Monday, August 01, 2005, 17:42
How Many Apples in a Seed?
"Isn't this how everybody starts an orchard?" Randy asked as we contemplated four little apples trees planted in five gallon buckets.
It was Saturday night, just after sunset. The air was cooling off slightly from an afternoon high in the 90s, and only minutes ago, we had moved the apple trees from the coffee can where they were growing into their own five gallon buckets.
Last spring when I was cutting up apples, I noticed that some of the seeds had started to sprout. So, I put the sprouted seeds into some dirt in an old coffee can. I found more seeds later on, and I planted those in various containers. I found sprouts in Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Pink Lady and Jonah Gold apples.
I have no idea which seeds sprouted and started growing into trees, but we now have 8 apple trees total -- four in five gallon buckets and four in flower pots. The largest tree is a foot tall. The smallest is an inch tall. My plan is to bring the buckets and flower pots into the basement over winter so they don't freeze out. In the spring, we will plant the largest trees and will let the smaller trees grow in pots or buckets for another year.
Once we plant the trees, we will have to make sure they are well-protected with rabbit wire, otherwise the rabbits will eat off the bark and will kill the trees. Many years ago, we had a nice apple tree growing by the barn, a volunteer that had sprouted 20 years ago after one of my horses ate an apple. Then one winter the rabbits ate off the bark near the ground, and that was the end of the tree. One sprout did come back from the roots, but now the wild grapevine has grown out of its arbor and is covering what's left of the old apple tree.
I am hoping that all of the trees we have in buckets and flower pots make it to maturity and start producing apples, because then, and only then, will I know which ones are which!
The saying goes that "anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God knows how many apples are in a seed."
Time will tell whether the sprouted trees have any apples in them at all.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Saturday, July 30, 2005, 16:51
Temper-Temper!
Sophie has been with us for 12 days now, and already she is developing quite the personality. For one thing, she spends a fair amount of her time throwing temper tantrums. Her attitude toward life is "I want what I want, when I want it, and I want it NOW. So where's my breakfast? (dinner? supper? lunch? snack?)."
She's also grumpy when she has to swallow medicine. And when I pick her up off the floor if she doesn't want to be picked up. And when I put her on the floor but she doesn't want to get off my lap.
Sophie's kitten-tantrums make me smile. Probably someday soon, when her teeth and claws are bigger, I won't think it's *quite* so funny, but that won't happen for at least a couple of days. Which means, for the time being, I can smile at her grumpiness and temper tantrums.
But, Sophie can also be sweet. She likes to bump noses with me sometimes when I hold her up to my face. She likes to follow me around the house as I'm moving from room to room. And when she's finished playing and has gotten enough to eat, she falls asleep in my lap.
Considering how close she was to dead when I found her on July 19, I am delighted with each and every one of her antics, temper tantrums and brand new accomplishments.
Friday night, Randy and I thought maybe we could put a board across the doorway into the kitchen and then confine her in the kitchen where she couldn't get "lost" and where she couldn't run under our feet and get stepped on.
The first board, about 6 inches high, lasted for all of five minutes before Sophie discovered she could climb over it.
The second board, 8 inches high, lasted for five seconds before Sophie discovered she could climb over it.
"She's a cat all right," I said to Randy. "It doesn't take them long to start learning how to climb."
Our other cats aren't quite sure what to make of Sophie. They know she's a kitten, and they figure because she's a kitten, she ought to want to play with them, except she's too little just yet to really know how to play. And when she toddles toward them and noses around their feet or their tails, they hop up and run away from her.
So be advised, big kitties: it won't be long before Sophie is chasing you all over the house.
Hmmmm. . .maybe I ought to start charging up the video camera right now, so it's all ready to go. This could be our chance to be on America's Funniest Home Videos.
LeAnn R. Ralph