Surprises big and small

Garden Journals / flowerweaver's garden journal / Surprises big and small

Surprises big and small

Friday, 02 Sep 11 Cloudy 37°C / 99°F

13
11
Happy

The past few days the temperature has dropped from 106-109 degrees to 99-101 giving a little relief. It’s pretty sad when 100 degrees feels like fall.

Last Sunday a small, dark cloud moved over us. I had an idea.

You call yourself a cloud? I bet you are too wimpy to even wet the ground!

Farmer Rick came out of the coop to see what the shouting was about. A few drops fell. I continued.

Yeah, you call that a 20% chance of rain? Twenty percent of what? A thimble?

It began to lightly rain. We looked at each other. Pretty soon we were both hurling insults to the sky and a downpour came. It was brief (as in a 5 minute shower) but fun. The worst drought on record can make you crazy like that.

You might notice the splint on my right arm. Thursday for no apparent reason my elbow developed a golf-ball sized knot. That night I rolled over to discover a strange arm in bed with us, and it was mine! Swollen from shoulder to fingers and numb it looked just like Popeye’s.

Farmer Rick dodged the roadway mugwumps of the night and drove me to the emergency room (1.5 hours away) where they ruled out a blood clot, admitted me to the hospital and called in an orthopedic surgeon.

The elbow is bursitis, but the rest of the swelling remains a mystery. It’s kind of like hitting your funny bone but having the pain and tingling remain. After a week the swelling is down and the splint has come off except while sleeping. The doctor suggested that decades of computer work has done this to me and that I should switch to using my non-dominant hand.

When I got home from a day and a half in the hospital, the Red Bird of Paradise (also known as Pride of Barbados), Caesalpinia pulcherrima, that I had planted a decade ago was blooming for the first time. I think it’s finally getting enough sun with the trees so leafless from the drought.

We are about to enter our 6th month of living without water! A ranching friend has kindly loaned us her old ranch truck and water tank so that we can haul our own water. It takes a pair of pliers and a swift kick to get the door open. We got it right before my arm problem, so I haven’t braved it yet.

Only a small fraction of the plants I started are still alive in the kiddie pools. It’s been survival of the fittest around here!

The three chicks that hatched in the last incubated batch while I was off chasing rain have all turned out to be pullets. The White Crested Black Poland is the only one so far that we’ve gotten out of one of our older hens, since we began breeding late in our chicken keeping.

She looks just like a mini-me of Ruzina, her mother, only she is quite vociferous unlike either of her parents. Her father is Chester. I’m still contemplating names for her and all of this season’s arrivals.

1. Red Bird of Paradise in bloom
2. Brief rain
3. Borrowed truck and water tank
4. Me with the talkative baby WCB Poland
5. Here she is next to her mother Ruzina

This entry is about

Chicken Coop One garden

Ruzina has a baby!

Day 3441

Red Bird of Paradise

Caesalpinia pulcherrima

Blooming

Entrance garden

Comments

anelson wrote:
love your rain story. Hope your arm gets well soon!

Posted on 02 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
rainymountain wrote:
I hear that there is more rain coming with this latest tropical storm. I hope it is a long soaking rain absorbed into the ground and bringing much cooler temperatures.

Posted on 02 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
sheepandwool wrote:
Ouch! Just what you needed another problem. Glad to hear about the rain, though. However brief.

Posted on 03 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
laurieann wrote:
LOVE the Bird of Paradise pic – gorgeous! Sorry about the arm – hope it heals fast. I’ll be sure to do another rain dance in the garden for you – only I hope it doesn’t backfire as we are supposed to get a whole week of 80+ degree weather – it real heat wave for us – and I’m hoping it is enough to ripen my tomatoes, peppers and squash.

Posted on 03 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
xan wrote:
The Bird of Paradise is a rather beautiful and hopeful metaphor, I think.

Posted on 04 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
redloon wrote:
Keep hurling insults into the sky! Sorry to hear about your arm – best wishes for quick healing. Gorgeous flower!!

Posted on 05 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
ves wrote:
I love the rain story! Glad to hear Farmer Rick was able to get into the mood too. I hope you are not at risk from the latest fires?

Posted on 06 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
flowerweaver wrote:
@anelson @rainymountain @sheepandwool @laurieann @xan @redloon Thanks!

@ves Thanks. The worst fires are about 4 hours east of us where I have friends who have been evacuated, but my hometown in east Texas is on fire. My family has not had to evacuate yet, but many of their friends have. I just hope the wind doesn’t change.

Posted on 07 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
graibeard wrote:
The Bird of Paradise is a nice one indeed.

6th month without water ? Wow you have done it tough. that’s nasty. No wonder you cursed the cloud.

Posted on 08 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
halhurst wrote:
Great to hear about your rain! And you had fun getting it. Hope your arm is improving. Give my regards to the Guv, should he show up in your neighborhood!

Posted on 09 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
AspenShadow wrote:
Beautiful bird of paridise.

Posted on 09 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
SneIrish wrote:
@flowerweaver – just reading this a few days later. Hope your arm is getting better. I was worrying about where the fires were in relation to you this time. Glad they are a bit farther away. But a beautiful new baby chick! (I’m not a chix lover and even I think she’s pretty!) And a beautiful first bloom. There’s always a spot of happy among the nasties, thank goodness.

Posted on 09 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)
vaericks wrote:
Squeee! That is one adorable mini-Rozina!

Ow, hope your arm continues to improve.

Posted on 15 Sep 11 (almost 2 years ago)