Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to tell you all about my scary day. You may remember me from such posts as “A Super Scary Day”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
This is my Upstairs Fort. There was thunder. Very scary thunder.
It’s been really dry here again, and the guy I live with said he felt unsettled. I mean more than usual. He’s been feeling mildy unsettled ever since his wife died, and the anniversary is coming pretty soon, and he feels that, because of the time of year, but it was also because spring isn’t supposed to be a dry time of year for us.
But still, a lot of work has been done in the garden. Mostly clearing away the Employee’s Only section of the garden, so it will be nice to walk back there. It’s a pretty big area that the guy I live with said could maybe have some bulbs planted in it. Like cyclamen, or something.
Last night there was terrific lightning way out in northeastern Colorado.
This picture also shows the neighbor’s hideous tree. The person who pruned it had no idea what they were doing.
It was a very dry day here yesterday. You can see how dry the canal road looks. There were all these birds hopping around on the canal road.
I bravely scared them away.
You can also see the new gate, made from recycled wood, that was put in the fence by the apartments to the north of us. The guy who built it did a really nice job, according to the guy I live with, who stopped and talked to him while he was building it.
The guy I live with took some pictures of cactus.
This is Pediocactus simpsonii. It often flowers in late March here, but not this year. The flowers are scented of “old roses”.
And here’s a cactus with a really long name, Echinocereus triglochidiatus. This was supposed to be the spineless form but as you can see there are little spines. The guy I live with grew this from seed about twenty-five years ago, and it has a lot of buds.
A few days ago he got a shipment of plants in the mail. They’re in this temporary cage so as not to be knocked over by anyone chasing squirrels. I’m not sure who was being referred to, here.
He said he’d already spent too much money on plants. He told his friend he didn’t need to go to the Mother’s Day sale at the botanic gardens, which made him feel kind of “off”, because he’s always liked going there, but she said she didn’t need to go either, so that was that, and they both felt relieved.
And anyway, he bought three zauschnerias at the rock garden sale, forgetting that he’d ordered two already. They’re in those gallon pots, getting the “super genius” treatment, so the roots will leave the root ball before they’re planted.
So that was the last few days, give or take.
Today we were supposed to have rain, and maybe a thunderstorm.
Instead, we got a tornado warning. The weather forecast said that radar had shown rotation. The guy I live with could see this weather headed straight for us.
I went into my Upstairs Fort.
It started to rain.
After about an hour of tornado warnings, the storms veered off to the northeast. We do occasionally get weather from the south, and when we do, it can be really bad, but tornadoes are not very common in our part of the world. And especially not like the really big ones you see on the news sometimes. But it was still scary.
The guy I live with has seen a tornado here, and said it was very scary.
Then the rain stopped, and we went on our walk. It started to rain again, a little. You can see the drops in the canal, and some petals floating by.
That’s all I have for today. It’s still raining here.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Have I been neglecting your posts, or have you been away for a while?
We haven’t made a post for a while because there’s been all this gardening going on. Cleaning up stuff, really.
It’s still raining, here. It’s been raining for hours.
Of course. It is spring after all.
It is. And it’s still raining this morning.
You have a busy life with all the responsibilities on your shoulders – squirrels, birds etc etc
I do, though today I’m staying inside, unless we go for walks. It’s raining, It rained all night. It’s supposed to rain all day, and maybe rain for the next week.
The guy I live with says this is normal for this time of year, and for June, too.
Hey Mani, please ask your owner to post his “genius” about getting the roots out of the root ball. Sad about the thunderstorms forecast for today, glad you have such nice forts . Have a great day.
Linda Meyer
Well, basically, you just repot the rootbound plant into a larger container, and fill the empty spaces with a gritty mixture (“paving sand” works really well, but “play sand” is too fine and won’t work; he’s using the soil-less mix from all the troughs he gave to DBG, mostly sand, scoria, and perlite, with a tiny bit of really old peat moss), then water for a few weeks until the roots have left the rootball, and then the plant can be planted.
Thanks Mani, very helpful info
You’re welcome.
Mani it seemss when it rainss; it pourss there!
Wee sorry THE Funder scared you….mee does not liek Funder eether……**shudderss**
Yore Cacti are lovelee. Guy allwayss does a grate job with his plantss
BellaSita Mum has been inn an E-Eff-3 Tornado back inn 70’ss….shee meowed it was terryfyin an xhilaratin at same time. <ee take a pass on THAT xperienc!! 😉
Enjoy yore wet an Funder-lss walkiess!
***purrss*** BellaDharma an **wavess** BellaSita Mum
Thanks. Thunder is scary, but tornadoes sound scarier.
It’s been raining here all day. When we went to bed it was raining, and when we woke up it was raining.
From what BellaSita Mum meowed to mee Tornadoess come an go quiklee butt they can bee deddly!!
UGH it soundss liek youss’ have too much rain there now Mani!
Feest or Famine rite?
**nose bopss** BellaDharma
Far too many so called arborists are actually butchers. Sigh. But he left you with a great photographic opportunity, even if creepy. Stay safe (and dry). We’re drawing plans to build an ark. Who’d have thoughts we’d receive more than 24 hours of continuous gentle rain? Not us!
The guy I live with said that tree wasn’t “trimmed” by a professional.
It’s still raining here. The guy I live with said it used to rain like this back in the last century. It would rain for days. He would work a lot of overtime, in the rain, when he worked in telephone repair.