June 8-16, 2006

A big brown rabbit has been frequenting Joe’s lawn area, which is very close to the “up and coming” vegetable garden. This morning HE was in the garden! He better not make a practice of this route. If Patchy sees him, there might be trouble. It is the eighth of June and all that we planted has broken through the ground and grown several inches with the rainfall and may be enticing to the rabbit. Patchy would surely kill him. Perhaps some well-needed sunshine might be the ticket for the garden, the rabbit and Joe and I.

On Monday, Joe and I worked on the gardens and lawns of his property. I weeded and trimmed; he mowed the WHOLE LAWN, which takes about three hours, with just a break for lunch to give him a refresher. It was late afternoon when we finished and we stood back and said,” It is just beautiful!” We complemented each other on the fine job we did. . Later in the afternoon we planted acorn and butternut squash in the plots he roto-tilled the night before. What a couple of days we had. The Black Flies chased us inside before we got eaten up. I am sure there are a few of you out there that had been planted and mowed too and have experienced the Black Flies.

On Tuesday, it was off to my place in Hartwick and we went to work doing the same as we did at Joe’s place. The grass was thick we had to rake it, and transport it to the compost pile, which gets bigger every week.. My son, Andy had cut the adjacent field the night before, so when the grass finally got cut, it looked great. Andy called me that night and commented how nice it looked and then he went down to bush hog the front field.

I just missed a tiny chipmunk as he scurried to the other side as I took the car instead of the OTP bus. I stopped at the bank, Cooperstown General Store for Father’s Day cards on lunch break and after work I headed for Agway, where I found a new shipment of plants had arrived. I picked out seven red Begonias and a spike. These will look great in my new planting bed-an old cast iron bathtub that Joe and I got for free a few weeks ago. Joe cleaned and painted it ivory one day when I was at work then I painted colored tulips all around it in the days that followed.

Friday afternoon, in between the raindrops, I planted my purchases of vibrant red Begonias and then a few purple and yellow Johnny-Jump-Ups. I added two varieties of Hens and Chickens in spaces. I planted seed Nasturtiums around the edge so that they will hang over the edge as they grow. The old tub will have a new life. I wonder what stories it could tell. . I can’t wait to see it come together.

When Sunday rolls around, the sun still had not shown its face and there was a strong wind that has been present for days. One of my 4-foot, rose colored, bearded Iris was lying flat on the ground, broken at the ground level. I cut it off and then in half and put it in water so that the rest of the six buds would bloom. I gave to Hazel McShane my bouquet of Purple Iris and pink Rhododendrons for her coffee table. She startled us with her rendition of a recent fall in the kitchen taking down part of her table. Fortunately help was near.

It was great to see Walt Danielson, formerly of Laurens, now lives with his daughter in Mass. He comes into Oneonta by bus and then is picked up and today he was attending church service with old friends at St. Matthews. He was besieged by all the parishioners, who were anxious to find how he was doing. We see him again in a few months. We also welcomed back one of our Snowbird couples.

The “Battle of the Sexes” that took place when Joe hung up his Humming Bird feeder has now calmed down. The male and female now eat calmly. They must have reached a truce. Several times, when we sat out on the deck, the Humming Birds would literally buzz by, their tiny bodies are all that we could see as their wings were going so fast.

Both Joe and I love garage and yard sales. They are just fun and we don’t have to buy anything. Saturday morning we got a late start and the first stop brought a find for me-lovely crocheted lace white pillows for 50 cents. A tiny balsam pillow for 10 cents had me sniffing it all the way home. I found three assorted chains with matching bracelets for 25 cents! Joe bought a “Southern Cooking cookbook. He spied a great hammock with its own stand, but he decided against it. “I just don’t have the time to enjoy it!

Curt Akin of “Syllables,” who maintains the Hartwick Library website, has set up a website and email address for me and hopefully it will be in place within the next week.

The website address will be www.CorinnePollak.com. Folks with computers will have access to it, but those who bought the Crier will have an opportunity to have the same mailed to them. I am still working on those possibilities. Please share the column with family and friends. I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Many thanks to those, who have already emailed, called or written, it is encouraging.

Bob Hope on his early failures: “I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn’t for the stuff the audience threw at me.”

Thought for the Week: The key to a happy life is knowing that there is more than one key.

PS- The broken Iris that I put in water has offered two more blooms. .