Around the Garden: What's Up, What's Blooming, Booming...

The star of the garden show, my rhododendron 'PJM', blooming nearly a month earlier than it ever has.


These scilla bloom under the carefully manicured privet hedge. They are only truly visible to my ankles and the rabbit. The privet is just starting to leaf out so there is a bit of a blue glow about the base that is visible, and that's cool.

These are the unopened flower of the prairie smoke, geum triflorum. Each phase of the flowering, bud, flower, and seed pod looks like a "flower" so the triflorum part, I suppose. Although, if I actually pulled one apart, I'd bet I see only three sepals or tepals.

A better look at those pretty blue scilla.

Raddichio in garden, coming up from last year. It seemed to have a very bitter taste last year. I see this morning the rabbits have found it. The flavor must have improved.

Lysimachia 'Gold Coin', has a beautiful gold glow this time of year.

Rhubarb just coming up.

There's a lot going on in the potager. The peas I have planted are up. I got a great stand, good germination rate. I typically plan on 50% -65%, but I would guess it is closer to 100%. This March has certainly been good pea weather, unlike last year.

That means over in the family garden the peas are certainly coming up, too. These are the peas my sister-in-law asked me to please plant for baby Asher, who has stubbornly not made his way into the world.

Other things have been stubborn this March, too. My Internet connection has been driving me nuts. Currently, we are able to make only a tenuous hardline connection to the Internet, in a household filled with wannabee wireless devices. Probably a router, but maybe a cable. More trouble-shooting this time-waster.

The huge limb that broke off and hung up 30' up in my white pine crashed to the ground last night. Just last week, I was calling around to find someone with a cherry picker to come and charge me an arm and a leg to remove it from the tree. Last night's wind did the job for me, saving me $250 to $500, maybe more.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif My calling range was getting increasingly larger, 100 miles. No one had the type of equipment that would have been needed. With our early spring, I was increasingly worrying about finding someone with equipment, AFTER my gorgeous hosta had poke up their eyes and started unfurling their leaves. I had ghastly images in my mind of torn, tattered, and bedraggled hosta just in time for my Handsome Son's graduation party.

And, I heard that another boom rocked Clintonville last night. Out of curiosity, I will check the vertical ground tracking on the Shiocton seismography station. (It does appear there was some heavier vertical plate grinding between 4 and 6 AM.)

My son and I always talk about preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Perhaps, we should now be thinking earthquakes, instead. Possible the earthquake dislodged my stubborn white pine widow-maker?

Tonight, as fate would have it the Emergency Management Direc`tor for the county has a tabletop disaster exercise planned. I get to play myself, village trustee. Invite only, it should be interesting.

Apricot 'Moorpark' in Bloom AND BOOMS!

Last three years my apricot 'Moorpark' has bloomed April 24. It is in bloom, now. Today is March 21.

Hmmm.

Something is up. Or down. Nearby, the town of Clintonville, WI has been experiencing a series of "booming noises" in the night. A seismograph in nearby Shiocton is recording some type of "activity". It even made the news on CNN. Next we'll have bird falling from the skies in the hundreds, all of the same sort. And then an earthquake.

Except that in WI we don't have earthquakes.

I heard the Clintonville townfolks are having a meeting tonight at the school to "discuss". It almost makes me want to hop in the car and check it out. Talk to the townsfolk first hand, like something out of the town meeting in "Dantes' Peak" or "Jaws"... right before the natural disaster ensues.

Hmmm.

Handsome son and I have been theorizing on what the noises might be. We're both voting on pre-earthquake tremors. That will be interesting.

Meanwhile, whichever scientist was talking about the seismic activity actually mentioned it might be connected to a farm. A farm? What sore of farm would that be? And the thing is, the noises have been heard at night, like shortly after 8 Pm, 10 PM, midnight, and 2 PM. Last night after all the ruckus in the news and hundreds of 911 calls, no tremors, until about 5:30 AM this morning

So here's my alternative theory. Sound is caused by waves. I think it is basic physics, something is moving into something else. Something close to the surface of the ground. If you look at the locations of the 911 calls(The city of Clintonville is plotting them.), they seem to be appearing in waves type lines running SW to NE. Notice the big blank area along Main Street? So people do things because A) it makes them money, or B) it's fun.

So a couple local yokels have discovered something profitable. Something they could mine, maybe. Probably something in a cave, most likely not on their property. Now I know their are geologists saying this is an area of granite, and that's true enough. But a little ways to the east are caves of dolomite, or limestone, in Calumet county. Say these locals got hold of some explosives because whatever they have been removing from these hidden caves is getting harder to remove. And some of us are more into relaxing, eating cheese, and drinking beer, and think it would be a good old-time to blow something up rather than dig it out.

I also know the Clintonville City Manager has had a search done of mining permits. Come on, does she really think they filed a permit?

It just seems sort of curious that this is going on at night. After dark. Someone knows whats going on, and it's profitable not to say what it is.

So unless you believe cows belching out methane or those tractors with those phallic spikes out front are dropping 800 pound round bales on the feedlot so hard that the neighbors are calling 911... in Wisconsin, no less; it's either earthquakes, aliens, or mole men.

Take your pick.

I think I vote for the locals strapping flashlights to their cheddar wedge cheese hat looking for gold or diamonds(or whatever they think they have found, before I go with aliens or mole men.


In the garden, the garlic scapes are coming up, as is the salad blend.

I finally seeded my first tray of assorted tomatoes, tomatillos, and sage. I made these wonderful laminated tags a couple weeks ago. Do you think I can find them?