Gators, iguanas, boas---getting afraid to walk in FL! Best wishes for your anniversary, Louise---we are a small group of those married in Dec.---what were we thinking? Here's Harper & Suey at our dam after our walk....
DonnieBrook's Subtropical Adventures!
And Suey & me....
Dam nice day!
Thank you, Marilyn! Those are great pictures of you and Harper and Suey!! What a pretty dog!! You two humans look pretty terrific too! I think you're pretty safe walking in the Villages.....but down here......hmmmmmm....it's becoming pretty dicey!
LOL, Victor! Good one!
Two very nice looking ladies there!
Louise, I love your gardens. That bougainvillea is gorgeous. Have you had oranges off that tree before, or is this the first crop? Yum.
Very nice, Louise! I love the stromanthe and bouganvillas. I have a stromanthe in my house called Burle Marx, and it's struggling. It just doesn't like my indoor climate, which isn't humid enough for it.
Marilyn, thanks for sharing the pics of you, Harper and Suey. You all look great!
Karen
Thanks, Polly. I wish my camera could capture the color of the purple in the bougy. As to the tangelo.... that tree has been giving us wonderful fruit for about 10+ years. It was attacked over the summer by Sri Lankan weevils and there are now many bare limbs. The fruit is also much smaller and the tree has lost a lot of fruit with early drop. Sad. It's been our best juicer.
Oh - bummer.
Karen - can you move your stromanthe into the bathroom near the shower?
Oh, too bad! Hate it when foreign pests invade!
Karen
We cross-posted.....me too!
Yes - stick to native pests!
Well, there's really no place for it in there, and not enough light. I wish I could. If I got a humidifier for my room it would be happier, I'm sure, but then I wouldn't be happier. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't mind. I've heard that when you make the air in the house humid during the winter, then the lower temps in the house don't seem as cold. Problem is, my rooms seems to get warmer than the rest of the house, and I don't like the higher temps at night, especially. I like to cuddle under my blanket and comforter and not wake up during the night sweating and have to toss of the comforter. I would like to switch rooms with my niece, who has the coldest room. That's odd, cause she's on the south side of the house. Actually the southeastern corner. Problem is, switching rooms would be a huge undertaking. Maybe sometime I will, though, if she doesn't mind.
Karen
Go for it, Karen! I'm like you.....MUST have it cool in the room in order to sleep. Even when we have the a/c on, I also have the ceiling fan and another fan blowing right on me. Poor Hank, he's learned to sleep in outerwear! LOL
LUV the oranch tree DonnieB. Right now I need a hot chocolate tree.
Or a one way plane ticket to Florida.
My so called aunt (best friend of a real aunt, but like an aunt to me) lived in New Port Richey, and I just loved staying with her. Fresh grapefruit, oranges, limes, lemons, and some orange mix, like a tangelo. Wonderful right off the tree. And she always made homemade donuts for breakfast. They manufactured Orange Blossom perfume.
One day I found a small snake in the tree, and up here we have no poisonous snakes, so I wasn't concerned. I was 16. I brought it in to show her how pretty it was, and she started screaming and beating it with a broom. Turned out it was a baby coral snake.' Did it bite you, did it bite you?' Well no, I was holding it just below the head, like I would any snake.
I will not pick up snakes in AZ.... I will not pick up snakes in AZ.... I will not pick up snakes in AZ...
LOL. I can't even imagine what nasty snakes they have there.
But do you pick up snakes in Calgary?
No reptiles here polly :( Too high. Bummer because I would luv garden toads. Tons of very pickupable garter snakes in ONT though where I grew up. Tons of cool desert snakes in AZ. Methinks the rattlers might be the most poisonous. I like them though cuz they always say 'rattlerattlerattle I'm under this rock' when you get close. I think if anything I will probably get bitten by a scorpion. They seem to be very sneaky.
Well, you be mighty careful!
No kiddin! I have this bad habit of poking my fingers in the soil and touching everything when I don't know the plants and conditions :O
dnut didn't your mother tell you not ot POKE!
Hey, there I am! And there's Marilyn! Suey was a real sweetheart. We had a great day today. Thanks for the fun time Marilyn!
Louise, I love that bouganvillea.
yes i remember that smile harper! - where was that dam? we have a friend that live on the ct/ny/ma border that has a dam that looks like that could be it?
Luvly pics on that beautiful dam. Playing catch up on so many threads (whew!). Wha noper. Moo only said 'Be careful or you'll poke your eye out'.
The dam was in Thomaston, CT, just outside of Waterbury. I loved it there.
I would not pick up snakes in AZ, either. I encountered a few rattlers while hiking there. They don't always give warning. Depends on how sleepy they are. Almost stepped on one once that didn't make a sound. Right in the trail. Another time almost stepped on one in the trail that did rattle just as I passed it. Looked back and there it was, rattling at me. I kept away, but stayed there, as a couple more hikers were coming down the trail, and I wanted to warn them. They blend in with the rocks and sand and such. You don't see them till your right on top of them. Another time I encountered one that actually chased me. I had a walking stick and was able to push it out of my way, and it went under a bush. Scared the living daylights out of me, for sure!
Louise, poor Hank! LOL!
Karen
Eeek!!
Bill, the dam you're thinking of is Colebrook Dam---my cousin was an engineer on that project, & often takes his lab up there to swim & retrieve dummies. Our town has 3 flood control dams, the one by my house is the biggest, & nicest---I think, anyway! But they are earthen dams & no water is kept behind them except at high water time. The Naugatuck River & Leadmine Brook, just flow right under the dam. And I didn't tell Harper about the Copperhead my DH & I saw there!
you are probably right - we kayaked there a couple years ago and it was low - kinda freaking going over the bridge that is submerged knowing it goes straight down - huge lake trout -
In all the time you've lived there, Marilyn, how high have you seen the flood waters get behind the dam? I'm glad you didn't mention the copperhead!!
I'm thinking 25? years ago---the waterline came halfway up the hill we climbed to get back to the top of the dam---someone had painted a line there, but it's gone. The copperhead was in the spring,-- maybe 12 yrs.ago---he crawled out of the rock face, & was sunning himself across the road---I'm glad we had our airedale twins on a leash! My husband said it was a branch--I knew no branch had been there a half hour before---I went close enough to ID him.
Eeeek is right!! I've had brushes with copperheads, water moccasins & rattlesnakes here, so as much as I respect that they are Nature's creatures too, I prefer not to hang with them!
Ok.....we're flying out on Thursday for 5 days, so I'll be absent for a bit, and as of this afternoon, I've had lengthy meetings with 2 out of 3 of the sitters.........still the main one to go! Back later......one has to go NOW!
I've heard that copperheads give off a detectable smell. True?
I wouldn't get close enough to find out.
Victor - I have no sense of smell, so I wouldn't know about the scent. I also wouldn't want to be that close again.
Thanks. I have heard they smell like cucumber!
I don't know how cukes smell......is it a pleasant or unpleasant smell?
Not bad.