I hope everyone had a good weekend. Around here we had really nice weather if you don't count the wind. I couldn't believe just how hard the sustained wind was blowing. It was probably around 25-30mph for most of the day. It was gusting at least 40mph and maybe more than that. I felt like I was back home on Galveston Island with those winds.
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| Check out the rocks |
Why am I talking about the wind? Well Mars and I were taking a break from the garden, sitting in the shade with big glasses of ice tea. All of the sudden there was a HUGE bang. I kid you not! A gust of wind had blown over the rabbit hutches. I'm talking about completely blew it over, including the stands. We use some old tin on top of the hutches (for shade) and very large rocks to hold the "roof" on too.
Shoot I know how heavy just the hutches are, much less the 3 stands. We were moving them out of the barn and into their summer spot just the day before. I can barely help him move them. The big nesting box he made is super heavy on its own. Not to mention about 25 rabbits involved.
Well I was on my feet in an instant thinking "Oh Cr*p I hope the babies are ok." We got every thing right back up and all the babies were fine. Poor Gladys got a busted nose during the fall. She looks better now. I'm just glad that was the only injury.
This is her first litter and she's turning out to be an excellent mother. She had a huge litter too. 12 babies in all. Unfortunately we've lost 2 of them. I think she must have stepped on one from what I could tell. But the 10 that have made it are all pretty sturdy. Even the runt isn't a tiny baby. I've read several places that anything larger than 7 or 8 and the mama can't feed them all. So I'm real proud of her. She takes care of them all.
I still can't believe that the wind actually pushed over the entire hutch.
Stands and all!
Anyway.... I sort of got off topic! (no, really?? Did someone say squirrel?? )
Let's get back to what I wanted to tell you in the first place. We were at The Evil Empire picking up a couple of things Friday afternoon. The stuff we needed was in the back of the store so we parked out near where they had fruit and shade trees. They were mostly crispy and leafless. They had a few fruit trees left and had the price knocked down to $9.97. Not much of a deal for dead and dying trees. We went over to check them out and saw a few that might be saved if they got in the ground soon. We found a couple of plum trees that looked like they actually might make it.
Mars told me I should go find the garden center manager and see if she would mark a couple of them down even further. See if she might make a deal on a couple of them. Long story short (yeah right, huh?) She didn't have a problem with marking the two plum trees we wanted down to $5 each.
We thought the two we got would be just fine if we could get them in the ground soon and baby them. It must be a karma kind of thing because 1)We've been wanting plum trees long before all this and 2)Mars had already started getting ready to transplant a couple of Red Buds. He already had the holes almost ready.
Anyway..... he planted the trees and was leaning on the shovel and was smiling when he said
"Happy Mothers Day".
Thoughtful!!
ReplyDeleteGlad the bunnies made it!
LOL I don't know about thoughtful, but quite quick thinking if you ask me!
DeleteYa the wind this Spring has been just terrible. I am heading out once again to add yet another brace onto my plastic downspout hose I attached to the barn gutters to direct all the water away from the immediate barn area. It worked great until the winds started getting even worse. Once it got removed due to high winds now it just happens every time. All my young trees and new plants are just getting beat to hell by the wind too.
ReplyDeleteI bet it scared the hell outta the bunnies to be blown over though.
Dang PP that wind is beating you guys to death this year too. Wasn't I reading where you'd been having bee problems because of the wind as well?
DeleteI remember the first year we planted anything here we were up on the top tier of the land, our peppers grew literally sideways to compensate for the winds! The next year we found the second tier was much better for the sort of garden we were planning (not to mention that the Cedars across the front help as a wind break.
As for the bunnies, I was amazed that most of them acted like it was all a day in the life of a rabbit! Except for the Physco Demon Bitch. But then she's crazy to start with!
oh Gurl - since i've known you you've always been a day late and a dollar short - bahahahahah! i am sooo glad that the bunnies and babies are doing well after all of that. we sometimes get winds here up to 100km an hour and the whole house shakes and everything rattles and it sets my bones on edge! congrats on the plum trees tho...at that price can you pick me up a few and mail them to me? based on all of our gardening blogs that i have been reading, it seems like we all got a little of a late start but it looks like we are all gonna have a bumper year! couldn't ask for anything more.
ReplyDeletelots of love to you and Mars. your friend,
kymber
Lolllllzzzz kymber, why yes, yes I have!!! *snork*
DeleteI really don't like the high winds either but this year just seems to be worse for some reason. That and the freaky way it flipped the hutches on their side.
I hope you are right about this late start being a bumper year. With the cost of groceries rising at an alarming rate (2.6% this past month) lots of folks have no idea what's coming right at them in the next few months. I fear the times we have been warning of are just now showing themselves. But, hey.... whatcha gonna do?
Love to you n your sweet man,
Sci
Isn't that an awesome deal on the plum trees? We'll pamper them throughout the year and with any luck they'll do just fine.
Glad the bunnies are doing ok. That's a whole lott'a suppers waiting to happen!
ReplyDeleteAnd great score on the fruit trees! I was thrilled when I got two nectarines for like ten bucks a few seasons ago because they were a little droopy looking; now they're the best looking trees we have!
I got to thinking about those bunnies and freaked out till I had them all counted and checked over. Then for some reason I (I swear I hadn't really thought about this until the hutch flipped over) I realized we had some really good meat for the table. Finally. After all these years. Meat!
DeleteI would love to see these plums be in as good a shape as your nectarines are!! Maybe we've hit on a successful idea. Buy "snoopy" trees and watch them grow with love!
My hens' Rubbermaid boxes sitting on a table get blown over by the wind all the time! Poor things are really frightened when I get there, sometimes the next morning. They are skittish for hours. I can barely get it al up and in place. The Rubbermaid boxes are full of bedding.
ReplyDeleteLast fall, Lowe's trees were marked from $25 to $1. They were tropical hibiscus trees, not fruit trees.
That was a very good Mother's Day present.
Linda sounds like you need to figure something out to keep those poor hens from being scared of the wind. ;-)
DeleteI would have loved to find trees marked down that far!! We have one tropical hibiscus tree that was here before we bought the place. We cut it down to the ground during the fall and it comes back up bigger and prettier every year. It's got beautiful red flowers on it.
Thanks for stopping by!
I haven't planted a thing yet! The corn across road is due for spraying, can't plant till its done. The wind is trying to blow us to the northeast and raining all the time! So a late start for us for sure.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your bunny, but she will be fine I'm sure. I'm not planting any trees here till some old ones are taken down. Some are still shedding from all the ice we had. Watch that wild wind, we've sure had our share!!
Crazy winds all over!! When you say the corns due for a spraying is that what I think it is? I sure hope the winds are at least blowing that mess away from you if it is. Yeah, the Northeast has certainly had some tough months.
DeleteAt least we didn't loose any to ice this year. We only had one serious ice storm and it didn't do as much damage as I was afraid it would.
The bunny's nose is looking better. I was worried for a bit but she seems to be ok. Ya'll stay safe and I'll try to "wish you" some warmer weather!
I bet they were shook up a little. I'll never forget the time that I had to jamb on the brakes and our dachshund's cage fell off the back seat and onto the rear floor of the car. I was driving, but she gave the dirty look to my wife. lol
ReplyDeleteLOL I bet that weiner dog figured she was the one that tossed him on the floor!!! Poor puppy....
DeleteMy Mom and stepDad have weiner dogs too. Talk about a hand full. They really are. One of them has this thing about seeing other dogs on the tv. When he does he will bark and bark at them... when the dogs disappear so does the barking! Hilarious! Especially since she will do it to cartoon dogs too! Hours of entertainment as long as you have the remote control!!! LOL yeah, I did that!
It's been windy in North Georgia, too. That's why I am having to replace shakes so much. More so this year than I can ever remember having to do before.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry your rabbits got blown over. That must have been pretty terrifying for them. Hard enough being a small mammal without being blown to Oz.
LOL@ not blown to Oz!!!!! I just thought it was the darndest thing that it could be moved like that. I kid you not those cages alone are really heavy, and then you add in the rabbits and the rocks on top... well dang. That's a pretty stiff gust!
DeleteThe funny thing is that only one of the rabbits was a bit concerned and that's the one that had those babies in the box. She's the one with the busted nose. once she had seen they were all ok she seemed to mellow out.
I love the name Gladys...gonna steal it one of these days for a critter or two around here.
ReplyDeleteLets do talk about planting and gardens and such. I planted 2 rows of sunflowers at our Carolina estate and the dang deer came along and have eaten the tops of the seedlings off...I suspect by deer season to have an arrow through one or two of them, and their punishment will be to end up on my dinner table. Blasted deer !
Hope your Mothers day was a blessed and beautful one... Oh yea the wind here sucks too...
Girl, If you like the name Gladys you'll love how she came by the name. She was one of the first rabbits I got from The rabbit lady. She'd bee raised in a rabbit barn and had never really seen the sunshine before. When I got her to the house I put her in the pen with the nesting box so she could hang out in there until she got used to things. ANYWAY.... From day one she was curious about everything going on around her. Had to keep watching everything. Do you remember Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched? She was the nosy next door neighbor. See!!!
DeleteSucks about your deer feeder ....uhmm I mean seedlings. Don't you know that you aren't allowed to have anything that they won't eat?? lol And you said "Blasted Deer" too. Boy you've really done it now!!!
Besides, you can't technically blast deer with arrows can you??
interesting read about your tree's,just had an incident like it yesterday! I had to go to Lowe's for some lawn stuff,my yard is infested with ticks somehow.I always wander thru the garden area looking for a good deal,end of season stuff,and the clerk is talking to a rack of veggie plants!So,being a social guy,and she was cute,I asked if talking to them helped them grow.She explained to me that the plant supplier,Bonnie,had a contract to Lowes,to replace and restock all the veggies every week or so,so any wilted of damaged plants went back to the greenhouse.I'd noticed a Bonnie delivery truck when I pulled up,didn't think a thing about it.So,they cannot discount any veggie item,as it goe's back to the greenhouse!Kinda made sense,they want fresh inventory,but the cost of taking the old stock back to dispose of? Then it hit me...they take the old stock back,re-pot it,grow it to 6 or 8 inch,and resell it for the cost of 1 6 pak flat! Even if you only recover 1 out of 6,almost no loss! Please tell me what store you went to,I love a discount!
ReplyDeleteDean in az
Hey Dean,
ReplyDeleteWow, I haven't heard from you in like 3 forevers! We are fighting ticks here this season too. I can't stand the little *$#@. So you are one of those guys that chat folks up at the garden center huh? :-)
I'm always on the lookout for a "deal" like the trees. I don't know if I would have started talking to someone who was having an ongoing talk with the plants though.
As for the Bonnie plants, this isn't the first time (or even the first store) that I've seen Bonnie products on sale. Maybe it's the different locations, or the manager that can make that decision? My Tiny Town Wally World didn't have a problem with marking them down though. I have asked in the past when they get their truck in from Bonnie but the guy was no help and said something like they come about twice a week but didn't know exactly when. So I can't tell you if it is just this part of the country or if the final say goes to the manager of the garden department. (Besides, I'm sure it helps to water the plants and I have yet to see this particular store have hoses running like most do.)
I'm no garden guru but the plants that have withered and wilted don't have much chance of of making it back although it might be possible.)
I had some problems with a few of my tomatoes and lost some of them (my own fault) so I went back this past week to replace them. The Evil Empire didn't have ( nor will they again this year) 6 packs of tomatoes OR peppers. They did however have a ton of things in larger pots. Which leads me to wonder if you've hit on something. In any case, the trees were marked at half price already when I first found them. Originally they were marked at $21.97, then marked down to $9.97. So I strolled over with a counter offer *wink* of $5.00 each. I'm always seeing plants marked down at The Evil Empire though. Maybe its a regional thing or if she was going on vacation that same day? (She was all excited and volunteered that information) In any case, I took the the two healthiest trees and brought them home to baby them for the next few years if I'm lucky!
As always, good to hear from you,
Sci