Christmas Cactus In Bloom

 

 

l am very glad to share with you all that my Christmas cactus is blooming.  I didn't know until I was watering my indoor pants this morning.  It is really delightful to see our plants giving us some blooms.  I've been waiting for this to happen for a year.  :D

 

 I bought this indoor plant from Walmart for $3.  This was actually a "rescue plant" (on clearance).  So far, it is surviving in my house. Hopefully, it will make more flowers...lots and lots of them.  :)

Thank you for sharing!

Belated Birthday Party and New Meet Up

Pink Hydrangea

Happy belated birthday to our dear friend.  She and her husband are back in the US for the latter's medical concerns.  Glad my cousin and I were able to get together with her the other day and had a belated birthday party for her. Also, we got to meet new Filipina  who happens to be residing in a neighboring town.   Her son was my niece's classmate from Kindergarten.  

It was a joyful day. 

Filipino food.

Food on the table:

Pork Barbecue

Pancit

Roasted Chicken

Baked marinated pork

Green Beans Stir Fry

Brown Rice

Bibingka

Chickan Afritada

Weekend Snapshot: Lovely Petunia

Lovely Petunia.

Mulches Help Keep The Moisture In The Soil

Months after my husband pulled out the old bushes by the front porch, finally, we planted new bushes.  It's long overdue, I know.  But here it is.  My dear husband and I did a lot of yard work today.  I don't usually brag about accomplishments and stuff but it's a productive Sunday for us here in the Sefcik household.  I am just super happy that we were able to get our gardening going again this year including the front porch's flower beds.  New bushes in the row that will take years to grow into hedges.  But that's alright. The house is now happy that we came to our senses to beautify our home again.  

We bought the new bushes from Home Depot using the Visa gift card my dear husband claimed from the rewards he got from buying paints a month ago - also from Home Depot.  We bought a few Boxwood Holly and a Sky Pencil Japanese Holly to replace the Wax Myrtle that's previously planted in the corner where the water hose is.  Then we topped the flowerbeds with red mulch that according to my hubby will keep the moisture in the soil so the plants won't dry out in the summer heat.

I know it's quite silly but I had to pick the red mulch so it matches the red bricks of the house.  Target for this project is to complete the planting of flowering plants before the fourth of July comes.  It would be nice to have a newly planted flower beds when the holiday comes.

Wordless Wednesday: Beautiful Red Hibiscus Flower

Red Hibiscus flower

Weekend Snapshots: Rose Blooms Color Change

Mixed colors- yellow orange
June 2015

The original color - Golden Yellow
April 2015

How to Prevent Ticks

Our dog Jompyong.

Tick bites can be harmful to animals and humans. These external parasites feed on the blood of their hosts and need to be taken care of as quickly as possible. Professional tick treatment is available. These pests can be treated quickly, but the best course of action is prevention. Stopping them before they spread diseases is always the right choice. 

Look Out for Your Pets

There are tick sprays and collars that you can put on your pets to keep them safe. You do not want them to get a disease from ticks or to pass ticks to you and your family. By shielding your pet from ticks, you are also keeping your home and family safe. 

Watch Out for Trees

Ticks thrive in shady and moist areas. You want to have these areas pre-treated to deter ticks. You should make sure that you never pile up tree debris too close to your home or deck. Do not build playgrounds in areas with a lot of surrounding trees either. Ticks do not do well in sunny spaces, so try to clear out the land right around your home for additional safety. 

Lawn Care

Ticks like to hide in tall grasses and in leave piles. You want to keep your yard mowed and get rid of leaf litter. Your yard will look good and ticks will stay away from your property if they have no reason to be drawn to it. 

Look for Them

The best way to stop ticks is to stop them before they attach to people or pets. Search fences and brick walls for signs of these pests. You want to make sure that these areas are pre-treated by professionals to stop ticks quickly. 

Professionals

Call professionals to prevent ticks. They can spray a barrier around your property that will kill ticks on contact. Experts can also implement other methods like tick tubes to make sure that you do not have to worry about ticks affecting your health and comfort. 

Ticks can be a tricky problem. It is always smart to bring in a professional company to take care of your needs fast and efficiently. Ticks can be prevented or treated so that you can have a normal life without having to worry about these disease carrying pests invading your property.

Tiny Ligustrum Flowers

Ligustrum flowers.

The sunshine yesterday was nice.  Although it was very humid, my daughter and I went out for a short walk and played tag for a little while on the driveway.  Didn't take long and we got very hot so we decided to check on the Ligustrum bushes in the backyard. Sure they're blooming really well again this year.  Unfortunately, not many butterflies are hovering around and feeding.  We only saw maybe not more than five of them.  Unlike two years ago, there were lots of butterflies and bees feeding on the Ligustrum flowers.  Mom and Dad were here on Memorial Day weekend two years ago and they were mesmerized with the scenery.

We are still hoping for the butterflies to come visit our Ligustrum flowers this month.

Lazy Rainy Sunday Morning

Front yard.

We love lazy Sundays.  It was a rainy morning yesterday and quiet, too.  I woke up at around eight o'clock.  My husband was awake and already made coffee.  He was sitting in front of his computer working on the book he is writing for his side project.  Our daughter still sound asleep on the air mattress bed we bought from Academy few weeks ago.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and went to the garage.  We have a radio/cd player in the garage.  I turned it on and listened to Jack FM station.  It was kind of oldies music day for me. New Wave and 80's music.  Brought lots memories.  Good ones.

Stargazer Lily plants.

And when the rain stopped, I planted the Stargazer Lilies my friend R gave me the other day.  I hope they will grow nicely and gives beautiful orange blooms next year.

Great Day In The Patio

Mom and Dad's patio.

It's a lovely day today in Texas. We are here at our folks' in Tyler.  The usual visit.  This afternoon my father-in-law and my dear husband planned to fry some chicken.  So we had home fried chicken, macaroni salad, and deviled eggs for dinner.  My brother-in-law's here too and he brought grapes.  He joined the Glow Run in Whitehouse this evening together with our niece.

Oh how pretty the day was.  I was sitting on the patio chair on the porch feeling the breeze on my skin and I was zoning out.  'Twas so nice to take a nap right there and then.  I couldn't take the drowsiness anymore, I went inside and lied down on the couch. I fell asleep as soon as I got settled on the couch.

Weekend Snapshots: Clovers, Sunset

Clovers in our flower beds.

It's my day off today.  The plan was to visit my cousin and her kids this afternoon but when I called my cousin she said they were still in town.  They'll be home around 4:00 P.M.  Well, I decided to just stay home.  It's raining all day anyway so my daughter and I just kind of hung out by ourselves at home. There was a flood warning and a tornado warning in our area (Collin County), too.  

We waited for the rain to stop and when it did, we went outside to play for a while.  When the rain started to pour again, we went back inside the house and watched our favorite movies.  

When we were outside the house, my daughter and I checked on the roses.  Then we pulled out some weeds - mostly clovers.  And this evening, a beautiful sunset became visible after the rain.

Sunset.  View from my front porch.

Cleaning Up The Flower Beds

My dear husband and I are supposed to start cleaning up the flower beds in the front yard tomorrow in preparation for new garden plants this year.  But we are not gonna be able to do that task tomorrow because we are going out of town.  It's our 7th wedding anniversary.  So this task will get done next weekend probably.  Hopefully. We'll have to go to Home Depot to buy some new pots and garden soil on Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday: My Rose Is Coming Back

Wordless Wednesday: Bending Towards The Light - Tiny Tomato Plants

Wordless Wednesday: Red Anthurium

Huge Black And Yellow Spider In The Garden

Huge black and yellow spider.

 Looked like this huge black and yellow spider was very upset when his web got ruined while I was watering my vegetable garden early this evening.  I didn't see him until I walked around to the other side to remove the dead leaves from the okras.  He was so big and freaking scary!

My husband said it's one of those garden spiders.  Some grow really big and some don't.  Boy, you will see different kinds of insects and arachnid in the yard especially when you are growing vegetables.

Wordless Wednesday: A Visitor Is Hiding

Wordless Wednesday: Squash Buds

The Garden Is Looking Good But We Have A Problem

Here's the latest picture of our vegetable garden.  The tomatoes are bearing and there's plenty of them.  The okras at the back are looking great.  They are ready to give us some harvest soon because I saw a few little ones in there.  

The problem we have now is that some of the red tomatoes have holes in them.  Looks like they're pecked or something.  My husband and I were seeing a bird landing on the sticks that he was trying to scout where the ripe tomato is.  So I asked my dear husband to buy a plastic owl from the garden center.  I got the idea from my girl friend because she has one.  I hope this is gonna be effective.

But something is also bothering us.  Grasshoppers are around again!  I spoke with my neighbor and mentioned to her about the holes in the tomatoes.  She said grasshoppers also do that pecking thing.  Oh no!  We have to do something about it quick.

The owl is watching over.

Jalapenos and tomatoes.

Anyway, here are some tomatoes and jalapenos I picked this evening.  We have so many jalapenos, too.  We gave some to our neighbor across the street.  It's always nice to share.

Weekend Snapshots: Flower Bed

Flower bed

 It's about time to tend my flower bed in front of my house.  It has been are for a year now.  The only plant in there was the miniature rose that my mother-in-law gave me as gift on my birthday three years ago.  It's a shame that I didn't take care of my flower garden.  But now, I am determined to make it look great.  

Oklahoma Rose.

 Last Saturday, I worked on putting bricks around the edges of the flower bed.  My husband bought some garden soil and he spread them evenly in the flower bed.  Few days later I bought a couple of rose bushes from Lowe's.  One is called Oklahoma Rose, the other is Golden Yellow Rose.  According to the description, both have big fragrant blooms.  We'll see.

A house spider on the water hose.

 After the work's done, it was time to water.  When I was about to grab the water hose, I saw this black fuzzy-looking spider.  It freaked me out!  I called my husband to have him get rid of the arachnid.  He said it's a house spider and it's not dangerous.  Still, 'gave me goosebumps. 

Anyway, next thing I'd do is to fill the space in the flower bed with little flowering plants.