Joe Pye Weed Arrives - My Rainwater Methods

Today the Joe Pye Weed arrived, 10 plants carefully wrapped and each one positioned in a box to arrive whole, looking great.

Growers Exchange is the only place where I buy herbs.

I had to chase a bunny out of the back garden, where I planted six of them. While I was gathering up tools and trash, he hopped back, doubtless curious about what was new on his menu. I chased him away, yelling, "Not your garden. Get out." He hopped a few steps and waited. I pursued him until he was in the front yard.

Rain Water - Always for Planting

My mother's secret recipe was either 1) rainwater, or 2) stored water to let the chlorine evaporate out. Her school room flowers bloomed while others drooped. The teachers asked her secret; she smiled.

When plants arrive, I soak them for hours if possible. We have an all-night rain coming, so I gave them a few minutes of rainwater, then a soaking at the end.

Roses get several days of soaking, the bottom half only.

Plants can be immersed before digging them in, but not overnight. The more fragile ones, like Bee Balm, will start to die from too much water.

Rain water lacks chlorine and has usable nitrogen for the plants. During a storm, tons of nitrogen come down and green up everything, as noted in Isaiah 55:8ff.

I have rain-barrels and buckets all over the back, where the roof collects and dumps the water. I usually have a supply, and if not, I fill a garbage pail with Springdale water to let the chlorine evaporate out.

Yes, I dump water out from the barrels to avoid mosquitoes multiplying.

Rainwater for Doting on Flowers

One member (name withheld) kids me about dumping rainwater from the barrels, filling in the sentence for me - "because rain is coming."

I pick flowers to dote on so they grow even better. I did that with the slow-growing Crepe Myrtle, which now reaches up to the kitchen sink window. The plant grew faster and flowered better than its "drought tolerant" identical brothers in the front yard.

A day or two after a rain, I will pour a bucket on the kitchen window Crepe Mytle, for continued growth and flowering. I saw damage that could only have been caused by a Fluffy-Tailed Food Thief, aka a young squirrel. Looking closer, tender new branches were torn off on one side.

Over-watering can be bad from the garden hose, but it seems fairly difficult to over-water with stored rainwater. Last year was such an extended deluge that I saw lack of growth (little sun) but no death from extensive rain storms followed by more of the same. I did not use rainwater supplements.

I was happy to get the garbage barrels out of the flooded backyard, several times rolling the barrels through the house to avoid sinking into the mire, with muddy groan, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.

My Life Was Foreshadowed in Moby Dick - The Spouter Inn

Fishiest of all fishy places was the Try Pots, which well deserved its name; for the pots there were always boiling chowders. Chowder for breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes. The area before the house was paved with clam-shells. Mrs. Hussey wore a polished necklace of codfish vertebra; and Hosea Hussey had his account books bound in superior old shark-skin. There was a fishy flavor to the milk, too, which I could not at all account for, till one morning happening to take a stroll along the beach among some fishermen’s boats, I saw Hosea’s brindled cow feeding on fish remnants, and marching along the sand with each foot in a cod’s decapitated head, looking very slip-shod, I assure ye.

Chapter 15, The Spouter Inn, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, or, The Whale.


I am reliving chapter 15, only in books, no, in media. Books are all over the house and in the car, as well as the hard drive of my computer, where even more are kept as PDFs. Graphics are in the books, the book covers, the hymns, and Facebook. The Audio Gutenberg is more than readings, but a small book in audio now.

I am not talking primarily about my books but the publications of our Lutheran Spindletop, Alec Satin. Many of them go beyond answering dreams. They are treasures that few had - or even know about before. These books, largely unknown, are found two places:

• As PDFs, easy to search and find -  The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry.
• As low-cost print books on Amazon here - Alec Satin Author's Page.

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Norma Boeckler has her own books, books she has helped to publish, and graphics for the hymn blog and Facebook.

Norma Boeckler's artwork is here - https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/norma-boeckler

Her books on Amazon are here - https://www.amazon.com/Norma-Boeckler/e/B00J8AN4LA

Just think of how little we could do if we had millions of dollars in the bank!

The Hummingbird Made a House-Call - He Did Not Even Wear a Mask

Ranger Bob, in his role as Porch Director of Gardening, told me, "You need to get the hummingbird feeders cleaned and filled."

"I have the food, Bob."

"I'll be over to clean them."

"I haven't seen a bird yet. I am sure they will let me know."

Yesterday, I had the garage door open. As I walked into the garage, a hummingbird dive-bombed me from behind. I turned around to look. He came back to the empty feeder close to the driveway and mimed sipping from the empty feeding point.

"OK. I will clean and fill them."

Hummingbirds are known for this behavior, sometimes hovering in clear view to remind the gardener where the food had been last summer.

I took five feeders in, two-by-two, cleaning and assembling them in the kitchen sink. I like the little plastic ones. Bob supplied the garden hook to hang three of them. Several hooks are on the porch for additional feeding.

I filled them outside, using prepared food from Pennington. I had to buy more because I poured myself a glass of it during the winter dryness, thinking it was sugar-free cranberry juice. Instead, it was a watered down cherry flavor. The jars are  a matching red and the same size, stored in the fridge door.

Last year we had a constant show of hummingbird feeding and guarding of the feeder. Every visitor enjoys the show, which costs a little to start and maintain.

The Creator might have gotten by without the hummingbird. Many insects pollinate, and most birds are entertaining in their antics, the tinier the better. Chickadees hold a sunflower seed in its claws and does toe touches to open each seed up with its beak. Cardinals have such powerful beaks that they chew the seeds open and expel the husk. Cardinals do this with a droll look on their faces, proud of their power.

PFC said his parents' home had 20 hummingbirds feeding at once, thanks to a long tradition of feeding them.

I washed the last feeder, filled it outside, and replaced it outside the kitchen window. That feeder is not visited often, but the location is strategic. First of all, the birds are territorial, so it opens up another place for birds. Secondly, the Crepe Myrtle is just behind and below the feeder, a good place for tiny birds to rest between sips or to line up for the next treat.

I thought of hummingbird feeders as trouble, mess, and cost, but that was all exaggerated in my mind. They use up little time, create no mess, and cost very little all season.


Feeding with seeds is messier and costlier, but the seeds attract many species.. I use black oil sunflower seeds twice a day. The fluffy-tailed Thief Bird often shows up, but they all share the bounty.

 The Fluffy-Tailed Thief Bird figured the swing and the feeders were for him.