When Two Loves Collide

 Folks, you know how much I enjoy seeing the deer in our yard. They are so beautiful and graceful. 

And you know, too, how much I’ve been enjoying my roses. The red rose trees were in bloom and looking lovely and one of the yellow rose bushes had a bud about to burst open. 

Then it happened. I went outside one morning to smile at and talk to my flowers as I always do, and lo and behold, there were no flowers! All I had were bare stems, every bud and blossom, every single bloom, had been chewed off by my formerly beloved deer.  I was not happy. And may I say these roses were in my front yard, not the back yard next to the woods where I normally see the deer.

 

I heard that deer won’t go near rosemary, so I put pots of rosemary near the roses. Then a neighbor said they don’t like cayenne pepper, so I sprinkled an entire bottle of cayenne pepper all around my roses. The deer haven’t come back to them, but that’s probably because there’s nothing left for them to eat.

I started getting new growth on the roses which thrilled me no end, except we then had a beetle invasion.  The beetles are eating my roses to death, leaving nothing but skeleton leaves.   

 

For the beetles, I was told to get Bag-A-Bug

 

 

 

and hang it away from the plants. I did, and it is truly attracting and catching beetles, but there are still enough on my rose trees to do considerable damage. I was told the beetle season only lasts about six weeks so I’m hoping they’re close to going away.  

If nothing else comes along, I just may get to enjoy my roses yet this summer.

And my birds. 

 

And my porch. 

 

One can only hope.

 

Quote of the Day: Live now, believe me, wait not till tomorrow; Gather the roses of life today. Pierre de Ronsard

Lovely Heaven on Earth

It's spring, tra la and the outside of my house is looking brighter and brighter.  Between the new paint job and the flowers I've planted, with the help of a friend, things are shaping up.

Before (Gray house)                                                                    After

        

                                                          

 

The rose trees are blooming

 


And the petunias are looking beautiful.             With a little garden gnome here and there.

                  
       


As you can see, we don't have good rich topsoil here; it's all clay and rocks, so we do the best we can.  My small rose bushes have new growth on them but are nowhere near blooming yet.  I expect that by next year, this walkway will be bursting with flowers.  While we live in the here and now, we also have to plan for the future.

Yesterday I was looking out the kitchen window and saw three deer watching me from the backyard.  I slowly walked onto the porch and threw them some bread which they gobbled up while standing there unaffected by my presence.


  

My camera is broken so I'm taking pictures with my phone (dumb phone, not smart). Hope they look alright.

One thing I know is, I don't have to wait until I leave this earth to be in Heaven; I'm in Heaven right now.  And it's warm!  Hallelujah!

Quote of the Day:  Earth's crammed with heaven/And every common bush afire with God.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Nature - Up Close and Personal

Since moving to North Carolina we've learned that the weathermen here have a lot more work to do than the ones in San Diego.  About all a San Diego weather reporter has to say is, “Overcast in the morning, high in the mid seventies by afternoon.”  Day after day after boring day.  

Here, outside Raleigh, every day is different and the weathermen are kept on their toes. And surprisingly, they pretty much nail it every time.  If they say it’s going to start snowing at noon, by gum you’d better be prepared for snow at noon.  (We found that out the hard way.) 

Last Saturday night, we got an up close and personal look at the job the weathermen do in this area.  Fred and I were playing Yahtzee at the dining room table when my cell phone went off like a siren, warming us of a tornado alert.  Almost instantly, my daughter texted me that a tornado just went by their house in Lillington and was headed our way.  We turned on the TV and sat mesmerized by the accurate, street by street description of where the tornado was, every step of the way.  When it  got to the intersection of I-40 and I-42, we knew it was six miles away.  Then it got to I-42 and Benson Road - four miles away.  Then it was at Benson and 1010-a mile away.  By now, we were in our “safe place” as we’d been told to do which, for us, was our bathroom.  We kept the door open so we could look down the hall at the TV.  Pretty soon we heard that the tornado was a few streets over and on its way north to Raleigh so we went back to the dining room.  I must confess it was scary but exciting at the same time.  My first tornado alert!  The tornado did touch down at one place in Garner but not much, if any, damage was done.  We’re very thankful that we and my daughter and her family came through unscathed.  I have to say that the weathermen really work for their pay here.  

This Saturday Fred and I got up close and personal with four does that walked into our front yard then wandered around to our backyard and stayed around for an hour or so.  We threw bread out to them and they happily ate it.  We were able to sit in our rocking chairs on the back porch and watch them and take pictures of them.  They seemed to be in no hurry to leave; certainly we were in no hurry to see them leave.  After a while a fifth one joined them; none of them seemed particularly threatened by us.

Living in North Carolina keeps life interesting.  Now that the good weather is back, we’re loving it here.

Quote of the Day:  In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.  Aristotle