Hey all,
I'm sorry I've not been on-line much, but as many of you know this time of year can be really busy for us here on the farm. : - )
However, I look forward to reading your thoughts and quotes, so I hope you'll continue to participate in this thread.
This is where we came from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1176874/
Hope you enjoy this page of the thread as much as I have enjoyed the previous pages.
Walk In Beauty~
SingingWolf~
Whew, I wasn't sure I could make that linkage work, but I finally got it to. Yippee.
Passiflora is the flower above, and I want to ask what you are passionate about?
This is something I am passionate about.
"The only way you can truly control how you are seen is by being honest all the time."
~Tom Hanks~
Works for me, and it doesn't mean you have to be hurtful with your honesty. You can refrain from speaking, but it has been my experience that the truth is less hurtful in the long run than any well meant lie.
Any one out there got anything to say or add?
WIB,
SW
Guess not.
I found this nice quote, and thought I'd share it with you.
John Quincy Adams,
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
I know it has nothing to do with the season, but DH inundates me with the political stuff, and I do agree with JQA's sentiments.
Merry Christmas to all . . .
And a Very Happy New Year!
WIB~
SW
Been a while since an addition, here's one for primary season>
"You have to read between the lies" JLH
Pots of Fressia laxa I am growing from seed
Good one Dale. I am impressed with your freesia too! : - )
WIB,
SW
And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
Confucius
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/confucius.html#ixzz1lsyMkqFM
Love your quote Dale. You Confucius me. Saw your 'small' photo and thought "that looks like San Francisco", then looked at your FL location. Clicked to enlarge it. It IS SF, right? Doesn't look like the Tampa I saw for 1991 SuperBowl when there.
Yes, SF - the Marina District. I am a former CA resident. Napa, Santa Rosa & San Fran.
When I retire, in the next couple years I am going to sell my house here and buy a trailer that is walking distance to the Pacific. Or maybe house over in Vallejo...or Richmond....or.....
In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of.
Confucius
Dale,
How do you manage to post multiple photos in one post? When i have tried that, the second one wipes out the first one, and i noticed others post one per post, so i assumed that was the only way.
When you retire you should take a look at this area along the Coast north of San Diego. The climate is just about the best i have seen anywhere and i have lived and worked in many places.
I see a note at the bottom that i have not noticed before, saying i can post up to five images, so maybe this is something new.
Ernie
Ernie,
I don't think I can afford any place near San Diego. I have been looking around and that area is pretty expensive for someone on a fixed income as small as mine is going to be.
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
Golden Gate Park>
Dale,
Prices out here where there is very little public transportation are influenced by the distance from where the jobs are. People that still have jobs are finding out the true costs of 90 minute to two hour commutes and trying to move closer to their work, so when we were looking for a place we found prices dropping the further from the big cities we got.
I would be surprised if prices here are any higher here than the Bay area, as the crazy environmental laws have made property development so expensive they have driven CA property prices unreasonably high the last thirty years.
All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
by Ashleigh Brilliant
Ernie, I suspect there are some places in my budget in SoCal, but, I have high school friends and family in NorCal.
And I like the cooler climate.
I want to live somewhere I can grow Iceberg lettuce all year long.
I like topiary!
Dale,
I like topiary, too, and enjoyed doing a bit of it with the Nursery Trees, not to make them look like animals but just to enhance their natural shapes.
But my favorites i think were natually distorted Sub-Alpine Firs, that we would collect just below timberline and sell to our customers. Most of them grew straight and beautiful in an elegant way, but some would be stunted, with growth reduced as much as 90%, growing 2 feet tall in 20 years instead of 20 feet, if they happened to take root in an inch of soil on bedrock, and some would be pushed over and bent by heavy wet snow. Just Natural Bonsai. I posted a picture on one i collected and kept, in the Bonsai forum.
Then, one of the Crabapples that i tried to grow, just wanted too much space to spread out for it to fit in the rows, so i helped it reach its potential. I will post the picture. It is called Strawberry Parfait, as that is what the blossoms looked like.
Ernie
"Always remember that you're unique, just like everybody else"
I like the strange or unusual things that the plant world offers.
And sometimes we force plants to be unusual>
Dale, I see you have tons of SF pictures. I suppose anything coastal is $$$$. There is a place further north than the Bay area I would like to explore, Ferndale near Eureka. Very moderate climate and quaint. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferndale,_California . Anything along the Mendocino Coast. I like Gualala, if not just for its name, but a woodsy coastal community.
Ernie, Your blossomed tree has a very cool shape and you have such a neat and tidy house/property. From one who lives on 'just dirt' property, that grass is glaringly green. My brain loves it as our brains crave the green color. I just would not want to take care of it and the hot dry weather here make grass a very big $$ project.
Quilty,
If you like the grass around the tree, I am sure you will like the view i had from there, looking across the valley. But the downside is the last winter i lived up there we had 14 feet of snow. So, just plain dirt, or even mud, was welcome by March.
That location is in North Idaho, thirty miles south of the Canadian Border.
Ernie
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
guiltygirl,
I lived in Eureka, briefly. Beautiful country, redwoods trees are weeds there. Also very boring, expensive and it takes hours to get anywhere. You have to be very 'self contained'.
Sonoma County is better. Ferndale is a nice area.
Ernie,
I grew up in Minnesota10 miles from Zone 3, according to the USDA. Most years it was zone 3. It wasn't until I was 17 that I realized that Aspen Trees didn't grow everywhere - and that some people in the US never had to shovel snow!
I have photos of Florida too>
Dale,
Will you tell me more about the fourth picture with the red foliage? Or give me the name, and i will look it up. Very pretty pictures.
I see you made the same mistake i did. She may be guilty of Quilting, I am not sure, but as far as i know she is innocent and calls herself Quiltygirl. lol.
Too bad we cannot have the best features of everywhere somewhere, isn't it?
Ernie
Ernie - AH, yes, gorgeous view! I thought that was your property in Vista. Yes, dirt or even wet dirt beats snow for more than one day.
Dale - you take great photos and those look like nice places to be (sans humidity). Are any of those your home or nearby?
Quilty,
I do have pretty grass here now, as i laid some fescue sod a couple of months ago, and it is growing so fast i had to buy a grass catcher for the mower. I may wind up with a hay farm, and like you say, the cost of water here in CA is just outrageous. But if you do plant any more grass, i highly recommend the Fescue.
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Ernie, Fescue is one of the best lawn grasses for the warmer areas of CA. Any problems with bugs?
Quilty, I never take photos of my home.....
I am a fan of the group of plants called Aroids>
Dale,
I have not seen any bugs around it so far, but i do hope it has some. What kind of bugs should i expect? We have about 30 or 40 wild birds here in the Spring, and I want enough bugs to keep them happy. But i left a large patch of weedy ground cover in front of the Patio, when i sodded the lawn, because the birds find more bugs and seeds there than they do in the grassy areas.
It is easy to tell from the nice pictures of the plants that you live in a warm climate. Have you ever noticed how the Tree leaves get larger as you go South? I assume the same rule applies to other plants. Just compare the Aspen you grew up with to the Magnolia, etc.
Ernie, have you heard about and plan to attend the Round Up up this way on April 14th? A few details are here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1240214/
Singing Wolf and her DH are great hosts at their farm and attendance is usually good for a fun time.
EARTH FIRST! We'll stripmine the other planets later.
Ernie, I never had serious lawn pests in San Francisco....Also the red plant way back is a bromilead, not sure which one. I took that photo down in Miami.
Quilty,
I have been reading about the re-union, but the situation is, while my mind and body are only 85 years old, my feet, ankles and ears are about 100 years old, so that has pretty well put a stop to my partying and socializing
But I am sure it will be a lot of fun, and i look forward to seeing a lot of discussion about it in the forums.
Dale,
I have never had a problem with lawn grass pests, either. And, until last Spring, when we watched the Fly Catchers repeatedly swoop down and grab a bug, i had no idea there was so many insects anywhere. But they do a good job of controlling them. While conditions would be ideal here for mosquitoes and other biting bugs, we see very few.
We are having a wonderful and badly needed rain today, the first good one since back in November.
"We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public."
Bryan White
Yep, that would be me.
Linaria>
"There's no place like home!"
~Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz~
I second that opinion Dale, and that's a nice photo of your lineria.
ERNIE, I so get how hard traveling can be on a person, but we'll
try to take lots of photos for you, at the RU. : - )
WIB~
SW
My life has been long periods of boredom, punctuated by little horrors. - DTG
I am bored, lets go shopping....
Oh boy, do I like the way you think! : - )
Last time I tried to show five photos at once the 'puter ate 'em! How'd you do that?
My YB in TX sent me this video, along with the comment that it seemed like fun in a sociopathic way.
I'm on the fence with this one. Would appreciate your imput.
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umEFHeo6mw
Everyone knows I hate rodents, but it does look so satisfying yet at the same time I wonder if it truly is humane? What about other burrowing critters who might be living in the vicinity?
Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
WIB~
SW
I think whatever it takes is just right. I have managed to eliminate my own with poison, water and stomping the tunnels with a digging bar, but have to kill immigrators that are trying to come in again. If my methods fail, i will be shopping for one of these, for sure.
Ernie
“I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.”
Rita Rudner
I haven't much sympathy for rodents. Seems as humane as any other form of warfare. I know Bubba would have a good time.
It definitely would take out parts of the sprinkler system.
Grassy things>
It's Spring and I'm so excited I wet my plants.
Containers>
Dale, I cannot believe your photographic arsenal. And NONE of these are on your property? Do you always have a camera or smartphone with you for photos? You take great shots. Loved this one: It's Spring and I'm so excited I wet my plants.
SingingWolf, I watched the rodinator video and at first, I too was thrilled. Gophers have destroyed a great deal here. Plants that are difficult to replace are gone or barely alive. But then I calmed down and realized you are right. What about all the other animals that share a gophers tunnels? For example, I want to attract and encourage gopher snakes. I wouldn't want to be killing the local snake population with one of those.
Meanwhile, Happy St. Patricks Day!!
"If you can't say something nice, change the subject."
~Unknown~
Too funny Dale, I love Rita Rudner, and still miss her wacky sense of humor.
I too loved the one about spring and wetting your plants. I love word play too. : - )
Not to mention, as QG said, you've got a great photo arsenal. LOL! : - )
I was thinking about the burrowing owls too, and the squirrels because the owls live in their old burrows. They don't like gopher burrows, and hadn't thought of the effect of the device on the pvc pipes underground. DH wouldn't like it if all his pipes got busted. He did think that it would probably kill the beneficial ground dwellers too, but they do tend to migrate after their prey. Hmmm . . . .
I do appreciate the lengths people will go to to thwart them pesky rodents, but I don't think the rodinater is for us.
Nice hearing from you Cat. It's been awhile. I've missed you. : - )
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
WIB~
SW
Here's my thought for today.
Each day is a new canvas to paint upon. Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness, and at the end of the day you don't look at it and wish you had painted something different.
Unknown
WIB,
SW
