Recycling

Our city has updated the list of items it will take for recycling. It takes any kind of plastic or glass, even dishes and ceramics. It takes all newspapers, cardboard and even junk mail. It really makes you think when you throw something in the trash as to whether it goes there. Hubby and I really try to think green, even though we can't afford solar panels or a green roof. Maybe our next car will be a hybrid but that won't be for awhile. Mostly Hubby drives the Focus and I drive the Freestyle. Both get pretty good mileage. We have our compost pile and a mulching lawn mower. We were doing worm composting but we did something wrong and all the worms died.

Next Year - A Vegetable Garden

Hubby has been working on a new vegetable garden for next year. He put in a wall and 5 yards of black dirt with compost. It is located in the only sunny spot in our whole backyard. We are both excited about the prospect of fresh wax beans, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. We also plan for some beets, squash and turnips. We signed up for a garden plot at the senior center as well. That is where we will grow the things that don't have to be monitored every day. The last time I planted a vegetable garden, years ago, it looked like the Sahara. Even the weeds didn't grow.

A Mouse!

Yesterday I had been into the walk-in attic off of our bedroom and must have let a mouse into the room. At 3 AM I woke to hear Cleo howling in the bathroom and scratching at things. If it had been Arnold I would have just rolled over but Arnold was sleeping on top of my legs. I went into the bathroom and there was Cleo chasing a little gray mouse around the bathroom. Sometimes she batted it around but when the mouse stood up and batted at her and SQUEEKED she seemed to be confused. I watched for about a half hour and then called Hubby to get his camera. After about 15 min Hubby came running out to get his movie camera. Arnold was still snoozing. I picked him up and opened the bathroom door and threw him into the fray. Hubby got rid of the mouse after about an hour and this time Arnold slept through the rest of the night.

Frost Warning

We had our first frost warning Friday Night. Fortunately I had brought most of my houseplants back into the house already. I hate it when I get the warning and it is freezing cold and I am trying to stuff all the plants in the foyer so they are safe for the night. Today I put the pots of geraniums back outside. They can stay out a little longer. The wandering Jew is so hard to keep over the winter but is a beautiful hanging basket now. I think I will just take a few cuttings to start it again next year. Hubby went out and picked roses from the rose garden, so I had a beautiful bouquet and the fragrance was incredible ( Mostly from the Mr. Lincoln rose)

A 5K Race Walk

This morning Mary and I participated in a 5K race walk held in Wayne, Michigan. There were a lot of participants. We didn't place in the winners but we were not near the end either. It is fun to see the people who do the 10K run. They are real athletes, trim and muscular, not necessarily young. The first event was a 1K run for children. The 8 and 9 year olds were serious and had great fun. There was one 4 year old, Jimmy according to the signs his mother and baby brother carried. Jimmy was beautiful with big blond loopy curls and a huge grin as he waved to his supporters. Some of the little kids got about a tenth of the way and Mom had to carry them. The weather was a little nippy. Where ever there was a shadow on the grass, the grass was encased in ice. Afterwards we were all served hot dogs, cider, fruit and cookies. Mary and I had a good time.

Green Roofs

Last Night Hubby and I went to the meeting of the Master Gardeners Organization. They had a speaker on "Green Roofs". That is not the color green but roofs covered with plants. Hubby won a prize because he has seen two of them, Ford Motor Tractor Plant and the dog house at Tollgate Farm's Children's garden. I didn't expect the meeting to be that interesting because I thought you could only do green roofs on flat roofed buildings but that is not true, although the steeper the pitch the more you have to do. A green roof needs about 30 pounds per square foot more load tolerance than an ordinary roof. There were lots of examples of green roofs especially for sheds, bath houses and even carports or dumpster covers. We were each given catalogues of sedums and like plants to use. It was a really interesting meeting.

A New Sidewalk

Yesterday the sidewalk to the house was finished. The company who did this were wonderful. They gave us several designs to choose from, gave us an estimate and met it. They even fluffed up the grass where they had been working. We have some landscape plans but we will wait until spring to do them. The bank at the corner has a hedge of bush roses and we want to do the same

around the walk. We will put a bench on the walk and the roses will give a little privacy.