My Garden is Blooming

Rita's Garden

Well the Lupine are as tall as me (5'7"). The Poppies, Coreopsis, Lithodora, Roses and Foxglove are all blooming. It's rained really hard so my blooms have taken a beating.

Here are some Daisies I planted in boxes up the stairs to my front door. I

alternated in white and yellow.

Here's some bright yellow-orange Coreopsis with bright blue Lithodora in the background.

Here's my first "Country Living" Rose of the year. It's one of my old English Roses by David Austin that I purchased from Heirloom Roses in Saint Paul Oregon. www.heirloomroses.com. If you ever get a chance to go out to their display garden, it's well worth the trip. Beautiful Roses and Heavenly fragrances!

You can barely get a glimpse of my first Coral colored Poppy of the season.

I just got back from my Hematologist and found out the numbers for my blood counts are doing great. I am so happy! Thank God!! ;o)

New Digs at Work

Over the weekend, my whole group at work moved from Level 2 to Level 1. Our new cubes are 6'x 8' which apparently is the size of standard prison cell sans toilet and sink (according to someone who seemed to be an authority on the subject).

I actually like my new cell. It's much more quiet than what I had before and seems more private. Before we sat in an area called a "pod" (who comes up with these names???) and there were 4 desks open to each other in this area. This was challenging since the person who sat next to me was I'm sure, part of the original "Loud Family" from SNL. There were many times when I would be talking to my rep and felt like she was on the phone call with me.

Oftentimes our cube seemed to be a gathering place. While this could be fun some days, trying to concentrate when working on complex things proved to be impossible at times. I finally got headphones and started listening to streaming radio to tune it out.

The acoustics and air quality are much better. When you work in "Dilbert" land, these things are a luxury. I also notice that I'm walking more since it's easier to get around. Hopefully, I will keep getting more exercise.

It's time for me to go get ready for another fun and exciting day at work.

Only Wednesday....

This week is dragging. I think I'm anxious for the weekend to come. I have more gardening to do!! They say (whoever they are) it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70's this weekend. This is a nice treat for those of us who live in the Northwest. Today is gloomy, rainy, cool (50 degrees) and cloudy. People file out like ants in a conga line when the weather turns nice here.





I finally planted 50 Gladiola bulbs and 6 Dahlia tubers on Sunday. I also mixed in some compost in the front flower bed. My mother always said that Gladiolus were
"funeral flowers" but I've always loved them. This batch I planted are supposed to be the bright intense colors, so I'm looking forward to that. The Dahlias I planted are supposed to be mixed colors, so it will be fun to see what they look like as well.


My Dahlias from the last year survived again. They're the big "dinner plate" Dahlias and are white with peachy centers. I think even my Gladiolus from last year survived also. They're in pastel colors. I neglected to trim my Roses back this year and amazingly enough, I think they look better. All of my Rose bushes have lots of buds and leaves on them. I haven't even fertilized them yet. (Another thing to do this weekend)


I worked on my balcony on Sunday. The wicker chair was looking faded and forlorn, so I spray painted it royal blue. I took the old rug that was also faded and dyed it tangerine orange. It actually looks more of a coral color. I took the cushion and covered in a green and blue floral fabric that I've had packed away for eons. I also have a little tile table that I bought from a consignment store that I will spray paint sort of a moss green color and probably do some decorative painting on. I planted mixed Zinnias, red and yellow Petunias in the window box and pots. I got a large Catnip plant for the furballs and have given them a few leaves off of it (which they enjoyed by rolling around and shedding more hair on the carpet!!). I will add some Geraniums too. It's a great place to sit and have a cup of tea (coffee too..but I quit coffee 3 weeks ago!) and read on nice days. Also at the right time of the day, I like to catch some rays of sun. I have a great view of Government Island, Sand Island and the Portland hills. Panther likes to do his death defying act perching on the balcony. I will post a pic of my completed work soon.

My next projects are planting stuff in all the pots on the front deck and up the stairs and my hanging baskets. Then I need to plant stuff on the back patio. I think I am going to plant a bunch of Sunflowers.

I leave you with a picture of some bright colored Gladiolus that hopefully will be appearing soon in my garden.

"The Mouse Patrol" Part Trois

Here is my little angel Pebbles. She's affectionately known as "Bee"; short for Pebbees.

I adopted her from the shelter nearly 13 years ago when she was only about 5 weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand. They told me at the shelter if she died, they wouldn't refund my money. I had a feeling about this one though. They had her stashed in a room full of kitty cages and she immediately came up to the cage and put her tiny paw out to me. I had actually been on the waiting list for another cat who had already been adopted and we found each other instead. I took her home and had to feed her kitten formula and strained baby food meat. She would crawl inside the bowl and be covered with food after she was done eating. She thrived and got along with my cat Pearl who has since gone to kitty heaven.

Pebbles wasn't too happy to have Ponce and Panther around after Pearl died (Another long story), but she and Panther get along great now and she tolerates Ponce. She runs the roost even though she's tiny and only weighs about 7 lbs.

She only likes me. When company comes over, she knows the minute they pull up and will dart into the nearest cubby hole to escape from whatever person who comes over. She's actually kind of like having a guard dog in that she knows when someone is approaching way before I do.

She loves catnip and is really cute the way she rolls around and stretches out after she's had a bit of the nip. She also loves rubbing my feet with her head in the middle of the night. Sometimes I have to wrap up my feet in the blankets so I can get back to sleep.

Even though she's an old lady in cat years, she's still got a lot of spunk and will tease and play with Panther pretty much everyday.

So there you have my indoor "Mouse Patrol". Yes I feed some strays that are outside too. I can't stand to see cats suffer. If I can ever get a picture of them, I will post.

"The Mouse Patrol" Part Deux

This is Panther. He's a wild and crazy kitty. He's always full of energy. He runs up and down the stairs while making cute little meow sounds. His energy level is the opposite of Ponce's.

His favorite thing to do is to sit on the balcony and watch birds. He's also been known to eat dirt out of my potted plants. He also likes to take a flying leap from the kitchen island to the top of the fridge and then across the hallway to the plant shelf. He's like a flying kitty when he gets going.

A tuna fanatic; he will often turn up his nose at canned cat food. In light of the recent recalls, he is right to avoid those nasty foods. From now on, they will get canned tuna or other canned meat fit for human consumption. Their dry food is all natural with no by-products also.

Tomorrow the 3rd and final member of the "Mouse Patrol" will be featured. Her name is Pebbles.

Introducing My Cats AKA "The Mouse Patrol"

Today I will introduce the first of my 3 cats. Ponce de Leon is a kitty of substantial girth. He weighs in at 25 lbs! I think he weighs more than my 1 1/2 year old great nephew.

Ponce got his name from the famous explorer. When he was barely 2 weeks old, he would crawl out of the basket and start wandering. His eyes weren't even open yet! His mother was constantly going to find him and carrying him back to his basket. He was a cute little fluff ball from the beginning.

He has a coat like a Raccoon and since it's getting closer to summer, he's shedding hair in clumps. I think we need to start a "Locks of Love" program for cats. I routinely vacuum enough hair to coat several cats.

I'm pretty sure he is part Maine Coon. His bone structure is unlike any cat I've ever had before. His paws are huge. He's quite the talker and often will whine at me until I pick him up. Then he immediately wants to get down and then comes back for more. He has a penchant for anything plastic. He's even gone after the plastic in my box of Triscuits...after chewing on it and leaving a kitty-slobbery mess all over my crackers. Of course the hair balls he coughs up are often substantial. This after brushing him everyday.

He's a funny kitty and seems to like being dressed up. He's usually pretty laid back...lazy even, but once in awhile he will start running up and down the stairs acting like a wild banshee. He talks while licking his chops after eating and it makes me laugh everytime he does it.

Tomorrow, you will meet his brother Panther...another real character.

My Early Spring Flowers Pics

I decided I'd finally post again since it was Earth Day. Today it looks like the rain has let up a little, so I need to go down into my garden to pull weeds and do a flower bed clean up. Despite the weeds, I had a decent show of Tulips and Daffodils this year even though I didn't plant more bulbs this past fall. I'm feeling better, so hopefully I'll be able to work in my garden this year.

As far as what I'll be planting this Spring; I've got a boatload of Gladiola bulbs and 6 Dahlia tubers to plant. I think the Dahlias are the "Dinner Plate" variety. The Glads I got are in bright colors, since my old ones are more in the pastels. Hopefully, they've survived the winter. I don't know if my old Dahlias made it. Haven't seen any sign of them yet.

I have hanging baskets and such to plant. Probably lots of Geraniums, Petunias, Nasturtiums, Morning Glories and Sunflowers. Of course there will be those impulse buys too. ;o)

Well, the sunshine is calling.....I will post more very soon!