a southern gal in the north

see those brown little mounds of earth? 

anyone have any idea what they are?  they are all over the beds – in various spots thru out the garden.

photos to follow later today

A FENCE

A FENCE

A FENCE

just finished putting up a fence along that back corner – so now the yard is 99% closed off – one last section to redo (its closed off for now with lots of bags and rocks)

Sunday Choral Special (6 am eastern August 13th, repeats Monday at 6 pm, Tuesday night midnight eastern, 9 pm Pacific): Feast of the Assumption—Settings of texts in praise of the Virgin Mary, including Ave Maria settings by: anon. (plainchant), Brahms, Lauridsen, Conte, Rachmaninov, Fiocco, Bruckner, Josquin, Verdi, Palestrina, Mouton, Victoria, Cornyshe, Lobo, Janacek, Keller, Charpentier, Parsons, Mendelssohn, Biebl, Holst, Bach/Gounod, Schubert, Tromboncino, Rheinberger, and Poulenc. 

Sunday Baroque (begins noon eastern, 9 am): Cavalli’s La Calisto and Antonio Vivaldi’s Farnace. 

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Part II (begins noon eastern, 9 am Pacific, Tuesday August 15th; repeat Friday 6 pm eastern, 3 pm Pacific and Saturday noon )—Bach Cantata 82, Ich habe genug; the title role in William Christie and Les Art Florissants’ marvelous production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Medee; the performance of John Adams’ “Nativity for the New Century,” El Nino with the hand-picked cast that included Dawn Upshaw and Willard White; and, finally, the Rilke songs set by her husband Peter Lieberson. 

Big Ticket Tuesday Special (6 pm eastern, 3 pm Pacific–repeats Wednesday at noon, 9 am Pacific, special repeat Friday noon eastern, 9 am Pacific)—Martin Goldsmith Birthday Special—By Martin’s request, the Sutherland/Pavarotti Rigoletto; Antonio Salieri’s La grotta di Trifonio (world-premiere recording); Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin; and in honor of Martin’s baseball addiction, Robert Merrill singing the Brooklyn Baseball Cantata. 

Wednesday Evensong Special (8:00 pm eastern, August 16th, 2006, 5:00 pm Pacific; repeats Sat. 8:00 am, 5:00 am Pacific):  The Vocal Scene with George Jellinek: “Bellini and the Art of Bel Canto;”

On Wings of Song (PREMIERE—8:59 eastern, 5:59 Pacific)—From the Marilyn Horne Foundation, a celebration of the art song and the young singers who aspire to be the next generation of interpreters—this week, tenor John Matz.

Millennium of Music (9:59) “Jacob Obrecht’s Missa Fortuna desperata” 

Wagner Thursday (noon eastern, 9 am Pacific Aug. 17th, special repeat Saturday at 6 pm eastern, 3 pm Pacific): The 1951 Furtwangler/La Scala Die Walkure , followed by a VERY light piece of operetta, Reginald de Koven’s Robin Hood  (big hit: “Oh, Promise Me”).

Officials Cite Scale and Sophistication of Plane Plot
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: August 11, 2006

Intelligence and counterterrorism officials said yesterday that the scale and sophistication of the scheme to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic could mean that Al Qaeda, whose central command has been severely damaged since 2001, was again able to direct attacks.

Officials Cite Scale and Sophistication of Plane Plot – New York Times.

Terror plot– The Times

A plan ‘to commit unimaginable mass murder’
By Philip Webster, Sean O’Neill and Stewart Tendler

ALARMING intelligence that an attack was imminent was the trigger for police raids which captured 24 terrorist suspects, including two white converts to Islam, The Times has learnt.

Counter-terrorist agencies, which had been monitoring the plotters for 12 months, were last night questioning the suspects about an alleged plot to detonate suicide bombs on five US-bound aircraft.

Some of those detained had been under investigation before for extremist activity.

A “martyrdom video”, apparently recorded by a would-be suicide bomber, was found at one of the raided addresses, government sources said.

Last night Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, moved to freeze the assets of 19 men arrested in the raids. Several had thousands of pounds in their accounts.

US sources claimed last night that substantial sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to two of the alleged ringleaders so that they could purchase airline tickets. One report said they were planning a “dry run”.

 

so he got at the Statice during the day today .

he had eaten the stalk of one of them during the night/early morning and when i checked at early evening, he had come and eaten the stalk of the other one – and just like the echinaceas/hollyhocks they had JUST gotten big enough to start blooming after the first attack.

no i dont have photos, i am too damn depressed – that’s all the plants in the front of the middle bed.  his own little smorgasbord.

i am almost ready to pull the damn plants out of the ground and give up on that part of the bed but it will look horrid with all that blank space and what can you buy in august to plug up the hole anyway.

but yet

i sprayed the stupid groundhog deterrent spray tonight.

hope springs eternal

or something like that.

(besides i am still trying to find a gun).

yes, i gave up and caged my Hollyhocks – and whether Mr GH didnt appear last night or the cage worked – there was no more damage to the poor plants this morning. 

i will have to see how long it holds.

in other news, i may have to put a fence up in that back corner – that really will be the only way to stop the GH(s) from continuing to treat my new garden and poor plants as their personal buffet.  have to think on this as its more time and money.  sigh.

Wednesday Evensong Special  (8:00 pm eastern, August 9th, 2006, 5:00 pm Pacific; repeats Sat. 8:00 am, 5:00 am Pacific):

The Vocal Scene with George Jellinek: “Remembering Ljuba Welitsch;”

On Wings of Song (PREMIERE—8:59 eastern, 5:59 Pacific)—From the Marilyn Horne Foundation, a celebration of the art song and the young singers who aspire to be the next generation of interpreters—this week, baritone Nathaniel Webster.

Millennium of Music (9:58) “Forlana Consort”—This excellent Flemish vocal ensemble live in concert from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Wagner Thursday (begins noon eastern July 14th): The second opera (and a take on Shakespeare) –  Das Liebesverbot, is next, with the Ohio Light Opera production of Kalman’s Autumn Maneuvers and Dohnanyi’s witty Tante Simona.

Big Ticket Friday Special (noon eastern, 9 am Pacific–repeats Saturday at 6 pm, 3 pm Pacific; special repeat Monday noon eastern, 9 am Pacific)

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Part 2:  Another of her great collaborations with Herbert von Karajan, Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus; the great conductor André Cluytens in another match up between Schwarzkopf and Nicolai Gedda, The Tales of Hoffmann; and some of her great concert arias recordings, including Beethoven and Mozart.

 Robert Aubry Davis, Program Director, VOX

So here is the fence i put up late Sunday afternoon…

. and notice that the third plant is now eaten away by my enemy – mr g.

What happened on SUNDAY afternoon – I went inside at one point – around 2ish to change my music selection (i have a wireless speaker outside on the patio) and as I came back out – there at the back of the yard by the bird feeder was the ENEMY!  I didn’t have my camera and was too shocked to move – he was just waddling along the back of the back big bed by the rose tutuer.

I finally found my voice and started yelling and running towards him -and he took off over to the fence and ….

CLIMBED UP THE WIRE FENCE and over to the brush pile and disappeared.

To say I was dumbfounded and depressed is an understatement – what a STUPID FOOL i was to not see that i was almost issuing an engraved invitation to him to come in and eat whatever .

I also saw that it is a different g-hog from the one earlier this summer – its a bit smaller and younger. 

ARGH is all i can put here – you really dont want to hear the things I was calling it and me the rest of the day.

So I have decided I am going to have to invest in a fence.  I have researched a bit and since the gap is about 6–7 feet, i can get by with one panel (they are 6 x 8 ) and that wont be too expensive.  But now to figure out how to install it.

sigh

but hopefully then this particular battle will be over

(and yes, i know i need to bury wire fencing under the regular fence so he doesn’t tunnel thru.  maybe NEXT year I can have some hollyhocks and echinacea )

oh and BTW he came back DURING THE DAY today after eating the hollyhocks this morning and ATE a complete STATICE to the ground.

sigh (i need a gun).