Lock-down Day 380

So much to do, so little desire ... after the past week's anxiety, the relief now has me a little paralysed.

Half eleven, chores are done. Now for some quality cuddle time with Janey, she's an extremist when it comes to cuddle time! She needs my full attention, while she either sits on my lap, in my arms or walks on my shoulders. She needs that a couple of times when I'm home all day. She sort of stores up those cuddles to take her through the week. On weekdays, she calls me to the play room - away from the others - for some exclusive quality time, but I can't always give her much. Especially as the other mips tend to get excited when I go into their play room ...

Freakin' heck! Blerry Smeagol just tried to rape poor Janey! Caught her atop the carport roof - while I was weeding underneath! I couldn't see, but the noise from the tin roof spoke of terror! I eventually had to get the hosepipe and spray atop the roof to get him off her! Poor girl is quite ruffled - I can't tell, yet, whether she's injured. Physically, I mean. Mewthos is consoling her right now ... 

More drama! I went back outside to carry on weeding when I heard glass break! Mippies broke my ashtray! Not a big deal, since it was a standard, cheap ashtray ... BUT: they toppled my tub of tobacco over! So the tobacco is now mixed with the glass shards ... I had to throw it all away! That was the entire batch I had washed and cut last weekend ... leaving me hardly any tobacco until I can cut more! Sigh ...

Another hour cleaning the carport. Here's a photo of what it looked like a couple of months ago, before they cleared the ground behind the fence.

I had just finished weeding, that's why there are no weeds. But look right in front of the fence

See what I mean? I carried all those cement shapes away, into the outside store room ...
they're the same as were used to build the wall you can see on the left. Flippin' heavy!

And, apart from having finally moved that junk out of the carport, and the weeding I still need to finish, look at the area right up to the fence! See what I mean? It's all cemented! Meaning, I'm going to have to sweep that soil away, as well as finish weeding (when the sun isn't blazing down)!

So, why am I clearing the carport again? Well, I'm thinking of putting the pots there - clear them out of the veranda, put them in the open rather than next to a wall, to discourage all the spiders building webs every day, all day, around my pots!

Plus, I've been thinking about those cherry pits. So far, I've been planting them one by one, and been disappointed that none seem to grow. But look at the Litchi! I've planted over a dozen pits, at least (probably more), and only one single tree is looking strong. Three more are making an attempt, but I'm not holding my breath.

One Litchi tree looking really strong, it's even growing more leaves - already!

Yes, I would like to experiment with freezing (cold stratification) and filing (scarification) - but frankly, I just don't have the time ... yet. There is so much work, just keeping up with nature - as much as I'd like to, I just don't have the time to thoroughly experiment. Hopefully next year!

Okay, I've planted the cherry pits. In a pot. It's a bit crowded ... but so was the Litchi pot!

It also turns out, that - unbeknownst - mippies did me a favour, when they overturned the tub of tobacco! I just rolled a cigarette with what little I managed to save ... and: Urgh! Why? Well, what actually happened is that I accidentally closed the lid ... and left it closed most of last week. So by Friday, there was some mold growing on top. I had removed the top layer and left the rest to dry in the open air ... only ... turns out, the mold on top can be tasted in every shred of tobacco!

I'm already washing a batch of leaves to cut tomorrow, only ... now, I don't think I have enough tobacco left to last till then. I think I'll simply cut some unwashed leaves. It'll be strong - but I think I'll survive!

Janey seems to be okay. Physically. Though she's staying close to me, inside, now. Not going out, as is her wont. I hope by tomorrow her spirits will have recovered as well.

I just went on the veranda. Swept what I could - the spiders (not including Phoebe) are causing absolute havoc! Webs freakin' everywhere! Then I had my usual peek into the various bottles, aka greenhouses ... and guess what? Two Frangipani and one Pelargonium are sprouting! How cool is that, eh?

And now I see that Phoebe has disappeared ... I'm not sure whether I should worry about WHERE she has gone, or just be grateful that she's moved? Although, she may just be hiding - even though I didn't touch a strand of HER web, clearing out all the other webs might have upset her? To be perfectly frank, I don't particularly mind her - though she has been getting bloody big! She's at least twice the size she was, when she first arrived! And I'm not particularly fond of spiders ... so, although I don't mind her - I'm also not exactly happy about sharing my veranda with a bloody big spider!

And now I've just planted a couple of lemon tree seeds! Just squeezed the pips out of a lemon, put the pips into soil - in my home-made greenhouse - watered, and now I wait!

I suppose you think it's funny that I buy so many seeds ... and then grow plants from my left-over dinner? Well, the seeds I do buy, you can't take from store-bought food. Okay, maybe strawberry seeds, blueberry seeds ... okay, so SOME you can indeed get from store-bought food, but MOST of them, you can't! Like lettuce, spinach, chamomile, oregano, etc. There now, mystery solved, right?

Speaking of which, here's a turn-up for the books: you remember how I was proudly going on about having obtained Raspberry seeds? Guess what? There's a friggin' raspberry plant growing next to my compost heap! I kid you not!

Well, not much of a surprise, truth be told, as these grow wild here in this area. I've seen plenty of them along the road. I don't know whether they are edible, though. I'm not planning on taking any chances!

I've seen this a while ago, and thought it might be a raspberry, so I left it ...
sure enough, it IS raspberry! You can see the beginning of my compost heap on the right.

Still green and a long way from ripe, but there it is! Raspberry!
Growing wild in my garden!

I've seen another plant, just like it, growing along the dirt road close to my home. They make lovely flowers, too! Really pretty! Seeing how it is inside a tire, it's quite possible that it was planted, rather than growing wild. I don't know ... 

Well, my chair is again unavailable ... time for bed, methinks ...