Butterfly Netting

Richard is a rock star. He got here early and stayed late. I am glad to see his dedication to the butterfly netting is as great as mine is. Lajuana helped this morning and Jeff came in this afternoon. Rich from Kallima Consulting drove over the mountain and we got to work. By the end of the day tomorrow we will have new butterfly netting. The butterfly house is looking better and better.

Palisade High and Carl and Andy and Dede and Dolores

First thing this morning I stopped off and picked up a whole bunch of annuals and one kangaroo paw. The kangaroo paw is huge and it is going into the butterfly house just as soon as the netting gets put up. More on that later.

There was a fantastic group of Palisade High School kids out here planting the annuals and moving mulch around. They did a great job. The area around the butterfly looks really good. Andy and Carl and Dede and Dolores helped too. They did a great job, as always.

Eurkea!

We have water!!!!!! In the retention pond!!!!! From the river!!!!!!! YeeHaw!!!!! It took a lot of people working a lot of hours to make this possible. I'd like to thank Thomas and his crew at ACS. John Steubel at GJ Pipe. Shaun and Chad at Painted Desert Landscaping. Dan at Munro. Jeff, Mike and Jason from EC Electric. And of course, my agent.

My biggest accomplishment today was finding where the pipe from the river empties into the retention pond. As builts? We don't need no stinkin' as builts.

Zone 7

Zone 7 is missing. If you have found zone 7 please call 2415-3288.

Thank you.

Wednesday

So the John Deere is back and ready to go. The Career Center fixed it up all nice for us. Now, I have to learn how to use it since Clayton has decided not to do the mowing this year. Any of you lawn mowin' fools out there who just can't get enough lawn mowin' come on down. I could use you.

While I couldn't fix the scrubber valve in the amphitheater I could fix the one in the front lawn so that dry patch will now get water and be all nice and green just like the rest of the grass.

The iris in the front bed have BLOOOOMED! They look great. Smell good. The lilac is about ready to bloom too. There are all kinds of bees busily buzzing around. The amsonia we got as a test plant from Plant Select look supercool too.

Knock. Knock. There's Jane. Gotta go. Check in with you all tomorrow.

Metal In The Gardens

I can't believe I didn't tell you all about the Heavy Metal Dude! Day before yesterday I was down in the amhphitheater trying to get the irrigation going there. I don't enjoy doing the irrigation work and particularly don't enjoy working on the irrigation system in the amphitheater because it is such an unprotected area people are always messing with the heads and unplugging the controller. Which is where it all started.

There is this guy sitting there playing heavy metal and my controller is unplugged and his amp is plugged in. Grrrr. I'm already irritated just by the fact I have to be in the amphitheater working on the irrigation and to see the controller unplugged and the amp plugged in sent me over the edge. So I said to him, "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't unplug the controller." And I unplugged his amp. What a rude thing to do! Can you believe sweet ole me was capable of such a dispicable act?

"Hey!" he says. And I say, "Sorry, (and I was, I was ticked but I do know rude it is to just unplug somebody's amp without turning it off first). It looks like I did to you what you did to me." And I plug his amp into a different outlet.

Then I go stomping off because I have to reprogram the controller, go all the way back out to Struthers and turn on the power there becaus it got turned off and still the pump won't fire. Grrrrr. The music stops and I hear this voice say, "Is there anything I can do to help?" Awwww. Now I'm a total jerk.

So we get to chatting Heavy Metal Dude and me and it turns out that he is a big fan of the greenhouse in the winter which makes him an instant friend. He asks again if there is anything he can do to help and I reply, "Keep on playing." Heavy metal music is the perfect accompianment for working on the irrigation system.

As a side note, Metal In The Gardens will return again this summer so all you heavy metal fans keep your eyes peeled for more info. I think the concert isn't scheduled until the end of the summer. I'll keep you posted.

Plants!

There is nothing more beautiful than Kenton driving up with an entire pickup truck full of plants. Unless, of course, it is the resulting garden that those plants go into. Once I again I have to say how much I love Kelly over at Timberline Gardens in Arvada. He donated that entire pickup truck full of plants to the Gardens. The next time you are in Arvada you should really stop in. Spend some money. It won't be hard. His plants are phenominal. Just check out Kenton's update of the Color and Harmony Garden.

Well, the gate is in the manhole. Yay! Shaun will be replumbing it Thursday and we should be back to river water by Friday. Cross your fingers.

Bill and I, well mostly Bill, did the second round of interviews for the Volunteer Coordinator. It is so tough to make a decision. I think we will be able to make up our minds by Friday. I'll let you know by Monday at the lates so stay tuned.

Round midnight last night the temperature alarm went off. Cuss, cuss, cuss. There is something going on with the vents not closing properly. It might just be a setting but I haven't had the time to spend with them to figure it out. The outdoor irrigation has been taking all of my attention. The other worrisome thing is that the heat isn't turning on in the butterfly house. It is fine in the tropical greenhouse but not in the butterfly house. Cuss, cuss, cuss.

We've gotten a few more plants for the Colorado Native Plant Garden. And I've got just a week or two more before we make that the official name. I don't really like it but none of us has been able to come up with a better name. Any suggestions?