First, you should know that I sit here in awe and fascination of what is happening in our great out of doors. God has seen fit to bless the Houston area with a tiny fall preview which includes highs in the upper 80's and humidity levels in the 60's.
Now look, you northern/cool weather/cynical folk, don't laugh. This kind of stuff gets us EXCITED around here. And even though we know it's likely to shoot back up between VERY HOT and NOW I WILL SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST in the next day or two we are practically giddy with the current niceness of it all.
I was determined on Saturday to be outside when the "cold front" blew in so I strategically stationed myself pulling weeds from between the flagstone in the courtyard. And I am here to tell you that there was A HEALTHY CROP. Now for those of you who have never had to do this, let me tell you a secret.
I use a pickle fork.
YOU DO TOO?
No, I'm serious. It's just tiny enough to reach down between the cracks, grab the roots of that offending weed and yank 'er up. And besides, I have a confession to make. Around my house, we
We are practically barbarians.
Don't get me started on the little tiny olive tongs.
So anyway, the cold front didn't really come in with a roar, so to speak. I had to stay very alert and try to sniff out any change in temperature/wind direction while I was weeding. I guess at least I didn't suffer a heat stroke or sustain any kind of skin-frying burn during the process, so PULL OUT THE BOOTS AND SWEATERS, IT'S WINTER!
Now.
A moment of silence please.
My beloved lemon tree is sick. SICK, SICK, SICK.
I'll get choked up if I talk about it too much, but my friends, the COTTONY CUSHION SCALE has attacked my little citrus buddy.
Please avert your eyes if you don't want to look upon evil.
These things are all over it. Everywhere. Thousands and thousands of them. After researching for help, I have personally (with my own two hands) removed and smushed enough of them to occupy their own planet and then sprayed the whole thing with something designated for scale.
But to no avail.
NO, the creepy little things seem to simply delight in the spray as it conversely works as a cottony cushion scale GROWTH HORMONE, pushing their size and population to the limits of human imagination.
Please just throw us in right there at the end of your prayer list.
(And come to think of it, that's one list I don't mind being at the end of)
Amen?
It was so good to talk to you this morning. Let's have a great week, shall we?
Lu
4 comments:
This is a good news, bad news post, good for weather, bad for your lemon tree. :-( By the way, excuse my weeding/fork etiquette ignorance, but is a pickle fork one of those tiny little ones with three tines?
This must be like trying to smoosh aphids! I have the coolest tool for digging weeds in tight spots, it's old as the hills, but they still make them. When I'm feeling better and can get outside due to my allergies, I'll take a picture of it for you. As always, love this blog!
Yes, that is my understanding, Bev. Although you might want to check with an outside source in utensils as I am quite obviously not an expert! :)
Gayla, we have a large two-pronged straight and flat weed fork that looks kind of like a barbecue/grill utensil (but completely flat) Is that kind of like yours? The one we have is just too long for my liking...
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