What's happening in your neck of the woods? #22

Was starting to get a little more difficult to download for some...

Moving from here...

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1020001/

Viola, joke was just too cute...

LOL, good joke.

Well i guess we haven't got the camping bug out of our system yet this summer. We're just leaving with another couple and their dog that we've been trying to get camping with for over 5 years. Finally our schedules have a clear spot for a week. Off to the west coast of the island to see what we can find. Weather is forecast to be grand.

We were down at the harbour most of yesterday, Was the annual Dragon Boat racing. One of our camping mates was on a team that out of about 10 teams, came in 3rd of the Grand Paddles, those over 55. They all did really well.

See you in a week.

Linda

Laughed so hard at that joke I thought that I should move it over in case it got missed.
HOW TRUE !!!

Schlepping along here today .. spent the better part of the morning at the vets with our Smokey .. for some weird reason, he has gotten AIR in BETWEEN the lung and his ribs .. actually there is a sac around the lung .. at any rate .. the vet said it was usually seen in animal/vehicular accidents, but, there is not a mark on Smokey .. he has just been having trouble breathing .. so .. he'll be there til the end of the day .. the vet is going to try and aspirate the air with a needle and syringe .. poor puss puss .. Lilly sure is missing him.

HAving dinner with my 94yr old Aunt this evening .. should be a relaxing time ..

My toes are A MESS ... now my foot is turning blue .. I even have a pic of it .. but really am reluctant to post it. My sis in law who is Charge Nurse in Emerg in SUmmerland BC saw the pic and called me .. thought it looked horrific and why hadn't I gone to emerg .. I said 'would you have gone' ? Answer .. silence :o)
Nurses are BAD re self care !!!

Best get a shuffle on (literally)

Hope your days are going well .. Susan I hope the plants perk up and the minutes get transcribed, Ann .. here's to fingers crossed re the modem and SAFE travel to BC. Betty .. the pics are wonderful ... looks like you had a perfect day for boating.

~M~





Quoted:
THIS IS A NONPARTISAN JOKE THAT CAN BE ENJOYED BY All PARTIES!
NOT ONLY THAT-- it is POLITICALLY CORRECT!!

While walking down the street one day a "Member of Parliament" is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.

'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the MP.

'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises...

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

'Now it's time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The MP reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.'

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. 'I don't understand,' stammers the MP. 'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.
What happened?'

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were campaigning.. ..

Today you voted.'

Travel safe Linda, and, ENJOY !!!



~M~

A lovely sunny day here after some days of rain - back out in the front yard digging up and discarding and moving and prepping to give away! One side is almost done except for clearing out some ground cover and then waiting for the peonies to come ( and I bought a pretty ground cover juniper to add) but I have 3 little barberry's that have to go somewhere other than where they ae resting at the moment. This afternoon started on the other ( south side) and working my way along. Dug up a huge Pasque flower that badly needed splitting - ended up with about 10 pieces! Too bad the plant share is not until Sept but I really want to get on with this ! I also finally dug out a huge clump of heritage iris that was hidden under some shrubs - many tubers from that too. Guess I will be taking some things to our little RoundUp on Saturday.
I need to go get some more potting soil - I have used up almost a full bag potting up things I have dug and am giving away!

Saturday night was CHS members night at a local garden centre. Members only for 3 hours, wine and cheese and fruit and a 25% discount on all plant material! I got the little Juniper, couldnt find a Goldenlocks Elder and could not resist another tiny hosta ( Cherish) and a dwarf Heuchera - Petite Pearl Fairy.
No probllen finding homes for them- they will go in the new hosta bed, I better not put anything else in there until I see how 'big' things will get!

My two doggy visitors are doing very well although Tango does tend to get barky when he hears another dog or a sudden sound so it gets a touch noisy as that sets off everybody! If we are ouside he gets sent in the house! He loves to chase a ball but I have to put everybody else in the house when we play. Then the other 3 all stand at the door and bark! fortunately my neighbors who dont like dogs barking are away until Friday!



This message was edited Aug 17, 2009 1:13 PM

Carol - if you're trying to get rid of some plants, I know of a home......
My friend's garden is looking pretty bare, and I'm trying to find some perennial colour.
Marlene's gareden hasn't been tended for many years. If you truly want to get rid of extra, I'd be more than happy to pass it on to her yard (I'm planting, of course lol)

btw - guess what the city, in all it's wisdom did to their yard? Because they qualify, the city prunes their trees and mows their lawn. Because the lawn didn't need it, they pruned - the nanking cherry bush! Didn't realize it wasn't an ornamental bush, so they rounded it! Good thing Marlene had harvested the cherries the day before, but it sure looks ugly in that part of the yard. They missed the Black current bush (it was only 2 branches which were barely growing).
I'll post pics later of the demolition........... the tree that should have been removed looked like 4 stakes to the sky.... very ugly! I went last Tues & removed some of the limbs so it looks better, and my DH removed the rest - to the ground. Yaaaay for DH!

Apparently the city uses homeless people (good for them, because it gives them some work ^_^ ), but it's surprising they don't supervise them. They're not arborists, after all!)

Good thing is, the black current bush will get some sun & be able to grow, but it sure shocked them, and Marlene & her DM were about in tears about the "hatchet" job that was done. anyway - what's done, is done......
The city did take away the prunings a few days later.

I planted 4 pink carpet roses in their circular flower garden that hasn't been planted in, for years. This will compliment the Explorer rose bushes I planted there.
They need some plantings in the part sun/shade raised bed on the east facing side of their yard. It gets at least 6 hours sun. I think they'd like something to compliment the blue delphiniums planted on the same side of the fence......maybe a contrasting colour?

~Susan~

Really HOT today. Worked in the garden for awhile and came in all sweaty. Trying to get all my tomatoes pruned and tied up - hoping to ward off the blight that's around.

We picked a huge tub of crabapples yesterday. I got DH to help me cut the blossom end off (anyone know why you have to do that?), cut them in half and remove the stem (and any worms we found - a fair number). Cooked them down and hung them from cloth bags overnight. Got about 5 1/2 litres of juice which is in the freezer waiting for a cooler day to be made into jelly.

Ann

Susan I will bring some Iris ( yellow-brown) and Pasque flower(AKA crocus) pale violet with me on Saturday, Pretty much everything else is spoken for or gone unless I decide to keep on digging up more than originally planned. I will let you know if that happens.

oooooooooh crocus - how lovely! I haven't seen crocuses since I left Winnipeg!
They're so early to start in the spring, so very welcome indeed!
and the irises are the kind I used to see, growing up. I know Marlene & Wilma will be very pleased.

Thank you very much, Carol!

gosh those crocuses are pretty - they should go well with the blue bells I'm planting there, too.

Susan remember this is Pasque flower not what we normally call crocus out here in the west. It is quite large - in fact the one I split today is about 4 times the size of that pic taken in 2007.

LOL...good joke, ~M~ and Ann.

Nice hot sunny day here; supposed to continue for the rest of the week. Roses are starting a new flush. ^_^

This message was edited Aug 17, 2009 4:59 PM

ah - i see..... well, whatever it's called, it's very pretty, and I like it! ^_^
Actually, the larger the better, then Wilma will be able to see it from her window. Marlene gets into the yard, but her mom Wilma, not at much. It's more difficult in a walker, of course.

Haven's heard of pasque..how pretty..have to check to see if we can grown it in my region...

Was raining earlier, looks as though it's passed us on by..had hoped I'd not have to water tonight..

Was up at 5am, air on a little too cold, was freezing to death so opted to get a few things done around the house....

In a birdhouse swap, cut and put it together last night so this morning I managed to basecoat and tonight with any luck I'll get the better part of it done...

Leaving for Penn. on Friday night or Saturday morning and am trying to have it completed so I can mail from USA..lordy I need a big box..lol..think I made up my fooling around on the bay on Sunday..so much to do and so little time...

How are you feeling today "M"..would imagine you are still in tremendous pain..how did lunch go with your Aunt?

Ann, should really take the apples of my crab tree and do something with them..one of the branches is sure to break because of the weight..must do that tonight... just planted 7 more flowering crabs on the weekend..guess once they are mature I'd better find a good recipe..

Betty:
More properly called Pulsatilla.Comes in several different colors. Offical Calgary flower is a red Pasque Flower. I have red, white and mauve.

From Wikipedia:

pasque flower (or pasqueflower) is a deciduous perennial that is found in short clumps in meadows and prairies of North America and Eurasia. The genus Pulsatilla includes about 30 species, many of which are valued for their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The anthers are bright yellow and the purple bell consists of sepals.

In its tallgrass prairie habitat, it is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring, often before the late winter snows have thawed.
Fruit of Pulsatilla alpina ssp. alpina growing at an altitude of 2000m at Schynige Platte, Switzerland.

This genus is sometimes included as part of genus Anemone as subgenus Pulsatilla, and is also commonly known as the prairie crocus, wind flower, Easter Flower and meadow anemone. The pasque flower is the official state flower of South Dakota and the provincial flower of Manitoba. It also grows in limestone pastures in central and northern Europe and parts of Russia, and locally in southern England from where the Pasque / Parsk / Pask family takes its name.

Pasque refers to Easter (Passover) as the flower blooms around that time of year. They are among the first blossoms of spring.

Thanks for info..omg they are just so pretty and delicate looking..

Great excerpt Carol .. am gathering they WOULD grow in ONT and survive a winter.

I am doin not so bad Betty. To put it bluntly (as sung by Carly Simon at one time) '.. I haven't got time for the pain..' !! I do believe it was sung for a commercial for some analgesic .. maybe Excedrin ..
Today is my day with my Hospice client .. supper and time with my Aunt yesterday was wonderful .. what a fount of information at the age of 94 !!

You're wise to mail the birdhouse from the US .. always hastens the delivery .. hope you have a great trip.

Sunny but cool here today .. NO HUMIDITY .. YAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!! ^_^

Off to get ready to head into the city

Take care

~M~

...not to mention, cheaper. You must post a photo of your birdhouse when finished, Betty. We'd love to see.

A gorgeous sunny clear morning here. High of 30. Love it!

Well Marilyn if they survive here Im sure they will survive there!

Would imagine your winters are just as bad as ours..most likely would survive..

"M" even with battle wounds you still manage to keep going..

Don, will post photo..what I'm trying to figure out is I wanted it self standing..means though with having a post and self standing that it would be a pretty tall unit to mail...wondering if the base could be made in sections..probably not secure enough? any ideas..

Could always look at Home Depot for a rung and take measurements..send $$$ so that they can pick that part up in USA, send paint to match..lol..kind of group project..

Would need to know your design. If it has a peaked roof, sounds easier to use a couple screws in the top, attach a chain and send. But then again, it would depend on the design.

or this:

very similar to last one Don..thought I'd make it self standing..wood base, the the rung like on a staircase for hold top of the birdhouse..tks

Finally got some warmer temps and the bell pepper turned red today

wow - nice bell pepper, Joanne!

morning....overcast here today but warm temps, less humidity..

wanted to do so much last night i.e. painting birdhouse so I can ship it off Sat. but thought no, early night, set the alarm for 5 thinking I could put in a few hours painting..nope..didn't want to get out of bed this a.m. so guess what's in the office with me..a birdhouse and paint..

Looks Yummy Joanne...colorful on the vine but just think what it will look like in a recipe..lol

Hi everyone ...

Patiently awaiting the rain to commence .. the day has gone from lovely and sunny, to overcast and dreary ..

Have used the day to catch up with housework. I would advise anyone who lets their ceiling fans run 24/7, to stop them and have a look .. DAWG !!!! The one in the kitchen goes all the time .. because I was dusting the other fans I stopped the one in the kitchen and about screamed !!!!!!!!!!!!! Good grief .. the blades were 'soft and furry' !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely will be doing that little job on a weekly basis now.

Picked another batch of peas .. they sure have been prolific this year .. as it seems will be the green beans.

Had a visit from 2 OPP this morning .. apparently there are wolves in the area .. farmers have lost livestock and dogs have been attacked as well .. we are sure keeping close watch over our animals .. and .. ourselves as these wolves do not back down to humans. Am thinking some of the milk farmers in our area will dispatch these animals ..

The toes continue to play 'guess what colour I am today'? Not too painful anymore .. I am totally PHOBIC about someone hitting my foot though !!

Joanne, what a yummy lookign pepper !! Congrats and ENJOY ^_^

Best go and get my clothes off the the line ..

Take care

~M~

LOL re the fans! I have 3-porch, kitchen and bedroom, they only run in the summer . I do manage to clean the kitchen and bedroom ones maybe twice a year but I dont think I have done the porch in at least a year,maybe 2 - the ceiling is 10 feet high and it is an issue to reach ( I have to borrow a stepladder)! And yah they look pretty bad. If I would just clean them well and then run the feather duster over them once every week or two................. But you see I have a cleaning lady so I really dont pay much attention to the housework, even when, like the fans and the MW filters it is not on her to do list!
When I see the edges look black I give in!

In my neck of the woods, it's back to major heat. High yesterday was 30C, which is what we are used to, but it snuck up to 35C. Today it was 32C at 12:30 pm, so it looks like it will beat yesterday's high. Tomorrow the high is 35C...we could be in trouble. I'll be outside again on Friday; temps are predicted to cool down again. Whew...

Don't let anyone step on those toes, ~M~. and for goodness sake, watch out for those wolves. Yikes!

Wolves, omg hope all the furries are inside..am sure they are..

Light rain this morning..nothing like forgetting to close the roof window on my car, better still leave keys in ingnition..dumb...at least the car was still there this morning, although wet!

Cancelled my painting class last night..Vera, one of my students found her son of 37 had hung himself in the basement bedroom..how tragic for her to have found him...couldn't concentrate so just cancelled, no one else wanted to come anyway...sat and painted for about 4 1/2 hrs. and finished my birdhouse for the swap, tonight I'll give it final coats and it's ready to mail right on schedule...

Rain has stopped, light breeze, guess I could have shut the air off this morning..oh well another day won't hurt..

"M" how's the toes?

How tragic re Vera's son .. am thinking VCARS would have been there for her .. I have been on a few calls like that .. and .. it's heart breaking, but, also just so gratifying to help someone through those first difficult hours.

My toes .. well .. today they are 'thumpin like a toothache' !!! Because it rained Lorna was off and we went to a local greenhouse that has perennials on for 50% off. She had $70. to spend for perennials for the cemetery .. she got some lovely grasses .. some Cone Flowers , some Day Lillies and Shasta Daisies .. and something else.. can't remember .. I got 3 beautiful Mums for $12.00 .. 2 deep purple and one Gold .. anywho .. after we had plowed through this HUGE building for about an hour .. I realized my toes were HATIN me !!!! I had comfy shoes on and really didn't notice.
So .. needless to say, when we got back to the car, I took some tylenol extra strength and the thumping is now just a minimal burning sensation.

No wolves seen here .. but Lilly has of a sudden become reluctant to walk to the end of the driveway .. she gets very nervous ..
Bought her a set of 'doggie stairs' today so she can get up on the bed herself .. typical terrier .. it wasn't her idea, so, she has turned her nose up at them .. I'll hang tuff with them for a few days before I return them though.

Hope the bird house turns out well .. but I know it will ^_^

Don .. your temps are AKkkkkkkkkkkk .. hope Ann enjoys heat like that.
Have a friend who left for Italy today .. she is NOT a heat lover and from what I see on the TV, Europe (Italy, France, Britain) are in a MAJOR heat wave.
Spoke with relatives who live in Ireland, they aren' too bad off, but they are revelling in the heat .. not many are sun worshippers as they are befreckled red heads LoL !!

Guess I should think about getting supper on the make .

~M~

Hi from Vancouver. Warm here but not hot by Ottawa standards and we've had so much rain in Ottawa that some warmth is welcome. As said above, it IS supposed to be cooler tomorrow.

We went out and did some grocery shopping for DD who is at work. DSIL put his back out yesterday; so we helped him take leila to day care. He was working from home this morning and then went out to a massage appointment.

We decided to walk up The Drive (Commercial Drive) and get some lunch and I bought a music stand at a shop on the drive as well. Also some much needed strings for my baritone ukelele. When I lifted up my music stand yesterday, I decided not to slip it into my suitcase even though there was space. I DID bring the viola.

Have a great day.

Ann

~M~, Ann should have nice warm temps on the coast. They never get the major heat that we do in the Interior. Her tell that Van is getting cooler and showers tomorrow. Hope they send a little east to us.

Better give those toes a little recuperation time after taking them on a tour through greenhouses. ;)

Not looking healthy out there...they've just posted an 'alert'

Severe thunderstorm watch: Barrie - O

rillia - Midland Issued at 4:05 PM EDT THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2009
THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE IMMEDIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.

Yikes....hang on to your hats!

DELUGE city here for the last hour or so .. I sure hope you have NO probs getting home Betty, also hope your car seat has dried out !! LOL .. I think all of us have had the OH SO NOT NICE experience of having to HAVE TO sit on a rain or snow soaked seat.

Ann seems you have nice weather .. hope your SIL is on the mend ..
My friends niece will be giving her concert on Sunday .. works by .. Bach, Milhaud and Bruch .. I think it'll be nice .. will get pics if possible. It was almost cancelled due to an accompaniest glitch.

Have the set of stairs I bought Lilly here in the livingroom thinking she would at least give them a LOOK!! Make an incredibly nice footrest for my BOO BOO foot !!!

Off to serve chow

~M~

Torrential downpour, brought in groceries that need refrigeration, the rest can wait till it dies down..omg Sailor girl is having a fit, can't settle down, lordy she hates storms...

Hope "M" the concert comes to pass...

Enjoy your days with grandaughter Ann...precious memories being made...

Don, are you sending us this weather...

Well off I go to try and figure out how I can downsize a birdhouse stand while still keeping the original size..lol

Sorry, can't blame me. Haven't seen a raindrop in quite a while now. We have completely clear blue skies and 36C.

Don't forget to take a photo, Betty.

Quite the storm las evening...no damage in my neighborhood but lots of trees down..youngest son Jeff call and told me not to worry about him if I looked at the news..can understand why...tornado or tornados hit down in his neighborhood...