Maddie at Gramma's

My mom is watching Maddie for a week. She is the daughter of Fred's son Luke and is having her 2nd Birthday party this upcoming weekend. She is the most precious little thing. Mom bought her a bunch of clothes and she was so patient to try them all on. Here are a few shots from my time with her.

One of two pics for her party dress!

I love this outfit on her!

I brought over my cradle that my Grampa made me when I was little. She loved playing with it. She would hold her baby, feed it and lay it in the cradle.

Clippings from the Garden

Veggie Tales

I got too excited and plucked one of the Sweet n Neat Cherry Red tomato's off before it was time. I have been watching these and waiting for them to turn red and finally some are turning!

These are my heirloom tomatos. They are surpassing the size of the cherry tomatos. I can't wait! This is my first time growing tomato's. But so far, so good.

I have already eaten two of the strawberries from this plant. The first one was so sweet but, once again, I picked the second one before it was really time. I've got two more on the way and a few more growing right behind them.


I must say that I cheated with these. I bought them already established and didn't plant from seed. I am breaking myself in slowly. I am not the most patient person and I think if I grew these from seed I wouldn't have made it. These are good sized plants! But I did throw a few other seeds in the ground of other things and they are growing.

Flowers at work

I cut some of my roses to bring into work with me today.

Makes being here not so bad...

Fruits of my labor

I have a zillion plants that offer me tranquility, but only a few that actually produce edible pleasure. I have mint in the front yard for spur of the moment mojitos. A peach tree in the backyard that we wrestle the birds for a bite. A grape vine we gave over to the birds. A thornless blackberry bush you would think to be a weed, it's so small, but in its first year it produced three blackberries! I got one and the birds got two.

New additions to this garden family are a strawberry and tomato plant. The tomato plant is very dramatic though. I hope this relationship lasts long enough to bear fruit. One day without water and it's wilting and crying like I neglected it for over a week. There is only room for one drama queen in this family. :)

I planted some seeds right in the ground for cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and carrots. Not sure if anything will transpire but I still scour the ground for a sign.

My little pellet garden isn't doing so well. I planted a bunch of flowers in those peat pellet garden sets. Thing is, you shouldn't leave them inside too long because they become too thin and leggy reaching for the real sun. I've since moved it outside but I fear I have lost several that were doing well. The new little sprouts are coming up strong though. I think from now on I'll just plant right in the ground and hold my breath.

My new little seeds I planted before I went on my trip to Florida are coming up nicely. I can't remember exactly where I put them all, but I have six so far that took flight. I was so impressed that I've got six more to plant around the front and back yard.

I picked up another soaker hose for the backyard to hit the newer additions. They hook right up to each other which is nice. In the process of hitting the bottom layer of yard with mulch and need to finish up the border around it. Then add another layer of mulch to the top section of the yard to cover the soaker house and freshen it up a bit.

Almost there...

Orchid Attempt

Okay, I have no idea what I am doing here, but something had to be done. D bought me an Phal orchid last year sometime. Might have even been longer than that. It came already flowering. I left the stem in tact after the flowers died. Time passed and new growth appeared on the stem. I thought it might be another flower stalk, but it wasn't. It was a baby orchid plant. After researching, they call it a keiki, the Hawaiian word for baby. A baby orchid growing on a stem of an adult orchid! How cute is that?

When I was in Florida, we went to a Bloom and Chalk Festival and I began talking to a man at an orchid booth about my little plant. By this time, the adult plant had died. Maybe because all of its energy went to feeding this little plant. Either way, he said that if it had some roots that were a good size it was ready to cut and plant it in its own pot. Keep your fingers crossed....

Here it is, still attached to the stem of the dead flower plant.

A close up. Newly potted in its new home. I used orchid bark and put one of two roots inside the bark. The other one positioned itself out of the bark because of the way its growing. The leaves are a little shriveled, but I'm hoping that it will regain some moisture after sitting on top a bed of rocks with water to increase the humidity. Also, I wet the bark before I put it inside the pot. I think I've done everything I was supposed to do. Now all I can do is sit back and wait and hope it survives.

At least it has its own cheering section while I am at work. :)

New Bird Feeder and Blooms

Just got back from visiting Val in Florida. What an amazing trip! That post will be coming soon. I have so many great pictures but I don't know how to narrow it down so my post isn't a mile long! One of our days were spent at a function run by her friend Kimm in Safety Harbor. It was a Chalk and Bloom Festival. Nestled away in the shops of downtown was a cute little florist store. There was so much to look at but we found this adorable bird feeder. It looks like a blue Gerber daisy with a red center. I just bought the hook and put it out in the yard. It looks like it was made to come home with me and be here. Thank you Val for the gift that will continuously remind me of my trip each time I look at it. I also have a new bloom on one of my rose plants. I can't wait for it to open up entirely!

Positive Plant Life

First bloom this year from my bird of paradise. These are always so fun to look at.

One of the two new hanging baskets on the patio. Filled with trailing white lantana and white petunias.


First bloom of the year for my rose of sharon hibiscus.


My sea foam statice is kicking butt. I didn't know they would do so well and hold up in our heat. Full sun baby! Can't wait to see this in the store again and fill in a few other areas in the yard with them.

Hanging bird feeder by statice. I just cut my lavender plant back for the first time and it is coming back. It is to the right of the feeder. A prolific bloomer.

I'm excited about this one. It's a newbee in the garden. Nandina. And it's lasted from last year and through the summer. Should start to take off now. It's red leaves are a beautiful contrast to the other plants.

This lilac vine has gone nuts. If you're looking for something that can withstand the AZ sun this is surely one of them. It grabs on to anything. Be sure to keep it in check and trim it back. It's a strong vine but very resilient.

I have two of these sedums in my garden. Love them! They grow and flower, die back and the poof! They are growing back again. Seems like twice a year at least.

New addition to fill in the spot where my Lady Banks Rose used to be. It is doing exactly what I wanted by grabbing onto the trellis. It's a white Bower vine.

These little dragon fly lights were a gift and have moved with me. I tacked them up on the inside of the patio to give a nice glow at night. I love them! Since they are on the inside, they aren't beaten down by the sun or weather.

That's my garden at the moment. I took the pictures at night after I finished watering. The weather is so nice right now that I must spend as much time outside tending to the garden before it becomes unbearable. There is so much that had to be cut off from the frost but pretty much all of it is coming back. It's just going to take some time to fill in the gaps. These are the prettiest shots at the moment until it happens.

Spring is in the air

Mom bought me a new wreath for the Spring. Looks wonderful! Now if only my real plants would take note and start to grow back so we can get some color in the yard again. That frost put the whammy on my greenery.

New Family Member

Fowler is the newest addition to the Tanton household. She is a gray cockatiel that loves to be held!! Welcome to the flock Fowler!

Painting again...

Thanks Carol for inspiring me to pick up the brushes again!

Kayaking at Canyon Lake

Carol, Toni and I went kayaking on a beautiful Friday afternoon at Canyon Lake. We put in near a picnic area and paddled to the end of one cove and worked our way around the marina to another and back. (2/25/11). Saw many different birds and Carol's camera captured some amazing shots. Good times with good people.

Bike Riding with Paige

Paige loved running while we rode our bikes.

Parks, AZ

Been a while since I've posted. Lots has happened, but I just have been really busy at work to post things. That's usually when I do it.
I surprised D to an evening at my dad's cabin in Parks, AZ. That is just outside of Flagstaff. We took Paige and our bikes. This was my first time trying out my hitch since D bought it for me for my birthday. Worked like a charm.
I didn't expect to see so much snow on the ground. It got down to 18 degrees at night and a high of maybe 50 during the day. It was perfect weather!
It was a short trip but packed full of fun. I have a video that I took while D and I rode our bikes and Paige ran in between us. Pretty cute.
Until next time....