The garden is springing back to life!

Posted on April 14, 2024 by John Kevin Hickey

See what I did there? It’s spring, and the garden is “springing” back to life. Oh, I am such a witty fellow!

Anyway, yes, the garden is slowly awakening from its long winter nap. Honestly, it was a fairly mild winter here along Colorado’s Front Range. We did have some serious deep freeze temperatures in January, and one or two heavy snowfalls. But this winter wasn’t as harsh as last winter.

The weather was so mild, I was able to get out in late February to start the annual garden cleanup. I finished up in early March (a day before a huge snowstorm dumped 14″ of snow) and have been waiting ever since for the temps to rise so I can start actually working the soil.

That point has arrived. Just this past week, I moved a goldenrod to a more favorable location. I then dug out some plants in the back corner to make room for new ornamental grasses. I will provide an update when I get those in the ground. In the front yard, I moved some Turkish veronicas from along the front walkway and replaced them with low growing sedums. I am expecting a few more sedums in the mail any day now. When I receive them and get them planted, I will be sure to post a picture.

No photos of the cleanup this year. It’s a pretty boring event, and there is not much to tell. First there is a mess, then there isn’t. Ho-hum.

So, what’s in bloom right now?

The only fly in the ointment is that if feels like the wind has been blowing nearly nonstop the entire month of April. I really hate working in the wind. The only time that wind doesn’t bother me is when I am inside the house with a frosty beverage near at hand and my nose buried in a book.

But the wind hasn’t bothered the plants at all.

Because spring has also been pretty mild so far, some of the plants in the Vintage garden are blooming a little earlier than usual. Check it out:

These species tulips, while small, do make a visual impact. I planted these bulbs in the fall of 2022, and it looks like they are starting to naturalize (increase in numbers). I don’t deadhead these tulips, because they are perennials and I want their seeds to germinate. Thus making more species tulips.
Crocuses pushing up through the (mostly) dead foliage of last year’s lambs’ ears.
Afternoon sun highlighting the leaves of this hyacinth.

I’m pretty sure I’ve stated before that I am not a huge fan of spring flowering bulbs. Oh, I like them alright. But their flowers last such a short time it’s hard to get excited about them. And the blooms are so small, that you need a ton of them to make an impression. Which is a bit expensive.

Also, they are known as ephemerals, because after they finish blooming their foliage sticks around for a few weeks then die back. By June, there is no sign of them at all.

Still, after a long, cold and grey winter, there is something hopeful about seeing them in bloom on a sunny early spring day. Thus, I make room for a few of them in the Vintage garden.

The false forget-me-nots (Brunnera) under the maple tree are really getting a head start on the season.
A lone daffodil blooms defiantly in the driveway border. This poor plant is just about the last of the scores of bulbs I planted here many years ago.

Check this out…

Last year, while I was digging out grass and weeds from the front yard to make way for the waterwise garden, I also dug up numerous spring flower bulbs. I tried to salvage as many as I could, and moved them to new locations elsewhere in the garden. But I knew many got left behind. Mostly because I couldn’t find them. Sadly, their days were numbered, because I was going to put down landscape fabric and cobble on top of them.

Or so I thought. Turns out I was wrong. Look at these guys:

Life finds a way.

These bulbs have managed to find any chink in the landscape fabric and have pushed their way to the sun. I have used Ian Malcom’s quote before, and it fits perfectly here: “Life finds a way.”

In other gardening news…

Mr. Horny Woodpecker has returned after an absence of couple of years. He hasn’t been as persistent at using our chimney cap to call the ladies as he was in the past. Perhaps this is a different woodpecker, and my old friend from years gone by has gone on to greener pastures.

An old friend returns. Or is this a new visitor?

What grows in your April garden?

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Brewery review: High Hops Brewery in Windsor, Colorado

Posted on March 31, 2024 by John Kevin Hickey

In a small town, out on the high plains of Colorado (but within sight of the Rocky Mountains), you will find an watering hole named High Hops Brewery (All Types of Beer for All Types of People – High Hops Brewery). Located in the town of Windsor, the brewery is about an hour’s drive north of the Denver metro area.

What’s charming about this brewery, from my point of view, is that you can order an ale and then go perusing through the garden section. That’s right, High Hops is a brewery/nursery hybrid!

While enjoying a frosty beverage, you can get your horticultural fix right in the next room.

On a cold March day, MrsVintage and I met up with the younger Vintage daughter and her boyfriend to celebrate MrsVintage’s birthday. Before dinner, we popped into High Hops to check things out.

The flight of 5 beers I chose.

Since I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, I picked a flight of beers on the more malty side. I went with their Blueberry Wheat ale, Whitty hefeweizen, The Honeyed One red ale, Cookie Porter and the Cold One lager.

I really wanted to try their Ba-Ree Scottish ale, but it’s a can pour so I was out of luck.

They were all good, but I really enjoyed the Blueberry wheat and the Honeyed One red. If you like maltier ales, those are the ones I recommend.

High Hops Brewery has quite an eclectic selection of beers.

After slaking our thirsts, we headed into downtown Windsor for MrsVintage’s dinner. We chose to eat at the Windsor Mill Tavern, a fairly upscale burger joint (chicken wings cost $20.00!). Seeing as they have tavern in their name, you might surmise that they serve alcohol. And you would be right. However, I didn’t try any of their selection of beers because I was going to be driving back to Denver at evenings end, so I needed to dry out.

The town of Windsor is smack dab in the middle between the university town of Fort Collins and the agricultural/university town of Greeley. It’s a fairly well to do city that appeals to people who work in Fort Collins but can’t afford to live there, and people who work in Greeley but don’t want to reside too close to the cattle feedlots. Greeley is known for its pungent perfume. The “smell of prosperity”, as my grandmother used to say.

Anyway, Windsor has a pretty lively downtown area that is worth scoping out. It’s “cute” in the words of our daughter. Windsor Vacations, Activities & Things To Do | Colorado.com

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Book review: Masters of the Air

Posted on March 17, 2024 by John Kevin Hickey

In January, Apple Tv released the first episode “Masters of the Air”, a mini-series based on Donald L. Miller’s same titled book. The mini-series was created by the same people who produced the “Band of Brothers” mini-series 20 years ago. I don’t subscribe to Apple Tv, but now that all the episodes have been released, I intend to do so soon. I’ve heard good things about “Masters of the Air”.

I’d been meaning to read Mr. Miller’s book for some time. With the release of the TV show, I decided it was time to do so. And what a great read it is!

I’ve read several books on the European air war, but none that went into as much detail as this book has. Starting with Billy Mitchell, a strategic bombing visionary who believed aircraft would replace armies, the book proceeds to cover the men who had to implement this strategy. Carl Spaatz and Jimmy Doolittle (leader of the famed Doolittle attack on Tokyo) were a little more clear-eyed on the capabilities of strategic bombing. Their primary duty, in their view, was to resist the American Army Air Force from coming under the control of the British. The RAF bombing command gave up on daylight bombing early on in the war because of colossal losses in men and material, and they wanted the Americans to join them in nighttime bombing.

The Americans were determined to proceed with daylight bombing in the belief that only during the day could “pinpoint” bombing be accomplished. They made it work, but the toll was devastating. During the first year of the American bombing campaign, only 1 in 5 airmen made it to 25 missions. The rest were either killed, seriously wounded, became POWs or cracked under the immense strain. The USAAF sustained more casualties over Europe than the Marines did in the entire Pacific campaign.

And it’s when the book gets into the harrowing accounts of what these young airmen endured that we get a glimpse of the true cost of the air war.

Mr. Miller also goes into great detail about the moral and ethical issues surrounding “pinpoint” vs carpet bombing, the travails of the POWs, and the ever shifting strategic and tactical goals.

What really struck me hard was just how young these men tasked with taking on the Third Reich were. Pilots, navigators and bombardiers only 22 years old. Gunners in their teens. Men only 24 years old attaining the rank of Major and being put in charge of whole Bomb Groups! I knew this before, but now that I am an old Air Force vet, I only now truly understand what our country asked of these young men.

An excellent read. I highly, highly recommend it.

Now it’s time for me to subscribe to Apple Tv!

Intermission

On my nightstand

I’ve had “Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions” by Charles Gallenkamp on my shelf for several years. I picked it up because the book chronicles Roy Chapman Andrews, a real-life Indiana Jones (paleontology instead of archeology though), and his adventures searching for dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert.

Here is the blurb I stole from Amazon: “A journey through the tremendous discoveries and unforgettable adventures of the Central Asiatic Expeditions of 1922-1930 describes how a fossil-hunting team, led by Roy Chapman Andrews, braved raging sandstorms, murderous bandits, political intrigue, civil war, and conflicts between the United States and China as it searched for evidence of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures in the Gobi Desert”. Amazon.com: Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions

Sounds pretty intriguing, yes? But it has been collecting dust ever since I brought it home. Once I finish Jim Butcher’s “The Olympian Affair”, this will be my next to-be-read book.

What about you? What books did you purchase that you thought sounding interesting at the time, only to abandon them once you got them home?

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