Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to bring you the latest news. You may remember me from such posts as “Some Adventures”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. I’m watching for bees.
You might have to look closely to see me. Or maybe not.
The guy I live with says bees are good, and I agree. They’re pretty tasty. He keeps saying not to eat them, but I can’t resist.
Yesterday, the new sprinkler came in the mail.
As you can see, it works. It isn’t as fancily-made as the sixty-year-old Rainbird sprinkler we have, which still works, but this tripod-mounted sprinkler seems to be just the thing for getting over taller plants.
A few days ago the guy I live with looked at this bare area and thought it should have some plants in it.
That self-sown Mahonia repens will have to go. There are already enough of them here.
The guy I live with said that thymes would be an excellent choice, so he ordered some from Mountain Valley Growers in California.
Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, showed pictures of the amazing way the plants are packed, but I’m going to show this again.
It’s really hot today, with fourteen percent humidity, so the plants had to be treated to the “super genius” method right away. They were repotted into larger pots and watered.
If these had been left in their little pots, or planted directly into the garden, they would have been dead within days.
The plants, with new soil around the root balls, will sit on the shelf for a week or so, well watered, until the roots leave the root ball, and then they can be safely planted.
I should emphasize that I take no responsiblity at all for the title of today’s post.
There are fifteen potted thymes on the shelf, and they’re ones that don’t need a whole lot of water. Sometimes, some thymes do (sorry), but these don’t.
The ones in the middle are Thymus odoratissimus (T. glabrescens), which is one of the best for our garden.
The only other thing I have to talk about is what’s here now that wasn’t here this morning.
The guy I live with went to see his friend today, and they stopped off at a nursery near her house where they sell “local” produce. By “local” I mean from the same state.
This is a cantaloupe from Rocky Ford, which is two hundred miles away from here, to the south. The guy I live with isn’t a melon chauvinist or anything, but Rocky Ford cantaloupes are the best. I’ve had cantaloupe. Purebred border collies love cantaloupe.
He also got two of these things, which are called “wallermello” or something like that. He gave one to his neighbor, the neighbor who lost his wife recently.
So that’s my news for the day.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me lying under the table, catching the cool breeze from the swamp cooler.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
You seem to have a lot of thyme on your hands. Do you have hands, or paws?
Paws.
Hmm, that sprinkler seems to be set at the right height to encourage a feeding squirrel to move elsewhere. We finally had an inch of rain on Thursday after 4 months without any precipitation at all. Too late for most of what I planted this year, which has all been blasted to a crisp. Time to rethink my planting strategy and either only plant in the Fall or late Winter.
The guy I live with claims to have learned his lesson about planting in summer, which is why there are all these plants sitting in pots, waiting for later.
The sprinkler is really excellent. Not all that heavy-duty, maybe, but it works as advertised. It was $40.
Rained here a bit, just now.
Sounds like it’s still ‘thyme’ to stay inside and cool and to leave the bees be. We grow lots of thyme-woolly, red and some kind I started from seed during the Covid lockdown (which is not what the packet said it was)- here along our driveway which used to be part of an old road. Almost no soil just gravel and old chunks of blacktop and just what Mother Nature provides. This year it’s one of my favourite spots in the garden. An excellent choice for the bees and for you to lie on. A very kind gesture to your neighbour.
The guy I live with’s friend made a watermelon salad and gave it to our neighbor, and later he raved over it.
There are a lot of thymes here but some didn’t like the last winter we had.
One time he grew a thyme from seeds collected in Turkey and it had pale blue flowers. Really. Then he decided to transplant it and it died. Of course.
Lookss like with TIME yore THYME will grow an thrive Mani an Guy!!! Mew mew mew….
THE new Sprinkler iss purrty kewl an reechin taller plantss soundss guud!
An it iss *hot* an hue-mid heer now like it shuuda been last month…our weatehr iss as cray-cray as yoress.
THE Cantylope an WaterMellow look pawsum an reefreshinn!! Guy yore so thorrfull to think of nayburr….
Mani yore Selfie iss purrfection; just like you!
Happy Laburr Day tomorrow 🙂
***purrss*** BellaDharma an 🙂 BellaSita Mum
Thanks. I’ve had a little bit of a difficult time lately, with the antibiotic which tastes icky, but the guy I live with got me a wedge of Fromager d’affinois and one of Délice de Bourgogne, which I know sounds terribly spoiled, but these cheeses make it a lot easier to swallow these pretty big pills. The guy I live with looked at my paw and finally saw what my doctor saw (he was looking in the wrong place).
The guy I live with’s neighbor claims he’s doing fine, but the guy I live with knows what this is like, and doesn’t actually believe the “doing fine” bit.
It rained here just now.
MMMMMM those Cheezess sound pawtastick Mani!!! Mee likess mee Gouda Cheeze 😉
BellaSita beein widowed twice leerned how yo say she was doin “Just fine…” An it was a big fat lie. So wee happy Guy iss watchin out fore THE other Guy!
Youss’ had rain? Wee have had cloudss since Noon an a sprinkle of rain…. an our treess are all reddy changin color!!!!! EEKKKK!
We did have rain.
Yes, the guy I live with knows “doing fine” is just a front.
The cheeses are soft like Brie, but butterier. I probably couldn’t have them every day unless I ran ten miles every day, too.
Same heer with Cheezess an xercisin Mani!
An wee new Guy cuud see thru THE :Just Fine” guise!
Yes, the guy I live with says it’s easy to see through that facade.
BellaSita Mum AGREESS with Guy about THE facade two 😉
Yep. The guy I live with says you begin to see yourself through the other person, and when that other person is gone, it’s like half of you is gone.
So a gift of a watermelon was the least the guy I live with could do.
Yore Guy iss furry wise!
Peepell furget Bellasita iss all alone with just mee. Alot of them have Husbandss an due not know what it feelss like.
Shee told mee shee adjusted; butt she had to. Shee allso said shee still missess Misturss’ Paul (d.1996) & Kevin (2003) so furry much……
Guy yore a furry kind man….
Dear Manni…the man you live with is right. There are no better cantaloupes than Rocky Fords. We wait all summer for them to arrive. Along with the Palisade peaches. They’re about the only two things we like about summer. 😉
The guy I live with said the cantaloupes at Young’s on 44th were pretty picked over, but maybe they’ll have some more. They have peaches and chilies and all sorts of local produce.
And it’s a nursery too.
He was going to drive way out to Nick’s, which is a very nice place, because they also have roasted chilies, but it’s a pretty long drive alone.
We like Young’s and it’s not all that far from the house. There’s a Farmer’s Market on Sundays in Highlands Square, but it gets too crazy with people, strollers, dogs, etc. There are a few other greenhouses in the Wheat Ridge area that we’ll have to check out. Safeway told me Palisade peaches were too expensive for them to offer but they’ve been plentiful even if pricey. But they are soooo worth it.
The guy I live with went with his friend to Fuzzy’s Tacos last week (she lives up there), and she said there was a farmer’s market in “old town” Arvada, but that it was always really crowded. The guy I live with likes crowds, but with crowds there’s always the issue of finding a place to park.
He says Young’s may have Palisade peaches.
But now he’s obsessed with cantaloupe. The two he got were really, really good and he needs to look for more. People are certainly right when they say to smell the stem end of the melon.
I’ve been to that one in Old Arvada and parking is in a word…nightmare. And the traffic is very congested. Just so you know. The produce offerings were limited when I went last year, I’ve not been back. There was only one vendor that had produce. More other offerings but not nearly the selection of produce I expect at a Farmer’s Market.
The guy I live with said it doesn’t sound like much fun. He really only wants a couple of cantaloupes and lots more fire-roasted chilies, to freeze.
The guy I live with’s friend doesn’t mind walking a few blocks after parking, but he hurt his heel, planter something, and it’s harder for him to walk than it usually is.
“But now he’s obsessed with cantaloupe.”
Ever try cantaloupe gazpacho?
No, he hasn’t.