The Peacocks have landed! Art Rubin (husband of
Doris Rubin
in the Health Care Center) donated three young
Peacocks (three months to four months old) who
reside in the Reflection Pool Courtyard. Well,
actually now there are only two residing there.
Apparently a Possum climbed down a tree off the
roof and ate the youngest one. Nursing
Supervisor, Yvonne Simmons, brought a live trap
from home and we caught the possum the next
night. He now lives far, far away. The birds
have some growing to do before those famous
peacock tail feathers come in and we can tell
whether we have a male or not. Warning - I am
told that peacocks have a most unusual cry.
A cry that I know you are familiar with is a
rooster crowing. You may start hearing that from
time to time in the Gazebo Courtyard. Our little
French Silky chicken (Grace Newland's family
donated him) has apparently grown up to be a
rooster and has recently started crowing. It is
hard to take him seriously because he is so odd
looking. He even walks funny - and his feet are
furry like a cat. Smart money says that he must
look pretty handsome to our big hen and maybe
those eggs she lays next spring will be fertile
- can different breeds of chicken reproduce
together?
Weren't the displays of bales of hay, mums,
ornamental grasses, pumpkins and a scarecrow or
two delightful to look at? We can thank Western
Days for much of it and the Auxiliary also
dipped into their coffers to pay for some of our
flowers along with the Grounds and Maintenance
Budget. Dana Forrest with Roots n' Shoots was
responsible for the scarecrows.St. Simeon's
has “officially” become the Pansy Capital of
Tulsa. Residents and volunteers helped plant
these winter hardy flowers at our Landscape
Volunteer Workday in October. |
Thanks to Jim and Linda
Furman, Jack Ward, Ruth Anderson, Akilah Rezzaq,
Linda Hall, and Mike Holmes from Maintenance
plus the folks at the weekly Roots n' Shoots,
we're talking pansies in the Memory Center
Courtyard. (It's worth a walk up there just to
see what they have created.) Pansies in front of
administration. A whole bed in front of the
Health Care Center. Pots everywhere and in pots
and beds of any resident who had a patio and a
love of flowers -- including some of the
cottages. Let winter do its worse, our pansies
have been fertilized and with regular watering
they will reward us with their delicate flowers
until the heat of summer - or we plant something
else.
 There
is a new colorful Koi in the Reflections Pool
thanks to Linda and Jim Furman who also arranged
for the landscaping and retaining wall that has
allowed the depth of the pool to be increased.
We couldn't go deeper because of the bedrock on
this hill so we had to “go up”. Now our fish
will be able to go deep enough to survive our
Oklahoma winter and with more water we will even
be able to add more fish.
Another advantage to raising the level of the
pool is to try and make it more accessible yet
safer for residents in wheelchairs or walkers to
get close enough to touch the water and feed the
fish. We're still working on that angle. But
please, no more bull frogs!
Someone thought a bull frog would be a nice
addition - I don't for one second think that he
“jumped” into the courtyard by himself. He got
sucked into our pump and shut down the whole
system for a while - in addition to meeting his
maker...
   |
