Houseplant Collection for 2010 - Part 2

Well, right now, no renta-jack.. I really do not need another horse. I could stand to trade a couple I have off though for some cattle.

I have a sweet Paso Fino stallion though, that I would not trade for the world! he is 21 and a love! Well most of the time anyway until I wormed him yesterday! VThe booger would nto stand without a halter. Usually I dont need one!

They have physic power, they know when you have medicine. they read body language.
I love equine, it is most beautiful animal in the world. I had an old Quarter horse, been gone two years. I still miss my old darling soo much. Sam was such a beautiful sweet friend. He would stand and let me cry in his mane and not move at all, or turn his head and look at you with the most beautiful peaceful expression on his face. Yes, I loved my Sam very Much.

I know that feeling!

Got a thirty year old. 5 years ago she got the West Nile. She survived. Vet said it was a miracle at her age of 25 as most horses he was hearing about or seeing at her age had or would have died. Well she bounced back ok up until last year when she lost her teeth and then derned near starved herself to death. She got down to the point of one leg over the threshold on deaths door. Took nearly a year to get 200 lbs + back on that old hoss! Now shes feeling like a 4 year old! I have had her over 27 years. Thats a long tome to go through thick and thin with anyone no less an animal!

The stallion is her son. We have several of her grand daughters and a couple that are not related. All gaiters except for a mini and the donkey. The pony is 23 if you beleive his paper.. I dont. I think hes more like 35 because his paper does not match him. Got another mare thats 23, a 15, an 11, a couple 4 year olds, 2 that are 5 and the burro is 7. there papers dont lie. The old mare is papered honest too.

Heres the old girl a couple weeks ago.. last year she looked horrible. No one beleives that its the same horse! But it is! When they get old they do not masticate or matabolize food like they did when younger and when they run into teeth trouble things go bad in a hurry and it did with her. Picture her emaciated thats how bad she was. She is still rideable. You have to work harder at keeping the right diet woth her and a horse can lose 100 lbs easy in a weekends time if the stress is there. Now everyone wants to know how we saved her bacon! LOL! It twernt easy but it was a labor of love and we have her still gaining.

I know how. Your LOVE and her Determination to live. I am so happy for you. I know it is hard work.
Here's the kids, doing what they do best-eating.

OMG !! ADORABLE X 3

Ive pulled a few out of the fire around here. Had a turkey years back that got his legs broke and I fixed him. He got to be 40 lbs! LOL!

Had Agood dog that we reserected from a consussion. She lived to be 13.

The jack we got is a founder case. He has issues and last year he got an absess on his leg. thought we were gonna have to put him down and I had to medicate him daily for nearly a year. He still has a patch of no hair. He was foundered when we inherited him from a friend who passed away from cancer. For som ereason the flies just love him and they burrowed into him so fast one day and DANG.. We do have fly stuff for him, but he got caught the day we were out and the flies all seemed to hatch before we could apply it to him. I dont know if this is caused from the founder or if all donkeys seem to attract these flies like mad? It sure is a big frustration for him and us amd none of the horses seem to attract them like he does. I am guessing its from the founder as that is like a dieabetis thing and his blood sugar must be an attraction. Hes doing great.. just got to watch tho hooves more often.

The old pony is having issues. getting to the toothy issues in his old age. Has a little trouble masticating his food now. So his weight is a great concern.

birthed a bunch of foals, and sheep, pups, chicks and some other critters. through the years and I saved a foal from frostbite years back to name a few.

I love them, so do you. Hubby has me on "Restriction" or I would have more Furbabys. Do you use Fabric Softener sheets?? I use them on my donkeys and mule in the summertime to keep the flies away from their faces. Yes, I keep halters on them. They are too hard to catch if they get out and don't have a halter. I know that it is a "no-no" but for these critters I do it. I loop a Fabric softer sheet on each side of the halter and it does help a lot. the donkeys will stand still and let you rub them down with them. It repels insects and it does not have to be "Bounce" I use store brand and they work too. If they bother his legs sew a couple together and tie it around his ankle. They are not Dumb, they know you are helping them.
I hope no one gets upset with me for talking about my critters but they are my babies and I love them as much as my plants (Maybe more) But I enjoy our talks - Thanks.
Charleen

Well, Im not upset and thanks for sharing it was fun getting to know you and your babys!

Well, I have to use Freedom bug stuff on him It works. He does know we are helping but can be a lil rascal somtimes! I love his laugh! Hu hu hu hu!!!!!

I know, My mule is quite a conversationalist at times. He makes this funny little noise in his throat when he is trying to mooch for his food or a snack. I love that big red mule. I got his coggins back today. He was such a good boy when Ms. Melissa drew the blood. She couldn't get over how the Girls (donkeys) came up to her. I told her treats, and love. They love their horsey treats. Now they are "in Your Pocket" donkeys. I have a very good farrier that is getting their feet right and they are happy campers. My babys are spoint and I love them all. they can all be rascals, maybe that is why we love them.
Charley can bray, he does that when the horses down the hill are whinnying. I love to hear them bray. I guess the neighbors don't mind , really I don't care, not when they want to party. We are not "Party people" i'm Animal people. ☺

We do our own trims. Mine are mooches too but I do not like gettign runned over for a treat and they make too much fuss on it sometimes so they know hugs are just as good when they are behaving. Right now they are a tag cranky in this weather. They are stressing from the rain and wind and down right onry about it but I cant blame them. They have shelter and they can come in and go out as they please. We have had ice and rain the last two days and this weather is miserable on them. They get wet, then the wet freezes, thaws when they decide the dont wanna be in and who would not be a happy camper.

Where is zone 5. About. I'm glad we don't have all that. I'm originally from Mo. So I know what bad weather is. It does have that way of making you grumpy. Sometimes they won't go in a barn, they just stand out there and get snow or ice on them. I can't figure them out. But I don''t love them any less for it.

Hello all, I am back with a couple pics. I will take more to post.
Blossombuddy, Love the GPS and what cute animals both you and RidesRM have. We had horses for about 18 years they are wonderful animals. We had a couple of white mules for a short time. Everyone in the area knew when we got the mules. Boy can they announce their arrival. LOL
Wintergardener has the most beautiful plants and such a good touch when it come to photographing them.
I have been bringing my plants back down to the living area. All but the biggest have spent the last month or so upstairs. Here is just a general pic of most of them. There is a ficus tree in the right back and you can see one of the orchids to the left of it. In front of the ficus is the Raspberry Ice Bouganvilla and they to the left you can see the red leaves from the Prince of Orange, In front of that is the Hibiscus and the Rubber Tree that I would love to get rid of and in the front a peace lily and Chinese evergreen. There are more plants some just sitting down on the floor where you can't see them in it picture and a few still upstairs.

Here is my cute little Kalanchoe "Pigs Ears" It was started from just one leaf given to me by another DG member last Feb. It's not real big but seems pretty happy.

Thanks HollyAnn! What lovely pix you have there too!

Kalanchoe are fun to start.. just put a leafe in a ziploc baggie with a little moisture and set it some place in the light!

Well, I tried to take a couple cuttings of my purple passion today.. wish me luck on those!

Hey, Blossom Buddy.

In reading your post about the poison ivy, I, too, feel a respect for how plants thrive. In most cases, it is best to let nature choose its course.

I myself am highly allergic to poison ivy. If I come within a few inches of it, I will contract a rash. Once that happens, I must get a cortisone shot to control it or the swelling will seriously impair my ability to function.

Anyway, I noticed a poison ivy vine wrapped around the trunk of one of my cedars last summer. I alerted my (non-allergic) husband to kill it, but he forgot, I guess.

If my husband touches poison ivy without gloves, I will not let my husband touch ME (hee-hee) unless he has a hot shower first!

Hi timmijo, yes that urisol from the poison ivy is nasty for folks like you! It can last on clothes for a very long time or on something too. It is an amazing plant though!

So far we have been very fortunate, but I hear tell our luck could change at any time. Lets hope not!

Well, I got a calathea a few days ago! Im loving it!

Well, my poinsettia is still alive!

(I could have sworn I had a link to them somewhere....my mind is slipping!)

I have been scooping up house plants right and left. We attended a DG Seed swap in Frederick Md it is getting to be a yearly thing and while we are there we always visit a nice nursery in the area. I came home with a variegated rubber tree and two ferns a rabbits foot and a variegated NOID. I'll have to see if I can get an ID for it.
I picked up a begonia, and a couple of bromeliades one NOID is getting ready to flower and a Queens Tears that has just finished flowering. These came from the HGHA raffle table $3 worth of tickets got me these beautiful plants.
Here is the flowering Bromeliad

Here is the Queens Tears. Logees sells these in a 2.5in pot for $11.95.
This is a stuffed full 6 in pot from the raffle table, if you have never seen these they are just beautiful when they bloom. here is one blooming
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/182253/

This begonia Morocco was the third plant from the HGHA raffle table. I have not done well with begonias in the past but I have a few now and they seem to be doing well.

Here is the variegated fern that I bought and have NOID for. Can any of you ID it?

Here is the variegated Rubber plant

Well besides the new additions most of my house plants are looking pretty good right now. The Raspberry Ice Bougainvillea is flowering and the Blue Agave is putting out pups. All the plants have been cleaned, fertilized and treated for bugs, several have been re-potted.

The spider ladder....I had to move all of my spiders of my plant shelf... the coleus and other plants are due for a pruning and I had to make room for cuttings....

God, I would love it if spring was here to stay. Id kick these puppies outdoors in a heartbeat, but I have seen snow in May so.....I think I will at least consider waiting until my last frost day of 4/19.

There goes the decor in the livingroom! ha!

oh and then of course I gotta forget to post the picture in all the excitement! LOL

Presenting the SPIDER LADDER! LOL!

You are so right, I would love to start moving things outside. I have been repotting a few of the plants and they are looking pretty good right about now.

LOL! My house is the perverbial disaaster area right about now

I recently acquired some succulents from my brother so I have alot of succulents. The stapelia broke apart so I have around 8 starts of it. lol. My three colors of wandering jew, I had to cut back and just took cuttings to make more baskets. My purple passion plant is doing well. I was surprised cause I cut the tops for cuttings and thought it wasn't going to make it cause the cuttings were droopy. But they bounced back and now i have a 6 inch pot of it instead of a 4 inch spindly plant. I also recently acquired for Easter a mini rose that I am going to keep as a houseplant. My daughter got it for me. My greatest achievement is that I got 2 bat flowers to come up from seed. And one looking like it is going to come up. And it only has been 3 months. I hope more come up.

My passion flower is coming up also. It now has grown to around 4 feet tall. Going to have to put stakes up. Lol. I found some wood racks and going to make a make shift plant racks. I hope they turn out. Should take a before and after picture. Lol. Trying to figure out some kind of what to hang multiple hanging baskets on one pole. Used to be sold something of that kind but can't find it anymore....
Hope everyone had a wonderful day! Isn't spring the best with everything growing again?
Tish

I'm working on sedums and semps right now, too. I just picked up a few new ones some are hardy and will go outside in the cracks and crevices of the stone wall but I also have a couple of blue pots, my old work boots and the living wreath to plant. I'm also going to dig a few from a neighbor that said she has too many. I also started a few seeds climbers that will need somthing to grow on. My Blue Agave has a pup that will need to be cut off and potted. Just in taking a break have to head back out side, will post a few pics when I get a chance.