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inthecityofgoodabode · 15 hours

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April 2024: Sunday Quest

In this post, I mentioned finding some irises growing wild & receiving a quest from my queen to retrieve seven. This is the tale...

It's always nice when something is where you left it... like my walking stick that I leave at this abandoned building site:

Hairy vetch in the wild:

The woods where the great blue herons roost:

Like any good adventure, there were side quests. The first was to locate an ear bud I had lost in this field the day before. It was not recovered:

But I did get to see a lot of crawfish chimneys:

The second side quest was to venture into the woods to see if I could spot some nesting herons.

Wood ducks. This is as close as they'd let me get:

This was the only great blue heron that I saw in the woods:

I finally got back on track & headed towards where the irises were located with a couple of distractions on the way:

Heading home with a backpack full of irises for my queen. From start to finish, the trek was 6.75 miles:

The well-earned reward - steak & peas with grilled peppers, onions & fruit:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 16 hours

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April 2024: Saturday Wasteland Walk

I spotted these irises growing wild along the drainage ditch bank:

I showed my queen the photos of the irises & asked her if she wanted some. The answer was seven. Fetch quest accepted:

Great blue heron & a hawk in flight:

Those clouds looked really stormy but it was all bluff:

#seen while walking #walking #the wasteland #field #flowers #wild flowers #drainage ditch #ditch #buttercups #clover #red clover #thistle #birds #bird in flight #great blue heron #hawk #clouds #life in memphis

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inthecityofgoodabode · 16 hours

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April 2024: Wednesday In The Garden

My queen gathering roses & fern fronds for a flower arrangement:

Our three & a half foot tall cilantro. Seeds will be saved:

Wednesday night dinner - steak with chimichurri, salad, peas, sweet potato & grilled bell pepper:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 8 days

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April 2024: Flowers & Return Of The Gecko

Blueberries on the make:

Just a shot of the backyard garden:

Closer shot of the newly modified seating area:

Checking the compost bins on Sunday and...

Just a couple of night photos I took of passing train cars while waiting at a level crossing:

#garden #flowers #roses #blueberries #blueberry bush #backyard garden #irises #iris #lizard #gecko #house gecko #compost bin #gardening #train #train car #level crossing #train crossing #life in memphis #night photos

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inthecityofgoodabode · 10 days

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April 2024: Fallout the TV series

So far I'm enjoying the Fallout TV series. That said, I might be a unique audience. I was introduced to the Fallout world in the early days of Fallout & Fallout 2 in the Interplay/Black Isle Studios era and I didn't pick the game up again until Fallout 4.

#fallout #fallout tv series #life in memphis #interplay #black isles studios #fallout 4 #fo4

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inthecityofgoodabode · 10 days

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April 2024: Just a Peony Blossom... is that enough?

#garden #backyard garden #flower #peony blossom #peony #life in memphis

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inthecityofgoodabode · 15 days

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April 2024: Seen On Saturday's Walk

Blueberry blossoms in the Oasis:

#seen while walking #the wasteland #field #flowers #wildflowers #tadpoles #aquatic snail #blueberry blossoms #the oasis #life in memphis

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inthecityofgoodabode · 17 days

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April 2024: The First Week

Someone in the neighborhood was giving away "fill dirt" so we have two garbage cans full of free dirt:

Breakfast burrito - bacon, scrambled eggs, lettuce with homegrown cilantro & chives. The pale purple bits are the diced chive blossoms. You could seriously be a "gourmet" if you started to listen to what your grandmother & grandmothers around the world were desperately trying to teach you:

Lini 910 Lambrusca. This is an amazing food friendly sparkling red wine:

Volunteer cucurbit. We've got at least six of these coming up & we won't know what they are until they form their secondary leaves:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 22 days

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March 2024: About The Backyard & Saturday Dinner

Our onion starts are in the ground:

We transplanted the baptisia because it was being choked by the blue salvia where it was originally. It is looking a little shocky but should pull through:

My grilling assistant in his usual chair:

The sage is looking better after we moved it to a slightly more shaded spot & gave it some fish emulsion:

Saturday dinner - steak, broccoli, sliced tomato & my queen's variation on oven-baked macaroni & cheese using penne pasta:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 22 days

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March 2023: Easter Walk

Seen while walking:

I mentioned before that The City had replaced the old street lights with new LED ones. They are vehicle magnets. This is at least the fifth one I've seen mowed down by a vehicle:

Of course, the driver didn't stop there... :

Or there... :

Sidewalk art by a potential elementary school CSI. The gunshot wound to the chest is a nice touch:

#easter #easter 2024 #seen while walking #lamp post #led lamp #mailboxes #accident #children's art #chalk art #chalk graffiti #life in memphis #chalk outline #sidewalk art

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inthecityofgoodabode · 22 days

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March 2024: Blossoms & Bees

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inthecityofgoodabode · 29 days

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March 2024: Things Expected & Unexpected

Our order of onion starts arrived from Dixondale:

Did a little prep work in the garden this week. That orange layer of leaf litter has been down for a couple of weeks but this week I added some of our compost and some lime (We noticed some moss & algae in the bed last year which can be an indication of the soil being too acid):

Seriously, you can make that rich black compost with just lawn clippings, leaf litter & the vegetable waste from your kitchen:

We visited my mom on Sunday. This is a photo of her she shed after a tree limb fell on it:

Mystery plant... possibly a hellebore but we aren't sure at this point:

In this post, I had a photo of a Fallout perk card with a Billy Strings reference stuck on a gas station ice box. Well, someone slapped another perk card with a Billy Strings reference on the same ice box:

Here is a link to Watch it fall by Billy Strings:

Silverback - an old monk in the shadows:

Sights while grilling:

Sunday dinner:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 1 month

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March 2024: More Spring Stuff & Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Join me human:

As I watch the sun set:

We did some planting & transplanting this week:

Including some store-bought ginger that we're propagating. If all goes according to plan, we should have 5 to 6 ginger plants:

First bee butt of 2024:

My queen is drying dandelion leaves. You're supposed to be able to make a concoction with them that is beneficial in the garden. We'll see. If the results are noticeably beneficial, I'll post a follow up later in the year:

I can't believe the size of the leaves of this cilantro. You can't buy this in the grocery store:

This is the second day after planting these sweet potato slips & they are already perked up & happy:

Our 3 year old Red Russian Kale after harvesting this week:

We went to a local hardware store to see about getting some repairs done to our mini tiller. Turns out the repair department is closed on Sundays so this happened instead:

For Saint Patrick's Day, it was a nice warm Spring day but the temperature starting dropping as we're expecting an overnight low in the mid-30s Fahrenheit. Perfect fire pit weather:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 1 month

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March 2024: More Spring Flowers...Mostly

Friday dinner - fried buffalo fish ribs, homemade hush puppy & fries with homemade coleslaw made from our cabbage & Egyptian walking onion:

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inthecityofgoodabode · 2 months

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March 2024: Melanoma & Approaching Spring

Back in December of 2023, I had a biopsy performed on a dark spot on my nose that had suddenly appeared in November. It turned out to be melanoma. Here is a pic of the healed biopsy scar:

Bandaged up after the Mohs surgery to remove the melanoma. The wound was about the size of a quarter & there were some places where cartilage was visible. I have photos of the raw wound but decided to spare the Internet that grody image... it has enough already:

Post reconstructive plastic surgery bandages. They had to take skin from my shoulder & cartilage from my ear to do the reconstruction. The stitches are out now but it will be weeks before the bandage on my nose can come off permanently:

That's enough about that. Here, have some Spring portents.

Backyard garden:

Not as sharp an image as I'd like but this little guy was putting on a mating dance for a girl was in between those flower pots:

Front yard:

This is what I call our front flower bed's peninsula:

This new planting of daffodils is a bit sparse but it is coming in nicely considering this is their first Spring here. The foliage on the irises looks really good too. We've been moving those irises around the property for years trying to find a spot where they are happy. I think we might have found it: