Spring - The Rebirth has Begun

Van Nuys, California (Airport)
Updated: 5:51 PM PDT on April 17, 2008
80 °F / 27 °C
Clear
Humidity: 13%
Dew Point: 24 °F / -4 °C
Wind: 8 mph / 13 km/h / 3.6 m/s from the NW


The hills are starting to turn brown.

Parry's phacelia (Yes, Marsue, we have a lot of flowers that you don't have back east, and you have a lot of kinds that I don't. There might not be anything that is native to both my area and your area.)

twining snapdragon - these flowers are tiny

And you are very talented at finding them Kelli.
;)

Yes, Kelli, you give us a photographer's view of plants we may never see in their native environment. Love your pictures!!

Love the storms shots from Romania! Thanks for sharing, Adina!

I might have to get some twining snaps. They look perfect.

Don't know how the pic will turn out. I've got my fingers crossed. (Nope, didn't work out.)


This message was edited Apr 17, 2008 11:22 PM

Celia – That’s snow? WOW! Great pictures!
Marylyn – Looks like a Hickory to me too.
Marsue – The city comes through about 2-3 months to trim trees and vines. They’ll be around more often during hurricane season. That’s an awesome view from the living room! Just beautiful! I’m at a whopping 20’ elevation! LOL!
Adina – That’s quite a storm you had! Good thing you got home before it let loose. Those clouds WOW! Pretty blooms!
Se_eds – So you get crab grass too? I can’t get rid of it or dollar weed. I use my wheelbarrow in the same manner! Dump all my soil, etc.. in mix it up and start potting!
Kelli – Your green season doesn’t last very long. : (

50.7 °F / 10 °C
Partly Cloudy
Humidity: 80%
Dew Point: 44 °F / 7 °C
Wind: 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
Wind Gust: 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
Pressure: 30.15 in / 1020.9 hPa (Steady)
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds: Few 25000 ft / 7620 m
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 20 ft / 6 m

Today
Mostly sunny. High 76. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

My latest beauty

Good Morning! It's a sunny 43° & I plan on doing pretty much nothing today. We had a high of 80° yesterday and we had a hefty frost Monday, but everything was spared! :D

I'm still trying to wake up...it's been a hard 3 weeks, but my practicum is finished! I learned a lot about mussels, healthy creeks & rivers. And I have taken one of my finals & got an A! :D Now I just have 3 more classes to finish and will graduate on May 9th. I have 4 applications (all with the state of WV) to fill out, so I'll need to tweek my resume. I think maybe I need a break (at least 2 weeks) after this is all said & done....what do ya think?

I have missed so much here...hope to get caught up this week end. Ugh, I need another cup of coffee! What would I do without that stuff!?

At Dublin...
Clear: 55°F
Feels like: 55°F
Barometer: 30.2 in
Dewpoint: 43°
Humidity: 62%
Visibility: 10 miles
Wind: 0 mph
Sunrise: 6:43 AM
Sunset: 8:01 PM
UV Index: 1 Low

Today's trivia...
About how much would a 1km x 1km x 1km cloud weigh?
a)150,000 lbs
b)1.5 million lbs
c)150 million lbs
d)1.5 billion lbs

Have a Great Day! All!
Joey

does it depend on how many gallons of water it si going to produce? i.e. what type of cloud? OK, just being tchnical B soundl ike a nice guess...

lvoing everyone's pics! baby is well, i am not. but life goes on ;-)

Coffee is the liquid of the Gods! I'm guessing A.

Good job on the "A", Joey!!! And good luck with the other classes. It sounds like you'll do just fine.

My last pic didn't work out like I wanted it to because just under the "an" in my name, is the moon.

Tamara, you need to get better!!!

Clear53°F
Feels like: 53°F with 70º predicted.

Barometer: 30 in ↓
Dewpoint: 24°
Humidity: 32%
Visibility: 10 miles
Wind: 18 mph SSE
Sunrise: 6:42 AM
Sunset: 8:11 PM
UV Index: 3 Moderate


Rain tomorrow but still a high of 74º. And I might get to enjoy some of it as I get off work at 5pm.

Joey – Enjoy some time off, you've earned it! Congratulations on graduating! WOOOHOOO!
Oh my, going back to school. Lets see, clouds are made up of dry air and water vapor. I think you would have to calculate dry and moist density and pressure then ummmm mass. Wow – where is Dyson? – scratching head…pulling out the old calculator LOL! Ummmm, coming up with 2 some-odd billion pounds. Hmmm scratching head, could be wrong.

TF - hope you feel better soon. : (

me 2. gonna pretend to be well the next few days so i can catch up on things. been dosing up on vitc and slippery elm... and i spoke too soon, baby woke up gassy witha bad diaper rash!

i have a bunch of garden pics on CD that i hope to have up soon to share with you all. meanwhile, looks like its time to change my desktop again, so many to choose from...

the weather here is deceiving, so sunny, but a cold breeze, not too good on the lungs...

sharon, i was trying to fiugre out how many gallons of water [at 8 lbs per gallon] the cloud could produce. if it is 1 KM high, it is surely a good little cumulonimbus, right?

sniff, sniff, cough, cough,
tf

Just to clarify things, that was not my house I posted above although I would really LOVE to live there and have that view every day. We were visiting there.
Se-eds: 82º in PA this time of year? Amazing!!
Ric: you have certainly been busy. What is that flower in your photo?
Based on Sharon's calculations, I'm guessing "D" for the trivia. LOL Thanks, Sharon, you saved me having to figure that out for myself(as if I could!)--math was never my strong point. Hated geometry!! Did fairly well with algebra but really didn't like any of it. Give me a sentence to diagram any time. (Do they still do that in English classes?) Loved phonetics in speech class, too.
Joey: congrats on the "A". You do deserve a break--maybe some time on the beach at Sharon's--LOL?
Yes, Kelli, you are very talented at finding all those interesting flowers we would never get to see otherwise. Thank you! :o))
TF: sure hope you feel better soon. Being sick is no fun, especially when you have kids to tend to.
Marylyn: have you solved the mystery of the tree, yet? I'm still voting for hickory.
Adina: very threatening storm clouds--they look that way here, too. The pelargonium is another flower I have not seen before. I'm really learning a lot here on DG!! :o))
Sharon: gorgeous amaryllis!! I have one that has a bud on it. I can hardly wait for it to bloom. I always thought they were indoor plants and didn't know until last autumn that they would survive our winters. DH's aunt had a bunch in her yard that she was happy to share with us. I think I have at least seven of them planted outside.
Celia: pretty yellow tulip-- too bad the other photo didn't turn out so we could see it.
Rain, rain, rain, here. Not a downpour, but slow and steady since early this morning. It has stopped momentarily but still completely overcast. Current temp is 52º heading for a high of 62º. We don't need the rain. The White River is supposed to crest at above flood stage today. Many people have lost their homes due to the flooding here in our state. :o((

We Had an Earthquake!
Well not we ..............but 260 miles away.
It woke me and the Dog up at about 5:30 this morning.
Tremors for about 15 seconds or so.

Temp here is 78 and it's blindingly Sunny.

Sue that's a Mayapple.

Ric

now THAT is news! what a way to wake up, coffee please!!!

Marsue, it looks like a hickory tree to me, too, as I compare my photo to the ones in PlantFiles. I didn't ask in the Texas forum since you all seemed to recognize it. :-) I did find the ants in BugFiles: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1840/ Pesky little things! They weren't causing any trouble at the camp, of course.. most of the camp was forest anyway, so they had plenty of diet choices. I can see them being very unwelcome in someone's yard, though.

It's a gorgeous gorgeous day here. This has been an amazingly mild spring! It is usually already in the upper 80s and humid by now. Instead, it's 72° and the humidity is only at 43%. I think Houston moved north for the spring! LOL

I heard about the earthquake, Ric. Yikes! I knew about the New Madrid fault line, but I don't remember ever hearing about it causing any trouble before. I'm glad no one was hurt!

I have no idea about the trivia question, Joey. Everyone else is picking heavy, so I'm going to go light, just to be contrary. LOL A

And congratulations on your almost-graduation!!! I think that's wonderful! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

Please get better soon, Tamara!

Kelli, your pictures are stunning, as usual. :-) Are your Dodgers doing any better than my Astros? We stink. :-P

Sharon, we'll be driving our car between Balotesti and Bucharest , at work, about half an hour drive. Beautiful lily!
Marsue, yes , I planted a few forsythia in the garden of the block we're living in.
Joey, congratulations for the graduation, I had no idea you were in school.
Ric, thanks ! Yes, we have a fence now in the back and left-right sides. The front will have a different one. Sorry for the earthquake, I heard they felt it in in KY too.
Marsue, I have 3 different kinds of pelargonium, also different colors. Love those mountains !
Kelli, great pics. Love the twinned snapdragon, very interesting, never heard or seen before!
Eve, thanks!
Tamara, I hope the baby and you are better today.
They were working on the outside walls today.
Adina

We have doors .

Pink pelargonium.

Thanks, guys, I'm glad you like the pictures.

The first earthquake that I ever felt was one that was centered in Ohio. I think it was towards Cleveland.

Marylyn, I wouldn't say the Dodgers stink exactly, but they are below .500. They are inconsistant. Some days they'll score 10 runs and some days they scratch and claw to get one. The Angels are a little better. At least they're above .500. I'm glad I have two local teams. If one is bad, maybe the other won't be.

Sharon, that's right. The green season doesn't last very long, especially when you don't have rain.

Geometry - Let's see... If two parallel lines are cut by a transversal, alternate interior angles are congruent. Why do I remember that? What useful piece of information has been crowded out by it?


Van Nuys, California (Airport)
Updated: 1:51 PM PDT on April 18, 2008
83 °F / 28 °C
Partly Cloudy
Humidity: 11%
Dew Point: 23 °F / -5 °C
Wind: 12 mph / 18 km/h / 5.1 m/s from the South


claret cup cactus

Hey! I even knew what that meant! Now where did I put my glasses....?

You never thought you'd be nerding out at Dave's, did you? ;-)

LOL I'm pretty nerdy wherever I go. ;-)

Another mid-summer day - temps in the low eighties. Our weather is amazing - but I remember frosts in May, after the 15th. LOL

The cure for crabgrass/quackgrass ( two different plants) is Fusilade II. Some places sell it as "Grass be Gone". Read the literature that comes with the chemical to learn which ornamentals can take it, as an overhead spray. Since I grow mostly daylilies it is excellent. I sprayed Wednesday and most of what I hit is dead. Do not use it on food plants. And follow protective instructions. I am an old lady, but still follow the protective clothing, gloves, long pants and socks routine.

Sometimes I think it is silly, especially when it is hot, but I do it anyway.

Some felt an earthquake this a.m. in N.W. Missouri!!! Guess it occurred in Illinois and was felt in several places. Rain today but gorgeous weekend weather moving in tonight.

Cuckoo

Adina: the house is really going to be pretty once they finish the that last coat of stucco! That pelargonium is beautiful!
Ric: So that's what a Mayapple looks like. :o)) I heard about your earthquke, too. However, one of our local news stations interviewed a professor at Univ. of Ark. at Little Rock (UALR) about it. He said it wasn't the New Madrid fault but another fault which was, however, connected to the New Madrid fault.
Marylyn, there was a MAJOR earthquake along the New Madrid fault back in the early 1800's. Fortunately, the area affected was not heavily populated (hardly populated at all) at that time. Therefore, there was no damage, or very little, done to humans or towns. HOWEVER, the "experts" are saying that there could be a major earthquake along the New Madrid fault at any time. Stay tuned. . .
Kelli: anytime you and Marylyn and Sharon want to start speaking English again and cut it out with the "arithmetic-eese" will be fine with me! LOL Love that cactus blossom, but not the spines!
se_eds: always better to be safe than sorry.

The rain stopped and the sun came out this afternoon late. It was a forerunner of what we will be having tomorrow: 74º and lots of sunshine and up to 80º on Sunday!!

I have heard that an earthquake on the New Madrid Fault Line occurring I think in the early 1800's was so strong that it caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards for a short time!! Wow .............what kind of power is that!
Cuckoo

It not only cause the Mississippi to flow backwards it had bells ringing as far east as Virginia if I remember correctly. Far eastern US for sure.

The quake this morning was also felt in Kansas. I heard that this morning on the news. I was dead to the world when it happened so I never felt it.

Today, wet and cold. It misted off and on all day and the temps never left the low 40s. We are so wet now that we sink in the ground and there is standing water in places.

That quake was one of two in 1811.
The first 7.2 the second was probably an 8.
The center was New Madrid, MO... Chimneys feel here in Cincinnati.
It was said to be felt in Boston.
The odds of an 8 happening again here are actually better than one of that size in CA.
And NOTHING is E-quake proof here.....

Adina KY is actually only 2 miles from me.
We can hear the tugboats all the time.

57° and rain is moving in.....

Ric

52º and bright sunshine, no clouds, heading toward a high of 76º. Everyone have a good Saturday. I'm heading outside! :o))

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/836027/

a thread about that Earthquake many of you felt...

Thanks TF :)

We’ve got company, so I have to be quick!

TF – I’m looking at it as if it were a 1km cumulus cloud; which would give a volume of 1 cubic km (km3). Air has a density of 1.007 kilograms/cubic meter (kg/m3), moist air comes in at 0.627 kg/m3, the density of the cloud droplets is about 0.0005 kg/m3. The density of the cloud is about 62% dry air. In final calculations, the 1 km3 cumulus cloud weighs 1.4 billion pounds 635 million kg. I added in the mass of the cloud and the mass of the air. That would make a fair weather cumulus cloud weigh over 2 billion pounds, or about 9 million pounds less than dry air of equal volume. Why do I remember this stuff? Maybe I don't, like I said I could be doing this all wrong.

Joey - What's the answer?!! LOL!

Ric – We heard about your earthquake. How scary is that? I was hoping you wouldn’t be affected by it. Was there any damage in your area?
Adina – Pretty pelargoniums! I love all the awnings on the house, the roof is gorgeous!
Kelli – I got a good chuckle from your geometry statement! DH always calls us (DG’ers) Garden Nerds. I’m proud to be called a Garden Nerd!
Se_eds – LOL! I always read the directions…DH is the one that jumps in with both feet then whines when things don’t turn out “as they should”!

77.0 °F / 25.0 °C
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: 35%
Dew Point: 47 °F / 8 °C
Wind: 1.0 mph / 1.6 km/h / 0.4 m/s from the SW
Wind Gust: 6.3 mph / 10.1 km/h
Pressure: 30.09 in / 1018.8 hPa (Rising)
Heat Index: 78 °F / 26 °C
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 5 out of 16
Clouds: Few 6000 ft / 1828 m
Scattered Clouds 15000 ft / 4572 m
Mostly Cloudy 25000 ft / 7620 m
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 20 ft / 6 m

Now
Through 1230 PM...isolated showers ahead of a cold frontal system will move over northeast Florida. The heaviest showers will move into areas near Jennings...Dowling Park and Taylor. The showers are moving northeast to east at 20 miles an hour. Rainfall amounts will vary from a trace to a few hundredths of an inch.

This Afternoon
Partly cloudy and breezy with a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms. High 79. South winds 15 mph.

This message was edited Apr 19, 2008 11:51 AM

Sharon, my thoughts exactly!

Sharon, If this was quick, you are a speed typist LOL Love how informative y'all are. :)

The E-Quake actually was just a minor deal here.
But we are 260 miles away.
As I said most people didn't even feel it here.

We held off going to the Flower Show because of the weather.
Well yes it did rain but only over night and up till about 10 AM.
Then sunny and warm.
So we've been working in the yard and hauling plants out.

Ric

Marsue – LOL! I loved math and science in school and did really well in them. I am clueless in how the calculations came back to me. Felt like I was back in school for a little while. Of course, it has been 30 years (OMG) since I was in school so I could be twisting things up!Thank you for your confidence in my numbers! LOL!
Marylyn – The picture look like Hickory, we have them here (don’t ever park under them…hickory nuts falling on your car is a very bad thing). I could be wrong in that area too! LOL!
Kelli – I love the cactus bloom, it’s so brilliant! And I feel the same way about the weight of a cloud as you do about your “transversal, alternate interior angles are congruent” statement! LOL!
Se_eds – I feel aging is gracefully accepting the length of our lives and acknowledging the challenges, happiness and wisdom we have acquired in those years. The thought of injecting anything into my face to hide a “wrinkle” makes me shudder (no offense to those of you who do this). I embrace my aging even though I am notorious for saying “I am sliding into 50 kicking and screaming”! I don’t mean that as a derogatory statement for aging. I say it because I have to work out every day, I have to conquer my hypothyroidism everyday, live my life as happily as I can everyday, and I live for God everyday, that alone makes life’s challenges so much easier.
Pepper – Feel free to send some of that rain this way!
TF – LOL! Hope Joey posts an answer soon!
Ric – So glad there wasn’t any damage in your area. Pretty narcissus!

We’ve had some really dark clouds and some sprinkles, but still no rain. I am watering the lawn now.

71.4 °F / 21.9 °C
Scattered Clouds
Humidity: 52%
Dew Point: 53 °F / 12 °C
Wind: 2.0 mph / 3.2 km/h / 0.9 m/s from the SSE
Wind Gust: 8.3 mph / 13.4 km/h
Pressure: 29.94 in / 1013.8 hPa (Falling)
Heat Index: 77 °F / 25 °C
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 1 out of 16
Clouds: Scattered Clouds 3500 ft / 1066 m
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 20 ft / 6 m

Tonight
Partly cloudy with a 20% chance of evening showers. Patchy fog after midnight. Low 56. Southwest winds 5 mph.

Just bought this lovely today ... Diplandia

Amen to that Sharon!
That Diplandia has such bright flowers!

I worked outside for several hours today. I sprayed weeds with Round Up but it got pretty windy so I had to stop spraying. I also spread several bags of soil/humus/manure across the top of my lasagna bed along the back fence. I planted two Bee Balm plants which another DGer had given me last Dec. I overwintered them in pots which I had "hilled up" with leaves, manure, and mulch. I separated a gallon pot of Katie Blue Dwarf Ruellia into 3 plants and planted those. I have two more gallon pots of the same thing which I will have to separate, too. I still have lots to do in the lasagna bed but it is starting to look like a flower bed now. I have lots of seeds to sow. I am making this bed for the Hummingbirds and Butterflies.
I have a pink wave petunia that is blooming. It is a leftover from last year and it is unusual for petunias to survive from one season to the next. I have 3 or 4 "waves" that made it through this winter. I'll try to get a pic of it tomorrow.
I think we must have reached a higher temp. than the forecast 76º because it is 74º right now. Tomorrow's high temp is forecast to be 80º. If today is any indication, it will get hotter than that. The good thing is that the humidity was low so it was not uncomfortable to be outside, except for the wind, but that wasn't too bad, either.

Hi all!
I hope everyone is having weather as nice as ours today!
Marsue: I spent most of the day out there doing spring stuff.

Topped out around 80 today, but a bit windy.

Daisies seemed happy in the sun.
Deb

marsue, if you want to use Roundup and it is windy, try this: I duct tape ( can't live without it) a lightweight bamboo stake to a 3 pound Folgers plastic coffee can with the bottom removed. That way you can spray down into the coffee can and hit whatever weed you want to eliminate without causing damage to plant foliage.

My Sharona, I am only old in years and physical stamina. I still say they're gonna find me face down in a daylily bed some day. If I am lucky. No Man shall know the number of his days - and I guess no woman either.