Apropos of Nothing v.14

Pix, just DM me the name of yer Pakistani friend ...

I'm a bit puzzled about all the hullabaloo. I'm not crazy about people monitoring my D-mails, but I assume that NOTHING you post on the internet is private. There are basic rules to follow and that's fine with me. I didn't notice any change when Dave left, and I don't really care who owns the site if it meets my expectations, as long as it's not a corporation that manufactures guns or imports heroine. Whatever.

Hey Pix, can you get me on the IB payroll?

Gosh, Portland, I can try! They only pay people who are stupid enough to wade into the fray and get dirty in the name of peacemaking. I've recently retired, so you can apply for the job after Heathrjoy gets tired! LOL!

Will do, summerkid!

I think I'll pass on that Pix. LOL. I value my sanity too much!

Just to change the topic, here is a website that I thought some of you might like to troll through - I know some of you like going antique shopping and this is the new catalogue for one of my favourite auction house.

https://www.easyliveauction.com/auction_catalogue.cfm?d&auction=16834BFCCD4943D5FE02&mailshot=ear01

Enjoy - (I suggest skipping through the WW2 war stuff - absolutely gives me the creeps).

I need to find a good home for my two Parakeets. I love the sounds they make in the morning and through the day, but I have cat that just won't leave them alone. She destroys things trying to get to them.

If you know of anybody locally who wants two pretty little Budgies, please let me know.

If you can't find anyone closer to you, I can take them. I used to have birds, and kinda miss it.

Really? Seriously? If you want them, I can bring them to you. I've had them in a closed off bedroom for so long because of the cat situation and it drives me batty. They need to be around people and noise and stuff.

And I just didn't have the heart to put them on Craig's List. Actually, these days, I wouldn't advertise anything to stranger . . .

I'm in the same boat with one of my cats. I need to re-home him, but refuse to give him to a stranger. It's hard.

And yes, I would be glad to give your babies a home. My cats won't mess with them. They ignore my lizard and all the fish, I don't think birds will be any different. Are they in a standing cage, or hanging?

I had them sitting on breakfast counter high station, which worked until I got Gemini. Then I tried to hand them from a hook on the ceiling, but there is no place far enough away from a surface she can jump off of.

Anyway, I don't have a stand, they'd have to be hung off the ceiling or a wall hanger.

And they aren't tame - because there are two of them. They're used to activity and like household noise, just not tame.

Okay. I can hang them in the rec room, where we spend all of our time. It'll be real easy to put a hook in one of the big beams. There's a good spot by a window, even.

Ooohhh... new babies for Pony. Kathy they are going to a good home!

Looked up at about midnight last night and the sky was just lovely. I was hoping that this meant that maybe, just maybe we would get some sun today....

Well, there may not be sun out there but it's NOT RAINING!!!!! Those weeds better slide out like butter with all the saturation they've gotten this past week. I'm looking forward to a big day in the yard, with breaks for my back as needed.

One day of a little sun, ie no rain, and I completely overdo it! Oh, my aching body! And to think, I just visited my chiropractor. I just undid all his good work. The gods never intended for heads to be held in a horizontal position for that long.

Pixy, it's not even noon - don't tell me you're done in for the day!

And it's raining again, I never even got OUT the door!!!!! (I'm in a night owl mode again.) This was my stay at home weekend and get caught up after all the rain time.
DH was able to mow the back lawn but that's it.......

hmm, let's see, what will I do today...spent yesterday running errands preparing for the (cough) dry day today. :( ah well, at least we didn't have a 95+' plant fry day mid month this year like we did the past two years.

ok, done whining, off to something else :)

It's barely sprinkling here - not even enough to count. I'm weeding the peony bed and planting campanulas in there. The bunnies better not eat them!

LOL! No, Gwen, that was yesterday! I haven't even started today! I got up late and am actually still not even dressed. It's drizzling outside and I get too pulled into monitoring the bullying behavior on the DG threads. People with pitchforks always amaze me a little and I don't like to stand idly by while others are abused. If I didn't know it was happening, it would be easier to leave it alone.
Oh well, now I better get off my hind end and away from this computer.

How can you stand reading the same stuff over and over? Those people just don't quit and have been repeating themselves ad nauseum. Put those threads on unwatch and stay outta there!

One look at that thread the other day was plenty for me. Life is too short to get sucked into intarwebz drama. Pffffft.

I gave up a few days ago, too. Repetition it cetainly is and not good stuff. There will be no news for a while now, so we would just see people arguing and bashing.

I, too, welcome the serenity of our PNW forum.

I know, I know. I'm asking myself why I bother? It's like a bad train wreck. Part of me is just fascinated at how nasty people are and what their small minds come up with. Now someone has posted that they are wondering if I am the same as gardenchick. It's actually too funny! It's like bad daytime drama, and I don't even watch that! I think I've just never felt good when people are bullying others en masse and I don't get my feelings hurt over it like some others, so I feel some sort of personal responsibility to call them on their crap. I need therapy! Where is Laurie when I need her! Somebody stop me!

On the other hand, I've made two nice friends via dmail through the process. So that's a bonus. I'm not spending much time there anymore anyhow. I have a life.

Gardening gloves dried off on the Aga hob - off I go to pull more weeds. Getting quite a bit done out there, despite the more or less constant drizzle.

The sun was out for about 45 minutes so I got a chance to pull weeds without getting soaked. It was all very nice until I sat on an anthill. Ran in the house and didn't even wait until I got upstairs to yank off my clothes.

I was reading those threads for a while and I don't know why. Somehow, it's fascinating to see what people will actually post. And how much hatred they have, despite not having all the facts. I quit following it today - just too much drama. One thing I don't see a lot of the PNW threads is people using capital letters as shouting. I occasionally use capitals to make a point, like it's raining AGAIN! but not to shout at people! It's like some families are into yelling at each other and some aren't I could never live that way. I don't even yell at my dog. Well, I do if she sneaks the cat food before I have a chance to put it up.

I'm sitting on my front porch and it just started sprinkling. Just think about al the money we're saving by not watering our gardens.

I'm in now, have had a shower, clothes are in the washer getting clean for another round tomorrow. I got so much done, it's very encouraging!

I'm with you, Melissa - I feel badly for panicked people and feel a responsibility to help bring rational thought to the circumstance. But after being accused of being an IB spy (and why would that matter, anyway?) I realized that I wasn't going to get anywhere. The only thing that could cause me to get involved is bullying of other people - I'm amazed at the rude behavior from these adults. Or maybe they're all teenagers and just masquerading as adults. But no, I really don't think I ever even had witness other teenagers being this mean.

As much as I need to check the train wreck threads, I'm glad to retreat here. And, frankly, it's getting easier an easier to check them because there are certain people/posts I just read right past, anyway. The posts have either old news or aren't coherent or are trying to prove an irrelevant point . . .

Got lots done outside today, but it was my brother's . . . I see a shower and clean fingernails in my future . . . maybe a little snoozing in front of the boob tube.

Oh, and Bug is back to his old self today - given me sad looks about the boot on his foot. What can I say? They had to rerough the edges of skin and then do fancy surgery to bring them back together in a way that would pull so it would heal. And the boot needs to be on there all week. On the good side, though, his teeth are pearly white and his breath is mint fresh. No extractions needed. For a 10-year old dog who has never had his teeth cleaned, that's pretty good!

Oh my gosh. Read the post near the bottom with the one with the cat fight picture to make you smile.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1101996/

Just came across this article about giant snails. Interesting..and we are blessed that they do not live in the PNW.
http://2leep.com/news/17733/27/

Wow- they are big. Not as big as the moon snails in Hood Canal, though. But at least moon snails don't attack gardens... yikes.

I'd never heard of these. This moon snail needs to ditch this shell and get one that fits . . .

http://www.elkhornslough.org/newsletter/news0304pix/moonsnail.jpg

That's just how they are- and believe it or not they fit those massive bodies all the way in the shell when they want to. Weird, huh? We dig them up at the canal all the time. They're a trip.

They ARE a trip. I love mother nature's surprises. What do they eat?

They eat oysters and clams, and probably other critters besides. They're a real threat to the oyster beds. That's why it's deemed okay to hunt them for their shells- there are too darned many of them.

My son and I went to the beach a year ago to take educational pictures and videos for use in my classroom. We got a few of the moon snail. This is one by what is called a "sand collar" which actually contains its eggs.

Interesting. Mollusks that eat mollusks then. Do I have that right?

So, Holly, is that collar soft or hard?

The collars are weird- like slimy tarpaper.

Oh, that's a nice characterization. I can picture (what's the sensory equivalent of that?) it . . .

Kind of leathery, but not really very flexible, as they will tear more easily than leather. I think the snails exude a substance that glues the eggs and sand into a curved strip. Very weird looking!

I tried to link in a video clip of one pulling its body back into the shell, but it wouldn't transfer. So here is a photo of the snail fully enclosed, with its little trap door over the opening. If you care to know, it is called the operculum and is sort of a fingernail-like material.

Is anyone familiar with the Golden Section? That photo os a perfect example!

Holly, you go, girl with the scientific terms. I hope I can remember that. Could cocktail party attention getter. I didn't know they had a little trap door. Do you know if that's true with snails, too?