Last time I have seen a substantial rain was in February. .....
Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta
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Last time I have seen a substantial rain was in February. .....
Last time I saw substantial rain was last night (and yesterday afternoon, and yesterday morning . . .
*splat*). August is "monsoon season" around here; we get seabreeze fronts bringing moisture in from the ocean. There have been times in years past when the rest of the state was dealing with drought conditions, and we felt like we were living under a fire hose. The "Muggy Meter" is stuck on "oppressive;" the air is so thick, you aren't sure if you should try to breathe that stuff or drink it. The mosquito situation isn't too bad at the moment, but there are times when they approach plague proportions.
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What a lovely garden as always Benny. What a wonderful piece of paradise for yourself to share with others. Thank you!
Such bounty and one day, some day, click some photos of the pomegranate in flower (past that time now!) and post them for us. The fruit is bright red and so is the flower I believe. What a joy through the season...each phase so enjoyable. Did I already say thank you?
Come to think of it, never tried Averrhoa carambola, descriptions compare its texture to grapes and taste like a combination of pear, apple, grape, citrus. Best eaten fresh...I will have to keep an eye out to see if we ever have these in the grocery. It may not travel well and that would explain why they have not shown up way over here enough for me to notice them.
So many trees that are both beautiful and practical at giving you fruit. Double the fun!
Planted every year in memory of my FIL who loved
Moss Roses (Portulaca - Portulacaceae)
Interesting some of us here are getting drowned in August. Traditionally it is a drier month for us...June is our monsoon month and it can very much drown us. Gloomy and wet, we do not however get that humidity. So the heat is never over too much nor the cold. Why one can withstand forty below when there is no moisture in the air...a dry cold or a dry heat is much more tolerable than with humidity. That bites you to the very bones! I laugh because when you clean up, the towel is kind an after thought because by the time you head to get dressed, your skin has no wet on it anyway...towelled or not. Explains why both Rick and Alexander usually get a buzz short hair cut for summer. I keep my hair long & that needs the towel or I drip water everywhere! LOL
This rain burst we got yesterday was enough to fill a 45 gallon drum off one of the one building's roof, so I use that to measure how good a soaking we got and it was decent. Could still use more because if you scraped down, only about an inch is still damp. It is August and it feels like the grass got a drink and is literally growing when you walk on it.
I pulled the dog beds from under the two tables in the Man Porch there and the Girls and I watched the dampness unfold from out the windows.
Enough rain, be praised, that Rick went off to check the roads he works on and ther are too muddy. YAH... He gets a day off (sorta kinda part of one anyway!).
In town paying some bills, do those ever stop showing up...HUH!?? And back home...I hope he has a huge needed nappy while the Girls and I wander about outside keeping the house quiet and slumberish. LOL
Somewhere inside that shell that is left, is the Rick...somewhere but if we poke at it and be too joyous "He's HOME!" <attack for hugs!!> is how the Girls greet him...
Like the Flintstones when Dino rushes Fred... we'll find out in a hurry what survival mode means!
Emmy says, "That red B-Dog...she's gotten to him while he is sitting down!"
Lacy is off camera smothering Rick with her entire self. Emmy needed a drink after dog run runs and has noted Lacy had monopolized Rick in her absence...man receiving a dog hold/huggy me attack. Lacy the red love bug is bugging!
I have left one bank of green outside the fence and won't net it off to feed sheep today or yesterday...but it is banked. I have to string out both elenet rolls and it can be tedious if I have a busy day putting away both. Was like a marathon and I was not done till 11 pm on the twelfth. Out stomping about in the impending dark! This is why when the days shorten, you won't hear me complaining I can't stay out that long any more. Oh darn it! Winter comes soon and a different kind of work (or just plain silliness) unfolds...
The impending rains were a threat and I am glad I thought better of putting the sheep outside the place.
Aug 12 2017 Sheep out clearing the ditch
Girls intently watching the girls...
Ewe lambs making themselves useful
The heavens erupted and we got the rains...sure enough, rain and in Alberta, why have a soft gentle rain when you can dump an entire day's worth in under an hour...make a statement ...savage and over the top. Severe...never sweet, gentle, pleasant...in yer face over the top or not do it at all. Agh....
This watering can rain chain kinda says it all!
Glug glug glug!
All moisture gets used up fast by the plants in August, use it or lose it and it's evaporated up pretty quickly.
I think it is Monday today...yup, it is...off I go then...brain is sorta still OK as I can still fathom what day of the week is...sorta??
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
What a lovely garden as always Benny. What a wonderful piece of paradise for yourself to share with others. Thank you!
Such bounty and one day, some day, click some photos of the pomegranate in flower (past that time now!) and post them for us. The fruit is bright red and so is the flower I believe. What a joy through the season...each phase so enjoyable. Did I already say thank you?
Come to think of it, never tried Averrhoa carambola, descriptions compare its texture to grapes and taste like a combination of pear, apple, grape, citrus. Best eaten fresh...I will have to keep an eye out to see if we ever have these in the grocery. It may not travel well and that would explain why they have not shown up way over here enough for me to notice them.
So many trees that are both beautiful and practical at giving you fruit. Double the fun!
Planted every year in memory of my FIL who loved
Moss Roses (Portulaca - Portulacaceae)
Interesting some of us here are getting drowned in August. Traditionally it is a drier month for us...June is our monsoon month and it can very much drown us. Gloomy and wet, we do not however get that humidity. So the heat is never over too much nor the cold. Why one can withstand forty below when there is no moisture in the air...a dry cold or a dry heat is much more tolerable than with humidity. That bites you to the very bones! I laugh because when you clean up, the towel is kind an after thought because by the time you head to get dressed, your skin has no wet on it anyway...towelled or not. Explains why both Rick and Alexander usually get a buzz short hair cut for summer. I keep my hair long & that needs the towel or I drip water everywhere! LOL
This rain burst we got yesterday was enough to fill a 45 gallon drum off one of the one building's roof, so I use that to measure how good a soaking we got and it was decent. Could still use more because if you scraped down, only about an inch is still damp. It is August and it feels like the grass got a drink and is literally growing when you walk on it.
Enough rain, be praised, that Rick went off to check the roads he works on and ther are too muddy. YAH... He gets a day off (sorta kinda part of one anyway!).
In town paying some bills, do those ever stop showing up...HUH!?? And back home...I hope he has a huge needed nappy while the Girls and I wander about outside keeping the house quiet and slumberish. LOL
Somewhere inside that shell that is left, is the Rick...somewhere but if we poke at it and be too joyous "He's HOME!" <attack for hugs!!> is how the Girls greet him...
Like the Flintstones when Dino rushes Fred... we'll find out in a hurry what survival mode means!
Emmy says, "That red B-Dog...she's gotten to him while he is sitting down!"
Lacy is off camera smothering Rick with her entire self. Emmy needed a drink after dog run runs and has noted Lacy had monopolized Rick in her absence...man receiving a dog hold/huggy me attack. Lacy the red love bug is bugging!
I have left one bank of green outside the fence and won't net it off to feed sheep today or yesterday...but it is banked. I have to string out both elenet rolls and it can be tedious if I have a busy day putting away both. Was like a marathon and I was not done till 11 pm on the twelfth. Out stomping about in the impending dark! This is why when the days shorten, you won't hear me complaining I can't stay out that long any more. Oh darn it! Winter comes soon and a different kind of work (or just plain silliness) unfolds...
The impending rains were a threat and I am glad I thought better of putting the sheep outside the place.
Aug 12 2017 Sheep out clearing the ditch
Girls intently watching the girls...
Ewe lambs making themselves useful
The heavens erupted and we got the rains...sure enough, rain and in Alberta, why have a soft gentle rain when you can dump an entire day's worth in under an hour...make a statement ...savage and over the top. Severe...never sweet, gentle, pleasant...in yer face over the top or not do it at all. Agh....
This watering can rain chain kinda says it all!
Glug glug glug!
All moisture gets used up fast by the plants in August, use it or lose it and it's evaporated up pretty quickly.
I think it is Monday today...yup, it is...off I go then...brain is sorta still OK as I can still fathom what day of the week is...sorta??
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Thanks very much!
The Carambulla will not survive your winter!
We have the Portulaca also as a wild plant.
It is a wonderful edible plant! You can eat it fresh or cook it as a spinach. One of the most Omega 3 rich plants!
Wonderful wonderful for your chickens it will enrich their eggs with omega 3!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
The Carambulla will not survive your winter!
We have the Portulaca also as a wild plant.
It is a wonderful edible plant! You can eat it fresh or cook it as a spinach. One of the most Omega 3 rich plants!
Wonderful wonderful for your chickens it will enrich their eggs with omega 3!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
Tara that is for you
I have found last year pic.
Pomegranate flower
And don't remember if I posted it my Pitaya flower
Read this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya
And with my hand for scale
I don't get fruit from it because it need another breed for successful reproduction!
I have found last year pic.
Pomegranate flower
And don't remember if I posted it my Pitaya flower
Read this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya
And with my hand for scale
I don't get fruit from it because it need another breed for successful reproduction!
This are the pytaia fruits, not my pic!
Benny, that's amazing stuff!
I have a pomegranate near my back door, but I think it's an ornamental variety that only bloom and doesn't bear. I've never had any fruit from it, at any rate.
We have a native portulaca, too:
(yeah, this one is in my pasture)
I have a pomegranate near my back door, but I think it's an ornamental variety that only bloom and doesn't bear. I've never had any fruit from it, at any rate.
We have a native portulaca, too:
(yeah, this one is in my pasture)
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #2,548
Heel low:
Lots of things do not survive our winters (like parasites or fleas--our dogs will never be bothered by fleas unless someone brings a pet here that is infested and the fleas get in our house!) which is also a blessing! I like that the nasty pests are KILLED by our winters...not so much along with the lovely things but BAD BUGS DIE!
If I am not careful about watering and location, I can kill the Portulaca plants quite easily...they rot!
We use the word cultivator when a plant needs help making fruit. Sometimes the same trees will help others fruit and sometimes has to be a completely different tree near by.
Very small but pretty flowers
The Haskaps (Lonicera caerulea or blue fruit honeysuckle) were like that...had one here by itself for years...first plant to flower and never any fruit until I got more kinds of them.
May 21 2014
I should buy a dragon fruit the next time I see some and try it. Very pretty!
Can be a house plant too! I have palm trees, but as house plants. LOL
What beauty!
Thank you @Bunnylady and @Akrnaf2
The pomegranate flower reminds me of the Hibiscus Malvaceae or Hibiscus flowers.
Not mine, ours were purple
We had a Magnolia tree (Magnolia grandiflora) that flowered (leaf buds form but you have these tissue paper like flowers on sticks! Kinda funny!
) in a deep rich purple colour at the first house we bought, but these would pale to pomegranate flowers and of course the dragon fruit flower (flowers at night!). 
I have seen Dragon fruit at the grocery stores here. Mexican plant I believe!
Thank you for sharing your flowering Oases with us.
Soon it will be Lacy's favourite time of year!
Jun 14 2009 -
Fixins, Stoggar, Makins
HyBlade and Stryra Foam
All ACDogs under the flowering DOLGO CRABBAPPLE
I try to get the dogs under the big white flowering Dolgo tree each year (my first saved it pruning undertaking...it is HUGE now absolutely happy huge!)... It is a task to get life bubbling ACDogs to sit still in one spot (way, way worse than human children!)...especially in 2009 when we had FIVE dogs to get all sorta, kinda sitting still enough to CLICK the pic! The three oldest are use to this by now and have given up being a pain...lay still or she'll make us stay here forever and it will get dark and we won't go for dog run runs...no dinner, the coyotes will bite our butts...lay still and sulk about it--we have given up fighting her! When she wants something bad enough, she is more stubborn than even we are!
Only dog smiling...Styra Foam because she's the youngest and the gooffusses...
Jun 2 2013 -
Styra Foam, Stoggar and Fixins
Foamy still grinning & ready to bolt!
The pretty flowering Dolgo crabapple will resolve to give us dangly apples. The fruit does well with a few frosts to ripen the crabapples.
Oct 1 2015 -
Baby Lacy...with the dangly red crabapples...like a decorated
Christmas tree!
And because DD will have a fit...one dog photo of the girls...here they are together same day, playing peek a boo...racing thru the Fall leaves round and around the Dolgo tree.
Were they EVER this puppy...oh yah...sorry...they still
carry on like this...bwa ha ha!
I may have been forced to outlive the dogs I have had (I am seven cow dogs old!
)...but I can slip into my dementia (does one HAVE worse dementia if you cannot spell dementia properly the first try? ) because the Australian Cattle Dogs are still doing the same things...over and over and over...like your favourite movie but with a personal twist each dog has to add to your memory of the fun that canines bring to your life.
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Thanks very much!
The Carambulla will not survive your winter!
We have the Portulaca also as a wild plant.
It is a wonderful edible plant! You can eat it fresh or cook it as a spinach. One of the most Omega 3 rich plants!
Wonderful wonderful for your chickens it will enrich their eggs with omega 3!
View attachment 1110411
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea
Lots of things do not survive our winters (like parasites or fleas--our dogs will never be bothered by fleas unless someone brings a pet here that is infested and the fleas get in our house!) which is also a blessing! I like that the nasty pests are KILLED by our winters...not so much along with the lovely things but BAD BUGS DIE!
If I am not careful about watering and location, I can kill the Portulaca plants quite easily...they rot!
We use the word cultivator when a plant needs help making fruit. Sometimes the same trees will help others fruit and sometimes has to be a completely different tree near by.
Very small but pretty flowers
The Haskaps (Lonicera caerulea or blue fruit honeysuckle) were like that...had one here by itself for years...first plant to flower and never any fruit until I got more kinds of them.
May 21 2014
I should buy a dragon fruit the next time I see some and try it. Very pretty!
Can be a house plant too! I have palm trees, but as house plants. LOL
Benny, that's amazing stuff!
I have a pomegranate near my back door, but I think it's an ornamental variety that only bloom and doesn't bear. I've never had any fruit from it, at any rate.
We have a native portulaca, too:
View attachment 1111200
(yeah, this one is in my pasture)
What beauty!
Thank you @Bunnylady and @Akrnaf2
The pomegranate flower reminds me of the Hibiscus Malvaceae or Hibiscus flowers.
Not mine, ours were purple
We had a Magnolia tree (Magnolia grandiflora) that flowered (leaf buds form but you have these tissue paper like flowers on sticks! Kinda funny!
) in a deep rich purple colour at the first house we bought, but these would pale to pomegranate flowers and of course the dragon fruit flower (flowers at night!). I have seen Dragon fruit at the grocery stores here. Mexican plant I believe!
Thank you for sharing your flowering Oases with us.
Soon it will be Lacy's favourite time of year!
Jun 14 2009 -
Fixins, Stoggar, Makins
HyBlade and Stryra Foam
All ACDogs under the flowering DOLGO CRABBAPPLE
I try to get the dogs under the big white flowering Dolgo tree each year (my first saved it pruning undertaking...it is HUGE now absolutely happy huge!)... It is a task to get life bubbling ACDogs to sit still in one spot (way, way worse than human children!)...especially in 2009 when we had FIVE dogs to get all sorta, kinda sitting still enough to CLICK the pic! The three oldest are use to this by now and have given up being a pain...lay still or she'll make us stay here forever and it will get dark and we won't go for dog run runs...no dinner, the coyotes will bite our butts...lay still and sulk about it--we have given up fighting her! When she wants something bad enough, she is more stubborn than even we are!
Only dog smiling...Styra Foam because she's the youngest and the gooffusses...
Jun 2 2013 -
Styra Foam, Stoggar and Fixins
Foamy still grinning & ready to bolt!
The pretty flowering Dolgo crabapple will resolve to give us dangly apples. The fruit does well with a few frosts to ripen the crabapples.
Oct 1 2015 -
Baby Lacy...with the dangly red crabapples...like a decorated
Christmas tree!
And because DD will have a fit...one dog photo of the girls...here they are together same day, playing peek a boo...racing thru the Fall leaves round and around the Dolgo tree.
Were they EVER this puppy...oh yah...sorry...they still
carry on like this...bwa ha ha!
I may have been forced to outlive the dogs I have had (I am seven cow dogs old!
)...but I can slip into my dementia (does one HAVE worse dementia if you cannot spell dementia properly the first try? ) because the Australian Cattle Dogs are still doing the same things...over and over and over...like your favourite movie but with a personal twist each dog has to add to your memory of the fun that canines bring to your life.Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
U
Anoter is called "ras El Barl" or the "mule head" in Arabic. It is sweater and what I have.
If you have the space plant a good pomegranate strain.if you want I can recommend for some Israeli ones! We use them alot! One of the best breeds is called "Wonderful" an it is a wonderful fruit!Benny, that's amazing stuff!
I have a pomegranate near my back door, but I think it's an ornamental variety that only bloom and doesn't bear. I've never had any fruit from it, at any rate.
We have a native portulaca, too:
View attachment 1111200
(yeah, this one is in my pasture)
Anoter is called "ras El Barl" or the "mule head" in Arabic. It is sweater and what I have.
Thanks Tara.
Does Almonds Prunus dulcis grow there?
Does Almonds Prunus dulcis grow there?
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