New House Blog: Episode LXXI - Discoveries

This Episode of the New House Blog is all about discoveries - some delightful, some dangerous, one disturbing, and some just a little bit different.  Before we get into that, however, we want to remind you that the big winter-spring project is still ongoing, and it has recently accelerated in pace.  There's still a lot of manual labour ahead, but we're making very good progress.  We also want to let you in on a little secret - if you scan previous Episodes of the New House Blog you might discover some subtle hidden clues that might point to what kind of project the winter-spring project might be.

Discovery Number One

Discovery number one was initially a delightful discovery, but it lead to a slightly disturbing discovery.  While dismantling a dead bush outside my office window we discovered a tiny bird's nest at a meeting of two dead branches.  Due to its small size I'm guessing it was occupied by humming birds of some sort, but they appeared to be long gone by the time we discovered the nest.  See below.

This first picture shows the overall bush after a partial dismantling.  Can you see the tiny nest?

This is a closer view of the tiny nest.

Here you can see the inside of the tiny nest.

Sadly, down below we disturbingly discovered the fate of at least one of the tiny eggs.  We did not discover how the tiny egg ended up where it did.

Here's another angle.  Fortunately, the tiny nest and egg shell did not prevent us from completely dismantling this dead bush.  

Discovery Number Two

Discovery number two is of the delightful kind.  After a recent visit from some out-of-town family we discovered some new characters apparently guarding our back yard.  We don't know for sure that these new characters are related to the familial visit, but we can't rule it out, either.

Storming the hill.

Guarding the garden.

Discovery Number Three

Discovery number three was a dangerous discovery, and, technically it did not happen at Our New House.  One day recently at work I saw this little fellow.  Note the markings and diamond-shaped head.  Also note his defensive posture.  

I'm thinking he was a baby rattlesnake.  I know there's no rattle, but not all of them have rattles at this young age.

He was only about a foot long, and he was presumably dispatched after I informed the people who have the proper equipment to dispatch rattlesnakes.

New Team Member

Taking a break from discoveries for a moment, meet our newest team member, Stampy.

Stampy is a red and gray Razorback 10 inch x 10 inch steel tamper weighing in at just over 13 pounds.  Now what could we possibly need a steel tamper for?  Hmmm....

Discovery Number Four

Discovery number four was a delightfully different discover.  While poking around in the dirt in the back yard we discovered this ancient pre-Bishopian artifact.

It appears to be a degraded handle from a primitive screwdriver of some sort.  Due to the advanced decay of the artifact we could not tell if it was a slotted or a phillips screwdriver.

This is the same artifact turned over.  For size please note that the brick on which it rests is 6" per side.  This artifact was buried about 3" below the surface of the dirt. 

We have not yet figured out why the pre-Bishopians buried their tools (remember this ancient rivet gun) or why they used rusty metal for so many of their projects.  Perhaps we should run a metal detector or ground penetrating radar over our back yard to see what else is buried several inches below the surface.

Discovery Number Five

Discovery number five was definitely a dangerous discovery.  In the previous Episode we saw the first latrodectus of spring.  I recently discovered another, much bolder latrodectus mactans hanging out near our front yard hose.  This discovery took place at night, when the black widow no doubt thought her black coloring would help her blend in with the black night air.  The 'widow, however, made three fatal mistakes that sealed her fate.  Mistake #1 - she chose to attach her web to a light source.  Mistake #2 - she was hanging on this web upside-down, with her distinctive orange markings showing the world that she was a latrodectus mactans and not just another random black spot in the black night air.  Mistake #3 - she chose to occupy her web at a time when I would be walking by.  

I had seen the web earlier in the daytime, but it was unoccupied.  Seems that the l. mactans prefers to hide in the daytime.  This was the first time I have actually seen the distinctive orange markings on a live black widow out in the wild.  All of the other b. widows in the New House Blog have been identified by using other distinguishing visual characteristics.  Normally the l. mactans keeps her orange markings hidden beneath her, but on this occasion they were on display for all to see.

Because the foul fiend was suspended on a web, several inches away from a convenient squishing surface, I chose to make my initial attack with an anti-spider spray.  It got her wet, got her attention, and caused her to try to flee, but it didn't seem to be poisoning her.  So I sprayed more on.  The liquid definitely slowed her down and put her off her web and onto a brick surface, but she continued to stay alive and walk slowly away.  So I grabbed a nearby rock and squished her.  Then I used a stick to dismantle the web.  

There you have it.  We live near rattlesnakes and black widows.  What dangerous animals live near you?

Happy discovering to you all.

   bIsh

New House Blog: Episode LXX - Gardens Galore

I know how to use a shovel.  I do not remember being taught how to use a shovel, but I have become quite proficient at using several different types of shovel.  I remember, a bit vaguely, being taught how to swing an ax and a pickax (by my dad, my older brother, an uncle, or possibly a combination of the three), but I have no such recollection about being taught to wield a spade.  We have four different shovels and their usage has become so natural to me that each shovel feels like an extension of my arms and hands, and not like a separate tool that I am holding.  I know how to use a shovel.

Garden Number One

Our food garden has been started for 2014.  Carried over as existing stock from last year are catnip, strawberries, and radicchio.  New plants from seedlings are papaya pear squash, lemon cucumbers, and apple cucumbers.  New seeds include red burgundy onions, potatoes, flash trout back lettuce, and catalina baby spinach.  New seeds being grown in small pots for transfer to the garden after they are seedlings include kohlrabi, butternut squash, and early dew honeydew.

 This is the food garden after we cleared out the eleventy-five billion accursed clovers and their bulbs and prepped the soil for new planting.

 This is the food garden after phase one of planting.  Note the nifty wooden trellises at the rear of the garden in anticipation of our future melon plants.

Here you can see the starting pots for the kohlrabi, butternut squash, and early dew honeydew.  These small pots are designed to be planted directly in the ground when the seeds have become seedlings.

Garden Number Two

Our pottery garden is also a food garden.  This year we have two bell peppers that carry over from last year's existing stock - our yellow and red bell pepper plants survived all year and are both showing some good new growth and the beginnings of actual peppers.  New seedlings are a chocolate bell pepper, an orange bell, a green bell, and something called a mexibell pepper.  Newly planted herbs (from seed) are thyme, oregano, cinnamon basil, and sweet basil.  Still to be planted is the romaine lettuce.  Satchmo still doesn't quite understand that the leaves of the pepper plants are not for eating.

You can see in the foreground fishy pot one new pepper plant and one pepper plant from last year.  What you can't see in this view is the tooth marks and damaged leaves caused by a certain black and white cat.












Garden Number Three

The third garden in our tour is not a food garden at all - it is our cactus garden.  No new cactus have been planted since the previous Episode - this is just an update to show how our cactus garden is doing.  Note all of the new growth on the right-hand prickly pear.

Garden Number Four

The final garden featured this Episode is one of my favourites - our succulent garden.  When we began planting succulents about a year ago we had no idea how well they would do or how quickly they would grow.  But do well they did, and grow quickly they did.  Once they really got settled in and their roots got well-established they began to really thrive.  Here are some pictures - from when we started the succulent garden, and from just a couple of days ago.  Can you see the differences?

 This first image is from April, 2013, when the succulent garden was still a blank canvas.

Also from April, 2013.  This is how the succulent garden looked when it was freshly planted.  Satchmo approves.

Just over a year later.  This is from May, 2014.  That's a lot of growth in just one year.

 Another image from April, 2013.

And one more from May, 2014.

As full as the succulent garden looks in the pictures above, we managed to find a couple of spots to shoehorn in two new very small succulents.  We recently planted two Baby Toes (Fenestraria Aurantiaca).  And like so many of our other succulents, the Baby Toes are native to South Africa.

 Baby Toes number one.  According to the label on its pot, each toe has a window that filters sunlight for the plant's photosynthetic processes.

Baby Toes number two.

We also planted two new asparagus ferns to replace the two failed firesticks near the house.  We believe that the firesticks failed from a combination of lack of sun and lack of soil drainage.

Asparagus ferns seem to do well in the area between the large rocks and the front of the house.









Backyard Archaeology Update

Although we have not been doing active archaeological work lately, we recently uncovered a couple of ancient pre-Bishopian artifacts while working on our winter-spring project.  The first artifact uncovered was another of the common post foundations.  This foundation, unlike most of the others we have unearthed, appeared to have been made to hold two posts instead of one.

This is how we found it, sticking out into a dig site.

 This is the foundation after unearthing.  Notice the shallowness of the post holes - only about 1/2" deep.  Because of this shallowness of post hole, it doesn't seem like this particular foundation would have been very useful for holding actual posts, and that may be the reason it was buried deeper than the others we found - its makers were ashamed and wanted to hide it from future generations.

The other artifact we uncovered, in a different part of the back yard, was this mysterious piece of ancient cloth.  This cloth had no distinguishing marks, and its coarseness suggests a use other than clothing.

First Latrodectus Of Spring

As I was preparing to water the lawn for the first time this year I turned over the sprinkler to check its underside for spiders.  Did I find any spiders?  Just one - a big, fat, juicy latrodectus mactans - commonly known as the black widow.  No word passed between us; our mutual hatred for one another needs no words.  After taking a few photos of the foul fiend I drove her off the sprinkler and onto the concrete so that I could step on her.  As she attempted to flee the scene I made a quick end of her with the underside of my sandal-clad foot.

They can hide, but they can't
   bIsh