Sempervivum sadness.

I wanted to start a rock garden this year so I started to collect lots of sempervivums (they're also known as hens and chicks). I think I brought home just about every one I saw at a nursery this past spring because it was too hard to make the decision to leave even one variety behind. Every one of them was gorgeous and besides, I was smitten.

Some had dangerous looking pointy tips...

...and some were rounder and gentler looking.

Some had intriguing names like this one, Mrs. Giuseppe...

Some were fuzzy...

...some to the point where they looked like they were covered with spiderwebs. This one, appropriately enough, was called "Cobweb."

Some had flowers...

Very pretty ones.

I repotted all my baby sempervivums into pots filled with cactus mix and rock, making sure they had exceptional drainage. They looked so young and fresh and happy and I was looking forward to watching them grow big this summer.

But then, just a few weeks later, this...

Huh and how?

Unrelenting humidity.

I watered them exactly once and then it started to rain. It rained for days. And then weeks. Although I had moved the sempervivums to an area away from direct rainfall, they never had a chance to dry out because of the constant saturation of the air. And so, they started rotting away.

It was sad. Once I saw what was happening, I moved as many of the hens and chicks I could into the dry, dry air indoors. There they sat in a window for a couple months, avoiding the typical Missouri humid summer, not really doing anything but at least they were alive. They got moved outdoors again a couple weeks ago and some of them look like they're finally trying to grow again...

Hopefully what I have left will last until next spring...where I can plant the sensitive little things somewhere with their own umbrellas and fans.

It's so discouraging. Rather than try to grow things with fancy unpronounceable names like Rosularia Muratdaghensis...

Maybe I should just stick to the "perrinals" I can find at the local hardware store...

Errrgh.

An observation

Frogs,

from behind

look like dogs.

But frogs,

unlike some dogs...

don't wiggle to the right,

and wiggle to the left,

when you take their picture for a blog.

The End.

(apologies to Bacon for making him pose for that "behind" shot)

(apologies to everyone else for writing this post in rhyme)

Sunday morning...

...I woke up to the sound of something being dragged slowly down the hallway. I didn't have to open my eyes. I knew it was Michael.

Michael's been known to move chairs, tables, large bird cages...it's just something he does. Over the years, I've learned to pretty much ignore him when I hear him in one of his furniture repositioning moods. From experience, I know there is nothing I can do to make him stop because you can't a stop a turtle from doing what he wants to do, a turtle can only stop himself.

But watching this six foot ladder move slowly toward me, while I was still in bed, that was something. How much longer was he going to keep this up? What was he up to?

When he got to the bedroom door and knew that I had finally seen him, Michael made a determined right turn and left that ladder behind...

...far, far behind because he was on his way fast to get to the back door in the kitchen so he could get the heck out.

Message delivered. It was time to get up, go out and let a turtle do whatever he's compelled to do as soon as possible. Forget about sleeping in when there's a turtle wanting to do something else.

Really, just forget about it.

Weather

Last Saturday it rained. It thundered. It hailed. It flooded. There were microbursts of wind activity and of course, there was lightning. I was spending the afternoon safe indoors at Redbud Ranch but once things cleared up, I drove to my spot in Kansas to see what the creek looked like after a great big giant rain.

It was late when I left Redbud Ranch. The sun was starting to set behind some lingering storm clouds and of course I had to stop and take a picture of what was happening in the sky.

By the time I got to my Kansas land it was quickly becoming dark, but I was not disappointed with what I could see when I finally got out there.

That creek was fast. It was loud. It was something.

It didn't take long for Aussie and Bella (and Elvis) to show up. Bad weather will never stop those three from helping me witness whatever is a couple feet from my face.

The next morning I drove back out and everything was calm and peaceful and bright and serene. Elvis decided he needed to lie down and wait in the creek while I looked around to see what was new in the landscape.

The water level had dropped about 12-18 inches overnight.

After watching the power of that water the night before, I was surprised anything could survive it. But here's some grass, still rooted, on its way to becoming upright again.

I looked down to see one little crayfish very still in the water.

Usually these guys bolt as soon as you blink in their direction, but he stayed still for me to take a picture of....I guess, both of us.

Bella came by and as she plodded through the water, the little crayfish turned and moved a couple feet closer in my direction. Odd. I think the crayfish was probably just too worn out from hanging onto who knows what and for how long while the water raced over and around him after last night's deluge.

It just goes to show that even if you live underwater and under a rock, bad weather will still find you.