Death's aftertaste

Looking at my post of October 20th makes me cry. She was such a wonderful dog.
I was out in the yard raking today and continuing my garden clean-up, and sensed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Caddy! No, unfortunately, it wasn't. Just a bird flying overhead or the wind lifting a leaf into the air.
Her ashes were mailed to us about a week after her cremation at the Ark Valley Humane Society facility in Buena Vista. Thank god there is such a facility near us here in the hinterlands of the San Luis Valley.
Right now she is placed on a shelf in the kitchen since that was her favorite room in the house. I am still touched by cards that we received from Alpine Vet (Tyler Ratzlaff was the vet who euthanized her), Stephen Myers (a wonderful former co-worker who sent a beautiful card), two children (Sam Clark and Daniel Clark) from the next block who gave a gift of wonderful chocolate and hand-written notes acknowledging the loss of Caddy, and, lastly, the wonderful poem that accompanied Caddy's ashes from the staff at the Ark Valley Humane Society.

Doggie heaven for Caddy the dog

Caddy was euthanized today after a great life that we got to share with her. Born summer 1995 and adopted by us December 5 of the same year, she went to Green Bay Packerland in the sky at 8:30 am today, October 20, 2010.

Never will there be a better dog.
RIP.

No freeze yet - astounding!

I'm still harvesting tomatoes and zucchini. We have not even come that close to 32 degrees except one morning when I had plants covered. I depart today for two weeks and I CANNOT imagine that we won't freeze during that time. I canned four pints of my tomatoes a few days ago - that may be nearly a first for my time here in CO (hard to get enough tomatoes to can!).

Did a great hike yesterday up on Cumbres Pass and saw what's likely the peak of colors (photo is not great but I only took a couple).

Have planted about 15 perennials (shrubs & flowers) the past few days; that would normally not be happening but the soil is still pretty warm so I think the plants will do OK. Planted fleabane, nanking cherry, three leaf sumac, Mexican hat coneflower, pineleaf penstemon, lamb's ear, hymenoxys, Rocky Mountain orange daisy, basket 'o' gold, potentilla, blue mist spirea, prince's plume, fernbush, desert 4:00. Probably more that I forgot. Hope they all survive the winter (if we have one!).

Harvest nearly over as is Caddy's long life

Though we haven't had more than a very light frost, harvest of vegetables seems to be nearing the end. I picked the last green beans two nights ago, the last of the Daikon radishes, some swiss chard, tomatoes, and garlic. I still have lots of winter squashes to pick up, but will wait until after we get a REAL frost, which is not yet in the forecast.
As soon as I get some time, I'm going to plant some late season (lettuce, greens, maybe beets & carrots) crops and then cover them with a small hoop house (metal stays and Agribon row cover material). I want to see how late I can feasibly grow food.
Days have been beautiful, clear, sunny & dry, in the 80's. Sandhills were first heard back in the valley two weeks ago today. A few V's of geese have been spotted too.
Caddy the 16-year-old dog is aging rapidly; her mobility is nearly gone, and we frequently have to pick her up after she falls over during her stumbling sojourns around the yard and house. Smooth carpet-less floors are her nemesis, as is the smallest obstacle. We've talked about euthanasia many times over the past few weeks, but the time does not yet seem to be right or necessary.

Eight raspberries harvested !!!

Finally I have some raspberries, though only eight! There are a few more that need more days in the sun. Still not sure that raspberries are worth the water; I'll likely never get enough from my own plants to actually make JAM! A few other raspberry canes are in the vegetable garden but are semi-smothered by all the squash vines.
Today I harvested roughly a two-gallon bucket of green and gold beans, then made about 15 pints of "dilly beans" (pickled beans with dill, garlic cloves,& chile flakes for some zing!). Also made a "chocolate zucchini cake" and two more loaves of zucchini bread, which went to the freezer. Then shredded a bunch of zucchini and stuck that in the freezer too.

The squash is starting to overwhelm

In the past week I've harvested four eight-ball zucchini and a couple costata romanesca. Two of the eight-ball sort of got away from me visually so they're way bigger than eight-balls! The tendrils from all of the winter squash I planted are going nuts and making me reluctant to venture too far into the garden. It's difficult to get to the other end because of all the squash obstacles.

The current crop of spinach is finished, as are the peas. The pole beans are just starting to be pick-able, and I finally found some teeny tomatillos!!! Maybe I'll get some after all this summer. I have lots of tomatoes on the vines, both cherry & others, but all are still green. I used some of my dill, basil, and chives to flavor some homemade salad dressing, and I can still smell the dill on my fingers - love that smell!

The cabbage worms have arrived via their mother the cabbage moth, and are, as usual, voraciously chewing their way through my cabbage plants. They were late this year so may not do as much damage as usual. I've killed about 40 or 50 so far, and have also harvested one head of cabbage that didn't look too heavily chewed on.

I'm going to try some season-extending techniques this fall with row covers and hoops, so I can get some greens (spinach & lettuces) a little later. It'll be an interesting experiment that I hope works. I don't know if I'm quite as ambitious as Eliot Coleman (http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/) to try to grow throughout the winter, but at least will try a few months in the fall & spring. It'd be great if it succeeded as it would mean home-grown salads in November!

Once again this spring I planted some morning glory seeds, and in the image is the resulting lovely flower. They don't like the heat we've gotten this summer, a little more than usual it seems, but appear to getting accustomed to it and are blooming now. Some of the m.glory seeds from two summers ago have germinated also (volunteers), so I have morning glories popping out in lots of places.

Harvesting continues....

This year has been extremely productive for certain vegetables - spinach, lettuce, squash (eight-ball zucchini & costata romanesca), radishes, swiss chard, onions, peas, and probably more that I'm not remembering. It's great having a salad with more than half of the ingredients "locally" picked! I have some small raspberries that I hope will ripen before the first frost. And lots of tomatoes too, plus tomatillos, which I haven't grown before. There are dozens of little blossoms on the tomatillos, but I see any little tomatillos yet. Since I haven't ever seen one growing, I may be missing it due to lack of familiarity....

My cabbage plants aren't being chewed to pieces yet by cabbage worms, and for a while I was noticing that the cabbage butterflies were nowhere to be found. But they have now found the garden, and I expect to start seeing little dastardly caterpillars any day.

I planted about 8-10 squash plants this year which may have been a mistake because now I have squash tendrils winding everywhere in the garden and blocking the sun from other vegetable plants.

My perennials are doing pretty good, depending on which garden they're in. The front garden is still low in nitrogen and is sort of weeny-looking, but everything else looks good.

Caddy, the 16-year-old dog, slows down by the day. Since her mobility has declined we seldom walk beyond the Veteran's Center, which means I haven't been around Home Lake for a few months. Wildlife observations are in decline as a result. When I was at the Rio Grande SWA last week though, I did see a couple hawks and a cow elk - the latter I have NEVER seen at the SWA. It was great to take my first run after the SWA re-opening on July 15; it always feels like I'm seeing the area for the first time.

Yah, more rain!

Lengthy absence caused by vacations & spending too much time on computer at work!
My vegetable garden experienced a sudden growth spurt this past weekend, over the 4th of July. Returning from a three-day absence, it was surprising to see how so much growth had occurred over such a short time. Squash tendrils are beginning to snake through the garden, peas are nearly ready to pick, and more & more spinach is ready to harvest. Radishes will soon be ready, as will the greens I planted not long ago. The cabbage worms haven't found my cabbage yet this year which I'm marveling at - by this time they've always been chewing away for some time. Weeds aren't out of the ordinary so far even though we've had a bit of rain.
My raspberry plants in the north part of the backyard are steadily growing taller and will need to be trellised soon.
The milkweeds in the "shrub garden" are expanding their range and may need to be reined in a bit - maybe next year.
Tomatillos are my experiment this year, never having grown them before. The two plants that survived the seedling stage are doing better than my tomato plants.
Our nighttime temperatures this summer so far have seldom gotten out of the 40's, not great for peppers and tomatoes.
Another experiment I'm trying this year is to start batches of spinach & radishes & lettuce later in the growing season to see if I can get a harvest in late autumn, using a small hoop structure to protect them against the cold/frost. It'll be fun to see how that goes!

SLOW-arriving spring

Everything is about two weeks or more behind previous years' progress - lilacs blooming, peas growing, aspen leafing out, everything! Irrigation system is set up and working on shrub, flower, and vegetable gardens. We had a hard frost (about 26 degrees) last week one night, and I had accidentally left many little seedlings sit outside, so ended up losing several basil, tomatoes, and cabbage plants.]
We've had Dust Bowl-like blowing conditions in the San Luis Valley this spring - days where automobile accidents occurred on the stretch of highway between Monte Vista and Alamosa due to low visibility caused by airborne soil.

Three adolescent fox, not two

I got to see the teenage fox pups this AM, yippee! Caddy and I went for a walk and, while strolling through the Vet's Center, what did we see but THREE of them! Two of them are in photo, one's a little hard to see. Mom was nowhere in sight - maybe she was taking a break this Mother's Day!
Such a treat.
I transplanted the last of my raspberry plants this morning into their new bed. Feels hot outside. Wind, as usual, is not letting up much.
The pollinators are buzzing around the blooming Golden Currant.

Cool spring continues

Two fox pups, nearly adult, were seen by B. last night on his walk through the Veteran's Center. It's surprising that this is the first time one of us has seen them this spring; I attribute that to us not doing the customary dog walks due to Caddy's absence at "doggie day care" in Salt Lake City for an extended time.

Spring continues its slow progress. Nearly everything that's still alive after winter is showing signs of growth. Aspens are beginning to leaf out; lilacs have finished leafing out and are now preparing to flower. Pasqueflowers are nearly through blooming. Rabbitbrush is beginning to green up, and chokecherry shrubs are leafing out. Nanking cherry shrubs are beginning to bud out--they're nearly one of my favorite spring shrubs due to the small, white & pink blooms. Raspberry canes are popping out of the ground. Catmint (nepeta) is mounding up & enlarging.
I've started seeds for various tomatoes & peppers, cosmos, marigolds, cabbage, parsley, lavender, Fiesta del Sol sunflower, bergamot, hyssop, and borage.

We're still experiencing windy afternoons, some worse than others.

I haven't compared this spring's temperatures to the past several years, but this spring strikes me as cooler than past ones. We are ahead in precipitation.

Pasqueflower blooming

My earliest-blooming plant is the Pasqueflower, which usually shows its beautiful purple flowers in mid-April, regardless of temperature or snowfall. The bloom has closed up in this image; another image of the same plant appears below. That one was taken 2nd week of May, last year.

The Golden Currant is about to bloom, and the allium bulbs are getting closer too.

I bought a few more xeric semi-native shrubs to fill out the xeric garden. What I've decided to do this year is take out of the xeric garden any plants that require more than a little water, and replace them with reliable ones like fernbush, apache plume, sage, rabbitbrush (various varieties), Ratibida columnifera, Prince's Plume, sticky geranium, and similar ones. I've given up on Mahonia repens (Oregon Grape) because I sometimes forget to keep it watered over the winter, and this past winter I think I lost all three of my Oregon Grape Plants. The plants I've removed from the xeric garden (fall-blooming asters, some yarrow) are being transplanted in other gardens, and given away.

EARLY spring garden events

Am finding more and more developments out in the gardens: delphinium and catmint way up out of the ground, allium bulbs sticking about an inch out of the still-cool ground, and as mentioned earlier, the garlic is shooting up. Golden currant bush (Ribes aureum) is looking like it wants to start budding out, and probably will do so since it's usually one of the really early ones.

I began some seeds inside yesterday - several types of peppers, several types of tomatoes, parsley, lavender, and cosmos. I may be starting the latter too early, but couldn't resist. I love it when those seeds start popping their little green shoots up! They're all sitting on their warming mat while I hover over them, waiting, waiting, waiting.....

I ordered some more raspberry plants - everbearing this time, since I've concluded that summer-bearing raspberries just don't work here, at least for me. I'm going to be giving my summer-bearing plants away on our local Freecycle group. I'm finished wasting water on them!

We're due to have a well-below freezing night tonight, then a number of warmish, sunny days are on the menu, yippee!!!!!! It's getting to the seasonal point where my mind is constantly wandering to the garden, whether I'm at work, or lying awake in bed, or elsewhere.

Last evening I turned my first batch of compost in my Earth Machine composter. I must have started the current batch in autumn, because it really didn't look like it had heated up at all. Nothing frozen was uncovered, which was surprising. But this unit does get lots of sun, even this time of year, so I suppose that's why it was totally thawed out. I added two buckets of new compostables that I'd stored over winter, and a bunch of last year's leaves, and will need to remember to stick the thermometer in it. I'm not sure its composition is of the quality that will heat up well; usually I can sort of tell when I'm going to get a good batch or not, and this one didn't ring any bells for me. Will see later.

Ice on Home Lake is nearly gone. Sandhill cranes and Canada geese are still around, feeding in the fields. Wind has been horrendous; visibility yesterday afternoon was akin to what I imagine the 1930's Dust Bowl era to be like; brown and sand-blasted atmosphere, soil & dried Russian thistles flying everywhere.

First garlic shoot

Returned to the San Luis Valley from a 2+week absence; nearly the only green thing I found coming up was one garlic shoot out in the vegetable garden (see photo). Okay, so there are a few irises also coming up. Not much more. Snow still around in shaded areas. I'm getting antsy to start outdoor stuff. Must calm down.
Sandhill cranes continue in abundance, along with Canada geese. A layer of old-looking ice still rests on the surface of Home Lake. Mountains are getting pounded with snow today & tonight. Should make for good skiing this weekend.

Monte Vista Crane Festival of 2010

Participants in the MV Crane Festival will have a treat for weather this year - sunny & blue sky, with lots and lots of bird life. Driving back and forth between Monte Vista & Alamosa, I can understand why the San Luis Valley is called a "flyway" - with all of the flocks of cranes and Canada geese passing through, from a distance the clusters look like airplanes coming in to land.

The resident great blue heron was sitting in its usual place yesterday evening, in the water near the 3E bridge that spans the Empire Canal.

Home Lake still has a seemingly thick layer of ice with snow on the surface.

Melting snow, more on the way

More cranes are making themselves heard, just in time for the Monte Vista Crane Festival this coming weekend! I went to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge yesterday and was nearly deafened by Canada geese & sandhills. Mating displays among the latter were in full swing.

After being away from the San Luis Valley for a six-day stretch this past week, I returned to find more than 50% of the snow in the yard gone, and the ground saturated with all of the snowmelt. The soil seems to be slowly thawing. Rain overnight last night was a great sound through the open window. A current Winter Storm Warning in the eastern San Juans will mean more skiing & summer irrigation water.

Sandhill cranes are back!

I heard my first crane of 2010 on February 16, and saw my first ones the following day. They've been cruising for leftover barley in the field west of our house. This is a definite sign of the coming spring. However, I do remember in the past that I've seen them standing out in a field with snow falling about them in fairly low temperatures, so I don't expect balmy temperatures to come any time soon.

Our snow depth is still at 6.5" in the yard, and one icicle extending downward from the roof is longer than I am tall.

I haven't checked to see if my garlic is popping up through the soil yet.

Quiet in the San Luis Valley

A couple of weeks ago one would have thought spring was on its way. Not the case now; we're blanketed in snow more than 7" deep. Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) of snow in the yard is 1.37". Mountains are getting snow as I type this. Bald eagles have been making more of an appearance in the area. A belted kingfisher has been seen & heard over by the Empire Canal, and the male red-winged blackbirds are making their territorial sounds over in the cattail area in the Rio Grande SWA. Our firewood supply is quickly dwindling, and soon we may have to ration fires. So, yeah, maybe spring really is on its way!

Deer leg

Went for a snowshoe around the Rio Grande & the state wildlife area; the dog found a tasty treat which she gnawed on the remainder of the night. Even missed her dinner for it.
We got 11" of snow overnight last Thursday; I skipped work to shovel, rake snow off the roof, split firewood, and go snowshoeing.

Owls, heron, deer

Went for a walk over in the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area the other night. The great horned owls were hooting from nearly every direction - I probably heard four to six individuals. At one point, I was walking on entrance road to the wildlife area, and had a sudden urge to look up. A large great horned owl was sitting up in a tree about 20' off of the ground staring at me. My eyes felt riveted to hers/his. It was such a neat experience!
Then we saw the great blue heron that seems to like hanging out around the Empire Canal. Again, I wonder how it survives the winter.
And on the way home, strolling through the Veteran's Center, the deer were out on the lawn feeding and pooping (Caddy loves to eat the latter).
It has been fairly mild here during the day lately, in the 30s and 40s. Today, however, signaled a change in the weather with steady snow beginning around 11AM or so, and continuing through the evening, at least. Mountains (eastern San Juans) are getting hit hard with two to five feet of snow! Blizzard warning in effect for the mountains, and Highway 160 over Wolf Creek Pass was closed at 6PM today due to poor driving conditions.