response to kest's comment

[the_siobhan]

What hasn't come as far as I'd hoped? The top goddamn floor. We were supposed to be living up there by now.

View from the stairs



The front room



Pretty much the only thing we've done this year is seed the front yard with wildflowers. It doesn't look like much, but it smells wonderful. And for the last couple of weeks it's been full of honey bees and butterflies. I'm a big hippy and it makes me really happy whenever I come in the front door.



What I'm listening to right this second: Mindless Self Indulgence

Comments

[medakse.livejournal.com]

what did you use to seed the grass? we've seen those shakers of wildflower seeds, but our grass is currently brown, dry, and dead (thank you, 103 degree Texas summer), so we figure it might not be the best thing to do yet.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what we used. We watered the hell out of it for the first couple of weeks.

Mind you, given that we have a postage-stamp lawn, watering the hell out of it takes about two cans-full.

[kest]

the wildflowers are awesome

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I just figured out that those tall plants are milkweed.

And that means monarchs!

[melete.livejournal.com]

The front garden looks nice. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

The other day L. and I passed some Waterloo parks workers ripping milkweed plants out of their flower beds. It was horrifying!

There are quite a few monarchs (or, for all I know, viceroys, in which case it would just be coincidence) around there--I passed some more milkweed plants growing beside the sidewalk nearby this afternoon, and it occurred to me that I don't think I've ever actually seen a monarch caterpillar.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid there were tons of them. I remember sitting on Scarborough Bluffs and watching them swarm in preparation for the migration south. They would completely coat the trees, then take off in flocks of thousands.

Then they sprayed all the ravines to kill the mosquitos and no more monarchs. I see one or two per summer if I'm lucky. I'm going to plant more milkweed in the backyard to encourage them.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That pic doesn't really get all the colours. I should take another one.