A story "The Squirrels"

 The Squirrels

Grandma liked to feed the birds in the winter.  She had a special bird feeder with a spring-loaded perch that closed the opening to the seeds if a squirrel stepped on it.  Grandma had a long-standing war going on with the squirrels.

"Ha!"  Grandma would exclaim triumphantly when a squirrel slid down the cylindrical bird feeder and fell to the ground.

One afternoon, I decided on impulse to visit Grandma.  There she was standing in her snowy yard tossing peanuts around.  Squirrels dashed and skittered to retrieve them.

"Squirrellies, peanuts,"  Grandma called gaily.

I guess everyone has secrets.

Dried Arrangements, thoughts on growing potatoes and geraniums

 I found that peony flowers dry quite nicely and I made this arrangement using them as the main feature.  Also in this arrangement is some purple statice, white astrantia, red yarrow, grape hyacinth stems with seed pods, coral bells spent flower stems.

I have been growing some potatoes in reusable grocery bags (woven fabric ones) and having pretty good success. I really like just being able to dump the bag and find the potatoes without digging. I was thinking that next year I will place some of the bags on top of the big plastic containers I use for growing.  That way, the roots of the potato plants can go down into the soil of the container but all the potatoes will be in the bag. I could also place the bag right on the ground of a garden area.

This patch of geraniums is actually 3 plants each in a 8" pot.  I started them as cuttings in the spring - 4" cuttings dipped in rooting hormone and placed in soil.  I pinched out any flower buds until the middle of July forcing the plant to put more energy into leaves.  Now I have a lovely display of flowers blooming all at once. I will bring one of them inside before winter and repeat the process next year.