of home; something I don't mind at all. This morning the peacefulness of this mountaintop wrapped around me like a warm cozy blanket and the birds and insects serenaded me. It's a good day.

Some shots of local and distant areas I've been visiting.

Somerset County - many coal strip mines have left this area barren. The earth is healing itself, but is taking much time to do so.
The Safe Harbor Dam.


The railroad that follows the Susquehanna River


Indian writing on the walls of the dam.

The burial site of Flight 93.

A country road.

A bridge over the Conestoga River at the Port of Lancaster.

The Holiday

Yellow Daisy.

I spent most of my holiday around the house weeding and digging up volunteers that weren't in a good spot. I also planted a new shade garden under the oak. Very pretty. Nice weekend so far.

This is Oranges and Lemons Gallerdia

Mister Lincoln Rose

Asiatic lily, Kansas

Asiatic daylily, Grand Cru

Fanfair Gailardia

Baltimore Oriole daylily.