March 2013 Marching into Spring while flying a kite!

Funny story about HD. My husband was going there the other day to buy a furniture dolly. He has a band gig coming up & will use it to move heavy equipment; such as speakers. My daughter & I asked to ride along so that we could sneak out into the garden dept.; which we did immediately upon arriving. I told my husband to call me when he was checking out. We started out looking at houseplants when a sales clerk cheerfully announced that the rosebushes outside were on sale! Of course, I immediately followed her. After a while, I remembered about my husband & why we really came to HD. I gave him a call & he said I'm looking right at you. I looked all around & finally I noticed him standing back by the bags of rocks. He said that oddly the furniture dollies were stored in the garden dept. lol

Will, about the Mothman Prophecy. It's about actual events that happened in Point Pleasant, WV in 1967 when the Silver Bridge collapsed. There's some Indian folk lore involving a "mothman" like creature that predicted this event who supposedly visited some of the residents prior to the bridge collapse. The Mothman is believed to be a harbinger of imminent disaster. The story about the residents and bridge collapse is all true though 46 died; not 36 & the reason for the collapse was later discovered. What's questionable is whether the Mothman exists. You might enjoy the movie after all. I haven't watch it in years.

If we ever make it back to the KC area, we will let Will & Amanda know that we're coming. We're hoping to make it as far as Eldon right now to visit my husband's younger sister. We haven't visited his sister & hubby in a few years now. I like stopping off at Missouri Wildflower on the way thru the Jeff City area. Then, there's my cousin in Okla. City that I'm also hoping to visit soon. I haven't seen him since he went away to college in the 60s. He's been a pastor for over 30 years & has recently retired & settled down in one place. He moved so frequently before that I'd lost track of him. Then, there's my oldest sister up by Bowling Green, MO. These are only a few of my desired travel destinations; mostly to visit relatives. I thought about doing it all in one trip & just making a loop. Dependable transportation has been a recent issue. Of course, the last trip that I took to TN visiting family was done in a rental car. We could always do that again. Then, there's the gas prices ...

I was awakened this morning by the smoke detector beeping over my bedroom door. It was ready for it's biannual battery change. Fortunately, I had a fresh battery handy. Our foxhound has been outside ever since & won't come back in. I guess the beeps bother her sensitive ears.

Time to get ready for church. It's also the day I have my gr-daughter, so I'll be quite busy today. We're going to start some more seeds today. Of course, this day will speed by with the time change. Enjoy!

Great, I look forward to the visit! If you do come to KC someday, we'll have a visit! I put the Mothman dvd by the tv, I'll watch it. Actually, movies that were based on some lore or a tale in history or a book or something, even though technically not real can still be quite interesting for me. Now stuff like Bigfoot and other sightings and ghost stories I'm not really into. You can usually tell that it's being promoted for something, whether it be an individual seeking notoriety and probable book deal or a motel that says it has a "haunted room" or some ghost somewhere, to drum up business. Falsehoods really work out for some people, look at Bernie Madoff (billions) or Lance Armstrong (125 million dollars self worth), those are just 2 people that got caught, think of all the people who get it by on everybody.

I got my 2 wheeler from Harbor Freight. I was skeptical at first about buying stuff there because everything there mostly is made in China. But that red 2 wheeler for then (2007) $25.99 has been invaluable since! I think I saw it on sale there even now for $29.99. I'm sure HD has the quality though, you can't go wrong there.
Glad somebody else thinks those birds look real, I thought I was losing my mind! Thanks for the compliment on my joke pic, I wish it worked!!

Boy, wouldn't that be a nightmare to die because a bridge collapsed. I recall a couple that musta been terrifying for the people in cars on that interstate bridge in Minneapolis that you mentioned, greenbrain, and the bridge collapse over the Arkansas River on I-40 I think it was.
I've drove over a lot of bridges in my time (the regular way) and I always think, "what would I do if I went over this bridge because my tire blew out?". I always thought I'd just unbuckle my seatbelt and swim to shore but it's probably way more tragic than that. After your car goes in the water, probably to the bottom, your doors won't open because of the water pressure and electric windows won't work. I have obsessed with that over and over! One time in Dallas, I was going over this real high overpass when I was 18 or so and my tire blew out at the top! Before that I thought, "what would I do if my tire blew out up there?", when it happened I calmly just drove down to the bottom of the overpass and changed my tire! I'm sure it was just coincidence (as I've always been a little nuts!), but really, it helps to think about those things that could happen! I only lived in Dallas for 2 years, I was born here and raised here, there's no place like home!
Actually, I think people are in a pretty bad way if that happens. Maybe that's why both my Sisters and my friend here got something (from me) to break a car window and it has a built-in razor for cutting a seatbelt off, it's called an emergency hammer. It only cost $2.99 then, but Harbor Freight doesn't carry it anymore, I was going to get my stepmom one for Christmas. When my Sister got in that wreck, she was upside down, as it turned out, she didn't need it. The car was upside down, so of course everything rolled to the roof right in front of her and there was the hammer! Ideally though, one wouldn't want it loose because if it's warm weather the windows are going to be down and theoretically the hammer could go out the window during the crash.

Hehe.. yeah Pepper, I know what you mean there about smelling other company's food. This morning my friend and me were walking thru the parking lot at Walmart and I said, "do you smell that?", it was Chinese food from somewhere, I don't even know where. My friend could smell it too. I said, "is there even a Chinese restaurant around here?! The vents from those restaurants I guess blow out their food smell, it's probably done on purpose! lol

Thanks pepper, I'd love to work there, but only time will tell. I just looked in the Home Depot folder in my Yahoo email, I have now applied there 11 times.

Smoke detectors, man, there is some life-savers right there! Them and Carbon Monoxide detectors are must-haves for every home. Carbon Monoxide detectors especially in regions where the home windows are up in the Winter, like here. On the news, just the other day a man and his son died in their sleep because of that, very sad. Poor hound, Jojo?

Boy, that time change crept up on me today, even though I knew it was coming! I told my friend before we went shopping, "did you know it's 7:23 not 6:23, I bet daylight savings was last nite?"! It was and we got to the store quick! Us introverts hate a crowd, but we've learned to deal with it..lol!
Where'd that juhur go?!
Will



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This message was edited Mar 12, 2013 10:48 AM

Kind of worn down the last couple of days Weather change, time change , it got me also. I was digging the last few hours wore me down.
60 degrees here and every thing is a mud mess , Cleaning what the cats and squirrels left me for fertilizer in a couple of garden beds , yeah that was fun , thank you for shovels huh?
Dug a hole to see where an age old walkway was going under the yard . pre -road brick . /... really old ...

viewing planning. trying to limber up and be able to get er done ./. not as much fun as you all's pic's but tomato plants with two or three months to go . ..

..

Hi juhur! It looks like your seedlings will be ready in a while! Yeow 60° will melt some snow! After the recent rains and temps in the upper 50's, the snow here is mostly melted except for big piles and places that get no sun.
I started some Coleus cuttings this afternoon. I cut them off the big plant and put them in 3 coffee cups of water. - There is 2 cuttings in each cup of water, I tried to set them away from each other so roots hopefully don't get all tangled up.
I put a couple of Houseplants in the kitchen, it did have a Mother-In-Law's-Tongue in there but I took it out because Feng Shui says plants with points shouldn't be used. I'm not all that into Feng Shui but my friend likes it pretty well. I thought Feng Shui was more ethnic and out there, but really it's some practical, good advice and common sense stuff. I personally love my Mother-In-Law's-Tongue and I wouldn't harm it or anything. Anyway, I just put a couple of houseplants there that don't have leaves that resemble knives! They are just my Tricolored Jasmine and my Pothos.

juhur7, very nice tomato plants! I know how that is digging after the long winter rest. I was worn out yesterday from turning the compost pile.

We went to Mobot today after church for the annual orchid show "Madagascar 2013". It was like visiting a tropical paradise in the dead of winter. We browsed the garden shop & I bought 3 small houseplants for $1.90 each (areca palm, tricolor dracaena, ficus elastica) and a pack of catgrass seeds.

Crossing the McKinley Bridge we got a good look at the new Mississippi River cable stayed bridge under construction.

Daisy is a foxhound that I adopted almost 8 years ago. JoJo is a pointer/beagle mix and belongs to my gr-daughter Chloe. I found them both on petfinder.com. Here's a pic of Daisy.

You went to Mobot eh, green?! I am envious, I want to go to that place! I have a Ficus elastica 'Variegata' (variegated Rubber Tree). It's one of my plants that started out tiny, years ago, and is now getting some size, the trunk is nearly an inch in diameter! You'd never know I paid $2 for it, it is over 5 years old! I'll post some photos of it from back then and today. - Oh, a $1.90 plant WILL be great big someday! I have big plans for mine this year! I'm going to put it in a nice pot and maybe grow striped Wandering Jew at it's base. It's getting big, it should be in a nice pot and on display. In that same pic is some other plants that I recently potted up, a Begonia (in the hexagonal shaped galvanized metal planter), a Ponytail Palm (in yellow planter) and striped Wondering Jew, a Mezoo and some Coleus cuttings (below, in the blue oval plastic planter). That's the Rubber Tree on the left, the tin-foil and landscaping staples are to keep cats out.

I gotta see that Chain-of-Rocks bridge, it really sounds cool. I did some reading on it and it really is interesting. - http://www.theroadwanderer.net/66Illinois/chain.htm That was just one site that came back from a search that I did at Bing. I learned quite a lot about it. It was a part of the famed Route 66 road system of old, it is crooked for two reasons actually, 1 because of navigation difficulties the barge operators and boaters. And another, because of the geologic difficulties with the bedrock where the pillars were to be on a conventional bridge were deemed inadequate to support the concrete pillars. Those other 2 structures in the river are water intake towers from way back, they were installed in 1894. It really sounds like a unique and long bridge, you are lucky to have it so close, Betty! Glad to hear a new bridge is under construction in St. Louis, that's all we need is another bridge disaster! I watched part of The Mothman Prophecies so far, that is a scary movie. I haven't got to the bridge collapse yet. I can't find the remote so I can't pause it and the unit itself doesn't have a pause button, it costs only $30, I know, I bought it and I'm kinda tight! lol I'm not a sit down person and watch a whole movie type of person. Altho, I have done it alot, I usually need to do something else that's pressing at the time. I'll find the remote eventually, a cat probably relocated it for us! They step on the buttons and they have to be reset often!

I watched that Tacoma-Narrows bridge video where it was swaying and collapsed, it is worth watching, what a disaster. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw It's too bad about the dog that wouldn't come out of that car. Speaking of dogs, Daisy looks like a good Christmas spirited foxhound!





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Will, what a fun post. You made me smile real BIG! : ) Yeah, that movie gave me the creeps. Just thinking about it last night, I was afraid to look out my upstairs bedroom window! LOL

juhur7, are you rested up yet? I hope my tomato plants catch up with yours soon. You've got a green thumb for sure!

pepper, How's things at HD? I've been a member of their garden club for a while, but I keep forgetting about it. You'll have to brief me on the benefits. I'm too lazy to read their emails.

I'm a bit tired from the time change getting up at 5:30 AM which really felt like 4:30 AM. I think that I'll need a nap before cooking dinner. ; )

Things are going great!! The garden club will start sending out coupons here pretty soon for plants mainly but sometimes soil and other stuff. Usually the heading will say something about that. I don't read majority of the emails either since I'm also lazy about it. lol

Thanks, glad you liked it, Betty!

I was reading my friend's big Feng Shui book earlier. Did you know the Money Plant is the adopted plant of Feng Shui? I'm getting a Money Plant!
Or that dripping faucets represent money slowly going away?! I was glad to learn that plants are a big part of Feng Shui, they bring in freshness and make a space look cheerful!
They even say a plant near a tv can help absorb the radiation put out by the tv. Did you know a sidewalk shaped like a funnel can represent money being funneled out of your house! They recommend a curved walk.
Feng Shui has a lot of good advice to help reduce stress and have a calming effect on everything.

UP this morning and not ready to do anything . Yes all rested and will be back !!! I dug some plants and played , what I mostly do >>>
So gardening and vegetable production is about to begin?


Glad to hear the garden club will be around with ideas for spring , we get those ,you know !!

Lots and lots of interesting folklore ,there sure is , and some sure seems to have an effect .. I like stone pathways though , always did..

About Mobot. I'm a garden member with employer matching contribution which ups my level! It's a gift that I give every year to myself that the entire family enjoys. Because we're just 15 minutes away, it's not a big deal. I figure some people spend a fortune on cruises, etc ... My vacation days are used for gardening, bike riding, & visiting Mobot. For me, it's less stress & more economical. At Mobot, I can travel to exotic places without leaving home. My children & gr-d grew up visiting Mobot. For them, it's a familar welcoming place filled with happy memories. Visiting certain festivals and annual events have become family traditions. We also have free admission at Powell Gardens. ; )

Years ago I bought this concrete mold for making a walk out of concrete that looks like stones, but I've never used it! Here it is still in the package, it's in good shape for being 6 years old! -
I believe that having a house is a pre-requisite unfortunately! Actually, I got that in anticipation of a landscaping business years ago, but that never got started. I bought some concrete coloring in the bottles and they are also about that old! Gardening and vegetable production is indeed about to begin, maybe not at my house but I'm sure it is somewhere! I'm just kidding, I have big plans for warm weather!

Good idea and Mobot would probably save some money over a traditional vacation. You must be a "friend" at Powell Gardens, I was a friend of Powell Gardens one time in 2001.
I remember the orange sticker that you put on your shirt that says, "I am a friend"! You're quite an outdoors person, greenbrain! According to Trailnet.org , St. Louis is very popular with bikers and hikers and outdoors activities. Trailnet is the organization that restored and brought the Chain of Rocks bridge back from extinction I learned. Nice photo of Tulips there, a previous Spring I trust?

Will, I've wanted to make my own stepping stones too to lay a stepping stone path. Then, a fellow DGer shared the trials of placing the pavers so that they don't crack. That post really discouraged me. I've layed a lot of brick paths & a small patio. They're very easy to lay. I understand now that it's all about the thickness. How thick are your pavers?

The tulip pic is from a few years ago. Did you notice the catnip? It keeps reseeding in my yard, so I move it where I want it. The reason that bed has survived the digging dogs& cats is the layer of chicken wire that covers this bed under the pine needle mulch. I guess that it also discourages the squirrels from digging up the bulbs. I realized yesterday that my tulip bed on the front lawn is blooming for the 18th Spring. My friends from a previous job gave me as a going away present a basket of bulb planting tools & tulip bulbs that I planted Fall 1995. The gift that keeps on giving! The photo of tulips is actually my rose garden. The roses were just getting started. They're pretty well established now. Since then, I've add irises. I need to relocate some of my daffodils in this bed. They're blooming now. This will give me bulb blooms from March thru May.

Just accidently ran across these pics from the Santa Parade taken a few years ago. I took almost 100 pics that day. Here's a few fun ones. The large shopping cart, Fred Bird, Chloe grabbing the candy, a friendly clown waving to Chloe, & finally -- Santa Claus!

Enjoy your day everyone! Happy gardening. : )

One more pic for a test. Somehow, my pic security setting got turned off. I don't know when it happened. I've just reset it, so here's a try to see if the feature is back on.

Mister Snow waving good bye until next winter -- I hope! lol

Hey there nice pic's to begin a morning , thank yo gb.
my hyacinths and daffodils are up ,no blooms yet .
It is interesting you showing that snowman this morning as it is snowing here now at 27 degrees and the temperatures are falling , it was 30 an hour ago and it is really windy and bitterly cold,as to say I hope old man winter is bidding farewell also ..
It is delightful to see your parades and fairs and carnival pictures . you all must have a wonderful time going to those.
Me an indoor moment or two to start some plants , I had a peace lily sprouted from seed and raised it up to high in the little pot and a draft got it last night , there are more seeds to sprout that I have already planted , it is only that they do not not germinate well and it takes forever to dry them properly.
Time to get a few things done ,be back later ; you enjoy your day also , all of you ..

juhur7, here's the secret as to why my daffodils have bloomed. They're planted behind the south facing wall of our garage. ; )

Fun photos there, green! Yeah, that old man Winter can just wave bye bye! My Ficus used to be as tiny as yours, green, but now look how big the trunk is!
That's it with the tinfoil! They like it at Plantfiles! - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/64411/

Oh, I'd need to get a closer look at that mold but I think the "stone pavers" are about 3" thick, that's not much if thickness matters, I might be in trouble!

Eeek, snow ju?! I believe our 60's and 70's are coming your and green's way! - http://www.kshb.com/subindex/weather/forecast/7_day_forecast If Crit's watching, it should be in the 70's in Tulsa, OK. right now, well, during the day they said on tv. We should be able to find out which trees for sure are dead during this period here, if a tree doesn't get buds in these temps., I'd say it's dead! There are so many dead trees around here because of last Summer, it is sad. I went to the nursing home where my grandparents are at today and even a big Colorado Blue Spruce that was landscaped around with mulch, benches and a birdbath, next-door, was brown. That was even more sad, they obviously thought a lot of it, now it's just a big brown tree, (it was about 2 feet in diameter at the trunk). My Mom has a big grafted Lilac Globe Tree in her backyard that was planted in 1997, I think it's dead, she paid $125 for it in 1997. Here even, I under-estimated a dissected Weeping Japanese Maple's, (planted in 2007) ability as what I thought was an established tree, it died I'm fairly sure, I'll be even more sure tomorrow and the next day, but it doesn't look good. My friend here is very unhappy about it, she says I killed it because I don't water her plants. I try to tell her that isn't true, but that I'm sorry and that I'll replace it, I feel bad about it, because I watered most everything else. I thought that tree could take it is all, I was wrong. It was just a beautiful tree! I think I better pack a bag because she doesn't yet know for sure that it's dead! lol

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This message was edited Mar 14, 2013 5:22 AM

Will, I may be wrong about the rubber plant. There's another plant that it also looks like. I'll take a pic soon so that you can help me figure out what it is. Thanks!

I know how Will's friend feels about the shock of losing a treasured plant. I lost my very mature and beautiful prolific cherry bushes and highbush cranberry shrub that were at least 15 years old because I too thought that they'd be ok being in a rather shaded area. I lost a young fothergilla that I kept well-watered. I've read that immature roots can't keep up with supplying enough moisture to the entire plant during a drought & heat wave; even with regular waterings. Sometimes too the drought & heat causes them to fall prey to spider mites. I was hosing off a lot of my plants to knock out the spider mite infestations.
http://treesandshrubs.about.com/od/diseaseandpestmanagement/ss/Controlling-Spider-Mites.htm
I learned my lesson after losing my Japanese maple to spider mites some years ago though it took me a while to figure out why it died.

I thought that the drought killed my rugosas, but I believe that I've figured that one out. The rugosa roses were planted along the alley where the mosquito spray truck fogs in the summertime. If you know about rugosas, they can't take any pesticides. Does that make sense to anyone else? Here's my thread from a few years ago. I found it when I "googled" mosquito spray truck and rugosa roses" a few minutes ago. (lol) I actually forgot about creating this thread & all the great advice provided by fellow DGers. : )
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1152271/

"Here she goes about Mobot again!" One resource that I keep forgetting to take advantage of is "The Plant Doctor". I've sent emails before and received some great responses. I've also spoke with volunteers in person behind "The Plant Doctor" desk while visiting Mobot & received some helpful advice. Since some problems could be regional, it may be easier for Mobot to diagnose my gardening problems. Then there's the U of IL Plant Clinic that provides news about local disease and pest problems. Here's a link to the "Hot Topics" here in IL; such as; sudden oak death. http://web.extension.illinois.edu/plantclinic/hottopics.cfm.
and another resource at U of IL for my area only: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/units/event.cfm?EventID=59075&UnitID=487
I bet you all have potentially helpful local resources since some gardening problems may be more localized.

I've been rather long winded here & need to get ready for work! I've helped myself quite a bit here remembering all these resources. Have a good day all! A pic of my former cherry bushes in the spring. RIP : (

Sure green, thanks for the vote of confidence on me, I would certainly try to id it for you, but alas, I'm no plant expert.
Oh, that Catnip is growing good for you! If we had a plant that big and nice it would be flattened out and chewed up by our cats! Altho, if it's outside, our cats wouldn't be able to get to it, but the strays would just love it I'm sure. I got some of those seeds from juhur recently and I found a big, old packet of them here also, so we'll see how any of mine do too. My friend here is a die-hard cat lover, she loves to see them chewing on plants, believe you me!

I watched all of The Mothman Prophecies, that is a crazy movie! I need to watch it again! I liked it. My friend's dvd's are in my room and Mothman was on top, I'd always heard about it and kinda wondered about that movie. I knew nothing about it, I thought it was like The Fly or something, I had no idea it was such a good movie. Thanks for mentioning it green, I am officially giving it my thumbs up! Spooky movie, I've always seen it in my room as it was on the top, I always thought that one day I'll sit down and watch it but I never did until you mentioned it, thanks.
Now I feel bad about all my bridge talk, I'm no Mothman, he or she or it or whatever it was, (they said it isn't human). I was just blabbing about bridges, I bet the ones there are just fine for everybody. I only did that modification of the Chain Of Rocks bridge to get revenge for your fake/real birds! lol

Oh, your not long-winded,green! If anybody is long-winded it's me! You say as much as you want, whenever you want! The way I look at it, my longish-sometimes posts don't have to be read, you pay $19.95 just like I do! And you talk about Mobot all you want, it's a plant lover's paradise, the more it's talked about the better I'm sure! Not that you need my permission or validation or anything, but you know, I'm just saying! It takes all different points of view, that also makes stuff interesting! I for one, would never be critical of somebody else's post, my critical acclaiming of other people's post days are over! I suppose if somebody accused me of being a bank robber, I might say something like, "oh really?, ok, see you on Judge Judy!", and I would sue them for slander or something! lol

I too, have learned a tremendous amount from fellow DG'er's.

Thanks for the links and info., green, about those nasties! : )

I'd like to get a photo of that big Colorado Blue Spruce that's dead and is/was the centerpiece of this nice landscaping, it'll almost make you cry!
That's too bad about your Nankings also green, what a bummer.
Will

The Mississippi River is high again after the rains and thawing up north. This is a good thing since the river had been dangerously low for navigation.

Will, I really wasn't trying to trick you or anyone with the dove pics; though it was funny that you thought they were real. lol I also wasn't trying to compare you to the Mothman, but I'm glad that you liked the movie. If you were a "Mothman" no plants would be safe with you around. : ) I do like your sense of humor. Laughter is the best medicine & it keeps us all from going insane!

My youngest daughter & I took the dogs walking. I kept falling behind walking JoJo because he had to mark every tree, pole, etc ... Then, he would run to catch up with Nicole & Daisy. It was good that we walked because I cooked a big dinner -- fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, & green beans. Now I'm ready for a nap.

This March wind has been blowing a lot of debris into our yard. Today it blew in a nice big flower pot. "Thank you March wind." : )

Random pics: Real rose, fake (I repeat) fake owl, real hailstones, my "bootleg" compost pile (shhhh!), my family running the Mobot children's garden store.

One more thing that I keep forgetting to mention. If anyone is coming to St. Louis & can let me know a bit in advance, I'll try to meet you at Mobot & get you in with my membership. I'm allowed 3 guests & any children 12 & under. That is all. : )

A fake owl huh?! Well... Okay.....! Actually, I always did think it was fake, you never see owls during the day, plus it's pretty common to see fake ones used as scare-crows.
It's all the other ones that fool people! I'm onto you greenbrain! I'm just teasing, your a good sport! I know you weren't trying to trick me into thinking those birds were real, but I would if they were my birds! Oh I know you weren't comparing me to Mothman, but really, in a way I'm not totally unlike it! Although those powers of Mothman's were kinda cool. Who hasn't wished they could read minds or tell the future sometimes?! I still can't get over that movie, it has freaked me out for a while I'm afraid! I had an appointment with my job coach today. I wanted to dress up to do it like a real interview, a tie and everything. She put the silly questions to me like it was real even

Did you know the Mississippi and the Missouri make good recreational blue water and even lake-like in some areas in more northerly regions like the Upper Midwest? They're not too concerned about releasing more water to go downstream for navigation because their nice waters might shrivel up some, although I think the last year or two they had the hammer dropped on them..lol

Here is that Colorado Blue Spruce that is deceased that I was talking about. - It's a shame and pretty bad for these homeowners.
I feel sorry for them, that was a lot of work and money it looks like.

Thanks for the offer, green, maybe someday I'll celebrate a new job and go to St. Louis.

That's some ice/snowballs there, green. I see a burnt match in that photo at the top, I thought you swore off weed after New Years?!

Wow, bootlegging you a compost pile eh? I'm calling Madison, you don't have a permit, plus there's marijuana growing in it!

Oh thanks, I do have a sense of humor I suppose! lol Doing a little shopping at the garden store eh? That's quite a group there!

I couldn't get by with much here. Alderman across the alley, library next door, mayor @ other end of block, & cop across the street & 2 doors down. We're pretty well exposed here.

The catastrophic hailstorm was from last April & provided my daughter with a new car (ours was under the carport) & our home with all new roofs, guttering, & exterior paint job; including the garage. This area was buzzing with contractors all summer well into the fall from all over the country. The noise when the hailstorm hit sounded like the end of the world! I had just set out my tomato & pepper seedlings a few days before & they survived. : ) Many windows were broken out; cars & buildings. Our aluminum awnings took the beating & spared our windows. Many homes around here have new siding and roofs. Our old cement board siding didn't have a nick in it. Just the paint was chipped off on one side of the house. I still see people driving around in hail dented vehicles.

To set the record straight, I've never smoked anything & don't like to be around smokers. No offense to any smokers, it's just not for me. I'm an avid sugar-free peppermint gum chewer. I'm chewing a wad right now. (lol) My drug of choice is ice cream. I just ate some green mint chip for dessert. My drink when indulging; diet Dr. Pepper. I had some with my green mint chip ice cream. Yep, gum, soda, & ice cream are my vices.

Has anyone had a chance to work outside yet? The past few days have been nice here. I'm hoping to plant peas & onion sets in the next few weeks.

My daughter's 2 battered cars. She used the insurance money to buy one good new car. Enjoy your weekend!

Wow, I've never seen hail damage that bad! I hope nobody got hit on the head or anywhere else! I hope they offered her at least $5,000 or totaled the car. That is about as bad as rolling it and my Sister got 7 something thousand from insurance when that happened, it was totaled they said.

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These 2 videos are the same hailstorm where it started in MO before crossing the river to IL. The impact and size of the stones are similiar to what we experienced in our area. The anniversary is coming up next month. The last time I experienced a hailstorm like this one was back in the mid 60s which would have been almost 50 years ago. I was sleeping and the window over me broke out. I'll never forget that hailstorm either which caused the same type of damage to homes and vehicles. If this happens in my area every 50 years, I shouldn't be around for the next one. There's many more videos available on youtube of the 4-28-12 hailstorm. Here's a few. The second one reminds me more of what I saw looking out the upstairs window facing south that overlooks my garden. My husband was out making sure that our car was safe. I was only concerned about my tomato plants! LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iNg6TPZyFw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d1M4FNMHv8

So if you come to St. Louis in the Spring, best to wear a helmet. LOL

I'd say, boy, that hail will make a scratch! I watched the videos, I guess all you can do is stand there and watch your cars get bamboozled, lest you get knocked on the head by a big hailstone!
In the second video, that tree was really getting pruned, it turned the ground underneath green from leaves!

All the car alarms were going off! Anything plastic got beat up too; including Chloe's little playhouse. Our plastic lawn furniture & metal bbq grill looked like someone took a baseball bat to them. Even peoples mailboxes were beat up. Cloth awnings were torn to shreds. Many businesses' lighted signs were broken out. Vinyl siding looked like swiss cheese. Aluminum awnings; including ours; took a visible beating. My pear tree crop was thinned out & I had the best biggest pears ever! Our old garage got a much needed new roof at the insurance company's expense to name some of the positive outcomes. My daughter's vw rabbit that carried us to Powell Garden's was just a few years old & already needed a new transmission. She was glad that it was totaled before having the work done. The hailstorm ended up being a blessing in disguise; though things looked dismal during the storm. Here's some pics of the garage roof which I watched stones penetrate clear thru the rotten wood from the upstairs window. It has a pretty new roof now. Note the shredded silver maple leaves were scattered everywhere just like in the video. I was speechless watching the storm like it was a dream. I had my eyes wide open and jaw dropped. LOL For months, cars and roofs were covered with tarps & windows boarded up. Many folks drove around in their hail damaged vehicles with plastic over the rear windows. Contractors signs littered the landscape. It took a while, but the evidence of the storm has went from battered to brand new! The insurance companies took the worst hit.

Wow, that garage got pummeled good. I'd take the insurance money too, nobody blames the people that need it, that's what it's for. I remember about 10 years ago I dropped American Family because they raised my car insurance rate by $20 and I never made a claim in the 11 years that I had them. I called them one day and told them, "that's it, your welcome for the free money, I quit!". This other car insurance co. Progressive did that $20 thing too and I sent in my bill minus $20, they billed me for $20, I didn't send it, quit, then I found another insurance company (Geico) that hasn't raised my rate yet! The others say it's because they have to pay out big, ha!, there's plenty of money in the regular rate! I'm sure they didn't pay for all the stuff that got ruined or damaged in that storm or any other storm!

I got outside long enough yesterday to move some tires up front so my dad could take them to the tire drive this morning. Bad thing is he didn't leave soon enough and the 3 semi trailers were full by the time he got there so he had to bring them back home. The tires were a bunch I picked off the side of a back road on the way to work one day. I got sick of looking at them and the county leaving them so picked them up. Haven't been able to get rid of them since. lol. They sit behind the chicken house which is backed against the woods. Can't see them unless looking for them.

Pepper, I know what you mean. It's so hard to dispose of stuff like that these days. Maybe you could repurpose them. Here's a link to a DG article that suggests using tires for bordering and planting. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2649/

Here's some pinterest ideas. Everything from planters to swings. http://pinterest.com/bevstrickland/old-tires-repurposed/

This site suggests everything from flip flops to a composter. http://www.greenecoservices.com/top-25-ways-to-reuse-tires/

Anyone else have any ideas or suggestions?

We don't have a good spot for a swing here. We might at my grandma's but she's not strong enough to lift the one tire that might work. Plus moquitos (sp?) are supposed to be really, really bad this year so don't need to encourage them. lol

Hehe.. oh, greenbrain, I was only teasing you about smoking stuff, I'm sure you know! I used to smoke cigarettes, but I quit over 18 years ago, it was the best thing I ever did.
I watched Mothman again tonite, I tried to understand more about the movie.

Will, I checked out Mothman from the library today to watch with the family tomorrow evening. It's been years since I've seen the movie, so I've forgotten about alot of the scenes. I don't know if Chloe has seen it yet. My husband and Nicole love this movie too, so we'll all probably watch it together. I hope that Chloe doesn't have nightmares!

Has your weather changed yet? I understand that we'll be cooling down tonight with snow showers on the way. I guess we'll be sending the cold front on to juhur7 next.

My 3rd year organizing the church Easter egg hunt open to the community. I filled 150 plastic eggs with candy today & am working on 2 pinatas. I've got much more to do before the 30th, so I may have to drop out for a bit. Just don't worry if my posts start to fall off between now and then. I don't want to disappoint the kiddos. : )

Don't forget to wear the green tomorrow. I'll be wearing my "greenbrain". lol

Oh, don't forget to pause it and play it in slo-mo on Mothman when he/she/it drops out of the sky and causes that car wreck, I did and it was quite frightening! Yeah, it has changed but it's not really drastic but it's alot colder, it was 80 something degrees yesterday!. It's not really snow colder, it's generally around the mid forties usually now. The forecast could quickly change I'm sure, but it's starting to look more like early Spring - always cold and gloomy.

Yes, it's going to get plenty cold in Indiana from Missouri and Illinois! Juhur has been quite reclusive lately! I'll be sending her those cuttings of striped Wondering Jews soon, it should be warm enuff all the time to send them thru the mail, they are hardy to 20 degrees they say. I was watering them all a minute ago and I filled up the bowls that have the Wondering Jew cuttings and the Coleus cuttings in them too.

Kiddos?! Ha! I'm 45 years old, although, I feel.. ahem..45!

Green tomorrow! Yes, your brain is green!
Will

Will, the kiddos that I don't want to disappoint are the children attending the Easter Egg Hunt. I wasn't referring to anyone here.

The first year I organized the egg hunt, the turn out was low due to the weather. It was a cold, windy, gloomy day. Last year, we had nice weather & a huge turn out. The kids were divided up into two age groups, so we had two teams in separate yards. We had 6 dozen dyed/boiled eggs for the spoon races and egg toss. For the egg hunt, we hid 6 dozen plastic filled candy eggs. (This year I have >12 doz. already.) The grand finale was the candy & toy filled pinatas. The year before, 6 dozen plastic eggs were plenty, but not last year with the nice turnout. I hope to have plenty of plastic eggs this year, so that no child is disappointed. I always have great volunteers helping with the games, planning, cleanup, & supplying the treats. Last year, I spent quite a bit of my time facepainting. (I also twist balloons.) This year, I'll probably only do that if it rains because the games were enough to keep the kids busy.

Pic of some of the older kids tossing eggs last year. These are some of the "kiddos" that I was referring to in my previous post that I don't want to disappoint. Can you tell that they're having fun! : )

Hehe, that first girl on the right looks she's saying, "oh yeah?, you throw that egg hard and it breaks on me, they'll be big trouble!"! That's a nice group of church kids. My mom has an Easter Egg hunt in her front yard but the participants are getting a little big! Not really too old but a niece is 12 and around 5'8" in this photo, now, she is around 5'10'! That niece is on the right by that tree, the other big girls aren't hunting for eggs, except for the little girl.

Green, nobody takes offense at anything here! I know I'm not The Mothman, I know you don't smoke weed! I know I'm not a kiddo! I wasn't offended that you posted those birds, really, it's alright, nobody gets offended. Even if someone were to call me a sonofagun, I wouldn't mind, we are all friends! Everybody knows that nobody intentionally gets insulted here.
And I thought I was insecure! I'm just teasing! Really though, don't be concerned about people getting the wrong idea, nobody does, we all get along fine!
I'm starting to think you smoke crack! Betty, put down the pipe! You see, that was just a joke! I've been in this forum for a while and nobody has ever flamed on anybody or gotten nasty that I recall. Even if somebody ever has anywhere, people know the truth when they know the people. We're a pretty even-keeled, behaved bunch of people, we all get along fine.
Nobody likes anybody better than anybody else and there's not any cliques or anything like that here. A person is a person, everybody is treated the same.

Have you seen Mothman yet, green? The opening says "terror", so don't jump too much on the scary parts!

You know, The Mothman is real! - http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mothman+sightings&id=9475294A19E05C216EC980AF18300494120066BC&FORM=IQFRBA
http://www.bing.com/search?q=mothman+sightings&qs=AS&form=QBLH&pq=mothman&sc=8-7&sp=4&sk=AS3&ghc=1

Wow! The drama? Let's talk plants. ; )