you're welcome! I used to have a lot of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" cards that I could trot out at a moment's notice but that was several computers ago.
If (ahem) my birthday in MAY is forgotten, my very SCARY, SIGNIFICANT BIRTHDAY, I will say screw you NorthEast Forum and look on FaceBook!
Accessible Gardening: #5 - still laughing with joy
This message was edited Jan 2, 2011 8:32 PM
Here's hoping they will find a cure for the common birthday within our lifetime.
"Happy Birthday" until then, Debra
Kay*
Thank you, Kay. :-)
Happy Birthday again Debra, Tho now i better say Hope you had a happy birthday.
Everyone keep your voodoo chants for us in Arkansas. We've had some weird happenens around. Beebe 120 miles east of us had a bunch of dead red-winged blackbirds fall from the sky all over town, Than in Ozark 80 miles west of us a bunch of dead fish washed up on the banks of the Arkansas river. No one has a clue why but the powers that be will do autopsys on the critters. I'll let you know if they tell us.
I think it was either the Bell Witch or galactic alians.LOL
Carrie, Don't you dare leave us!!!!!! We'll come looking for you.
Yeah, Carrie, and we know where you live. lol.
Maybe, I'd better talk some more to one of MK's more interesting relatives. A very old man who says the world will end next year.
Otianjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Debra, that is “Happy Birthday” in Japanese. PJ and MK have been talking about learning a new language. A New Year’s resolution for the house. MK is a firm believer learning new skills keeps people sharper longer. (Now, I know where she got that idea. Thanks for the link, Carrie.) My vote is for Japanese. Then I could go to Manga/Anime conventions in Tokyo. Papa Jim was stationed in Okanawa for a few years so he is already a little familiar with it. I’ve already got textbooks on learning Japanese. But, Spanish will probably take the house vote. I guess Spanish WOULD be more practical.
I don’t know about Debra, but you were born in the Year of the Metal Ox, Carrie. (I'll draw you a pretty ox for your b'day.) I know because PJ will have his "significant" birthday this year too. That’s not so bad.. Mama Kay was born in the Year of the Earth Rat. :0) :-) I didn’t know if the humor in the last frame would slip passed older people or not. Japanese culture is enough of an influence on those my age that most of us are aware this is the Year of the Tiger and, in the lunar calendar, the new year (when the celestial animals change) usually falls in February. (Feb. 3, this year) I’m afraid, however, even those my age might not know the Celestial animals come in cycles like signs of the zodiac and that the Year of the Rabbit follows the Year of the Tiger. Anyway, I think there might be too much assumed knowledge for that cartoon to work outside of a place where knowledge of Asian culture can be assumed. I’ve been working on an article on rabbits and hares though so I have bunnies on the brain, and I just like drawing tigers. lol. ~Nadine~.
Nadene, There are quite a few people saying the world will end in 2012. Something about a Maya prediction. Since i'm 70, I can take it in stride. However some are talking about a world wide famine. I can live off my fat for a couple of years. LOL! Guess i don't take predictions too seriously.
Yes, I remember when 2000 rolled in and they thought all the computers would crash and that would cause total economic chaos. The things happening there sure sound weird though.
Headache is easing up. Maybe, I can sleep now. Have a good night...uh...great day.
Hugs ~N~
Be;ated happy birthday, Debra.
birthday hugs, katie
Nadine, an article on rabbits and hares? For whom, why, to what end? That would go perfectly on DG if only you were a DG writer :( and we are short of new articles ... I mean look at some of the crap (begging everyone's pardon) we've had recently, or are about to have. I'd love to write an article about Year of Tiger turning into Year of Rabbit, if I weren't so far behind (and didn't spend so much time jabbering to my pals - that's y'all. Right now I've got to light a few fires to get my perfect Epiphany article SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 6!!! Otherwise it won't make much sense.
Thank you, Nadine. :-)
Thank you, Katie. :-)
Nadine, I was born January 2, 1957. What year was that?
Debra, you were born in the Year of the Yang Fire Monkey. (Those place mat calendars in Chinese restaurants are fun, but probably misleading for you since you were born in January.)
The bunny article was just going to be for Amargia’s blog. I’ll send it your way when I’m finished and you can see if it is something you can adapt to a DG audience. (That way you’ll have more time to hang with us.) Right now, it is just fun facts about hares and rabbits in myth and modern media, the difference between a hare and a rabbit and ways to save your garden from them.
MK is trying an experiment this garden year. She planted giant red clover along all Amargia’s borders. I asked her why. I’ve kept rabbits as pets. Giant red clover is like the ultimate bunny candy. They can’t resist it. Her theory is they will be so focused on the easy-to-access clover; they will leave the harder to get lettuce and carrots alone. I guess we will see. Somehow, everyone got to talking about our favorite fictional rabbit and decided it would be a fun article idea. Of course, I thought it was a good idea. I was born in the Year of the Fire Rabbit. :-) ~Nadine~
P.S.: I don’t know if I’ll put it in the article, but I was curious. I even dug up the roots of the jackaloupe myth. lol.
That's a good idea. We planned to give Amargia a real website this year, but I have a lot on my plate right now and that is a timely article. I don't know if I will have things set up by Feb. 3rd. I'll make sure there's a list of the books and websites she used for research tacked on, Carrie. She's working on some artwork for it right now.
I'm paining birdhouses to get them ready for the new season. I get mostly bluejays and wrens, but they are still fun to watch. There is a gorgeous pair of cardinals hanging around though.
Kay is burning and leveling today. I'm finding out that what seems level" when you are walking and what seems level when you're in a w/c are two different things.
Hope it doesn't get so cool there it hurts your citrus, Katie. Being able to pick an orange or lemon off your own tree must be nice. Possible here, but you are severely limited to type and it's still a bit risky. (Jim)
What happened to Shades of Green?
Different Shades of Green was just on Google Blogspot. A freebie service if you have a Google account. It doesn't allow us to do all the things we want to do and it doesn't meld all that well with the computer access programs Kay uses.
Amargia is changing it's focus a little this year. The Foodstamps and other program keeps most economically challenged, physically disabled people fed. We want to focus more on helping them supplement their incomes. Even if it is something as simple as growing and selling fresh herbs to friends and acquaintances. The adaptive tech physically challenged people need to make life less challenging is often expensive and not always covered by insurance or rehab services. I would like to get more adaptive tech in the hands of more people. Whether it is effective hearing aids so an elderly person doesn't become isolated. A Braille labeler so a blind person can be more independent. Or, a threshold ramp so a w/c user doesn't have to endure a teeth rattling jar going in and out their door. There are so many things out there that would make people's lives easier, if they could find that little extra bit of money needed to buy them. (Jim)
And, Amargia will have a more regional focus. DSG gave me opportunities to do things like talk to a man in Africa about growing figs and a lady in Britain about Jerusalem artichokes. I loved that! But I’m sure there are things specific to growing figs in Africa I don’t know and I learned as much from the English lady about chokes, as I taught. My garden experience is limited to the humid parts of Zones 8-10. I probably wouldn’t recognize some plants in a Zone 5 garden. Amargia’s previous approach was too general and all-encompassing. I think you need to be a Master Gardener or something to do what I was trying to do. It has been a humbling experience. Jim and, at least, one shrink would tell you that is good. I need to learn I'm not superblindwoman. lol.
I will stick to scented plants, local wildflowers and garden edibles. Jim will describe his journey from walking gardener to wheelchair using gardener and local garden events. Nadine will write about her flesh-eating green pets (carnivorous plants spook me a little.), wild edibles and her furred and scaly friends outside. Cole will write about how to garden with only one arm, etc.
DD#2 is a special ed teacher. She told me once about the different styles of learning. I’m one of those who jumps in and tries things. A kinesthetic (active) learning style. My kind just backs off, figures out how it can be done better and goes at it again. May not be the most efficient way to learn things, but to me it is what clicks. My bet is that you have that efficient, analytic learning style, Carrie. I wish I could learn like that. My life would be simpler.
Debra, my GD says she gets a kick out of blowing your flowers up. LOL. Taking a section of picture up to maximum magnification on my Zoomtext program. (It goes up to about 30X, I think) It is like abstract art. Have you ever looked at something very ordinary under a microscope and discovered a new world? I guess it’s like that. Kay*
I missed Melinda's sermon on learning styles, but I think this is what she was talking about. This site is about teaching English as a second language, but I guess the principles are the same whatever you are learning.
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/learningstyle.php
I'm going to Google that Bell Witch of yours, Vickie.
Another rainy day. ~Nadine~
I don't know what style of learner, I am, Kay, because most of my learning was either done before we had styles or done on the sly. One of my church groups we split up into four groups by personality type: (1) let's just do it, do SOMETHING, even if it's not perfect, (2) let's make sure all of us are feeling ok about what we decide to do (3) let's do it but let's make sure all the I's are dotted and all the T's crossed - we don't want to forget anything ... I forget what the fourth group was, but I was definitely in the first group.
Kay, I remember being amazed at the beauty of BACTERIA stained and blown up! Maybe it was the colors of the stain (turquoise and purple, or blue and darker blue) but I would have worn clothing prinnted with that pattern.
My teacher training classes and tutor training didn't mention those last two styles, but both did cover a lot about the first four. I'm mostly visual with some tactile. My auditory learning sucks so I'm not good at languages or music. Most people tend to unconsciously express themselves in context with their strongest learning style. If you use "I see" a lot, you are probably most strong in visual learning. If it's "I hear you" a lot, then you are probably most strong in auditory learning style.
Nadine is very definitely visual. I've learned to tack up notes for her instead of just telling her things. You can tell her something 3 times and she may still forget, but she can see something once and retain it. I don't know what my learning style would be. Not visual, that is for sure. I had a condition something like dyslexia when I was young. It can still give me trouble when I'm tired or stressed out. From the beginning, I liked the audio books Kay receives from the National Library Service and Recordings for the Blind. It was great for me when commercial audio books that could be downloaded became available. Now, I "read" a lot. The only downside is this type of reading doesn't do much to improve my lousy spelling. I would be lost without computers and spellcheck features. (Jim)
Misspelled "dyslexia". lol.
This message was edited Jan 5, 2011 9:21 PM
I'm about 50/50 with visual and tactile.Reading is my favorite.But i think i have to touch and feel too. Hearing goes in one ear and out the other,if it even goes in the ear at all.but i still love background noise.
Carrie,I loved micro biology and those stained bugs are beautiful. Did you ever see those fractal patterns that were so popular for awhile. Those really blew my mind with beauty.The first time i saw one, was in a hospital. A lab tech was playing around with one. I sat down with a complete stranger while he explained them to me.I was totally awed.Which goes to show you can find beauty in the most unexpected places even in math.
Jim, i used to spell ok but after i had a stroke i can't spell anything.No one will play scrabble with me anymore.
I've always had a terrible time explaining anything. I suspect it's because i did'nt communicate much when i was little. The thoughts are there but somehow they don't get relayed.
Carrie, I'm definately in the fourth group.Thats gotta be the "lets do it and hope for the whatever" group.
I have a hard time following audio books unless I’m really, REALLY interested in the subject matter. MK has been trying to get me to read more widely and read more American classics, but I wasn’t able to get through the audio version of “Grapes of Wrath.” I kept falling asleep. The book isn’t that boring. I will get it from the library and finish reading it in print.
Carrie, from what I’ve observed and from the way you describe yourself in your writer’s profile. I would guess you and MK have a similar learning/teaching style. A combination of kinetic and analytical. (Kay does say “I think” all the time.) Even what you wrote about getting people to go along with your schemes and learning to be humble as you age is very familiar to me. Mama Kay has simply been a slower learner when it comes to that last part. lol. She would be hard to live with, if she didn’t have a sense of humor about herself. She has a t-shirt that says: “People who think they know everything are particularly irritating to those of us who do.”
Vickie, I thought the Bell Witch sounded familiar. I read all of Kathryn Tucker Windham’s books when I was young. She wrote about the Bell Witch. Some of Windham’s family lives here so all of her books were in our little library. I especially had fun reading a collection of her Alabama ghost stories while sitting in the library reading room because it was about the ghost that supposedly haunts that very place. It was a women’s college long ago.) I think that was when history stopped being a boring subject to me. I volunteered there as a teenager keeping up the library’s computers and shelving books. No ghostly encounters, but they told me she doesn’t make mischief for you if she likes you. :-) There are two fairly recent movies made about the Bell Witch hauntings. I’m going to find out if either is available from NetFlicks. ~Nadine~
We bought a book about her at the cave but DD has it somewhere.I'm a rock theif. and had picked up a rock from the cave to take home.DD insisted i put it back before we left.I put it up on a ledge.
When we got to a tourist center just before we intered NC. We got out of the car and a green limb on a tree broke right in front of us with a loud crack. A sun shiny calm
day.no wind.We both spooked and blamed it on the witch.
TN history recognises her tho not as the movies portray her.
It's fun to think about.
As Debra pointed out in one of the other Accessible threads, you always find some sort of insecurity when you scratch the surface of people who seem arrogant or seem to have a sense of superiority. Over the years, you become better at not taking things personally when someone reacts badly to you. You begin to realize it was probably not you per say that triggered the response from them. It is more likely something said or done has roused one of their personal psychological demons from sleep. (EVERYBODY has those.) The tough part is not to let other people’s roused personal demons wake your own up.) If you live long enough and have enough emotional courage to be honest with yourself, you learn to discern between the psychological gremlin you’ve been stuck with and what is really you. If you survive that, you might go on to apply what you’ve learned about yourself to other people. You find you are able to discern when it is someone else’s emotional demon you are dealing with or whether that is the way that person really is. The next step is to learn how to snare a loosened PD before it does anyone damage. Hand it back to the person it came from and give that person a lesson on the care, feeding and management of PDs. Maybe, we could pull all that off if we lived to be the age of Methuselah.
People questioning my intelligence is a chink in my emotional armour. I'm confident about my innate intelligence, but my formal education was not that good and I’ve had to deal on a regular basis with those who had rather impressive formal credentials. I had a man tell me once, up front the day he was hired, he didn’t think I was qualified for the job I was doing and he intended to have my position within six months. He did have it within the time he said he would, and, completely destroyed the company within a year. No, I didn’t have a degree in Business Administration. However, I did know better than to try to cut our construction material cost by using ungalvenized nails to construct a beach house. (Worse, the beach house was painted white and belonged to an attorney. Ungalvenized steel rust and “bleeds” quickly in damp, salt air and that bleeding is extremely obvious against a white background. The lawyer had a very well justified law suit.
Like Katie said elsewhere. Knowing intellectually what you should do is good. But, convincing your emotional self to do what your intellect says is not so easy. That is probably a good thing. Logic and intellect are not always trustworthy. There will always be things you don’t know. Wasn’t it Socrates who wrote, “Wisest is he who knows he knows not?”
Vickie, I tend to avoid movies made from books I enjoyed. The movies are usually a disappointment. The Lord of the Rings trilogy wasn’t too bad; they left out some of my favorite parts of the books though. I loved the story of the Ents and the Ent-wives. Much of that wasn’t in the movie. Kay*
Coleus cuttings in the windowsill.
:( All my cuttings dried up. The heat in my office is way too high (it's a tiny room with a normal size radiator) and I had surrendered it to my step-son then to painters and then to the French exchange student. All my careful cuttings created crispy critters. But Debra, yours are very, very pretty.
Kay, I knew how the nail story was going to turn out before it was over! That person didn't have the sense he was born with. (If any.)
Looks good, Debra. I like the one with the pink-center, dark green band and lighter green border.
I lost mine this year too, Carrie. I think I will go back to cutting the plants back in late fall and bringing the whole plant inside for the winter. I guess I will need to look for types that naturally stay smaller. I stopped bringing the whole plant in because they can get the size of shrubs here in a growing season. At least, I will still have the species type that grow from seed this spring.
High was 39 degrees today. Sleet expected tonight. Shoot, if we are going to start having winters like this, I might as well move back north. :-) (Jim)
.
Jim, you and i are having the same kind of weather, except i thought you were in the high 20,s like me. It is snowing to beat the band.
Kay, I had too much on my plate when i was little and it left big scars.But i do good most of the time.Some things i could figure out and forgive but others had to be pure evil meaness and that is harder.
I also had my husband and his family to lead me out of the wilderness. They had more influence over my life than anything else.
I need to look at flower catalogs tomorrow, and forget the snow. Guess it'll be fun for a day but i'm looking forward to spring. LOL I put up Easter window clings today.My bunnies and baby ducks will be looking out at snow tomorrow.
I'll have to call my nephew tomorrow to see how he fared in the snow. All the E Texas folks are hibernating.
Jim, Do you have a good place to start your seeds?
Carrie, The old southern saying is "He did'nt have the sense God gave a goose."LOL
Debra, you do good with ALL your planting indevers(SP)
Vickie
Jim, I don't have space in my house for pots of coleus and other tender annuals - I barely have space for myself and DH, DD#2. Almost cheaper just to plan to buy new ones every year because that's what I end up doing in July, when a lot of coleus season is over.
Carrie, I've got to ask! What do you do in the spring when everything is blah? Thats when i go nuts for growing anything. Do you have spring flowers?
Obviously, still got bunnies on the brain. The homeless Different Shades of Green article is in your Dmail, Carrie. Wonder what little animal will take up residence between my ears next? :-)
Vickie, my grandmother said "ain't got the sense God gave a billy goat. lol. Nadine
Vickie,
we use Amaryllis and forced crocus and catalogs AND Daves Garden! I bought a pot of crocus today at the grocery store.
trying to get rid of all the extra space
This message was edited Jan 11, 2011 9:53 PM
I have sometimes wondered what real-life animals think when they encounter life-like garden ornaments made in their images. I must admit that a possible case of unrequited love never occurred to me. :-)
Vickie, Kay has the mini-greenhouse I made from scrap material stuffed full of winter-sown things. It is an unheated greenhouse so I guess it still qualifies as winter sown. I won't plant my coleus seeds until late March. Looking forward to it! I'm ready for this winter to be over.
We're short on space as well, Carrie. The house is a jungle during the winter. Aftre my fuss in past years about needing a machete to cut my way through the foliage, nursing coleus plants through inside would not go unremarked I am sure. They would have to be hard-to-find cultivars to rate that treatment. (Jim)
DD is cleaning her room - changing the sheets and sweeping and EVERYTHING. You'd think she'd do some of that in the rest of the house someday.
Mebbe, Carrie, but this is a good start. :-)
Carrie,That should have been in the I'm thankful thread. If your DD is like my DD,s....Don't count on it.However when you reach 80,They may get you a housekeeper at your expense. LOL
Still snowed in. My cats are getting cabin fever. ALL ARE VERY VOCAL ABOUT IT. I am mostly sleeping. Depression is getting to me again.
Living room is semi-clean.
Have a great day good friends.
Vickie
Hi just wrote a long post, then hit a wrong button and lost it. I hate it when that happens.
Vickie - keep posting. Don't hide out. That is an order.
I've got miscl. pains all over. I may just go back to bed. Or when Tony gets here maybe we can go to the dump and look for tires. We're getting to where we need them for paths and fences in the arroyo.
hugs, katie
When I clean up without being told to do so, MK and PJ start talking about wehre "the pod" might be hidden. A reference to some old movie called "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Never seen it. Don't think I want to. It sounds almost as bad as "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" or "Night of the Lepus." And, people say MY generation is odd. lol.
I second what Katie said, Vickie. With Depression, it's like you collapse inward, if you don't keep pushing outward.
Hugs,
~Nadine~
PUSH we gotta push or we will collapse! I know I will. I'm gonna write an article called "If the earth is getting warmer, why is it so cold here?" Could apply to a lot of places ............. everywhere in the US. I heard Hawaii is the only state with no snow.
I'm not hiding out. Here i'm am! I am fighting it. Going to town today helped alot too. We've still got snow but it's all melted in town. Thanks for the "Push"
Nadine, That was a good movie.
My very favorite old scary movie was The Day The Earth Stood Still. Think they recently made a remake of it.
Carrie, You will have to put in your article,The weather theory that a butterfly flapping its wings in South America can ultimately make it rain in Kansas.
We had a ring around the moon tonight. I think it's supposed to mean it's going to rain. Which could be, since it's light shining off ice crystals.
night all
Vickie