Weird weather of '09!! ... #9

We came from here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/963557/

Hi Laura how are the knees?

O.K. Hellebore newbie here, I have seed pods on mom's plant. What do I do now?

Sorry, should really put that on the hellebore thread.

Heads up rc....don't know for sure which way this thing is going, but we've had really high winds the last hour or so, you know how I hate those. The wind chimes are siiiiiiiiiiiiinging tonight!

Sally, the key is just to collect the seed. So you can, if you want, put something (like part of a nylon stocking) over the plant to catch the seed. Or you can pick off the pod after it's mature and dry it out in the house.

Thanks Sally! I really appreciate it. It's been howling outside for the last 1/2 hour or so. The rain has been hitting the windows and doors inspite of an 8' wide porch that runs the length of the front of the house. I'm at home packing up some stuff at the moment, and have to head back to Saginaw in a half hour or so.

Yuk, careful on the road. All my windows are all wet too!

Kathy what does a 'mature pod' look like? If it's fully formed, I'm already there.

Somebody (probably Shelly) posted one on one of the threads at some point, but I'm sure neither of us wants to try to find ito look for that (I'm not sure it's even possible). Here's one, in the lower right-hand corner of the article:

http://www.honeyhillfarmsnursery.com/care.htm

lol..... I can't remember if I did that or not. Maybe, but then I also don't remember which thread. the picture there is an excellent example.

Sally, I sort of think that it might be a little early for the seed pod to be fully formed, they actually get pretty large by the time they're fully ready. However, if your's bloomed early and is in a warm spot... then maybe so. if you can take a picture of it, we might be able to guess at it. Thanks, I will drive careful!

They do get bigger than you might think, that's for sure. The Hellebores in the greenhouse at Molbak's had full seed pods - I was SOOOOOO tempted.

Ohhhh, I would have been too!! I'll try to remember to take a pic tomorrow. Mine don't look that full. Closed up but skinny. Thanks for the help.

Well, looks like I'm not going to get much garden cleanup done today. This greeted me when I looked out the door this morning. Good thing we live in the PNW where the winters are mild........ :(

Oh RJ how discouraging! It rained on and off here yesterday and we had one really hard cloud burst but it wasn't too cold. I hope the sun appears for you soon!

Judi,

Fortunately we have had a few sun beams, and the snow is melting off of the boughs of the trees at least. Walked up to Mom's house for coffee after the last post, and found that the snow had taken down her 20 year old corkscrew willow... a bit of spring cleaning that we hadn't planned on. I hate this heavy wet stuff! Spent a half hour walking the yard knocking the snow off of the pines and evergreens that were being pulled down. Actual measure in the unprotected areas of the yard was about 10"+.

On the up side, I will get lots of stuff done in the greenhouse today, and we will have some large willow boughs to start for other areas of the yard. There's got to be a silver lining, right?

Dreaming of spring.........

I am completely disgusted with this weather. Was it this bad last year? someone remind me. I walked outside to the greenhouse last night and realized I was walking on snow.
Rarejem, that is completely depressing. :( Good for you for seeing a silver lining.

So sorry you've got the white stuff again. We don't have any of that, but it rained again today, hailed really hard for about 5 min this afternoon. Big hail!!! Anybody know a Spring Dance?

rc and Kathy.....I put the pic of the seed pod on the Hellebore thread.

I think the weather gods heard my cry of distress because after a cold and iffy start, the day started to warm up and it was actually sunny all afternoon! I was actually working outside in the garden putting things in the ground and weeding all afternoon. I can hardly believe it. I must make some kind of an offering to the weather gods, but I'm fresh out of virgins at the moment. Maybe virgin olive oil will do.

I'd give a whole quart if it would do any good.LOL Glad someone had a good day outdoors.

Our Sunday actually turned into a very nice afternoon as well. Couldn't weed as I couldn't see the ground, but did manage to spend a couple of hours soaking up the sunbeam and pruning roses. I think that it is my first time in recollection that I pruned roses in snow boots! Still have a lot of the white stuff in the shadier areas, but at least a lot of it went away.

If someone figures out the correct spring dance and or offering, count me in... I am ready to be warm again!

Pix LOL! You could sacrifice a Barbi doll...assuming she is a virgin.

LOOK WHAT WE GOT!!!!^_^^_^^_^

Susan105

This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 10:00 AM

Here's another at a rest area in comparison to a motorhome and a 5th wheel trailer.

Susan105

Congrats!!!! Looks like you will have many happy days on board sailing with the wind. Happy dance being done here!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan105

Congratulations!!! Glad all turned out well. That is one big boat!! Wishing you many happy hours sailing!!

Thank you Sally! She's a 25' Catalina and I can't wait to get her in the water this summer.

Susan105

Wow - congratulations! I can't quite make out her name - what is it?

Thanks Judi, it's Wind Trek. I love it, it's very fitting. We went to Whidbey Island to purchase her and had a very nice time with the people we purchased her from. We stayed in their travel trailer Sat night so we didn't have to pay for a motel. They were so hospitable and we had such a nice time and most importantly made some new friends. We drove for 12 hrs to get home yesterday. We left Coupeville where we bought the boat, the passes were both packed snow and chains required so we went east from Vancouver and Portland to The Dalles and went south from there. It took us and extra 2 hrs but it was well worth it as we got home just after dark and boy were the dogs and cats happy to see us! I'm still tired. Will write more tomorrow.

Susan105

A Catalina! I could tell by the pretty lines on her. That's just super and you'll probably like her more than you would have the other boat. Be sure to tell us all the particulars and give us some photos of the cabin.

Congrats on the beautiful acquisition! You have to be as excited as a kid at Xmas!

I second, third, fourth.... everyone else. Congratulations Gardner!! nice find!!!

Williow.... I forgot to mention back on the other thread, your kitty Shadow is sweet. She definitel doesn't look her age! Probably hard to believe that she's 14 huh! So what is it with the rolling in the dirt that they seem to love? I don't get it.

Maybe the same reason dogs roll in stinky stuff? Who knows!!

Somebody ate the bread crumbs! Lost you there for a bit!

Susan it is beautiful!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!

Has been a long difficult 24 hours....Laura and I were on our way to babysit for a friend of theirs when my mother in law called.....my brother in law, who is in his 70's, fell off the stage into the Orchestra Pit at the Washington Center ...broke both shoulders, bruised several vertebrae and broke 7 ribs...he is in ICU...the surgery went well but it is going to be a long recovery. Then about 20 minutes later my mother called, my last remaining uncle just had a very severe stroke...my cousin said he has pneumonia also and is not responding well to attempted treatment, they don't think he is going to pull through. But things come in threes don't they? About midnight last night I got these really bd floaters and streaks in my right eye....this is the same one where I had the retina detach a couple of years ago...it is better today, I have an appointment for seven thirty in the morning....will see what we see.

But there was some good in the day....we took Orion for a walk in the woods near their house, the day was warm and sunny and I got a couple of beautiful pictures I wanted to show you all.....

a Fairie Garden of Mushrooms......

I loved this tree....

and the sweetie we were out with...

Going to call it a night, seven will be here awfully early....

Everyone have a good one.

Wow, Tricia!!! On the possitive notes....I can't believe that you're twilliums are up already. Mine are just barely putting a tip or two of leaves a hair above ground! Great Pictures. Aden is so cute!
..... but on the other side. My gosh what a streak you and your family is on. How aweful. I sure hope that everyone pulls through all right. Keep us posted. How did Laura's MRI go?

Good morning everyone! Thank you for all of the congrats!
I think this venture was meant to be as this was the second time Wind Trek had been posted on craigslist much to our surprise and pleasure. I had responded to the ad in early Feb when it was first posted but never received a reply. I even asked Murmur (Carole) to see if she could get a reply to no avail. Then a couple of days later I went back to the ad and it had expired so we thought she had been sold. After being disappointed by the dweeb in Idaho I continued to search craigslist. We had another interest in another Catalina in Chewelah but there were to many red flags on that one. The owner didn't take very good care of it, he didn't cover it for a yr and a half while it was on the trailer, the halyards (ropes) were exposed to all weather conditions, it was a swing keel and had sat in salt water for 10 yrs prior to being on the trailer, so we had no idea of the condition of the winch cable or the pin that holds the keel on, so I continued to search. The night that I found Wind Trek posted again, I couldn't believe my eyes! I was so excited and Mike had already gone to bed so I printed the ad and wrote on the bottom on the back with an arrow pointing to the other side, look what I found! We were both so excited and so afraid they were going to sell her before we got there. I responded the next day to the ad and this time I got a reply within about 20 mins, then I was REALLY EXCITED! We communicated back and forth for a couple of days, then I called and spoke with both of them. It was like calling a friend that I hadn't talked to in yrs, they didn't feel like strangers at all. To make an obviously long story short, we offered to send them some money (that they could keep either way) to hold the boat until we got there to show how serious we were about wanting to see her. They said that wouldn't be necessary, they would hold the boat for us since we had tried to reach them the first posting, so we told them we would be there Sat the 28th, we drove up Fri morning after Mike got off work, spent the night in a motel, drove to their place Sat morning, knew right away when we saw her that she was everything we expected and more, purchased her, had a wonderful lunch, dinner, spent the night in their trailer, got up Sun morning to coffee that had been programed to come on at 6:30, went in the house and they had made breakfast for us as they didn't want us to leave on an empty stomach and have to stop to eat. The best thing of all, is we made some very nice new friends. We left their place at around 8:15 a.m. and got home at 8:45 p.m. Boy was that a long day!
Here's a pic of the cabin, the round thing on the floor is a heater there was 2 of those and they also had a dehumidifier in her too. The next pic is of how they had her covered for the winter.

Susan105

This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 9:01 AM

Do you think they took good care of her?
I forgot to mention it's a wing keel, no cables or pins to worry about ever! Plus, we're the 4th owner's, the first owner sailed her in Idaho, the second owner just bought her and refurbished all of the wood, then Jack and Cathy bought her 3 yrs ago, upgraded many items on her, named her and only had her in salt water for 5 months out of the 3 yrs that they owned her. We'll sail her in fresh water for now, but plan on taking her back to SJ Islands in the future.
Oh BTW, Mike says she's my boat since I'm the one that found her again and was so persistant in my actions on purchasing her.
Also, today is his Birthday, I couldn't think of a better present or time to buy another sailboat.

TTYL,
Susan105