#19 Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners

Lovely!

Sorry if I don't always respond to everything...it's hard for me to hold multiple thoughts in my head at the same time. I used to be good at stuff like that, but no longer. I'm best at just reading one item and reacting. I remember looking at other pictures (Agave's cactus and Bet's zinnias?) but I can't remember a reaction.

Good morning everyone!
Hey cold snap coming. Bust out the sweaters. Only 106-109 the next week! Whoo-hoo! No more 112's. You wouldn't imagine it but truly anything under 110 IS noticeable and does make a true difference out here. Now you walk outside and just say you feel like you could die. It doesn't actually happen. (LOL)
Carrie don't feel bad about a thing. It's called CRS Syndrome. (You know. As in Can't Remember #@%&) I've got it too. Reason why I mix everyone up, can't remember who lives where, couldn't remember poor Bet visiting AZ, etc. Try B12. Made a 100% difference in the improvement of my memory such as it is. Now the only thing affecting it is the meds and the start of menopause. (We'll skip that one and my first REAL hot flash. Holy #$@$). And yes you did react to them. Quite nicely and quite appropriately considering at the time you weren't feeling your best so kudos to you. :D

Hi Jim,
Hey don't worry about me. I'm good with the cleaning thing. Believe me I know it can get a little compulsive but it is an important part of my life not my whole life. Believe me there are plenty of days when I look at things and go...Nah, not today. The dust will be there tomorrow. (It won't be there a week from now! But it will be there tomorrow and maybe the next day too.) There's plenty of times my husband comes home and says, "So whacha do today?" I'll say garden and not a thing more. He never gives me grief for my lazy days because he knows how hard I work around here.
Since I am 47, for the most part able bodied but not able to work out of the house I do kind of treat house keeping as my "40 hour a week" full-time job. I feel it's only fair since I no longer go out to earn a check I shouldn't expect my husband to do what he used to around the house chore wise like he did when I was working full-time. I'm home full-time. It's my "job" now. He has his "full-time" job he goes to. He still pitches in plenty though. When you're not able bodied it is different.
Health and well being becomes more important and takes precedence over chores and maintenance as it should. My picking on DH's friends and those kids in the military is that they are all blessed with amazing health and abundance materially. They're not wondering how they will eat, where to sleep, they take vacations, etc. They actually have very nice things.

I am talking about very able bodied persons with NO health issues who rather sit in front of a TV or computer or just hang out. They don't even have a problem like mine where their brain creates chaos on occasion and interrupts their lives periodically. They have NO health issues. They don't have infants, toddlers or small children. They're not in college again or working another job. They work no harder than my husband, nor I when I did the same job and we managed to squeeze in fun, rest, and cleaning and socializing, date time and some personal alone time.
They have a home and things many people who are working can not afford or would like to have. They, however, are not mindful or appreciative of this fact. They ARE indisputably, by anyone's standards, lazy and slovenly. Stevie Wonder could see it. They have raised and encouraged their able bodied children to be the same way.
What irks me more than these particular people that DH knows were the people in the military who still can't dutifully clean even minimally when instructed and required by their superiors even though they are supposed to be "adults". It was an expectation given and explained to you at boot camp. It was explained again at AIT (boot camp II). It wasn't a "suggestion". It's called a direct order. If you can't follow a direct order which one can you follow in life?

Like I said it is very different when you are able bodied and you simply don't do it , or when you sign on in the military that says YOU MUST and you refuse to comply. It is quite another matter when you are disabled and the work is too hard, too physically demanding or you don't have the help or resources available. A vast world of difference! One is excusable. The other one somebody needs to give them a good swift kick in their lazy rumps.

As for your neighbor he sounds like he's not playing with a full deck and yes, he is about ready to go off the deep end. I'm not sure what his issue is but it sounds like it's escalating and he's already p.o.'d and looking for a way to or for somebody to continue taking his pent up frustrations and hostilities out on. He also seems a bit passive-aggressive and like he has nothing better to do with his time and remaining money. I've lost a lot of money too and had a
HUGE change in lifestyle. Productive people get mad, get over it, and move on to something else and find some other way to channel their energy. This guy can't seem to.
Your property is your business not his. If it irritates him too bad. Why? Is he running a B&B or something with scenic river views? If he has an issue he can talk to you neighborly and "ask" politely about the status of things. Or if he doesn't want to do that he can call the county, city, whomever and complain to them. If you're property isn't a menace, or a hazard they'll tell him to go pound fence posts.
Even for a city dweller like me his behavior makes no sense. As long as "my yard/stuff" doesn't encroach on his then there's not squat he can say or do. The only thing he can do is complain to the Home Owners Association in our subdivision who will say "yea" or "nay" to his complaint and then address me or tell him to go kick rocks. If the H.O.A. addresses me I have to comply. There's "rules" which home owners have to comply to which is why we pay an H.O.A. fee. All residents have to comply in terms of yard maintenance, trash cans, no dogs, jungle gyms or 8 foot tall statues of Jesus or Buddha in front yard; you can't paint your house flaming pink, etc. From the richest to the poorest almost every place has an H.O.A. (some more lenient than others)

If there's no H.O.A. he can complain to the city and or county. If he's able to get someone interested in his babbling they'll do the same thing as an H.O.A. Basically look up rules and see. Like I said if I'm current on my taxes, mortgage/rent, and it's not a menace or hazard they'll most likely tell him to go take a leap regardless of the rules.

This guy does have some serious control issues.! I also think he's trying to bait you. I would have someone...anyone accompany Nadine to the mailbox. He'd square off to a man. He may get mouthy to a woman but he's not going to square off to physically especially when there's two. If he runs his mouth or is skulking around in the car get a restraining order! Did you hear that? He may be on his property but that doesn't mean you can't keep him away from the gals.

That keeps him away. Also you have...now think about this..2 women as in 2 witnesses (not just 1 a him vs. her scenario) who say a man has been sitting there watching them and stalking them when they get the mail. DOCUMENT the times. Write it down in a notebook.
If he tries to talk to the ladies tell them to turn around and hustle it back. Don't acknowledge him or engage in conversation. That's "encouraging him" and the police issuing the restraining order will want to know "Why did you do that if you don't want him to be there or feel he's a danger?" Refuse to acknowledge him. Tell them to chat between themselves about anything. The dude doesn't exist! They don't see him or hear him.
Also the other reason for taking 2 to the mailbox. They can talk and ignore him. That's kind of hard with one person. If 2 people are engaged in conversation it is hard to get their attention. If one is by themselves it is easy.

Now Jim, for what it's worth and not a slam at your manhood or desire or ability to defend your property or your family stay away from him. I'm also not trying to patronize you but here's something I wish you would consider since I worked for years around inmates serving life. I got a peek inside the mentality and a lot of them shared with me the things they did that got them their AND what they wish they did differently. You're not an inmate but they gave some insight into the "guy code of honor" thing.
One of the things a lot of them told me was they wished they had had the ability to "step down" during confrontations and "not man up" to everything or when they were being baited or someone was trying to bully them. They wish they had been smarter about the way they handled threats and the people who infuriated them before it escalated. They wished they turned it over to the law or just let it go.

So...I would hate to see you get into an altercation with this guy that could wind up into a fight and get charged with assault. This guy does seem like a trouble maker looking to make more trouble. Period. So why be around to give him what he wants?
Like I suggested let the law...a restraining order...take care of it. At the very least you went on record as reporting him and notifying the police of his behavior and as the instigator. If there's trouble they'll go to him first. And if he's doing something illegal they'll catch him.

Also God forbid if he chooses to get physical let him! That was the first thing we were taught at the prison. Hit the "man down" button on the radio. Do not swing back. (Whole prison will respond in less than 3 seconds and can of whoop butt will be opened on the guy by others who have the right to legally. You...the assaulted... play victim and press charges!)
Crazy guy will go to jail for assault. You won't! Crazy guy also most likely is not going to fight with someone who doesn't fight back and who (ahem...) falls down comatose or screaming in agony. That's just no fun. You deflated his anger balloon.
Crazy neighbor is going to be booked on assault because he hit Jim for no reason instead of walking away! Jim is going to sue crazy guy for everything AND stay out of jail to boot. Got it?

Better yet, just avoid crazy guy and let post office and restraining order deal with him. If he's doing something illegal he may get away with it for a little while but eventually he'll get caught. Prison is full of people who thought they'd never get caught. There's more prisons waiting for those who think they're not going to get caught. We just keep building them and the inmates come. Need a job? They're always hiring.

I'm glad the staples are out of your back! Sounds like a huge relief. That and some mobility as far as being able to get up and down the stairs even if minimally. It's a start. As for part-time work check Brinks. A lot of it is full-time but the vault/cash room is easy in that you sit and count, strap money into bundles, and package it all day for different orders so nut jobs like me can put it in the truck and go out with a gun and deliver it. Don't take this the wrong way but the majority of the women worked there because they didn't want to do the lifting. Also they have turret duty. Basically sit with a gun, look out the window, and log the goings on. Neither one is overly physical. Do have to pass their handgun test.
Just random thought.
Take care. Pretty flowers.
Pic#1 Wild horses that were close to the road. They're on Indian reservation territory which is a huge block of this state.
Pic#2. Just thought pretty.
Pic #3. Just thought pretty sunset.
Pic#4. Prairie dogs in love
Pic#5. Hi! Me. As always sitting on a rock under some sort of cactus (Yucca in this case)

Peace out TTC

Nice pictures! I've had CRS for years...but in my case it comes from MS attacking my brain. But the CRS disease is MY joke, how did you get it? Also known as a "senior moment" although my case I call it a senior-like moment.

I am still feeling winded more often than not, but my doctor said it might take me "months" to feel better. This whole thing stinks.

Jim, when I was a kid my brothers and sister got stitches all the time, and believe it or not I was jealous. In 1987 I had bladder surgery to combat my amazing incontinence (from MS). (Nowadays they just give botox injections, but that was then.) Anyway, I had big bad abdominal surgery and had a giant dressing all the way down my stomach. I surely had stitches under there! Nope, staples. I had never heard of their use to close a wound. I was actually disappointed.

But I am glad that they are out. That is definitely a good sign.

Yep, been there Carrie. When I was on so many pain killers, I would occasionally stop taking them to reassure myself I wasn’t suffering from early onset Alzheimer's or something. Thanks for making the effort to let us know you’re ok when you’re not feeling at the top of your game. I don’t know about why others post, but there are times when I just need to write so thought will stop running around in my head hamster on exercise wheel fashion, getting me nowhere, but at the same time exhausting me. I don’t necessarily need a response, just to be heard. I’ve had both stitches and staples and think staples are more uncomfortable. I am still a big, slow-moving creature, but I feel a little less like Frankenstein’s monster now that the staples are gone. I wonder if I will get through airport security as easily now with metal in my body
Living in a neighborhood with an H.O.A. is something I can deal with. After more than 20 years in the AF, following rules comes naturally. The most draconian H.O.A. is probably not as bad as this. My experience of the freedom of rural life leaves something to be desired
I took your advice, TTC, and talked to the local police this morning about harassment and what exactly the nut of the north had to do before I could press charges. I know they are just jerking my chain, but I see no reason I should have to tolerate that. He had not stepped over the line. I didn’t think he had, but, as you said T.T.C., I wanted it on record. The stupid camera directed at my mailbox was taken down an hour after I talked to the police and Nadi has no set schedule for checking the mail. That was what was creeping me out. He made a special trip just to play this weird mind game with Nadi. As soon as she appeared on camera, he drove up like a bat out of hell just to slam on brakes and do his staring thing. He’s not a perv, at least I have no reason to believe he is. He has his son (nephew? I’m not sure who is related to who and how among their little clan.) Anyway, the 20-something boy who lives back there does the same stop and glare thing. In fact, I think the boy started it after Nadi got on his case about shooting a dog with a paint gun and terrorizing a horse in an ATV. Nadi’s opinion is that Jr. is a little psycho in training. The older generation is mainly financial predators. Getting a kick out of hurting animals is a bad sign, but then Nadi is fiercely protective of any animal. Nadi and Jr. I can understand. The brothers are of my generation. There is no excuse for the eldest brother’s weird behavior and the only explanation is either a psychological problem or an attempt as psychological intimidation for financial reasons. I’m told their land was briefly on the market about 8 months ago. I think they need a really big sale price to get back on financially solid ground. A private road would increase sale value. That isn’t possible because Alabama Power owns the initial portion of the road where it meets the county highway. If my mailbox wasn’t at the end of the road, however, they might be able to create the ILLUSION it was a private road for potential buyers. Kay thinks that is the explanation. It could be, but he is still kooky.
A wonderful possibility opened up today. Kay may be a candidate for the new visual chip. Her retinal specialist is setting up an appointment for her at Emery Eye Center. That would be absolutely incredible. Married to a bionic woman. A computer geeks dream. There is no guarantee she will qualify, but it is a chance and she’s going for it.
Everyone in town now knows we plan to sell or give the land to one of the thieving attorney brother’s victims. People who overheard my conversation with police didn’t even wait to get to a private place to start dialing their cell phones to spread the gossip. it is a small town. Kay may not have to do any research to get names and amounts lost. . The question of whether or not we would be willing to sell to someone who did not lose their shirt, but was still very upset over what they did lose has been asked. Hypothetically, of course. Lol. If the nuts plan was to trap us in a situation where we would have no choice but to sell to him at a price he would determine, it is safe to say the plan backfired.
Love all the pics. Still depressingly mushy outside. Hey, if Kay gets sight I can get cacti, right? You’ve got some prickily beauties, TTC.
(Jim)
BTW: Police officer said to have Nadi always carry her cell phone and start photographing him every time he does it. If it happens again at least it will be a chance meeting and not something he is doing with foresight. Why does anyone need that kind of servalence system?

Hi Carrie :D
Glad to hear you're doing well and enjoyed the pictures. Again my DH's talent EXCEPT for the one of the moon! I took that one. Wait........Ah, there we go. I had to fix my arm. Got stuck patting myself on the back. I think we joked about CRS awhile ago. It's become all of our joke (LOL). Something is eating at your brain and something short circuits and crashes and deletes parts of mine!
All we can do is get through it and have a few laughs about it. By the way I feel really left out! Everyone has staples but me. :( Even DH has them in his knee. Tore it open on a U-Haul moving truck ramp about 7 years ago when we moved into our last home from the condo we rented. I got to watch them put them in.at the emergency room. Cooool! That's o.k. I got seizures and none of you didn't! Nah...nah...nah..nah...nah! (LOL)
As for the early onset Alzheimer's I dunno. I like to keep blaming my meds but I keep cutting them. Uhm...what excuse am I going to use at the rate I'm going? I just think my brain has been rattled to hard that's all. :D YES...now we can all make jokes about TTC being dropped on her head one too many times!!!
Don't feel bad. I watched my husband walk to the refrigerator with a pot and almost put it in there. We were doing dishes. He was drying. He was supposed to take it to the cupboard NEXT TO the fridge and put it in there. Instead he opens the fridge door and is just standing there "thinking" about it confused. See....it's not just us. He isn't on meds!

Jim,
Yeah....your neighbor is psycho! I am glad, really glad, you did get it on record and go to the police. They are aware now. Like I said, IF he does something nuts they'll go to him first. They'll know he instigated not you. They are already aware he has been tracking Nadine and has surveillance equipment and cameras. I'm sure that wasn't in place just for her/ farm's benefit. This has already given them a whiff that this guy is up to something that may not be entirely "Kosher". (Remind me one day to tell you the blessed chicken incident my room mate and I had in college). I'm sure surveillance equipment isn't up just for the Post Office's benefit either.
Did you get a restraining order? Like I said it won't keep him from acting like a nut but it will keep him away from Nadine and everyone else. So when she goes and gets the mail and he "sees" her on camera he'll be forced by law to stay away...or at least so many feet away. Bare minimum it protects her physical safety. May not be able to do much about his mentally freaking her out. Again that's what taking company to the mailbox with her is for. Best a woman. A guy probably would go punch him in the face. Or I would. But I'm used to dealing with thugs.
No, the guy doesn't sound like a perv. I don't think he'd hurt Nadine that way. Perv's have a softer less menacing approach. They want women to like them (at first) or they're really odd socially. This guy sounds angry and paranoid. Not a good mix. Especially the paranoid. Paranoid people are hiding things or afraid of being found out. They're usually clandestine and sneaky or they're menacing to keep you away. He's probably more afraid of you and that you'll catch him doing something.
Just in thinking have you ever notice if he gets a lot of through traffic to his place or a lot of UPS, Fed-EX or USPS deliveries? Does there always seem to be the same one or two cars coming and going that ARE NOT his/family? If so, how often? There's something about that road and that mailbox that's got him going. Is it a common place where people go for walks or take their dogs or horses? They're psychos and you said they're psychos with money problems. Desperate is not good. I have some thoughts.
Jr. is just crazy! Bad news. Like Nadine anyone who hurts animals should just be clubbed to death in my mind. It is a fact that is how most killers start out; by torturing and killing animals. At the very least the kid is disturbed. Yeah...avoid Jr.
Too bad I'm not there to gather some intelligence. Someone else could though. :D

The following are fictitious scenarios for entertainment purposes only. WARNING: Be amused at YOUR own risk. Discretion and caution is highly advised before attempting to be amused, educated and informed.

Ask police if A.P. should have copy of your report because, "My mail box is on THEIR road. There was an unauthorized camera there and somebody conducting surveillance. I thought it would be good if they had a copy of it just so THEY were aware. I mean who knows what else they got wired up. " Wouldn't hurt to have A.P. out there sniffing around either now would it?
What's psycho guy gonna do to the electric company? Also it's on their records now. If he claims it is a private road...well, there's some debate since there's paperwork in A.P.'s possession that says otherwise.
A.P. may just be able to see what else he's got hooked up electronically? May be a way for them to get out to his place and be a little nosy and do some poking around especially if his electric bill looks wonky or has recently! Running all that equipment isn't cheap! If that flies and A.P. goes out there see if you can get a copy of their report for your records! Ta-Dah!
If you can't get the report maybe you know someone who works there that "heard all about it?"

I'd also do the same schmeel with the post office. Since it is the mail, and the box was wired up for surveillance and tampering with the mail is a federal offence, well maybe they need to have a "look-see" and a talk with the neighbor especially since the police made them remove surveillance equipment from the mail box! Another way to be nosy WITHOUT YOU being nosy. If so see if you can get a copy of that report or go down to local P.O.. and have a chat with the post master because you're worried about "the mail".

Just make sure all of this is done where you don't look like the "instigator".! If they say no go then don't! Having come from a military intelligence background I don't understand why people don't like the federal government? I think it's because they don't know how or when to use it to their advantage. :D (I didn't say that.).

Is their property currently up for sale? If so, do you have a good friend? If so, good friend can call any Century 21 Realtor and ask for the MPL (multiple phasic listing) on the property. At least this way you can see what claims your neighbors are making claims about the property they're trying to sell! (Any realtor regardless of company will have or can get the MPLs).

Dumpster diving anyone? Military Intelligence's #1 go to source!
Yep indeed! It is a plethora of information and a treasure trove of intelligence. I can tell you about your finances just by the junk mail you throw out. Think stupid credit card offers they're always sending you and magazine subscriptions and catalogs. Are you getting "gold card" invitations or "debt consolidation and low interest" card invitations? Are you getting Neiman-Marcus catalog or Fingerhut? Tells me how you dress, where you go and most likely the types of people you "associate" with. Etc.
In this day and age people still don't like to shred! Take the gloves you used with you! Don't leave them there and Don't get caught! It is a federal offense plus a whole lotta stupid ranging from trespassing to littering.
Oh, good luck to the person searching my junk mail and garbage. I DELIBERATELY get so many crazy catalogs and charity stuff sent to me they would think I'm a billionaire who slums it and goes on safari 3 times a year but needs friends and family's charitable contributions so I can sleep in a tent to help starving children while building wells and I go herd sheep in a 3rd world country while wearing $700.00 shoes. When finished I go to spas and return home to relax to my beading hobby, bovine weekly and 19 children. I also have gourmet meals delivered weekly to my home because I'm too busy being a personal trainer and marathon runner to cook but I'm trying to lose weight using a juicer. (LOL...not to paranoid either; am I?)

Never forget the power of documentation. Write it down, write it down, write it down. Who, what, where, when, why, how often! Every chance you can with time, days, dates and descriptions. You can not argue with facts that concise when presented to you. It's not "spying" it is observing. When it happens and you see it; write it down. Camera is most excellent! If it has video on it even better.

O.K. now that you're done being sufficiently entertained on how to be nosy WITHOUT being nosy.......
THAT IS WONDERFUL NEWS ABOUT KAYS EYES!!! Oh I so hope she qualifies. How wonderful that would be. The cacti and I are sending such good thoughts her way. We are hoping for the best. I'm sure the first thing she would love to see would be you and Nadine. :D
Then she enjoy some cacti. My wise teacher said this order was fine, he wasn't offended.

Speaking of offending cacti....It poured, and it poured and it poured and it poured yesterday! It came from nowhere. Got dark. Amazing lightening and then it just poured. The wind blew and it rained sideways! Yep, sideways! Then it just rained. It stopped for 10 minutes then it poured some more. Then some more. Then some more.
The dog was fine. She's not a fan of thunder but does fine for the most part. Stays calm and lies there. Every once and again her head will snap up and she'll look around but then she relaxes and goes back to sleep. We only had one big sonic boom that startled us and her. That's when she got up and started running through the house. She calmed down quick and lay down close by and was fine the rest of the time.
My poor yard. My poor cacti :( A river ran literally in the space of yard between my house and the neighbors and pooled right in the front yard just flush with the sidewalk. My poor barrel cacti were half submerged. My small prickly pear was soaked, all my plants (my bubbles) you could just wring out. I have a small green shrub in my yard by my door step. The roof overhangs there. All day the water just rolled off the roof like a waterfall and onto this poor little plant. :0 My back yard is like quick sand. You walk on the rocks and all you hear is "squiff-squish" and you sink because the dirt under them is all mud.
It was still dark this a.m. when I let Zoe out and walked her. I haven't been out in the light yet to really look at my plants. Sigh....don't know if I want to. All that work and yes, money too. Not mega bucks like at landscapers or nurseries but hey plants from Home Depot and Wal-Marts add up! I'm not rich. Hopefully they're mature enough to survive. They've survived the heat let's hope they can survive the hosing they got.
I'll let you guys know.
I have to go take shower that way I can legitimately tell my mother that when she calls and I don't answer (LOL) :D
Peace,
TTC (maybe if they're still alive)

Wow, that sounds like a New England in March-type rain. It rains so much here that the ground gets that squishy noise you're describing.

Hi Carrie!
Yep. Know the squishy noise you're talking about! It's here. Unbelievable rain all afternoon, evening, night and very early morning. Stopped before I got up at 2:15a.m. Pretty soaked if you can step on a layer of landscape rock and sink! It's like a sponge! Want a description of my yard and cacti? Go to Sizzling Agaves and read my last post! Have debris to clean up, some sweeping of sidewalk and driveway and a pole cactus to right. It got tilted! Just goes to show you how DRY and HARD our ground is though. If it rains that hard for that long even the plants can't absorb it. If there's nothing there to hold it in place it will turn to mud, a just flow away (think CA mudslides).
Or chunks of dry Earth get dislodged from the force of the rain and "disappear", actually dissolve, leaving cavernous spaces, ditches or gullies where there was land before. This is how flash flooding gets created and why it can be so dangerous out here. One minute you're standing on firm ground and the next...wow....its gone and you're flowing down a river with all the trees, cacti and other crap.
Believe it or not we have "stupid tourist/resident" laws. If the fire or police department have to come rescue you from hiking, horseback riding etc. in weather like this after you have been warned by the weather service and park service, etc. YOU PAY for the cost of your own rescue. The city, state and tax payers will not!
Do you know every year there's some idiot you see on the news who literally went canoeing, hiking in the mountains, or trail riding on a horse in this weather and then has to PAY FOR their own rescue! Every year without fail. They always say, "I didn't think it would be that bad outside." Idiots!
I gotta clean the yard love
Talk to you all just a little later. :D
Agave

Hello! It's good to find this forum. :)

I'm in Scotland, and just recently started gardening. I moved into this place a couple of years ago, but shortly afterwards we got a puppy, and it turned out that he wanted to eat *everything*, so I couldn't really do much with the garden for a while. Seriously, I'm surprised the lawn need mown at all, with this dog around.. ;)
Now that he's older, he's a little more sensible, and I've managed to rid the garden of most of the plants that would be poisonous to him. Any left over now are ones that he's never shown interest in. So I'm trying to learn more about dog-safe & accessible gardening, & hoping to make myself a nice little haven for butterflies & bees.
Thanks for opening the forum, here are some pics for you! x

...oops, the dog is sideways. ;)

Hi jayneth -Welcome to the forum. I have three dogs - have had as many as nine but then my friends did an intervention. Keeping one garden fenced off from the dogs and working on dog=proof plants. Still have lots of dirt but the avoid the aloe and it goes well here so we have lots.

katie

Hi jayneth!
Welcome. We're a fun if not loony bunch. I have one dog; retired racing Greyhound named Zoe. Adopted. Spoiled rotten. Perfect people and house manners. Truly never saw a dog like it. Of course one bad habit. Treats my house plants like a salad bar!
Thus, the number of house plants have dwindled to the non-poisonous and not tasty (I guess) while the amount of cacti, aloes, agaves and assorted spiny and prickly things that (supposedly) thrive in the desert heat of Arizona has grown.
(Yes there are green things in the desert.) I'm 47, have a husband, no children by choice, and am an artist and a gardener.

I did want to say how lovely your garden is and your pup too! Very enviable garden. Truly lovely. So what are some of your favorite plants and things to grow? Looking forward to hearing about it.

P.S. Visited the U.K. once. Spent a month in London. Regretfully did not have the opportunity to make it to Scotland. :[

Pic #1 photograph of an unusual arm growth pattern on a Saguaro cactus
Pic #2 beautiful photograph of a Saguaro cactus my husband took
Pics #3 & 4 paintings I did ( and sold :P ) of an Agave and a Saguaro
Pic #5 Zoe doing her playful doggy bow; she turned 10 this April

Thanks! :) lol, katie, at your intervention.. I'd love 9 dogs but there's no way I'd be able to manage them in this tiny home! I had an aloe as a houseplant, once.. it lived in a large pot on the window for about 5 years before one of the cats knocked it to the ground while I was out, so I came home to find the poor thing decapitated. o_O

Aww, Zoe's adorable, Agave! :) I love greyhounds. Ghost is my first dog, actually - I had no idea I'd become such a dog person. Still love cats though. To be honest, I'm going a bit nuts on the plant buying, haha.. I realised that Ghost wasn't eating as much of the garden (that "leave it" command is a lifesaver!) just around the time I had some birthday money from relatives, so i guess my brain just went "woooohooooo!" and spent it all. ;) I've probably planted at least 50 different things in there since April. Mostly perennials... and it turns out I've a real fondness for different types of thyme.

I love to look at Cacti, but I get a little anxious around spiky things.. My co-ordination's not great - but it's probably more to do with that time I accidentally stepped on a sea urchin when I was around 17. ;) (On holiday - not many sea urchins off the shores of Scotland, haha.)
Sooo, I'm 35, also have a husband, & no children by choice... I've recently become a part-time bookbinder after leaving healthcare work because of my disability/illnesses...and I'm becoming quickly obsessed with gardening! Oh, and you can probably already tell that I'm a little prone to overusing emoticons/smileys. Hope that doesn't get too annoying.

I've only ever travelled through London, but I'd love to visit there properly one day! My husband has family not far from there, so it shouldn't be too long a wait. :) I'm in Edinburgh, and it's festival time at the moment... thankfully Ghost-beast isn't bothered by firework noises as they happen every night this month!

More pics! You've made me feel all bold, with your compliments. :D
1. Tropaeolum Speciosum / Flame Nasturtium- I gather this is horrendously invasive in some countries, but it manages to survive in a less-threatening way here in Edinburgh, & is still quite hard to track down, so I was very happy to find some for sale at our local botanic garden.
2. Corsican Mint - I'm in love with this little plant. Regular mints do tend to be invasive here, and in a garden my size it wouldn't take long before I had borders full of mint & not much else, so when i found this teeny tiny moisture-loving beauty, I had to get it! It took some nurturing to get settled in (by which I mean, near drowning it every evening), but now it's taken off I think it's here to stay. I have a few patches of it dotted around, and it smells amazing after the rain. :D
3. My two roses are Snow Goose (in the pics from my last post), and this one, Ghislaine de Feligonde.
4. This a native oregano, called 'Tomintoul' - presumably after a town in the north with the same name.
5. I don't know exactly what this is, other than a small type of campanula.. maybe fairies thimbles? Anyway, this one's from our wedding in May, where we had potted plants rather than cut flowers. :)

Oops! I seem to have written a small novel. ;) Thankfully for you folks, I'm off to bed now. Night night, it's great to virtually meet you! x

This message was edited Aug 9, 2015 2:12 AM

Good Morning Jayneth & Gang. :D

Jayneth,
Yes, get up quite early here due to husband's work sched. Actually my day STARTS at 2:15 a.m.! When I visited England I wore 2 watches. 0_0
One set to my time so I could call family who lived in a different time zone than I in in the U.S. (eye roll..math) and one so I actually knew what time and DAY it was in England! It was a real hoot when I flew back because I crossed the international date line so yes I actually lived the same day twice! I'll never forget it. I left November 3rd. Flew 14 hours to California where it was November 2nd still, and then when it became November 3rd half a day later I lived November 3rd all over again!
Have you ever traveled abroad? If so you know this phenomenon of there's no such thing of,
" You never get a second chance to live the same day twice or to do your life over" (LOL). If not I'll explain the time thing to you and the others if they haven't gone over seas .
But I digress....

Your flowers are lovely. I think it is so wonderful that you were able to save something from your wedding and plant it. What a joy and how special! Are you recently married or have you been married for awhile. Not trying to pry just wondering about the age of the plant. Do you have things family and friends gave you as well?
Ghost is a cute pup. :} Is he a Springer or Brittney(?sp) Spaniel or did I get the breed wrong? I think he's some kind of Spaniel, correct? Pretty boy either way. How old? Dogs are great fun because they're so interactive and expressive. I adore cats too. Unfortunately my allergies to them preclude me from having one. :[ I still appreciate them and admire them from a distance. I'd have one if I could. Although with Greyhounds I'm not sure that's a good idea. Greyhounds chase small, fuzzy things. That's the nature of the beast. It's what they do.

I enjoy herbs and cutting flowers very much. They would absolutely disintegrate out here into a pile of dust. Get fried to a crisp. Since America stubbornly refuses to adopt the metric system like the rest of the world (another thing I had my knickers in a twist about trying to convert) the burden of converting my farenheit to celcius will fall on you.

My temperatures for late May-early October are 90F-115F. Occasionally we've had a few 118F days! Last Thanksgiving it was 64F! The dead of Winter is 40F. I can count on 1 hand the amount of times we've flirted with anything that may have resembled near freezing or freezing; about 37F-32F. I live in zone 9B. The low Sonoran desert. Cacti my friend. We grow cacti. Even some of us are now putting up "shade cloths/tents" over our more delicate and smaller/younger ones to reduce temps by 15F and U.V. rays since we've been having perpetual strings of extremely hot days in a row with no "dips" into the lower range and no rain as is typical this time of year. We're 1/2 inch below our average. (Nah...no hole in that ozone is there when cacti fry in the sun.) Cacti are not something you can water and water. They are not designed for that. They get root rot quite easily.

You should not have thrown out your Aloe. They regenerate! You could break all the leaves off BUT as long as the roots are healthy it will grow again. They're almost indestructible. I'll show pic of one I positively destroyed through my ignorance and unknowingly leaving it in the sun, and it's progress of recovery.

Bookbinding sounds quite interesting. I love to read and (try to) write. That was the one thing I adored about England. They are quite literate, well spoken and very articulate. Even what appeared to be the most...shall I be snobbish and say, "dead common" persons, spoke like Rhodes Scholars in comparison to most Americans. It is a shame what we do here to the English language. I try. Being there made me very aware of this and also a bit self conscious; especially when I received peculiar looks or was ACTUALLY corrected! The good thing was it improved some of the bad habits I had. It must be so interesting to still work with books though. Do you read a lot?

At the risk of being a poor sport I will say the only thing I didn't like about London was the food. No offense I found it absolutely wretched! My whole month there I subsisted off of nothing but curries. I had scones during high tea where I insisted upon a PROPER cup of coffee. Yes, the 'ugly American tourist' reared it's head.
It was positively bone rattling cold there and I hadn't been drinking tea. I was renting it. I was spending all my time in the loo! If not coffee then Scotch Whiskey. By the time I left my both my liver and my personality were quite pickled. (LOL). In regards to the food my running joke was, "When the Nazis invaded they shouldn't have dropped bombs. They should have dropped cook books!" :) Is there ANYTHING green or red to eat in that country? Cucumbers don't count!

Never fear about writing a novel. We all do. Chat away. Great to virtually meet you also. Keep up with us.
Agave. :) X

(Pics of fried and virtually dead Aloe and 4 months of recovery time. I haven't taken latest pic but it is 100% green now. Still smallish and rat-ish looking but 100% green, thriving and growing! I'll take another pic and show you "today's" 100% green. I nick-named this plant Miracle. You can see why!)

Jim and Kay;
Waiting to hear about all the potential good news! Very excited. Cacti and I have been sending good thoughts your way. I've been out talking to my old friend and he tells me not to be worried or anxious.

Also read interesting article. Like everything in AZ it was a little behind. It was put out today but the incident took place on 29 July, 2015. But a Derek Paul age 46 and a Malibu Smith age 21 were just arrested for stealing power from the electric company in Phoenix. Also they were under investigation due to the amount of persons coming and going from their place. Meth, heroine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia was found.
Like I said, it doesn't hurt to ahem...tell the power company about the report you filed and the camera and the same with the post office. THEY may want to look into it and see for themselves why these things are there or were there and do a little "investigating" of their own. You never know what they might find. Perhaps the power company may question why their bills are all of a sudden so outrageous the last 3 months, etc. and go read the meter? Post office may want to find out why a camera was on the mailbox, etc.
Like I said you get to be "nosy" without being "nosy". Could be something, could be nothing. I'm shooting for something. People don't put cameras on mailboxes for no reason.

O.K. looking forward to hearing from you.
Hug to all!
TTC

Carrie,
How you doing?

BetsNC,
What's up?

Hi gang,
O.K. here is literally TODAY'S picture of the little fried Aloe above named Miracle. What a recovery. Quite a resilient little thing! :D

Talk to you soon,
Hugs,
Agave/TTC

Hello, Janette, welcome to the forum.. Kay, my blind wife, cooed when I ask about Corsican mint and ran to her own computer to see if she would be able to grow it when we move upstate into U.S. agricultural zone 7. It is too hot for that mint where we are now. (Coastal plains of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico-USDA Zone 8b. Kay manages to keep spearmint, peppermint and chocolate mint corralled in large containers and other places they can’t escape from. We especially have to watch the peppermint, It’s a bit of a Hudini. Being able to grow more varieties of thyme is another thing that has Kay happy to make the move. We only have common garden thyme and lemon thyme. I think Kay would love to live in a place wehre she could have a thyme lawn. If thyme lawns don’t need mowing, I’m all for that.
I am recovering from spending Saturday morning on the mower and I’m embarrassed to admit it was a riding mower. It was HOT and my back informed me of every little bump. Not that I think it is going to make the northern neighbor content, but I feel better. I’m not so sure anymore about letting native plants have the outskirts of the property. It gives the snakes cover to come closer to the house. Not that the bare ground was ever than much of a deterrent. They have made use of the wheelchair ramp in the past and settled themselves comfortably on our 4 ft. (1.3meters) high deck. I found a bull snake coiled, chin resting on comfortably on the lattice work, looking out at the view. I guess bull snakes don’t get views from on high very often. He seemed to be enjoying it. I almost hated to disturb it. We had our share of snakes in my native Pennsylvania, but I will never become accustom to the numbers and varieties here. Our dog, Fenny, has finally learned to leave them alone, but it took two emergency visits to the vet and the loss of a toe to convince her it was best to leave snakes alone.
Fenny is also about 10-years-old. We rescued a puppy from a drain pipe before a storm planning to take her to the animal shelter, but taking her to the dog pound somehow just never happened. I’ve never had a dog that “talks” the way she does. She may not be able to pronounce words or string sentences together, but she has an expressive vocal range that allows her to let people know her feelings on any subject and she is a very opinionated animal.
TTC, What you said about the incriminating nature of what we throw away shed some light on an incident I had dismissed as simply more northern neighbor weirdness. The brother Kay refers to as the puppet, showed up one day while we were all outside working. He demanded to know what we had done with his garbage can. The major weirdness had already been going on for a while at this time. Kay just rolled her eyes and said, “We keep our trash bins behind the barn. There is the barn. Look for yourself.” He looked. His garbage can was not there. He huffed, jumped back in his truck and left. Considering one of the brothers is an attorney, I am thinking they already knew the little tidbit of information you shared and were afraid some investigator had taken it. The rational explanation is the garbage men saw the can was damaged or something and were in the process of replacing it. That is what’s so funny about his complaining about my mailbox. If he is worried about aesthetics why would he leave his garbage can at the end of the road all the time. There is nothing especially pretty about my box, but it isn’t especially ugly either. It’s the average rural mailbox painted a forest green, rather than the usual black. It sat at the edge of our property before they stole the road and green and silver are sort of Amargia Farms signature colors. The policemen’s attitude was “It’s a mailbox. What’s his problem” That one is settled I guess, but now it is the water main. His claim is so much traffic on his road is damaging the underground water main. I cannot see how he can make anyone believe that. Few come to Amargia itself anymore. The road is too bumpy for the kind of cars elderly people prefer. We make deliveries if anyone wants some herb, fruit or vegetable and we have it. Nadi drives a little Dodge Dakota and I drive a minivan. Both together probably do not weigh as much as the mega trucks and the luxury cars they drive. The mail truck doesn’t weigh any more than my minivan. The water company will come out to make an inspection tomorrow, but he has already ticked them off, by not allowing them access to the western neighbor’s water meter. The meter reader has to park on my property and WALK to the neighbor’s water meter. To say he is not too happy about that is putting it mildly and he is even more opinionated than my dog. And I believe, more likely to bite. He moves like he has a touch of arthritis. I don't blame him for being upset someone is making his job harder than it has to be. The insanity goes on.
There are places where your feet don’t make a squishing sound walking outside? Yeah, I kind of remember that. I begin to think the days when this region has a dry late summer are gone. Do you have caleecha or sandy soil, TTC. We’ve started bathing with a splash of chlorine bleach in the water or white vinegar to protect ourselves from fungal infections of the skin. The moss is so lush, if it were not for the heat, one might think they were in the Pacific Northwest. Well, the rain could solve the neighbor problem. Most of the property is in a river flood valley. If is not a matter of if that land will flood, it is simply a matter of when. They knew this when they built luxury houses back there. Go figure.
It’s a sad reflection on our society that we immediately put the brakes on poor people who go off the tracks, but the wealthy are referred to as “eccentric” instead of just plain bonkers and are allowed to mess up everyone else's life.
Kay is looking into who was most harmed by thief brother’s crimes and coming up with very old fashion southern names like Myrtle. His vics were evidently mostly old women. Whether they were old Miss Ann types or of more common backgrounds, we haven’t determined yet. Someone ask what Miss Helen would think of our just giving the land away. From what I knew of her, she would not be saying much. She would be laughing so hard she would not be able to get her breath to speak. Returning the land to the Creek tribe because Miss Helen was of Creek/Cherokee descent has been discussed and not entirely ruled out. The catch there is that there is a connection between gambling and the nutties of the north and, of course, there is a connection between Native Americans and gambling. The joke could be on us if the punch line is not right. Research, research, research. Who knew giving something away to the perfect individual or group would be so much work. We just want to rid ourselves of all the hassles in such a way that, in doing so, we make a loud statement. “Bullying, pestering, throwing temper tantrums and devious manipulations are not the way to get what one wants. It is probably too late for the northern nutties of my generation, but it could have some impact on the young, northern nutties in training .
Kay is busy organizing her plant potlatch. We will leave the land as a pecan grove. Pecans are native trees and need no tending. They will also provide whoever the next steward is with a way to pay the property taxes that, thankfully, are not as excessive as they are in Pennsylvania.
(Jim)

This message was edited Aug 9, 2015 6:29 PM

Hey Jim :D
Good to hear you're doing o.k.
I talked to my friend the cactus today and told him about your back and hard work mowing the lawn and how weary you were from the back surgery you JUST had.

My cactus friend and dear teacher asked me a question.
He said, "Agavegirl; How do you fix stupid?"
I said, "I don't know. Please, tell me."
Wise cactus replied, "You don't. You can't fix stupid!"
I said, "So my friend is stupid?"
Wise cactus replied, "No. Your friend is learning the key to happiness."
Me....long silence followed by my wailing, "But wise teacher my friend is in pain!!! What is happy about that?"

Wise cactus sighed and said, "Agavegirl, What is the key to happiness?"
I replied, "I don't know."
Wise cactus said, "Good judgment!"
I asked, "So how does one learn good judgment?"
Wise cactus replied, "Experience!"
I asked, "So teacher, how does one gain experience?"
At this wise cactus laughed loudly and said, "Poor judgment!"

Teacher cactus then smiled upon me, lifted his many limbs skyward in praise of the sun and God, closed his eyes and transformed once more into the inanimate,stoic being that all cacti become when not speaking. I pondered my lesson for the day. I think wise cactus is wise cactus for a reason.
Hey...don't grumble at me. The cactus is the one who knows everything. Pull up a rock and ask him to explain himself.

Snakes are cool! I don't mind them since I know what the poisonous ones look like. They're harmless and good for the environment. Since we're prone to black widows out here I definitely don't mind the appearance of one on occasion. I think now we live a little too much in the city for that. My former place we had some kind of green harmless snake. DH would kill me if I told you he ran around the yard like a little girl screaming. He's 6 foot 6 inches tall and works in a prison around murders and gang-bangers but is afraid of a 3 foot harmless snake. I was on the ground rolling. Wish I had a video camera handy for that one.
It was me that tried to chase it away. It went away on it's own later that day.
On the other hand show me a spider and I'll dance like Michael Jackson! Hate the damn things. Give me the creeps and I dream about them for 2 days later. Even common house spiders have me up on counters and chairs shrieking and panicked like a hysterical child. Oh well to each their own phobia I guess.

How sweet of you to rescue Fenny. Don't you just love rescue/adopted dogs. They seem to know just what you did for them and return the love and gratitude all the more I believe. That's cool she's vocal. In Greys they call it "Roo-ing". Zoe doesn't Roo but she has singularly the most expressive ears and eyes I have ever seen on a dog. Greys have "helicopter" ears in that they can move them independently and rotate them. She can actually point one all the way backwards and the other frontwards or just make one stand up by its self. It's soo cooool! Oh, and the eyes. Not just cute but you can see the wheels turning and every doggy thought/emotion going through them. At times they're almost human they're so expressive.
Sorry about Fenny's toe. Curiosity will do that. I like that Zoe is inquisitive but out here in the desert I have to discourage it a lot. Heaven only knows half the time what she's sniffing at, pawing at or watching with laser intensity on the ground. Uhm...brown recluse or black widow spiders? Scorpions? Some kind of poisonous bug? Some little rodent that might bite her back? Being "sight" hounds as opposed to "scent" hounds they love to zoom in on anything that "moves". We've been lucky so far. What's the nicest thing Fenny ever "said" to you?

As for the neighbors all I can say is something isn't right.
They live beyond their means. They seem to have debt. They are secretive and paranoid to the point of doing surveillance and not allowing even authorized people on the property (electric company meter readers, post office, etc.). They want little to no contact with others than who they associate with. They have a mean nasty streak and are not "good neighbors" or even "neutral" neighbors. Obviously they're paranoid about their information (trash) and property being where others can get to it.
Do you notice excessive traffic coming and going to their place, the same few vehicles only that ARE NOT THEIRS coming and going, or really bizarre comings and goings?
Check the public records at the court house. Look and see if they have filed bankruptcy, if there is a lien on their property/properties, if they are being sued or have law suits against anyone. If so what are the names. Do they correspond with the names of thief brothers victims? What other traits, characteristics, facts do thief brother's victims have in common? (Same age, race, illness, live in same neighborhood or house of same property value? No kids/family?, etc.)

It might be time for a "Jim-Bob" talk with the police. Do you have a friend at the police or local Sheriff's station? Someone you know you can go out for "a beer" with? If so tell your friend "Bob" what you know, think and feel and "off the record" you think there's just way too much happening that don't look, sound or add up to "right" or "normal". Tell him about the mailbox camera, the stalking of Nadine, the tire tracks and post office truck problem, the issue with the power company and meter reader, how crazy they are, etc. Basically everything you've been telling me. See if Bob agrees or what Bob's thoughts are. Bob may not be able to do anything but Bob's hamster will sure start turning on his wheel. We all know what happens when curiosity sets in.
OR you could go in and risk sounding like a nut and just say something. They can not do anything without proof. BUT you will have "gone on record" as having notified them that things are "odd". They may or may not (depending upon your state's laws) be obligated to go and say something to crazy neighbors because you were in there and they are required by law to follow up and investigate.
Like I said, pity I'm not there to do a little "research" for you. It would be fun! Just like old days! :D

O.K. bed time. It's 7:15p.m.! Day starts at 2:15a.m.
I'll finish the rest tomorrow.
Hugs gang
Peace. Out. TTC

Gooooooooooood Morning! :D

O.K. to finish. I am more than delighted the "squshing sound" has gone away and my yard no longer feels like a sponge. Yes, there are some small benefits to 112 degree days! It quickly dries soil to bedrock status. Here it depends on where you live as to what soil you get. My last place we had caliche. Impossible. Rock, dirt, gravel and basically when wet forms a sludge that makes cement. Think of the stuff the Pueblo Indians made adobe bricks with. Well if you can wet it down, scrape a few inches off at a time, YOU CAN actually form bricks. This stuff is so hard unless you have a professional landscaper or a back hoe to dig it, it will take months to get a hole in your yard. NO JOKE.
It literally took me 1 to 3 months to dig a hole for every plant I had in the yard at my last place. Never saw anything like it in my life. I put the wet sludge in heavy duty trash bags where it stayed wet. If it dried just add water to make sludge. When the plants were in I made brick and put it around my plants. The sun baked it to cement!
The brick I bought at the garden center to ring my plants I used the wet sludge to cement them together so they'd never come apart! Quite effective. When I moved 6 years later both the caliche brick and the caliche I used as mortar on the store bought brick were still intact and never crumbled. Un-freaking-believable! By the way we do have a cement plant out here called CEMEX. It was located 12 miles up the road from my old house. Imagine that!
After three holes I got smart. I did all raised beds of store bought brick and only scraped a little bit of "dirt" to make mortar to cement them together. My whole back yard with the exception of 3 plants was all raised beds!

Now here in my new place I have sand! The moment I found I could turn a shovel was the moment I went stark raving plant mad! I started on a gardening binge. It's been a joy. My only complaint with it is that it holds water. When it gets wet, it gets WET! It also stays wet. Although the surface is dry when you turn a trowel or shovel it is very, very damp/wet in there and will be for a long time. I found usually throwing in a handful of the landscape rock is helpful for drainage---or at least I think it is.
So it can be a bit deceptive on when, how often and where to water because depending on where the sun beats on the yard it will dry out at different rates and plants need different amounts of water. Here it is easy to root rot your plants.
All in all I am over joyed with this soil though as I am planting like crazy and growing (trying to) things I never have before or could.
It's always a mixed bag out here though. One house could have sand and your neighbor could have caliche. You could have both in your yard. Just don't know until you start digging. :D I read some of these descriptions that say, "Plant likes sandy, well draining soil." Uhm...how bout plant likes whatever soil I can shove it in + bag of cactus/palm/citrus soil from store!

JIM.... CHLORINE BLEACH IS NOT GOOD FOR HUMAN SKIN!!! Hear that? It wasn't meant to kill mold, mildew or fungus on people! That's dangerous. Actually it can burn and ulcerate skin and cause infections. It's for cleaning and laundry! If you're getting something nasty please go to a doctor. HE will give you something appropriate. Vinegar is a good cleaner but it is also acidic. While it won't hurt you internally I don't think over exposure to external skin is good either. I know humidity + rain + heat breeds some strange things but you really ought to have this looked at.
Do you have a dehumidifier for the house? Gold bond medicated powder works well. (Don't over use as it is medicated). Anything in the baby aisle to help control diaper rash is pretty good too for the body as well as regular talcum powder to keep dry.
Ask your pharmacist at the drug store. They can usually recommend something. They make a lot of good OTC anti fungal creams now. Take a picture if you have to and show them.

I use baby wipes regularly for a quick freshen up on really hot days or if I've been out gardening until I hit the tub/shower. Trick from the military I learned when we were out in the field and couldn't shower! (I even wipe Zoe down with one on occasion). :D

Also if you're planning on selling/giving away your house I'm not sure what the inspection or building code laws are. Here they have what they call red and green fix it tickets. When you put your house up for sale the appraiser determines the value of your home not only on the average of what all other homes sold for in your area BUT ALSO on the condition.

If you get red fix it tickets you CAN'T sell your home or must fix them during the sale of your home BEFORE the sale is completed. Otherwise your house is pulled off the market and you can't sell it. These are things like electrical, plumbing, foundation, pests, MOLD, etc..
Green fix it tickets are things that should be fixed or are beneficial to fix but won't necessarily affect the sale of your home. For example a cosmetic crack in the wall (not stress/structural fracture), missing ceiling fan, hole in your yard because you pulled out a tree and didn't replace it with another plant, oil stains on your driveway, a missing screen door, etc. Mostly cosmetic and non structural stuff.
Of course one wants the most bang for their buck. As fussy as I am DH and I had 4 green fix it tickets! No red. Do you have "fix it" tickets in AL?
Our H.O.A. is really liberal too thankfully. There are some that are real Nazis right down to what color flowers you can plant and what side of your house you can hang a flag or welcome sign! Also the prices of them vary depending on what they claim they do for you in terms of cleaning common areas, providing services, amenities offered (i.e. golf course, kids play ground, club house, pool, gym, tennis court, etc.). I've seen H.O.A. fees up in the hundreds but that is usually a swanky neighborhood or one with ridiculous amenities and outrageously landscaped common areas that look like national parks and club houses that resemble spas and resorts.
DH and I lived in a modest neighborhood on a golf course (not a big deal here in AZ, almost every place has one) and had a play ground and free common area maintenance and a club house and our H.O.A. was $47.00 a month to give you an idea. My new home it is $36.00 a month. We have no golf course but a discount at the nearest one and we get weekly street cleaning/sweeping free!
The thing I like about them is while they're liberal and don't complain about what I plant or where in my yard or what side of the house my welcome sign is on they do keep things from getting all crazy and ghetto. You know how people can get. No matter how much money they have or where they live there's always that few that have to do something really bizarre and off the wall or just want to live like trash and act like they don't know no better. And of course....one of the has just got to live next to you!

And YES the H.O.A. will hand out "fix it" tickets! (LOL). If you don't "fix it" and your hot mess or rowdy behavior, dragging furniture out of your house and having literal Hawaiian luaus in the front yard and blocking the whole street with orange cones so nobody can drive down it, manage your 4 screaming, disruptive, destructive kids from tearing up the neighborhood and everyone's yards and your dog that barks at the wind non stop for 8 hours straight every day for a month, or quit partying in your garage every night with the door up and the car stereo blasting until 3:00 a.m. like it's the local bar, or sauntering nonchalantly over to my house and stuffing my trash can to the brim with your trash because you have too much garbage to fit into your own can, then YOU WILL get fined.

And yes these are all scenarios I've dealt with...and complained to my H.O.A. about ! To the H.O.A.s credit they shut this crap down fast! Put a screeching halt to it two days to 1 week after I complained! I've come to see the value of them and now really don't mind having to pay for one. It keeps me friends with my neighbors because I don't have to go deal with them or their crap. All they know is they got a complaint and violated rules. They don't know who generated the complaint. Usually if there's complaints it is from more than one person.

If you don't pay it you get fined higher. If you don't pay that they can...and will...put a lien on your house! You sign the contract when you move in along with the mortgage saying you will abide by the rules of living in the community/area/subdivision just like everyone else.
We live like people. If you don't want to live like a person live some place with no H.O.A. Good luck. Unless you live in a literal ghetto, on the Indian reservation or own your own stretch of land there isn't one.

As for giving the land away to the Indians you still can. It's yours to do with what you please. There is such a thing as caveats and terms or conditions. They may have it providing they are good stewards, allow an apiary, and there is no gambling. This is a condition for the next 25 years (if ever) in terms of gambling. The bee keepers and stewardship is indefinite. Should the land ever fall into disrepair or not be maintained it goes to.....(person/organization) you name.
Now you'll have to define rigidly and iron clad what constitutes disrepair, and maintained and what the standards of that are to be. Someone may think picking a dandelion once a year constitutes maintenance. You may think in terms of national park. You'll have to be specific.
If they don't have money to maintain to your standards what can they do. You have to give them "permission" to do certain things or generate income somehow.

You'll also have to define if and when they could sell the farm ever and to whom. Also specify to whom they could never sell it (person, org, affiliated businesses of persons and orgs, etc.) You can also state you would like so much produce or whatever donated each year/month whatever to certain types of people or organizations.
Basically it's like setting up a trust. It shouldn't be hard. I'm sure a lawyer could handle it. I don't know which kind but there are ones that deal with estates, property, deeds, management of businesses, etc.

Hey...the place is yours. You want to give it away or sell it for $1.00 you can. Or you can sell it for the max it's worth. It's your prerogative. But you also have the right to put some conditions on it.

You can even make it a non-profit org as a tax deduction in which it is a "mini reservation" for the Indians and a working farm and you are on the board of directors as CEO (chief executive officer) along with a leader from the Creek tribe as COE (chief operating executive) and one who is CAO (chief agricultural overseer) and on and on it goes. Create your own little "non-profit org." Have them pay you a $5.00 salary a year for your consultation, expertise, and knowledge about the farm!

This way you can still be involved with all the things you love about the farm without being involved in the business of the farm financially or owning it! Setting up a non-profit org is easy. It's all on the computer how to do it!

O.K. I blathered enough. Time to get busy. Wise cactus said lessons in life do not always need to be serious. Sometimes they are just sitting and enjoying the beauty one can find in the chaos amidst life. Wise cactus is not only a teacher and mentor but a friend. Many times when I visited he had nothing to say to me but plenty to show. He is a lovely and generous gift giver. He asked me to share his gifts with you. Please enjoy compliments of the cactus.

Pic #1 the orange plumes on top of the Ocotillo during Summer.
Pic #2 The Aloe Ferox
Pic #3 some kind of little "hedgehog" cactus
Pic #4 My favorite rock from which I commune with my teacher and his assistants (Notice it is shaped like a brain? Teacher says that is no accident.) Oh...hair a mess. Had hat on prior to picture so all flat, sweaty and stuck to head. Love the bangs right now...eh? Hate it when DH catches me like that.
Pic #5. The nicest gift of all my cacti friend has given.




This message was edited Aug 10, 2015 5:45 AM

Agave, Jim said they bathe in water with "a splash" of bleach. A splash of beach can be used to make water safe to drink! I didn't think the Amargians were that dumb, so I had to go back and re-read what he had said!

No HOAs back here. Well, they might have them in snooty developments I guess, but not in my neighborhood! I guess we use peer pressure.

I don't tend to like Southwestern-style landscaping, but those pictures, especially the first, are really strikingly beautiful. I think you have an "eye" for photography there, young lady. (You are younger than I am.)

OH, that IS sideways. Idon't often upload photos; it isn't always sideways, right? Sorry! Those are self-seeding morning glories I planted long ago. I have no idea what cultivar they once were. I got Ray to take a photo since he was leaving the house early.

Good Morning Carrie :D
How are you? I hope you're doing well and feeling good!

No didn't think the persons at Amargia were stupid either. Pardon if it appeared that way. It's just some people's idea of a "splash" is different than others and if you're anything like me (eye roll) ...a little is good then a lot is better! I seem to have this problem with salsa and hot sauce too. You think I'd learn by now (LOL)!

Your morning glories are beautiful. One of the flowers I wished I could grow here. So pretty, so easy to grow, and they spread and spread. Always a joy to see. Poor things would just shrivel and die here. :( I didn't mind the sideways picture. My neck bends. (LOL)!

Thank you so much for the compliment on the photography but I'd be a liar to say it was all mine. 98% of it is his! My husband, David, is the photographer. (I'm the painter.) He has such a gift. He really understands how to frame things and set it up right and when to zoom in or not. I keep urging him to do something with it even just for fun. I don't know why he doesn't.
Once in awhile I can sneak in a nice photo. I did the one of the full moon which turned out good! Most of my stuff though looks like the picture of the Aloe Ferox which I took. That explains why it has half of a car and the curb in the picture!

S.W. landscape does take some getting used to. I also hated it when I first moved out here. I thought it ugly, sparse at best, brown and raggedy and just unpleasant. As time went by I realized it wasn't. Unlike the rest of the country you have to look close here to see the interesting stuff and you can't look at things as a whole. You have to look at each thing individually. Suddenly that one brown jaggedy stump becomes an amazing piece of sculpture that blooms huge fuchsia flowers every year! When I noticed things really aren't "dead" and there is amazing color and shape I suddenly found an appreciation for the landscape and plants. At the very least there's stuff here you don't see any place else! There are those days though when everything still looks pretty brown!

H.O.A.s aren't that bad. Peer pressure usually works here also 90% of the time but you've always got those idiots that just want to be idiots no matter how nice you ask or how many times you ask. So rather than get in fights with them or having the cops out I guess this is AZ's answer to it. Also this is a state that is spread out population wise. It sprawls out horizontally rather than being compact.
There are few urban compact cities in AZ. This particular area is all wild and desert and Indian reservations and some farms (oh and prisons..13 to be exact). Old timers tell us the only place that existed before to get anything you needed was to go to Phoenix or Tucson. Now we have all kinds of places and things (In their opinion). Housing was willy-nilly and here and there. You built or bought where you liked.

Now what they do is basically "plop" whole entire neighborhoods down aIl at once along with a grocery store, Target, Home Depot, restaurants, etc. and a bunch of other things because the current town's population is too large to accommodate their needs or the city's schools. So they just build a new "suburb" next door with a new "neighborhood" with a new school, etc.
In the 8 years I lived here the town I originally moved to was called Queen Creek. Queen Creek got so big they divided it and Florence absorbed half. We got a new zip code! We now lived in Florence. We also got 2 new housing subdivisions! We moved from the condo in Queen Creek to one of the new houses in the subdivision in Florence which was all of 2 miles up the road!
Both Florence and Queen Creek got too big so in 3 years they took half of each city and in the middle where they met created a new town called San Tan Valley. It now has it's own zip code. Yep, you guessed it. More subdivisions, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.! This was all in our first 7 years of living here in AZ in the same location.
Now that I live in Casa Grande I'm waiting for the next subdivision to pop up.

It really doesn't have anything to do with snooty. They're our basic "neighborhoods". Some are nicer than others like all neighborhoods based on what you can afford. Again since the area is so wild and sprawled out the H.O.A. amenities is their way of providing community entertainment, gathering for free activities with friends and neighbors, a place for the kids to play safely in the neighborhood (our yards are rock).
They pay to have our streets swept clean and the area landscaping and plants looking nice so the side of the roads and mailboxes don't have weeds up to your eyes. If there's graffiti of vandalism they paint it and fix it. They maintain the sidewalks and curbs and repair them when needed.
It's either this or have your property taxes hiked and your sales taxes hiked. We did the math. This IS cheaper and you get more that benefits only you! Also you vote every year on who the President and board members of the HOA are. So if they do a crappy job you can throw them out and elect a new one. HOAs are an invariable fact of AZ life. As I said short of living in a ghetto or on a reservation or owning your own private land they're pretty inescapable. You just accept them.

Agave, Jim doesn’t want to say it outright because he is not from this area and he does not want to perpetuate stereotypes about southern people, but the neighbors are racist and they are into guns and probably affiliated. People here are a little scared to do anything and I am certain the Feds are aware. I am local. I will say it because people like that are an embarrassment to the vast majority of southerners.

They’ve won the battle, driving we “communist hippie types” out of their area. We have no legal road now. We come and go by the graces of Alabama Power. Selling the land is impossible unless we sell to the creepy crawlies. (No offense to snakes who I have respect for.) I doubt it would even be possible to use this land as collateral in getting a home loan for the next house considering the road situation. It is illegal to sell land without a legal access. We are betting it is not illegal to give such land away. We just intend to see these scum don’t win the war. Do our actions make more sense now? Our country made a mistake when we started allowing hate mongers to hide under the umbrella of civil rights. They put up hateful signs during the Ferguson crisis. There is no doubt any longer.

Do not let all this bring the thread down. We are not down. We are happy to be leaving and looking forward to new things. Of course, I am very excited about the visual chip even if it does need work. I will love being a small part of developing and improving it. I just hope I qualify. My blood pressure was perfect at the ophthalmologist and I am in good physical condition for someone my age. Emery does genetic testing. It appears I will find out once and for all if I do have Marfan’s Syndrome or one of the closely related conditions. Atlanta, Georgia is only about a two hour drive. That is doable on a regular basis. The retinal re-attachment I had as a teenager was considered experimental in its time. And it allowed me enough sight to have a reasonably normal life into old age. I am happy to be a lab rat. I don’t believe the argus chip is as experimental as the retina surgery was. It is simply in its early stages where bugs will crop up and need to be worked out.

Welcome to the thread, Janette! My daughter toured Scotland when she graduated high school and loved it. Well, she loved the lower portions of the country anyway. She wanted to visit the old countries her family had come from and since she had a fraternal grandmother whose maiden name was Cribb, Scotland was on her list. Driving through the highlands she discovered she had a terrible fear of heights, but she was able to talk locals into driving her car through the more frightening stretches of road. Nadi is also of Scottish descent. We tease her about her family crest which shows three deer heads in profile and they all have their tongues sticking out. Nadi swears that is the original design. I guess her family has always had an attitude. If so, Nadi, is true to form. lol.

I told Jim he should borrow your dictionary, Agave. Six feet tall women do not coo. He stands by his word and insists I do coo over babies and certain plants. Worse, he remind me I have shrunk with age to 5’11”. I am afraid every one of his remotes is going to disappear mysteriously. Really though. Do you think you can find a word better than coo to describe that sound gardeners make when a plant they lust for is seen or mentioned? Coo really messes with my self image. Lol. I have a garden story I will tell you next time I visit that does involve cooing mourning doves.

I do love Corsican mint. It and ‘Kentucky Cornel’ spearmint will be my choices in a garden with more limited space. My broadleaf sage is curling under at the edges, but the pineapple sage is holding up to the sauna conditions well.

I have always been more drawn to the tall, columnar cacti, but I guess those are more vulnerable when freak weather comes, aren’t they?

Will those of you with experience give me the lowdown on H.O.A.’s. I’ve never had to deal with one. My knowledge of them comes from that Dean R. Kuntz horror story, The Association. lol.

Warning: Blind woman submitting photo. It should be Fenrira (Fenny-dog). Your guess as to breed is as good as mine. Her vocals make me think some sort of hunting hound. She bays more than barks.

Hi ya, everybody new and not so new! What I've been "up" to:P tending my Tomato Jungle (watering, picking tomatoes / finding people to give the daily surplus to, dealing with my temporarily-not-thinking cvlearly grandmother, babying a not normal leg. . . in short, same old, same old.
I found out WHO it was & called the referred doctor MYXSELF as I STILL hadn't gotten a call to make an appointment. Turns iout, my general ddoctor'[s office had dropped the ball: yep, they sent all the info needed for making a referraol. . . EXCEPPT the little crucial bit of information know as patient's phone number or contact information! Although I had askied to be referreed to a vein specialist, theeee GP referred me to a SURGEON!! Knife hap0py maniacs, the bunch of them!
I'm being "worked in" (translation: no set appointment so bringa book, your lunch & super etc) on an emergency basis tomorrow afternoon as it's been a whole month since the first blood clot in my leg. I am SSOO tired of further limiting my activity and "babying" my porr leg! I could go on, but I won't. Doctors do NOT make good patients! Especially when faced with incompetence!~!

Snakes. . . there are two kinds, of course: poisonous and non-poisonous. . . . BOTH bite: the poisonous ones may kiill you but the non-poisonous ones can make you wish you were dead!
LOL The weirdest encounter with them I've had: in my first job (a summer camp counselor), I was hiking up the heavily forested, steep mountain trail and when I got to the top, a bunch of campers were pointing at me and screaming "SNAKE!!!" I whirled around and looked but couldn't see it. . . . until I looked down at my feet: a copperhead (poisonous) was thrashing, trying to get loose after having sunik its fangs into my leather boot. I calmly reach for my pociketknife (Boy Scouts aren't the ONLY Scouts who are prepared! :P) grabbed its whipping tail and sawed its head off. Since I couldn't miss taking my campers in for lunch, I took off my boot and left it (snake head still firmly attached) in the dirst outside and led my charges indoorws. (Snakes can still bite for some time after they're dead / bodiless).

Staples vs stitches: I'd rather not have either. I've had them both and opt for stitches everytime. I had abdominal stitches once and they were always catching on each other. Besides, stitches I can take out with scissors and tweezers: staples require a specialized tool. Staples are VERY easy to put in while sutures takes more skill. The newest trend now uses something like Super Glue to glue the surface skin closed. I'd positively FREAK if I looked under a bandage and see myself GLUED back together!

Surgery looms and morbid thoughts abound!!!

Her's this morning's yield from ONE plant!

Good Morning Kay :D

COO: emote, gush over or about, spout, praise, extoll/s, to extoll the virtues and merits of, compliments.
Alright then, that's the best my little brain can come up with at this moment in the a.m. So how'd I do on the verbal challenge? That was the one nice thing my advance placement writing teacher did for me in college.
His everlasting scathing comments on my writing were: "find a more concise or appropriate word choice; superfluous use of commas; run on sentence". Never corrected the superfluous use of commas just for spite!(LOL) Still got an A in the class.

Wish I was 6 feet tall. Always wanted to be tall. Thought it would be so glamorous. Also you
could wear anything and carry it off and look good in it. Considering my husband is 6 foot 6 I'd still be shorter in heels! Now that would be great. Short stinks. I used to be 5 feet 4 now I'm 5 foot 3. And of course I'm still neither average or petite. Right in the middle so I have to hem everything that's average and everything that's petite is above my ankle or more so it looks like floods. (groan) I also have to avoid the 3 B's as in busy, bulky and big. so that limits a lot of fashion choices. Hey, I like bulky sweaters, big shirts with tanks and leggings and yes, Pucci inspired busy prints. Oh well. Nothing you can do as a Munchkin. Read the 8-10

I'm having Deja vu. Sure your neighbors aren't from here? I might as well be living in the stereotypical South. I go over like a lead balloon. Don't feel bad about being hated by your neighbors. I am hated by the majority of the state.
O.K. at the big risk of being hated even more...I'm going to expose myself for who I am....
I'm worse than the "communist hippy type". I'm sure you can guess what that is! We're afraid too for all the same reasons. Unlike big cities there's no such thing as being anonymous. Everyone knows you damn name out here and your business.)

Hate guns. Don't own one. (Carried them for work because it was required and necessary and part of the job. Think police, military, security guards, armored truck people need guns. The rest of us don't. Baseball bat works just fine. Very effective.)

Hate the Southern flag. NOT BECAUSE IT IS SOUTHERN. It just isn't American. Period.
We are the "UNITED States of America". We are no longer the "Northern Union states" and the "Southern Confederate States". We are the United States of America. Period. End of sentence. Why would you be proud to fly a flag that was a symbol representative of our country at war with each other?

I mean forget black and white. You're flying a flag that says, "I hate 1/2 of my entire country regardless of what color they are. I feel the South would be better off if we were never a part of the United States. I believe we should have continued with slavery. It was a good and just institution and an appropriate action both ethically and morally.
Slave labor, regardless of whom is being enslaved, is right for the South and for the Southern economy. Slave labor and the segregation it entails socially benefits ALL persons concerned; (in our case both black and white.)
I am proud my ancestors went to war and died for such beliefs. I fly my Confederate flag because I honor them and support these facts. I embrace this ideology."

Seriously? That's what you're saying! I mean nothing makes you look more like a racist, hate filled, prejudiced, narrow minded, unenlightened bigot than waving that rag around. I say burn it or relegate that piece of trash to a museum like the antiquated and obsolete relic of hate that it is! It ranks right up there with the Nazi Swastika in terms of human dignity and sentiment.

Now let me tell you what I really think about it....(LOL) :D

Your situation always made sense to me. You know where I live right? There are tons of good people here. There are tons of good people with opposite views than mine. I just found there aren't a lot of "tolerant" people or persons willing to hear a different side without getting mad. They take it personal. Also there's an ostracizing element. Agree and be liked. Be quiet or be abandoned. Interesting phenomenon since I deal with adults.
If it were just me I personally wouldn't care. My husband has to go to work and deal with these people a lot of times. So sadly, I shut up unless I'm with my group. I just sit there and boil or excuse my self as much as possible. I never agree with them though.
We have a friend that we notice every time we're in a group and someone's extreme in views or words he'll watch. If the majority of the people agree he'll agree and chime right in. If they don't he won't. I've caught him changing his position on the same thing about 10 times. I've asked him and actually quoted him. He always looks embarrassed but can never answer me. Sad isn't it. But that's how it is in some places. You always have to look over your shoulder or be afraid of what someone is going to DO because of how you think.

I'm one of those people every question has an answer and every puzzle has a solution.

Now, can you sell the place "cash as is?" You can do that out here if you don't pass a home inspection, etc. AND the buyer still wants it and is willing to take it and deal with the associated headaches/problems and wants to fix it. This way the new owners will have to figure out the legal access problem not you.

Or can you do a "rent to own"? Let them be tenants, rent the land from you paying "rent" each month until the mortgage is paid off and then let them be $25.00 short of owning it. That way it isn't "paid off". YOU can still make the last $25.00 payment to the mortgage company in YOUR NAME so technically you own it. Then you can give it to them as a "gift". :D

Last scenario is the non-profit org. Make it an Indian Reservation! Give it to that lady who is Native American and make it an Indian Reservation! Government can't do crap with that! Not sure of the ins and outs of that one but hey...look and see if it can be done.

Don't feel bad about the down payment on the house. Ours was underwater for so long it wasn't even funny. We had a buyer willing to pay us what we wanted and what our house should have been worth since it was only 7 years old. BUT because everyone else in the neighborhood "threw theirs away" we couldn't sell ours for more than the "average" house. You can ask for it but why would someone give you $15K more than what it appraised at based on the average for the same homes in the same subdivision no matter how nice, new and immaculate?
We made $2,500.00 on our home. Yep! That's it. Had to take money out of savings for the down payment on ours that we could ill afford. The $2,500.00 covered the movers, supplies, some groceries and a pizza for dinner that day. Broke our hearts because we had a gorgeous home. New subdivision. We picked everything that went into the home. The tile, cabinets, Corion counter top, stainless steel appliances, the rug, etc. Sigh.... We moved into a smaller house and not new. We wanted a smaller house but the one we got was even smaller than what we were looking for.
Trade offs. People are nicer. More "normal". More things to do, don't have to drive an hour to go to a grocery store or a Target or Home Depot. It's 10 minutes away. I can walk places (not many but I can). Sidewalks, streetlights, cheaper water, lower property taxes. FREE fire and ambulance. Last place had us hostage. If you didn't pay a monthly subscription fee for the service you would have to pay full out of pocket fee if your house burnt down or you needed an ambulance. How $#@^$% up is that? Well not this year but God willing if they don't slash my Social Security by 19% maybe next year I can get the place painted inside or get new carpeting. It's not bad just older and it doesn't match any of my furniture (of course...eye roll).

I still have my fingers crossed about the argus chip. Oh that would be wonderful. I do hope it works. I really hope they would come out with something for me that didn't involve .... well forget that idea. It's the brain. It is going to involve surgery or wires or implants. That's scary. I don't want to think about it. I just hope you get better vision and no more flying monkeys. :D

Wow....we are getting the worlds worse dust storm and it is literally a "brown out" from the dust just whipping around out there. The wind is fierce. There's little speckles of rain hitting the patio. I'm laughing. My neighbor is having solar installed. These two guys have been up on the roof for hours. They've tried for awhile in this. Now they've given up and are beating a hasty retreat off the roof. (LOL)

Read the 8-10 posts on the H.O.A.s if you want to learn a little more about them. Jim and I talked about them and the I told Carrie a little more. They have their pluses and minuses. Some builders Pulte, Horton, etc. are decent. We mostly have them out here. Others I'd have to research. Usually it isn't the builder who sets the H.O.A. entirely. I'm not sure how they initially start off BUT the nice thing about them is you can toss them out if you don't like them. Every year there's a vote. You pick the president, vice president, etc on down the line. You're not happy they're out.

Ohhhhh.....it's lightening! Better go.

BetNC talk to you later.

Grrr don't get me started about flags. There was a "flag store" in Texas that only sold one type. That type MANY people had on their houses, bumper stickers, any place they could stick it. Not so much "I'd rather be separate from the North" as "Texas should secede from the US!" Awful.

Color me hippy dippy too.

Jane, is the festival you mentioned that HUGE international festival? The Edinborough Fringe and all that?
Thank you for all your input on H.O.A. s, Agave. You anticipated my request, but my computer reader must have skipped over some things on the initial read or, perhaps, I did already ask about H.O.A.s and I am having a senior moment.
Jim was emphasizing how bad dealing with this heat and high humidity is. He should have mentioned the bleach was for the Jacuzzi tub not a normal sized tub and the dermatologist recommended it. She also gave us a very effective lotion for counteracting the drying effects. (Cetaphil is great stuff compared to most lotions. It is a little pricier though.) People, especially women, who work outside in these conditions often develop what is commonly called a heat rash. You get it anywhere the heat builds up and moisture collects like behind the ears, under the arms and breast, around the waistband of trousers, etc. It’s a common problem for those who spend much time outside in the humid tropics and sub-tropics. Another reason to love the desert and those cacti.
Healing thoughts and prayers, Beth. That is a scary situation with the leg. I wish I lived nearby to take some of those tomatoes off your hands. I never get tired of tomato sandwiches. All I need is a few slices of substantial wheat bread to soak up any juices, a jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise or a homemade one and the tomatoes and life is blissful for a time. It’s the essence of summer’s best traits between two slices of bread. I have been settling for cucumber sandwiches since it is cucumbers I have in abundance this season. They have held up better to the outdoor sauna than the tomatoes. The little ‘Snow White’ tomatoes are doing okay, but they make poor tomato sandwich material. I wish I could trade you some cukes for those tomatoes.
Carrie, is Ray still working or has he retired, or both. lol. Retirement is hard for some people. I’ve known a few who worked harder after their retirement than during their professional lives.
I am packing up plants for shipping to daughter #2 today that have sentimental value to her. It is interesting how a plant can become personally symbolic of another person or an event.
I am mailing out many irises. My mother’s true love was tulips, but when she found she could not grow them here she focused on iris for Spring color. I weeded her iris bed when she was no longer able to and kept some for the garden here as her bed became too crowded. She was much loved and connected in people’s memories with her collection of iris. They are easily finding new homes in gardens across the country. Fortunately, irises are not too picky about climate. They adapt well. I am not sentimental about letting the iris go because I always knew they were not her true floral love. She comes to mind when I encounter tulips. I wonder what flower or plant will bring me to mind for my grandchildren. I hope it is not the burn hazel I bribe my grandson into weeding because it is a blind gardener’s nightmare plant. ;-)
I’ve been reading a book on barrier free housing that has a chapter on the outside landscape. Even if Jim remains ambulatory I still want the next house to be barrier free since I have so many family members and friends who need wheelchair accessibility. I am the youngest of my generation meaning my siblings are all experiencing the mobility issues that come with age. It is going to be a challenge finding such a house in the Huntsville area. The mountain views are lovely, but because of it, split level houses are most readily available. I liked the house we drove up to look at, but the lawn was too steeply sloped to be conducive to a w/c of any kind. I know the kind of house I want exist there, I lived in the perfect house there about 40 years ago. Being young and able-bodied at the time, I did not appreciate it as such.
I think my cooing story belongs on the Still Laughing for Joy thread (This forum. Different thread.) See you there. Have a blessed day, Everyone.
kay*

Strange, I (and others) th8ink of hippies being peace, love, etc. Not judgemental or intolerant.

I wholeheartedly support the right of Georgia or Alabama or whatever state whose state flag is the one used by the Confederacy. It no more promotes bigotry, prejudice or shoving unacceptable ideas down anyo3e's throat anymore than naming everything in sight as Martin Luther King this or that.

Yes, MLK was a great man. So was JFK There was and is a lot of great men and women, regardless of the color of their skiin, who are not nationally recogtnized and honored..

A great general in the Civil War was honored by a national observance of his birthday. . . .we still nationally observe that birthday even today. It is now iknown as Martin Luther King's Birthday, as the general fought for the Confederacy.

As a nation, we honor our fallen soldiers with near-automatic right to be buried in the national cemetary: Arlington. Most peop-le do not know that this was the plantation passed down to General Robert E. Lee's wife and that the couple lived there happily. Mrs. Lee's favorite view was of her prize rose bushes. Then the Civil War broke out; this already aclaimed West Point graduate resigned from the Army and joined the Confederacy. As punishment, and out of spite, the rose bushes were dug up, the house demolished and the land designated a national cemetary: Union dead were buried there, beginning in place of the roses!!

Don't EVEN get me started on The Little Inconvenience!!!

Hey BetNC.
Good point. You pointed out a most interesting fact about the MLK and JFK thing. I get a bit tired of that too. Not because of who they were but simply, like you said, there are many other great people that need to be recognized also. Uhm...any holidays or streets for women? Maybe but can't think of any off hand.

My gripe with the flag...aside from my own personal opinion...is it is just time to give it up. Flags are symbols. When they're on public and government buildings, civic, or religious buildings they show who is in power or what the ruling seat of "government" is.

IF the Confederate flag is actually somebody's state flag then only that state alone should be flying it. That's where it belongs. Half the country doesn't need to be flying it. In Pennsylvania they fly Pennsylvania's state flag. Every other Northern state isn't flying Pennsylvania's flag as a symbol that they were part of the Union during the Civil War. (what an oxymoron civil-war as if war is civil)

One of the VERY FEW wise things my mother said to me was, "It doesn't matter whose side you're on in life. Like it or not history and rules are always written by the winner. So either you win or you play by the winner's rules and are seen as they portray you." I think it is time for some acceptance of this truth in the South. Unfair yes. Life isn't fair or fair to anyone.

You want to fly the Confederate or whatever flag from your own personal place..cool!. I'm good with that. It's your place. You've got that right. I'm not intolerant of that. Otherwise I think there's no need for its public expression.

Mr. Lee was a brilliant and accomplished man. I was familiar with him from some of my History classes. I think his portrait, if it isn't already, should be proudly displayed at West Point as a shining example of a gifted statesman, academic, and military leader.

I do agree what they did to Mrs. Lee's roses was unconscionable. That is unfortunate. Just because someone wins and gets to make the rules does not mean those rules should be without any regards to others, overly harsh, or unnecessarily cruel. To rip up a lady's roses was just spiteful and petty.

On a more pleasant note...Your 'maters look positively yummy!!! What I wouldn't give for one of those. I don't know what it is they grow out here but they're not tomatoes. Oh....fresh thick slices of tomatoes with slices of real buffalo mozzarella cheese and a handful of fresh basil leaves. Just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt....yummmmm!
Or fresh tomatoes to blanch, peel and put through a sieve and then cook down at a slow simmer for hours to make your base for home made spaghetti sauce. When done add a little tomato paste to thicken and your favorite herbs and spices and cook till done....... oh my!
Home made salsa!!!
O.K. I need to stop with the tomato thing here before I get obscene.

By the way you're off the hook with that snake! WOW! I'm impressed. Any time you want to come out here I got a ton of Black Widow spiders you can have at. Bring your boots. I know a few people that have scorpions too.

Hmm....staples, stitches or glue...rather avoid all 3 right now!
Let me know how your leg turns out and what the doc says. Blood clots are not good!

Kay: Your photos of Fennie were good. Meant to tell you. They're better than some of the photos I take. Pretty girl. Not sure what breed. Lab hound mix? Any more questions on H.O.A.s let me know. I can always ask mine or look them up for you.

Carrie
You'll have to e.mail me privately. We can have our own discussion about TX. If they want to secede for the U.S. let them. You know that old saying about being careful of what you wish for? I think it would be interesting to let them get what they wanted one time.

It would be interesting to see how much they hate the federal government when they have to pay for their own military, their own police, their own fire service, their own border patrol, their own FBI and CIA, their own disaster relief, create their own social security, their own welfare, their own child protection services, their own prisons, their own food and water inspections and regulations build their own railroads, their own airports, their own hazardous waste removal systems and plants, have their own mail delivery, shall I go on.....? I'd give them about 6 months.

Oh did anyone see the meteor shower super early this a.m.? I did! It was wonderful. Happening again tonight-tomorrow in the wee pre dawn hours. I was up at 1:30a.m. and watched until 3:30a.m. Best time. It is supposed to go on until the morning of the 14th.

Ahhh, Agave, you're killing me, drroooool! My uncle used to grow the best tomatoes on his farm in Virginia. We didn't know about homemade spaghetti sauce or buffalo mozzarella, but they were great with miracle whip and bread. Agree agree agree. I had that fight a few times with Texans, then I gave up and came home. And what does Texas need with all those services?

Good Morning all! :D

Boo hoo! Meteor shower was a bust this a.m. Well, it did rain and the clouds were thick. Did see one absolutely stellar one though! Mega huge and on literal fire then it went out and left that white trail behind it. AMAZING!

Yesterdays was fabulous. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Some yellow a red one most of the typical shooting stars. Some so powerful they looked like little flashes of heat lightening behind the clouds. I actually HEARD one! Whatever object it hit the impact made an audible noise. It was a loud "click" sound like striking flint.

We have heat lightening out here. That's when it is so hot that lightening gets generated in the air but never touches the ground. It just kind of bounces around in the clouds emitting flashes if the clouds are covering it. If not you get some amazing bolts. Most running sideways! The meteors behind the clouds looked like heat lightening on occasion.

So disappointed about today. It rained last night. My garden sandals and outdoor patio rug were soaked and I could smell the rain. Can't see much at 1.30a.m. :D Came in about 3:15. Cold! Only 82 this morning. Well when you're used to 95 in the morning and 105 in the day 82 IS cold! Popped back out at 3:50a.m. Still dark and clouds dispersed just a tad. Meteors whizzing a little faster but still faint. Not much exciting going on.

Well I shouldn't say that. A sky full of non stop shooting stars, even faint ones, is exciting especially when it is supposed to last 3-4 days! What a gift. Are you guys watching this? Can anyone see it? They hyped this one up on the news due to the unusual quantity of shooting stars, the non stop activity and the rare type.

I'll have to check the schedule and see when the next meteor shower is. There's been more activity than ever before in the last 5 years. True! They used to be rare occurrences. I never witnessed so many of them as I have in the last 3 years. I know there's a bunch more coming this year. Stay tuned to a sky near you!

Carrie,
Glad your a "foodie" too. I looooove to cook. Do you?
I don't see it as a chore. I see it more as a creative process. To me it is just making a different type of art using a different medium. One does not have to spend tons of money to be creative and make something good. One of my favorite shows is Chopped. It has given me some good ideas for left overs and things I don't know what to do with!

Ever watched the cooking show called "Chopped"? There's your proof. They give you 5 really bizarre or off the wall ingredients in a basket, one being a protein and you have free range of the fruits, vegetables, spices and "pantry". You have to use EVERYTHING in the basket and you have to TRANSFORM the ingredients from what they originally were. You create 3 meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. There's 4 contestants. Process of elimination occurs until 2 contestants are left for the dessert round.
All dishes judged on creativity, use of ingredients, originality of recipe, flavor, presentation, etc.
Time limit on making all 3 dishes. I mean I've seen shows where they give you some really crazy stuff! It was liver(protein), turnips, orange peanut circus candy, a bottle red wine, and dried chilies. Now what on Earth do you do with that?

The winner made : turnip mashed potatoes, with a jazzed up pureed liver (like hamburger texture) and rice stuffed green pepper baked in a tomato and chili sauce and a side salad with all kinds of weird vegetables and transformed the candy into some type of an orange-red wine vinaigrette dressing. YUCK!!!

Somehow these people make it work and (supposedly) taste good! Oh well really makes me stand in front of the fridge looking at my Tupperware containers at the end of the week going Hmmm......instead of throwing things out.

Saved me money and according to my husband I've actually come up with some good stuff! Also come up with flops that resulted in trips to Whataburger or Subway(LOL)! :D

BetNC
Now look what you got us all started on...Food! You need to mail us those 'maters! :D
How you feeling today? How's the leg and Grandma? How's those wonderful flowers? Still jealous.

Speaking of old people. My favorite Aunt, actually great Aunt is still alive. She's 92. This is the woman that gets up at the crack of dawn to iron and washes walls and wonder's what the Hell I do with myself!

She's my mom's Aunt and my last living relative from Hungary. Still can read and write the language although she speaks perfect English with no accent. She came here as a young teenager with her family including my maternal grandfather (her brother).

Anyway my Mother told me Aunt Ida is finally starting to lose it mentally. Was sharp as a tack until now. She told my Mother she saw a naked Hungarian man in her bath tub the other morning and proceeded to describe!!! My Mother was like, "Ohhh .Kaaaay.....it's time to go home." (She only lives a few houses away)

I about bust a gut I laughed so hard.
First, how did Aunt Ida know he was Hungarian? Second good for her! Hey she may be old but she aint dead yet. She can still appreciate a naked man in her bathtub! I'm still chuckling about that.
Wish I had been there to hear her tell it. I wouldn't have left. I would have put on the coffee and chatted a spell. (LOL) :D

Old people. What a hoot. That's the only thing I am looking forward to about getting old. You can be, act, do and say the most outrageous things and get away with it. Nobody is going to give you a hassle and it really is almost shameful to get offended or mad at them. "Oh they're old and don't know no better. They've lost their marbles. They're getting senile. It's just the generation they grew up in they don't understand."
Yeah, yeah. They know we'll make these excuses for them and overlook the behavior so they do it all the more. I swear it is some kind of conspiracy old people have and their way of being passive aggressive and getting all their little digs in before they go.

Hi Kay and Jim!
Got a better understanding the bleach is for a hot tub and not the bath tub. Duh. Makes sense now! You'll have to forgive me. I don't have kids but I still have a tendency to mother hen people. Feel flattered.

Yep...had my share of heat rash due to sweating. You'll bust a pretty good sweat in the heat especially outside gardening in it. Main reason for baby wipes and trying to shower as soon as possible when done gardening. Cacti aren't exactly "user friendly" either (LOL) they bite and scratch. Own a few pair of leather gloves and if working with a larger plant unfortunately long jeans and harder shoes are required rather than shorts and tennis shoes.
Yes, certain types cactus needles DO penetrate the fabric of tennis shoes and socks as I discovered! (OUCH). So you'll also get pretty sweaty from the protective gear and the hat on your head to protect you from sunburnt scalp and face. I actually managed to burn my scalp where the part in my hair is one time! Hat's for now on!

I also have the worlds most sensitive skin. You breath on it wrong it turns red, or blotchy or it gets a bruise or a hive and itches (another reason for the dusting frenzy I have) It's fussy with cosmetics and perfumes. Oh... soap and lotions are just the worse! Must of tried every soap on the market until I found 2 that work and don't make me want to peel my skin off. Latex gloves bother my hands. Nothing wrong with me just your typical "sensitive skin". There's lots of people like me.

Oh two more words for coo: effuse, genuflects and bubbles over! If I come up with any more I'll let you know. Personally I like the word genuflect. It means to bend one's knee in reverence or worship. I can't think of a better way to pay homage to plants!

I am sorry about the farm. It probably sounds trite but Cactus shared with me lessons from other teachers. You probably know these. Blessings come in odd ways and often in packages we don't recognize and they're for our own good. Also bodies at rest tend to stay at rest so to create "motion" (in this case in life) you must be in motion.

I have a smaller home but I live in a "nicer" environment overall and both DH and I are happy. I no longer complain about the people, place, attitudes or solitude. I have a yard I can transform. Because of that I'm on line with all of you! Our fire and ambulance are free! Our property taxes are lower. Our water is lower.

Now it remains to be seen what will come from my not working.
Cactus told me the deeper the trial the bigger the blessing to follow and the more wisdom to gain."
My reply was "Oh goody. More happiness gained through poor judgment per our last lesson?" Wise cactus told me to, "Shut up and don't be a smart@$$. Go tell your friend I said don't be down and stop worrying."

Pic #1 Divine Cactus of Enlightenment
Pic #2 A beautiful tree trunk. For some odd reason I found this so compelling and lovely
Pic #3 A close up of an Ocotillo branch; photo by DH
Pic #4 My rendition of the same said branch
Pic #5 Sleeping beauty :D Awwwww! How does she manage those legs?

Here's a shotgun approach to catching y'all up and my comments re my Granny.

I've been to see the surgeon. No surgery (GP over-reacted). What a relief! On the other hand, he told me it'd prollly be another 2 months of "babying" before I was "normal" again. ROFL "normal"? HAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEHOHOHO

My flowers are starting to quit blooming, as I SHOULD deadhead them daily. I have a bit of consolation from my gardeen helper (who's able to deadhead daily) that HIS flowers are starting to quit blooming, too. 'Sides, kids have retrurnede to school so summer's almost ove4r with anyways.

As for Granny, she hasn't permantly lost her marbles, but she DOES have her moments when she's . . . not as sharp as a tack? Like when she drove down Main Street in the wrong lane - I was having kittens but she calmly said "I know." and drove another block before she got back in the RIGHT lane! (I won't ride with her anymore and she REFUSES to ride with me, insisting on driving herself.) Or the last few weeks when she badgerted me about a financial plan she came up with: I stalled, hoping she'd take the extra time to think it through and see it was a bad idea. Instead, things got ugly: I ended up crying, she refused to see or talk to me. . .but that turned out to be gooed, as she finally thought things through and "saw" that she hadn't been acting rationally over The Plan, which she concluded WAS a bad idea! So all's fine. I DID ask her to write, in her handwriting, that she's asked me to continue this looking out for her: so that the next time, I can show her that and she'll then stop. . and it won't get so ugly again.

Oh, MY! Look at the time! I hafta go water my tomato plants. . . then its back to bed qwith my feet up! I'm already so tired of this, after a month already! How on earth will I make it another 2 months???

BetNC

You got us for entertainment....and drives with granny! :D

We’re doing okay. Just a lot going on. Water man found a hive of wild Italian honeybees in a box he was about to check. Getting him set up with a hive box and the equipment he needs to move them. Italian Leathers, an Italian honeybee of a warm brown color, are thriving in the wild in this region. They produce good honey. They are simply not the color most hobbyist bee keepers prefer. The fact that they have gone native so successfully tells me they may be a better honeybee for the area than the fuzzier yellows.
Kay has been busy and having some trouble with her screen access program, but she will work it out soon. She knows that program better than I do. It is best I stay out of her way.
Desert skies are amazing even without meteor showers. Nadi’s Dad was heavily into astronomy, but we gave away all his telescopes. Nadi says she will check it out with the naked eye tonight.
We had a young man here once who was schizophrenic and not taking his meds. He got it in his head that Fenny was some kind of hellhound, demoness dog. We tried talking him back into reality, but Fenny wasn’t helping. Opening her eyes very wide so they look almost like human eyes, jumping around in high places. She was raised by a cat and sometimes she seems to forget she is a dog. Displaying her vocal virtuosity from low grunts to a soprano whine high enough to hurt the ears.
R. is safely back on his meds and doing well. He was the picture of mental stability last time he came around to play computer games with Nadi. Fenrira behaved a normal dog and he petted her and did all the little things one does with friendly dogs. After his experience, I don’t believe he will ever be totally comfortable around her. She freaks out the northern neighbors too. The young man who lives back there shot her with a paint gun and Fen goes out of her way to freak them all out. She’s a big dog, even though it is mostly legs. She can be intimidating when she wants to be. A line of bristly fur down her back standing up like a Mohawk, ears flat and impressive teeth on display. She stays with Kay when she’s out in the gardens and no person unknown to Fenny or people she doesn’t like is allowed to approach to close. Most of the time, she is a big goofball, however, who makes people laugh with her crazy antics. We have the afternoon heat lightening also and Fen hates it. There must be some kind of herding dog in her ancestry. When it storms, she wants us all gathered in one place where she can watch us. As long as her pack or herd or whatever she considers us is where she can keep an eye on us, she is a happy pup.
(Jim)

I had fascinating hallucinations when I am really low on O2 so I definitely feel for your elders.

When I was sick in 2002 I had a convincing realization that the hospital was just a factory for producing animal protein (we human bodies). Now, that seems like a ridiculous idea whereas hospital beds/space are so expensive and it's way cheaper to grow chicken or beef or heck, brine shrimp or tilapia. But in this hallucination, it made sense that all these expensive doctors were coming to see me every day because they were going to harvest my flesh for meat. It's amazing what 85% O2 for 6 weeks can do.

One of the ways we knew I was sick in July was that I had a hallucination/dream that there was a cat in the room. We haven't had a cat since 2000. But I woke Ray up because I was convinced there was a cat in the room. Not in a dream, when I was awake. We checked my O2 and it was 88% so we called the MD and she said go to ER.

And I am delighted to announce that I officially feel Better! I went to the gym yesterday and biked and I am only checking my O2 once or twice a day! I firmly believe that knowledge is power but too much knowlege is ridiculous, I don't need to check how my O2 changes with eating, for instance. So I am hanging up my oximeter for the semester.

I did that thing where you write your BP and heart rate down 6 to 8 times a day. After a while I felt it was turning me into a hypochondriac so I quit. I was noticing every little twinge and worrying.
Darn, that's not fair! Why didn't I get to see naked men when the Charles Bonnet Syndrome was at its worst.
Is it my system or is anyone else experiencing slow loading of the thread? Should I start #20? Someone said once that Admin preferred starting anew after a thread reached 100 posts, but I do not know how accurate that is. Does anyone have any books or links they would like to add to the intro list if we decide it is time to start a new thread?
Kay*

Ooft, I have a wee bit reading to do! Hahaha. :) Was offline for a few days there with some illness & that thing I like to call "oops I got a bit carried away in the garden and am now paying for it". ;) I'll be back later this evening to catch up & reply to you all! xxx

Hi gang :D

Awwwww....love them doggie pictures! Aren't they the sweetest things? Like little angels when they sleep. Quick. Call the taxidermist (LOL)! That's horrible about that man that shot her with the paint gun. Idiot neighbor I presume? Who would do such a mean thing if the dog wasn't bothering them. It's probably a good thing she freaks them out now. I'd watch though. People who are crazy enough to hurt an animal just may try to poison her. Keep an eye on her. I hate it when people torment or terrify animals for no reason. It does horrible things to their little minds and makes them so leery of people sometimes. It does change their behavior and nature.

For the most part she sounds like Zoe. Playful, love me..love me..love me type of dog. Just loves people. Will stand there and let you pet a hole in her. I've only seen her show her teeth to one person in 5 years.
That was the FedEx guy. I don't know why. Likeable guy. Not mean, loud, threatening. Never stared her down or talked mean to her. Never bothered her in any way. But she had the snarl, the lowest rumbling growl I ever heard, and she actually bared her teeth to him. Her little Mohawk on her head and neck went up too. Weird.

Poor guy. The one other time he came to my house he was standing back from my door about three feet. When I opened it he was pointing to a Black Widow spider that had so kindly strung a web across the entrance of the front door. Had I walked out my door I would have walked into it! Guy must have rang the door bell and jumped back 3 feet. I felt so sorry for him every time he had to come to my house. Probably groaned every time he saw my address.(LOL)

Now the UPS guy was another story. Zoe couldn't get enough of him! She'd hear his truck and stand at the door tail wagging. She knew the sound of his truck! When was the last time a UPS driver ever got out of the truck and didn't chuck your package on the door and run away?
This guy actually stopped, rang the bell and petted the dog! He remembered her name! Just loved her. Funny thing even when he delivered a package at the neighbors he would still walk over and see her for a minute! She'd be at the door before he got there. She already heard the truck!

Sad about what schizophrenia can do isn't it. Makes you wonder about the human mind and how it works. I don't wonder around here. The explanation is one too many chromosomes. :D
I'm glad your friend R. is doing well and mentally stable. That is so great. It is always good to hear a success story.

I don't know the only hallucinations I get were from Codeine cough syrup which I'm no longer allowed to have because it also causes seizures. I also had some great, extremely pleasant ones while on a 2 day Morphine drip at the burn center.
I was also in a perpetual state of catatonia on my 3 pill cocktail of Oxycodone, Percodan, and Valium! (Yep..all 3 at once!).
I preferred to call it deep meditation and commune with the higher spirit God's. Most relaxed I've ever been in my life. Took a trip and never left the house.
Didn't pick up a dust rag for 3 months! Who needed sleep? It was over rated. Just sat on the couch grinning and drooling on myself and scratching because one of them was making my skin itch.
I told my husband since we can't take vacations we should see if we can raid the hospital's cabinet :D (LOL) I understand why people get into drug use/abuse.
It was unnerving being in this state for as long as I was. I stopped the medication. They wanted to keep me on it longer! I was afraid of what would happen. Not that I would get addicted. But that my house would wind up looking like our friends that never clean! (LOL)

Unfortunately I never saw any naked men in my hallucinations either.

Not being racist or disrespectful but was there some Mexican holiday I'm not aware of yesterday/today? My neighbors who both coincidentally happen to be Mexican were partying like it was Cinco de Mayo. I went out at 1:30a.m. to watch the meteor shower and 4 houses down from me on the right they had their back yard lit up like they owned stock in the power company and music going. Some girl with the biggest mouth I ever heard was yacking. I mean my hearing isn't the best but I could clearly make out what she was saying.I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the cops considering this little fiesta broke up at 4:10a.m.
My other neighbor gets up early like I do. He owns his own landscaping business. Normally you may hear his truck radio for about 5 minutes softly around 4:30a.m. This morning he was out about 3:00a.m. with his radio up fairly loud and a couple of people in his garage/driveway. He left around 4:45a.m.
Anyone know what was the big occasion and why wasn't I invited? Hey I would of combed my hair and put on a bra and clothes that I hadn't slept in. (LOL).

Anyway so glad everyone is feeling well and healthy right now. That is just the most wonderful news. I haven't fallen on my head or anything else lately. So far so good. Jim.....are you listening to the Divine Cactus of Enlightenment? He's left a few lessons there for you to read in the previous posts. Catch up. He's not just talking to me you know!

Speaking of divine cacti here's a cacti that just did something divine. Enjoy. I am. It flowered this morning. The bloom only lasts 1 to 5 days. Here's yesterday's pre bloom and today's bloom.
TTC/Agave
peace. Out. Oh...if we do a new thread will someone let me know or D-mail me please!!

Yes, TTC, I hear the prickly sensei and ponder on his wise words.
No festivals I am aware of, and my first wife was Mexican-American. Viola and her family were totally into assimilation, however. There could be something I don’t know about.
Yes, it was the northern nutty-in-training who shot Fenrira with the paint gun. Nadi said he was trying to lure her off the property so he could shoot her with a .22. That way he could have explained having shot her to the police. Fenny is many things, but dumb isn’t one of them. She was trained with a perimeter collar and, even though there is no longer a battery in her collar and she hears no warning beep, she will not leave the property. The neighbors put out poison meat for the coyotes. I don’t think they would hesitate to poison Fenny if they could. I wonder sometimes if that is where Fenny came from. They have two large male dogs that look like they could be Fenny’s brothers. If so, there is no family affection. They came on to the property once and Fenny drove them off viciously and remarked all her territory to Kay’s disgust. Kay claims the urine of female dogs is especially hard on grass and at the time she was trying to replace all the hahaia and orchard grass with Zoysia grass. I still think a game fence all the way around would be a good idea. I guess you don’t need to worry about Zoe messing up your grass. lol. She is a sleeping beauty in that photo. Fenrira snores and makes weird sounds in her sleep the same way she does when awake. I have no doubt dog’s have a dream life.
My son-in-law got his loan a now has three acres and a new house. Kay is choosing plants to go in his landscape. He is perfectly happy with that. He is a nurse who works insane hours and his wife, who is no longer Kay’s daughter, but is raising Kay’s two grandsons and two children of her own. She has her hands full with four boys all under the age of nine. They are more than happy to turn over the landscaping to “Mimi” so they can focus on the house itself. Women are by nature more emotionally practical then men. She calls her former son-in-law’s wife her daughter-in-law and they get along famously. Our “daughter-in-law” wants us to build a house on their property and live there part-time, at least. Kay loves being with all four boys and they all call her Mimi. Kay’s daughter isn’t thrilled with the idea, but she made her choice, parties and booze, free from the responsibility of parenthood. Our daughter-in-law” wasn’t afraid of the work and responsibility. She is raising our grandchildren. I think it is perfectly natural to give her all the support we can. I know Kay and I aren’t physically capable of raising children by ourselves any longer. Our new “daughter-in-law” was like a godsend.
My apologies for misspelling your name, Jaynette. Kay has an excuse. She is blind and her computer screen access program doesn’t spell things out unless she tells it to. I have no excuse. I haven’t even been on many pain killers lately.
Carrie, you should not have stayed up that time and watched the movie Soylent Green. Kay tells me if I ever do develop Alzheimer's disease, I am going to regret watching all the weird science fiction and horror movies. I’ve never had a convincing delusion, but my mother developed Alzheimer's in her 80’s. It’s something I think about. I keep up on all the research which is why there is no aluminum in this house. The worst I’ve ever experienced is missing time. I know I left White Sands Missile Base after having a few too many drinks with my friends. I went through the security check at the gate without raising an eyebrow. I talked to the MP who was on duty that night and he said I had my helmet on and seemed fine. I drove my motorcycle the 12 miles home evidently without incident. I know all this, but I don’t actually remember any of it. I remember being at the party and I remember waking up in bed the next morning. Everything between is a complete blank. It scared me bad enough that I would not take so much as a sip of beer for years after.
Oh, TTC, there is always a link posted at the end of a thread to the new thread and usually a “We came from here” link at the beginning of new threads so no one gets left behind and can check out something on an old thread if they want. I don’t think it is this thread. The internet as a whole seems a little slow lately. It’s driving Nadi up the wall because she works online.
(Jim)

Jim, it seems like people in the military drink harder and longer than the rest of us. Ray has a similar story, except he lost 24 hours. I don't think it's Alzherimer's; I think it was booze. :)

Jacqueline, we wouldn't leave you behind!

Hi guys :D
Not leaving you behind either.

I'll be with you tomorrow. I had fun project (can't call it a job because it is voluntary) to do. Will tell you all about it! :D
Anyway that's the reason I've been so busy and you didn't hear from me.
Hotter than Hell here. Yesterday was 117! Yep!! Holly Cow!

Today it's supposed to be 111-113 I get conflicting weather reports. It is then supposed to go back down to the 107-103 range.

yep, but it's a DRY heat! lol

Oh, how my bones miss DRY heat!! and my lungws STILL haVen't adapted to trying to breath when it feels like I'm dtwowning!!

Plus, I LIKED taking siestas~!