There have been no beautiful dawn skies for many, many weeks this year. Our rainy season starts in October and extends through April, but usually we have breaks in the rain when the pools of water on the property subside and the mud dries somewhat. In January we did have a welcome respite from the rain, but since then we have had daily downpours with the usual flooding. Our morning walkabouts, therefore, are much curtailed, and mostly confined to quick sloshes around the garden to fill the bird feeders and check to see if the deer fencing is doing its job of keeping out hungry deer.
It can be a dreary time of year, since outside work comes to a halt, and my daily training sessions with my dogs are a distant dream. The big task in January and February is updating the web site, and this has been done. I hope it will be easier for people to read and find things. Another task is book-keeping and getting all my documents ready to take to my accountant. This is not a pleasant task, and is made worse by the fact that I have put off getting a good book-keeping program, so I leave everything in a big pile until the beginning of the year when it takes many days of sorting to get everything in order. Complicating everything was the purchase of a new computer after having irreconcilable differences with my old one. I still hate the new one, but I suppose I will get used to it.
There have been many pleasures, however, to brighten these dark days. We have been to six agility trials, and Hannah is close to getting her championship. We need only two successful runs to complete the title, but these are not easy to get. Willie, my male terrier, has been out of commission for several months. He started leaning to one side, and not wanting to jump. He has done this before, and it was thought he had injured his shoulder, but now the vet thinks he has a herniated disc in his neck. He had hit his head very hard two years ago leaping for his ball, and since then had problems off and on. He has not been allowed to play, tug at his toys, or train for agility, and until last week had not been in a trial since Thanksgiving. This has been very hard for him, and I am quite sure he felt he didn't count any more. I took him to the trials, but he wasn't allowed to do anything, and he was getting very grouchy with all this inactivity. Gradually, I have been increasing his activity, and last weekend he was entered in a trial. He was so happy!!! He was cautious jumping, but when he found out it didn't hurt, he raced around the courses, winning two, with the happiest smile on his face. From now on he will be in a Veteran's program where he jumps at a lower jump height, and I will watch him carefully for any sign that he may be hurting. Here is in in better days.
The greenhouses, of course, are full of pleasures this time of year. I couldn't imagine these months without them. On the most miserable days, I can walk into their sheltered environment and breathe in the scent of blooming bulbs. It has not been a very good year for Oxalis, since they need sun to open their beautiful flowers, but there are other pleasures on hand. Lachenalias are in bloom now, and many Gladioli are also blooming. Here is the beautiful L. viridflora, in bloom at Christmas time.
I have a collection of many bulbs that I never offer on the web site, including a small collection of Narcissus species. Here is the lovely little N. bulbocodium. This sweet little narcissus is the easiest to grow, multiplying well. It is often available from bulb brokers. Another favorite is the tiny N. calcicola. this is so small it almost belongs in a doll's house. the flowers are only about 5mm across. Here it is to the left.
I am hand-pollinating these lovely treasures in the hope of offering them in future years.
Many Hippeastrum are in bloom now. The wonderful spidery H. cybister is sending up its buds. I have four accessions of this beautiful Hippeastrum and all are slightly different as far as form and color are concerned. This year I have many buds, so, hopefully, I will get some seed. There are no guarantees, however, since my careful pollination of Paramongaia weberbaurii with three batches of different pollen was totally unsuccessful. I was crushed.
As I work in the greenhouses on these dark days my thoughts are constantly drifting across the ocean to my many customers in Japan. I have been in touch with some who are showing great courage in this terrible catastrophe. Living as I do in a very seismically active area, within sight of the Pacific Ocean, and also within a few miles of a decomissioned nuclear power plant which has spent fuel rods stored on site, I am fully aware that this kind of tragedy could very well happen here. There is little we can do about the forces of nature, but surely we have to face up to this nuclear madness.
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