Mary Anne Carter
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Category Archives: Garden
Feb 5 2012

Pest control

by Mary Anne

One of the things that has bothered me ever since we moved down here is how many ticks there seem to be. Almost every time my family spends more than a couple of minutes outdoors, they seem to be coming inside and finding a tick or two trying to make itself at home. I’ve never been very good at removing ticks, it seems that even though I try really hard to remove them correctly the head seems to stay in the bite and then there is a swelling around the bite that takes a very long time to fade away.

The folks on the Yahoo groups that I belong to are frequently writing about how they keep a small flock of backyard chickens to help keep the ticks at bay. In addition they say that they enjoy all of the fresh eggs that they could possibly want. From time to time they offer up some chickens for sale and my hubby and I discuss the ins and outs of owning chickens. My biggest concerns involve predators and who would care for them if we went on vacation. I really don’t think we just dump a bunch of chicken feed in a trough and leave them for a week.

Categories: Around the House, Family, Garden, Life, Local, Opinion, Pets | No Comments »

Nov 7 2011

Mailboxes and curb appeal

by Mary Anne

I think that one of the nicest ways people can spruce up their houses is by putting up really nice mailboxes.  When we first moved here, our mailbox was old and beat up and rusty.  The flag was sagging, and the door was hanging by only one hinge, flapping loosley around.  It looked horrible!  I have been telling my hubby ever since we moved that I want a new one, but I have not seen any that I like at the local stores. I did see that some of the stores sell whitehall mailboxes and other whitehall products, but I think that the stores are way overpriced, and the mailboxes are special order to boot!

I love shopping local when I get the chance, but I think that I am going to spend a little bit of time on the Internet to see if I can get any better prices and maybe even a better selection than the few that I found in town.  After all, if I am going to have to order the mailbox, I may as well spend a few minutes trying to get the best price that I can get!

I look forward to the day when my hubby replaces that nasty old rusty thing with a brand new box!

Categories: Around the House, Garden, Home Improvement, Life, Shopping | Comments Off

May 16 2011

Artsy look

by Mary Anne

One of the things that I saw and fell in love with at the Home and Garden show that I went to last weekend was a beautiful rain chain.  The company that sells the rain chains had a lot of them on display, and I was really impressed with how artsy they looked.  My hubby and I had been talking about having to replace our downspouts later this summer because they were falling apart.  I’ve always thought that the downspouts were ugly as all get-out and so I’m going to check out the possibility of replacing them with some chains rain that would divert the rain water into barrels.

With all of the recent summer droughts that have been going on, and our attempts at water conservation, I’d love to collect the rain water and use it to water the flower beds.  Since our household potable water goes through an expensive filtering process that our garden doesn’t need, I think that doing this will extend the life of our water filter system and our well pump.  I’m really excited about doing this – our house would look so awesome!

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May 9 2011

Saving Water

by Mary Anne

When we went camping as kids, we thought it was great fun to take our daily shower outdoors. In fact, one summer we were sent away to an overnight camp in the mountains for two weeks and we had to take baths in the creek! That camp was when I first learned about conserving water and using rain barrels.

Until that summer camp I had never heard of rain water barrels and thought they were dirty or full of germs. But they taught us how to save the water that runs off the roof and use that water for a lot of things, like watering the garden or watering the lawn.

On a whim I decided to look online and see if there were any rain barrels for sale like the ones they used at our summer camp. We could easily put a couple of barrels at the corner of our house and reuse the water on our plants. That would lower our water bill this summer and it would be good for our plants, too. I found a good site with several pretty styles and colors. I can’t wait to show this to my husband and see which ones he would like to get.

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May 8 2011

Flowers Say I Love You

by Mary Anne

There are special meanings for all the different flowers, and sometimes even the color of the flowers mean different things, like roses. I don’t remember what they are all all but I read about it on a florist web site one time. To me, flowers just say, “I Love You.” No matter what the type of flower or the color – I love to get flowers. They always make me feel special.

I sent my mother a little bouquet of mixed flowers for Mother’s Day. I asked the florist to make them yellow and white, so that they would brighten the room wherever she puts them. I hope she puts them where she can see them every day while they are fresh.

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