Happy Fall At Pudgeduck's World

This is a Happy Fall! Weather is perfect- plants are growing and all is well in Pudgeduck's World!

On Friday, about 18 Arizona bloggers got together for lunch. The event was hosted by Marty, who did a great job dealing with all the details. I was surprised to find that so many lived so close . We had fun putting faces to blogs, had a great lunch, dessert and a gift exchange. I'm looking forward to the next get-together! Wouldn't you know, I forgot my camera!!





The tomato and pepper plants have quite a few blooms now. Can't wait for for the first pickings!






Claude from Random Rants and Prickly Plants sent a very well packed rock rose plant from his garden. I soaked the hardened mud ball from the roots and planted it facing the lake hoping the water view would keep it happy! It certainly looks good!

Something is in the garden eating my radishes! They start eating them as soon as they peek through the soil!

I put my frog brigade on guard, hoping they would scare "it" away! It worked last year when they stood guard around the lone rain lilly. My sweet peas were being eaten with no-see ums again this year and I used Claude's tip with the garlic powder. It is working again !! Thanks Claude!! I'm afraid to use it on the radishes for fear that they would absorb of the taste of garlic. This is so much fun--watching all my plants growing! I'm Loving Life on the Lake.....................

I threw in few back-up miniature turtles to help guard the radishes! That will scare them for sure!!!!! (I hope.)

Photos Again!

I was awake this morning to capture yet another gorgeous sunrise!






I watered all my plants and thinned a few radishes, along with the carrots and kale. The bare spots will soon fill in.






The runner beans are growing fast! The plant in the forefront is a pineapple salvia. So far everything is doing very well.








Coots have come home to roost!! The winter rye was planted earlier this year--bfore the coots got here to eat the seeds, so now they are just leaving green droppings all over the lake sidewalks. They are nasty birds!






The Texas Sage in bloom around the neighborhood. It's to bad they don't stay in bloom--they are beautiful and bloom in reaction to the humidity or rain.







Finally...... a cactus that bloomed! This Submatucana madisoniorum and it's from Peru . I'm not sure if I will get any more--this is the first time it has bloomed. I bought this one last year.







The stalk is about 6 inches tall and the cactus is the size of a small peach. The wind started yesterday afternoon and will blow in some cool 65 degree weather for today. I would like to turn off the air. Last winter I never turned on the heat. We had a very warm winter. I only burned three logs and that's a good thing because the Java Logs cost 6.99 each!They are all natural made from coffee. They have a pleasant order without the stinky petroleum smell.

I fixed my card reader dilemma for only $9.00. Just plug and play with a USB card reader/writer. How cool is that? I figured it would be some kind of big box that had to be hooked up in back of the computer, but it's so simple I'm still in awe.

Boulders and Bummers

When I moved into my new home 18 years ago, the builders were giving away rocks and boulders to homeowners from the excavated building areas. I ask for a large one, never dreaming it would be HUGE! It can't be moved without a huge front loader or some other heavy duty equipment. A few years later when we added a wall to enclose a small courtyard area, we had to build around the boulder. My house is described as the "boulder house" when someone asks for directions. My grandchildren loved it when they were small, and they would climb to the very top every time they would come over. They thought they were on top of the world!

My Santa Rita has turned a beautiful purple as the temperature has come down--definitely a nip in the air in the morning and evening. I still don't have the ability to transfer my photos to my computer, so I can't show the color change. So, I'm using a photo I already had. Just try to imagination the total pads even darker purple than what's just on the edges in this photo. Sorry! I hope I can figure out something soon as to what's wrong--I'm sure it's the computer card reader and not the camera memory stick.

Bunny Ears Prickly Pear--doesn't look very much like bunny ears. More like teddy bear ears.

I love this beaver tail prickly pear! These pictures were taken when this cactus was smaller than it is now. The flowers of this particular prickly pear species are so beautiful--they are a purpley fuchsia.

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Not sure what to do with my computer. My son-in-law is giving me his very updated one whenever he gets around to installing his new one. That may be a while because he happens to be the worst procrastinator on the entire planet!! His number ONE flaw of only three flaws! He never gets around to reading this blog because he always puts it off, so I can tell you about him. Oh, he does admit that he has a problem, but he just puts off trying get help for it. Yes, it's that bad that he needs professional help, and he IS a professional himself!!! He sure has a green thumb though, and that sort of makes up for the procrastination, so he is a keeper!

My grandson will be leaving this coming Monday for his Army service, and we had a going away party tonight! He is the very first of my family to leave our small world and it certainly will be hard for all of us to let him go! He is positive this is his calling, and I can't do a thing to stop it. It's hard to accept, and I haven't yet, so.......I had to watch it because I could have ate half the cake tonight to assuage my conflicted feelings, and if I had, I would not have felt guilty!

Not Perfect, But Still Good

Just to let you know that my life is not perfect...even though our sunrises and sunsets are....

My camera's memory card or computer card reader is screwed up and I can't get my photos! And...we have had record heat here. It was 103 degrees yesterday! Most all of my sprouting wildflowers have bit the dust. The sudden heat wave was just too much for many of them. I have used record amounts of water trying to keep my other sprouts going, and so far, I've lost only a few so far. The alternator on the truck is going out again--the third time in the past 18 months. And, to top it off, I have been on Jenny Craig for 3 weeks and I have not lost a pound. When life seems difficult as things pile on, I gaze into my perfect great grandson's eyes and all the wonderful little things that I take for granted flood into my mind and then I know that my life really is pretty darn perfect!

Hubby has gone hunting--we don't talk about Bambi or football--that way I don't have to deal with things I don't like, so this time of the year all my thoughts are on the garden! I planted a pineapple salvia, and a big leaf cordia that I'm sure will be too big for the space it's in. The sweet peas finally came up. Better late than never I guess! Nasturtiums have filled the pot and now I have to thin them, and you know how hard that is for me! I'm going to try to transplant them into another pots--the more the better I say! I did thin out some of the radishes and kale, and the carrots are next! This is my first time growing fall vegetables other than an occasional tomato or pepper plant, and I am excited about the whole process! The runner beans are about 3 inches tall and a couple have been eaten, but not sure by what. I'll have a few pictures to show soon--I hope. Since I have no idea how to fix the problem if it's a card reader problem, I hope it's the memory card. That's easy to replace.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth... and no culture comparable to that of the garden...But though an old man (woman) I am but a young gardener."

- Thomas Jefferson

Project Progressing

Our garden project is almost finished! The Bermuda lawn is gone and the winter over seed of Rye will green up in a few days, and I noticed almost all my seeds have sprouted! This year Daisies, Hollyhock, Lupine, Nasturtium, Chance, Dianthus, Delphinium, Scarlet and Blue Flax, Sweet Peas and Shirley Poppies. That's all I remember--I know there are others somewhere....

My vegetable garden is up and running! It needs to be thinned and I will (maybe) do it soon. I planted radish, carrots, kale and ? Oh well, you know how I like surprises!

Always Snap Dragons, Petunias, and Lobelia for instant color! I'm loving it!

This is my new favorite flower color. I planted a package of Painted Lady Heirloom Runner Beans that I bought last year. The unique coral and creamy pink blossoms are edible and the beans will be added to my soup. I'm not sure this is the right time of the year to plant them but last year I planted them in the spring and they were crispy by June. Still trying to master gardening. I think it is mostly trial and error. Boy, have I had a lot of errors!

The 'Rosenka' Bougainvillea is all pink now and will change to a golden-coral, almost the same color as the Snapdragon. Hopefully plenty of plants will come to fruition and keep me swinging on my swing, watching things grow!

I finished my tour on the Grand Jury. I loved every minute of serving and hope I get called again.

My Grandson leaves for his duty in the United States Army, and after basic training, I'm sure he will be shipped to Afghanistan. Please pray for our Nation and all our service men and women.

II Chronicles 7-14

So Long, September! Glad You're Gone.

The last weekend of September we combined eight birthdays and had one gigantic party.

We have been buying Kathy's Rum Cakes for over a decade. This was our first time trying Spumoni--and it has become our new favorite! It has the same flavors as the traditional Spumoni ice cream. The pink and orange frosting are captured pretty well in this photo. It's a strange color combo at first glance, but it grows on you.

One more September birthday was added on the last day of the month--when my great grandson decided we needed one more September birthday. We are now up to 8! This family seems to attract Virgos and Libras!

After grilled burgers and bratwurst and an array of salads, we had homemade sugar cookies , miniature cheese cakes and coffee, along with the Spumoni cake. The dessert table looked tempting, but I stuck with my diet! We had a great time, and it's so much easier to just have the one party.

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Just getting started on the demolition.......

After...

I lost the two large rosemary shrubs, but somehow my lone rain lily and bell pepper survived! You can see how much we have lowered the planter walls. Even though it was 108 the day we did most of the demo, we plugged right along in order to finish by my October 1st deadline--so I'd have time to put in the winter flowers and veggies!

I'm glad September is over! So far, October has brought cooler temperatures and I'm feeling a little refreshed.