ROSES AND SNAKES AND LAWNMOWERS, OH MY!

This picture does not do the stand of roses justice.

ROSES

Yesterday afternoon, we were walking past the Plank home site – you know, right there where the wild rose has overgrown the old equipment – and something red caught my eye. “Wow!” I said, and then stepping closer, “WOW!” Why had I never seen this before?

There, growing close to the ground, semi-hidden behind a screen of tall grass, was a profusion of red roses in various stages of maturity, buds to blooms. It was dramatic, like when the scene goes from black and white to full color in The Wizard of Oz. The fragrance was wonderful.

So, I messaged my sister Harriet, my “go-to” authority for all things vintage and country, as follows: “On our walk this evening, I noticed a profusion of wild roses at Plank's that I have never seen before. You know how the ordinary wild rose is a bramble, but these are close to the ground. The blossoms are red and quite large. They were spread through quite an area there at the Plank home site. Do you know anything about such roses?”

And she wrote back that she had never seen wild roses that were red. “That sounds like a domestic climber that might have survived in the wild,” she said.

I was curious as to what I had said that made her think it was a domestic climbing rose, and she replied: “You gave me good clues on the rose.  It was on a home site and was growing along the ground.  Climbers do that if they don’t have anything to climb.” 

I assumed they were wild because I just couldn’t imagine that they have been there blooming all these years without my spying them. And I didn’t think a domestic rose could survive without care. It appears they have been spreading in that place for some time.

So, this morning Mike and I went over and dug out a clump and transplanted them to the front of the farmhouse. Yes, I know – this isn’t the time to transplant a rose, but we’ll see. If it doesn’t work, we’re not out anything but effort. We can try again if we want to.

SNAKES

“Bark bark bark -- bark bark bark.” It was Bess and the tone was urgent.

“It could be a rattlesnake,” said Mike, and we both dashed for doors.

Bess was beside herself near Mike’s shed, and then I could hear it rattling. Being a hunting dog, once Bess knows the master’s presence, her instinct is to creep closer, so our first effort was to control her. Then Mike spotted and removed the snake.

We have seen nine rattlesnakes this season, beginning May 10. Never have we seen so many snakes in one season, let alone just one month. On Thursday, the girls have a date with their vet for rattlesnake vaccinations.

LAWNMOWERS

Once Mike heard about Dan’s John Deere X300 lawnmower, he had to have a John Deere, too.

Well, it’s fun to say, but in reality, we didn’t shop for this mower. Mike didn’t like some of the features of the re-built Yard Machine of two weeks ago, so discussion ensued with our lawnmower mechanic, resulting in this old re-built John Deere 180 coming our way. The rest is Mike’s story, but he did say, “It was the Cadillac of its day. It will get me through this summer, and maybe you’re right that I should get a new one.” Yes!!! KW