Wednesday, August 2, 2006..Sit a spell

Continued from http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/634002/
So far so good. Sat on the deck a spell with my coffee deciding what today will hold. Contemplating the universe and such. The big, gangly, red hibiscus is showing off big time. Its the first thing I see every morning because it is planted right outside the kitchen window and I can see it from the bedroom when I first open my eyes. DH cleaned the fish pond pump for me this AM before he went to work ( sweety )so I can hear the bubbling of the water and see the fish doing their morning workout. The ducks are taking their early morning bath in their pond. Later, in the heat of the day, they will move to the wading pool that sits under the eaves of the house and catches rain water. There is still enough in it from Sunday's rain for them to wade in. I love to watch them bathe. When the water is cool and clean, they dive and splash; disappearing under the water and coming up at the other end with lots of quacking and wing flapping. It reminds me of children in a pool. The goose always waits until the ducks get done before he will enter the water. He doesn't mind hanging out with them, but he is too aloof to be seen bathing at the same time. He makes such a racket when they leave the yard without him; scolding them about leaving the safety of their home. Then, he waits patiently at the top of the hill for their return and you can hear them quacking and honking as if discussing the events. He wants to know all of the details...he is not as brave as they (thank goodness)
Then hens are laying again (sure wish you guys were close enough to come get fresh eggs). Early mornings, the hens are "grazing" the yard. Each rooster has his own harem and they stick close. The 3 new chicks are venturing outside the pen with their Mom these days and I delight in watching her teach them to scratch and peck at the ground. Momma hens make a unique sound when talking with their young. Its soft and constant - you know she's instructing them in the ways of the world.
I guess I should have put all of this in my journal instead of a thread....sorry for waxing so long. I can't get out and work right now, so I'm using my energy here, I suppose
This is Oscar the dachsund. He rules our little kingdom.

Your energy is well used, I find the description of your world very interesting.
Is your "big, gangly, red hibiscus" hardy or tropical? Oscar is a good looking dachsund.

Earlier Bob and I walked around the yard looking at new blooms and taking pictures. I'll come back and post some of them after I edit and resize them. We have 6 brugs in bloom, several cannas, 5 tropical Hibiscus and 2 rose bushes.

The high today is predicted to be 98F and there is a Heat Advisory so we'll be inside most of the day.

I need a second cup of coffee ........

Judy

Had my second cup and tried to get a pic of the hibiscus....Its an old fashioned hardy. I'm so envious of your blooms. This is all I have going right now. By the way, my clematis vines have turned brown from the ground to about half way up the trellis. They are still very green at the top. They did this last year too. Icut them back in the winter and they came back like gang busters in the Spring and bloomed well but by mid summer the vines look awful. My roses aren't even trying.

This is a bromeliad that my mother-in-law gave me last year. I really am not "into" tropicals and so don't know what to do with them. I put it in the old pump house to over-winter. Now it just sits on the rain barrel and it has bloomed all summer (one bloom at a time). It needs to be repotted and given a prettier pot since it does so well with my neglect. Pardon the background

One more pitiful pic. My garden phlox on 2nd bloom and one remaining zinnia.

Such bright colors !! The bromeliad is beautiful... for someone who isn't "into" tropicals you have certainly done a good job with that one. I would love to have a rooted cutting of the hardy hibiscus if there is enough to share.

Here are some of the flowers in bloom today. Deb do you do seeds? I love this white datura and it comes back from the roots in our area.

Judy

This message was edited Aug 2, 2006 9:53 AM

I will do my best with the hibiscus to root a cutting or two. Its gaudy but I love it. I swear off seeds every year due to the chickens but have come up with a way to keep them out of them, so I'm going to try again with a few next year. I would love to have some seed of the datura. I'm about to try the collage instructions left by Joe yesterday. Wish me luck

I'm so weird about my computer, I won't download anything to it, so I asked Bob too. He likes the software and he did the collage for me.

I'm off to water the brugs.

Judy

judy- we'll break you of that (computer weirdness). I've put you down for a few books to roundup for you. :-)

No books, no books, no books!!! I have about 15 giant boxes of books to go through and sort out; what to keep what not to keep, etc.

My poor old computer has my bully records, pictures and every email I've sent or received since 1999 and I guard it with my life. I have it set up to delete emails that contain attachments, I don't care who they are from, just to ensure I don't get a virus, etc. I hate the virus protection software, it slows down my computer. Bob bought me a new computer for Christmas, but I won't go near it, told him I thought he needed it worse than I did, so he now has 2 computers.

I'm the one who keeps getting her 1986 Volvo repaired because she likes it, it fits her, etc. I feel the same way about my computer...... (oooooh, this could be a serious mental disorder the woman doesn't like change.). lol lol

Judy

I understand. I'm behind a firewall as well as a router as controlling the flow of traffic, every bit of incoming traffic is cached first and scanned. I still scan every email and attachment that makes it to me for viruses (and this is just my network at one, 3 servers, 4 desktops and 3 laptops, WAN and LAN, LOL). One of the perks of having a household comprised of a CCISP married to an MCSD, the ultimate in geek-i-tude. Our infrastructure is our bread and butter.

You do regular backups, right? With all those records on there, you sure don't need any surprises (power surge frying your motherboard for example -- most people think that the cheapy surge protectors from best buy offer protection, but they really don't, most only work for one surge and then cease to function without the owner knowing....).

No mental disorder, no one likes change. Heck, I spent the last 8 hours in class lecturing and discussing with students just this issue. Why users resist change. At work or home, it's all the same, we hate change. :-)

Bob said he thought it was a positive trait, I don't want to change husbands either. lol lol

Y'all scaring me, I need to back up my files -- Too hot to work in the garden this evening so I took gourd pictures -- We've been eating them in salads YUM, YUM and they're too prolific for the cuke beetle, squash vine borer & squash bug. They're smothering the leeks, raspberries & green beans and what ever else is in their path.

The sprawl . . .