The Roundup party is over....but there's always next year!!!

You know, and I don't want sound hard here but, my mother is 23,000 miles away and I just can't run over when she needs help, I am really worried. And She will not move here, Hates it

My job and money has kept me from going plus my animals ( I also lost one of my birds to old age, had her 15 years and the male is driving me crazy he is looking for her).

But she has had help from my bro and his DD. Now they are back here, cause they have thier jobs and family.

I have been having nightmares of what could happen to her, I grew up there not a nice place for me anyway, but she loves it

Oh what to do

Tills, right now you just need to wait - you are in a state of grief, and that makes everything urgent. That is not when we make our best decisions. Stay in touch with her, and get lots of support for yourself. In a surprisingly short time your thinking will come clearer. For right now, though, I would suggest that you just wait.

There is a lovely phrase that the poet John Keats coined - Negative Capability. He describes it as 'the ability to be in uncertainty with no unreasonable reaching after answers' - I've always found it useful, although not always easy.

Thinking of you.

Tilly-If it is her wish not to come here with then you have done your best. Unfortunately (or fortunately) people have a right to live as they wish.......even if it seems to be not a good decision.

Caring for one you love is often allowing them to live their lives as chosen and being there when they ask for you. Never before. Even Christ waits for people to answer the knock on the door. Never barging in and demanding.

I started a new thread asking for help in ID'ing some of the plants that were brought to the RU. There are 17 total. Please help!!!

Well said, Sofer.

Another question regarding a plant received at the round-up...I got a little cutting of a houseplant, and put it in water to root. Now it has lots of roots. What sort of soil or medium should I plant it in next? I have never propagated house plants before, other than rooting an avocado pit.

Regular potting soil is what I use.

I use regular potting soil, too, but I add pumice or perlite for extra drainage. Mostly because I tend to overwater.

I only water every week and 1/2 to two weeks. And always use Schultz for regular plants, flowering plants and cactus. In the winter I go down to three drops.

I have 2 Hardy Begonias that were left here from the RU. Can they be planted outside now, or should they be overwintered in the GH?

See what we have been up to. We have to see what glass needs to be ordered.

*envy*

Craig's List. We had to dismantle and clean it. But it was so worth it. I am excited, hopefully it will get some glass put in today. I have a dentist appt at 2:20 today, so we won't get to work on it very long. All of the glass that we have for it has to be cleaned yet.

I hold onto hope that I can get a little greenhouse someday. Wouldn't have room for anything big, but that's okay. Small would be better than nothing.

It looks bigger than it is. It is 8x12.

You and your craig's list finds! That's great.

Have you found me a cloning machine yet?

Nice greenhouse, Lynn.

It's all about timing on Craig's List, isn't it? My problem is that I can't get there to look at it to make sure it's what I want . . .

If your hardy begonia is Begonia grandis, then it should be okay this winter as long as it's in the ground and mulched. And wherever it is should have okay drainage, of course.

Love that greenhouse. You will love that extra height. More shelf space.

Pretty nice Lynn. I like the foundation. Ready for an earthquake.

Thanks guys, Joey has made it really sturdy and square! Speaking of earthquakes, I swear we had a funnel cloud here last week during the storm. I was in bed that day, sick with a headache, and it was blowing so hard, it sounded like a freight train coming through the backyard.
Well, the next day, I heard on the news that a funnel cloud had touched down in Orting and in Buckley. When I went outside, our whole yard and patio was covered with leaves and debris, except for the part of the patio by the bedroom and hot tub. It was clean as if I had vacuumed it , and the hot tub cover was lifted up and opened in half, like we had left it partially open. Creepy!

Speaking of creepy, my eldest granddaughter is 12, in the 6th grade in Aberdeen. Last Wednesday, one of the boys in her classroom went home ill with flu like symptoms, and died on Friday. I cannot even imagine how horrible that is for the family. It is heartbreaking. As of yesterday, the only news released was that it was a viral infection, and not spinal meningitis. So Holly, you take care of yourself. You just never know what is out there. I have always been a bit cavalier, thinking that nothing bad is really going to happen, just a lot of hype. I am changing my attitude now.

that is so sad! I know of two people who have died so far this year. both young adults and only one had a previous health problem. It's hard to hear these things.

Great greenhouse, lynn! I have good source for twinwall polycarbonate if you intend to insulate it in addition to the glass.

Looks like that greenhouse will take high winds, tornadoes (I'm glad you weren't in the hot tub when the funnel cloud came through), earthquakes....whatever the weather throws, except maybe big hailstones if it is going to have glass. It's beautiful! Just the place for all the plants you are propagating and planting.

There is an unusually high number of illnesses going through our school, some probably H1N1 but also regular colds, coughs and whatnot. It is hard to tell for sure what is what, though most seem not to have been very severe. I think the actual test for swine flu is expensive and not done unless the person needs specialized care for it, other than rest and fluids. I have had 5 kids out sick each day, so I have started following the guidelines for avoiding illness. It is kind of disgusting to describe (saltwater nasal rinse and gargle twice a day) but seems to be working. The virus is supposed to incubate for a few days in your nose before becoming a full blown case, so this is supposed to clear it out before it can take over. Not very pleasant to talk about, sorry, but really not all that bad once you get used to doing it. I am worried about one of my students who has asthma also and has been out for 6 days. Her mom says she is better, but still weak. It must really awful for the families who have lost children. I have not heard details about how their progression of illnesses went, so as to know what to look out for.

Well, going to go do my er um nasal saltwater...er..um.. snort before going to work. See you all later.

My dr just told me to use the saltwater rinse. I haven't tried it yet, it is still in the bag.

You can get a neti pot kit at the drugstore and there is an instructional video online. It's not as hard as one would think.

I had heard the same thing, Holly. And it's generally good for your sinuses to get rid of all the indoor dirt, dust, pollen, etc. that's flying around.

I've also heard that H1N1 moves quickly. It's the overactive immune response that puts kids in the hospital. "They" believe that older adults aren't as vulnerable because we don't have as robust an immune system and because our bodies may have seen a similar virus in the past and have antibodies that know what to do with this one.

I think I've had the flu once, back in high school some 30 years ago. You'd conjecture that, having asthma, I'd be more prone to lung disorders, but I'm very careful about taking my preventive medicine (inhaler & nasal spray) twice daily, and figure that my lungs therefore stay in better shape than most non-asthmatics. I need my "emergency inhaler" only occasionally, when something major has changed in my environment (heavy smoke in the air, the occasional aerobics class). Even before hearing about the saltwater rinse, I had suspected that the nasal spray, especially, was somehow aiding my defenses.

So I definitely endorse the saltwater rinse for y'all.

That's interesting about the immune system itself creating these tragedies. I've sometimes worried that, when I DO finally catch one of these bugs, my system will have no experience with it.

Now see, I have done this saltwater rinse thing because my doctor recommended it to me. I think there is something seriously wrong with my anatomy. I can never get all of the water out of my sinuses. I do the rinse the way I'm directed, then I feel water logged all day. At night I lay down and salt water is immediatly pouring down my throat. Yuck! The last time I did it, I was gagging salt water for 3 days. I seriously do not know why.

I haven't tried it yet. I am not a big fan of gagging! Did you use the neti pot, or the squirter thing? (I am having a moment, can't remember s#$@)

Pix that does seem unpleasant. If that happened to me I don't think I'd do it again either. I have just used a bowl of warm salt water, close off one nostril and snort up the other. I know this sounds disgusting, but you let it pour out the other side, or out your mouth. I have a little residual water drip out later, but nothing a little tissue can't handle.

There are commercial salt packets you can buy, but I just use about a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. I use canning and pickling salt rather than table salt because it doesn't have any additives that can irritate your interior linings.

Pick your video.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=using+a+neti+pot&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=7wf9SojTBoTOsQO6-9meCg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQqwQwAA#

Pix, it sounds to me like there's something different about the anatomy of your sinuses. That sounds awful!

Sorry, I guess I should have said "choose" your video. ;-)

That was bad, Kathy. Really bad.
I've tried three ways. I started out using a small bowl with sea salt and just 'snorting' it. Then I moved to pouring it with the head tilted. The last way was using the squirt bottles that they sell at Costco in a special kit. I can tell you they work REALLY well. Really really well. The whole bottle went right up the nose, it just didn't come out.
It's very irritating to me because I do want to be able to do this. It would probably help me keep from getting sinus infections. It's been recommended to me several times. But i think it just makes things worse for me.
Holly, the solution they sell with the little bottles has baking soda in it to take the edge off the salt. It didn't burn at all.

I suspect you could just use the saline solution for your contacts in a pinch; I've done it.

I did that once. Couldn't tell any difference between the contact saline and the stuff I usually buy as saline nasal spray. I still felt weird doing it though... hehe.

Saline is available in the form of salt (NaCl) and baking soda (NaCO2). Mixing more Baking soda and less salt helps me inhale saline mixes into my nose. I suck it up and swallow it to flush my sinus after my nasale surgery.

What surgery was that, Sofer? I have a severely deviated septum and a bone spur, surgery this coming Tuesday. Is that the same as yours?

BTW< Joey scheduled his vacation for the last week of June, first week of July for next year. Is that the date you selected for Round Up?

Best of luck with your surgery Lynn. Hope everything goes smoothly.

I have it scheduled from June 18- 21st , and have already booked my scedule around that. Maybe I can change that.
Yes I had a deviated septum and couldn't breathe out of my rt nostril. Surgery was OK and not that painful but the after care took some getting used to inhaling the salt water/soda water into my sinuses to flush out the blood and infection. I got pretty good at it after a couple of days. I can breathe and sleep so much better now that I did it.

Lynn, I'll be thinking of you on Tuesday, and hope all goes well.

Good luck tomorrow Lynn! I left the hardy begonias here's the link http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/722/.
If you have room in your GH I would be tempted to wait till spring to plant them.

Thanks Linda. I put them in the GH a couple of days ago. I want to plant them by the tree next to the garage in the spring. I am looking forward to seeing them bloom. Thank you!