From indefatigable photographer Ema Ema:
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Send me photos, people! Surely there’s some homegrown tomatoes or other produce you want to brag on?…
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
This post is in: Garden Chats
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David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Ivana would have been better off being buried in that flower pot on Columbus Ave
Baud
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
The flowers would have been worse off though.
JPL
Lovely
OzarkHillbilly
Very nice, Ema Ema. A wonderful Sunday morning pick me up, thank you.
satby
Pretty, pretty, pretty! A lot of hard gardening work goes into maintaining city streetscapes. Kudos to the city workers who make cities beautiful, and to ema ema for sharing with us.
raven
Nice!
satby
I don’t have any ripe tomatoes yet except sungold cherries. The nights have repeatedly gone over 70° (last night’s low was 77°) and the blooms don’t set fruit when it’s that hot. I have some green tomatoes that set during a cooler spell, but even the farmers were complaining about how slow the season is going.
germy shoemangler
I’ve been enjoying this PBS series:
https://www.pbs.org/show/green-planet/
Has anyone here seen it? It’s great.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy shoemangler: Well, you know, David Attenborough. It’s got to be good. I’m gonna buy the DVDs when they become available. When I wake up at 2 AM and can’t turn my brain off, Planet Earth is my go to show. Gets my ADHD brain off the “gotta do” treadmill every time and I can fall back to sleep.
sab
May I send pictures of my weeds? They are fabulous this year, except the touch-me-nots haven’t bloomed.
delphinium
Lovely-thanks for sharing!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
rikyrah
Beautiful pictures🤗
OzarkHillbilly
Speaking of TV shows, I’m gonna plug one I saw not too long ago. My wife recently figured out how to make streaming work despite our inadequate satellite service. Among the streaming services she got is Disney+ (for the granddaughters of course) We stumbled across the obvious Hillbilly bait from National Geographic called “The Deepest Cave”.
“Oooooh, Cheve…” was all I said and she downloaded it.
It’s good, very good. None of the usual overly dramatic set pieces producers love, just the real life work of serious big time expedition caving. The kinda stuff I always wanted to do but never could because you know, I had this thing called “a life”, the sort that came with sons. Being gone for more than a week just wasn’t an option.
Anyway, it gives a very good, accurate no bullshit picture of what it’s like to spend 3-6 weeks underground. Everything from the not at all glorious work of the above ground support staff to the grind of the sherpas who do the work of getting all the gear, food and other necessities to the furthest known camp way deep in the cave, to the lead cavers pushing at the edges of the unknown, the excitement of a breakout, and the disappointment when it stops going.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
delphinium
@germy shoemangler: I really enjoyed the Blue Planet series, so will definitely have to check this out. Thanks!
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Forgot to give the link. Bad Hillbilly, BAD!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thirteen Lives may be good.
eclare
@raven: Ron Howard also has a documentary out, We Feed People, about Jose Andres and WCK that a friend said was very good.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’m hopeful. Ron Howard did a good job with Apollo 13. He’s made a few stinkers as well, but I’ll definitely watch 13 lives.
I saw a documentary about that rescue, tho for the life of me I can’t recall it’s name. It was pretty good.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: To be perfectly truthful, that sounds terrifying. I’m a little claustrophobic. What you describe makes me hyperventilate.
jeffreyw
@Baud: Not necessarily true if properly composted.
jeffreyw
sab
@OzarkHillbilly: We were in the emergency room with my husband this week. We had tv in our little cubicle. Husband was watching Andy Griffith Show.
The resident doctor asked her supervising doctor “What is that show?” He laughed and said “it’s an old sitcom based in North Carolina. My parents loved it.”
We felt instantly about fifty years older than we had five minutes before.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That kind of stuff is definitely not for everyone. Not even for most cavers. As a caving buddy of mine always said, you gotta wanna. The show does not hold back on the nitty gritty of what cavers will go thru to push a cave beyond the known.
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Me too. My brother used to hold me down to scare me. It worked. Been claustrophobic ever since. I can be in a small room with the door shut, but anything more restraining freaks me out.
Gin & Tonic
We are in an extended drought here, and something (chipmunks? squirrels?) has been eating all my tomatoes as soon as they even think of ripening. I have netting around them, but obviously the critters are clever.
Gin & Tonic
@OzarkHillbilly: I wouldn’t do that shit for all the money in the world.
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: Heh, sometimes we get dated in the most innocent ways. A while back I had to go see my nurse practitioner for one thing or another. Robin wasn’t there that day and a cute young girl named Meghan was there in her stead. She came in and talked about whatever my issue was, prescribed some meds, and then said,
“Are you CJ’s father?”
Ouch.
oldgold
This week I continue to deal with an overly WOKE! West of Eden. The conditions are so surreal even Salvador Dali would be shaking his head in disbelief.
It began this Spring when I learned, here at Garden Chat, that coffee grounds would be good for West of Eden. I asked my neighbor, Phil Anders, ( he put the pro in creation ) the owner of our local caffeine dispensary, locally known as the Dirty Grind, for “some” coffee grounds.
In the middle of July, making my first visit of the season to my garden, intent on planting 2 hospice tomatoes and an expired packet of Belgium endive seeds, I discovered, to my horror, a Himalayan like mountain of coffee grounds covering West of Eden.
The caffeine from this monumental mound of coffee grounds had fully WOKE! my sleepy weed patch to the point AOC would have been astonished. Aside from the saucer-eyed moles tunneling at rates not seen since Kevin Bacon was running for his life in Tremors; and, butterflies flying at speeds that would make a machery of Tom Cruise’s aerial antics in Top Gun, the snails, sliding like Jean-Claude Killy through caffeinated mounds, were so WOKE! they were forming committees to address the chronic homelessness problem afflicting the garden’s beer guzzling slugs.
sab
@Gin & Tonic: This year they have missed us so far, but I am not hopeful. Feel for you. Husband was so enthusiastic about tomato crop. Squirrels probably are too (nasty little rodents.)
Husband loves his little rodent friends. I am the gardener, and I don’t much like those little guys. Okay at the squirrel feeder, but quit burrowing under my new rose bushes.
Squirrels blame it all on the deer.
Who knows?
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: Neither could I. Take note, I said “Could”. That’s only because nobody ever gets paid to do this stuff and we are on the cuff for all the expenses. I’m sure Bill Stone has some sponsors to help defray the costs of a Cheve expedition, but he isn’t making any money off it.
He does it just because it might be there.
Anne Laurie
If they’re just chewing a hole in each tomato & abandoning them, giving them an alternative moisture source can help.
I have an old 18″ plastic saucer from under a long-gone pot, where I can fill it whenever I water the tomato rootpouches. It doesn’t completely prevent predation, but at least I don’t have to look at a row of ‘vampirized’ fruit every time I check on them!
sab
Husband thinks he is coming home tomorrow. He can’t even stand up alone. Send him home to our split level? I think not. So he will be off to rehab. I haven’t a clue how we will pay for this. He has insurance, but it doesn’t do miracles.
sab
@Anne Laurie: I will try that today. I suppose it needs to be big enough for deer, even tho’ they have a creek 20 yards away.
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Braggart. The squirrels and chipmunks have absolutely destroyed my tomato plants this year. I doubt I will get even one out of my garden this year.
Gin & Tonic
@Anne Laurie: Thanks, I’ll give that a try too.
jeffreyw
@OzarkHillbilly: I have one plant in a container on the patio and it has been going gangbusters for a couple of weeks now. I forget the variety name but it’s one of the beefsteak types.
sab
Husband just called. He still thinks he is coming home tomorrow. To a split level with the bedroom upstairs? When he couldn’t stand up yesterday? Yay America! Best medical system in the world!
ETA I wonder if the doctors will ever bother to consult the wife who is supposed to manage all this. Care, and also feeding. They want him on a whole new diet. I agree, but no one has actually talked to me. I guess he will need to learn to cook if I am not on board.
satby
@sab: see if they can have the hospital social services worker or aftercare coordinator call you. Tell them you need help planning aftercare. The social worker will know all the resources available that could fit your situation. Every hospital has someone with that job, but they’re called different things. Edit: doctors don’t consult family members, you need to speak to the nurses on your husband’s floor.
sab
I am mad as hell at my husband, until I remember that he is pumped full of painkillers.
He is high as a kite on painkillers and his doctors ( supposed experienced medical proessionals) are expecting him to make informed decisions without consulting his wife. What a fucked up system. But those docs work in that system and can choose how fucked up it is. They are choosing to max out the fucked up-ness.
sab
@satby: Thank you so much. I will follow up.
sab
@satby: Nurse is wonderful but mostly speaks Spanish and also hasn’t been told anything. I was there for three hours yesterday and she didn’t know more than me.
jonas
That can’t be NYC. I heard that a horde of illegal immigrant murderers released under the no-bail law burned it all to the ground and shit on the ashes.
satby
@sab: if you aren’t listed by your husband as a person entitled to make healthcare decisions on their behalf, some facilities interpret that the HIPPA laws prevent the doctors from discussing his case with you. It takes specific written authorization from your husband. IANAL, and spousal rules can vary. But this was a problem for my friend, whose late husband did not designate her to be given his health information.
HinTN
@sab: Mrs H assures me that weeds are wildflowers. Do it.
sab
I am not picking him up from hospital until I get some information.
Men can be a**holes.
sab
@satby: I am so listed. They don’t choose to include me.
sab
@sab: Not rational, but I am so angry they can keep him.
Trying to find out what is going on and he is doin1g everything to not let me know what is happening.
Privacy is great but this guy lives in my house, is on my insurance, and tells me nothing and expects to return to my house out of hospital.
He has been so bad I will say no and put him out on the street. Don’t be a jerk.
Diceros bicornis
@satby: yes this. I have a friend who used to do that job at a hospital and no one went home without her sign off. And she kept folks until she was sure about their needed support at home.
so sorry to learn you’re experiencing this @Sab.
OzarkHillbilly
Say WHAT???? Why I nevah…
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Asshole. ;-) Now you’re just rubbing it in.
satby
They can’t just choose to ignore it, it doesn’t sound like you really were designated. My friend’s husband kept telling her she was, but after he passed away she found out she never had been, presumably because he wasn’t being compliant with his cancer care, and didn’t want to fight with her about it. Get the help from social services.
brantl
@OzarkHillbilly:Gatorade cures the cramps caused by lack of electrolytes, I have them, take the Gatorade (as much as half a small bottle sometimes) and the cramps go away in less than a minute.
Ohio Mom
@sab: Clenching my teeth and growling on your behalf. At the hospital and in Mr. sab’s direction. I know from recalcitrant husbands.
The hospital social worker, as satby suggested, should be able to help you. I know you are frustrated but try not to shower that on the nurses and aides, they will be more helpful if they feel appreciated.
If you are mystified by the diet, you can ask for an appointment with a dietician; because of Ohio Dad’s diabetes, I’ve seen several of them. Some were more helpful than others but you don’t know until you try.
Mostly, take care of yourself. Treat yourself to meals out, this is no time to create more work for yourself. At least Mr. sab waited until after tax season for this medical adventure.
ETA: the hospital has paperwork your husband can sign (if he is lucid enough) to allow the doctors and other staff to talk to you. Some of Ohio Dad’s doctors have had him sign these forms even though I have medical POA (since they don’t have copies of the POA).
SWMBO
@sab: My son is disabled and needed to be hospitalized for a meds change. The neurologist was on board, the PCP was on board, the psychiatrist was on board. The psychologist said we could do it outpatient at home. Bullshit. I packed my son’s suitcase for the hospital and went to the psychologist’s office. When he started that bullshit about it can be done outpatient, I threw my son’s suitcase on his desk and said, “I’m not a professional caregiver. I can’t deal with this. Take him home with you and call me when he’s ready to be picked up.” He got admitted that day.
Don’t let the bastards run over you. Back in the day, I found it to be extremely useful to have a small recording device. This was before cell phones. Ask if you can record what they tell you so you can play it back when you get home. Having a record of what they actually said makes them very careful to be clear on all points.
Betsy
@Gin & Tonic: Put some water dishes out. Or chunks of watermelon. The critters chomp your tomatoes or other fruit when there is a drought, just to get at some water.
@Gin & Tonic:
ema
Thank you all!