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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Garden Chat: West Virginia Woodlands (part I)

Sunday Garden Chat: West Virginia Woodlands (part I)

by Anne Laurie|  May 3, 20154:29 am| 154 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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jr wv 15 Wild Geranium

Not our bloghost, but faithful Garden Chat correspondent JR in WV:

I’ve been a little busy, rehab for my titanium shoulder, spring busting out suddenly after a long cold winter.

But I have been sneaking outside with the camera, and have finally made time to sit down and select and edit a few wildflower and planted/encouraged flower photos.

At the top: Wild Geranium – these volunteer all around the rocks and forest floor, and often come up right around others we have moved or planted, and create wonderful contrasts between their pale pink flowers and the ajuga, for example. They bloom again and again for 2 or 3 weeks, but any given flower only lasts a day or two.

jr wv 15 Dancing Frogs
Dancing Frogs – Mrs J picked these up somewhere. They are near the frog pond, set on top of a big flat boulder with anemones and wild geranium. The pond is 8×12 feet at most, and we have several waves of frogs mating and reproducing in it, along with several species of salamander and newt. You can ID the frogs by their call, the wood frogs and peepers first, then the chorus frogs (just now ending, there was one lonely frog last night). There is often a lone bullfrog, I was interested to learn that bullfrog tadpoles can take 2 or 3 years to morph into a frog! The salamanders are from the size of your little finger up to the size of a big plantain banana. Tiger Salamanders, with a very dark body and pale yellow or off-white cream spots. They live underground mostly, and only need a pond to reproduce.

jr wv 15 White Helleboros
White Helleboros – this is also known as Lenten Rose, as they bloom early in the spring. We planted these suckers and they were supposed to be fragile and solitary, but now they’re all over the place. We’ll be using weed-killer on them if we can’t slow them down any other way. They will choke the wild flowers out given half a chance. But they are green and blooming while the snows of February are blowing around them, so not all bad at all.

jr wv 15 Mossy rocks w Happy dog
Mossy rocks and Happy dog – that’s her name and her condition, she is always happy as long as she’s in her place with us and her woods. These rocks are above our parking place just south of the house and the steps up to the front door. Mrs J keeps the weeds and leaves off the moss so it stands out. In a rainy spell the green glows like fairy velvet. It’s a lot of work keeping the honeysuckle and other invasives from choking the native wildflowers out, and she makes it her spring and summer duty to pull out choking vines to save trees and bushes. Another new invasive is Autumn Olive, which has been introduced as a reclamation cover on “reclaimed” strip mines. From which it spreads everywhere!

jr wv 15 Redbud Blooming
Redbud Blooming – These bushes grow up into small trees eventually, and are the first color to show up in spring, There are a few white blooming trees that can compete for first flowers, Sarviceberry and sometimes Dogwood, but usually they start as the redbud are winding up. Things are a little less consistent lately, don’t know why!!!?

jr wv 15 Trilliums and a tiny Jack in the  pulpit
White Trillium and a tiny Jack-in-the-Pulpit – We planted these native wildflowers as tiny roots, they came in plastic bags with a pinch of peat moss, and most of them came up the next spring a year later. The tiny plant on the right of the picture is two leaves of the Jack, with a little cone-shaped pulpit on their right, and Jack will show up in that little covered pulpit. We have another plant that blooms like Jack, called Aron, and they are green all winter. Both of them go to seed with an pod covered with bright red seeds in the fall. Jack won’t show up until spring, but Aron come back up as soon as the seeds fall from the plant. Birds love them, and spread both of these plants around the forest.

jr wv 15 Red Trillium
Red Trillium – This is a singleton, a beautiful example. These are also native, and we have planted them as roots, and they have taken off and spread fast. Behind this trillium is a volunteer hellebores, which I intend to do away with to protect the trillium…

More WV pics next Sunday!
***********
Things are getting busy here north of Boston — May Day, and suddenly the temps are going from 40F nights / 50F days to 60F nights / 80F days predicted this week! Spent yesterday afternoon buying more annuals (‘Sonata’ cosmos, morning glories, lots of allysum to go with the pansies & lobelia already waiting) and some new planters for them. Haven’t yet seen any of our own wild geraniums — the local ‘volunteers’ have bright fuchsia flowers, but mostly I encourage them for their lovely, airy foliage — but I’ve learned not to give up on plants reviving until after Memorial Day. I’m also missing the local purple catmint variant, which is usually so prolific as to approach the pestiferous, but most years it blooms by the end of February and the bumblebees appreciate that, so I always leave some patches for them. The Spousal Unit’s beloved vinca (creeping periwinkle) is in magnificent violet-blue bloom, though!

Been looking at heirloom & miniature rose websites all week, contemplating whether I can hide root-pouched plants inside planters, make it easier to get the poor things under cover before another winter comes along. (The established Zepherine Drouhans and one of the two Don Juans in the warmest spot next to the front door survived, as did the Jeanne LaJoie mini in the front raised bed and the New Dawn climber in a root pouch tucked into the stoop, but the rest of last year’s ‘winter hardy’ purchases don’t seem to have made it even with protection.)

What’s going on in your gardens this week?

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154Comments

  1. 1.

    PurpleGirl

    May 3, 2015 at 5:41 am

    Very nice pictures from JR in WV. Looking forward to the pictures next week.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 5:47 am

    Nice pics JR, looks like home to me. Interesting that your redbuds bloom first. Around here, the serviceberry are first, then the dogwoods and redbuds come out together (DWs actually are first, but the flowers are small and green. Get showy when the redbuds bloom) Always a joy to see.

    Question: Do you have Wake Robin? It is another wild trillium, quite common around here, tho not as showy as the white or red. It is an edible, but the Indians called it “Much Hunger” as in you had to be really hungry to eat that.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 6:25 am

    Googled Wake Robin and apparently that means ‘trillium’ in google land. Anyway, finally found a pic of the true “Wake Robin”, trillium recurvatum.

  4. 4.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 6:28 am

    Last week I had a running debate with my bride and friends about whether or not to take down the stairs in anticipation of the start of construction. Everyone thought that I should just let the contractor take care of it. I took off Thursday because he said he was going to get going with the layout of the addition Friday and start digging tomorrow. Against my better judgement I asked the girl if she needed anything done Thursday and she said she wanted another truckload of the compost that the city sells for just $12 a load. I figured I’d do that and maybe mess with the stairs in the afternoon. When the guy at the dump dropped the compost from the front-loader I thought the front wheels of the truck were coming off the ground because the stuff was so heavy from the torrential rain the last month! By the time I shovel the compost into a big cart and made piles all over the place for her to use (I’m not allowed to spread things in the beds without supervision) I was to wasted to do any stair work. I waited all day Friday for the dude to show up except and when I left for an hour I came home and there were two sawhorses in the yard. That was is, he didn’t come back! I am convinced that he thought I was going do the demo and is going to wait till tomorrow and bring a crew!

    Anyway the huge rose bush in the garden is just starting to bloom and this big owl showed up and hung out all day. We sat under the tree for a couple of hours hoping to catch a shot of him on the wing but had to give up when it got dark.

  5. 5.

    c u n d gulag

    May 3, 2015 at 6:32 am

    Thanks, Anne!

    I’d disabled, so now I can’t dig my parents garden up anymore – which I used to enjoy, because it’s pretty much mindless physical labor (which I one thing I used to be pretty damn good at providing! :-).

    My father passed-away in late April, three years ago – at age 86 1/2 – and my Mom’s 83, nearly blind, and also handicapped physically.
    So I don’t get to do what I used to love to do – and that was help them start-up their garden.
    My parents used to LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE gardening, and growing veggies.
    And my mom, grew beautiful flowers.

    When I see your gardening series, it brings back fond memories.
    Like the time my parents tried to grow cabbages.
    And all of the neighborhood kids used to come over to look at the 5-foot tall cabbage plants – they looked like they came from another planet.
    LOL!

    But, we had bushels of great tomato’s, and all sorts of other veggies!

    Now, we keep a couple of tomato plants on the porch, and hope that something ‘crops-up.’
    MAN, I miss those bushels of tomato’s they used to grow in the garden……………………….

    Good times…
    Good times…………………………………..

  6. 6.

    Baud

    May 3, 2015 at 6:36 am

    @raven:

    Thanks for linking to that Cavett Vietnam documentary the other day. I watched it last night and found it very interesting.

  7. 7.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 6:38 am

    @Baud: Ah good, I met Bobbie Mueller at Dewey Canyon and really liked him.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 6:52 am

    @raven:

    I left for an hour I came home and there were two sawhorses in the yard. That was is, he didn’t come back! I am convinced that he thought I was going do the demo…

    Heh. That’s why they’re called CONtractors.

  9. 9.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 3, 2015 at 7:13 am

    We just had a small shaker here in LaLaLand. 3.9 in the Baldwin Hills. It didn’t shake much here, but I sure could hear it.

  10. 10.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 7:20 am

    JR, my redbuds have been very spotty the last few years here in SW MI. They’re a favorite of mine and so doubly disappointing when they don’t bloom well. I have one planted over the graves of two of my dogs that died six years ago a month apart (bonded sisters, both very old) and that tree seems to have 1/2 died off. I’m going to try to save it with a pruning, but it shows no signs of damage or disease, it just didn’t leaf out on those branches last year.

  11. 11.

    Raven

    May 3, 2015 at 7:21 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: While it’s not that big of a problem, this fellow has built and done additions for a number of our friends. He is not the greatest communicator in the world but his work is really good. I just see no gain in my being a pain in the ass at this point. The one thing that is a bit worriesone is that he is building his personal house right now too!

  12. 12.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 3, 2015 at 7:23 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci37374008#general_summary

  13. 13.

    Aleta

    May 3, 2015 at 7:24 am

    Used to be I didn’t appreciate the wild geraniums. Now I love them more each year. As you say, the come up when they like. Independent, bloom out of nowhere. “Survived again, no big deal, it’s what we do.”

  14. 14.

    Rosalita

    May 3, 2015 at 7:25 am

    I planted a Helleborus (in CT) a few years ago. It never comes up while there is still snow, it is just blooming now. Regardless of when it shows itself, it’s beautiful. So happy to finally see the daffodils, columbine and the peonies starting to come up. Yay spring!!

  15. 15.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 7:25 am

    And Anne Laurie, last year after our 4 foot drifts and polar vortices lasting into March, some of my roses didn’t start to show signs of recovery until a few weeks after Memorial Day. Only the fact that I hadn’t had time to dig them up allowed me to find out they hadn’t died. I thought I had lost 4, but I ended up losing only 1.

  16. 16.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 7:27 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Had a 4.2 here in SW MI yesterday, my son in Orange, CA teased me about it. So it’s payback, you can blame him.

  17. 17.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 3, 2015 at 7:30 am

    @satby: If he’s in the OC, he didn’t feel it. Most of the shaking was on the westside and south bay. I could barely feel any shaking here, but the rumble was really loud.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    May 3, 2015 at 7:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I guess WP ate my reply. We just have to go with the flow at this point.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    May 3, 2015 at 7:37 am

    The pictures are beautiful.

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Even a small shake has to be unsettling because of the massive quake that happened in Nepal just days ago.

  20. 20.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 3, 2015 at 7:42 am

    @JPL: The main thing is that I heard a very loud rumble(it sounds like a train, but different) and didn’t know how much it was going to shake. In this case not so much.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    May 3, 2015 at 7:49 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Several years ago, we had a small quake and rather than shaking, it sounded like squirrels running up and down the wall. In GA, there are occasional small quakes.

    Actually occasional if probably not the correct word, it’s pretty rare.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Raven: FYWP.

  23. 23.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: damn, I was looking forward to telling him that’s what happens when you tease your mother.

    Edited to add, dude, you been up all night?

  24. 24.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 3, 2015 at 8:07 am

    @satby:

    dude, you been up all night?

    Yes, SOP for me. I’m a night owl, also I started some phone modifications and had to finish before retiring to bed.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    May 3, 2015 at 8:10 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: night

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    May 3, 2015 at 8:14 am

    Beautiful pictures, JR.

    Good-looking owl, Raven.

  27. 27.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 8:15 am

    YAY! First hummingbird of the summer just hit the feeder!

    I’ve had it up for 10 days and already dumped and changed it to fresh twice. I hate when they get here a bit before there’s enough flowers for them, even though I know they eat insects.

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 8:26 am

    @raven:
    After the contractor set fire to our house he had to work with a restoration company that had its own set of workers. They didn’t work well together & that sort of thing happened a lot. The electrician for the restore group came by every day for a week but was never there for more than 15 minutes because “things were not right”. I feel your pain.

  29. 29.

    HinTN

    May 3, 2015 at 8:27 am

    My first experience of an earthquake was in a hotel in the LA area. The bed gave s little squiggle and I thought, “Who hit the Magic Fingers?” The next day it was revealed that they had a little shaker. The second experience was here in my home during the Ft. Payne quake twenty ish years ago. That quake was centered fifty miles away. The Windows were open and I was awakened by what I thought was a breeze, except there was no variability to it. There was just this minute plus of uniform white noise. Later I put two and two together and got twenty two. I would prefer to maintain my distance from the earth shaking.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 8:27 am

    Great pictures JR, thanks for sharing. Particularly the flower pictures, they are fantastic. But I do love the dancing frogs!

  31. 31.

    caroln

    May 3, 2015 at 8:31 am

    What a beautiful place to live JR. This is the second spring, after two hard winters back to back in SE Mich, that I’ve had to cut the roses back pretty much to the ground. I don’t know how many more they will survive. The only ones that didn’t miss a beat were two old Rugosas, apparently they are super hardy.

  32. 32.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I was at Fitzsimons near Denver about 45 years ago & thought “Huh, that must be a big truck to make that big a rumble” watching the news I found our it was a very small earthquake. It was weird because I didn’t think about them making noise like that.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    May 3, 2015 at 8:35 am

    I love the pictures of mossy rocks. The contrast in texture is amazing. Has anyone ever tried a moss garden?

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 8:38 am

    @Schlemazel: Electricians are the biggest prima donnas you’ll meet on a job site. And some of the laziest fwcks too.

  35. 35.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I have a special place in my heart for the plumber that set fire to the house. Had my son not come home after school we probably would have lost everything because the plumber was trying to put the fire out with the garden hose. The electricians seems OK by comparison.

  36. 36.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 8:53 am

    @Schlemazel: That’s one reason I am willing to put up with marginal communication skills from our guy. He and many of his crew are neighborhood guys and their work is outstanding. They have built new houses and additions for many of our friends and we are confident that, once they get going, it will be well done.

  37. 37.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 8:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: And that’s another plus for us. The electrician is a friend too. Very competent at a really good dude.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 8:58 am

    The veggie garden is progressing. Broccoli, kohlrabi, and cabbage are on schedule as are all my lettuces. I was right about my carrots- all washed away by the 3 inches of rain. Start them over today. My red onions are doing quite well… Yellow onions right next to them, not. Don’t know why that would be. Bought some white onion sets to fill in the blanks on my yellows. Potatoes have been very slow to come up, tho they seem to be progressing. The Yukon Golds have been the most spotty. We’ll see.

    Tomatoes are all doing quite well… All 42 plants. (Yes, I am an idiot). Put the peppers in this week, so far so good but the roots were not so well developed (last years were much better) so I will have to keep a close eye on them. Put in my eggplants but they all look so weak I am not expecting much. Bought 6 Japanese so at least we will have them.

    Laid out my bean poles and squash mounds yesterday. Our nite time temps have finally gotten above 60 degrees so I feel safe planting both and will do so today.

    Coons had a field day in my herb garden and did a number on the tarragon and marjoram. I’ll have to start over with them, but there is plenty of time.

    Lastly, the chickens are growing well and becoming very frisky in the mornings. Haven’t yet had any predator problems, but I know that can’t last.

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 9:12 am

    @raven:
    The biggest disappointment to me was my contractor. My son & his were in Boy Scouts together & I got to know him, he was very fussy that things be done right and I thought that was a good sign. The first crack was when I found out that as soon as he heard about the fire he ran to city hall & pulled the permit! The guy was cutting corners & pulling crap though the whole job. it actually spoiled the friendship.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    May 3, 2015 at 9:14 am

    Family report from Florida: things are not looking good long-term for my brother, but he’s feeling semi-okay in the short term, so we’re all trying to concentrate on hanging out and having a good time. We make the 3-1/2 hour drive up to Orlando on Thursday to take the two youngest kids to Disney World and store up some good memories for what will be some pretty painful times coming up very soon.

    Also, too, though I knew my 20-year-old oldest niece was busy screwing up her life, I didn’t realize what an agent of chaos she was until yesterday when she fomented a nasty fight between her (almost-) divorced parents. Now that we know, we can cut her out of the adult loop and put her back at the kids’ table.

    We saw our first alligator in the wild yesterday — fascinating, but a little freaky.

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 9:17 am

    @caroln: Rugosas are Japanese seacoast roses. They laugh at cold and salt. Many people here in the Frozen North favor them for hedges for that reason.

  42. 42.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 9:17 am

    @Schlemazel: Ugh, well, I guess if we were going to pull the plug it should have been 2 years ago when he hit the sewer line and recommended that we tell the city. He and his wife are better friends with other folks that they are with us but we have known them for years. Part of us wanted to tell him and this city to stick the whole things after they city spent $300K moving the sewer line. I just keep thinking that this is going to make my wife happy and that, in the wider scheme, the end is in sight even thought the beginning may not be.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 9:19 am

    @Schlemazel: I have seen a # of buildings burn to the ground because of plumbers torches. Something about kiln dried wood and fire… Not sure what.

    @raven: I have known a few electricians that were good guys and easy to work with. Few and far between but real treasures when you find them. Most of the ones I have had the displeasure of working alongside thought I worked for them. Was working a restaurant job (gut and remodel) where this one particular jackass who DID NOT want to be there shut the job down for a month. Insisted there was asbestos in the old ceiling tiles and pipe insulation. A week later the tests came back and the answers were, “No and NO” with a caveat: The ceiling tile cement did have asbestos. This stuff was like 20 year old liquid nails, you’d have to put it between your cheek and gum to get anything worth worrying about out of it but that didn’t matter, asbestos protocols were put in place and it was another 3 weeks before the hazardous materials contractor showed up and cleaned it up. My boss didn’t have much else going on so I ended up with about a 2 week forced vacation.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 9:19 am

    @Mnemosyne: Sounds like you are doing as much as you can, and that’s good memories to hold onto in the coming storm.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 3, 2015 at 9:25 am

    @Schlemazel: I never got the enmity between city hall and so many contractors. I always made inspectors my friend (usually as carpenter, occasionally as ‘contractor of record’). For the most part they are just people doing a job making sure things are built right…. Which isn’t that what we are supposed to be doing to begin with?

  46. 46.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 9:29 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    We have a couple of nieces like that including one that caused a big scene at her grandfather’s funeral. I avoid her like the plague because I don’t need that additional pain in my life. I hope you guys have a great trip and many happy memories.

  47. 47.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 9:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    You’re smart to do that. Most of the city guys are just trying to do whats right & make sure the city remains habitable. But my guess is that there are a few who are just jackasses, that happens in every profession. The guy here really worked very hard to get stuff done well without putting undue costs into the mix. He was very reasonable I thought.

  48. 48.

    PurpleGirl

    May 3, 2015 at 9:36 am

    @Mnemosyne: Thanks for the report. Taking the two youngest out for a trip is a good idea. Hope all who go have a fun time. Hanging out is good too. Sorry that your families are going through this.

    When my (college) friend was in the semi-last stages of cancer, we spent a long weekend doing things we’d never done before and didn’t visit either of our mothers. (Our mothers were a problem for both of us.) Just spent the time together enjoying ourselves. We spent several weekends together that summer and fall. Made it a little easier for me when the chemo stopped working for her and she entered hospice care.

  49. 49.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 9:38 am

    @raven:

    Its tough once the ball is rolling to decide “thats it, I can’t take any more of that”. Having followed your tales here I am not sure I would have had the same tolerance but then you are also seeing the upside so maybe its not as bad in total.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 9:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’ve never seen a Trillium with varigated leaves like that. We have mostly trillium we planted as tiny roots, as the livestock and deer like to eat them the original natives were long gone when we bought the place. They are the same as the natives, which hang on in places where the livestock and deer aren’t likely to get to them.

    Interesting how these plants vary as you move across the continent.

  51. 51.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 9:50 am

    @c u n d gulag:

    We have old pictures of the wife’s great-greats, all dressed up in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes around their very cleaned up farm. In one set they’re mounted on the mules, also very cleaned up and polished. But in one they are both sitting in their garden among the largest cabbages I’ve ever seen, the size of beachballs with plenty of summer yet to grow.

    Most of the livestock was in the pictures, washed with shined hooves glistening in the sun.

  52. 52.

    jeffreyw

    May 3, 2015 at 9:52 am

    A good crop of Bea in the container garden.

  53. 53.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 9:52 am

    @jeffreyw:

    she looks happy!

  54. 54.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 9:53 am

    Anyone have a good sore throat remedy? Please don’t say gargle with salt water.

  55. 55.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 9:54 am

    Wow, that owl is something! We have had a family living in the head of our tiny hollow, barred owls, and they have hoots that aren’t in the book when they get to taking with each other after sundown. My favorite bird, I think.

    They are so shy most of the time, and then one day, there they are, showing off…

    I have not one picture of an owl, although I’ve seen them more than most folks having them living on the farm. Some nights they will fly ahead of the vehicle when we come home after dark, following the little creek upstream.

  56. 56.

    ThresherK

    May 3, 2015 at 9:56 am

    @gogol’s wife: Honey, heavy citrus and (steeped) ginger.

    Think of a it as a variation on a Dark & Stormy without the rum.

    Strike that: It’s Sunday; maybe you can add the rum at a decent hour, such as 11am.

  57. 57.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 9:59 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    Anyone have a good sore throat remedy? Please don’t say gargle with salt water.

    I have a friend who dissolves two aspirin in water, and then gargles it. I’ve never tried it.

    EDIT: ThresherK’s remedy sounds better.

  58. 58.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 10:03 am

    @jeffreyw:

    I thought you meant to type “beans” until I saw that pretty big white cat!

    What a beauty!

    Looks like she owns the place.

  59. 59.

    max

    May 3, 2015 at 10:05 am

    My black Hellebores are almost dead. (The top rotted off.) Soil was fine, light was fine, but too much water from the roof. Bugger. The purple roses right next to them are doing great.

    max
    [‘And the clematis vines are finally taking off.’]

  60. 60.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 10:07 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    I gargle with neat bourbon when I have a sore throat starting. It hurts, but it kills the bacteria too. You can spit some out if you want. It only takes a couple of tablespoons full to do it.

    You can also drink it. One of the ancestors told the funny story of the two-hat method of fighting a cold. You put a hat on the bed post, go to bed, and drink until you see two hats. When you wake up, your cold will be gone. I’ve never tried it, I worry that the hangover would be far worse than the cold.

    I don’t recommend it, but the story is funny.

  61. 61.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 10:11 am

    @J R in WV: I remember reading the biography of a writer (I don’t remember which one) who developed a bad cold and sore throat around 1914 or so. The doctor actually prescribed a spoonful of brandy, every hour.

  62. 62.

    jeffreyw

    May 3, 2015 at 10:18 am

    @J R in WV: Queen Bea has a fondness for pots.

  63. 63.

    Mike J

    May 3, 2015 at 10:22 am

    Blue is the colour, football is the game
    We’re all together, and winning is our aim
    So cheer us on through the sun and rain
    ’cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name

  64. 64.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 10:40 am

    @J R in WV: Your pictures are great, thanks for sharing. We are hearing an owl some nights, for the first time since we’ve lived here, but we haven’t seen it. Some nights we hear the owl and later a tiny screech, possibly something that has become a late supper. I don’t think the screech is from the owl because we had screech owls at another house, and those guys never hooted.
    There are trillium in the 10 acre wooded area across the road from us, as well as a bear. This is about 15 miles east of Seattle, about 4 miles from the Microsoft campus in Redmond. I’ve been told that when you have bears you don’t get deer, but I’m not sure it’s an even trade-off. 10 acres is not a lot of space to support something the size of a bear and last summer he roamed our neighborhood in search of food, although I’m not sure what he ate. Lots of fruit trees full of apples about when he showed up, and I think he got our few Seckel pears last fall, but I suppose it could have been a squirrel. Seckels are very small pears and these were hanging about 3 feet above the ground. This spring the tree is covered with tiny pears, so maybe we’ll get a few.
    This year there is another bear in the neighborhood just down the hill, we don’t know why or how they are getting here. I think it was three years ago there was little food early in the spring in the area nearest us that supports bears, about 5 miles away, and they found a young adult wandering on the freeway about 2 miles from us.

  65. 65.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 10:48 am

    @gogol’s wife: Mr WereBear the herbalist agrees with this article:

    http://www.healthline.com/health/cold-flu/sore-throat-natural-remedies#Echinacea8

  66. 66.

    Mike J

    May 3, 2015 at 10:51 am

    @WereBear: Be careful if you buy it:

    The investigation, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, focused on a variety of herbal supplements from four major retailers: GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreen Co. Lab tests determined that only 21 percent of the products actually had DNA from the the plants advertised on the label.

    The investigation found supplements, including echinacea, ginseng, St. John’s wort, garlic, ginkgo biloba and saw palmetto, were contaminated with substances including rice, beans, pine, citrus, asparagus, primrose, wheat, houseplant and wild carrot. In many cases, unlisted contaminants were the only plant material found in the product samples.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/herbal-supplements-targeted-by-new-york-attorney-general/

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    May 3, 2015 at 10:52 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think I missed the first report on your brother. Sending good thoughts your way and good on you for caring for the emotional well being of your family especially the kids.

    It could be that oldest niece has been absorbing all of the tension and pain in the family and hasn’t had help figuring out how to handle it.

  68. 68.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 10:57 am

    This morning’s headline:

    Christie’s Camp Mobilizes to Salvage White House Hopes

    Around 7:30 a.m., as an audience of technology executives started streaming through the ballroom doors of a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in suburban Virginia on Friday, Chris Christie’s iPhone buzzed with the grim news he has awaited for 16 months.

    Federal charges were coming in the bizarre case of traffic and revenge with which he had become synonymous.

    Mr. Christie, the governor of New Jersey, consulted with advisers, adjusted his jet-black suit and gamely walked onto a stage before 300 guests eating yogurt parfait and almond croissants. He recited statistics about Social Security and Medicare costs and projected the air of a man thoroughly unbothered by the swirling legal drama back in New Jersey, which he left unmentioned.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 10:59 am

    @Mike J: Indeed. Which is why we import our own herbs from a very reputable organic dealer. This is also where we source our herbal cat toys and litter deodorizer.

    And it’s a shame, because it’s so easy to make them into teas or tinctures. A bit of patience and shelf space is all that’s required.

    Yes, those cut rate herbals are just like so much else big box stores sell; what you are really purchasing is the fleeting satisfaction of “such a deal!”

    Not a sturdy working product.

  70. 70.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 11:02 am

    Thanks to everyone for the sore throat suggestions. I’ll try something! (probably not alcohol, which I can’t stomach when I’m sick, for some reason)

  71. 71.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:02 am

    @Mike J: Ages ago I used to take a ton of supplements. Then I started to see article after article about how most of it is bunk. You really don’t even know what you are buying. I just take a GNC multi-vitamin.

  72. 72.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 11:05 am

    @gogol’s wife:
    According to a new study conducted by the University of Cardiff Common Cold Centre, aspirin might be the best remedy for a sore throat if it’s crushed up and gargled — without swallowing. Aspirin is an analgesic, which means that it helps to reduce pain.

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 11:08 am

    @Schlemazel:

    I actually set our old JennyLind farmhouse on fire one winter after the copper pipes froze.

    The utility room had never been sheetrocked, and I set the kraft paper facing on the fiberglas insulation on fire. First fire extinguisher spurted for less than a second, second one didn’t even spurt.

    Third fire extinguisher was a tiny glovebox sized tool, but it spurted really well at the flames on the ceiling, so I walked the length of the narrow utility room and went down the wall to the ignition point.

    Success! Then I gave some boxes full of downspout parts on top of the shelves a spurt, and it was all out! The air was a cloud of smoke and dry chemical smog, so I ran outside, coughing. I tried out the tiny extinguisher, and it had one more tiny half-second spurt left. Close call.

    Then I thought about the insurance, way more than the old shack was worth, replacement cost for the size of the house, could have had a new house!! Oh well, success is a good thing when you’re fighting a fire. Good thing I had all that fire-fighter training in the Navy. Very good thing!

  74. 74.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:08 am

    @WereBear:

    This is also where we source our herbal cat toys and litter deodorizer.

    When I first started by garden a few years ago one of the first herbs I put in was catnip. I was all proud of myself, growing some catnip for me kitty.

    When it is ready I put it in front of her and she could have cared less.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    May 3, 2015 at 11:12 am

    @Tommy:

    she could have cared less.

    You will be called a monster for this.

  76. 76.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:14 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    the best remedy for a sore throat if it’s crushed up and gargled — without swallowing. Aspirin is an analgesic, which means that it helps to reduce pain.

    I can directly say this in fact works. Something mu grandfather had me doing all the way back in the 70s. Heck I also had braces as a kid and wrestled. Often had cuts in my mouth. What you suggested worked for that as well.

    Now the question is if @gogol’s wife actually has “real” aspirin in the house?

  77. 77.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 11:14 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    Yeah, my mommy tried that on me many years ago — I prefer the sore throat!

  78. 78.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 11:15 am

    RIP Maya Plisetskaya

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/arts/dance/maya-plisetskaya-ballerina-who-embodied-bolshoi-dies-at-89.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=1

  79. 79.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 11:15 am

    @Tommy:

    Oh yes, I only take aspirin, nothing else works for me, but I’m not going to gargle it, sorry. Been there, done that.

  80. 80.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:17 am

    @gogol’s wife: Oh you got to balance that:)! Aspirin might be close to the worse thing I’ve ever tasted. One of those remedies that you got to be “all in” with.

  81. 81.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 11:19 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: And it came from White Willow Bark!

    Mr WereBear gave me a tincture of White Willow I use instead of aspirin — for me, it really works better.

    @Tommy: I know there’s a lot of stuff about there decrying supplements. One has to buy from reputable dealers and manufacturers. And there are some. Health food stores are a great place to start.

    In my own experience, supplements and certain vitamins have been absolutely essential to my current recovery. We have to remember that the RDA is the minimum required to avoid the rampant deficiency diseases discovered in the early decades of the 20th century.

    The biggest problem with people seeking supplement & vitamin input to improve their health is that they don’t take enough for long enough. Vitamin D, in my case, took two months to kick in, taking 10k a day, but now I am awed by how well it makes me feel.

  82. 82.

    Mike E

    May 3, 2015 at 11:20 am

    @Baud: I could care less.

  83. 83.

    satby

    May 3, 2015 at 11:21 am

    @Mnemosyne: I missed that there was bad news about your brother’s health too. So sorry to hear that. It’s good that you’re able to be there and spend quality time with him and his family. Keeping them and you in my thoughts.

  84. 84.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 11:22 am

    @Tommy: Some cats lack the gene for catnip appreciation, but react to other herbs. You might try growing valerian for her; it has lovely blue flowers.

    Apparently the cats brought to Australia by British settlers lacked this gene. Aussie moggies are notoriously indifferent to nip.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    May 3, 2015 at 11:22 am

    @Mike E:

    I could, but I won’t.

    ETA: I always try to care just the right amount.

  86. 86.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:24 am

    @WereBear: As long as you use a reputable dealer, which of course you do, I got NO issue with supplements. In fact I think they can be very helpful in many, many different ways and/or situations. I know more than a few people that have found supplements to take the place of a pill. Or put another way any time you can take a supplement and not a pill is a very good day!

  87. 87.

    gogol's wife

    May 3, 2015 at 11:26 am

    Just reading about all the remedies I don’t want to try has made my throat feel better. Thanks!

  88. 88.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:26 am

    @WereBear: I’ll have to give that a try this year.

  89. 89.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 11:27 am

    @Tommy: Or put another way any time you can take a supplement and not a pill is a very good day!

    Absolutely. In the absence of being able to actually fix a person’s health problems, modern pharma has a distressing tendency to come up with something that masks the symptoms, and pretend that’s just as good!

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 11:31 am

    @WereBear: Speaking of, I’ve been meaning to mention that I started taking Niacin on your suggestion recently. I do seem to be sleeping better but when I wake up I feel draggy. It goes away after 10 or so minutes.

  91. 91.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 11:36 am

    @Corner Stone: I’d mark that down in the win column. :) Are you taking vitamin C and a B complex with it? Those are cheap additives that can enhance the effect.

    I have great sleep with it, so deep it takes a while to come out of it. I just lie in bed for those ten minutes, savoring the feeling.

  92. 92.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 11:37 am

    Watching the replay of the game 7 Spurs v LAC. That was a helluva game.

  93. 93.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    May 3, 2015 at 11:37 am

    @Baud: Thank you for the chuckle. I’m practicing my restraint skills, with mixed results.

  94. 94.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:41 am

    @Corner Stone: I am just waiting for the Wizards vs. Hawks game @ noon. My Wizards have been so bad for so long the fact they are still playing and are not thinking about ping pong balls, hasn’t even really sunk in yet :)!

  95. 95.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 11:51 am

    Interesting show on PBS this afternoon:

    SURVIVAL: LIVES IN THE BALANCE
    The Plant That Cures Malaria (Uganda)
    The battle against malaria is explored through the eyes of a Ugandan man, who, after his daughter dies of the disease, decides to grow artemisia, the plant that provides the main ingredient for an antimalarial drug.

  96. 96.

    Gravenstone

    May 3, 2015 at 11:54 am

    @jeffreyw: Spicy girl!

  97. 97.

    Tenar Darell

    May 3, 2015 at 11:56 am

    Took a walk around my neighborhood yesterday, and everything is blooming all at once. Forsythia through daffodils, through ground cover, to trees. It’s so pretty! (No wonder I feel like I’m going to itch and sneeze myself to death).

    Plus, all you guys talking about gardening make me want to try to figure out how to grow something. Maybe in a pot on the porch….

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    May 3, 2015 at 11:58 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    I heard the news last night. She was a treasure. I think she was still dancing at age 65. Incredible.

  99. 99.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 11:59 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: I am a nature show geek. I love shows where they go into say the Amazon. Some dude points out this plant cures this, that plant might do something else, and we don’t even know what 99.9% of the stuff out here is, maybe it would be a good idea to stop cutting it all down. You know the cure for cancer could be out here.

  100. 100.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 12:02 pm

    @Corner Stone: My husband was taking niacin and discovered he was allergic to it. Made him itch all over.

  101. 101.

    MomSense

    May 3, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    @WereBear:

    This is a Maine company that is reputable and that has outstanding products. http://www.avenabotanicals.com/

  102. 102.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: My grandfather suffered from malaria. We think he picked it up somewhere like Missouri, circa 1900.

  103. 103.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    @WereBear: Taking a men’s multi also. It seems like I am waking up fewer times in the middle of the night, so that’s a plus.

  104. 104.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 12:07 pm

    @J R in WV:
    sorry for the delay, had errands to run.

    FIre extinguishers can be a mixed blessing. You wasted a lot of time putzing with them & had the fire gotten a good hold that time could have been very expensive. I was a firefighter too & there were houses with a lot more damage because the owners has spent 10 minutes playing before they called for help.

    In our case the sheathing was 1 by that had gaps between the boards. The fire got on the outside where he couldn’t see it. Our son saw that the entire bathroom (striped to the studs & above the kitchen) engulfed in flames while the plumber only saw the inner wall and thought the garden hose could do it.

  105. 105.

    pamelabrown53

    May 3, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    @jeffreyw:
    That pic. is amazing…looks like it belongs on a kitteh calendar!

  106. 106.

    Schlemazel

    May 3, 2015 at 12:14 pm

    @Corner Stone:
    I had a major event on the health front recently. FOr months I had felt ‘off’, was having even more trouble than usual concentrating and some mild confusion. I was not sleeping well either. I was aware the I was having more personality problems. I was afraid it was the beginnings of dementia. When the woman foolish enough to marry me mentioned the personality thing I decide I had to see a doctor. We were discussing the issues while he looked at my records & he said “So, you self cath everyday?” when I said yes he asked if I had a UA done. I said no because I was not having any symptoms of a UTI. Long story short I DID have a “silent UTI”. On the antibiotics for a week and I can think again and am back to my old level of depression which is better.

    Bodies are weird thing.

  107. 107.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    @opiejeanne: Was he allergic or maybe that was the “flush”?

    It’s flushing excess histamine from the system. Now, after two months, I can take quite a lot and not flush much at all. Just a tingle.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    @WereBear:

    Now, after two months, I can take quite a lot and not flush much at all.

    Damn, I’m glad you mentioned that. I meant to include that I bought the more expensive bottle because it billed itself as “Flush Free”. I did some research on flush before I started taking it, and am glad I bought the one that was “flush free” as I have had no side symptoms except the slight drag I mentioned.

  109. 109.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 12:22 pm

    @MomSense: Thanks! Passed on to the herbalist.

  110. 110.

    jeffreyw

    May 3, 2015 at 12:27 pm

    @pamelabrown53: Thanks! It is on the new BJ pet calendar.

  111. 111.

    Tenar Darell

    May 3, 2015 at 12:27 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I hope this will help with your niece. First, is this niece your brother’s daughter? If so, you all may want to cut her some slack. Her parents have probably protected her from the worst of it, and with the usual obliviousness of the young she probably had no clue until very recently how sick her father was, even if she is a smart youngster.

    Basically she may have had the raw information about her father’s cancer, but still trusted her parents to tell her the full truth about what actually happening. She may be acting out because she’s still processing the anger and betrayal she feels, while not realizing that this says more about her father, his fighting the disease, and his needs than anything her parents think about her.

    If she’s normally a smart, fairly mature kid you may want to take her aside and explain that parents tend to overprotect their ostensibly adult children until they can’t hide how sick they are (or even were) until almost the end. You may need to spell out how right now is not about her feelings, but trying to make good memories for everyone to cherish after her father is dead.

    I hope this helps with keeping your niece in the adult loop. She doesn’t need the ball of guilt about not having been there for her father and family, on top of all the pain she’s going to feel upon losing him.

  112. 112.

    c u n d gulag

    May 3, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    @J R in WV:
    That brings a tear to my eyes………………

  113. 113.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    Whoever designed the ESPN website makeover needs to be forced to watch women’s basketball on an endless loop for a year.
    It’s been weeks now and in almost every thread I click on there are multiple people yelling at ESPN to switch back.

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    May 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:
    I’ve also seen aspirin listed as a home remedy for dandruff. Crush 2 and mix with your shampoo.

  115. 115.

    raven

    May 3, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    @Corner Stone: Whoa, we agree on something!!!

  116. 116.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 3, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    @Corner Stone: I thought the new Sports Illustrated pages were bad, but ESPN somehow managed to do even worse. I don’t think I have seen one positive comment about ESPN’s makeover.

  117. 117.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 1:12 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: So many huge sites get this wrong. So it’s not that they didn’t spend enough money.

    From my experience with such, there’s some high muckymuck with terrible ideas and a position of power, and the disaster is really their fault.

  118. 118.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    @WereBear: Of course that is the problem. I was a project manager at ad agencies for many years. What took me too long to learn is it was ONLY my job to convey to my Creative team the client’s requirements, goals, and objectives and then just get out of their way. Any time somebody on the client side came into a project out of the blue and started throwing their weight around, we knew things were only going sideways :)!

  119. 119.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: I long ago couldn’t use the ESPN site anymore. I find the league apps on Android are pretty amazing. w/ MLB I pay their yearly subscription to stream the radio of my Cardinals. Pretty nice service. Might give that a try if you have not.

  120. 120.

    Mike J

    May 3, 2015 at 1:28 pm

    @WereBear: And then when users tell them they hate it, the only response is that some people will always complain about any change.

  121. 121.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 1:33 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I don’t think I have seen one positive comment about ESPN’s makeover.

    I find it near impossible to navigate to content I want and sometimes just close the window if I don’t see what I’m looking for after a quick scan. It’s spaced out in a ridiculous pattern and the boxes seem distracting. That plus the fact that the majority of items displayed are video content, and I just.want.to.skim.an.article.
    The old site had everything in a logical, listed order. You could scroll from top to bottom and find two or three things to read, then click on a box score or something and be done. Now it’s eternal to try and find something useful. I had to click on 4 different clicks to get to the box score for game 7 of Spurs v LAC.

  122. 122.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    @Mike J: Well in fact people will always complain no matter what, but that doesn’t mean you don’t attempt to improve your site and also listen to user feedback.

  123. 123.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    That plus the fact that the majority of items displayed are video content, and I just.want.to.skim.an.article.

    That might be the #1 issue for me about ESPN. I have my SB Nation Cardinals site bookmarked for a daily read. Ten times the detailed coverage of the Cards compared to http://www.espn.com. I go to ESPN to skim an article.

    If I want some video highlights of my Cardinals I head to my app for MLB and I have hours of it. ESPN needs to figure this out.

  124. 124.

    Mike J

    May 3, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    @Tommy: It’s usually just something to say so you don’t have to pay any attention to the users.

  125. 125.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 3, 2015 at 1:45 pm

    @Corner Stone: This is a very clear summary of why the redesign totally blows. Change just for the sake of change is seldom a good idea.

  126. 126.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    May 3, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    Bodies are weird thing.

    Indeed. My MIL would get UTIs occasionally. We usually suspected one when her personality changed. Some of the antibiotics she was put on to cure them would sometimes cause her to hallucinate, also too.

    Bodies are really complex. We’re only scratching the surface in understanding them.

    Best of luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    @Mike J: Again, yes it is. I think I used to use ESPN the way you did. If you drill down a few layers on ESPN.com you can find what I call a “Clubhouse” for your team.

    A static URL you can bookmark that has everything about that single team and a feed of all posts, stories, you name it are included. I just want to head there once or twice a day and scan some headlines, maybe stories.

    They are messing with this ….

  128. 128.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 3, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    @Tommy: I don’t have cable TV (or any other kind of TV), and I don’t have a smart phone. The ESPN MLB gamecasts are pretty decent and it a good way for me to keep up with the occasional game. Their NFL gamecasts are not that good and I may end up paying for some kind of subscription next season.

  129. 129.

    Tommy

    May 3, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: The NFL app is terrible.

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    May 3, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    Quick. Without clicking, who are they talking about?
    GOP’s point man on poverty weighs in on Baltimore

  131. 131.

    scav

    May 3, 2015 at 2:25 pm

    Good weekend to be out and about in the garden in at least this collar county. Wild columbine, iris, bleeding hearts, almost lily of the valley, foamy bells trout lillies everywhere and not enough squill. Bluebells. Alas, the wild geranium here bloom later. Alas.2, all I can manage now is prone exhaustion after having to wrestle/drag two massive willowy bushes from front to back, transplant masses of snowdrops, cut and burn about five junk trees, bluebell migration, hosta splitting, garlic mustard death patrol: in short, spring has hit. As there are trillium literate people here, any chance the energency pre-bulldoze transplant might actually work? I know this is the right time for the snowdrops thus endangered, but the trillium was a hail mary attempt. Red, if it makes a difference.

  132. 132.

    shell

    May 3, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    My ‘Happy Dog’ is also very happy today. It’s almost getting to 80 degrees today and she’s out for an extended sunbath on the patio.

  133. 133.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 3, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    @Tommy: What would you recommend if I just want to watch all of the games a single team plays in a season? This would have to be via streaming on my laptop, since there is no TV or smartphone in the house.

  134. 134.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 3, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    @Corner Stone: I cheated. I did not actually click, but I hovered over the link and saw the full URL at the bottom. I would have guessed Gov. Christie, since the headline mentioned “weighing in”.

  135. 135.

    jeffreyw

    May 3, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    @pamelabrown53: Thanks! It has a nice spot on this month’s (May 2015) BJ calendar page.

  136. 136.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 3, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    @Corner Stone: I’ll guess Paul Ryan.

  137. 137.

    D58826

    May 3, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    @Corner Stone: What I’ve found interesting the past few days is the rush to blame liberals and welfare for what happened in Baltimore. Now the fact that the right blames liberals isn’t surprising but it is the way they frame it. Before the Great Society and the war on poverty, welfare was a program limited to widows and orphans with a specific time period for a recipient to get benefits. The liberals changed all of that in the 1960’s and it resulted in the African American community deciding to go on the dole rather than get a job. Yet somehow this trend didn’t affect the white folks who were eligible for welfare. It only created a ‘plantation’ mentality among the African American community. I’ve seen several African American conservatives make the same argument. It certainly doesn’t say much for the moral fiber of African Americans does it. The conservatives seem to be saying that they are so weak willed that they would trade a good paying job (we will ignore the fact that the jobs no longer exist in the inner-city) for a welfare check just so they can sit around and have babies and watch TV. Of course none of this is racist. It’s just the end result of failed liberal policies.

  138. 138.

    shell

    May 3, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: Back in the 1950’s (when I was born) doctors were still telling mothers to rub their baby’s gums with brandy when they were teething.

  139. 139.

    shell

    May 3, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    modern pharma has a distressing tendency

    And why does every damn drug commercial on the teevee have as it’s side effects both ‘more likely to get infections like TB’ and ‘may cause suicidal thoughts’?

  140. 140.

    SWMBO

    May 3, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    @Corner Stone: One of the things you can do for flush is to take a baby aspirin with the niacin. It will help you acclimate to bigger doses over time and since I am of the age where they tell me to take a baby aspirin for my heart, it was a win. Got me through the hot flashes a little easier too.

  141. 141.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    @shell: Many of the advertised pharms are immuno-suppressors to battle auto-immune disorders. Unfortunately, they work too well.

    A guy who did some work on my house disappeared halfway through a job. When he returned he explained he’d been out of town for his brother-in-law’s funeral. A suicide. I asked him if he’d been depressed (stupid question). He said he had no history, but had recently started one of the smoking cessation medications.

    When I see the commercials for it, they DO mention thoughts of suicide.

  142. 142.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @shell: It was wilder in the 19th century for babies… they were given all sorts of drugs for “fussiness”

    Of course any baby who survived the first year of life in the 19th century was lucky.

  143. 143.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 3, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @shell:

    Back in the 1950’s (when I was born) doctors were still telling mothers to rub their baby’s gums with brandy when they were teething.

    I was born in the 1950s. I remember my doctor actually making a housecall.

    And I remember ashtrays in his waiting room.

  144. 144.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    My Dad had lung surgery way back when Cipro was a new drug. They used it on him post-op. He was hallucinating – saw a good friend/cop as carrying kittens, for example.

    Doctor asked, “Has he any history of using LSD or other similar drugs?” rather than looking in the PDR for side effects of drugs they were administering to him! First one up for Cipro, seeing things! I hate to say it, but they took advantage of him for $$ profit. And these were friends as well as doctors… sad.

    We just saw the first Hummer of the summer, and I’ve boiled up some hummer-broth, now just waiting for it to cool off so as not to damage them. Summer is about here. A/C is on for the second time, better to keep it cool for starters rather than needing to cool it down after it gets too hot to bear.

    It’s already 78 out, and before the oak trees leaf out we get a boat-load of sunshine, so it can get really hot indoors fast, for the next couple of weeks. First-world problems!

  145. 145.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    @WereBear: He took the stuff for about a year before the problem showed up, so I think it was an allergy that took some time to appear. Then it took a while for us to figure out what was causing it. He has decided that there is enough niacin in his diet.

  146. 146.

    shell

    May 3, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    I was born in the 1950s. I remember my doctor actually making a housecall.

    And it’s coming back. My 92 year old Mom got too frail to get to our GP’s office. So he stops by every couple months to check her blood pressure and other vitals. Course, his office is just a couple blocks away.

  147. 147.

    WereBear

    May 3, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    @opiejeanne: First I’ve heard, but of course any someone can be allergic to any thing.

    And it’s those long-delayed reactions that are the most baffling to sort out.

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    May 3, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    @scav:

    I think if you get the trillium root, you’re probably OK if they like their ultimate destination.

    We got tiny plastic bags with a pinch of peat moss, and a really small root at a local big box lumber yard, and they seemed to come up the next year just fine. These are native wild plants originally, and so they tend to be more hardy than exotic patented types from the big nursery companies.

  149. 149.

    scav

    May 3, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    @J R in WV: oh good, I was nearly feeling tremendously guilty despite the oncoming threat. I grabbed a lot of soil and the environment is only about a crucial 20 yards away, so here’s hoping.

  150. 150.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 4:58 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: If you want to watch a baseball team and listen to their announcers and not the opposing teams’ idiots, er, intelligent commenters, subscribe to mlbtv online. There are free pirate stations but I really don’t trust them. For about $95 or a monthly subscription of $20 you can watch any game as long as you’re not within their broadcast area. That part is a bugger and MLB keeps promising to stop blacking out those games, but I don’t know if they’ve done so yet.

    Right now I’m watching a game, and my team is in trouble.

  151. 151.

    opiejeanne

    May 3, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    @shell: As well as “..may cause bloody diarrhea as well as constipation, vision problems, personality disorders, insomnia, impotence, and hair loss”. And these meds are a replacement for older meds that do the same thing without most of the terrible side effects.

    Yeah, I want some of that.

  152. 152.

    Anne Laurie

    May 3, 2015 at 5:37 pm

    @Schlemazel: Yeah, during the one earthquake I’ve been through personally — in southern Michigan — it was the noise that startled me. Only a 2-point-something, and it felt just like the building was a badly-sprung truck going over a rumble strip, but it was so LOUD. What actually worried me was that they were doing structural renovations on the top (fourth) floor directly above me, and my first thought was that they’d knocked down a load-bearing wall and collapsed the roof!

  153. 153.

    Zinsky

    May 3, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    Got the flowerbeds ready for planting and raked and fertilized the lawn. It rained like a mother within two hours of putting down the fertilizer, so we shall see what the outcome is. The grass will either grow like The Plant in Little Shop of Horrors or the entire $60 I spent on fertilizer is now run-off in some creek somewhere. Woe is me……

  154. 154.

    Steeplejack

    May 3, 2015 at 9:36 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Way late to the thread, but, holy shnikeys, I was thinking Paul Ryan, as in “surely not Paul Ryan,” but damned if it isn’t him. Fuckers.

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