Monday, March 21, 2016

Asparagus & Bats

I've been meaning to plant asparagus. Actually, I did plant some at my old house, but I did not have enough sun and I doubt anyone knows what is growing there now! Anyhow, I meant to plant some at the current house, but I never got around to it! If I had planted it my first year here we would've been eating plenty this year! However, I didn't know what variety to buy. I was at Lowes today and saw they had ORGANIC asparagus crowns! A quick search lead me to Mother Earth News' site (love that site!) and it said that male plants produce the most spears without the added hassle of female plants producing seed that sprout and are hard to get rid of! The suggested varieties were the Jersey ones so I picked up two packs of 6 each, giving me a dozen plants! The site said 25 plants yields 10 lbs of asparagus so I am expecting around 5 for my amount! I picked up 'Jersey Knight'. Now I just have to figure out where I want to plant them and when! They seem to be sprouting already in the little bags.


A few days ago, before the orchid show, I was upstairs in the nursery. I had sat down on the floor to check on my ferns and upon getting up, the floor squeaked, which is not unusual for a 116 year old house! But then, I heard flapping! Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. As I focused onto the area of movement, I realize it was a bat! Oh yeah, I screamed like a girl! Then I panicked! What do I do?!?!?!?! After I saw that it quit moving, I ran downstairs for a box. Upon coming back upstairs, I grabbed one of my new canvases so that I could scoop it in the box and keep it in there. However, when I got back into the room, the bat was...GONE! ACK! Where did it go?! I immediately texted hubby who told me to text a friend of ours who had experience with a bat indoors. She told me that they feed only 20-30 mins each night and they always come out at the same time. Well I closed the door to the room in hopes that it did not escape while I was out looking for a container to capture it with. I checked for days and saw no bat. I knocked around the room hoping it would appear. No bat. Tonight, I went to check again and noticed a dark blob where there should be no blob and viola! Found the bat! I was really lucky that it was hanging out in the blinds by the window! I carefully opened up the window and placed a tennis racket over it so that it could not fly back into the room. I tapped the blinds a few times in hopes that it would scare it to fly out the window, but no such luck! I had to use a bamboo skewer to gently prod at it in hopes that it would leave. It really did not want to leave! I didn't blame it....the cold room was much warmer than it was outside! Eventually I used the bamboo skewer to move it's little legs off the blinds and it was at that point it decided to jump out the window with its wings spread. Unfortunately it did not attempt to fly! It fell on the roof and bounced a few times down. I'm sure it got a concussion! Eventually it landed inside the gutter. I was hoping it would land on the roof so I could get a picture, but landing in the gutter is better for the little guy b/c it was a long fall had it fallen off onto the ground! I hope it found its way home, away from my house! Hopefully it never comes back inside either!

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