#21 Practical Matters for Phsically Challenged Gardeners

Ok, note to self, it is called 051016 not 052016, although that's not why it didn't work. I hate everything ,especially my new computer, my cell phone and Windows 7-present. Here are the azaleas just for you, Jacqueline, although I am mad that I can't edit this picture.

Hi...
Being a lazy bad girl today although I have plenty of work to do. Eye roll. Anyway...listening to you bemoan technology. Feel your pain sister, feel your pain. I hate the stuff. I'm a dinosaur stuck in a time warp and plan on staying there for as long as humanly possible. To me a phone is a phone to talk on and not a type writer to text on (practice I refuse to do with anyone). I still have a flip phone and am darn proud of it! LOL

So now that I had my little technology tantrum my suggestion would be do what the technologically challenged ( meaning me) do. I have a digital camera. I take my photos. Download them into the computer and then pull them up when I want them and post them. Seems to work for me and it sounds like it might be a little easier than trying to do it on your phone. Just need the little cable that plugs into your camera then into the computer and hit the 'download' button. Stores the pics right in the computer. :D Cable was less than $20 bucks.

Like the garage door! YIPPEE. Looking good. It is so cool that Ray is handy and can make you things for the garden and work on the house. Dave is better mechanically and with some things in the house. I gave him the 'you can do it' pep talk with regards to the tile and it turned out just fine. He gets nervous. Can't say as I blame him as materials cost money and screw-ups more to fix. I guess I operate under the erroneous assumption that I can do or figure out how to do anything. Most times this works other times...we don't talk about that.

We still have to tile the bathrooms to do. Sigh. What ev errrr.

The Azaleas are gorgeous. I remember those and all the colors they came in. They lit up peoples yards and really made a statement. They must be so nice to see everywhere in town and in all the yards along with the now coming Summer flowers.

About the closest thing we have here is a Bougainville (bo-gan-vee-yah). Thrives in 110 plus sun and gets kind of bush like or you can tie it to a trellis to climb. I'll take a photo of mine in the back yard. I just planted it two months ago and now it is twice the size. Great plant.

Our heat wave is coming. GROAN. 110 by next Saturday. Things will be going into a state of suspended animation if not an outright coma until late Feb-early March. Bummer. I so love being out in the yard 'doing' stuff with the plants rather than just water, weed, put shade tent on and try to keep things from burning to death. I guess everything needs a season to rest so to speak and here that is Summer.

I do have one little cacti still blooming and it has stimulated its partner to do so also through cross pollination. The one on the right I have had for a year and it has grown plenty of arms but never bloomed. The one on the left I bought about 3 months ago and it had flower buds (why I bought it). I planted the 2 together and Viola! These are unusual flowers in that if you sniff them closely they have a nice clean, bright somewhat daffodil like scent to them. Very few cacti flowers have fragrance. So I thought that was a nice surprise.

Had a little doggy drama this morning too. Not Zoe thankfully. All morning I kept hearing a high pitched kind of squeaky odd noise and presumed it to be kids playing outside. Well, my neighbor is out of state and I go over in the a.m. to turn off and on the lights and collect her newspapers.

I about jumped out of my skin when I felt something furry bump against my ankle. I look down and here is the cutest, tiniest little gold-brown pup making the squeaky noise. Sigh. Me and my big bleeding heart scoops it up and brings it inside with me. It is hot. The little thing would either fry to death, starve to death or get hit by a car...so home it came.

Zoe didn't even notice or care. Looked at me and it and then laid back down. Way to go Zoe! LOL. Showed it to my husband and he groaned. Dog was well fed and clean but probably about 2-6 weeks old. A puppy that tiny just doesn't get out of the house by its self. It isn't a stray at that age. If it belonged to a family here most likely the owner or kids would be outside with it.

Husband said it seemed to be someone ditched it here because they didn't want it and it was too little to find its way home. Oh #$%@ me! He has to go in early today and leave in about an hour and I'm home and have to think of something to do. Let's see, vet is closed it is a 'holiday' (besides several mile long walk), neighbor is out of state which means I walk everywhere or just don't go. I won't take it to a shelter or a pound. It would be dead. Shelters give 3 days and pounds give 1 before the euthanatize.

If I'm stuck with the pup then I have to crate Zoe and put the pup in a box and quarantine it in the kitchen while I walk (did I mention it is hot today) to Walgreens drug store to see if they sell puppy food. And then I have to think of what to do with a literal 'baby' for two days until Dave goes to work and tries to pawn it off on any of his coworkers. Dealing with Zoe in the meantime would be loads of fun too. No predicting how happy or pissed she'd be about this. Sigh.

So I'm musing about all this and standing there in my sweat shorts, a t-shirt and uncombed greasy hair (needed washed today) yet when I decided to walk around and see if this dog belonged to any of the neighbors. Dug out a brassier and a pair of flip flops and a baseball hat and being quite the vision of loveliness started knocking on doors.

Finally the 5th house the kids were outside and the mom and dad in the driveway. They fell in love with it. I explained what was going on and that I couldn't keep the pup because of Zoe. The mom fell in love as the pup started licking her face and the kids of course got in on it. Husband is looking at me like 'piss off lady and thanks a lot for this.' They took the pup on the spot.

All they got was a hug, a 'God Bless You!" and "Thankyouthankyouthankyou" as I beat happy feet down the street before they changed their minds.

I'm sure the dog will be happy as he seemed to like the lady and his little tail was wagging and he was kissing her and she certainly was smitten with him. I think he' s in a good home and that makes me happy. That really was a blessing and it came so unbelievable fast too. Hopefully I'll see him once in awhile. Cute little guy.

Phew, because I sure don't know what I would have done with 2 dogs and I would have had a fit potty training a puppy especially with the way I am about my house and the fact I just got a new tile floor and area rug for the living room. LOL.

So that's Jacqueline's big adventures for the day.
Need to get off my arse and go push a broom, a vacuum and shark steam/mop the kitchen floor.
Then I can sit on my arse in front of the t.v. until I fall asleep and dearest comes home.

Glad you're groovin' to the Mamas and the Papas. Boy they could harmonize and that Mama Cass--what a voice! Favorite song they did was 'Dream a Little Dream of Me."

Hugs,
Jacqueline

Oh, I'm around all weekend if you're bored. Dave's working.

1.) newest left one in bloom, right one I had and it had never bloomed but grew arms
2.) they BOTH have flower buds now
3.) Tah-Daaah!

lol. We have a California Dreaming' Garden. Needless to say, It's Tigger's space.
Sorry, I've been sick the last few days. Nothing serious. Just a fever I couldn't shake. I haven't even been checking my email.
Happy Birthday, Carrie. I checked out your pics on Facebook. Wish our place looked that neat. We are still playing catch-up. If you think loading pics is hard here, you haven't loaded any on the Gardening .org site. Sssslllooowww. They are working on it.
That's timely and interesting what you said about Backlofin. Kay told her doctor at the pain management center yesterday that she was going off the Backlofin. She takes it at night for leg spasms. She believes she can get relief from a magnesium and potassium supplement at night. The doc just asked if she still had some capsules left, in case she was mistaken. We will see how that goes. She has always had one foot in alternative medicine and claims that is a better reaction than she has had from many doctors. They get very little training in nutrition in med school. That is probably because there is no way to patent broccoli and make a huge profit off of it though Monsanto is doing its best to change that.
Nadi, Kay and I have decided we are sick of being sick and are trying some radical diet and lifestyle changes. It will be a struggle for me, but I have now seen the statistics on the effectiveness of statin drugs. My goal is to get this weight off so I don't need them to manage my BP. Losing weight made a dramatic difference for Kay and she wasn't significantly over weight. She changes and adapts easily. I have little doubt we will be dragging Nadi along kicking and screaming at times. lol. Her Dad wasn't good at expressing emotions. Cooking and serving delicious food was a way of showing love and Nadi grew up with that kind of relationship with food. The new regime will be hard for her. I'm just a hedonist who mistakenly believed that food was one pleasure I could still indulge in that didn't cause pain.
Who knows. Maybe by focusing on my general health I can cure these fevers the doctors dismiss as unimportant.
I didn't think about the Caliche soil there, TTC. I guess we will just have to make you your own garden space here to get you through the dearth of summer flowers there. A lily garden?
Sad to hear about the seizure, but glad there were no serious injuries.
Dave probably needs all the mood support supplements can give him. He's got a tough job.
We are on a summer schedule. Sleeping and goofing off during the heat of the day. Working mornings and evenings, we've managed to clear away dewberries that were overrunning a bed. Dewberries, blackberries and red raspberries are like weeds for us. Useful, but they will take over if we turn our backs too long. I'm eyeing the goji berries to see if we will be adding them to that list. They are behaving so far, but it takes a few years for them to fully establish.
The white lilies (Lilium longiflorum) are blooming everywhere. I have a feeling I will be trying to give those away in the next year or two, the way I'm trying to get people to take iris off our hands now. Kay can't resist propagating. I've found two more takers for the iris. I had better get those packages in the mail.
Today's daylily is 'Chinese Chariot.
' Blessings,.


This message was edited May 29, 2016 12:21 PM

Actually, that bright, bright pink azalea is not my favorite, Every year, that's the first one to bloom and I think "that is not my favorite color. They make azaleas in different colors, don't they?" After I think that thought, I look online about how to remove an azalea bush and what other colors there are and how to freecycle that bush, then I look at in one more time, notice a different color at the edge and say "now THAT's a nice color for an azalea, what's that?" and it turns out to be the first flower of the other azalea which is more of a coral or salmon color. I did that exact thing with the two azalea colors this week and I did it last year at exactly this time of year and I'm sure I did it in around 2011. It's not enough to be visible in a photo yet, but I will send a picture when it is. If I can figure it out.

Hi guys, :D
Busy this a.m. but will get with you this afternoon.
Peace. Out.
TTC

Jim, that is one beautiful daylily. It's too bad they last only a day.

Kay was on baclofen too? I found it made me retroactively stupid. I'm not sure what I meant by that now, but that is what I used to say. I meant something specific, too, I'm just not sure what. I'd love to hear from her how it makes her feel. I think it is supposed to clear your system pretty quickly, eg if you take it at noon you'll be perky by midnight, but I think I found that it made me feel stupid all the time, even when I wasn't taking it.

Have I talked about the website patientslikeme.com? I just thought of it. It is free and is a big database with every kind of disease and disability represented. They have forums and stuff, like DG but about disabilities instead. But I found it difficult to find my way around. Any of you might like it better than I did. It's where I keep track of my weight and BP numbers and I note when I start and when I stop new or different meds. It's otherwise hard to keep track.

I use it mostly as a journal but there are discussion forums and a message system, A lot like DG used to be, in fact, but the navigation isn't as familiar. I know longer know whether the old navigation (pre-Agave, even) was actually better or just more familiar. And Jim, I would never upload a photo at gardens.org--the time it takes just to load the home page is enough to scare me away.

I did not realize Azaleas grew that far north until I saw your pictures. I guess it is only the Indian azaleas that are tender.
Picture:1 Circle of Life
Picture:2 Sunset Bay

Hi gang, :D
Soooory. Got tired last night. Nothing wrong, just got tired after a busy day and the couch monster kind of got me once I sat down. It didn't let go either. LOL

Jim,
Sorry to hear you've been sick. Yucky...boo, hiss! Hate being sick in the Summer. Well it's Summer here is it still Spring there? Glad to hear you're feeling much better.
A pill for every ill and doctors that are just pill pimps as I call them due to kick backs from drug companies. I swear their job is to keep you sick not well so you can keep them rich and pharmaceutical companies in business. Grrrrrrrr.
I make a religious practice of checking any doctor on the Dollar for Docs website before I even consider going to one. Tells you how much money they make from the drug companies for pushing their pills, (Ever notice all the drug ads in the office? Not there for no reason.), how much they make for enrolling patients in clinical trials and how much they get in gifts, as well as speaking, lecturing and teaching fees.
I have nothing against a doctor earning some money for lecturing or teaching but the rest of it is an issue with me. My former quack Neurologist that had me so over medicated made $643K in 3 years from drug companies. That's obscene!
I try to shoot for Osteopathic Doctors (D.O.) rather than M.D. as they are not as pill happy. I really miss living in a large city. In L.A. I had a doctor in Korea Town that practiced both Eastern and Western medicine and always gave me a choice of how I wanted to be treated when I came in.
Took Eastern style one time out of curiosity for a sinus infection. Tea he concocted . Tasted like wet, muddy tree bark that a dog peed on but cured that sinus infection up in 5 days instead of 7-10 and NO antibiotics and the negative female related side effects.
Also stopped the swelling and banging in my head and unclogged my ears too that antibiotics don't. We won't discuss the 2 pounds I loss due to the shall we say 'cleansing' properties of this stuff. I consider that a positive side effect as I had never felt better in this regards either.
Did acupuncture one time for the arthritis in my back. Not as scary as it looks. Didn't hurt at all. Can't say it cured me of arthritis but it helped a great deal in that I stopped noticing it constantly and I wasn't living off of aspirin whenever it got cold or damp.
I really resent that there aren't more options like this available to people and if so they are hard to find unless they live in very large cities.

Gotta go. Will get with you later...I PROMISE!

O.K. back as promised.

Good for you guys for radically changing your diet. I went Paleo and don't regret it. Lost 49 pounds without trying, never hungry, no craving for sweets, carbs or junk. Eat about half of what I used to and feel completely full and have great nails (long and don't break) and ahem...better bathroom habits.

Won't lie. First 5 days I wanted to rip someone's arm off and it wasn't easy but whenever I revert I literally feel like garbage. Goes to show you garbage in so garbage out.

If you can't do the diet thing full tilt try some changes first. Mix regular cola with diet at a 50-50 ration. Cuts calories and you don't get the full 'diet' taste.
Avoid potatoes. Purely a useless vegetable with little to no nutritional value. There's plenty of side dishes to have instead.
"Knife and fork' burgers. Ditch the buns. This is a big one here at our house. We make the burgers suuuuper big and serve them on the lettuce, tom and onions with the condiments. Don't miss the bun. Or just use the bottom bun.
I no longer use sugar unless it is for baking and I can't get 100% around it. I use Stevia. Not an artificial sweetener but a natural one from a plant leaf and has 0 calories and as sweet as sugar.
If I want 'junk food' I make myself go out for it rather than keeping it in the house. Half the time the trouble isn't worth what I wanted. Only junk food exception is microwave popcorn and that isn't the most hateful thing in the world.
Fruit works great instead of candy. Fruit smoothies. YUMMMM! Pineapple, mango, peach, berry anything with ice and some juice. Oh..and once in a while you can add booze to this (tee-hee).
If you got to have booze regularly stick to red wine. Least caloric and highest in antioxidants.
Get rid of salad dressings and try making your own with herbs, oils, spices etc. (Ever look on the back of salad dressing? First ingredient is sugar!)
Lunch meat, sausage and hot dogs are a train wreck.
Dairy, except cheese and eggs, is even worse. If you do milk try 2% or lower if you can stand it. Almond and/or soy is best. Takes some getting used to but the almond isn't bad and it has nice flavor.
Shrimp, fish, and eggs pack major protein punches that keep you full a long time and they all have minimal to almost no calories.
If you guys can start with just this stuff I think you'd see some differences without feeling like you are 'trying' or on a major diet.

And yes...I do allow myself one junk food day a week. :D I am human. The goal is to eat right not be in constant deprivation mode. Rule of Paleo is if you do what you should 80% of the time then the other 20% you can do what you want with the same benefits.

Awwwww...thanks for the offer of the Lily garden. Really touched by all of your sweetness to do something like that. I'd be thrilled with anything that blooms in the Summer. LOL. Gives you a lot of creative liberty. And yeah, that caliche soil(?) for lack of a better word is a nightmare. I'm lucky. Where I'm at now the soil is 90% sand and about 10% dirt. You do hit an occasional small patch of caliche here and there but it isn't the whole yard. Just enough to remind you that you still live in the desert and not to get arrogant. LOL.

As always the lilies and flowers are a treat. Thanks for that Jim. I truly do appreciate seeing their loveliness. :D

Here's my bougainvillea in bloom it has double in size in just a few months. This will stay in bloom all summer and gives such a punch of color which kind of makes up for everything else.

Going to try and find something to do with myself today. Dave is working. It was a beautiful morning so Zoe and I went for our walk. Place is like a ghost town. Not a peep. Weird since there are usually kids out and about or people coming and going. All of my house work is done. It is so weird to actually have 'nothing' to do for the first time. I almost feel guilty. I honestly don't know what to do with myself. I think I'll paint my nails.

Hugs to all.
Have a nice Memorial Day.
Jacqueline.

Zoe says 'Hey there!'
Agave sisalana and the Bougainvillea
Close ups of Bougainvillea
My poor attempt at humor (eye roll)

Hi, Carrie. I'm still with all of you in spirit. DG makes my screen reading program growl. That is the only way I know to describe the sound distortion that develops if I am on the site too long. I will ask Jim to post this. He has a speech program on his computer, but that is for his dyslexia. He does not need to use my Zoomtext program.

Baclofen leaves me feeling dull and listless in the morning and I am no lark to begin with. My greatest challenge these days is not functioning as a blind/hearing impaired person, it is getting out of bed in the morning and not doing anything too unbelievably stupid when I do manage to drag myself out of bed.
Restless leg syndrome is a creepy feeling and the spasms keep me awake. It is one of those between a rock and a hard place situations. The doctor chided me several times for not taking the med every night as a preventative. He said it worked better that way. I was taking it only when I got the creepy feeling that precedes an episode of spasms. One time I was not able to find where I stashed my Baclofen when an episode started. I took some potassium and magnesium supplements I had in the medicine cabinet because I knew those minerals helped with muscle cramps and I was desperate for some relief. By the time I located my Baclofen, the spasms had stopped
I also have a relative who is a retired pharmacist and I know he is not too keen on oral Baclofen. He is suffering Parkinson's like symptoms. I should also say he is suffering Alzheimer's like symptoms and a little prone to paranoia, but he is still sharp regarding pharmaceuticals. That is enough evidence for me to try to go without.
Statin drugs can also cause memory problems. After I have my Baclofen verdict, I will turn my attention to getting off Lipitor. Virtually everyone I know over 55 is taking it. I am genetically disposed to high cholesterol. I may have to eat vegan to get off that one. Well, a fish oil capsule popping vegan. lol. There is no curing IGA nephropathy, but taking large amount of fish oil does make me feel better and has kept my condition from worsening. Even allopathic doctors prescribe fish oil for the condition now. Massive amounts of fish oil or steroids are all the options available and the steroids are kept back for as long as possible because of nasty side effects.
For the moment, I take 12,000 mgs. of fish oil supplement a day and dodge as many toxins as I possibly can. My logic is if f your body is not able to eliminate toxins from the blood properly, keep them from getting into your blood in the first place. It was s a little spooky to discover just what a toxic world we live in. I am totally into pain avoidance and too many toxins in the blood is unpleasant. It is hard to describe the sensation, but it is definitely one to avoid.

It is ironic, But I feel better than I have in a long time. I can't solve the problem, but I can work on damage control now that I know what I am dealing with. I cannot really imagine what receiving a diagnosis of MS was like, but wasn't there a very small part of you that was relieved to know for sure what was happening to your body Beneath the terror?
If you have ever read "How Not to Die" by Michael Greger or been on his site, Nutrition Facts.org, then you have the gist of what we are attempting.
I can remember arguing long and hard with my sister to convince her yellow azaleas existed and that there were azaleas that bloomed at times other than early Spring. White, pinks and reds are the standard colors of southern Indian azaleas. There are some lovely coral and orange hybrids more recently.
Jim's daylilies are still carrying the show. 'Willow' and 'Sunset Bay', my favorites, are still producing new flowers. 'Sunset Bay' has a noticeable scent by daylily standards and I like "willows' leggy height. The flowers must be 4' high. No bending over needed to appreciate them. The gladiolus are blooming. We are grouping them by color. The reds, orange/yellows, pinks and purples are all mixed up this year.
My Great Corn Experiment is going well. I am determined to eat organic corn only minutes from the stalk. (The sugars in corn start turning to starch immediately after it is picked. ) It should be growing well. The soil is over half compost and I have been watering it every day. lol. It is only three stalks of corn, Kentucky pole beans and squash in a tractor tire planter. does it still count as organic, if it is grown in a tractor tire? lol. My Cherokee ancestors are laughing in their graves to see what I have done to their Three Sisters growing method. Turning our sandy soil into super rich organic soil is a lot of work. I want to know that all that effort will give me organic corn before I try it on a normal scale. I hope to be eating fresh corn-on-the-cob for my birthday dinner. 4 stalks should give me enough for one dinner.
There was a dedication ceremony for a monument to Korean vets earlier in the week, but it has been a quiet Memorial day weekend for us. We are finishing it off with a drink and a bonfire. Cheers!
Jacqueline, you are so lucky! I would have ended up with a new dog. That is how we ended up with Fenny.
Acacia are native to many desert regions around the world, but I doubt they would provide the summer flowers Jim wished for you. Most the species I am acquainted with bloom in winter. Size might also be an issue in the suburbs. Most are large shrubs or small trees. There is a prostrate form of rosemary that can go just about anywhere.
Give Zoe a hug! Fenny felt well enough to ride to the store with Jim and she conned him into buying her fried chicken livers from the deli. All I will say is I am not cleaning up the mess if she gets sick.
k*

TTC, have we mentioned how Amargia works since you arrived? We are a co-operative, of sorts. The majority of the actual physical labor has always been done by five people, but others contribute by providing plants or the loan of equipment, or however they are able to. When someone contributes to Amargia, they either get a garden space to call their own or their name can be found somewhere impressed in concrete. You contributed plants and it sounds like you need a summer garden more than having your name outlive you on a retaining wall or an artsy concrete creation.
Carrie, evidently I think Baclofen makes Kay lay around on her back loafin' off. (groan) Kay says it wasn't a misspelling, it was a Freudian slip. ;-)
My diet challenge for the day is to find a healthy substitute for the Polish sausage I routinely snack on. It needs to be something I can cook quickly in the microwave or George Foreman grill. Breaded chicken or lean beef patties would be an improvement, I guess. There isn't much that would not be an improvement on the salt and preservatives in highly processed meat. There might even be a variety of Morning Star vegetarian convenience food I can talk myself into at the store. I ate one of their bean burgers once. It wasn't too bad.
I have lovemyhouse to thank for most of "my" daylily cultivars. She is one of those who left this forum and this site soon after Dave Whitinger sold it, but you will see her frequently on the other site. From Deb's Daylily border, today we have...
Photo:1 I made a incorrect ID is probably Mrs. Nesbit clone not Bob Faulkner 166.
Photo: 2 Bob Faulkner 277
Both are numbered but not yet named still haven't figured that part out lol.


This message was edited Jun 2, 2016 12:34 PM

Designing a garden around a person is so much fun. Full sun, shade or sun with afternoon shade? Do you have a favorite color ?

Hi guys...:D
I'm here.
Dave's off today and tomorrow and I/we are just drowning in a thousand nit-pick-ticky-tacky little B.S. things and errands to do that just have to get done. You know how that goes. Even worse since I don't drive now. (Eye roll...sigh.)

Anyway looking forward to catching up with you all.
it's hot today. Did I say it is hot today? Did you know it is going to be hot tomorrow? It is going to be hot the day after and after and....Yep. Thurs, Fri, Sat between 108-114 depending on whose (or is it who's?) weather forecast you watch.

Tired. Going to drink wine. May or may not eat dinner.
Hugs.
peace. Out.
TTC.

The peony opened today! Yay! We had a really nice, FRAGRANT peony at my old (20+ years ago) house, which was my first introduction to owning a flowering perennial. So once I got gardening at this house, I wanted to plant a peony, I couldn't find once as fragrant as the old, unnamed peony, but I planted 'Shirley Temple' and she took. (I had a few others but in containers, and they eventually died or didn't bloom or whatever.) So this most recent time, I went on the Peony Forum and read about them and all the normal stuff I didn't know to do in the past. This peony is probably the first thing I planted with a long-range plan of how it would look not this summer but years and years in the future, I loved it for years before it bloomed, Today it has one bloom. but it probably has 8-10 this year. I will figure out how to post the picture Ray took.

This message was edited Jun 2, 2016 9:53 AM

I think....this is not a problem with my devices, this is rather a problem with my not knowing how to use my devices, specifically my new computer. (We bought it in the fall last year.) I wonder how much my inability/unwillingness to work on articles has/had to do with not being able to figure out new computer and new software on DG at the same time. Anyway...

Here is 'Beverly Sills' iris and 'Shirley Temple' peony. No. I don't only plant cultivars named after celebrities. However, the ones that ARE named after someone I've heard of stand a greater chance of me remembering their name.

Both of these are less washed-out than they appear in this picture. I bet I need to take the photo later in the day.

Hi guys :D

Got a moment before Hurricane Dunsing swings into action for the day. Grocery shopping today. YIPPEE. Believe it or not this is one task both Dave and I relish as we both love to cook and eat. Which reminds me, I may be joining you on that diet. Stepped on the scale and discovered I need to lose 6 pounds. YIKES! My own fault as I forget I am neither as active nor as physically big as my husband so I can't eat like he does or some of the same stuff he does. Ooops. Yes, I'm a weight Nazi. If not 6 pounds can quickly morph into 16. I like myself at 110-107. Besides at middle age, no matter what you weigh or how thin you are we all get that middle aged pudge that just doesn't budge despite our best efforts. Like an older house things have a way of shifting, moving and settling and never in a way we like. Grrrrr!

Can't offer up much on the way of diets except for what has helped me lose a tremendous amount of weight without trying. My 'diet' may not work for others and we all gotta find something that makes us happy, fulfilled (and filled...LOL), and not want to rip someone's arm off and beat them with it. :D

Jim...
As for Sausage have you thought about making your own?

I grind my own meat. Weston meat grinder. You know the old fashioned ones that grandma owned that were heavy metal, shaped like a broad funnel and clamped to the counter with the hand crank. Remember those? It even includes a booklet on how to make and season your own sausage and I'm sure you can find where to buy casings on line.

This way you get to avoid all that yucky preservatives and crap they put in the grocery store stuff. Cost less than $125.00 too. Small, easy to store and comes apart for cleaning (unlike the meat packing plant's) and easy to put together. Only drawback...HEAAAAVY! Don't drop the sucker. You won't hurt it but you'll cripple yourself if it hits your foot. No joke.

Reason I got one was due to the pink slime thing with the 90/10 beef. Here it is you think you're buying a great product and it is nothing but garbage literally (scraps and by products that were typically used for dog food) and paying a premium for it. Oh it is technically beef since it does come from a cow. It is 90% lean. Thus it can be sold and priced as such.

Read up on a company called BPI on Wikipedia. They make the stuff. You'll get the full account of exactly WHAT pink slime is and EXACTLY how it is 'mechanically separated' and just what YOU ARE eating. EWWWWWWWWWW!

BTW most grocery stores have removed this product due to consumer outrage but be warned Wal Mart still sells it and 'someone else' is who feeds us IS using it because BPI is up and running again.

Husband no longer laughs at my 'paranoia' but goes along with it. He has kitchen duty in the prison frequently and literally watches the pink, square block of chicken(?) or hamburger(?) that gets boiled and reconstituted to take on the texture and appearance of the real meat.
That's what the inmates get fed. (If that is any consolation there is some justice in the world in regards to crime and punishment).

My philosophy is if I can't identify it on a meat chart I don't and won't buy it. What part of the cow exactly is 'hamburger'? What part of the chicken is 'nuggets' and 'patties' and 'fingers'? I found out. You really don't want to know unless you care to satisfy some morbid curiosity. Fish I only but in fillets. I'll mince it up myself and make my own fish patties or nuggets, etc. I grind my own pork to. (Pork sirloin roast or boneless pork sirloin chops...and into the grinder they go!)

I no longer buy hamburger at all. For the same price pound for pound I now buy a chuck or sirloin roast and grind it myself to make hamburger. Tastes better too! Oh and it isn't pink slime. Nothing like watching some of those scary documentaries to persuade you to invest in your own meat grinder!

So is that old fashioned meat grinder and making home made sausage sounding better by the minute? Sure hope so.

If not I'll provide you more details and some links on how your food compares to dog food (Exact same ingredients and percentages except they are nice enough to label dog food 'not fit for human consumption' unlike YOUR food.). Viva big business and lack of government interference.

Now on to plants....

I wasn't aware that Armagia was a co-op. That's wonderful that you receive the help and contributions in terms of equipment and materials as I know that can often be the most expensive part of any garden/farm.

I'm also flattered by the offer of a garden due to my super small plant contributions I made. Very touched by it. Thank you so much for that. I'll definitely have to send you more plants then to justify having the garden in my name.

I'll post some pics and you let me know if I can send the plants. I know many of these things will thrive in your climate and you'll enjoy them and they grow fast. They are fun to look at and easy to prune and make new starts from should they get out of hand.

Funny you mentioned a summer garden. In my brain fart thinking between Ohio and Arizona some how I didn't compute the fact that the desert means flowers don't grow here. I figured heat and sun. Never fully grasped the concept of exactly how what heat and sun means in Arizona or what the soil, if you call it that, would be like out here until I experienced it for myself. Needless to say I got an incredibly rude awakening as did my hair and the first round of plants I bought!

Enjoy the fragrances for me. I do miss things that 'smell' nice or where the blooms last more than 3 days. I love anything. Tiger lilies that are orange with the brown spots and Stargazer lilies are my favorites.

In honor of you guys I'll call my 14'L x 1'6" W bubble bed the Armagia Cacti Bubble Bed. I'll also have to find a plant to name after Fenny. Pick one from my yard and that will be what I call it on the cacti and succulent forum. I'll tell them it is some kind of hybrid :D

Or better yet....I'll photograph some cacti and plants as I see them and you let me know if you like them. I'll add them to my garden just for you guys.

Carrie.........
If you'd like a plant I'll name one after you as well. Uh...the one I separated all those pups from is looking a little more than unhappy and partially dead. I don't think it is going to make it. :[ Something told me not to do that but I followed a friend's advice on the other forum.

He works in a state botanical park and has years of experience. I've been at this a year and have regular plant homicides. Big difference on how to dig up, separate and heal mom afterwards.

Speaking of plant illnesses, my pole cacti has caught something nasty. I think it is a bug as it is boring holes into the cacti at various spots. Can't 'see' anything and may have to do a 'biopsy'. Weird thing is the cacti is growing and producing new arms. I'd hate to get rid of it as it is the only pole cacti I have and in 1 year has grown from 1.5 feet to 5.0 feet! It comes up to my nose. I'm 5'3"

Congrats on that Peony Kay!!! Good job. Such wonderful and dreamy plants both color and scent wise. Never tire of them as my grandmother had a whole row up against her house. Only problem she had was black ants liked the flowers.

Looking forward to the picture of it.

Also thanks for the compliments on Zoe. She is perfect for us. Not a day goes by where she does not make us smile, laugh or show affection and gratitude for us. Still a PITA and a prima donna but best dog we've ever owned. Glad we could give her a home as so many are in need of them now. Happy to report they closed down the Tucson dog track.

I am glad to hear Fenny is doing well. I have hoped she would improve. I know how much she means to you all and just how special her being there is to you and adds to your lives. Unconditional friendship is precious and rare.
Keep me updated on her.

Tons of things to do today so got to get going. Tons of things to do tomorrow so I'll probably be MIA. Need to make shade tents for the plants.

AZ weather forecast: today 101. Th 108. And no these aren't typos: Fri 114, Sat 117, and Sun 115, Mon 113. Then the big chill for Tues and Wed at 104.

Songs for the day: Martha and the Vandellas: "Heat Wave" and the Beatle's "Good Day Sunshine".

BTW perfect names for the lilies. Yellow one, 'Sunshiny Day' as that was the first thing that came to mind when I looked at it. And 'Perfect Pink Lipstick' which is what I thought when I saw the second! LOL

Hugs. Peace. Out.
TTC

It is Carrie who has the fragrant peony. I can only dream about those. There is a yellow hybrid that will allegedly grow this far south, but the nursery's price tag made me wince and back away.
Wow, no wonder plants don't bloom in summer there! Blooming slows down here even with our relative humidity and lower temperatures. I entertain the idea of living in a desert every allergy season. Jim challenges me to try it out for a year. It is like how I dream of Vermont in August until I talk to my sister and she reminds me of what winters in the north woods are like. The joke is I am only hardy to USDA Zones 8 and higher. My gardening experience is exclusively in the tropics and sub-tropics. I have never even sniffed an actual lilac flower, only a perfume that claims to be true to scent.
The 4 corn plants in the container corn experiment are tillering. That is producing side shoots. Most farm children my age had the experience of being sent out into the corn field to cut away the tillers, but I just learned that work might have had more to do with adults wanting to get children out from under foot than improving the corn harvest. . As long as the corn receives enough nutrition and water, tillering isn't a problem. It increases the harvest in fact. Since I am probably growing the most pampered corn plants in history, I am not going to cut off the tillers. (There are four plants in my experiment. The "3" was a typo.)
Jim forgot I grow a few daylilies. The pink is one of my antique pass-along daylilies. #166 should be a mauve according to the breeder's notes. If the pink daylily pictured above ever had a name other than pink daylily, that name has been lost over the years. "Perfect Pink Lipstick" works for me. :-)
Naming garden spaces is a practical sentimentality. It is so much easier to say "in the CanDo Container Garden" instead of that place with all the container plants downhill from the light pole and a little to the north. The CanDo Container Garden was named after a former member of the gang who used CanDo1 as her user name and mainly did container gardening. .

Jim wants to put on today's daylily pics since he is putting on my post. It works better when he does it because he can move faster.
'Voodoo Dancer'
'Cat's Pajamas'
Pomegranate flower

Ok, it is pretty easy to post pictures from my cell phone. The first picture is the peony. The second one is what happens when we go to home depot for a ceiling fan for the garage!

Hey guys :D

Just thought I'd let you know I'm going to be MIA until the 10th or 11th.

Dave's mom, my MIL, passed away today and we have to go to FL. We'll be getting things together tomorrow and leaving the 6th. We'll be back on the 10th.

Not a big surprise for 2 reasons. First she was 91. She had Dave late in life when she was 38. Second, she had developed Parkinson's disease. It was starting to get debilitating but not bad. Thankfully she passed before that.

It was the kind of situation where we all knew illness related or not she would pass in 2 days, 2 months or 2 years. Everyone was kind of prepared for it and Dave had made his peace quite awhile ago. Not to say it isn't affecting him as I see it seep through a bit. It is his mom after all but I'd have to say he is at 90% at peace with the fact his mom is gone.

I'm fine. I neither disliked nor liked the woman. I honestly, barely knew her. In the 3 years Dave and I were together prior to marrying we rarely saw her outside of the holidays. She was never a 'lovey-dovey' person. She neither expressed delight nor dismay over her son's choice of a wife. She just shrugged her shoulders as 'whatever'. I followed suit as she established this boundary.

Considering MIL stories I hear I am not sure if this was a good or bad thing?

A year after Dave and I married his parents moved to the Jacksonville, Florida suburb area. We saw them less. (Lots of issues with me, my health, his work, etc.). So all in all I saw the woman about 10 times in my whole marriage.

I'm going with Dave to be there primarily for him and to pay my respects otherwise I wouldn't bother. Is that callous considering the situation?

Our good friend's daughter will be house and Zoe sitting (eye roll). She has done it before so she knows the drill. My good friend and neighbor Shirley will be around to help out here as well.

I'll talk to you guys when I get back.
Hugs.
Peace. Out.
TTC

&^*%@ ing airlines.
Just %#&# the reservation people and *$%& these airlines.
Oh...did I say, #$^%@ to the airlines?
In case I haven't then &*$%$ the airlines.
There...I feel better now.

TTC

What is the problem, Jacqueline? What airline? When Ray was working for JetBlue, they would eat out of his hand. And if it ha to do with the epilepsy, maybe we can help. If it is just "I hate airlines" which everyone says, then that's different.

I am sorry about your MIL. Was it totally a shock, or was it expected to some degree?

Hi...
Sigh. I'm beat and still have a ton of stuff to do.
Thanks in regards to the MIL. I'm fine. Dave has in and out moments and we are mostly going there for his dad.

No, it wasn't a shock for two reasons. First she was 91. Let's face it, that's old. Second she had developed a degenerative form of Parkinson's the last 2.5 years. It hadn't gotten hateful but it was getting bad to the point you knew the inevitable was coming.

We knew she was going to pass and that it could be in 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 years. It just happened to be yesterday and nobody 'planned' on that. Surprise!

Dave found out 15 minutes before he literally had to walk out the door for work. In a way I'm glad. That would not be a call I would have wanted to make to the prison, explain to the Captain on duty and have he and I cook up some excuse for Dave to come home safely. I wouldn't want to drop the bombshell of his mom on him until he got home and I could sit him down. Sounds morbid but it is fortuitous that he was home to take the call his self.

So of course there is the aggravation of booking tickets NOW. Doesn't help we don't have time to 'shop' much, get deals, pick times. It was take what was offered at a time that worked. So we got hammered on the price.

Oh...and no such thing as 'funeral' or 'bereavement' reduced fare unless you notify them in advance. HUH??? "Hello, Delta. Yes, my MIL plans on dying next week. I need to book a flight and BTW can I get that funeral travel discount?" *&@$ them. Seriously? Oh, and thanks for letting me know this after I sat on the phone for 43 minutes waiting to speak to a person. Like you couldn't tell me on line when we asked the first time.

Delta turned out to be the best. Jet Blue was more. SouthWest didn't have anything, etc. So we got stuck with Delta.

Then we got the way every airline treats you. They nickel and dime you for every little thing, rape you financially to bring a piece of luggage, cram you in like cattle even in first class (which we can't afford), make you wait 3 hours in line for the TSA (pulled a lot here to go help in Chicago and NYC and the political events) so they're short here in Phoenix in terms of help. They charge you for additional baggage and are slow to get it checked and then they have the audacity to tell you if you miss the plane, are late, don't board early enough prior to leaving, are seated when they like you to be or get delayed BECAUSE OF TSA too bad. You don't get a new ticket, a refund, an exchange. You're S.O.L. Niiiiice, right? They treat you bad, talk to you worse and handle you with utter contempt.

But of course you have to be nice, happy and like it is a beautiful sun shiny day full of rainbows and unicorns. If not you go to jail for being a perceived threat. God forbid you show or tell them exactly what you think of their customer service and the fact they're the real terrorists..

If you do get on the plane without creating a major incident, you then get to hope you don't catch some hideous disease, get held hostage or the plane crashes or explodes literally.

My Epilepsy, while a concern, is the least of my issues and complaints at the moment. I'll just pop some extra meds. The airline seemed unphased by this fact and wanted my doctor to fax their ticket office a note verifying my condition and saying I needed to be accommodated like any other handicap person with impaired mobility as opposed to being treated as an 'able' person with full mobility. (There we go with the 'gray' area Epilepsy thing again. Grrrrrr!) Since it is the weekend I'll get right on that and have my Neurologist or G.P. make that their priority.

Also had to go buy new luggage as the last time the airline dented the metal frame on both of my suitcases and tore the fabric all the way around them so the contents were spilling out. That was 3 years ago. Still waiting to hear back from them to see if they'll settle the damage claim and reimburse me for my luggage because I kept my receipts for the suitcases. Should be any time soon now I get that refund. ROFL!

So yes, I despise flying. I would rather walk, take the train or drive. The Greyhound bus would be preferable to this crap.

Appreciate the offer and truly wish Ray was still working for JetBlue. He may have been able to help us a bit.

Had a good friend in CA who used to work for United. He said they do give the best treatment and service to their own and even if it is a different airline they extend courtesies to other pilots and airline workers that the normal person doesn't get. Makes sense as that is professional courtesy and how it is in most businesses.

I'm just outraged at the whole business with flying. I'm sick of their fares. I don't like the way I'm treated and taken advantage of but am held hostage by these people literally because there is no other way to get around.

They're just nasty, incompetent and inept and take advantage of the situation and these facts and personally I think the CEOs should be fined out the yin-yang and half of them sent to prison for this monopoly and little con game they run.

I have nothing nice to say about the airline industry. They all...in a word...blow.

So there's my rant.

Have to go pot a plant so it doesn't die, water all my plants, pack my clothes, pack Dave's clothes, write out an itinerary in regards to the dog for the 2 brain damaged kids helping to babysit the dog. Put up with the phone ringing, clean out the fridge, and about 90 other things to do.

Sigh....
Thankfully Vodka was on sale at Safeway yesterday. Buy on fifth get the second one free! YEEEEEE-HAAAAW!!! At least I'll sleep good tonight :D

Peace. Out.
TTC

I'm sorry you find flying so difficult, Jacqueline. Flying is one of those situations where I REALLY hate being in a wheelchair. We used to fly a lot. We did get treated very well by most airlines, especially of course by Jet Blue. BUt because we didn't PAY for the tickets, and none of the other airline folks did either, it became much less personal, Does that make sense? When you pay $1,000 for a ticket, ir has to be THE BEST trip ever or THE WORST or some superlative. And definitely you will remember it. When it's one of many trips, it may not be as common as going to the grocery store (unless you're a a flight crew), but it isn't really as memorable.

Memorable is the time we missed flight because of TSA. At the DFW airport, there are a bunch of different terminals connected by a train. The terminal JB is in (terminal E) is the smallest terminal with all the leftover airlines from the other terminals, like Sun Country and Spirit and like that. DFW has of course AMERICAN Airlines all sewed up. 85% of DFW flights were AA flights, our landlady was an AA flight attendant, they had roads named after them, blah blah blah, it was an American Airlines town. Jet Blue had either one or two flights a day.

But Ray was always very conscious of his status there. He did not want to be seen as abusing his position as General Manager there. So the time we missed the plane, he could have had them hold the plane for us, but he didn't, Every time we go anywhere, I get the full TSA pat down, which many people find extremely intrusive. For whatever reason I don't mind the invasion of privacy as much as mind the wasting of my time! For instance, I discovered if I am polite, "how are you, work is tough, working late tonight, beautiful day today, it's a hot one, etc" all just slow me down. I used to be friendly but I didn't get treated better or get through faster, so why bother? At TSA, they ALWAYS say "can you walk at all" and I have to say out loud "no, I cannot walk at all" (which bothers me for some reason) then they pat me down (takes 3-4 minutes) then they check for Gun Shot Residue (GSR) on my hands, shoes and their gloves. Anyway, this one particular time, everything was going according to schedule, we were almost done with TSA (Ray takes the bags and waits patiently) when she said (I always have to wait for a female agent) "my gloves didn't clear." It turns out she forgot to put on clean gloves at the beginning of searching me, so her gloves set off the alarm. NOBODY suspected me of terrorism. NOBODY thought I had GSR from firing a gun. EVERYBODY thought she had skipped a step (putting on clean gloves), but since they couldn't PROVE it was her fault not my fault, they had to rescreen me. That in itself is a major PITA, but because there are all these separate terminals, we had to wait for another female TSA agent to come from another terminal. That was an enormous major pain, because the terminals are all separate, as I said. When (after 20 minutes) another agent came (and we had missed the plane by this time, but they couldn't NOT do this), they had to take me into the private room. (They always say "would you like a private screening?" and I always say "no, thank you.") I guess if you would like a private screening, they take you into a tiny cubicle, which would give me claustrophobia. So she took me into the private cubicle and it was claustrophobic, But fast. And we weren't facing a financial loss, just a time loss. So it was a PITA but not ruinous.

I always feel compelled to make excuses for the airlines.

This message was edited Jun 5, 2016 10:11 AM

TTC, our condolences to you and Dave. My only major complaint about flying is how tightly passengers are packed in. I thought it was just me that felt that way because I'm such a big guy. The lack of leg room makes me feel like I'm scrunched up for the entire trip.
The last few days have been nothing but work and sleep. We made some real progress working like this, but can't keep it up for long. Today is a recovery day. At first we were working all night and sleeping during the day to avoid the heat, but I am "a total lark", to use Kay's terminology. I hated working nights when I was in the AF, but I was often put on the swing shift.
We are back to getting up before dawn and working to around 10 a.m. Then, going back out around 5 and working till around 8 pm. Kay prefers all-nighters because the lack of light doesn't make any difference to her and it is coolest in those hours. I can't sleep well knowing she is outside. She agreed to the early mornings and late evenings as a compromise as long as we can keep up.
We were able to create a new bed for excess bulbs and daylilies. it is close enough I can manage it myself. I walk the entire property every day with my camera, It would be very hard to maintain flower beds in the outlying areas though. It is like I am allotted only so many steps a day. I need to use those as productively as possible. Everything beyond the central 1/4 acre will eventually be given over to shrubs and small trees. Well-adapted ones that can look after themselves once they have been established. I let Kay talk me into using Yaupon holly as a screen on the NE boundary. I hope they all turn out to be males. A yaupon holly covered in scarlet berries is a beautiful sight in the winter, but there is a reason these hollies are like weeds for us. The birds eat the berries and plant the seeds everywhere. They can't officially be called invasive because they are natives, but...
A few Camellia sinensis 'rosea' Kay started from seed were large enough to go in the ground. That's a tea camellia. We haven't tested it yet for flavor, but as an evergreen, it will give the property better winter blooms even if it doesn't make the best. It isn't possible to buy a tea camellia cultivar that will produce reliably excellent tea because flavor depends so much on the plants interaction with the climate. The best we can do is experiment and breed the best tea plant for the region.
June doesn't have as many flowers as I would like. It's better than it has been in past years. When the new lily varieties we planted this spring will come into their own by next June. This year they are establishing good root systems and producing foliage, but no blooms. Most were small bulbs and bulb scales. They simply need more time.
I'm painting, but there will be no new shower. Some large, unexpected expenses cropped up. Sometimes our progress seems glacially slow. As long as I can see some progress I can keep going though. The nice thing about a garden is that it can be as expensive or inexpensive as circumstances demand. Time and effort can usually fill in for money. That isn't the case with home repairs and improvements.

Book of the Day: Deep South--. An unusual southern road trip book. He goes places most travel writers would not think about going. Gun shows, African-American heritage sites, poor white enclaves, etc.
Daylily of the Day: 'Tupac Amaru'--I wonder how the breeder came up with this name. It's from two different Native Mexican tongues. Tupac means warrior or messenger depending on the context and Amaru means the sacred serpent. It could be a man's name.
'Passion for Red'--I like the way this photo came out.

I like that Passion for Red one! Also a week or two ago, you posted a coral one that I really liked. Our daylilies are about to pop. Unfortunately ours are all NOID.

Kay, this question is for you (and anyone else who considers themselves a fragrance aficionado). Do white flowers have a stronger fragrance? Roses, peonies, etc. I think I have noticed white flowers with a strong fragrance (bridal wreath spirea, peonies, hydrangea, annual alyssum). I can also think of not white flowers with a strong fragrance (yellow yarrow, yellow alyssum 'Basket of Gold', lilacs, and so on). So I am wondering.

Jim, it was 'Sunset Bay'.

Hi guys. :D
I'm back. I'm tired. Got a lot to catch up on and clean. Sigh...huge eye roll. YES Greyhounds do shed! I've got enough fur on the floor to stuff pillows. Also have to take care of the science projects in the fridge since the dog sitting 'kids' didn't eat everything like a hoard of locust. There's some things in there that are sentient. Ewwww!

Will read and get with you all probably tomorrow or the day after. Dave is still off tomorrow. We have lots of cooking to do to prep for his work week lunches. Sigh.

Hope everyone is well.
Hugs,
Jacqueline

Glad you're back safe and sound.

Carrie, in my experience, white and pastels are the most common color for fragrant flowers. Well, the most strongly fragrant flowers anyway. I have never seen my opinion verified anywhere in print, but it is true in my garden and logically it seems like it should be so. Lacking the carotenoides and other pigments to create saturated color to attract pollinators, it makes evolutionary sense white flowers would invest in scent to assure reproductive success. Magnolia, jasmine, gardenia, tuberose, ligustrum, regal lily, deep sea crinum, sweet almond verbena, snakeroot, orange blossom, mock orange and honeysuckle come immediately to mind.

If my theory is valid, red should also rank high on the scent-o-meter since the vision of many pollinators is shifted toward the ultra-violet and they cannot see red.
You should check out those sites with photos of flowers taken with ultra-violet cameras. I'm told the pix are awesome.
When it truly penetrated my thick skull that flowers were not designed to please gardeners and human passersby, the myriad of colors, scents, textures and shapes began to sort themselves out into their real pattern. Things make more sense when seen from the proper angle. Of course red tubular flowers have no scent. Why should they. They are designed to appeal to hummingbirds and there are only a few birds that have a sense of smell. Hummingbirds are not among that minority.
To save our pollinators and thus our own food supply, we do need to learn to look at flowers from their point of view.
We planned to ship plants out Monday morning. Will you be home for packages next week?
Welcome home, TTC! It is a pity your in-laws did not retire to the coast of Maine. It was not much of a relief from the heat for you and Dave, I'm guessing? It is sometimes cooler on the Atlantic side of the state, however. I hope those Atlantic and river breezes were there for you. .The writer of the book Jim mentioned in his last post, Paul Theroux, wrote of the "monumental stillness" of a Delta summer. That is an apt description of our current conditions. I do prefer working the night shift, but even the nights are heavy and still at times.
Oh, BTW, Stephen Buchmann , the entomologist/author from Tucson AZ says the sequoia cactus bloom has a scent like honeydew melon. ROFL. Considering the size of sequoia cactus, who but a bat, bee or entomologist gets to experience it. sigh.
We put up the solar curtains for the summer. I don't want to think too much about what glistening Mylar looks like from the outside. Think of those shiny, silver party balloons in a rustic setting. I will think of the lower cooling bill and how many plants I can buy with the saved money. Blindness does have a few advantages. Out of sight, out of mind. ;-)
k*
I'll decorate Kay's post for her. This daylily is 'Franz Hals'. (Jim)

Hi guys:D

I'm back. I'm well and everything is o.k. Really appreciate everyone's thoughts and kindness. Dave did too. Meant a lot especially since he really doesn't know you guys. He knows of you as I mention you all frequently so he was really touched when I passed along your condolences to him. Meant a lot.

He's doing well. Has brief moments as to be expected but for the most part is fine. As I had mentioned Dave's mom had him when she was 38 so she was 91 when she passed. She also had Parkinson's and was degenerating quickly. Thankfully she passed before it got really bad and uncomfortable for her. Dave and family had been well prepared for this emotionally and mentally for the last 2 years. Everyone was very sad but nobody was 'crushed' or shocked so to speak. Illness aside 91 years is a long life and I know of no vampires. I hope that doesn't sound cold. As I said everyone had spent the last 2 years coming to mental terms and emotional grips with it and the facts.

Wasn't a whole lot for me. Nobody was quite ready to go through her personal stuff and box it up/clean it out so I didn't offer. I pretty much stayed in the background and cooked and cleaned whatever I could find to clean. I figured this would keep me out of the way, out of trouble and be of use in the only way I knew how. It would free up my husband and his brother and sister to just hang out and spend time with their dad. Seemed to work. I get along with everyone for the most part so no issues there. I just figured the 'family' would rather have the time together than with a 'fringe in-law' hanging around and trying to contribute to conversations and memories that they didn't share. My SIL's fiancée kind of did the same thing as I.

He and I sat out back a lot and knocked off a almost a whole fifth of Dewar's White Label Scotch the old man forgot he had. The old boy had 6 bottles stockpiled in the garage!!! TEE-HEE!! It was like X-Mas because the FIL is very stingy with the Scotch. More so when he knows Frank and I are coming over.

Our attitude was, drink it or watch it evaporate. So... we did the honorable thing. :D He still has 5 bottles left so we didn't clean him out.

We won't discuss the day and a half hangover that nobody could figure out how I and Frank (SIL's fiancée) got. :D It was worth it. I think our FIL did know though because he was laughing at us and for the first time since we were there he took a bottle of Scotch out of his liquor cabinet and fixed himself a drink, raised a glass to us but didn't offer us one! LOL. Guy still has all his marbles. :D

The airport wasn't too bad. Annoying really more than anything but I'm an efficient traveler. ABSS. Always be scanning signs. Move with a purpose. You can always spot me and the Europeans in the airport. We're the ones 'hustling' and speed walking at the pace of furious rather than looking dazed and walking like we're in a trance. Once you get to where you're going then you can putz and lollygag. Dave had no idea I could navigate airports the way I could and had a hard time keeping up with me! I also know how to pack.

As for TSA I'll call them PIA! Stupid really. Being patted down didn't bother me as I used to work in a prison and had to do it to inmates and at times ALL employees including the Warden were given random pat downs to make sure no contraband was coming into the prison. Very polite people and actually apologetic.

My biggest complaint is that they are idiots when going through your bag. Guy took an 8.5 oz bottle of non alcoholic facial toner simply because it was .5 oz over specified. BUT he let me take a bottle of 100% acetone (not nail polish remover But acetone!) that I use to remove nail polish and there was a cigarette lighter in my jacket pocket. Atlanta airport (where we had layovers both to and fro) has a smoking lounge.

Now acetone is highly, highly flammable. I also had a cigarette lighter on me since I smoke (yeah...yeah. I know). Put two and two together and 'think' about this situation for a moment. See a problem here?

BUT taking that non alcohol facial toner was more a priority! What an idiot!!! Delta and everyone on that flight should be grateful to me, my nails and my nasty habit and the fact that the only agenda I was promoting was going home!

Carrie...
I couldn't imagine being in your situation and having to navigate through airports as it is let alone since the TSA kicked into gear. Ugh! You have my utmost sympathy. Makes my problem seem trivial under the same circumstances.

Thankfully though I did not have any seizures in the airport, on the plane or at the relatives. Just felt really drained and have slept about 9 hours each night I've been home. Dave at 6'6" is now able to stand upright. Poor guy. It was killing his knees.

Zoe was fine. Happy we were home but not flipping out so the kids obviously took good care of her. They made the bed and did the dishes too and even hung up the towels. Things they DON'T do at their house. :D

So that was TTC's big adventure.

Next e.mail plants and such. :D

Wow,
Sounds like everyone is busy working and being tired. Lots going on at the Farm from the sounds of it. I feel your pain with the heat. Florida was a swamp. Not only hot but hot, sticky and humid and it rained once or twice. That humidity hit you like a punch in the face whenever you went outside. YICK! Definitely forgot what that was like (came from N.E. Ohio originally) and prefer not to remember it too often. AZ may be nosebleed dry but 107 feels like 97 and you're nice and dry. In FL 97 feels like 107 with sweat dripping off of you. Skin loved it. Hair hated it. It made its displeasure known every day I was there. Thank God for headbands! LOL

Sadly no ocean breezes. :[ They're in Summerfield which is about an hour from Daytona and an hour from Ocala and pretty much smack dab central. And yes, I think it would have been lovely had they retired to the New England coast. Beautiful beaches, great food, quaint old cities and then I could have popped by to visit you too Carrie! :D

Jim and Kay, I'm kind of guessing where you're at is a lot like FL. Still and close are apt adjectives. If so, how do you guys do it??? I guess you get used to it after awhile. Kind of like getting used to 112 degree heat I guess. Still would be cool to visit you guys too. How close are you to the Gulf?

Biggest irony of all was we left Florida and all that humidity. When we got home it was Arizona as we expected it to be. The very next day it was super humid and rained sideways! LOL. Today no rain but still super humid for us. Oh well. Plants are loving it.

As for hours I can manage a swing shift as I worked plenty of 1:00-9:00p.m. or 3:00-11:00p.m. shifts in the prison and in retail and at the grocery store. In all honesty though I am a morning person. A true early bird that gets up between 5:30 and 6:30 a..m. With the exception of June-mid October it is possible to be outside all day.

Now I'm kind of doing the swing thing. Get up early. Do all that needs to be done by noon or 1:00p.m. Siesta time or stay indoors like a cave dweller and do the inside stuff then about 7:00p.m. you can go out again. Basically yard work has got to be done early because in the evenings it is too dark.

I experienced the Magnolias in Florida. You had to smell deeply but the fragrance is definitely there and quite lovely. I do believe in your theory that white and yellow flowers somehow are more fragrant. When I think of all the flowers with scents most are white, yellow or paler pinks. When I think of the oranges and reds they are usually large, showy, exotic, tropical (Hibiscus and Arturians) with flashy stamens. They definitely catch the eye more so than the nose.

Cacti flowers now are pure eye candy. The only one I ever 'smelled' was a Parodia Magnifica and you had to stick your face in it. Thankfully small spines. The scent was a faint lemony-daffodil like smell. I'll take that Entomologist's word for it about the Sequoia cacti flowers smelling pretty. I have no desire to climb a cactus and find out. I'll leave it to the bees, the bats, and the dingbat Entomologist that like to hang out in the desert after dark hovering over large spiny cacti! I'd rather go to the grocery store and sniff the Honeydew melons thank you! Much safer.

Wise Cactus's comment on that activity is, "You can't fix stupid and Curiosity will earn you cacti kisses! We have thorns so remember love hurts! "

Beautiful lilies guys. Keep the pics coming. I just adore them and admire looking at them. So far this time around the favorite is 'Franz Hals'. Very exotic and tropical looking. Maybe I'm still in a FL state of mind.

June is winding down our blooms also. May see a random one here or there but they are pretty much done. Agaves, aloes and cacti are having their last hurrah growth spurt sucking up humidity and 'reasonable' temps (below 110). Come the end of the month and July they'll all pretty much be in a coma.

Jim...will take some photos of plants I'd like to send you a few pieces of. Carrie, if you feel these will grow for you also let me know I'll send some for you.

Also Jim I know I owe you a stuffed grape leaves recipe. I'll send it. Promise.

Peace.
Out.
TTC

The NAME Franz Hals is familiar to me, but not that flower you posted. I TOTALLY believe your knowledge over my vague recollection. I probably heard or more likely read Franz Hals on some forum somewhere. Unless there are other flower cultivars named after old Franz, which is actually quite likely.

Jacqueline, I definitely hear and understand your frustration with TSA taking your facial toner. They make many many many products in the right sizes (under three ounces) to take on flights these days. They also sell one quart bags with the right size of bottles in it so you can decant your stuff.

The thing is, the individual TSA agents are not the ones determining if your toner is a danger vs, your acetone. They don't hire them for THINKING, and there is no expectation of common sense. The rules are rules, and there is no room for individual evaluation of the situation, Their job is
1. to confiscate everything over 3 ounces.
2. to allow everything under 3 ounces,
Period, The end. No room for any thinking. (I know you know this.)

I realize you said an 8.5 oz bottle of toner.....that is huge! I once had a hand lotion confiscated (in the dry. cold winter). The size on the tube was CLEARLY marked and it was far more than the allowed size, 3 ounces, Say it was 5.5 ounces,. BUT it was more than half gone. (So it was under the allowance, if you divide the allowed size by two, 4.5/2 = 2.25 which is less than 3,) But those TSA folks didn't take math in pre-K, so it is really too much to expect them to do math.) Think of them as being like a computer, or an inanimate object. You wouldn't expect a computer to make judgement calls or be reasonable, right? Same thing. And you wouldn't expect a coffee-maker to make judgement calls. "She set me for 8 cups, but she usually wants a second half of a cup, so I will make 8 and a half cups this time?" No, you expect it to do exactly what you say. Same with TSA.

Best thing (next time you fly) is to transfer your "beauty" products to tiny little vials or pack them in your checked luggage.

Jim, we don't currently have any plans to leave the area any time soon. Ray JUST said he wants to go to Texas for Father's Day, but I think I will rule against it. Father's Day is June 19, and the following Sunday is the memorial service for my father, So we are busy little beavers, and I am glad NOW for all the stuff I did last month preparing for it. Just going to be an emotional/logistically challenging/etc. event. So we will NOT be in Texas for any time before June 26 and probably not that week right after it. After that, it's anybody's guess.

This message was edited Jun 13, 2016 1:18 PM

Double post. I wonder why it does that sometimes.

This message was edited Jun 13, 2016 1:19 PM

Carrie, Kay said the same thing when I mentioned the name of that daylily. I guess people think of the work of Frans Hals when they see those colors and name their plants accordingly. There is a lilac and a rose named after Abraham Lincoln. I guess breeders think the positive associations of some names are more important than the possible confusion the same name might create.

Your package is on its way. Can I talk you and Ray into some iris? Lol. I just sent off two stuffed packages full of iris and we still have extra. I have one other victi....uh..recipient in mind, if she doesn't take them off my hands, I'll see if the Bread of Life Mission store can give them away for me. I think I hear Old Miss Helen laughing in her grave. We took some rhizomes in exchange for helping her divide her iris beds and they have multiplied like Star Trek tribbles in our sandy soil. Even after all we have given away in the last few months, we still have an abundance of iris. I was tempted, but there are only two 'Art Gallery Fringe' and a 'Sunset Bay' daylily in your box.

I want a little in ground vegetable plot near the back door. This last bunch of iris had to go to make room for my veggies. I've badly neglected the vegetable garden Tigger left behind simply because it is too far from the house. My back hurts when I think of pulling the water hose out there or carrying tools back and forth. Beans, collards and a few eggplant just don't seem worth the trouble. The sweet potatoes in Tigger's garden have thrived despite my benign neglect. That garden space may become all sweet potatoes next year if it's left up to me.

AG, it's about an hour's drive to the beach from here. That makes our summers easier to bear. Real estate brokers call this the emerald coast because of the intense green of the water. Everyone else calls it the redneck Riviera. Panama City is insane during spring break and not in a good way. Other than that, the beaches are great. On a visit to Key West, I made a snap judgment on seeing the beach there and told Kay I liked it better than the beaches back home. Kay laughed until she cried. When she could finally talk she told me how the beach sand we were walking on had been imported at great expense from the Bahamas. When I started to walk into the surf she stopped me and handed me a pair of ugly water shoes. Unsuspecting tourist end up in the hospital all the time because of coral poisoning. You're walking on a bed of sharp, brittle coral covered only thinly by that Bahamas sand. It was an eye-opening trip. I am now loyal to our home beaches.

Kay believes she would like to live in Vermont or Maine. She is as innocent about Northern Kingdom winters as I was about coral beaches. She has lived most of her life on the Gulf coast from Texas to Florida. She can count the number of times she has been in snow and has never experienced a winter in the north. I grew up in Pennsylvania. Have I mentioned how much I hate driving in snow?

I'm glad the kids took good care of Zoe. We gave Fenny whatever she wanted that would bring her comfort when she was so sick. We turned her into a total prima donna. It's a good thing she is old and sleeps a lot. She would be driving us up the wall, otherwise. I bought her Rachael Ray dog food with a rating of 4, instead of her 5 star Blue Buffalo to save a few bucks. This old, mongrel farm dog has become a connoisseur. She huffs and grumbles and makes sure we know this new dog food isn't up to her standard. Gotta love 'em.

Pic: Deep Sea Crinum--Blooms in summer and mid-fall. Sweet scent.

Hi guys,
Not ignoring you. Just got inundated with some things. All pleasant this time but will catch up tomorrow.
Have a great day.
TTC

Jim! Your package just arrived! Thank you! I was really curious, because it didn't LOOK like a package that would have daylilies, but it did. Please do send us some iris. I really love the purple/blue Japanese iris, but I think we love them all.

We were just noticing yesterday, our iris display is not what it was in years past. Time to get dividing. I have read about this a lot but it has been so long since I was actually the one holding the shovel that it's getting hard to imagine that the dirt can be washed off the roots, etc.

We are nearing the end of our house revitalization project. I'm not even sure that's true, but we need to move from rejuvenation pruning into maintenance. Speaking of rejuvenation pruning, we have so many overgrown forsythia. I told Ray to just take them out. I am sure the forsythia will come back from the 60-year-old roots.

Jim and Kay, how old is your house? I forget, if I knew. Mine was built approximately when Ray was, 1951. I know Jacqueine's house is pretty new.

Ray just came back in to tell me in put both 'Art Gallery Fringe' and 'Sunset Bay' into the bed we call "Daylily Row." Which makes me think of one of the basic problems of our gardens, Ray thinks flowers will grow in rows. Maybe annuals, where you get to plant them every year and say "you will be growing right here, and nowhere else," and where you thin them, but certainly not perennials, daylilies etc. They grow in expanding circles, rings, or clumps.

This morning is cold, but it feels like the kind of cold that has you begging for mercy by five. Jacqueline, I am not ignoring you, but I only have space in my brain for one idea at a time.

Hi guys....
I'm back. PHEW!!! Been hopping like a Jack Rabbit. Had a lot of things to catch up on and finally have around the house. Last chore is vacuuming. God bless the husband. I have such good Karma. He scrubbed the kitchen floor for me on his hands and knees this morning! Awwwww....:D :D What a guy. He knows I've been so busy this week. With me either it is everything or nothing.

Good news is I have 2 'for real' writing assignments/blogs and a topic related personal interview that will be audio recorded on Tuesday. YIPPEE!!! Thus the extra hours of work I wouldn't normally have. Wow! How would have thought my no unuttered thought-filterless brain to mouth malfunction would come in handy. So I've really been dedicating time to this on the computer and in doing research so I can sound edumacated. Or is it edusamacated? Basically so I can sound like I know my nose from my toes.

Also was up at 6:30a.m. a.m. today putting shade tents back up. Previously said I had taken them down for the last bit of 'good weather' and tolerable sun for the plants. Well that came to a screeching halt. It was in the 90s when I got up.

By 10:30 when I finished my yard and Shirley's (my 86 year old neighbor's) it was 106 degrees. Presently it is 115. Pick expletive of your choice. Despite huge sunhat and going through 8 bottles---no exaggeration, of water in those 4 hours and several 'sit downs' I still came back inside beet red, dripping wet and smelling like a farm animal. Humidity is only at 13.2% so for me to be perspiring the way I had been must have told you a little about the heat! Took a cold shower to lower my body's core temp. Yes, cold showers DO have more than one purpose (*cheese grin*)

I have only three plants in the back yard that need tented and two trees that need the hose turned on them for about 10 minutes each and then I'm done with my yard. Shirley has 4 small plants that need tented in her front yard. None of this is getting done until 6:00 or 6:30 tonight. NO WAY am I going outside again in this stuff.

Temps are going to be outrageous from here on out. 105-118 on a steady, regular and relentless march all summer until mid October. More 118-122 days predicted per month this year than we had in an entire year prior. Anyone who says global warming is a hoax needs to come visit me from now through August.

I've coined summer in AZ as: June swoon, July fry, August agony, September surrender and October I'm so over this.

So is Zoe. Princess is pouting. It isn't hot in the a.m. but it is 'bright' and she is starting to get cataracts so unless the walk is before 7:00a.m. she balks literally at the door. She will happily go after 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. because of the cooler temp lower light but she's fussy as this is normally her 'sleepy time' and would prefer to be left alone. Oh well she can get over it. She gets too wound up if she misses walks for more than 2 days in a row.
Hates going outside on the rocks too. Kind of funny to watch her walk. You can see her going, "ohh, ouch, ouch, ewww, oh..." with each step. Poor dog. Just glad she is supremely well house trained.

Winter in the N.E. part of the country??? ROFL. Uh...no thanks. Don't miss it, teeth chattering so hard they'll literally crack, frozen nose and toes, lugging two pair of shoes around because you're always changing from outside snow to indoor 'normal' , shoveling snow twice a day, freezing rain, wind chill temps of -30 below zero, leaving the car run for an hour before you can get in it---and that's if it is garage kept! I know people who leave theirs run over night for fear it won't start in the a.m.!

I'll take 120 any day. No matter how miserable outside the sun shines. It is never gloomy and doesn't get dark in 4 hours. I don't have to shovel heat and 4 months of air-conditioning is cheaper than 6 months of heating bills. My mother says they start running the heat from mid September through mid March and have even turned it on occasionally in April. They live in N.E. Ohio. (BTW Jim I went to college in Pittsburgh. Lived there for 2 years on the South side. Right on Carson St. and 13th above an antique shop and antique doll hospital)

Everyone's flowers sound and look divine. Always thought I'd have an old fashioned English cutting garden or an 'artist's garden' full of the things you see in the museum. Instead I have cacti which I've come to really love and enjoy the diversity of and appreciate the sculpture and architecture of 90% of the year while enjoying the flowers the other 10%. And what flowers they are. Nothing in half measure.

Speaking of flowers I have a few more cacti getting ready to bloom which is such a shock in this heat. By now most of the plants are curled up in a self defensive posture and look like you just struck them. But they're still popping out blooms. As soon as they're done---which I predict will be the next 1 day to week they will be tented for summer. I'll post the bloom pics tomorrow. And yes, the pics of the plants I can send cuttings of to Armagia.

All the plants will now be in hibernation for summer---lol and won't be making a reappearance until fall.

As for my house I got spoiled on the first one as it was new and we had it built from the ground up. This one is about 17 years old and we were stuck with the first owner's 'choices' of interior colors and materials. Like my old house soooo much better but loooove living in this area so much better. Weighing all the pros and cons this was such a better move for us both all the way around. Dave is happier. I'm happier. Zoe misses her fan club (golfers that we saw every day on our 'walk' that knew her by name but couldn't tell you who I was) but she has developed her own little small admiration society here and sucks up the attention. What a Diva. She's fine also. Again Dave and I are very fortunate to live next door to a fabulous neighbor we can count on for anything. Bonus we also have other neighbors that actually 'talk' to us and wave and are social. Not so at the other place although we lived there for years. Extra bonus our neighbor across the street isn't dragging their living room furniture out of the house, putting it on the front yard and having an 11 hour luau.

I ever tell you guys about that? Yeah...funny and not.

I know too when we get done with everything we want here in the house it will be just the way we like. Already have the tile in. Still need to paint (eye roll), do laminate flooring in the bedrooms (after looking at the carpet we have and what was under it when we ripped it up, I never want carpet again), and I want my nice blinds that match in every room and on my sliding glass door (uh...translation very expensive).

We ought to do vacation rotation amongst us. :D

Let's see everyone can come here for X-Mas/New Year as it is 74 degrees and sunny. We can go to Kay and Jim's for summer and the beach. For a glorious fall we can go to Carrie's.

Oh and if Kay wants to see snow we got it. About 2 or 3 hours north of me in Flagstaff and Buckeye and Surprise it snows in the winter. You can ski, sled and snowboard and then get the heck out after the weekend and come back to sunshine and 74. :D See, she'll be happy.

Pic 1 & 2) Dave and I celebrating X-Mas Eve 2015 at home in Casa Grande, AZ. THIS IS the reason why I tolerate 115+ temps in the summer.
Pic 3.) See any snow? Neither do I. Boots still look good though. :D
Pics 4. & 5.) Shade tents I labored over all morning. Got them all over my yard. First is open and second is closed.

Peace. Out.
TTC

Song for the day: "How I wish it would rain". Temptations I think

Pretty picture of you, little Miss Christmas. We have a lot of pictures of thermometer readings when the temps were 115, 110, and so on.

Good morning :D

Pant, pant, gasp, groan. Curious if you got a temp reading at 118? Yep...that was in the shade on my patio table which is covered. TODAY...120!!! If it hits that I will definitely take a pic.

Absolutely surreal. Nah....global warming is a 'hoax' despite what Steven Hawkins said. What's he know anyway? It is all something a bunch of people made up to stymie big business and alarm people right?

About that vacation rotation idea folks??? Anyone with me?

Every plant I own is under a shade tent. Make jokes saying it looks like a KKK rally in my front yard with all the pointy 'hood' like covers over the plants' 'faces' . LOL. Kind of a gross irony too considering I still have my 'Bernie for President' (sigh) campaign sign in the window.

Unbelievable that I still have plants producing blooms repeatedly. These little Echinopsis are all different varieties but same species/family (never could keep that stuff straight).

Typically the blooms in normal weather-temps last only 1-3 days but in this weather and sun they last only a few hours before they wilt, droop and then drop off completely in two days. :[

Been out early mornings just to catch them and enjoy the bumbly bees do their work before they take cover and hide.

BTW thanks Carrie for the compliment on the pic but I hate that one and yelled at my husband for using the zoom lens. Nothing like highlighting them wrinkles, messed up wind blown hair and making me look like a painted up tart. Normally I don't wear sooo much makeup if I have photos taken of me I put more on. If not you do look completely washed out as 'natural' (?) make up looks even paler.

I love it when people say good make up should look like no make up at all. To me that makes about as much sense as saying good sex should feel like you didn't have any at all. LOL

It should look like makeup. Just makeup that is artfully applied and not by Stevie Wonder. If it isn't supposed to look like make up then don't wear any make up at all. Obviously nothing on you needs enhanced or improved and you are a true 'natural' beauty. Lucky you. Living in 5 different states, I've seen about 3 of those and not a one past the age of 25.

Still appreciate the compliment though. :D Very kind of you. Personally I think the boots look better than I do...less leathery ROFL!

Talked to Wise Cactus. He thumped me on the head. He said, "Little Agave stop whining. Things continue to flourish here despite the heat. Flowers will always bloom in the desert no matter the season. If it isn't your cacti cousins doing these things for others' pleasure then it must be you who produces the joy instead. Get over yourself and smile through your dehydration. Now leave me alone. I'm working on my tan."

Peace. Out.
TTC

Here's the last 3 days of blooms. Little power houses these things are as they are repeated bloomers on crack!

Pic #3 was a big surprise as I've had this plant a year and this is its very first bloom ever. :D
Pics #4 & 5. Dave's parents when they got married. I'm not sure what age Mary Ann was 35 and David's dad is 32. This was her second marriage. Dave has older half sister by 10 years and older half brother by 12 years.
The next pic was them celebrating some anniversary. Don't know which one.

What is truly frightening is David's father at that time looks exactly like David when I met him and now. I mean a perfect clone of him not just a 'resemblance'. If I didn't know better I would swear it was my husband in this picture!!!

OHMG ..................

NEW ARIZONA RECORD SET FOR HISTORY!!!

That thermometer is INSIDE my house. Less anyone think I am exaggerating, the thermometer sensor in the second pic (white, plastic long thing at the top left of center) is under a covered patio, facing away from the sun and as close to 'air conditioning' from the sliding glass doors we open all the time. It is not being beat on by the sun obviously.

Help me....gasp, pant, groan. Even Wise Cactus is now getting cranky. Good news is that it will be a nippy 110 tonight. Let's hear it for cold snaps.
AG