From faithful early-morning commentor Ozark Hillbilly:
I don’t really have a ‘flower garden’, but I do have some flowers. And they do attract bugs, so I thought I’d send you some buggy flower pics.
I threw in the last 2 just ’cause I could. Was splitting firewood and found the kingsnake inside the log. Lucky I didn’t split him too.
The Fox kit/pup/cub was one of 4 from a den I had behind my garden our 2nd year here. I tried real hard not to crowd the den, as even tho Mama was not around I still didn’t want my scent near it. I never got closer than app 75 feet, that was still too close for Mama. They were gone the next day.
***********
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
J R in WV
Good morning, Ozark, and thanks for the photos.
Wow, both the snake and the fox kit are really good!
I bet he was surprised when you opened that log! Years ago when we had nearly finished building our new house there was a stack of poplar from one of the few trees cut from the driveway. They had been there for 3 or 4 years and were pretty much junk.
So we were moving them out of the way. When I got to the bottom, the bark from the last big round stayed on the ground when I moved that last big log. When I bent down to pick it up, there was a big Tiger Salamander coiled up, glossy black with bright mostly white stripes. It was the size of a plaintain, and numb from the cold spring weather.
I laid the bark back to cover him up, and in a few warm days later when I went back he was gone into the forest floor where they live most of the year. Then after we moved in, I put in a tiny 6×8 rubber lined pond to catch water that began to come out of the rock wall we had uncovered when we preped the site.
Sure enough, along with all the peepers and chorus frogs, there were tiny salamanders AND those big tiger salamanders in the pond to reproduce. Since we were mid-way up a big and fairly dry ridge, they didn’t have much choice about it, so we got the full variety of Appalachian amphibians, some of them a little rare.
Now the rubber (which was scrap from the roof glued together) has sprung a leak, so I need to dig it out and replace it with a new liner, this time a one piece solid liner, with flat levels for the floor, so we can put in a pump/filter and some flower pots of water plants, which never worked well in the slope-bottomed shape we have now.
Being between the front door porch (stone about 30 inches high) and a solid rock wall (about 100 feet high) you can’t get to it with more than a wheelbarrow and a shovel, which means a lot of sweat and muscle moving the clay mud to create the shaped hole needed for the new liner. Which means I need to find a younger sucker, er, worker to do the dirty work.
Thanks for the nice pictures, you obviously live in a spot where there are lots of wildlife. I wish I had pictures of the lion I saw, but I was too busy running for the cabin door at the time!
WereBear
Wonderful stuff! Loved the butterfly one. Of course.
raven
Bout time OH!!!! Great stuff.
Funny about the critters in the wood pile stories. I tried to recycle
a bunch of the number from out porch tear down when this debacle started a couple of years ago. I piled a bunch of it on top of other lumber I had way in the back of the lot. When work on the addition started in earnest with grading it was obvious much of it was in the way and, with nowhere to relocate it, it went in the dumpster. During that process the grading dude swore he saw a copperhead near the house. We have a big rat snake that lives under the house and it freaks my wife out but a copperhead!! Anyway I have another big pile that needs to go in the dumpster and I started moving by hand yesterday and I guess the only thing I can do is be careful and move things very slowly.
tybee
nice scarlet snake. i had one as a pet for a while many moons ago.
barbequebob
not sure where you live, but the snake looks like an eastern milk snake to me
scav
I’m rather fond of flowers that look like they’ve lived.
WereBear
@scav: Nice way of putting it.
raven
Oliver Sacks died.
bystander
Great pics, OzarkH. What’s cuter than a fox? A French bulldog, but a close second.
The container garden on the deck and the herb garden are buzzing with bees like the one in the third pic down. What we have not had, I’m sorry to say, are the big fat bumblebees. Can’t help but wonder why.
BGinCHI
@raven: Oh, man. I really liked that dude. What a great writer and human being. I love his recent writing on drug experimentation, too.
RIP.
OzarkHillbilly
@barbequebob: You are correct.
Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum
Lampropeltis elapsoides
My bad. They are both kingsnakes, and very similar in appearance, so much so that if you google either one, you get images of both. Thanx for the correction.
JPL
It’s so nice to be able to access the site in a timely manner. I’m not a fan of snakes, but that is a cool picture.
JPL
@raven: It’s very possible that the worker was right, so be careful.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I have a copperhead out in the veggie garden. Normally I would catch him and take him a few miles away just for the sake of Baby Girl, but he was too quick and got into the weeds before I could grab him. They are not aggressive** except for when shedding (which you can’t tell until you see them). The main thing is to give them warning (kick the boards around some) and an escape route. They do like to hide under piles of rubble, so yeah, do be scareful.
** One night camped on a gravel bar, me and some friends found ourselves in the middle of a copperhead migration. Had literally dozens of them come slithering thru our camp, all as calm and indifferent to our presence as the moon.
satby
My garden is pretty done here.I ended up with about 2 tomatoes per plant, and only one plant still has any green ones that might develop into something. All heirloom tomatoes in new potting soil and they all got blight. My neighbor put in all Early Girls and his are going gangbusters with no blight.
It’s day 2 of the wasp nest eradication efforts and the wasps are so fierce and some are even out late and early, so I’m having a hard time getting the powder dusted up under the handle of my deck box where they go in and out. Around it is covered though, and I think enough have tracked through it to bring into the hive.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
Wow. And nice pictures!
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV:
I’m hoping to put in one app 15-20 ft across someday, maybe this winter, but I have to build the green house first. I really want to hear frogs at night. This past spring for the first time in our 5+ yrs here we had spring peepers down in the hollers. I loved it.
And I hear you on the having somebody younger for the digging. That’s what sons are for. ;-)
Schlemazel
@raven:
Interesting guy. He held a position at Columbia that always amused me me, “Columbia Artist”. That seemed to fit him.
WereBear
@raven: Wow. Thanks for letting us know. But he knew it was coming.
I am now fanatical about my eye checkups (and I was no slouch before.) It was a missed eye exam that started the downward spiral.
Imagine that.
A great writer and doctor. We are now a bit less.
Elizabelle
Great pics and story, Ozark. Good morning.
@J R in WV: liked your story about Appalachian amphibians.
Last night was a gorgeous full moon. Woke up about 5:15, while it was still out, and then chased it up the street at first light, watched as it sunk low to set, and walked around until sun came up too. Nice start to the day, and usually not out that early.
Have a good one.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: I have another pic of a garter snake eating a leopard frog that I held back. Really interesting how they do it. The frog was way bigger than the snakes mouth so what they do is push their stomach out their mouth and around the frog so that they digest it outside of their body.
Didn’t think most people wanted to see that over breakfast.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: When I moved in to my house, there was a pond. It became time consuming to maintain. At first I had goldfish but then I had herons. I filled it in and planted roses and other shrubs.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well that would have cured me of camping!
Nice pictures, we can’t all have great gardens but everyone can take interesting pictures with a little trial and error.
That is an impressive snake shot. When we lived in Florida we got a lot of different snakes through the yard. The kids were warned about poisonous ones but often caught rat snakes, indigo racers and a couple others. Snake bites can be a problem even if not poisonous, they have a lot of bacteria in their nouths & infections are not uncommon but the kids never had an issue.
The Mrs loves snakes & fished a few out of the pool, she would save them to show me when I got home. I really hoped to see a coral snake, a guy about 20 miles south of us stepped on one & got bitten, but never did.
raven
raven
Snake sculpture. Test
Mary G
Great photos, OH. Yours is one of the gardens I’ve always wanted to see pictures of, so thanks. So much life.
OzarkHillbilly
Thanx to all who enjoy the pics.
I’d send more to Anne but it is difficult for me to do in a timely fashion as I am unable to download pics from my camera to the computer w/o the help of my wife. For some reason the program is not recognizing the camera. My wife has found a workaround but it is beyond my very limited computer skills. She works all week long with computers so she is not too excited about getting into the nuts and bolts on a wkend. It is rather nonsensical to talk about the tomatoes I am growing this year with pics of last years maters, so not much on the veggie front
I have some other ideas for garden threads and as they come to fruition I will send them to Anne.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Please do. You might consider the other snake photo because it can’t be worse than your description. lol
JPL
Christie is going to be on Fox News sunday. I wonder if he will continue to push his idea of tracking the immigrants who enter our country. Hopefully, he’ll be asked what happens when they are located.
Iowa Old Lady
Beautiful pictures. The snake one is amazing both because it looks like some sort of talisman design and because snake.
Germy Shoemangler
@JPL: Christie must be desperate. He looks around and sees Trump getting all the attention with his immigration talk, and decides to raise the ante.
Steeplejack
Here’s a question for the gardening brain trust. My brother has a house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and is racking his brain for a large plant, bush or tree to go against the wall of the garage. He wants something that could grow as high as 8 to 10 feet, is “proportionately” wide—about 6 feet, I guess—and puts on a bit of a show (flowers, berries, whatever) at least once during the year. And he’s not looking for an immediate payoff; he’s willing to wait several years for whatever it is to develop.
I suggested some sort of holly or a small yew tree, but I’m sure there are better ideas. Rehoboth Beach is in hardiness zone 7b. The garage wall has southeastern exposure and gets pretty good (but not blazing) sun. So does anybody have any suggestions?
ETA: Bro’ man is a master gardener and knows his way around the yard, so to speak, if that makes any difference.
MomSense
Beautiful photos, OH.
Another Holocene Human
Snake’s head looks like tigger.
I’m afraid of king snakes. Apex predators and all that.
Another Holocene Human
Must be thinking of a different snake with “king” in the name. It eats other snakes.
I stay in town. Less close encounters that way.
Another Holocene Human
@satby: That’s maddening about your tomato plants.
Good luck with the wasps. I don’t trust wasps, bees, or ants. That whole family.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: I was watching the Blue Planet episode on corals last night and there was a lot of that. Guts seem so vulnerable so it’s kind of amazing that they do that.
Schlemazel
@Steeplejack:
Has he considered vines? A trumpet vine or morning glory could be trained to grow tall and wide.
Use a trellis though, protects the house and lets him move the vines to paint behind
OzarkHillbilly
@Steeplejack: I am partial to redbuds and dogwoods. Both are nice medium sized trees that are glorious when flowering. I like the green of the summer foliage on the redbuds, and the red autumn blaze of the dogwoods. In fact, mine are starting to turn right now. They will show color thru mid to late October.
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemazel: Morning glories are considered invasive in much of the US. This article is about the Eastern seaboard but Google coughed up a lot of high dudgeon sounding pages about the West and the West Coast. Be very careful with this plant.
http://www.gardensalive.com/product/are-morning-glories-pretty-plants-or-invasive-weeds/you_bet_your_garden
WereBear
@raven: Lovely.
I’m almost finished with the book Becoming a Man by Paul Monette, and it’s a wonderfully written account of his attempts to live without love. Because he was gay and in the closet during his formative years and young manhood.
It was hell.
It’s fantastic that this particular hell is being dismantled. Oliver Sacks was 82 and lived thirty five celibate years because it was the only way he could reconcile his professional and personal life.
Paul Monette also tried to live without love. And found it wasn’t possible. That’s the Life Force. We all have it and we must express it.
satby
@Another Holocene Human: Thanks. Was trying to coexist because I didn’t want to kill pollinators, but they started stinging me and the dogs. I haven’t been able to use my deck for 3 weeks now. So now it’s war.
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human:
Yes, kingsnakes eat other snakes. If I have one take up residence, I can relax because my chances of stepping on a copperhead go down to almost zero. And when I have a copperhead take up residence, I can be fairly certain I don’t have any kingsnakes.
satby
@Schlemazel: @Another Holocene Human: I was immediately thinking wisteria or another vine too.
And though morning glories are beautiful, they are indeed invasive and nearly indestructible because they self seed. I pull out about half of what sprouts every year just to keep it from smothering the other deck plants, but I do love how it covers the railing with flowers.
debbie
Hey, it’s fixed!
ETA: I saw my first monarch butterfly in years fluttering by my window a couple days ago. I think it’s too early for them to be migrating through Ohio, but it was still a treat to see it.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I love the refunds too, but we had a big die off of them the last couple of years and no one seems to know why.
Schlemazel
@Another Holocene Human:
I didn’t know that! They are very common out here on the frozen tundra. Thanks for the info.
Our current place is too shaded to grow any vines except wild grapes, I am fighting them now myself. But I love several vining plants and gardeners tend to not think of them in uses like this
@satby:
Maybe it is our winter but I have never heard of anyone around here complain about that.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: My wife has strong reactions to wasp stings, so if I find a nest I go nuclear on them. I’m not too fond of them either as I had my first encounter when I was 4.
satby
@satby: redbuds dammit, not refunds. Kindle is such a help, and edit isn’t working.
OzarkHillbilly
Kentucky clerk closes office amid backlash over refused marriage licenses
“A note on the door did not explain the closure, but asked those who were inconvenienced to put their names on a list.”
Irony is dead.
WereBear
@Steeplejack: Fruit tree? Some of them don’t need a companion plant to set fruit, and their dimensions tend to fall in that area. Happy in 7B. Flowers in spring, fruit in fall.
What kind of sun exposure? East, west?
Me, I’d put a lattice on the wall and train some climbing roses with clematis as an accent, but I’m a nut.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: :) That’s a nice way to think about it.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
Clematis! That was the vine I was thinking of not morning glory sorry. Thanks for the memory jog @WereBear
debbie
How about wisteria?
Kay
@Steeplejack:
I love viburnums. They’re easy, they have lovely foliage, white flowers, fall color and berries.
http://www.dirrplants.com/viburnum-for-american-gardens.html
Another Holocene Human
ot: so, curse me for my ignorance, but I only recently found out about the CL Moore story Shambleau. (Pulp magazines were mostly out of my purview although I’ve read Lovecraft reprints, because Lovecraft.) I immediately thought of the Star Trek episode “The Man Trap”. The stories are very similar except without the mob justice/lynching theme. However, the Great Gazoogle only barfed up one reference linking the two (and it was a book). Usually when classic Trek eps
are inspired byborrowsteal material from earlier sci-fi–or elsewhere–there’s tons of info on it.Gene Roddenberry was, to put a kind gloss on it, a magpie. He was also part of the writing team that wrote the first 13 or so episodes, of which the above is one. (The first 13 episodes are a bit smarter, better paced, more coherent as a show than what it turned into. JMHO.)
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I love westeria and tried to grow a variety hardy to MN. It did OK but never flowered in 6 years so I am digging it out this year. Nasty job,very heavy root system.
GratuitousTK
@OzarkHillbilly:
What part of the Ozarks are you from Hillbilly?
I’m here in Springfield, MO.
debit
Lovely pictures, @OzarkHillbilly:
WereBear
I actually started gardening with bonsai trees. I became very fond of them, got somewhat good at it, then lost five years of work in an over-wintering/humidifier accident. I was crushed.
But it led me into roses, which is much more my style. I’m not entirely comfortable with constricting living things. I want to pour it on. Which is what roses want.
This fall, I’m going to set up some African violets at my workplace. We’ve got the right light, and the last time I went at it, I had them eight inches across and very happy.
I like very happy.
Kay
@Steeplejack:
The branches don’t really “spread” so much as jut out in tiers, which looks great with just the foliage but looks really great with white flowers and the foliage beneath.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
No place to post a picture, but someone nearby trained a wisteria to climb a large pine tree (30–50 ft). The tree was totally purple this spring! I almost drove off the road. Hopefully, it doesn’t hurt the tree, but it was beautiful to see.
satby
@Schlemazel: I’m in Michigan, so winter can be harsh here, morning glory seeds are hard and sometimes take a couple of years to sprout. Once they get established it will take dedicated removal for a few years to get them all because of seeds from past years. But with upkeep they are beautiful, and I love mine. I just pull all the seedlings in places I don’t want them to grow (or weed whack the sprouts)and then just let the remainder climb up the railing of my decks. Guaranteed gorgeous by July.
OzarkHillbilly
@GratuitousTK: NW Washington County. Basically due south of St Clair and due east of Sullivan.
satby
@Schlemazel: Oh wisteria! I bought 3 small plants 5 years ago and gave one to my neighbor, who planted it in a corner by his garage and trained it up a string to climb. He had the most gorgeous blooms after about 2 years. Neither of mine bloomed and one is in the same exposure but across the street. Covers one corner of my deck and is thriving, but no blooms at all in 5 years. I have read that they bloom better with full sun (check) and after pruning, so I’m going to really prune it back to the main branches this fall and see if that helps.
debit
Open thread? I have a cat situation that I’d love some input on. We have two cats, Oliver and Julian. Oliver is a 6 year old Turkish Van, Julian is a 2 year old Maine Coon type. Both get along well with each other and the dog, and did fine with other male cats we had before they passed away.
A friend recently had a change in her housing situation that resulted in her needing a new home for her female cat. We’ve taken care of this cat in the past when said friend was in school overseas for six months, but this was pre Oliver and Julian. The female cat is about 10 years old and declawed in the front. She’s skittish and not terribly social, but does want cuddles and lap time once she settles in. The problem is that Julian will not let her settle in.
For the first couple of weeks we had her quarantined in the guest room with baby gates up so all the cats could see and smell one another. My boys were curious, but never growled, hissed or puffed up. The girl cat did all of the above, but mostly hid under the guest bed. When she became comfortable enough to hang out in the open we did limited, monitored interaction with Oliver and Julian. Again, the boys didn’t hiss or snarl, but she clearly wanted nothing to do with them. They seemed to respect that, and after another week of monitored interaction time, the baby gates came down. Then Julian decided that his mission in life was to chase her every time she came out of the guest room, and tackle her once he had her cornered. He is relentless and has gone from, “Whoa, scary girl cat does not like me.” to “Die, girl cat, die.” Her reaction to this is to go back under the bed and not come out except to use the litter box and eat/drink. I’ve now got her back in quarantine with the door shut, hoping to give her the confidence to come back out, but am at a loss as to how to proceed from here. If anyone has a suggestion, I’m all ears.
Schlemazel
@satby:
I tried pruning, no luck. It probably was not enough sun. All the trees prevent me from growing a lot of things I love but I can’t bring myself to cut them down. Had one of the oaks die & had to remove it this year and I am looking to replace it.
Schlemazel
Seems CBS Sunday Morning is going to try to humanize the great monster today. It was nice to see that they didn’t try to deflect blame from DumbellU or ol heck-of-a-job. But now I suppose they feel they have to make up for that by trying to prove Cheney is a real live boy
WereBear
@debit: Julian is expressing the Maine Coon drive for social interaction. Turkish Vans are fine with cats at arm’s length, so to speak, but a cat who acts the way the transplant does might as well be walking up to Julian and smacking him across the face.
It deeply, deeply, hurts his feelings.
I would explain the declawed cat is not feeling well (which is also entirely possible — she could be radiating “hurt cat” messages from the paws or the posture problems which inevitably follow) and that’s why she’s not social. Feel sorry for her! She’s not well!
This will let Julian put her behavior in a context he better understands.
I would also keep her in a small room and go in, or let her out, with supervised visits as it goes. You might be reluctant to do this, because you think of it as punishment, but to this challenged cat, a room of her own with peace and quiet will feel like heaven.
germy shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human:
Didn’t Alexander Courage, the guy who wrote the catchy star trek theme resign from the show after Roddenberry tacked some lyrics on his melody to get co-authorship royalties? I don’t think anyone, anywhere, has ever attempted to sing those lyrics.
Bruce Webb
@Schlemazel: God not Morning Glories. They are basically just gloriously beautiful (when in flower) analogs of Kudzu. Unless the brother wants to be backing through vines just trying to get his garage doors open in a couple of years Morning Glories are terrible. Trumpet Vines do the same thing but slower and don’t actually try to choke out every single bit of competing vegetation.
I just moved from Berkeley where I was part of a garden crew at a Grad Student housing co-op. And Berkeley is simply overwhelmed with a particular variety of Morning Glory called Heavenly Blue which by no coincidence at all in the most psychotropic of all the varieties of a flower whose seeds contain a pychedelic akin to psilosybin. Back in my first go at UC Berkeley in the 1970s OF COURSE everyone planted Heavenly Blue’s in pots etc and then nature just took its course. Pretty sure, but when you see them choking out Trumpet Vines, Grapes and Passion Fruits (which they were at our Co-Op) you realize that a little policy of brutal cutback and in some cases irradication is in order. The only thing more pernicious on the coastal portions of the West Coast States is fricking English Ivy – the Zombie of Ornamentals.
germy shoemangler
@Schlemazel: Saw the intro, but turned the TV off. They show Cheney fishing with his buddies, exclaiming “We got him!” as he reels in some hapless fish. I enjoy fishing as much as the next guy, but it seems everything Cheney does for relaxation involves killing something.
Can you imagine him dabbling in watercolors like Dubya? I can’t.
Kay
@Bruce Webb:
I hate english ivy too. I have heard more than once that it’s “bad luck” – I have no idea what that’s about but I encourage the spread of that superstition :)
Bruce Webb
@satby: Well that is the difference there. I can see how Morning Glories could work well any place that has a hard winter. But coastal California never has a hard freeze. Temps below 30 every other winter or so and more at elevation (even a thousand feet makes a difference) but never cold enough to actually freeze soil in a way that would keep this particular plant under control. They just grow and flower, grow and flower. I literally took out a truck load of massed and massive M.G. vines out of a largish (for a city) garden.
WereBear
Yes.
I would really really really like to read a book that explains how he got to be the way he is. But it can’t even be approached until he dies, and that’s complicated, what with the contract with the Dark Lord and all.
WaterGirl
Beautiful photos!
Anne Laurie, why do you never post the garden photos that I take but never send you? :-)
Joel
After years of trying to figure the damn thing out, I figured out the identity of a ubiquitous weed that I’ve seen just about everywhere: Galinsoga. Damn thing is pervasive.
Schlemazel
@debit:
Twice my wife has decided to bring a second cat into our house & both times it has been an unmitigated disaster. All 4 were female so I don’t know if that is part of the issue but I am envious as hell of people who show pictures or talk abut multiple cats who bond & interact positively. Sorry, I have no clue how to help you as we never found a solution despite trying everything we had read about how to introduce a new cat (you did it ‘right’ I guess).
Bruce Webb
@Kay: I don’t know about bad luck. But it seems to be a magnet for dirt and debris. For example if you throw a bottle from a car at a bunch of English Ivy it just disappears as if swallowed by the earth. Until of course you are trying to reclaim that part of your garden for some other purpose. Then it is like excavating a land fill. At least in college towns. Also very, very nice habitat for rats. Other cooler things too, I usually find a variety of salamanders which love the shade it provides, but rats just see it as convenient cover for their periodic raids on your house. English Ivy will also insert itself into any crack or vent in your house, many a person buying a fixer has been astonished to find it in the spare bedroom or having overtaken an attic. Plus it leaves permanent marks on your walls once you pull it off with the only solution scraping and repainting.
English Ivy, Scotch Broom and British Cooking. The best that can be said for any of them is that “They stick to you”.
Schlemazel
@germy shoemangler:
I’ll mute it when the great monster appears (I do for Ben Stain who was also on today) but if I had turned it off we would have missed them point out – several times – W and Brownie’s role in the Katrina disaster. That was the only bright spot in a depressing story about how poor black residents got screwed repeatedly during the recovery.
BTW – they did a nice job of making the current mayor look clueless as he said we are recovered etc while showing pictures of devastation still is the norm in the 9th ward.
debit
@WereBear: Thanks so much for the input. I suspected that might be it, as Julian seemed utterly flabbergasted that she would growl and hiss at him.
I try not to judge my friend for having her cat declawed as a kitten, but I think it’s cruel and barbaric. I also think it’s why the cat is so skittish and twitchy.
Thanks again for the advice. You’re right; having a safe place is more important to her than having run of the house. We’ll take it slow, try to build her confidence back up and I’ll try to help Julian understand that she’s just frightened and hurt.
Joel
@Bruce Webb: Many genus of “morning glory” are basically “field bindweed”, but there are a few that are non invasive. Of course garden retailers don’t bother to draw the distinction.
WereBear
I agree. I also blame the vets who actually do it, and assure their clients that is does not harm.
Your friend is less to blame that the highly trained professional who should know better.
WereBear
@debit: On a separate note, if you have a savvy vet and can afford it, a “declawed cat pain evaluation” might be in order. If she needs it, proper medication will help everyone feel much better.
Caring for the declawed cat has resources to explain.
debit
@Schlemazel: Most of my cats have been male, and I’ve always had good luck with them integrating into the household. Maybe female cats are more territorial? Or just less willing to take shit than a male cat.
Steeplejack
Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I will pass them along to my brother. I keep telling him to read Balloon Juice for himself, and occasionally he will mention something he saw here. But the garden thread is right up his alley. He has been an avid gardener since he was a little kid, and he did the master gardener program (in Maryland) after he moved to the D.C. area 20-plus years ago.
After my previous comment I went to the grocery, came home, then had to go back because I forgot the one essential thing I had gone for in the first place—cat food! D’oh! I think I got hypnotized by the store being pleasantly uncrowded and fully stocked, and I got distracted looking at nonessential things. Fortunately the store is only five minutes away.
But I digress. The other possibility I thought of while I was out is a Japanese maple tree. One of my brother’s neighbors in NoVA has one with striking, deep red or yellow leaves in the fall. (I can’t remember which color. There are several trees in his neighborhood, but I do remember this one is a diva of Japanese maples.) He could get a cutting from that and train or shape the new tree as it grows by the garage. And they are beautiful.
debit
@WereBear: Okay, openly weeping. That poor cat. Jesus fucking christ, who does that and thinks it’s okay?
Thanks for the tip. My vet specializes in cats, so I’ll give her a call on Monday and set something up this coming weekend. Thank you so much!
Randy P
@germy shoemangler: “Beyond the rim of the starlight…”
I remember learning that was the opening line to the Star Trek theme song. I was very surprised to learn it HAD an opening line. No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it either.
I don’t think stuff like this takes much away from Roddenberry’s contribution in bringing Star Trek to life and fighting off the network censors to keep the vision more or less pure. Especially when you remember that the space show the networks decided to go with was “Lost in Space”.
Schlemazel
@debit:
I wonder about that too. I know female cats that get along but most seem to be neutered males. Cat dynamics are tough I guess.
Steeplejack
@WereBear:
The sun exposure is southeast, pretty open but maybe slightly filtered by a couple of trees.
WereBear
It is, indeed, my pleasure.
And, as it’s turning out, my mission in Life.
WereBear
@Schlemazel: There are so many factors that it’s impossible to tell from a distance.
But I have extensive resources on my blog about choosing and introductions that will help if you want to give it a go. And, of course, you can get in touch with me with specifics.
Kay
@Bruce Webb:
They had it in a side bed in this house when we moved in and it had gotten in a gap in the side door frame and was climbing the interior of the garage. I took it out and then just pulled the remainders as they came up for 10 years and now it’s finally gone. I was glad it was a small bed.
I have morning glories on a section of fence in the backyard- blue and striped pink- they throw seed like crazy but I just pull the volunteers up and contain it to that one section. Maybe it’s easier here because it gets very. very cold so any kind of rampant growth gets checked somewhat.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Trumpet vines are very invasive here in the midwest. Unless this is a brother you don’t like, I would suggest you not recommend that one. :-)
Rose of sharon can also be very showy and often plant themselves near a fence or a wall, and they can do just fine there.
WaterGirl
@Kay: I have been fighting english ivy since i moved to this house in 1987. I’ve got it corralled now to just the edge of the fence in the corner and there’s only a small amount of it left, but I hate how it grows into my cedar fence. It’s evil.
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
You’d lose that bet. Have gotten many an appreciative laugh at parties when challenged to prove I know all the lyrics by singing them.
J R in WV
English ivy kills giant trees by growing faster than the tree does, and shading it out. I hates it too!
Cats can be very antagonistic towards one another. We have two females, who were brought home into a house with well adapted males, neither of which was violent much. They came at the same time, and one became a small strong 8 pounder who hunts rodents every night.
The other was quite small when rescued from a local culvert/rose trap, but quickly grew enormous on a steady diet. She got named Punkin as she became spherical. Now she is just a big cat after we got her diet under control. She used to like to jump on the smaller cat and overwhelm her with her weight.
It was like a Sumo tackling a small Ju-Jitsu master, though, and the smaller cat is named Spike because of her very sharp claws, so now they just snarl at each other while dinner is prepared.
Spike is very affectionate, but likes to dig in on my shoulder, so I need a thick shirt or jacket when in a chair, or a quilt when in bed. Took months for her purr to become audible, I first heard it when she was draped across my right shoulder, firmly attached by 8 claws, against the side of my head. It was a tiny thing, and took much encouragement to become the audible pleasure it is now.
We once had 9 cats after an accidental Maine Coon birth event, 5 kittens. It was wonderful, but before feline leukemia vaccine was commonly available. All the Maine Coons fell prey to it, one after another. Vet recommended putting them all down as soon as it was diagnosed, after she adopted one of the kittens, but it was too late, we loved them to much to do that while they were still without symptoms.
We have been very careful with that kind of thing ever since. They were wonderful and friendly cats, they loved a party where they could meet a couple of dozen new friends to purr with. So self confident and assured, willing to make up to anyone from visiting lawyer to Great Dane puppies.
Declawed female probably very fearful with aggressive male cat with claws. Her privacy is important in allowing her to calm down, but convincing male cats not to chase her would be most important to helping her live comfortably with them. Essential, even.
Or if they do chase her, not pouncing her with claws out, but just hissing a little and walking away. Spike hated Punkin jumping on her, but eventually got over her fear and just pounced back. But neither had the disadvantage of losing their primary weapons!
Best of luck with helping them adapt to one another! It is sweet of you to even try, be patient with them and it may resolve OK.
JB
Cuke beetles — BAD!
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
Beautiful pictures. I didn’t realize that king snakes lived in Missouri.
I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents and cousins in the KC area every other summer until I was 19, sweet memories, but my grandmother’s house in Independence was nearly unrecognizable the last time I drove past it and was not being maintained very well.
About 10 years ago we went stumping around in the Ozarks near Macks Creek (where all 300 residents are related to me), trying to locate houses where Mom and her parents and grandparents lived, and we found most of them which was quite a feat since there were no street signs once you left the paved state highway.. We had a guide for my great grandfather’s place: the local mail carrier. Heck, the fire department couldn’t find the place when they had a kitchen fire, until they bumped into her on her rounds.
Another Holocene Human
@germy shoemangler: Narcissistic personality disorder plus greed (of multiple kinds) is a harsh mistress, my friend.
There is a soprano in the mix in one of the recordings, but she’s singing “ah-AAAAAAA-aa-a-a–a-aaaaaa” or whatever.
By all rights, Roddenberry shouldn’t have been paid a dime for that stunt.
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax: I rather imagine it involved gurgling, like trying to sing the national anthem with an untrained voice while drunk.
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemazel:
I’ve been hearing a lot of “I blame the local authorities” (hint hint) lately, as if FEMA, ACoE, and so on had no responsibility, or that Bush’ response wasn’t completely outrageous.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
Our garden took a beating from wind and rain yesterday and last night, but most of the damage is to the corn and the sunflowers, and a birch tree. Wind was a huge problem yesterday for everyone in Seattle and surrounding cities, big trees down, 330,000 without power and two dead from fallen trees.
The neighbors next door had power lines down in front of their house and the fire department was there for hours. We heard it when their power went down around 9pm, a really loud BANG! Probably the transformer giving up. We didn’t lose power, just the internet. I tethered my laptop to my computer so I could get online for a while. I doubt that ComCast considers our wifi a priority today, so I won’t be online much.
Another Holocene Human
@Randy P: To be fair to the suits, Lost in Space had great ratings and made a lot of money, whereas Trek was always blowing its budgets, had so-so ratings, and a creator who was hard to work with. (It didn’t take long for Paramount to boot him out of the Star Trek movie franchise either.)
Trek was ahead of its time in two ways. First, it did well in a very prized “demo”, but collecting data on demographics was in its infancy when Trek came out, too late to save it. Secondly, it did better in reruns in the 1970s than it ever did on its first run.
I will give Roddenberry all the credit for putting on a show with an integrated cast and deliberately bucking racial stereotypes. And for once in his life he listened to somebody other than himself and took George Takei’s suggestions into account, putting an Asian-American character on the small screen that didn’t fit any of the stereotypes at the time. A few years later on American TV stuff was busting out all over the place but Trek did it when it was very much against the grain. Trek in fact had feet in the old TV and the new TV, in one episode there’s an inter-racial kiss, in another episode they recast a Pacific Islander character as white because they changed her love interest and that’s just science, in one episode you have a South Asian playing a South Asian admiral, in another you have white actors playing Native Americans. Roddenberry wanted to put an against-type Latino character in the series, but when a Latino admiral shows up he has a scintillating conversation with Kirk about hot peppers. I have plenty of avid conversations with my redneck coworkers about hot peppers but, come on, that kind of looks wrong.
NotMax
@Another Holocene Human
O-oh,shay, can you shee?
Although have a totally untrained voice (and little ear for pitch), can belt out a fairly sonorous bass, albeit with dedicated concentration. Enough to get me parts in more than a few plays, as basses who can even come close to carrying a tune are snatched up right quick. Had to alter to straight baritone the times played Fagin, which is a bit of a vocal strain by the end of the performance.
Now, when it comes to dancing have three left feet. Totally and completely hopeless in that arena. Rhythmic posing is as close as can come. :)
NotMax
@Another Holocene Human
The ratings for Star Trek were a function of its time period as well.
First season was Thursdays at 8. Did more than acceptably.
Second season, the network (in its fun house mirror version of wisdom) moved it to Fridays at 8, which lost the young adult audience, who were out partying or such at the beginning of the weekend.
Renewed by popular demand, third season it was bumped to Friday at 9, which lost a significant portion of the kid audience in favor of bedtime.
Have told the story before: Gene Roddenberry stalked me at the very first Star Trek convention.
Trivia: <i.Star Trek was the first TV series to budget $1 million or more for a single episode.
germy shoemangler
@NotMax:
In a nice way?
I remember reading that the original characters “Spock” and “Bones” were written as gender-neutral. Early in the casting process. So we could have had a female Spock and/or Bones! Would have been interesting…
NotMax
@germy shoemangler
Since you asked…
Had a full head of very long hair at the time (long as in down practically to the waist).
Roddenberry kept appearing beside me and repeatedly stroked my hair, muttering how it was “so much nicer than my wife’s.” (BTW, I’m a guy.)
Even followed me from the convention down into the hotel bar in the lobby.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: When I lived in the dorms (back in the stone age) they would sometimes show movies in the multipurpose room on weekend nights. I had long hair at the time, and I will never forget the
personcreep who was sitting behind me who kept stroking my hair. Ick.Hair is much more personal than one might think.
J R in WV
@Steeplejack:
Loved Rehoboth Beach when we visited there one September. A suggestion for a low-maintenance non-invasive attractive shrub there would be pyrocanthus.
They grow up to bear many clusters of brightly colored orange-red berries. They do have some thorns, but since you don’t have to get into them so much, that doesn’t matter so much.
Not a big gardener, but can remember when I saw good looking stuff.
SWMBO
Shameless bleg. One of my husband’s coworkers lost her 7 year old son to pediatric brain cancer. They started a non-profit to promote research into pediatric brain cancer since the treatments and outcomes haven’t changed much in 30 years. Here’s Christopher’s story: http://www.christopher-court.org/index.php/stories/christopher-s-story
One of the things they do as a fundraiser is sell marigold seeds. If any of you were thinking of putting some marigolds in soon, would you give Christopher Court Foundation a look? Here is the seeds: http://www.christopher-court.org/index.php/shop/products
They put every penny into research for this. They pay all administrative costs. Thank you for your attention.
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax: Oh my gawd.
NotMax
@Another Holocene Human
Truth to tell, no biggie. Chalked it up as one of those things which would make for an amusing story later on.
Granted, young NotMax was irresistable. :)