Two peacocks (males) and one peahen (female) were back to our yard. When I got closer for better pictures, the peacocks opened their beautiful feather to show off. Wow. Amazing color. Both of them turned around (to face me) and shacked their feathers for 5 to 10 seconds. They strutted around and did not leave the yard for sometime as I suppose they wanted their picture taken.
More: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/peacock
Working on a raised garden bed with hopes to increase the size and amount of the fall / winter garden crop.:
The size of the raised garden bed is 8′ x 6′ x 2′ After outlining the planned bed, we made a first pass at leveling each side. Once we achieved the leveling within acceptable tolerances, pressure treated lumber was placed and screwed down one layer at time. One additional cross member was installed to avoid outward bowing due to the weight of soil and the height. Filling the raised garden with garden soil is labor intensive. We bought 3 cubic yards the vegetable mix. A front loader placed 1.5 cubic yards into the bed of the truck as that was just about all that would fit at one time. After two truckloads of soil, the raised bed was full.
Next came the question on how to water. After running a hose back to the lawn sprinkler system, and then connecting an additional sprinkler head to a hose bib mounted to the side of the raised garden structure we were able to water the garden area as needed. The concept works great as we now can water the garden at the same time the automatic lawn sprinkler system comes on to water our lawn.
Benefits of Raised Garden Beds:
http://www.beingfrugal.net/10-benefits-of-raised-garden-beds/
The Port Saint Lucie Peafowl family came back to visit and snack in our back yard. We are now in the process of coming up with names so that when called they will come a running (wishful thinking) maybe.
Obviously Port Saint Lucie has many ostentations of Peafowls. In fact they are very much protected and they must know it because they will come within one to two feet of a person taking pictures.
Working in the garden becomes extremely busy just prior to the hurricane peak months which are Sept. and Oct. in South Florida.
Harvested our first pineapple. It is smaller than what we purchase at the store because it was grown from the top of one eaten last year. But it is free and organic.
Ceriman is strange plant. It grows between the cabbage palm trees with roots from the leaves clinging on to the bark. The leaves are large and leathery. Very pretty. It finally decided to bear fruit, edible fruit. Can’t wait to taste it.
More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstera_deliciosa
Bird paradise plant is new to us. We always try to grow new plants. Sometimes they grow and sometimes we end up drowning them because of lack of understanding. This plant was given to us by a friend and needed some tender loving care. Now it seems happy and flowering.
After we cut a pineapple, we saved the top. Then, if we do not place in soil right away, we soak the crown in water until we have that opportunity. The results of planting the crown, provides us with a future benefit of a second pineapple. As we watch this planting mature it looks like it may be producing still a couple of additional pieces of fruit further down.
This is the second wood job for 2015. The first was to add another 10′ shelf in the shed. The shelf was placed above the first one installed back some years ago. Now this table is designed to mount a router setup. The existing setup was not level or sturdy enough, plus it was too high for routing a long pieces of wood. The design for this was low cost so the legs were cut from a single 2″x4″x8′ costing all of $2.50 the side pieces out of a piece of pine, and then the top is 3/4″ oak ply wood with shoe molding around the side. The stain was applied just to seal the wood. Casters were added so it will be easily move around the garage. Finally a power strip was mounted to the side so that the router could be plugged into it + a sander. The outlet basically eliminates unplugging the router when the sander needs to be used.
The Budweiser Clydesdale Horses are now touring Port Saint Lucie. We decided we needed some pictures to remember their visit. The Dalmatian showed up at the last minute to take his rightful place atop of the wagon. The Dalmatian decided not to walk with Clydesdales like “Lost Dog” at Super Bowl 2015 . He was happy to sit on the wagon next to the driver to watch the onlookers and picture takers. The Clydesdale horses and Dalmatian truly represent history and great beer.
This so far has been a mild winter and much better than last couple of winters because we have had mainly more rain and warmer weather. Our vegetable garden is getting full with broccoli and collard greens, strawberries, and peppers. We very much enjoy organic collard green with vegetable juice. Tomato plants are better than ever as they continue to produce. We enjoy the fresh tomatoes everyday in salad or vegetable dish. The Acorn squash is the first squash we have had after so many attempts to grow.
We ended up making a drawer first before the table because we had the wood. Making the wooden drawer is not difficult as long as one has enough clamps, a good wooden ruler, and a blade to cut the slots in each side along with the slots in the front and back piece to support the bottom. Now all that had to be done is make a table to house the drawer and of course a facing to place on the front of what is shown in the picture to give it the finish look.
When the table was made and drawer was installed, we stained everything. Then the final step was applying polyurethane for a perfect finish.
One of our cabbage palm trees died. Cutting down a big tree without a chainsaw is a challenge. Well, letting the tree fall in the direction you want without injury yourself is another challenge. We used a Come-along to help dictate the direction after a wedge was chopped into the side of the tree with an ax. The wedge helps ensure the tree falls on that side. Because the chain saw is in for repair, a hand tree limb saw was used along with an electric sawzall. The tree fell in the direction as planned then all there was left is the cleanup. As soon as the chain saw is repaired, the tree itself will be cut up so as to be able to move.