Seed Snatchin' V... Show Us Your Stash!

Sorry 8ft, I was typing when you were. Have you ever taken filter media from one of your other tanks and squeezed it out into the filter of a new tank? That's what we used to do to jump start our biofilters in new tanks. Actually, that's one of the reasons why we keep that aquarium in the house other than that we are attached to the fish in there. We use the filter mediums from both of the filters in that tank to jump start our biofilters to the ponds outside. I don't particularly care for bottled bacteria and besides which, it is expensive at $15 a bottle. How "live" can bottled bacteria be when it gets shipped in all types of temps then sits on a shelf indefinitely before being sold? I've used the bottled bacteria as there are people who swear by it but it never did anything for me. What do you plan on doing with your 3 sacrificial lambs if they make it? I have a little 10 gallon tank that we set up for the kids from time to time and we generally add little fan tails. If you don't want yours after you're done with them, I'll take them and set up the little tank and then next spring I'll place them outside in a 30 gallon reflection pool. The best way to describe this pool is that it is very small and in the shape of a semi circle that fits snugly against a wall and there is a small fountain that feeds it. Rather simplistic but attractive. The water circulates well in it oddly enough and it is in an enclosed area so raccoons wouldn't be able to get to any fish in it.

Oh, I don't pet my beta. Too afraid I'll inadvertently remove some of his protective slime coating. I do put my face close to his little clear glass mini vase looking home and he comes right over to stare back at me. Does that count for anything?

Hi WZ, High cranberrry bush! Yum yum! That's a beautiful plant and it has such nice flowers in the spring as well as that fruit that stands out so well against bright white snow. And don't get overly impressed about my snitchin... I had already rung their doorbell once to ask permission as I am a chicken liver. I jumped and jumped and couldn't reach the seed. Then I took my step stool out of the trunk and I still couldn't reach the seed. I wanted that seed for somebody so I had to go back and ring the doorbell again to ask him to "snitch" his own seed for me as I am only a few inches over 5'. He looked down at me and told me to give him a second and that he'd go get a jacket and be right out. He told me to step in and wait for him. I did. While we were out there he told me his wife liked the tree very much and asked me to tell him how to get the seed to grow. I did. Kinda cool. I had a few Wendy's salad containers in the car that I had already filled with germinating medium so I gave him two while he put my step stool in the back seat and asked me if I did this all the time. My comment was that the step stool served a higher purpose and he didn't ask and I didn't offer.

That's pretty funny Equi, indeed, I can just see it now, "can you help me steal your seeds please, Oh sure I'll be right out", he probably tought this lady is nuts, I better do as she said, god knows what else she may want me to steal next, LOL LOL LOL,

Ya, I felt stupid but I knew he was real tall from having rung the doorbell the first time so I figured what the heck, couldn't hurt to ask. Stroke of luck was that I had drilled drain holes in those Wendy's salad containers and had just filled up 10 to take over to give to a friend. I was so glad I had those in the car as he had been so gracious and accommodating and had interrupted his dinner to come out and snitch the seed for me. I was glad to give him two that were already pre-drilled and filled with soil so he could try his hand at germinating his own seed for his wife.

Can someone please stop this rain? when you need water it is not here and when you get it it to much?

I must not be praying too the right god?

Equil - I don't believe in the starter bacteria either and have never tried it. I'm also big on robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. On 20g tanks and up I've always got two Whispers running. So I'll take a filter from an established tank and put on the new one. Or, if not in a hurry, I'll hang a new filter on an established tank for awhile. Another trick is taking a couple handfuls of gravel from an established tank. In this case, the old 55 had that indestructible red algae and the thought of trasferring it to the new tank is driving me nuts. But I did move the two Whisper 3's from the old tank. Just wrung out the sponge bio and put new filter pouches on. Of course I pile in the charcoal in the filter for a new tank because of the daily water changes. Last night I added silver dollars, albino corys, a sydontis eupterus and another clown loach. I'll probably move grandpa and that reclusive pleco over this weekend.

Go ahead, rub that little beta on the head. They think they're dogs or a good cat!!

Dyson, I just checked http://www.wunderground.com/US/VA/ and it looks like you are in soup. lol

I'm printing up post cards with my name and phone number on them and when I pass a house with Brugs, I am going to address them and drop them in the mail.
My request will be,

Hi, I noticed you have a lovely Brugmansia growing in your yard.
I am a novice to these plants, but understand they can be started with cuttings.
I would be very grateful to have a cutting or two from your lovely plant to add to my collection.
When and if you prune it, please give me a call.

Yours in the garden, Ms Sidney, Phone #

I applaud Equi's spunk. I also love helping the shorter people of the world, I'm 5'11", so I share that gift when I can.

This message was edited Dec 10, 2004 12:45 PM

8ft, nice tank and great water clarity! I love the natural river bed style of gravel you used as well as the other accents in the tank.

Hey Sidney! I have done that with the note in the mail box asking for Ilex opaca and I got phone calls! Not that I was able to get the cuttings to root... but they told me to stop over any time and take cuttings. So I say go for it and drop your notes off at those homes! Ah hem... can you come up my way? We could put your height to use around here most assuredly.

Hey???? Where did everyone go, are u all just too busy with the Holidays, I thought for sure someone would be dumpster diving, seed snatching, gettin on the bus, sigh....... Annie

Wish I had something to share Annie!!! Other than beggin my DH to please put pine straw bales on my EE's so they won't die I haven't done a THING!!! Still here though!! Just not quite as much..

Nicole

LOL, guess everyone must be too busy with the Holidays, So you all have a Warm and Cozy wonderful Holiday!!!!!! I miss you guys, Annie

Hi, Annie
I got sidetracked making my Xmas cards, and now I am fighting the mail merge address label battle. Man, I go through this every year! I've followed enough tutorials to be my own Video Professor, but the data just doesn't seem to merge! I've got GW helping me, but I'm still clueless as to why it isn't working. I may just hand address all 80 cards. It has to be easier! LOL!

Good to see the 2 of you, SMILE!!!!!!!

If you come up here and help me with my labels, I'll let you take the snow shovel out in the yard and look for seeds! LOL!

Very funny Weez, 1st I'd have to get me some really warm socks so my tootsies would not freeze and a pair of heavy duty and really warm insulated snowshoes, lol lol, helping you out in the house would be fine as long as you have some Hot toddy to drink and keep my hands warm!!!!!! I'm cold here as it is! The heater is on 71, and my fingers are still cold, lol

My heater is set for 70, and I've got a window open!

Well my tootsies are cold and I'm playing "Clean sweep". It's about living in 2 different Zones and working in 3 or 4 different zones and being a clothes hound. I had to take a break, so thought I'd check in with my divin buddies.
This is like divin without leaving home. If you can't find what you need when you need it, then you really don't have it. So I have found Ashley. He's a young handyman in the back yard who has unloaded everything off the back porch. He is lining up my hard hats like trophies, not really something I would do, but can't step on his enthusiasim. I'll have all my gardening goodies where I can just become a "cutting factory". Traveling for 27 years does scatter one abit, and I am just charged up at having this organization.

Sugar, send him my way when he's done with you!!!!!!!! LOL LOL, I need some organization around here, that's for sure. all my seeds, packs, boxes and other containers are taking up a large corner of my dining-room, for Hannukah I told my guest, sorry, but to difficult to move this stuff out of the way, I would just clutter up another corner, lol!
Weez, the walls in this house have NO insulation, a huge project that we're not ready to handle, We need to remove the Redwood siding, stuff, replace, repaint, major project! Also, We really don't have an attic, very very narrow between ceiling and roof, no insulation there! We're on a cement floor, NO basement, hardly any padding under the carpet, so you can imagine projects we have in store to do, lol, this home is very sturdy, built well, completely out of Redwood, built in 1954 by Designer Cliff May & Architect Chris Choate, you can find them online! Kinda like Eichler's design, they were very well known Modern designers for their times mainly in the WestCoast, but the builder must not have used any insulation from what neighbors have told me, so no matter how much we try to heat it, it's cold! There were no curtains when We moved in, now we have window coverings on most window, and windows in this home is what the design is all about, in each room there are at least 2 walls covered ceiling to floor in windows and glass doors, great design concept, but???? Also we had no A/C, so we just put in a completely new A/C-Heater, We're tearing out our kitchen right now, yuk, getting ready for remodeling, i love it up here in Northern California, but I miss our BIG home down South so much, lol

No kitchen, wow what fun, are you running away from home? I would. You could come visit me and sort and sort and sort.

LOL, so far we've taken down 2 small walls, galley kitchen so narrow, entrance on one side of it had really small opening, could not see the dining room, now get a lot of light, have to take out major wall, move appliances etc, probably not till mid year!! We've done so much outside this year, we need a break, but come spring, watch our, LOL

My kitchen is 6' wide and 11' long. when I first got here, the refrigerator was on the right as I walked in. I moved the rear of the refrig to the dinning room in a doorway so it opens into the kitchen. I then cut a 38" x 38" hole between the kitchen and dining room. found a scrap of double bull edged countertop and made a breakfast bar. I painted the 1970's paneling white and all the other things in this photo. Excuse the clutter, we're sorting.

Cute kitchen, looks like you have a kitchen table in there, I've had to store 1 table, only have a dining room here, a shame, the house had small furniture when We moved in, and silly me, I thought all would fit, WRONG!
Tore out the green wall

He did it hurrah

before!

hopefully close to this after, LOL, and so I pray!!!!

hanna1, I feel your frustration. Our house has been under renovation for well over a year.

After my DH built a new shed out back (12 x 16 w/ a loft) a large portion of our furniture was moved into it.

First the main bath was gutted and completely rebuilt. (You should have seen us in the garage trying to figure out how to use the router's fluting bit on a rather pricie piece of oak.... and it's replacement...)

Next came the painting of 1/2 the interior.

Next was a partial changing of things in the kitchen so I can tell if I liked the new arrangement. (My stove and frige have swapped places; the dishwasher was moved to a more intelligent location and now holds up a large portion of counter.) I have no more drawers in my kitchen, but I do have LOTS of plastic boxes. But, I must admit, it is a much more useable layout.

Next my washer and dryer went to totally new area of the house and my office became the dining room.

Now the room we used as the dining room and the master bedroom and bath are under construction to make way for a new hallway, a new heat pump & air handler and set-up, 4 new utility closets and a master suite. The closets and central air are done. It will be soooo nice to have my bedroom back and get to use the new closet ....

From there the back porch will become a sunroom and, finally, my kitchen will get a complete overhaul.

Add to that my DH, who's doing all the above work, is also painting the the outside.

LOL, Ya, We just got done with a complete redo of out Patio (Atrium) inside the L shape of our house, new Redwood decking, new Spa, new pergula, but before that, We had to put in drainage all around the house, that alone took 4 months, so our vacation this year was a whole 4 days to go down south to Orange County to see my Grandkids and my aging Dad, looks like we'll be at this for at least the next 2 years!

Wow that looks great Hanna, I think a lot of those "almost walls beg to come down. Where did that building trend begin?
Hanna, that's the dinning room side of my breakfast bar. I can almost see the end of my major overhauls here. The lovered doors hide the rear of the refrig.
Donna, you have really been busy too, where are your pictures?

Well We will get to show off Laaater, lol, homes up here cost soooo much, so We just could'nt afford anything close to what we had before, but WE LOVE IT HERE, I like the people in our town, pretty laid back community. No real hurry on the road till you get close to Berkeley and there they must all be from the East Coast, no offense meant to anyone, as my Kenny is from NewYork, they are all in such a hurry, pass you on the left/ right, you name it, craaazy, not too many Hippies left there, they all turned in to complete Yuppies, but the restaurants there are to die for, cause this sleepy little town has NOTHING to offer, just one Main street, the BOULEVARD, want to know directions they tell you via the BOULEVARD, LOL LOL, no mall, no anything, mainly Mom and Pop, and people talk to you in the grocery store, they even remember you, have never lived like this, and I am so so happy!!!!!

Sounds just great.Sidney

99.99% of my pictures are before, demolition and construction -things nobody would be interested in other than us.

This is pic #1 - the new dining area.

(Note: 1) Since we'll be moving once everything is done nothing is going back on the walls; 2) the new floor coverings will be installed once we move out)

Pic #2 - my sweetie hard at work.

dstartz, you mean after you're done with all that you're gonna move?????
Dining room looks great, your sweetie is definately hard at work there, lol
Sugar, your kitchen looks great also, we're going to do an eating bar, since I don't like to eat all the time at my dining-room table!

We moved into this house 15 years ago and raised 3 children through their teenage years. Now it's just my DH and I and we want back out in the country.

Unfortunately during those 15 years I fought cancer and it's effects for more than 7 years. Then my DH burned his lungs and became permanantly disabled 5 years ago due to a hydroflouric acid release at the refinery. So the house has taken a backseat through most of the years we've been here.

To maximize our profit from the sale of the house we decided to do more than the simple cosmetic updating. Thus all the remodeling/updating.

Two other pay offs - we now understand all the better what we really want in our future home and all the work has been an opportunity for my DH to realize he is really quite good at doing cabinet and finishing work. Once we're moved he will be able to build our new home with a self-confidence and skill that money just cannot buy.

Annie, Sidney, and Donna - thanks for the photos! I really enjoyed seeing parts or your lives! Some amazing work being done!!! One of these days I want to tackle projects similar and these are just inspiring. Course I figure if I want to get the couple of acres I want I will probably have to live in a tent to do it! LOL

Thanks!!!

ncg, you realize we are all old enough that we have, or could (in my case) have Grandkids. Don't skip any of the fun of making where ever you live "yours" even in minor ways.

:)

Dstartz, my, you guys have been thru a lot! I went thru breast Cancer, i do understand, and your poor husband, what an awful thing to have gone thru as well, my gosh. Well I wish you both good health for the coming years, that you may finish this home in a hurry and start building your little dream!

Well it's january, and all thru the house not a mouse was stirring, I went outside and it was raining, dratz, but low and behold, stuff still a blooming, I smile and think back of snatching, of Spring and Summer, the bulbs coming, most are up now a little too early but hey gives me a glow and I think back of the bus full of laughter and chatter and the dogs slobering on me for a cookie, the dumsters chuck full of plants thrown away wasted and saved by the gang. I sigh....and again I smile, think I'll go for a walk for all times sake, a little sad now, and see if there's something to snatch. Guess what I did it, I did it, for real I did it, brought it home, Yogi just had to have a bite! little dots on the stem bottom ready to root, a double yellow, oh I feel good! Happy New Year to all of YOU Dumpster Diving Devas, (smiles-smile) Annie

And another shot for I'm so happy, the only thing missing is YOU to see and share in my happiness, sigh

That's awesome, Annie! How did you get this one?