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.

Walking on Memorial Day in Three Rivers

On Memorial Day, Trail Guy suggested we walk to see the river. For those of you outside of Three Rivers, that is the middle fork of the Kaweah River. (There are five forks to the Kaweah River: South, North, Middle, East, and Marble. I know: five forks = Three Rivers. Weird.)

We passed by a neighbor’s stunning penstemon.

Then we cut through the Memorial Building parking lot, an appropriate route for the day’s theme. Our neighbor girl called it the Remorial Building because you go there to remember people, so that’s usually how we pronounce it. (It’s on purpose, just like “prolly” and “liberry”.)

The river was charging, although it wasn’t as hot out the past few days. (A friend told us that there is enough snow in the mountains to fill Kaweah Lake 5 or 6 times this summer!)

Edison has wisely blocked off the parking area where people often leave their cars when trespassing at the river. However, it didn’t stop these stupid honyocks from leaving this mess.

A catalpa tree was at peak bloom.

We decided to see if anyone we knew was around to give us a garbage bag, and made it to our friend Barbara’s house. She provided a large garbage bag AND SOME ARTICHOKES!! I LOVE ARTICHOKES!

Excuse me for shouting. Barbara is a terrific gardener with the best yard in the entire town. It is a privilege and a thrill to hang out there. If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you may recognize the place from my early ignorant and fumbling attempts at plein air painting. (This link, and this one too.)

The sand was thick and abundant at the little trashed beach. Good thing we got a big bag, because there was more than we thought. Some stupid chick is now minus a sandal. Too bad. 

When the beach was restored (yes I put my feet in–you didn’t doubt that, did you?), we continued back through the Remorial Building lot. Had to stop to restore a flag to its clip.

I was going to walk back to Barbara’s to help her garden, but realized it would take too long and I wanted to get to work. So, I drove back, and we worked together for several hours. I learned about Nitro Humus and Milorganite, a nitrogen rich fertilizer that is slow releasing and will not burn the plants. I also learned about Sluggo Plus, which takes care of those horrible little jaws on legs also known as sowbugs, and that there is spray to keep the deer from eating geraniums. Gardening is an expensive hobby if you want to keep things alive and thriving. Maybe there is hope yet for my often discouraging attempts.  

Thus we conclude a walk in Three Rivers on Memorial Day. (So weird to not be in Mineral King!)

 

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.)

Why I Almost Fell Asleep

I almost fell asleep at my drawing table one afternoon because:

I got up really early to go walking.

Here is the lower Salt Creek crossing on the BLM land; I turned around here.

It was so beautiful out, not hot yet, and I was moving enough for the mosquitos to not catch me.

There are a few Farewell-to-Spring flowers alongside the road, along with Common Madia, and some Elegant Clarkia. (Just practicing the names so I don’t forget; only the Farewell-to-Spring show in this picture.)

We went to see the river.

Trail Guy and I walked to see the river, which is flowing fast and full.

The March floods took away the measuring stick. Since I didn’t know what those increments actually referred to, I don’t miss it. Yes, feet, but so often the river wasn’t touching the stick at all, and it still had measurable water in it, so go figure. . .

The buckeye are in bloom.

Rocks.

And then we moved a pile of heavy rocks. No photos.

And that’s why I almost fell asleep drawing for fun.

 

 

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!

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 Animal Encounters

If you would like to see the pictures, go to jana botkin dot net (written this way instead of being a link you can tap to confound the evil robots who are messing things up.)

My neighbor adopted 4 kittens, then gave one to her coworker. Now she has 3 black kittens, and we don’t know how we will be able to tell them apart, other than one has a permanently crooked tail

It is baby turkey season.

The deer are back, but so far are hanging out across the street from the kitten house, not yet in my yard (which is why there are a few geraniums in bloom in pots, not yet eaten).

We are seeing bear activity in the neighborhood ALREADY, because the bad bears didn’t get moved, retrained, or dispatched. They may have slept a bit (do foothill bears hibernate??) but now are back to their habits of dumping over trash cans. No photos. You’re welcome. We try to keep things pleasant here. (The royal we, because we have no staff here.)

In Three Rivers, we may not be able to control the critter-caused troubles, but at least we can make our own signs about how to drive and what to expect in our neighborhoods without someone calling a bureaucrat to tattle.

Washing the Mud Out of Our Eyes With Wildflowers

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.

Yesterday was fascinating and ugly, so today we need to recover from the visual assault of all the gray, brown, silt, mud, and sand. These are photos that I took on April 22, so by now I think most of the wildflowers are about finished in Three Rivers, at least on the bank behind our house. They last quite awhile if you drive further up, not that you can go on the Mineral King Road. But maybe you can explore the North or South Forks. (Just keep looking south so that you only see north-facing slopes.)

First, Tucker wanted to say hello. (I’d rather have my cats visit me in the studio than keep the rug vacuumed, and yes, I have done some work in my studio lately but it isn’t interesting enough to show you any photos or to talk about it.)

I’m done talking now.

Hope you are feeling better now that we washed the mud out of our eyes. 

Fascinating and Ugly

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.

You may recall that there was some serious rain this winter in Three Rivers. I was fascinated by all the rushing water and posted a few times about it in March. March 11, March 12, and  March 13. (Probably posted in January and February too, but who wants to chase down all those links?)

One result of that enormous amount of water is that Kaweah Lake filled up very quickly. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers is letting water out as fast as possible to make room for the large amount of anticipated snowmelt. This means we can now walk down at the lake bottom again, and wow, is it ever fascinating and ugly.

Looking upstream from the Slick Rock parking area; Alta Peak is visible with snow on it and Blossom Peak has three points on the far right.

Normally when the lake is this low, this gate is open and we drive farther down. Not this time.

There’s a culvert beneath our feet here. It had to be roaring through to create this canyon.

The water is still flowing through the culvert; that is Highway 198 above.

Somebody was here when the mud was still squishy.

Driftwood galore.

So many layers of different types of dirt: silt, fine sand, coarse sand, all so thick.

It started getting a little squishy.

Look how deep this stuff is!

Too bad backhoes and trucks can’t come get this for fill on all the washed out roads, for future sandbags, and just to allow the lake to hold more water. But this is owned by the government, which isn’t exactly known for practical thinking or helpful practices.

Weirdly fascinating, definitely ugly. Life in Three Rivers can be so varied and interesting; if one must live in Tulare County, I vote for Three Rivers (although Exeter is an awfully nice town if you like town living, I dearly loved living in Lemon Cove, and Springville is quite beautiful in springtime.)

Tomorrow we will wash our eyes out with some wildflowers.

A post about walking on the lake bottom in March of 2020 is here. . . scroll down for the lake pictures.