Your Neck Of the Woods part11 Independance Day

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1361897/
Hope you all have a great safe holiday.
I thought this cleaver little guy embodied the holiday quite well.

This message was edited Jun 29, 2014 6:36 AM

Definitely a perfect 4th of July giraffe! :-)

He's cute! Thanks Ric

Visited my aunt in Cumberland MD on friday. She's moving into assisted living, looks like a nice place. But it's been a big job for my fifth-cousin who's her main caregiver, to help sort thru 91 years worth of things in her house. She seems to be getting over the grief of losing 'stuff' well though.

Among the things she's kept of her mother's is a rose bush, it's roughly a hundred years old. There's just one branch right now but it did bloom this spring, some big pink flower. I would like to rescue that, this fall. Maybe next visit in summer I should dress it with some compost or gentle fertilizer?

wow, that's something about her 100 year old rose bush! Definitely something to try to preserve this fall.

sallyg:

You also ought to try to root a cutting of this heirloom from new summer growth, as a backup to whatever else you might do to rescue the plant this fall.

I have not done this in a very long time. 1985? 1986? Wow - that was a career and a half ago. Wet soil with a cutoff plastic milk jug was about the extent of necessary devices.

Good for you on saving this provenance...show us some pics some time.

VV good idea.

There is this house about a 1/2 hr drive from us. Not on our regular route so I don't see it often. It has the most interesting pond(?). We were out that way today and happened to have the camera so I took a few pictures. I think there is a Spring Head where this is. I had thought that the small building to the side might be a spring house but it isn't. The whole area is surrounded by limestone walls. The water is very very clear looks about 2ft deep but with the clarity it could be much deeper. I just think it is the most interesting spot.
First pic shows the front area closest to the road.
Second Pic is a bit hard to see but that bridge goes over the water and that whole area behind it to the back limestone wall is water. The was a good bit of algea growing back there so it just looks green in the picture.
Third Pic more of that back pond area. It is huge, notice the steps in the backwall that go down from the upper yard to the waters edge.
Fourth Pic Interesting stone fence along the road.
Fifth Pic Front area along the road, at this end where the walls taper to a point the water runs under the road and comes out on the other side.

1st Pic So here it is coming out from under the road, pretty good flow going. There is another stream down the road a bit that comes down from another direction and runs under the road. This is where my stream joins with the other steam. The one I was talking pics of is on the right flowing into the other stream.
2nd Pic is the other stream before it runs under the road.
3rd Pic where the other stream comes out and joins with my stream.

Holly, that's really interesting. I think you're right about a Spring Head!

that is so neat Holly, thanks!

Sally, I knew you would like it, too.

Sally---

I would suggest using a 2L Soda bottle as the container for rooting the cutting.
OR--you can even use the quart-sized flavored water bottles for small cuttings.

1--you can see through it and watch it's progress

2--If needed--it is easy to remove the top portion to let more air in...

3--Just leaving thre top off is a nice wau to allow air to come and go.

4--You could add as much as 3"-4" of soil at the bottom--as you would only be cutting
off the top at the curve/shoulders of the bottle.

Is it "clear" that i HATE using the gallon milk bottles...most inconvenient. Awkward..

Nice looking place!!!

Hehehehehe on typos , etc.

Gita, to answer your question, yes, I knew what you meant. Not having access to wifi very often is hard. A lot has happened since the last I checked in. Our plans totally changed. Our friend that lives in Juneau was NOT going to be there, so we decided NOT to get on the ferry. Instead we went to Seward and the Kenai Fiords nat'l park. We camped right on the water with hundreds of RVs. Lots of campgrounds run by the town of Seward. Very smart town managers. LOTs of fishing boats and tour boats. We took a 7 1/2 hour boat tour of some glaciers and saw LOTS of animals: a family of 6 orca and several humpbacks(one was breaching) and a rare sighting of a fin whale. The sound when ice calves off a glacier is amazing!!!

Today we got on to the Cassiar Highway and are camped at a beautiful place on 28 mile long Dease Lake and I have wifi at my campsite out in the middle of nowhere. Tomorrow we will go to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. Hopefully some salmon are running so we can see some more bears.

Jan, what a wonderful trip you're having!! Thanks for taking the time to let us see some!

Looks like a wonderful trip, Jan! thanks for sharing the photos!

Jan, such gorgeous pics! AK's definitely on my bucket list.

Have you all heard of coywolves? They're coyote-wolf hybrids found living in DC suburbs, and possibly in Rock Creek Park! They eat garbage, rats, mice, and unfortunately feral cats and small dogs as well.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2014/07/01/coywolves-coyote-wolf-hybrids-are-prowling-rock-creek-park-and-d-c-suburbs/

yikes, SSG. That is scary!!

holy cow! sounds almost too freaky to be true.

eats fawns, rats ,trash, and feral cats... no wonder they're moving in. American suburbs are good at producing all those.

The ecosystem evolves. Ugh.

Thumbs up Jan!!! Have a wonderful time.

coywolves, may be what is needed to control feral pets, and urban deer populations.

Ric, I also think of coywolves as a possible positive. We just have to be careful about leaving our pets outside unattended, or walking them off leash. I know Californians with small pets always have to consider the coyotes.

I just don't want the coywolves to turn to dog-like raccoons! Raiding the trashcan is so much easier than catching a squirrel.

Hmm..I guess I'd better be careful where I garden in the forest and make sure I look for dens. People have seen coyotes there. So far the most startling thing I have encountered was this creature sprawled among the Spring Beauties. He sure picked a beautiful place to die.

Coywolves sound interesting!!!

Today we made it to Prince George, BC. It was 79 degrees at 6:30. We splurged and got full hookups with free wifi and free showers and a heated pool. All for $28. Jeff is taking advantage of the pool. And I am taking advantage of the wifi. Hehehehe. Should be in Oregon on Saturday to see the kids. Woohoo!!

Well, crap. Just got a letter that our current health insurance won't exist after Dec 31 2014, so we'll be shopping again...guess I should be grateful we'll have time to shop.

So sorry to hear that, Sally. Yes, at least you have lots of time to work that out.

Sounds like a nice place to stop, Jan! Enjoy your rest!

Did anyone check out Jill's Blueberry Article today? She originally wrote it a few years ago after she and I went blueberry picking. It was about a month or so after I had met her in person. We live so close to each other, and that was one of the first of many, many get togethers. Brings back a real happy memory. The headless person wearing the holder around the neck so that hands are free for berry picking is moi LOL. Oh, and that muffin recipe is fantastic!

Great photos of blueberries--makes my mouth water! :-) Sounds like it must have been a beautiful day to share with wonderful memories.

LOL Teri, Our friend Vicki says when I'm pickin' berries I'm a teen girls worst date, an eight handed idiot. The girls loved to take me along, as much fun as berry pickin' is, no one wants to be at it all day.
I'd wear my bucket around my neck and pick with both hands, getting 3-4 to their one. When I was a kid, I used to pick for a couple of locals. I'm not sure if we even got 5 cents per qt. I do remember cherries paid 10 cents for a 10 qt. bucket, and tomatoes were 5 cents for a half bushel. Summer jobs were hard to come by back then and I had a taste for dinero. Gee, a hot fudge sundae cost a whole 25 cents.LOL

LOL Ric you make it sound like you're 100 years old!

Hard to remember when we all just got to know each other...and Joyanna is getting ready for kindergarten?? The time flies

...I remember taking a streetcar to school. It cost 10 cents...

I remember making a fuss when gas went up tp 59 cents/gal.

I remember cleaning a house, making the beds, doing all the ironing and
scrubbing all the bathrooms all day on a Saturday for a family.
I walked about 2 miles to get there...I was paid $6.

Doing similar chores for an old lady on Fridays after school for about 3 hours.
She paid me $2.50 for it--but did feed me dinner--a bologna sandwich.

This was all in the 50's....just for perspective... G.

I remember when McDonalds was a new chain and just building for the first time in our area. Buy a whole meal and get change back from your dollar! :-)

I remember when there were ads on TV for different gasoline brands, and part of the draw was that the guy would come out, wash all your windows, check your oil, *and* you'd get a free souvenir glass just for using their station.

I remember the excitement of getting our first color TV (I was in the third grade) and finally knowing what color everyone's clothes were in the shows we watched!

Those gas station steak knives are THE BEST utility knives around the house. Indestructible.! Choice of lovely faux wood or lovely faux ivory!

LOL Sally! I wonder whatever happened to ours...

I think it was Pathmark gave a real crystal glass with a fill up.

Just took the time to read the last page of this thread. Wow, what a difference between country and city life in those days. When I was 15 I rode 2 buses to get to a supermarket in Hackensack, NJ to make 1.00/hr working on the cash register. When I was working too late to be legal (too young) , the manager would send me downstairs to the meat refrigerators when the inspector came to check on the workers. I worked from 5 until 10 on Fri., all day Sat and Sun....and I was RICH.

I also remember the first ever "Ginos". It was owned by Gino Marchetti--
one of the "Colts" players...the old football team of yore.

It was on the corner of Greenmount Ave. and 33rd Street. I had to transfer
from the #8 streetcar to a bus on that corner to go to my school.

My High School (Eastern HS--all girls) was directly across the street from
the old Memorial Stadium here in Baltimore.
I remember when they added a second tier to it. In 1953 or 1954. I graduated in 1955.
In the winter--they would flood the field and make it an ice rink.

Once, my then boyfriend, walked 10 mi. on foot to meet me there to go ice skating...
I still have those ice skates I bought. They were VERY expensive for then--@ $125.
Never used them much....
Now and then I advertise to sell them--for just $25. No takers so far...

I've always wanted to name our place. I started with a "place of flowers" in Gaelic, but it was not pronounceable to most. I considered fleur d'iris, but that seemed to obvious. One I've considered for the longest time, is Johnny's Garden. The song was supposedly inspired by a gardener at an English estate use as a hiatus by many musicians during the 60-70s. It was released in 1972 by Stevie Stills with Manassas. The song title just seems to be perfect, but would anyone understand?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRhB_RGuQQ&feature=kp

Many believe Elton John referred to it in his tribute to John Lennon, "Empty Garden".

Thanks Ric for that link, haven't heard that one in a very long time, love Stills' voice. It would be a perfect name for your place.