.
From beloved commentor Satby:
I thought I would share some “starting over” garden pictures. I’m trying to recreate an urban version of my former country garden, so no fruit trees, only blueberry bushes, but one of most of the other plantings I had.
First, a long shot of the garden beds left by the previous owner, now filled with the iris and daffodils I both moved and had gifted to me as a housewarming by the wonderful Watergirl.
The second picture is of one of the five tiny lilacs I planted. They should grow enough to start blooming in about three years.
The third pic is of one of the tiny arborday.org trees already growing like crazy. I block all of them with tubes or something so they don’t get mowed. In just a couple of years this will be my height.
Last, but not least: a picture of the hydroponic cloner I bought with some cuttings from my old shrubs. I was going to just buy replacements, but the Amber Jubilee ninebark is running about $55Â now, which was almost the same price as the cloner. So I staged a raid last night and got cuttings of it, my azelia, rhododendron, currant bush, hydrangea, and weigela. Japanese maple too. If only half of them root it pays for the cloner!
Bonus shot [at the top]: The last of the pretty pink daffodils Watergirl got me. What a great gift, and friend!
***********
The first half-dozen mail-order tomato plants arrived from the major retailer Thursday, just in time for a predicted week of cold drizzle. Also, I mostly ordered from this company to get one particular variety that wasn’t available from my first-choice suppliers… guess which plant didn’t get included?
(I sent them an email, and they swear they’ll send me the right plant next week. The Spousal Unit wants to try putting some rootpouches in “his” part of the yard, where I don’t think they’ll get enough sun, so the sent-in-error ‘prolific slicer’ gets to be the first sacrifice.)
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
Taylor
The Guardian has a long investigative story about Cambridge Analytica and its links with Brexit and Trump:
satby
Some of those look much more blurry on a bigger screen than my phone. Like I went to the Cole Skool of Pikshure Taking (I kid John, I kid).
OzarkHillbilly
There has been this huge yellow thing traveling across the sky the past 2 days. Can anyone tell me what it is?
Van Buren
Planted sunflowers and tomato seedlings yday. Today a whole bunch of stuff for my wife’s flower garden, and pulling out pachysandra and Solomon ‘ s seal, which are doing a good kudzu imitation on one side of the house.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Like awakening from a dream, the future becomes a little blurry.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I hear it’s the sun, but can’t say for sure since it only comes out when I’m at work.
@Van Buren: we’Ve had good growing weather and lots of rain for a month. Things have been thriving. So of course tonight we’re going to have a hard freeze.
Central Planning
@OzarkHillbilly: Fake news. It’s been nothing but rain and gray skies here in Rochester.
satby
And AL up top, I’m also getting my mail order tomatoes this week. Four are going into those barrels in the middle of the raised beds, two are going into an Earthbox, and I have no idea where I will put the other three. My grow bags have potatoes in them already.
satby
Cloner update: if the 13 little sprigs I put in to clone 11 lol like they’re going to make it. The hydrangeas look completely dead, the wegelia looks so-so; but the others look pretty good ?. The flowers on the current cuttings are even developing into berries.
I’m already eyeballing interesting shrubs and trees as I drive around to ask if I can take cuttings if this works.
satby
@satby: “look like…” And “current bush cutting” . My Kindle hung up and I missed the edit window.
raven
Nice shots! We spent the day working on the garden and yard. We also are in day 6 of the draconian South Beach Phase one. I felt kind of dizzy last evening and then woke up like a shot with a calf cramp AND vertigo! I try not to wake the boss up when I cramp so I’m limping out of the bedroom with the room spinning. I still had it a bit when I woke up on the couch but they stopped when I put my glasses on. Damn.
eta the google reveals Ketosis
satby
@raven: thanks! And take care, that diet is tough.
satby
@Taylor: that was hair raising, thanks for sharing it.
Cckids
I am in my new city (Seattle), in temporary digs with my sister & family. This weekend we get to babysit my entirely adorable great-niece while her parents are off celebrating their anniversary. She’s 3 months old,
I am getting bonus points for volunteering for her three a.m. feeding, which is fine by me, as I’m a night owl anyway. Plus, it obligates my sis or BIL to do the 6 a.m. one.
It’s very enjoyable having a little one around again. I’ve been told to only expect grandkittens by my kids, so I’m having fun.
And PS to satby: love your garden pics. I’m missing mine; pots & planters though it was. So nice to see you’re beginning again.
Mel
@satby:
The garden looks beautiful! The irises are glowing like little gems!
Have you thought about a colonnade apple tree? We live in an urban neighborhood, too, and that is one of the few kinds of fruit trees that neighbors have had success with after many attempts to find one that takes the absolute minimum of space, looks attractive, and produces tasty fruit. Stark Bros. (nursey and online sales) sells lots of beautiful fruit trees and berry bushes; they were selling colonnade apple trees in several varieties the last time I checked, a couple of years ago.
I was raised in the country and really miss having fruit trees and nut trees, so seeing the colonnade trees blooming in yards here is an absolute joy!
Quinerly
Beautiful pictures! A joy to wake up to. Thanks. Have a great day everyone.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
That made me laugh.
Baud
Seconded. Great shots.
Elizabelle
Beautiful garden, satby. Seeing those little trees “growing like crazy” is good for the soul.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m laughing now but at 4:30. . .
satby
@Mel: My previous fruit trees were from Stark, but I wasn’t too sure about the colonnade trees since I don’t know anyone who has one. That may be something to consider this fall, after I figure out where I can plant one that gets enough sun without shading the garden.
satby
@Elizabelle: That particular one is a Washington Hawthorne, good for wildlife because of the blossoms in early spring and the fruits for birds in winter. At my old place in eight years a stick that size grew to over 15 feet high. Of the 10 sticks with roots I got for my donation I kept 5 and all but one are already growing well. Plus they plant 10 more trees in national forests for your donation. I’m a big booster of that organization.
Elizabelle
Offering up some fauna to go with the flora.
Baby goats. In pajamas. Yoga. It’s becoming a thing. Happy Sunday.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
Oh God, don’t I know it.
satby
@Cckids: Good luck in your new home! I missed that you were moving, but that’s a great place to land in. When you have a place of your own you can start again too.
After the personal chaos of last year I was going to drastically cut back on my gardening; as you see I’m failing at that. And I have to plan out where I plant whatever actually develops roots in that cloner too! But I am having fun, and that’s the main thing.
satby
@Quinerly: but Poco is missing from all of them ?
@Baud: only because you’ve never met me in person ?
Thanks you guys!
satby
@Elizabelle: dammit, now I want a baby goat.
Elizabelle
@satby: Maybe you could even write it off of your taxes, if its milk eventually goes into your line of homemade goat soaps and creams. Its little pajamas too.
Quinerly
Probably doesn’t belong in this thread but must share this great opinion piece that came up on my FB feed this AM. I have been following Bears Ears National Monument closely, especially since I chauffeured Poco around the area for a week in March. (A shout out to Bluff, Utah and the Tony Hillerman approved “Recapture Lodge.”) Yes, it’s from the NYT. It’s still worth the click.”Will Bears Ears Become the Next Standing Rock?” https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/opinion/sunday/will-bears-ears-be-the-next-standing-rock.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1&referer=https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F05%2F06%2Fopinion%2Fsunday%2Fwill-bears-ears-be-the-next-standing-rock.html%3Fsmid%3Dfb-share%26_r%3D0&h=ATPEq7UQQreh5TKPkUhRtobxp9A9UypJI6zSdTu3lKWYNZL6Up50-5thuLDS2F_EAC2OHax1bRUkFv2Ncooa25y6qQ5u5HR9p3LK-gLOLLf9UCihud4Fedkgla08EFiM83Sz58K8SqHP5vUXcitZIsvi0shsaw&enc=AZOzzlMEExk_vjtEsQSRMOAO8iJgMzAvQyqUNgzAWcqidkh6nvwwZW46ToSr4xO5PEjb2ZfJSBAc6ewlwUwFA77DTzm-v2dguV6XoEevsnUK6EZ5lskare1VUm3iWtqPM7m7HLjLvMVziGTBzycf-2-743mqyrXlEhor5Zl5uvLwjsWFjAVR3Jn0Wyo5oWTOhZdcy14iBHiqhCzEDFfOwN51zwIcdOXahTnM-mp7GfM8M5OLrEWQxbLmHx1Ki4ROvBMofwD_hmvfOamXEQT-myDSeO57ujahZWLm51d_HvYUIbwpVWy8KAN-pxvtGGq_OBQ&s=1
satby
@Elizabelle: plus they’re like adorable little lawn mowers. With jammies.
Quinerly
And I have no idea why the link shows up like that. I’m posting from an old Windows phone. Link does seem to work, though.
Quinerly
@satby:
Poco is off to a beach walk. Luckiest ex inner city street dog, EVER.❤ Loved the pictures!
Gindy51
Nothing, frost warning for tomorrow Am means I am damned glad I waited to bother with it…
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: And bush trimmers, flower removers, blueberry recyclers….
Big Ole Hound
Here in the East Bay my heavily laden cherry tree started losing green fruit. Discovered that “fruit drop” is common after a really rainy winter . The tree knows how much it can nourish and loses up to 30% so the rest can flourish. Hmmm?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Oh and they are really good at climbing trees.
greennotGreen
I’ve been trying to wait for open threads for these updates, but it’s getting to where I don’t know if I can.
I’m ready.
I’m just so tired. I think my family has things well in hand. Yesterday we placed three of my five remaining dogs. Feelers are out for the other two. Plans made for the cats. My mother’s situation turned out to be much less dire than we feared – no leg amputation, no hospice, she even stood for three minutes yesterday. My niece said she looked very much improved and her cognition was much, much better. My poor niece however, struggling with a no-fault divorce in which her asshole husband suddenly decided not to sign the papers, her grandmother she had to take to the ER, and her aunt in hospice, flunked (failed to make a C) one of her nursing classes by less than point. My sister points out that she can take it again, it’s an important class, it will offer her an easy semester, and after all of this she needs a rest. All of this is true, but I still don’t like it, and I still feel a bit responsible.
Last night the family had Thai take-out from a restaurant I recommended. I had the broth from Tom Kha Gai and it was so wonderful! Then I was thinking I would never eat Thai food again. And then I was thinking, what is even the best Thai food compared to being part of the birth of a star.
A Ghost to Most
@Taylor:
These are the folks who have scraped the domesday book for info on ~240 million Americans
I thought it was a bad idea 12 years ago, and have resisted it ever since. The Mercers and the fascist right own Facebook users now.
Sanjeevs
@Taylor: Carol Cadwalladr is a first class journalist and has done excellent work on Brexit and the links to Cambridge Analytica, Mercer etc.
She referenced (in a tweet I think) about how the work done by US intelligence on social media in Afghanistan and Iraq formed the basis for some of CA’s techniques. I wonder if this was one of a Flynn’s roles – to bring in people familiar with this work as well as some of the materials.
Elizabelle
@greennotGreen: I hope you have more pleasant surprises, like more Tom Kha Gai and refreshing showers, in your immediate future. More than you expect now, tired as you get.
And you are our star already.
Glad to hear that your mom is showing such resilience. I think your niece will do fine on her next attempt at the exam.
JPL
@greennotGreen: Please post whenever your comfortable. Your niece appears to understand that things happen, beyond one’s control. You shouldn’t feel responsible at all. Rest easy.
JPL
Satby, I’m amazed at how much you accomplished, and the pics are beautiful.
debbie
That top picture is kind of dark so I can’t really see what’s going on, but it looks like it would make for a great painting!
debbie
@raven:
Did you ever start drinking lots of water and taking potassium?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@greennotGreen: Thank you for the courage and calm beauty and peacefulness of your posts. You are awe-inspiring.
Steeplejack (phone)
@greennotGreen:
Our thoughts are with you. It has been said before by others, but any thread is an open thread for you. Please post whenever you want.
Jefferson Airplane, “Embryonic Journey.”
PsiFighter37
JFC I’m a bit freaked out. Was with an old work colleague for a weekend trip, and to be blunt, I have no idea if he did something to me while I was sleeping / passed out from decent booze intake. Waking up at 4:30am with him stalking around the room in the dark and babbling about the his preferences for massages in Asia was fucking weird as hell. The real disturbing thing was my fly was half undone. I usually don’t forget that kind of thing (again, was drunk so I bety well could’ve forgotten). That said, either something went real sideways last night, or it was just a very, very fucking weird night. Neither is good.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Or a baby llama?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Anne Laurie: What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
My “garden”, if you could dignify it with that name, is kind of Darwinian. Whatever grows is what thrives with minimal care. A few years ago I planted several wisterias, and one of them took. Since then I’ve been in kind of a race with it, building ever stronger structures for it to climb as it tore the others down one at a time.
So what’s going on in my “garden” is that a week ago, the now 8-foot wisteria plant burst into these gorgeous purple blooms, just as I imagined it when I first planted it. It is growing on a home-made trellis built between two 4 x 4 posts. This summer I plan to add two more posts, something across the top to make some sort of arbor structure, and then maybe plant another wisteria on the other side.
debbie
@greennotGreen:
You are awe-inspiring.
satby
@greennotGreen: we all appreciate whenever you’re able to share what you feel up to, and are just grateful you’re sharing the journey we all will take one day with us. Good news about your mom and nice that you can still get some enjoyment from the small things like Thai broth. Don’t feel guilty about your neice, just the divorce was enough to derail that test, and she will take it again and pass.
Have your sister send pictures of your dogs needing placement to AL so we can spread the word here, and maybe we can help you find homes for the last two so you can rest easy. Much love gnG!
Phylllis
@greennotGreen: It seems…not enough to thank you for allowing us to go on this journey with you. But I am thankful, and grateful. The Balloon Juice hive has you wrapped in its loving arms. Lifting you up to the light my friend.
satby
@Steeplejack (phone): perfect.
Steeplejack (phone)
Tommy Emmanuel, “Those Who Wait.”
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: You asked for it: Monty Python- Llamas
Jeffro
.
Steeplejack (phone)
Pharoah Sanders, “Harvest Time.”
EBT
At this rate I will drop from lack of sleep before the crazy or the trumpists get me. At least I will go with a moderately functioning project.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@greennotGreen:
I am in awe of your equanimity and grace. You’re in our hearts, Thank you for sharing your precious time with us- what a special gift. ???
Jeffro
@greennotGreen: I think Elizabelle at #40 put it wonderfully:
Have a wonderful day, gnG.
MomSense
Congratulations Satby on your new to you garden. Hoping for many happy days getting dirt under your nails in those beds.
Ok I have a tree dilemma. The only pear tree in my side yard that survived the snow plow did not survive unscathed. The trunk wound (from two winters ago)has mostly closed but the trunk above the crook of the tree was so damaged I had to cut it off. The problem is that the tree does not look right and I can’t seem to stabilize it no matter how many ways I try to stake and support it. Should I just put the poor thing out of its misery and start over?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Great way to start a Sunday!
NotMax
Rooting hormone is your friend. Swore by it when was incidentally assigned to the greenhouse in high school. (As didn’t go away much during school year vacations, was gifted with all the keys and given free reign throughout the school year so long as kept everything watered, shipshape and had enough showy blooms on display during visitor tours. Even repaired and resurrected a fountain inside the greenhouse which probably hadn’t functioned for a decade.)
Elizabelle
@greennotGreen: Also, people check in on Balloon Juice at all times of the day and night, and don’t keep up with every thread. And lots are way curious about how you’re doing; you’re in our hearts.
SO: you brighten up every thread you post in. Post away whenever you can.
Gvg
@satby: goats eat gardens, trees and all. Do not want. If you like them, visit them at a non gardening friends home, then come home without any.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense:
In my experience, yes.
NotMax
@raven
Can’t speak from personal experience, however Mom swears that ½ teaspoon of salt taken orally is an instantaneous remedy for leg cramps.
Steeplejack (phone)
Oliver Nelson, “Stolen Moments.”
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Now I’ve done it, I’m stuck in a Monty Python skit loop.
Gvg
@PsiFighter37: I think you need professional advice, and I am not quite sure what I mean by that. HR types because it’s a coworker? Medical because you aren’t sure if you were slipped something or just drunk by your own choice? I think you want to document in case you need it later. At least tell some reliable witnesses who can state you told them this on such and such date.
I would not drink around coworkers especially that one from now on. Around that one don’t eat or drink anything when he is around and don’t turn your back.
That is …concerning.
satby
@NotMax: I did use some as a gel and I think it’s helped. At one point the water got over 83° for an uncertain amount of time and that’s supposed to kill the clones. I cooled it down and so far the only true casualties were the hydrangea cuttings. I’m hoping that the azalea cutting buds continuing to grow into flowers and the current berries getting bigger are good signs but I don’t see roots on the couple of things I’ve looked at. I’m not looking at most of them though, by this coming Wednesday if they’re going to root some will be showing.
lamh36
Good morning.
Did anyone else catch SNLs cold opening last night?
Lord if you have ever seen MJ, then you know how uncomfortably accurate this SNL skit is. Joe Scar is an idiot and Mika is too. Now they are engaged and they are a perfect duo of dumbness!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZXNqic_Zi8&sns=tw via @youtube
germy
@lamh36: She bit his nose!
satby
@PsiFighter37: yeah, that’s concerning. I think Gvg had some good suggestions. Might also be time to dial back on your own drinking too, at least to below blackout stage, for your own sake.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
You deserve no less!
Steeplejack (phone)
Yusef Lateef, “Love Theme from Spartacus.”
debbie
@lamh36:
I’ve never seen the Joe Show but it was icky. Funny, but icky.
MomSense
@greennotGreen:
Like us, I’m sure your niece feels it is a gift to know you and to benefit from your example of grace. I have a hunch that taking the course a second time will end up being for the best and something that will benefit her in the future. All is well. We love you and feel very grateful to you for sharing this with us.
ThresherK
@greennotGreen: My best feelings go out to you and yours for whatever comfort you can take.
debbie
@satby:
Especially if the trip is work-related. That’s never a good idea.
Steeplejack (phone)
Gordon Lightfoot, “Beautiful.”
Raven
@Steeplejack (phone): I saw him with Santana in Sept. 69 on my welcome home tour!
https://flic.kr/p/8d1rhQ
MomSense
@Steeplejack (phone):
Great song. Brings back memories.
A Ghost to Most
Jason Isbell, “Elephant”
satby
@MomSense: Do you know if the original tree was grafted (many modern fruit trees are)? Depending on where the wound was it may have grown from below a graft and the resulting tree isn’t going to be the same anyway if it was a cultivar. You could try tree wrap or a tree tube . I use the tubes, I have 3 baby trees in them now.
Or you could start over if you just want to know for sure what you’re growing.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
A great, underappreciated musician. (Sea Train was good too.)
Elizabelle
@lamh36: Not available for viewing in Spain. Good to hear people here are not fascinated by Joe and Mika.
I take great comfort that the two of them are likely too old to breed, although I guess a surrogacy is always a possibility.
satby
@Elizabelle: ick, ick, ICK!!
liberal
One cool thing is the number of fruits from family Rosaceae.
MomSense
@satby:
I’m thinking I should start over and that I probably have to give up on that location since it seems to be where the plow pushes all the snow.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Good morning! I love your garden. Maybe someday I’ll send pix of ours, which is starting to take shape. The place had been vacant for several years, so we had a weed wilderness to contend with.
I have been lobbying for pygmy dairy goats for some time. My (imaginary) goats already have names: Ruth, Sonia, and Elena. But Ms. O’s common sense prevails and the goats remain the critters of fantasy. (Not THAT kind of fantasy for those whose minds went in unsavory directions.)
Steeplejack
José Feliciano, “Just a Little Bit of Rain.”
EBT
@satby: My grandmother got a goat because someone told her goat milk was good for your health. It stayed until it ate her girdle off the clothesline.
rikyrah
Morning Everyone???
Elizabelle
@EBT: That’s hilarious.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: Good morning to you, too! Sorry I didn’t reply in yesterday’s thread – had a full day running around and got back home exhausted.
You’ve been asking about chalk paint. I briefly had a table that had been chalk painted by the consignment store owner. The table never quite made itself at home in my place, so I ended up re-consigning it and getting another. Probably not the paint’s fault, but I wasn’t in love with it either. Tastes may differ. :)
PsiFighter37
@Gvg: I wasn’t slipped anything, and I fully remember everything that happened before I went to sleep. I know this guy gets a bit too much in one’s personal when he gets sloshed, but I just kind of wrote it off as I’ve seen him do that to others as well. He’s married and has a kid, which makes it even weirder. Definitely a hard-partying type but this is just all sorts of fucking weird. He claims he is hung over and can’t remember anything.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Hello there. How is life treating you this Sunday?
Steeplejack
José Feliciano, “Here, There and Everywhere.”
tobie
@PsiFighter37: I think gig and satby are right about precautionary steps. I’d also suggest calling your doctor to get some bloodwork done to see if there are any residues of drugs in the system. If nothing else, this will put your mind at ease.
Gelfling 545
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t know but I saw a glimpse of it at about 7am. It’s gone now. We’ve had 10 days of miserable constant rain and are predicted another 10. Who knew Buffalo had a monsoon season?
debbie
@lamh36:
I was just reminded how Joe and Mika took that call from Trump’s “publicist” who was shocked to learn that the House’s passing Trumpcare was not the end of the process and hung up. Oh, Alec!
NeenerNeener
@greennotGreen: {{{{{greennotGreen}}}}
Cckids
@greennotGreen: All peace and blessings to you, and to your family. I believe we all here will be holding you in our hearts for a long, long time.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa:
So no shaving, no Wesson oil?
Gelfling 545
@Cckids: I was told the same. I have 3 human grandkids now, so you never know. Also 5 of the sort with fur and claws.
Spanky
OT, but maybe deserves a thread of its own, yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the first Nazi disaster, the Hindenburg. Was that noted by anyone? Here’s the story of the last survivor.
Elizabelle
@PsiFighter37: That’s a tough one. Obviously, you’ve got a “spidey sense” about this, or you wouldn’t have brought it up. But there’s also the chance of a false accusation.
He’s a former coworker. Maybe keep your ears pricked for any stories that might bear out a tendency to violate others’ personal space when he’s drunk. But I don’t know if it’s ethical to suggest to others that this happened, in event it did not. A molestation accusation is heavy. You could just bring up the heavy drinking, I guess, and listen for anything odd others have experienced.
Agree with satby: watch your alcohol intake. At least, while out on business or other travel.
ETA: The whole thing is just very sad. You will have a changed relationship, and may never know what happened or didn’t.
Elizabelle
@debbie: That’s funny.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
So glad to hear from you! Painted furniture normally is not my taste, but I’m trying to keep the piece and repurpose it. It came from the house my mother grew up in and was her closet when she was a child. I just have no place for it if I refinished it back to its original pine. The beach place was her pride and joy (I’ve been struggling the last couple of days. Not sure she would like my updates. But some things had to be done after 40 years). I can find a place for it here if painted. Spent a couple hours researching finishes. Think I’m going to mix my own. It seems a lot of it is about the finishing waxes and making it look like it washed up on the beach.? I’ll be posting my progression starting tomorrow on my Book of Faces page. Our mutual friend in Cerrillos wanted to follow along. Annie is such a dear soul. Hope to see you in February!
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hah! Somehow I knew you’d take the bait. :)
And no, just goats frolicking and doing goaty things. I have plenty weeds still to offer them. Last year I hired a goat herd for a day to “goatscape” part of my property. Helps to reduce fire hazard from too much dry brush. It was great fun – mesmerizing – watching them roaming and grazing. I have a lot more wildflowers this spring in the area they cleared, which is nice.
lamh36
Another SNL skit.
if u recall that 90s show Carmen Santiago?
Where in the world is…
jeffreyw
Those rose-breasted grosbeaks Ozark was talking about: http://i.imgur.com/ZwVoHLv.jpg
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: It makes sense to try the chalk paint on that piece. Might be fun too! I expect to be here in February, so let me know when you arrive. I haven’t been to the Mineshaft in a while. They have wonderful cucumber-jalapeno margaritas. So I’m told.
jeffreyw
First one to pop! http://i.imgur.com/aZiNiCe.jpg
Barbara
@greennotGreen: Being able to eat is a kind of joy. Thinking of you and wishing you peace and more joy.
MomSense
@PsiFighter37:
Please go talk to a therapist. S/he will keep whatever you share confidential and help you figure out how to respond to what happened and come up with a plan moving forward.
Something changed in you last night in addition to what may or may not have happened so it’s a good time to check in with a professional.
Be very patient with yourself. Sending good thoughts to you.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
Love the Mineshaft…and of course, Annie’s favorite “The Hollar.” Owner’s mom is a friend. I’ll be in Albuquerque 1/25-2/25. Probably spend a week tooling around south of Albuquerque before I arrive. Haven’t really explored that area. Stay in touch. I’ll be in Madrid/Cerrillos a lot. Don’t forget Lori Musil’s shop as you come into Madrid….on the right. She’s one of my best friends. Nice town connection for anyone relatively new to the area.
Gin & Tonic
@Quinerly: I remember a bar in NYC in the late 1970’s called the Mineshaft….
PsiFighter37
@debbie: Not a work-related trip (actually in Omaha for the annual Berkshire meeting). And I am 100% positive there was no drugs at all. But it was just all sorts of weird / fucked up / bizarre. And then he started watching porn at like 5 AM.
Jesus the whole thing was fucking surreal. I couldn’t fall back asleep because I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: The line comes from my first Mexico trip in ’88. After a week+ in the jungle we were ready for some pampering and got rooms at the Hotel Taninul outside of Valles, mucha fria cerveza while sitting by the stinky pool fed by a hot spring. My roommate and I walked into our room and threw down our bags. He picks up the phone and dials the front desk:
“Por favor, habla Ingles?
“No?
“Well in that case send me a shaved goat and a gallon of Wesson oil.”
Became a tag line on every Mexico trip forever after.
tybee
@Quinerly: varnished pine goes with anything.
laura
@Quinerly: sshhh, don’t wake the Poco..
Jeffro
Btw looks like the Macron campaign planted fake emails for WikiLeaks to hack and then release and then look stupid
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic:
The place we are talking about is in Madrid, NM (Highway 14, “The Turquoise Trail,” between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.) It was the miners hangout after working the mines in the area. It supposedly has the longest bar in NM and is a tall bar…the miners wanted to stand up and stretch while they drank, could prop standing up. I’m a bit of a bar history and construction connoisseur ? (“Everybody talks about my drinking, nobody talks about my thirst….for knowledge.”) Madrid has a great little history (Cerrillos, too). The area is very, very dear to me. In all my frisky hopping about, I’ve never been to NYC. Maybe someday.
Batten Down the Hatches
@Cckids: welcome to Seattle! You’ve wisely chosen the most beautiful time of year to arrive. (Warning: the weather in May will lull you into thinking it is always lovely here and then BAM, October hits and 7 months of rain begins…)
Seattle is full of unsociable people but if you’d be interested in a meetup of BJ Jackals we could probably oblige :)
Quinerly
@tybee:
Yep. Still thinking about stripping it all the way down. It’s got at least 6 layers of oil based, lead based paint going back generations. Just not sure I have the time on this trip…and intestinal fortitude. Got to get it moved to where it’s going. I’m trying to sort through a lot. Juggling stuff and time. Thanks!
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Nice. We presently have at least 7 males and 3 females (all I have seen at one time) probably more like 7 females too as in the past I have always seen them at a 1-1 ratio. The Indigo Buntings finally showed up yesterday, had 3 of them sharing the feeder with the grosbeaks and goldfinches . Have yet to see our Summer Tanager but I could have sworn I heard him singing the other morn.
Gin & Tonic
@Quinerly: The place I am talking about, in the West Village, catered to a, um, different sort of crowd. The specific neighborhood it was in was then called (is still called) The Meatpacking District – yes, there were abbatoirs and butchers there in the early part of the 20th Century, but later not so much. But the English, she is such a versatile and lively language….
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly:
I love how random lines like that become part of shared memories and parlance. “Where’s that darned cathedral?” is one in my family. Comes from when my boys were young and we were touring Bath (England) on foot. I had gotten a little disoriented and was looking on the map for the landmark to get reoriented. Turns out my nose was practically right up against that darned cathedral. So now it applies to anything you’re looking for that’s right in front of your face.
Quinerly
@laura:
He’s an early riser. Sunrise walk towards Atlantic Beach…and another walk to the Clamdigger. He is actually napping in the sun right now. Luckiest ex inner city street dog. EVER.?
Elizabelle
@MomSense: That’s the best suggestion. A good therapist will know what to look for and how to listen/elicit information and help plot a path forward.
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic:
@129….?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: Fight fire with more intense fire.
Elizabelle
@PsiFighter37: Wow. Were you there to listen to Uncle Warren? Interesting.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Linky? re the planted Macron material?
I’d love to see Assange doing a perp walk on the sidewalk outside the Ecuadorean Embassy, on the way to justice from whichever country gets first dibs, and to see Wikileaks exposed for the fraud that it is.
SiubhanDuinne
@greennotGreen:
This brought tears to my eyes. It must, simply must become a BJ rotational tag, and I don’t mean that in any frivolous sense. What a beautiful philosophy, simple and profound. I would love to be reminded of that wisdom, and of you, dear gnG, at unexpected times.
Thank you for the gift of allowing us to hang out with you. I wish you peace and grace.
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes. It says everything.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
You can go over all those layers with chalk paint.
O. Felix Culpa
@greennotGreen: Others have said it better than I, but blessings to you and thank you.
CaseyL
@greennotGreen:
Thank you for being here, for continuing to share with us. Your grace and courage are examples to emulate.
@Cckids: @Batten Down the Hatches:
Seconding BDH’s welcome to our Fairly Soggy City! We’d love to see you at the next Meetup. Seattle BJers – are we up for a Meetup?
Quinerly
@MomSense:
That’s the plan as it stands. Have you ever mixed your own? I tend to research something to death when I do something new. The paint is over $30 quart…all it is latex paint, plaster of Paris, and water. I’m giving it a shot that way and springing for the big bucks on the wax finish. I’m still sanding it well and priming it beforehand. The manufacturers of the brands say not needed. Since I’m mixing my own, I’m doing the conventional prep work. It’s gotta stick.
laura
@greennotGreen: GreennotGreen, I am holding you in my heart, and wish you a peaceful transition of Grace and ease.
Thank you for your thoughtful commenting, your care for your loved ones of two and four feet.
Thank you for including us in your journey. Your candor and emotion, words fail.
Peace and Grace far away friend.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
I haven’t. I’ve only helped a friend who purchased the paint. It does go a long way and covers really well.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
How much furniture are you painting? Given your time and all the supplies plus exposure to whatever those finishes might be, may be cheaper to just buy a quart of chalk paint.
Oldgold
My garden is an unmitigated disaster this year. Everything is growing. Where are the rabbits?
Am I going to have to endure the indignity of kale cupcakes and zucchini cookies? Where are the rabbits?
laura
@Quinerly: oh the bath of the sun!
Chet the weinie dog loves them too.
He’ll sit in the raised bed, up against the fence and wandering back in the house warm as toast.
To be a loved dog, rescued from the street is a good thing. To rescue and love a dog, that’s good stuff too, innit?
Quinerly
@MomSense:
I tend to over think and make work for myself…But if this piece works out, I want to do a 7ft high wall to wall white built in bookcase in the exact same color and finish. It needs sprucing up after 40 years. My dad built it. The piece is going in the same room. Want them to match. I have stripped so much paint over the years (restored 2 1890’s Victorian homes in my St. Louis Soulard neighborhood)…got the masks for sanding, sanders, etc. Came to NC with the gear that isn’t in my dad’s old shop. So I’ll sand it down some but not taking it all the way down to original pine. Kinda excited about mixing my own chalk paint. Going to do a grayish coat first, then a whitish coat with some gray peeking through. If it works, I have my ratios for the big bookcase when back in the Fall. Thanks so much for your input.
Steve in the ATL
@Oldgold: ou sont les lapins d’antan?
(“Where are the rabbits of yesteryear?” You all read French poetry, right–“the snows of yesteryear” by Francois Villon? Or maybe You remember Joseph Heller goofing on it in “Catch-22” when a character asks “where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?” Ok, clearly this post was more trouble tham it was worth, but it’s hard to think straight after reading greennotGreen’s inspiring words)
Quinerly
@laura:
@147….?. Love the name Chet. For the most part I think our animals should have people names (my kitties are John Lennon and Ivan). Poco just kinda happened.
greennotGreen
@SiubhanDuinne: While I thank you all for your kind, kind words, they make my repeated rallying (which the hospice nurse said would happen) sort of anti-climatic. Sorry guys. I either live blog to the end, or I write a journal and have it edited after the fact. Hanging over my head is the story of a friend’s lab mate who was vailantly fighting cancer while still working for many months, turban covering her bald head…except not. She never had cancer at all. It was all just to get attention. Honestly, I’d rather be dying than be that desperate for attention.
Hospice nurse was just here to switch out my Dilaudid. She said I was in good shape, considering.
Aleta
@Quinerly: I remember your photos of your bathroom beadboard walls. The color (and seeming ‘texture’– maybe finish) practically sang beach. They looked old (-fashioned) and clean at the same time. Quite cool.
Jeff
Thursday I moved zinnias I had started in the house and hardened off on the front porch into the ground. Then put lots of seeds in. It was to rain heavily Friday. Miracles of miracles it did. The yard got 2.5 inches. I expect the seeds should germinate in a week or so.
Quinerly
@greennotGreen:
Sending love and hugs. Thought about you early this AM. ✌
gbbalto
@greennotGreen: Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts. Peace and light be with you and your family.
Quinerly
@Aleta:
Did you ever do your project? I think we traded emails on it my last trip from St. Louis to NC coast. December/January? I did that pickling on the beadboard down here over a year ago. Has held up…had a 4 month summer renter here. He loved it. Have a great day. Enjoy your comments.
Cckids
@Batten Down the Hatches: Thank you ! Actually, I got here just in time for the great snow dump in early February & the unending rain of that month. And no, coming from Vegas, I am not tired of any of it yet. It has turned amazingly beautiful this week, though.
A meet-up at some point sounds excellent.
debbie
@PsiFighter37:
People are so weird. Stay away from that clown.
Aleta
@greennotGreen: I love a good broth. I learned from my ex (a Japanese whose family had a small Chinese-style noodle eatery) how skillful a broth can be.
A few places there were famous for their broths alone, and a few of those were mere railroad station, track-side joints. Late at night they even seemed mystical, especially the steam coming off the bowls of tired people standing, and from the broth pot when the lid was lifted.
Bess
@Quinerly: @Quinerly:
You can use Google’s URL shortener app to create a less “expansive” version. Just go to https://goo.gl/ (or search for “link shortener”, paste in your very long address, and Google will generate a short version….
https://goo.gl/whD60g
Barbara
@PsiFighter37: My view is to avoid anything that feels wrong, especially if it feels like I am not in control.
Steeplejack
@Bess:
Or she could have just truncated it after the first “html.” Everything after that is internal NYT chaff.
Quinerly
@Bess: @Steeplejack:
Thanks. I’m not on my laptop. Using an old Microsoft Windows phone with limited WI FI connection. Newer phone on the charger. Can’t discern exactly what I’m doing on this tiny screen. Startled me when it posted that way. Couldn’t edit it.
Aleta
@MomSense: My tendency is to give those a chance for a few seasons, because the old apples and pears and plums can be so resilient. But, what satby said about the graft. (Esp, I think, some newer grafted trees.) I guess it also depends on your fondness and how prolific it’s been.
I had a scrubby sekel pear that had no trunk when I planted it, just bush-like. It was pushed almost clear over by a plow. It kept on producing at an angle, huge crops. (Until a narcissistic jerk of a beaver traveled a long distance to take it away.) Depending on the pear type, if the other ones are gone, yours might need a new mate now to pollinate and fruit. A nursery could tell from a photo or piece of leafed out branch.
I’ve seen very old fruit trees lying on their sides but blooming up a storm.
Aleta
@Quinerly: Thanks for asking. I’m embarrassed to say it hasn’t been finished. Discouraging. In Feb. the snow got so deep the carpenter postponed til spring (which just arrived here) and now I’m having doubts. I want to ask your advice. I have to go out til late tonight, but hope to mail you later.
☂️
?
Aleta
@MomSense: I might have loosely tied it up to a higher branch on a nearby tree at first, until it reoriented.
Quinerly
@Aleta:
Will do anything I can to help. Take care.
moops
cloner? is this a hydroponic thing? you put the cuttings in the foam plug and the unit keeps things moist? do you use rooting hormone with it, or hydroponic plant food? Do you need grow lights as well?
Interesting. I have a low success rate with propagation.
satby
@moops: yes, it’s this one
and this is the first time I’ve tried rooting cuttings in something other than water. If the plants that are looking pretty healthy develop roots, I should have about a 75% success rate… And if one of the successful ones is my amber jubilee ninebark it pays for most of the cloner. So I hope it works, but if it doesn’t, it’s probably because of that temperature spike, so now I know better.