Your Neck of the Woods 2015 Part 3

Yeah G, I usually have a bunch of plants sitting alongside the house in my 'pending' area. I busted my bum though to get all my purchased plants and almost all my swap plants installed before my landscape project starting tomorrow. I still have some shrubs hanging out waiting a home in the ground but those are awaiting friends to be shipped Jun 1st and all will be going in a new garden after the landscape project is complete.

You are better than me, Jeff.....I have FOUR beds I have not yet done anything to.
Not dug up--Not weeded--and NOT decided what i want to put in there.
My "Kitchen side" bed; My small front-of-the-house bed; and my "Stump Bed".
AND--my long South exposure bed. It is so full of bulb foliage--
I cannot even see an empty spot. Been cutting back by 1/2 all the Daff foliage.
Looks much better.

I tend to want to do same old--same old..every year--in the same beds.
BUT--I do not have the plants I have usually used.
No Caladiums
No NG Impatiens
No "Thrillers" for my pots
Just put in 3 shriveled up Canna roots in my raised bed--hope they grow. If not--no biggie.

I was out gardening today for about 6 or 7 hours. Just came in.
Starving! Put a frozen Pizza in the oven.

Tomorrow--I will try and continue until I run out of steam...again.
Gotta get something tall and not too invasive (root wise) for my big pots.

Sunday is a work day in HD garden. More insanity! Water...water..water,..
spend a lot of time helping customers. Love that part--but it can, seriously,
interrupt watering. Both are VERY important!

So many big sales this weekend!
Monday--we have a Company Cook Out. We all contribute side dishes.
I am making a Pasta Seafood salad. Very good!
I do not work on Mondays--but i will go for the food--and bring mine.

Good luck on your Landscaping Job. I know you will do well. Gita

Put in a few good hours of weeding yesterday and this afternoon... tomato and pepper plants are hardening off (late with the tomatoes, but the plants got a late start also, so they should be OK)... I'll plant the tomatoes in the morning so they don't have to deal with tonight's 40 degree low temp.

Asparagus bed looks good now, but there's no sign of the new crowns from ADR... I thought they looked a little scrawny but went ahead and planted them anyway. I'll have to see what they can do. Did anybody else get them to do? I only cut a few stalks again this year, but from the size of the stalks coming up on my 12 plants I expect it to take off next year. Fingers crossed! I love asparagus, and that 'Purple Passion' variety is a fabulous treat.

Poison Ivy is threatening to take back a corner of the treeline... I put on my hazmat gear and pulled enough to fill a garbage can last night. Too windy to spray back there today, but I need to hit the remaining bits of stem and root with brush killer. Most of the back line is clear of it now, apart from a few bird-planted seedlings that I pulled.

I have to be careful, washing gloves and shoes and scrubbing down with Tecnu any time I dig in the soil back there. So far, so good... I did take benedryl as a precaution yesterday.

I'm enjoying planting back there, my first "shade garden!"

One of my five Long Tall Sally peppers has wilted mysteriously today. But four remaining is plenty.

Tomatoes have been in for a week, they'll be fine here.

Purple asparagus is doing great for me and has extra antioxidants in the purple tint. We've had five meals plus a baggie frozen. It's enough to keep us happy. So fresh and organic I am 'valuing ' it at $5 a pound, to calculate whether my garden work pays off.

You'll have to keep after that poison ivy if you hope to eradicate it.. I've never had a large growth of it but I have a few sprouts to get after every year, under the trees.

critter, coleup said that applying dish soap (right coleup?) to exposed body parts will form a barrier that will keep poison ivy oils from reaching your skin. I haven't tried it yet, but I will after I run out of the commercial poison ivy barrier spray I've been using. I don't have poison ivy in my yard (not now anyway, not that I've seen), but there's plenty in "my" forest!

Another benefit: a nice soap layer will keep the dirt from settling into our fingers and nails ; )

I've been keeping after the poison ivy for years and am gradually winning. It was thick all along our back tree line when we moved in. When I really declared war on it, I went after it behind my next door neighbor's fence also -- and he had chest-high shrubs of it! But you're right, I need to be vigilant... I saw a few plants in that back corner at the end of the summer and failed to spray them. Over the winter, they really multiplied!

Muddy, how about wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt with gloves?

Dear DIL Courtney was here this morning you should see her, she has it really bad. Under her chin up both arms and her inner thighs. A small amount of it is growing in their ground cover and she didn't notice it when she was out there working last week.
This morning was Kids and Flowers day at my house. Starting with dear DIL who came with 4 hanging baskets we planted them with Gingerland caladiums and Bonfire Begonias. She also walked off with 2 six packs of coleus, 6 lime green OSP to go in her big pots that she plants with cannas
and 4 self seeded yellow pear tomatoes. Then I started on the 4 HB that I picked up from my daughter Jen yesterday. I planted 2 of them with bonfire begonias and diamond frost euphorbia. The other 2 with big dark leaf red begonia and gingerland caladiums. Sending her some of the tomato plants as well. Then son Jamie showed up to pick up a trash can full of old soil and took 6 of the tomatoes, 2 double amethyst Calibrachoa and 6 lime green OSP.
Yesterday's planting at daughter Julies house went well, we planted it with ornamental grass, pink Geraniums, purple petunias and lime green OSP.

Holly---

That sounds like a marvelous family day you had. How nice! Kids (?) and flowers...
These kind of days will last in their memories forever. You ARE a blessing to all of them--
and they to you.

If there was ever a prize to be given to the most cohesive, loving, all-accepting
family--yours would be the one to get the trophy.

Hmmmm....I have big boxes-full of all kinds of trophies from my Volleyball days
One huge one my Latvian Team gave me as a wedding present.
Another huge one I won as "Best Player" in the Latvian finals...year????

They are all "rotting" away in my basement. Big ones! Team Trophies! Little ones--(individual)--
you name it. They mean nothing to me now. All relics of a wonderful past life.

Maybe if someone wanted to "doctor them up" they could have another life.
Do you know if any organization would like to have some of these?

G.


Receiving the "best Player" trophy in the latvian Finals... Whoopie!

Woot! Best player! Be sure these pictures get to your daughters some day.

I have decided that giving things to charity like Goodwill etc is a great way to find out if anyone can use old things. People that need odds and ends do scour those stores, and the stores themselves have gotten pretty savvy about marketing anything good.

Otherwise, might call a trophy store if there is one nearby? and ask- maybe they would take the parts apart and re use. They are all just deco bits bolted together.

Sally--
I have already done that. They are not interested....Even asked trophy stores.

Please DO NOT consider Goodwill a place to donate anything that you hope
will benefit anyone. I HATE Goodwill!!! Their prices are ridiculously high!
I KNOW--as I always shop thrift stores.

Goodwill IS NOT a Non-profit store!!!! They charge sales tax--don't they?
Any Thrift Shop that charges sales tax IS NOT non-profit.

They do not really help anyone get employment either....Maybe they hire some of the
eed-a-job people--but that is NOT helping. The employees get barely
minimum wages. Ask them when you go there....IF theu are English speaking.....Get it?

The CEO of Goodwill makes 7 million a year. Wonderful--no?

Instead--you may want to consider Salvation Army--Am Vets--Purple Heart or such.
Or--donate your clothes to a shelter or a church collecting clothing for the homeless.

Also---the other agencies, like "Retarded Children" or any of the others that will
come and pick up from your doorstep--collect all the donations and sell them by the truck-full.

All the Value Villages---2nd Avenue---Village Thrift Shops---etc. get their stuff this way.

G.

As a fellow/former volleyball player, I find that image phenomenal.

See your Dmail...

This Post will be for vintage Volleyball players only!

VV--you played V-Ball too?????????? Awesome! Great sport!!!

I met my Husband playing V-ball. My youngest daughter played V-Ball
all through HS. and several years at Colledge too.

I played on several teams. The Latvian team was my first one, but in hindsight--
they were pits.
They held ONE tournament a year--and called it the "Finals"----FINALS of what?
BUT--it was a very social kind of a thing--with a big dance at the end.
We had NO real Coaches---just some old men who thought they knew it all.

Eventually I segued to a much better team, coached by a woman from CA
(who was also a player) and we became the Eastern Regional Champs for 10 years
straight. VERY competitive, very intense practices to accomplish that!

I was also a Regional Referee for 14 years, overlapping playing and reffing.
Every team had to have one--so they would not have to pay official Reffs to call games.

I self-retired from playing when I turned 40. I had become the one to be driving everyone to
Tournaments--but not playing all that much. That was a sign that I need to quit.

I continues as a Ref. and spent many more years calling Regiomal games--College and High School matches as well as some Rec, Leagues. Good Money!!!

AHHHH---those were the days.......Enjoy some retro fashions here...:o)

1--Here is my Latvian team. I am #14--second from left-front. Dig the hairdos!

2--here is my other very first team--the "Baltimore "Y Women's Team". I am #2--left front

3--later on--we got more "serious"....I made all these sexy-looking skirt uniforms! UGH!
I am back row on the left

4-Then--later on--I sat home raising my 2 girls and made all these "new and improved"
uniforms as well..!!! Hey! At least we were CLASSY LOOKING!

5---Here is the Men's "Y" team. My hubby-t-be is #13--far right....

G.

Plus the risk of the oils getting into the clothes and still getting on you some way. But yeah, it's the hot weather thing that gets me too lol. Part of why I hate trying to spray the peach tree.

Gita, Back when I was a 4H leader we had someone who donated all their horse trophies to the club, boxes and boxes of them and we would clean them and put new name plates on them. Gave them to the kids at the end of the year awards ceremony and the family fun horse show. They were very nice, that was about 30 years ago, now a days I don't know if you could find anyone that would want to do that.

I like/ trust Salvation Army better too.
Wow, the Goodwill guy doesn't even make this Page of Shame from Charitywatch.org
https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-articles/charitywatch-hall-of-shame/63

My gosh, what scumbags!

There must be a good market for scrap clothing. Those donation bins have sprung up in parking lots everywhere. It goes to third world countries, or industrial fiber uses.

I have to "suit up" in long pants and a long sleeved shirt, not to mention gloves and socks and washable shoes, pretty much any time I'm doing serious work back in our tree-line. Sometimes now that most of the poison ivy is gone I'll go back without my "hazmat gear," but I still go straight to the shower to scrub down with Tecnu. I've found that scrubs are pretty comfortable, but my favorites are from RE... lightweight and quick-drying, and the shirt has huge mesh vents.

Gita, that's a fantastic photo!

Sally--
I read almost the whole report in the link--hoping to get to the article on Good Will....
but it was not there,

This should be published in every paper and circular to keep people from sending
contributions to scamming Charities.

Shame on them!!!! Glad I am smart enough to not donate $$$ to everyone that begs for it.
I am not rich by any means--so why send money to all kinds of "poor" charities?

Take the Natl. Wildlife Federation.
They have been sending me calendars, address labels, and beautiful sample X-mas cards
foreever! Yes! I feel guilty using the calendar ecery year...or those cure note pads.
Address labels! Mamma Mia! I could plaster the world with all the ones I have by now!!!
But--they keep coming and coming.

So many millions of $$$ wasted--in products and postage.

One would think that if there is NO response by, say, 5 years--they should drop me off their
mailing list. NO!!! They keep on spending millions thinking any day now, I will change my mind.

Where is the rationale for all this????????

G.

Well, I'll go on record as a supporter of I NWF... "Ranger Rick" is still a great kids' magazine, as is "Ranger Rick Jr." (formerly called "My Big Backyard"). I'm more likely to support them through purchases and memberships than through outright donations, but I think they do good work, especially with regard to education.

I thought their program percentages were reasonable, but I just double-checked... nearly 80% of their revenue is spent on their program, with the remaining expenses split about evenly between administrative and publicity expenses. I know we'd all like to think that charities can spend 100% of our donations directly on their causes, but I think I've read that 80% is pretty good -- not great, but not "OMG what are they doing with our $$" either. That said, charity navigator is only giving them 2 stars this year -- there are other wildlife organizations (Audubon, WWF) that may be able to do more for the money.

Those address labels etc. seem to work pretty well... they spend 14 cents for every dollar they bring in. They also get high marks for financial "transparency" -- so they are unlikely to make an appearance on that wall of shame. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10751#.VWKh1kbihXk

The labels etc must work out- so cheap to send that the few who pay cover it. I guess. There's a native american place that gets creative with cheap blankets , suncatchers...sheesh.

Someone had me look up AARP. It turns out, there IS a branch of AARP (Foundation?) that is a 501c3 nonprofit...but the AARP that we all "know and love" is not a non profit.

It's a big and difficult question to decide how nice the administrative facilities of non profits, even churches, or banks, " should" be. Nice facilities give people confidence in the organization. I guess you can extend that to paying bigger bucks for administration to get competent, hard working, dedicated staff.

I have nothing against NWF--I just think that they could use more of the $$$ that
they spend in sending products to a non-donating people--like me.
I have donated in the past--and sent some $ for the nice calendars--
so--I am hooked in their system.

Perhaps it would not be cost-effective for them to weed out non-donating people from
their data base. Everything is automated nowadays....machines do everything...

I agree. I don't think any of us is in a position to, or wants to, donate to every organization that mails heart-tugging pleas to us, so we have to choose. What really irks me is that as soon as you give to one wildlife/conservation/humane society organization, they trade mailing lists and everyone hits you up.

I found this site, which has links that allow you to opt out of specific things. The first one I submitted was for ValPack coupons; that fat blue envelope currently goes straight to the recycling bin. http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-remove-yourself-from-mailing-lists-and-eliminate-junk-mail

The best way to get removed from charity mailing lists is probably to call or write them directly (using their pre-paid envelope!).

Well, I missed all the volleyball talk in this thread. Maybe we should form our own MAF volleyball team and take on the other regional forums.

I'm a former member for the US Air Forces Europe Vollleyball Team. That was in the late 90s and I doubt I can get around the court like I used to but once a setter, always a setter. I happen to be Irish too... there, I teed that one up for you, go ahead and take a swing.

While in college (late in life--), I used to write some articles for the
school paper. One of them was on the "History of Volleyball" ,
Very interesting.

I should D-mail it to you. G.

CAM
Har har har.....

I don't get it, why would you make fun of an Irish volleyball pl--

Oohhhhhh, I get it. You're all a punny bunch. :D

:))

I played Vball when I was a freshman in HS. It was fun but I wasn't as good as the other players and was cut from tryouts as a sophmore. It is fun to dive on the floor though to grab a ball.

I played with a guy named Harvey Richardson on the US Air Forces Europe team. 6'6" guy with a vertical leap of about 42 inches. Dude could spike from the back row, leave the court at the 10 foot line, and spike the ball inside the other team's 10 foot line. Setting him up for thunderous spikes that would send women and children running and screaming for their lives (a little hyperbole for effect)... that was fun. :)

Wow, I bet that was intimidating as a 'digger' on the opposite team. My sister played Vball all through HS and was pretty decent all around.

Oh, for sure, Jeff. Harvey tried out for the US Olympic team twice and was one of the last players cut both times, that's how good he was. The opposition players when we toured around Europe were quite aware of him and would often just get out of the way of one of his blasts, even though they were also quite skilled players. Best athlete I ever played any sport with and I played many. Very cool to have him as a teammate and not be on the other side of the net. hahaha

Haha, yeah it's like being friends with the biggest guy on the block. That's cool he almost made the olympic team.

Ha.... good analogy, Jeff !

OK!
Since we have all this interest and reminiscing about playing V-Ball ,
with my apologies to the non-V-Ball aficionados, I will c/p my article on
"History of Volleyball." It is NOT a bad read!! You may even enjoy reading
how it all began, how it evolved and the big changes in rules that went with
the 'evolution" of this great sport.
I an sure some of you past players will identify with some of this.
SO! Here goes: Gita

******************************************************************

“MINONETTE” anyone?

Note: This article was written and published in the Essex Community College’s student Newspaper—“The Montage” on September 7, 1989 and was geared toward the College-aged population and those that played “real”, competitive, Volleyball in “real” tournaments, and officiated by “real” referees. (The above note was added on 8/2003)
By: Gita Veskimets


It's that time of year again! Yup! School is resuming, along with the procession of intercollegiate sports to come, keeping all those who participate out of mischief until next summer.
First on the roster is volleyball, one of the all time great sports. Time to get out the sweaty knee pads, the rolls of adhesive tape, and to dust off the orthopedic knee braces so you can survive another season of body punishing jumps, dives, and sideways lurches.
For those that are totally "hooked" on this sport there's a masochistic pleasure in anticipating the new season. During the next three months life becomes volleyball. You live, eat, breathe, and sleep "IT". You postpone dinners with your family to make practices and cancel your social life on weekends so you can play in tournaments, during which you spend the time between games sprawled on a blanket in the corner of some gym trying to catch up on your sleep or school work.
As for the non-aficionados--well, they just can't understand what this sacrificial lifestyle and fuss is all about. After all, just about everyone has played volleyball at some time or another, be it in someone's back yard, at aunt Thelma's picnic, or on the beach at O.C. What's the big deal? It's just a fun way to spend the afternoon between hot dogs and cold beers. It may even occur to you that it's a pretty good way to warm up for the upcoming basketball season -- as you reach up and slam-dunk another ball straight down the other side of the net...

It is a documented fact that volleyball is the number one recreational sport in the U.S. More people participate in it than in any other sport. Obviously, these statistics refer strictly to quantity, not quality, but none of the "real" players would touch that topic with a ten foot pole when asked to play in a game or two during an outing. They just walk away mumbling something about "jungle ball", "killer instincts", and no rules. Such party poopers!...

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, a student at Springfield College and physical director of the Y.M.C.A. at Holyoke, Massachusetts. He sensed a need for an indoor game that would be competitive without being antagonistic. A game that would be relaxing and yet provide some exercise for the growing numbers of middle aged business men taking classes at the "Y". Basketball seemed too strenuous, and tennis required too much specialized equipment.
So Morgan stretched tennis net across the gymnasium to the height of six feet six inches, took out the bladder from a basketball and made a start.

Originally Morgan named the game "Minonette", but as he experimented with it the players "volleyed" the ball back and forth across the net and the name was thus changed to Volley Ball. It was a crude beginning, and years passed before the game was recognized as it should have been.

At first the game was restricted in acceptance to the territory around Holyoke. As it grew in popularity it spread across the world, mainly through the many Y.M.C.A.'s (which had control over the sport until 1928 when the United Stated Volleyball Association --U.S. V .B. A-- was organized), and the United States Armed Forces.
Surprisingly, many of the original rules are still on the books today. Others seem humorously obsolete.

It wasn't enough that the sport started with a tennis net and the insides of a basketball--it also had nine "innings"!
In the beginning, any number of people could play on a team, even as few as one or two. An inning was completed when each player on both teams had had his turn at service. If a team consisted of more than three players, an inning could not exceed three persons serving on either side. As an example, in today's game of "doubles", an inning would be completed when all four players had had their turn at service.

What is known today as the "attack line" (or ten foot line) was then four feet from the net and was known as the "Dribbling Line", A player could "carry" the ball by continuously bouncing (or "dribbling") it between his hands as long as he did not cross the Dribbling Line while doing so. This rule was in effect until 1916, when two consecutive contacts by the player on the ball was prohibited.

Another outdated rule allowed each player two tries at the service (as in tennis), and a serve headed for the net could be legally "assisted over" by a team mate, This last rule was still in effect during the early sixties, when volleyball had, more or less, become the great rainy day activity for girls in high school gym classes. Twenty kids on each side of the net spent the period pitty-pattying the ball around until the bell rang, Ugh!!! It makes me shudder at the memory of it all!

Even though volleyball was invented in the United States, it has never quite enjoyed the same status as other, more popular spectator sports. In this country it is still thought of as primarily a recreational activity, an identity it continues to have trouble shaking.
Outside the U.S. countries such as Russia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Korea, and Japan were instrumental in making it a major, competitive sport and as a result the game began to change.

In 1957 volleyball was designated an official Olympic team sport. In 1964 it took a monumental step forward when it was adopted as such and included in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Widely publicized, along with the Japanese women's team, it provided the U.S. their first opportunity to see it as a highly organized, competitive sport.

It has never been the same since!!!

Several new skills were introduced into the game by the Japanese team during the Olympics, skills that today have become an integral part of the game. The complex offense and defense strategies, the dives and rolls on the floor, the "short set" (now
called the "two-ball"), and above all the "BUMP". Today, it is hard to even imagine the game of volleyball without the "bump"!
Another strategic maneuver, the "dink", appeared as recently as the early to
mid-seventies. The mid-eighties have brought us the "pancake"--the latest addition to the ever evolving game of volleyball.

By now you may just be wondering how did they play the ball back then? Why, the players "volleyed" it, of course! They also fisted it, palmed it open-handedly, and kicked it. Playing the ball below the waist was legal well into the mid sixties.

One of the strangest practices during this same era was "screening the serve". As a player went back to serve, the remaining five team members lined up in front of the server, arms raised and waving, in order to distract the opposition and conceal the trajectory of the ball from the receiving team. As soon as the ball was hit, everyone quickly scrambled back to their positions on the court. This maneuver had it's drawbacks, though, for often the server could not see where he or she was serving the ball either.
Sometime during the sixties it was also permissible for the team to loudly clap their hands on serve receive so that the referee would not hear a possible double hit or detect a "held ball".

Many rules and skills have come and gone since, as have experimentation with the net, the ball, the court size, etc.. At least one can say that the game of volleyball is never static or dull. It is a constantly changing and growing sport.

Today volleyball enjoys quite a different status. It is televised, advertised, and commercialized. It has emerged as one of the most sophisticated and complex team sport in history. One of the most difficult sports to officiate, it is a game of judgment calls and split-second decisions on the part of the referee, making it an exciting and involved spectator sport.

This game, born in the U.S.A, has come full circle. In 1988 the men's volleyball team brought home the gold medal from the Summer Olympic Games held in Seoul, Korea.
Volleyball!--You've come a long way, baby!

*************************************************************************


***I hereby give permission to anyone who would like to copy or print out this article.
You may do so--as long as you give proper credit to:

1--The Author (Gita Veskimets) -

2--Where it was published: The "Essex Community College’s" student Newspaper
“The Montage”

3--When it was published: September 7, 1989

Gita Veskimets

Very well written, Gita... I'm impressed with your writing skills and knowledge of the game. I never could master the "pancake" btw. Maybe you can teach this middle aged dog an old trick. :)

Gita, that was a really interesting article... and I'm not a Vball player! < =D
Hey Sweetie, it wasn't the "How" that I needed help with, when it comes to digging up and moving the Irises, it was the "When"... and whether or not "Now"(ish) would be ok. I think that bit of conversation was here in this thread, don't remember, but I think Sally and David 'splained it to me; that August would be alright, or a bit later nearer to Fall. I'm thinking more like Fall now too; when that Laurel in that bed is more like dormant.

Those are really great pics of you up there G., but I have to admit (and please forgive me for saying so), but I think you are MUCH prettier now. :)

Thanks, Cam!
I relied on records and a book to research many of these facts on the game.
My (our) very first coach in the 50's was a man named Whitey Freeburger.
He was a compulsive record-keeper and had an album full of team pictures
from all through the years. His records were a big help to me in writing this article.

He was a legend! A diehard optimist that "You can!"....He made V-Ball what it was
in this area. He was the first, still living, man after whom a Tournament was named.

I just found out (yesterday) that he passed away a couple of years ago at age 91.
Ran into a woman at the HD yesterday that was my team-mate in the 50's who
told me of his passing.
Yes! he was still playing V-ball at a local Sr. Center League.

He lived alone in a trailer park. I hope his records and albums were passed on
to someone to archive and for safe-keeping.


Baltimore "Y" Team--1970. Whitey Freeburger is #3 in the front row.

OK! lets get back to the topic on hand. My apologies--again.
Hmmm--does relevancy require an apology?

Very interesting, Gita ! He sounds like a great man and 91 and still active... incredible !