When I spotted this bug on my fig tree, I was floored. I had never seen a bug that was bright pink and blue! Isn’t nature amazing?
Month: October 2015
Variegated Lamb’s Ear
The people who owned our house planted lamb’s ear. While it died in its original location, it managed to spawn hundreds more around the property. Out of all those babies I found one with a genetic mutation that caused the leaves to be white and green instead of solid green. So pretty! I’m going to try to clone this one in the spring, probably through division (splitting one plant into two or more plants), but I might try to isolate it and force self-pollination which would most likely produce both normal and variegated babies. Wish me luck!
Aloe emergency!
As you can see my aloe was falling over! It had a long bare stem at the bottom. There were a few pups sticking out so I took a leap of faith and cut off the large top.
Here you can see the tiny pups (aloe babies).
I am hoping to root the top and allow the pups to grow in the original pot. Will it work? We will see I guess.
This is the top. I am going to wait for roots before repotting. The one thing I know you should not do is put the top with no roots in water or wet potting soil. This will induce root/stem rot and kill the plant.
Tomato season!
There’s a mouse in this house!
These humane mousetraps work great! If you don’t like killing things but also don’t like mice in your house these are for you. They are reusable and safe for kids, making them safe, economical, effective and humane! What’s not to love?
Love Quilt
This is a quilt I made to celebrate loving my wonderful husband. For the most part it is made up of 2 x 2 squares and triangle halves of 2 x 2 squares. My letters are five squares high and 4 squares across. I think that any letter can be made to fit in a 5×5 section (25 squares). Let me know if you need help patterning letters. The hearts are 5 squares high and 6 squares wide.
Red fox with Mange
This is a red fox with mange that my husband spotted on our street. Mange is a disease caused by parasitic mites that leads to itching and hair loss. This disease can be spread to dogs and sometimes humans but that is unlikely. An animal with mange is not dangerous, they just look sickly and “mangy.”
Turn over one rock, find two species of salamander?
I think that the first one is a red-back salamander, with a nice long tail.
The second one seemed stouter, and did not have a red stripe.
However, I think this one is also a red-backed salamander, in a variant of coloration called “lead-back.” On further inspection we noticed that this one had a stubbier tail, and you could see the new tail growing back! It kind of looked like a stinger. But it is true that salamanders can regenerate their tails, and this is how it looks.
What do you think, are they the same species?
Pantry Project
Our old pantry was…basic is the best way I can put it. Ugly 80’s countertops repurposed for shelves that were uneven and rested unattached on two by fours screwed into the wall.
I hired Closets and Storage solutions, and here is what they did. They replaced all of the shelves with a system of adjustible shelves on the sides, with two fixed shelves, two roll-out shelves, 2 roll-out spice racks, and two roll out canvas lined bins in the middle. Project cost for this was $1,2oo. What do you think?