Tag: Gardens Page 2 of 3

The spring rain that’s supposed to turn to snow later on has given me yet another reprieve from producing histamine. Louisville was voted the worst place in the country for allergy sufferers. Seeing how yesterday was 84 degrees and I was working in the garden with Rhonda, tonight is a throwback night to the longer, colder, hay fever-free times that winter provides.
Even Big Dawg is enjoying it. She is resting in her bed. She looks so peaceful compared to yesterday when she was panting, miserable in the heat. She’s a tough old buffer, though. Rhonda gave her a haircut and she is now aerodynamic, sleek, not to mention, cooler, snuggling her snoot in her blankets.
I’ve been busy lately and have neglected the blog for longer than I ever have before. Ironically enough we just celebrated our two-year anniversary here at hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley. Rather than drum up a birthday party bash blog post, we decided that since life often imitates art, we will use whatever life is bringing us for subject matter on our happy anniversary.
Big Dawg is hanging in there but it is definitely a two-person job. Rhonda and I have explained to our friends the challenge that is caring for her. She has her good days and bad, but the constant these days is we can never leave the house for long. That isn’t such a bad thing, either, but we do apologize to our friends for appearing anti-social at times; it’s not you, it’s us…and Big Dawg.
Being home more often than not results in tales like the continuing saga of the bunny wabbit. The wascally wabbit was last seen running up and down alongside one wall of the garden before a territorial squirrel chased its fluffy ass out of the yard. The squirrel was a lot smaller than the wabbit, too. Rhonda remarked that the squirrel deserved a tip. I thought that it would be the first tip of any kind that the squirrel would receive, if it did.
The reason the wabbit was running back and forth alongside the fence was that I believe it couldn’t get in. We had buried fencing under the ground, but not before uprooting an old bush of sorts (my friend John DeCrenza could tell me what variety it was; Rhonda probably did tell me, but it escapes me now as those things often do). I felt pretty good that I haven’t physically deteriorated entirely myself, too, as Rhonda and I transplanted another plant/bush/vegetable thingy in the spot I excavated the other bush.
In the old days I would say something to John (after performing a resounding feat of strength of one kind or another) like, “Hey DeCrenza…Do I still have it or what?” His reply was typically, “Yes, Skelley you do. And I nor anyone else, still don’t want it.”

The other thing at home I find I can’t do enough of is staring at our aqua buffers. These are our four gold-fish who swim in our pond with a built-in waterfall. These little guys (well not so little, actually) are one of nature’s 41 greatest wonders. I’m using the number 41 because I think there are probably 40 other wonders of nature besides the aqua buffers. What I find so extraordinary is they’ve survived two winters in a row.
Rhonda had me go out and poke some holes through the top of the pond when we had a particularly good cold stretch of freezing temperatures. To be truthful, when I was puncturing holes through the ice top with a hammer, I thought there was no way the aqua buffers would survive. I, in fact, thought they were already dead. Rhonda was more confident than I as she said as long as the pond was not completely frozen, they should make it.

Well, lo and behold, after a couple of warm days and much to my pleasure, the aqua buffers recently resurfaced! When it happened last year I was amazed. This year I was nothing short of mesmerized. It’s really nice to enjoy an adult beverage and watch these 41^st wonders of nature dart about like piranhas when you feed them.
Big Dawg even was impressed as while I was taking a picture of the aqua buffers, she decided to check them out, too, and I had to rush to her side to prevent her from jumping in to the pond like she did last summer when we were trying her out on new meds. To be fair, when Big Dawg jumped into the pond last summer, it was a really hot day and I would have jumped in if I were her, too.
All in all we have a lot to be thankful for at home and here at hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley. The blog continues to defy categorization subject matter-wise and we are humbled by the number of hits we receive even when we’ve been a little less than active like lately. It figures it would take a cooler night like this one to get our blog back out and on.

Forty-two is the number that comes after 41. This is the number that the great Jackie Robinson wore for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Spring time is a time when allergy sufferers can be miserable. But it is also the time when baseball starts up again. Check out 42 the movie if you haven’t already. It puts a lot into perspective and hopefully generates some renewed gratitude for Mr. Robinson and his legacy.
Thank you, sir.