Dangerous and Expensive Gardening

This is a bit incomprehensible to me, but I paid for dirt. PAID. MONEY.

After spending some time with my amazing gardener friend, I learned so much. I have dirt; she has SOIL. We live a mile apart, but our gardening quality is about 1000 miles apart. So, I learned about her SOIL: it is called “nitro mulch” and it costs $50/cubic yard. The nursery delivers for a fee, so I bought some.

She also taught me about something called Milorganite. It is a slow release fertilizer. I bought some of it too.

Finally, she taught me about something called Deer Out, a concentrate that you mix with water and spray on everything that deer might eat. It isn’t poisonous, it is water repellent, and the deer hate it.

I spend a morning pruning, weeding, transplanting, fertilizing, and spreading mulch, because THIS WILL FINALLY BE THE YEAR AT LEAST PART OF MY YARD LOOKS GOOD FOR LONGER THAN THE 15 MINUTES OF SPRINGTIME!

Excuse me for shouting. I am pretty excited about the possibility of keeping flowers blooming.

When I was finished and gathering my tools, I heard a sprinkler. We don’t have sprinklers that sound like that. I followed my ears and found Pippin far too interested in a shrub that sounded as if there was a sprinkler inside of it. 

Trail Guy was off being Road Guy (working on the Mineral King road, more to follow in another blog post when I actually have something to report). I called my neighbor, who has killed many rattlesnakes for me.

This rattlesnake was far far under a compact shrub THAT WAS IN FULL BLOOM. Neighbor had to do a fair amount of hacking to even be able to see the buzzworm. I kept the cats away, and hung around in case my help was needed. At one point I used a pitchfork to pry the shrub up so that Neighbor could reach in with a shovel and drag the beast out where he could finish the job.

A friend texted me a photo of a rattler he encountered on a recent hike. I texted him back that Neighbor had just sent one from my yard to hell. The friend replied that snakes don’t go to hell because they lack souls; instead, they are from hell. 

I’d rather have a hacked up shrub than a living snake. 

Gives me the shivers thinking about it. Let’s just calm our nerves with some photos of the better parts of that dangerous and expensive hobby of gardening, shall we?

Tucker wasn’t around for the snake action. Jackson was, and I had to shout him away from it. The cats are excellent about letting us know when there are snakes, but then we have to be excellent at keeping them away. 

Some day I may have to do my own dispatching of snakes. This one took extraordinary skill, strength and determination, and if it wasn’t for Neighbor, I just don’t know what I would have done.

 

Six Garden Meanderings

 

Apparently I haven’t gone back to work yet. But I am throughly enjoying late springtime in Three Rivers.

  1. I looked up online why garlic bulbs grow too small and the reasons are legion. Planting too close together, too early, too late, too shallow, too deep, beginning with small cloves, not weeding enough, and the most likely: poor soil.
  2. The roses are getting tired.
  3. The bugs are eating the basil in some places and not in others. Good thing someone taught me about rooting cuttings in water so I haven’t completely wasted my money buying these plants.
  4. I am determined to get these cuttings of myoporum rooted so I can plant this hardy groundcover in a rough area of our church grounds.
  5. You are curious about the porch plants that showed up with the cats last week? They are called “Queen’s Tears”.
  6. This is the pile of rocks that I helped move the other day. Maybe I’ll go back to work soon.

Six Meanderings

  1. Tulare County roads department is supposed to finish making the lower part of the Mineral King Road passable this week. Whether or not it will be open to the public is not known.
  2. When it is hot, the cats lie on the concrete of the front porch.
  3. Front to back: Pippin, Jackson (whose tail is always up), Tucker.
  4. When the heat backs off a bit, I hope to return to this painting. Yeah, yeah, I could use the swamp cooler, but you may have noticed that I’d rather be gardening. When I actually do work on it, you will get to see some photos.
  5. This place has the most beautiful views of Moro Rock and Alta Peak.
    6. So does this place:

It is good to live in Tulare County this time of year (but remember, you don’t want to move here because often we have terrible air, we are all fat and undereducated, and there is no Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.)

Drawing For Fun

A friend of mine drives for Sequoia Sightseeing Tours.* He had some passengers from Michigan and learned that one is an artist. So, he told her about me. Because people can’t get to Sequoia through Three Rivers right now (wrecked roads from winter floods), they sometimes don’t know how to spend their time. My friend suggested they visit my studio (not open to the public but open by appointment.) 

He called to ask permission to give them my contact information. I said yes, then I vacuumed the studio, made sure things were put away, and hung out the flag. 

I thought that it might be fun for them to see a piece in progress, so I opened up my flat file drawer labeled “In Progress” (Captain Obvious here) and pulled out a drawing that I started so long ago that I can’t remember when or why. I think it had something to do with drawing for fun.

I began working on it, realizing that I draw for money, not for fun. This is because:(1) if I drew for fun, there wouldn’t be as much time to do other fun things; (2) if I didn’t draw for money, I’d have to get a job; (3) if I drew for fun, those flat files would be so full that they wouldn’t open; (4) if I drew for fun, I wouldn’t have paintings to sell, only drawings; (5) if I drew for fun, I’d end up putting a ton of money into framing, and where would that money come from since I wouldn’t be drawing for money?

This is from a photo taken in 1997 and used to draw the little picture you see next to it. It is the light, shadow and detail that appeal to me. (This drawing was on the back cover of the dust jacket for The Cabins of Mineral King, by me and Jane Coughran, published in 1998, long since sold out.)

I looked up from the drawing and saw this out the window.

Back to the drawing board.

In spite of listening to an interesting podcast, I almost fell asleep at the drawing table. That’s because I got up really early to go walking. I’ll show you tomorrow.

P.S. The people didn’t call. Maybe they fell asleep. 

 

 

 

*If you take a tour with Sequoia Sightseeing, ask for Steven. He is terrific!

Maintaining

Workwise, I have a whole lotta nothin’ to share. Any day now, I could get a green light to begin on some murals (when it is too hot to paint, thanks, all you decision makers). So, I am enjoying the free time to continue yardening, meet with an old friend, help out on a church project, and unfortunately, deal with an insurance claim.

 

These iris love wet feet. They are not natives but are domestic flowers that have escaped someone’s yard and established themselves in this seasonal drainage on one of my walking routes.

Yes, we love red, white, and blue around here.

Only one of my favorite dutch iris bloomed here.

But then look what showed up by the studio!

The lavender is abundant, luxurious, extravagant, and if I had my thesaurus handy, I’d keep going.

Remember when I showed you some pistachio trees mostly submerged along the highway? (Scroll to the bottom of that linked post to see the picture). Part of the grove got planted in a seasonal lake, which filled up this spring and the pump couldn’t keep up. Those submerged trees drowned.

Morning sun is so beautiful on our surrounding hills.

While sitting at The Fourway (that’s what we call a main intersection, because it used to be the only stoplight between our rural areas and the county seat; now there is one more, but we call it “Spruce” because that is its name) WHERE WAS I? At the Fourway, waiting for the light, amused by the message on the back of the pickup ahead.

 

On my way home, I stopped for gas at a super busy little place along Highway 198. Been there before, no problem. This time, a problem. Sigh. Poor Fernando.  The guy in the huge pickup who backed into me was watching out the other side. It rocked the car as I was waiting to pull out onto the busy frontage road. I was afraid to get out and look, but he signaled to me that it was small damage. He was a gentleman, instructed me to take photos of things, including his insurance coverage and registration. Then when I got home, I learned that he had already called the insurance company (we have the same one, which helps.) 

With 247,000 miles, should I get this repaired? Should I start looking for another car? (Not because of a little bumper divot, but because of the high number of miles, and the catalytic converter on the edge) How does one find a manual transmission? How does one find a simple car with a manual transmission? (Only Honda or Toyota need apply, because of Mark and Foreign Auto in Visalia.)

Life is a series of decisions and choices. (My very wise dad used to say that, causing me to roll my eyes, and now I fully agree.) Life is also about maintenance. 

I will try to maintain here.

Thoughts About Life in Three Rivers

Thoughts About Life in Three Rivers was my first thought for a title. Perhaps a more accurate title would be “Thoughts About Life in Rural California.” Or simply “Life in California”. Or even “Life in These United States”.

Last week at 12:30 AM the power went out. Trail Guy made coffee that morning using our campstove, a logical and competent move.

After a few hours, we decided it would be prudent to hook the refrigerator and freezer to the generator, since these unexplained power outages can go on for hours. This is a little Honda generator, very efficient, lightweight, easy to start; we bought it last summer just for circumstances such as this. 

The new generator wouldn’t start.

(That’s a topic for another conversation.)

Around 9 AM the power came back on, but the situation brought home the uncomfortable truth that we rely heavily on electricity, which is becoming less reliable.

  • Our landline phones used to work without electricity until they became fancy cordless phones; now they are being replaced by cellphones which often rely on wifi due to spotty cell coverage, and the wifi relies on electricity.
  • Same situation for texting, which relies on cellphones, which rely on electricity to recharge
  • We communicate via email, which relies on computers, which need electricity to charge. And those computers rely on wifi which needs electricity.
  • The state badmouths normal cars, telling us to get electric vehicles. Then they tell us to not charge the vehicles.
  • Homes aren’t supposed to be built with natural gas anymore, and some states are outlawing gas stoves, pushing electric stoves.
  • Gas-powered chainsaws, leaf blowers, lawnmowers and other tools are being replaced by electric tools; the batteries to run those tools need electricity to be recharged.

We are told to switch to electric everything at the same time less electricity is being generated.

The three power plants in Three Rivers aren’t generating very often (one is kaput); water is now considered a “non-renewable resource” for generating electricity.

A year ago, a big freeze in Texas proved that those windmills and solar are not reliable.

Solar panels don’t get enough sunshine when we have overcast days or wildfires.

The more “gentle” the generation of power, the more resources those items require to be built and to run.

Windmills kill enormous numbers of birds; the ones in the Atlantic ocean are killing whales. Solar panels and batteries use precious minerals, mined in terrible conditions by horribly abused people. Disposing of those batteries puts toxic stuff in the landfills. 

All this is supposed to be “saving the planet”? Do these people not understand how electricity is generated or what the downside to all the alternatives are? 

Where is the logic in this push to use electricity, while at the same time we are generating less?

Something is happening to common sense, and it is not an improvement.

Cowboy logic is endangered.

P.S. My opinion is not about politics: it is based on logic and reality. The poor decisions of the lawmakers are not based on logic and reality but based on what benefits the lawmakers, what looks or sounds good to the lobbyists, the media, and giant blocks of low-information voters.

Happy Birthday, Ann! (stay in Florida)

More Questions, and a Few Answers

For awhile I had a link in these emails of my daily blog post to take you to the site on the internet so you could see the photos. Now there is some tomfoolery happening with my blog, so I am not putting the link in until it gets sorted out. If you would like to see the pictures, go to jana botkin dot net (written this way to confound the evil robots who are messing things up.)

Yesterday I asked fifteen questions. Today I am answering a few questions that I didn’t even ask yesterday, along with a few answers to yesterday’s questions.

  1. When will the Mineral King Road be opened? After the County repairs its section (they chose a contractor who might begin soon), after the Park surveys its section, after Trail Guy and The (former) Supervisor do some work, after the Park grants permission to enter. 
  2. When will I begin the murals at St. Charles of Borromeo, the largest Catholic church in all of North America? No one knows. Yet.
  3. Will I get to paint two murals on a county library? No one knows. Yet.
  4. Why did my mechanic tell me not to drive Fernando to Oregon? Mark the Magnificent Mechanic said that 247,000 miles means anything could quit at any time.
  5. What did I do about the Microsoft Word problem? I learned it is incompatible with Mac, so the controls I was looking for never appeared. The man I am working with on a project lent me his HP, a clumsy machine that WORKED with Word.
  6. Why do companies discontinue products? Follow the money; maybe they are afraid of getting sued, maybe they can’t find the ingredients, but most likely the product isn’t delivering enough profit.
  7. What will my neighbor name her three black kittens? I vote for Jack, Mac, and Zach Black.
  8. Why am I not doing the Redbud Festival* this year? I have too many other responsibilities on Sundays, festivals make me tired, I haven’t prepared anything to sell outside of a few new cards, and I’d rather be home.
  9. Why do I have to restart my computer for AirDrop to work? It didn’t require this a few days ago; the people and robots and companies controlling our machines seem to delight in confounding us with their perpetual “updating” (which means meddling and complicating, so there).
  10. Why is the food truck for Quesedilla Gorilla in Three Rivers gone? Because they will be building a new non-mobile restaurant.

* Saturday and Sunday of Mother’s Day weekend, 10-4-ish, Three Rivers Memorial Building

Fifteen “Why” Questions

For awhile I had a link in these emails of my daily blog post to take you to the site on the internet so you could see the photos. Now there is some tomfoolery happening with my blog, so I am not putting the link in until it gets sorted out. If you would like to see the pictures, go to jana botkin dot net (written this way to confound the evil robots who are messing things up.)

Today’s post is question after question, interspersed with photos of flowers to take the edge off of all the unsolved mysteries of life.


  1. Why do website hackers use evil robots to mess with my little bitty nothing-burger site??
  2. Why do young people drive fast when (in theory) they have lots of time left?
  3. Why do old people drive slow, when for them the clock is running down quickly?
  4. Why is Microsoft Word so hard to use, with very unhelpful “help”, and the people in the forums to help don’t read the questions but just slam out a non-answer?
  5. Maybe the real question is this: why is Microsoft Word so popular when it is so difficult*?
  6. Why is the food truck for Quesedilla Gorilla in Three Rivers gone?
  7. Why is “gorilla” such a popular word in marketing: Quesedilla Gorilla, gorilla tape, gorilla glue…?
  8. Why is it that the more ways there are to communicate, the harder it is to get answers to questions?
  9. Why do charities waste so much money on printing and mailing solicitations for money to the people who already support them?
  10. Why do people spend so much money on bottled water when we have the cleanest tap water in the world?
  11. Why were we pushed to use plastic bags in grocery stores when paper comes from a renewable resource?
  12. Why do companies discontinue products without having a replacement ready to go or to recommend?
  13. Why am I not doing the Redbud Festival this year?
  14. Why didn’t CACHE get the grant?? No one could possibly have worked harder, done more research, been more careful about how it was worded than our most excellent board president.
  15. Why do I have to restart my computer in order for Airdrop to work? Every day, day after day, restart, restart, restart.

Today I have questions. Tomorrow, I hope to have a few answers, but most likely not for any of these questions.

*I want endnotes to start renumbering with each chapter, not run consecutively throughout the entire book I am working on. . . some Know-it-all on the Microsoft Forum answered my query with this: “The thing is that for many people Roman numerals become a challenge once they get above iii. This does include highly-educated academics.” Excuse me?? 

Procrastinating in Order to Think

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

Sometimes life piles up a stack of difficult tasks, unpleasant chores, awkward situations, design problems that don’t seem to have an answer, missing information, incorrect instructions, circumstances that require negotiating skills, tricky decisions, impossible priorities. (Does this make you want to stab yourself with your pencils or knitting needles? Slam some chocolate? Curl up under your dining table with your thumb in your mouth?)

Recently I had a few of those types of challenging paths to navigate. Nothing serious, just no clear path ahead in several areas, all business-related.
So, I spent an entire day digging in the yard after a trip to a plant nursery so extensive that it required a more substantial vehicle than Fernando. I had been saving some gift certificates, and those were spent, along with some green paper with pictures of dead men’s faces, and I even plasticized some of the plants to put in the studio garden. (That means I used a debit card because it was a business expense.)

My yard is immense. It has about 10 separate sections, none of which look very polished, but all of which are a pleasure to putter around in (until the mozzies show up.)

I didn’t listen to music or podcasts. I just pulled weeds, pruned plants, dug holes, and planted new things, all while thinking only about gardening, not about problems needing a solution. Some of the “experts” on thinking say that relaxing your mind, ending the obsession, “changing channels” gives your brain a chance to come up with answers.


After living here for 24 years, I am finally learning which plants work and where they might be happiest. The difficulty of buying plants cannot be overstated. You can comb through the Sunset Western Garden Book and make a list. None will be at the nursery. You can make a list of plants that have succeeded in the past, and maybe you will find some, and maybe you won’t. You can try to remember the names of the ones that are currently looking good, fail to remember, take a photo using an app called “Picture This”, find a name that doesn’t match, show the photo to a nursery employee, and get steered toward something else. If the thought occurs to you, “I’ve never killed one of those before”, then maybe you will choose that. Of course, you could also think, “The deer in my yard might like that one”, and then you have another decision to make.

At the end of the day, I had no answers, one mosquito bite, 2 dirty hands, and many new plants to remember to water and guard from deer, gopher, bird, and bug attacks.

All in all, it was a very good day. Maybe in time I will figure out a few new paths through my tricky situations.

Planning, Hoping, Dreaming, Wishin’ and Wantin’

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

“Planning, Hoping, Dreaming” reminds me of something Beth Moore has said, “Are you wantin’ and wishin’ instead of believin’ and receivin’?”

Indeed.

Someone Important told me last August that he was looking for a muralist. He’d been talking to an artist who didn’t return calls and was frustrated by the lack of response. He told me I could have the job.

Coolio.

I went to the location, measured, photographed, and discussed the project with the person who worked at the location. Purposely vague here, but more will be revealed.

Then I got to thinking, sketching, writing up notes, designing. Oh yes, this could be very excellent!

When I had some good ideas, three, each one a different size and price because I had no idea of the budget, I called Mr. Important Someone. Nothing. Left another message. Silence, or as the current cliché goes, “crickets”.

I saw Mr. Important Someone in October, and I whapped him on the arm with the stack of papers in my hand. “Mr. Someone, you have not returned my calls, and I have good ideas to share with you.” 

He had reasons (very busy, because he is Important), and was remorseful, charming, and engaging, which has probably contributed to his being Someone Important.

The cricket fest continued, until April 6, when I got an arts newsletter with a Call to Artists to bid on the project that Mr. Someone had all but promised me.

Sigh.

I am really wishin’ and wantin’, while planning, hoping and dreaming, all ready to believe and receive.

This sort of enterprise is part of the the business of art, lots of conversation until money exchanges hands. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 26; a decision will be reached sometime in May.

Stay tuned. Photos will follow IF I am chosen for the project. (Maybe even if I am not, and then you all can tell me where I went wrong.)