Coffee and.... For Wednesday Nov. 9, 2005

Here's the daily...continued from
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/555894/

~julie~
P.S. Sorry about that. :-D

Morning Julie, ya goof, lol!

come play in chat for a bit?

yahoo. going there now

Good morning. It's chilly out there this morning, 18 degrees. It will be a while before the sun warms it up enough to get much done. I didn't get any of the dahlias dug up yesterday, but the ground will only be frozen on the surface so they should be ok. They're definitely through for the season however. I really enjoyed the ones I could see from the dining room windows next to the rail fence. If I dared to leave them in the ground I would try that but I think it is too risky as we often get below 0 temps for a few days each winter. I looked in my picture file for the picture I thought I took of them but maybe it is still in the camera??

Carol(DR), or anybody else who grows dahlias, do you treat your dahlia tubers with anything before storing them away? Give us the step by step please, I do have some peat moss to store them in and was thinking of getting some small boxes, writing the color and other information on each box, and pack them in damp peat. Do I need to let them dry first? For now I think I will put newspaper on the shop floor and let them sit there for a few days.

Ok, 101, tell us what sweet tea is. Oh, and by the way, I do like your name especially when you told us about what it means, so I hope you keep it. It's easy to remember and easy to type.

Have a great day everybody, count your blessings.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know...I screwed up royally with today's thread. LOL Guess that'll teach me to make POSITIVE of which forum I have open when I start the Daily. :-D

Oh well...accidents *happen*!

It's blustery here today...high winds, but we do have sunshine. It's beginning to sound like winter out there.

Thanks again to all wished me and DH a Happy Anniversary. It was a quiet day, for the most part...nothing special. But DH *did* go to the hardware store and bring me back a heated Birdbath. That was a very *good* surprise. He also told me a story that kind of scared me about using it. He said one of the salespeople told him that one their neighbors has a birdbath exactly like the one he bought. And that it's so funny during the winter to see the birds take a bath, fly up to the shrubs/trees and while they're waiting to dry off, the water on the wings freezes! (I didn't think it was funny at all!)

Any suggestions on how to provide water for them to drink without putting them at risk from attacks by cats, etc.?


Mary, I'll have to dig up the site for a very interesting technique for storing dahlia tubers. It came from a northern grower, if I'm not mistaken, and they had experimented with storing their dahlia wrapped in plastic wrap. I know! It sounds very *dangerous* but they experiemented with a small percentage of their crop the first year...a larger portion the following. In the end, that's the way they store ALL their tubers...and it's extremely sucessful. I'll go find the link right now.


~julie~

OK...here's an excerpt from the article...

Good morning........I missed chat last night. :-( I've got a killer headache this morning. Migraine-like. I haven't had one of those in years.

Yahoo chat? I haven't done that in awhile, either!

Well, it just isn't my day! I typed a nice long message ... told everyone hello and explained what sweet tea was and POOF! I don't see it anywhere! ;)
What's yahoo chat? Y'all are using terms I don't know. back door ... yahoo chat ... awwwww now how can I keep up with y'all!:)
... Elaine

I used to go to Yahoo! chat stockwatch and made some friends there. We met in Memphis for a blues festival one year. Then Yahoo got more and more difficult to use and finally, I just gave up. I miss my friends there.
I went to the chat at around 10 a.m. and it is not working again.
We have company coming from the coast (Wilmington, NC). He is my spousal unit's double-first cousin (a brother & sister in one family married a sister & brother in another family).
They're coming up briefly and then we are going back to town and pick up more windows at a thrift shop for our greenhouse construction and then going out to eat at a Chinese Restaurant. It's called Twin Pandas Grand Buffet. I hope they have frog legs.
"Sweet Tea" is actually just iced tea sweetened with sugar rather than plain or with an artificial sweetner.

10l, on the homepage, usually Tuesday nights and Thursday mornings, you will see a box to click on that says Live Chat. That way we can talk in real time. It didn't work Tuesday so Dave tried again this morning. However, it seemed to be working early (I went there and my name came up that I had just logged in), but no one was there yet. Later I tried and it wasn't working again. I don't know about the "back door" either. Someone please explain?

Read S L O W E R, Elaine....we'll still be here when you catch up. hehehe (I don't know what half of those terms mean, either.)

I'm smiling to myself here. Elaine, I can't imagine having to LISTEN to all the gabbing that goes on in chat. I have a hard enough time trying to read it fast enough to understand what's going on and who's talking to who. :-)

Kylee...hope that headache doesn't stick around very long. They're miserable!

~julie~

Yes, you're right about the sweet tea. The only difference is ... it's on the menu in the south. Whenever I travel out of the south ... you order your tea and the sugar is on the table. It never tastes the same. The sugar doesn't mix after the tea is cold with ice. Also, here in the south, we like our tea strong and sweet. When I make tea ... I steep it all day and then mix it up. If you mix it up while it's hot ... it's watered down. Now I'm not talking about anyone's tea fixing habits. Just zplaining "sweet tea" ones in the south! :)

Mary, your idea on using the peat moss is fine. I just dig the tubers, dunk them in a bucket of water to wash off the soil, let them dry for a day or so like in the garage (no-freezing area) laying like in flats or whatever you want, then I also label them and lay them in my boxes with sawdust. I use sawdust and others use peat moss. Joann (Lenjo) uses peat moss. I am too cheap to buy it and I get free sawdust from the cabinet shops. It works great for me. I layer the tubers in the cardboard boxes and put above my garage. It keeps them like in the 40-50 degree range. Once it gets warmer there, I bring them down. I check on them ever so often thru the winter to see how they are doing, if not rotting or drying up. You can cut them whenever you want, now or in the spring. The clumps of tubers can be huge so.... It is your choice on when to divide. You take a chance on no eye later but.... You can have more storage space.
As Julie says, more people are using the saran wrap method. I may try that with some extra tubers this year.
At least some of you guys got into the Chat Room. My dad's computer doesn't have Java so no chat for me. He doesn't want me to download it so....
Later, Carol (DR)

HI Betty! I missed your post before...muct have been typing at the same time. :-)

Carol (DR) I'm glad to hear that you *might* try the plastic wrap storage method. Since I don't have all that many dahlias to store this year, I'm actually going to experiement with a some of my cannas. The worst that can happen is they'll rot. LOL

~julie~

Thank you for that link, Julie, it sure looks like a simple way to store them. I'll have to see if I can find some of that sulfur next time I go to town.

And Carol, thanks for telling me what you do, too. I might try some of both methods.

This message was edited Nov 9, 2005 7:55 AM

Morning, all! I also posted a message that seems to be gone. Don't know what happened.

M5 - got my book today! Thank you, thank you. It really has some good recipes in it. I'm going shopping today for ingredients to make soup; haven't decided which one yet. Will get a money order out to you tomorrow.

Elaine - can you tell me exactly how you make your sweet tea? How many tea bags, how much water, etc. I like my tea sweet and strong, too, so I'd like to give it a try. About chat...were you asking what it is, or just what they meant by "yahoo chat?" Another question for you...how much do our spelling errors throw off you computer reader?

Woodspirit - I also have double-cousin's. A cousin on mom's side married a cousin on my dad's side. It always raises eyebrows when I introduce them as my "double-cousin's."

Mary - weren't you having really warm temps just a few days ago? It's been warm here, but today is really windy and expecting a high in upper 50's. I have bulbs to plant, so I hope the wind slows down.

Julie - you have so many threads/posts to keep up with I'm surprised it took this long to dislocate the Coffee thread! LOL How do you keep up with everything?

~~~And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
~Abraham Lincoln~~~

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Jody

This message was edited Nov 9, 2005 10:03 AM

Morning all!

I just dragged myself out of chat and I'm on the way to the couch with the heating pad. I'm still waiting to hear the results from monday's MRI, grrrr. As soon as I hear anything I'll let you all know.

I have Nathan's conference and IEP meeting at 230 so I have to plan my meds carefully today so I can be alert, lol. The kids are out thurs and fri, so I'll prolly not be on much, no SOS's ok?

Enjoy your day!

Oh Jody ... Your typo's don't mess me up anymore than my own! LOL The worse thing is how it's ruined my spelling. I type how words sound now, instead of how they are supposed to be spelled. As far as my tea, I use 2 family teabags to one of those Tupperware pitchures. It's just a wee bit over 2 qts., I think. I use between 1/2 and 3/4 sugar. Of course when company's not coming I use Splenda ... when company's coming ... I cheat and use half/half. They never seem to know! LOL Shhhhh! ;)
Judy, you're right. I don't know if I could keep up with chat or not. Just keeping up with all y'all now is a challange!

Mary, you're very Welcome. Hope it helps a little.

And Jody...I was thinking of asking Elaine the same question. I made a couple of typos when I was responding to her and it dawned on me, too. What *do* you hear when we make spelling mistakes...is it really confusing for you? I sure hope not.

Gayle...I'm be glad when that PITA is no longer a PITA. (I'd tell you what I was thinking about adding to that comment butt I don't think it was appropriate. hehehe I was wondering if we could come up with one of those 'stick on' heating pads so it could be applied directly to your painful area. Something along the lines of ...nevermind. ;-))

~julie~

Elaine...we were posting at the same time! LOL
And I wish you wouldn't worry about trying to keep up with this thread. It's just delightful having you with us!

Jody...~grin~ Obviously, I'm *not* too good at keeping things straight. I have to remember to keep the new Daily thread in the UMW forum named differently from here. I'm getting confused when I open my home page and see TWO "Coffee and..." threads today. LOL

~julie~

Y'all don't forget that this computer of mine is using English phanetic rules to go by! Soooo, with that said ... just know that a little typo doesn't bother me. LOL If it's a word that is pronounced over and over wrong, then I can go into the config files and change the way it's pronounced. For instance ... names and places in the Bible are often spoken incorrectly. All in all, it does a fantastic job.
Oh as far as chat goes ... I was just mainly curious about chat. I have no idea if I can even do that or not

double cousins are not related the same way double FIRST cousins are which is where both of the cousins have parents who are brothers and/or sisters to each other. Genetically, they are more closely related than an average brother or sister are. That's because they have the same grandparents on BOTH sides. (my spousal unit had 3 brothers who were double-first cousins and I had one and none of us is reatearded).

chat is wildly hectic, posts going up every few seconds if there are several people there. It's often hard to find who is replying to whom and if you don't look fast, it has scrolled away. There are many people on DG that find it too fast and confusing.

Sorry to say, I can not keep up with two threads, have know idea where I am at :-((

Just had my favorite breakfast, grits and eggs, (grits compliments of 101, thanks again!) and tidied up the guest/spare room which was a disaster. Still running around in my jammies and bare feet but not planning to go anywhere so I don't care. Wind is howling, still!!

Now I'm curious about what 101s computer speaker does when we use cuss words with dollar signs and such as fill ins!!

I'm familiar with sweet tea, as I make it in summer for DH. But, I have been putting the sugar in first, then the tea bags and hot water and it seems o.k. and the sugar dissolves nicely. If you don't stir it up, the sugar sits on the bottom and doesn't interfere with the tea bags steeping. Then you can stir it up later.

Need to toss the cut mums I've had inside, they are looking pretty dead. I still have some rose buds trying to open...maybe I'll rescue them, and bring in some more fresh mums before the wind blows them away.

Back to neglected housework. Nose prints on the windows from kitty gazing. They love to watch the birds but absolutely must put their noses right up to the glass.

Maria...if you have both of them on your watch list, just go in the one on the UMW forum and UNwatch it. There's not that much going on over there anyway. And I don't want you to miss the happenings here. :-)

~julie~

Sheila!! LOOK at the stems BEFORE you toss them! They might be making new plants for you!

~julie~

Sheila...Here's a link to a thread I started over in the UMW about growing Mums in our region. I'd sure like to have you come over and lend a hand by telling us your method of keeping mums through the winter.

~julie~

P.S. Yes...I'm sticking pretty close to the computer this morning. I made the mistake...and now I want to be sure everyone is in the right thread. (Sorry for the confusion...honestly!)

WS - I wondered if that's what you meant about your DH's double-cousins. I didn't think it was legal for first cousins to marry anymore, or is that only in certain states? It's always interesting when lines cross on a genealogy chart!

Jody

Maria - this is the original "Coffee and..." thread. Julie will be changing the name of the other Coffee thread tomorrow.

meezersfive, when I make my tea, I put the teabags in my teapot ... fill it up with water and do it in the microwave. Some people do it on top of the stove. I use to, but am lazy now. I just leave it there to steep and then pour it up, add the sugar and finish filling up the tea pitcher. Stir and there you have sweet tea. That's how I do mine. I'm sure others have their own special way.
Well, if you talk bad ... then you are guilty of making my computer say bad things! :) Sometimes it's all I can do not to fall off my chair! The DH thinks I'm crazy. He hears me in here laughing at myself. Actually, I'm laughing at y'all ... but he doesn't know that! :) If you put D$$*$ then that's what I hear. LOL

It's still cold outside, up to about 25 now, we got so much frost it almost looked like snow but now the sun has warmed up the roof enough so that it is dripping, so that is progress. I was out feeding the horses, adding stuff to the compost pile and deciding how I want to do other things once I do get outside to stay. Just now I am having breakfast (oatmeal) and getting some meat browned to go in the crockpot with vegies to cook while I spend the day outside. I forget to use the crockpot much since it sits on a shelf in the basement most of the time, out of sight out of mind.

I checked into the chat a while ago and there were about 8-10 people in there, too busy for me to keep up. I do ok with 2 or 3 but any more than that I am lost.

Okay, I am not in any condition right now to try and mention each person in type. Had some pretty bad pain early and took a pain pill, WOW am I painless, feelingless too. But know you are all in heart. I do need to ask Woodspirit1 exactly what is a spousal unit???? Can you unplug her or him? Does he or she have attachments like my vacuum unit?? I read that and my creative mind goes out for a bit..... Please do explain....

Hi MaryE ... sounds like we might be having the same thing? I'm making stew ... what about you? I'd love to come pet your horses. Use to ride when I was growing up. Haven't been on one in a while.
Well, I don't think I'd like chat. Sounds waaaay too busy for me. :)

Hey! I haven't been on since last evening and it took almost my whole lunch time to catch up reading.

l01 - I love what your name stands for. I had been wondering what it could be.

Woodspirit - Hope you keep adding pictures of the greenhouse as it goes up. I am very jelouse. Looks like a nice size.

This is the first year I have planted dahlias. I'm glad to hear all your comments on about how to store them. I hope I can make mine last until next year. I really like them.

I can't comment on all I have just read, sorry. Everyone have a good afternoon!

CARAT, sorry you are still feeling bad today. Am saying prayers you'll soon feel much better. SusieQ ... we have a lot in common. I think you might have my name? I, too am interested in the spousal unit thingie ... Woodspirit1. I'd sure like to take mine apart every now and then! :-D
... SE

Elaine - at first I thought maybe you were originally from Iowa as in "Iowan!" Thanks for telling me how you make sweet tea, but please don't tell me you heat your tea water in the microwave! Yuck!!!

Well, sorry ... but I confess to doing that. Started it back when I used loose tea as it would always cook over on the stove. If you do it in the microwave, you don't have to worry about that. The microwave shuts off when it comes to a boil. Easier for me. ;) Then, I just let it sit there until suppertime ... pour it over add the sugar and fill the pitcher up and that's it!
Oh, I never thought about IO1 being from IO. hahaha Tooooo funny. Never looked at it like that? hehehe

I can never seem to get the water how enough in the microwave and then is has a metallic taste. Weird, huh?