Lagniappe on President's Day

Lagniappe simply means small gift.

Today's blog will be many small gifts--color coded, too!!

President's Day--this used to be a nice three day weekend separating Winter Christmas Break from Spring Break. Now, it's becoming a dead time. Some places celebrate it, some don't due to Martin Luther King Day in Jan. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Martin Luther King, but I sure wish it wasn't celebrated only two weeks after the kids go back to school!

Seriously warm weather--yesterday, I chopped my roses back. Yes, I know they don't recommend cutting them back until after IRS day (April 16), but we had another warm winter and they were sprouting all over the place. I'm feeling my age, when 2.5 hours worth of work sends me to bed right after The Amazing Race.

And as I was whacking on my roses, I found one dead one--expected--the Rio Samba floribunda was never really happy where I planted it. There are too many trees that have grown up and shade this area. I'll do a little research and find a Floribunda that can handle a little shade.

I also had hubs hatchet a couple of my mini-roses. Yes, hatchet, as in whack their roots in half. Minis are unlike most roses in that they grow on their own root stock and send off shoots. These shoots become new canes. Over time they need to be separated. One--Tropical Twist--had a root knot that was as big as a melon--it had been planted when we put in the pool about 13 years ago. I planted one root in the spot I removed it from and one in a place where I lost a mini in last summer's heat.

Gophers and moles are getting busy again. My roses were 'loose' in the ground. Not all of them, but enough for me to dig around and find their tunnels. I don't like gophers. They eat my rose roots. Traps will be set. Hubs doesn't like moles, because they dig up the yard. Moles eat grubs and not roots, but they definitely 'aerate' the lawn!

First time we cooked on the grill in months. I made one of my favorite 'fall-back' meals--fajitas. I use a seasoning from Pendry's that's wonderful. The family had normal fajitas and I had a salad with fajita meat and a dressing made from salsa with a little bit of Ranch dressing mixed in. Yum!

We tend to spend a lot of time in our yard. While I was cutting roses back, hubs was repairing a bunny-chewed electrical wire for our outdoor lights. This seems to be a yearly occurrence. I guess the bunny likes the low voltage buzz he gets. Together, but not too much togetherness.

That's it for today. It's time to feed the dog and get my walking shoes on. At 7:15 AM, the temperature is a balmy, cloudy and windy 59 degrees F.

Later, Peeps!