Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Stop that racket!

Julia and I love wind chimes. In fact, we have half a dozen different sets of chimes. Some are around the patio in the back of the house, one set hangs outside Julia's office window, and one set hangs close to the front door.

A couple of nights ago, it was quite windy here in Denver. Even if we cannot hear the wind, we know when there is lots of it because the wind chimes tell us.

When I came out of the house the next morning, the scene you see here caught my eye.



The day before, I had seen that the rose bush--admittedly in need of pruning--had reached out and threaded a branch through the wind chimes. The rain the night before, along with the wind, caused that branch to drop down when it got wet and became heavier. As you can see in this picture, the clapper string had gotten caught on the branch of the rose bush, and when the branch dropped down, the clapper was pulled away from the chimes.

No more chiming!

I talked Julia into coming out to see this, and we both chuckled at the thought that, perhaps, the rose bush grew tired of all that chiming, and in order to get some peace and quiet, it grabbed the clapper.

We have since trimmed the bush a bit and returned the chimes to working order. We can't have the plants deciding such issues, after all!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor rose bush. Do you know how long it took her to wrangle that clapper down? Now she has to start all over again. :)

Rick Hamrick said...

I am feeling so, SO sad that we forced the poor rose bush to start over. Then again, maybe not.

This is Denver, Kelly! Within the next month, that poor rose bush is going to be shutting it down until April for her long winter's nap.

And that means, pruned back to pretty close to the ground, for her own good. That's a line I *never* used on any of my four daughters--the "for your own good" thing--because I absolutely hated hearing it as a kid. I figure that, since my daughters are all old enough to be having children of their own, which none have done up until now I'm thankful to add, I need to treat them more like parents-in-potential than children-almost-grown-up. I'm just noting that they are physically able, not that I am seeking granddad status prematurely!

So, to return the long way to the point you made, Kelly...what was your point, again?? (grin)

Olivia said...

Very funny picture and post, Rick :)

Blessings, Olivia

Julia Rogers Hamrick said...

Good thing I'm the gardener! I will NOT be pruning the rose to the ground for winter--only when it starts to put out new green leaves in Spring! If I pruned it heavily now, it would begin to send out tender green shoots that would be killed when the bite of cold arrives!

Not to take issue with my dear hubby just for the sport of it--I just wanted to assure any gardeners that happened along that I am not planning to execute the rose!

Julie said...

Too funny.
Tell me about this thing called rain? Water, that falls from the sky? Would like to see that someday.

Rick Hamrick said...

My darling wife, Julia, is definitely the gardener in the family. My apologies to any roses who read this blog and were horrified to read of my unfeeling and ignorant intent.

Gardener Rick has only two tools: the lawnmower and the shovel. I mow the plants I tend (no worries--it's just the lawn, folks), and I shovel-prune the ones Julia asks me to take to their final resting place.

Julie--I think you must have bad timing or something! I lived 100 miles south of Atlanta for two years, admittedly many years ago, and it was *never* dry. If it wasn't raining, it was 88% humidity as we got ready for the next rain. I recall that time as the hottest I ever felt when the temperature might only be 85 or so. Denver boys don't know what to do with humidity except to scurry back inside where the AC is running full blast.

Lil said...

Oh I love wind chimes too! We have an eclectic colletions and my heart sings when I hear them sing...

Peace in,
Lil

Jane said...

Great post! I love the sound of wind chimes too! It's a good thing that chime didn't get tangled up with a Venus Fly Trap :)))

The Dream said...

I have an out-of-control rose bush that seems to grow a foot every night. I'm considering allowing her to have her way and see where she ends up. Good thing she's nowhere near any of the windchimes!

Monique Kleinhans said...

Too Funny!!! Glad to hear that you didn't 'prune' your girls back though! lol

sharryb said...

Something wrecked our windchime. The wind I think. This is a good reminder to fix it.

Blessings,
Sharry