Daily Musings Page 4

It's time for a fresh start again. I've been busy with work and somewhat absent, lol.
I'm working (painting) in a condo that abuts a 6 lane highway only a few hundred feet from the back door. OH the noise!!! I get stressed going out on breaks, lol.
Two units down, there is an old dog that's deaf, the noise doesn't bother him. How do I know it's deaf? I see the owner using sign language with him, so cool.
Is everyone taking advantage of the nice weather to do the Fall clean ups? I have to get out after lunch. Like every thing else, I've let that slip, too.
My Laptop is dying. Now I have to start looking for a replacement. There is no money in the budget for one but what can we do, it has become a necessity, lol.
Andy P

Hi, Andy. Long time no see. You can get pretty good deals depending on what you're looking for. PC's get cheaper all the time. Do you really need a laptop? desktop models are usually cheaper.

I'm still planting bulbs. Did some giant alliums and lilies yesterday, some daffs today. Almost done. And some cleanup/put-away/coverup stuff today.

Switching over to indoor gardening. I have an orchid in bloom for the first time. It's a Potinara name 'Jimmy Cook'

gram

That's a honey, Gram. Nice colors.
Yes, I want another laptop. I enjoy sitting in the yard or kitchen when I'm on-line.
I have a line on some nice used Dells but everybody says to buy new. If I buy new I have to also buy new software. That really jacks up the investment. Adobe PhotoShop alone is $150.
The used ones come with any software I want plus all my files are transfered for free. I don't have a clue how to do that. What to do, what to do....
I cleaned up 3 flower beds this afternoon, it's a start, lol. I still have some Asiatic Lilies 'Lollipop' bulbs to plant. I dug up a big cluster a few weeks ago and established 3 nice new groupings then found I still had enough for another group but no place to put them. Things get awfully crowded.
Andy P

I bought some Lollypop this year. Just planted them yesterday. lots of room here, Andy. If you need planting room you can just scoot over here any time LOL

Do you get licenses on the software that comes with the used machines? I'm a little concerned that you can get any software you want. don't mean to be a stick-in-the-mud, but be careful what you buy. You can buy a refurbished machine from Dell with a warranty. if you currently have Photoshop, you should be able to reinstall it on your new machine. do you know anybody who could help you transfer files & stuff? take a basic computer course or buy a 'dummies' book (excuse the expression). I know you could do this stuff, Andy.

Hey Andy!
You know I certainly haven't liked the cold and early fall here, but is has helped me get everything done in the garden that sometimes gets skipped some years.

Well, my palms have survived thier first test of the year.... It got down to the mid to low 20s the past 4 nights (down to around 20 twice), and thursday and friday, it didn't get above 40, but they're still nice and green. Unfortunately the local rabbits decided to sample some of them for possible emergency wither forage (ate the tips off some of the fronds), so I had to fence off about half with rabbit wire. The rabbits didn't bother the two species native to the US (Needle Palm and Dwarf Palmetto), leading me to believe that even our northerly rabbits might have some latent instincts regarding the inedibility of those two species (the Eastern cottontail's range overlaps that of both these palms)... Might be something to look into. The rabbits also sampled my Camellia and two of my New Zealand Cabbage trees, but appearantly found them not to their liking, since they left all others of those plants alone (I have two varieties of NZ cabbage tree, and only 1 of each type was nibbled on). If those furry buggers keep it up, I might be adding Rabbit to the menu this fall.......

Will they hibernate soon?
Andy, good to hear from you! I think our family is past the point of having only 1 home computer. Used to be that only my DW bothered with it. Now she has to stand in line to get to use her computer. Teenage daughter, game playing 7 yr. old and me with DG have messed her up.
Technology changes quickly. Earlier today I thought about replacing/converting my VHS movies to DVD. Then I thought I may as well wait until the next thing.

When they used to talk about the future to us baby boomers, along with flying cars they predicted a 4 day work week because of all the work that machines would be doing. That was in the context of 1 bread winner families. All the labor saving devices and now most families have a 10 day work week (2 incomes) instead of 4. Something went wrong!

Hikaro, thanks for the update. I'll have to look up your New Zealand cabbage trees. they sound interesting. and you don't have to nibble on the bunnies to know they are edible :0) when my DH used to hunt, the first time he brought home a rabbit, his buddies strapped it to the fender of the car like a deer. wish I had a picture...it was funny. we ate it. I've only seen one rabbit since we moved into this house. it was tail up frozen solid in a snowbank. kind of sad and comical at the same time.

Hi everybody. I went to the opera tonight with my DH courtesy of my DM. It was wonderful. No flowers or plants to report, though. Andy, is this a real frost, that kills all the annuals? (frost vs. hard frost, soft frost, frozen ground?) I'm trying to get the timing right on this digging up the dahlias business.

xxxxx, Carrie

Gram, I planted one Lollipop 5 or 6 years ago and lifted 20 blooming sized 'bulbs'. You'll have plenty of them in no time.
When I bought this old laptop I knew that getting all the software free would leave me 'high & dry' later. No CDs to re-load anything. The software is not 'bootleg', just one legal disk loaded into a bunch of PCs. I'd loose Windows XP Pro and PhotoShop, I have the other stuff. (What's this Windows XP Media Center Edition OS? It comes on a lot of new Laptops.)
H T, no rabbits here. My dog Sarah sees to that, although she has trimmed my Ponytail Palm a few times. LOL
Dave, you reminded me of old times. When I entered the Air Force (1964), I was assigned to computer school. My dad couldn't see any future in that. I figured it was better than getting shot at, lol.
Things sure change fast. A few years ago I edited and copied 5 years worth on dads 8 MM movies down to 1 hour on VHS. I'm skipping DVDs, too. (I have a player) Something like TiVo is right around the corner. Disposable memory chips like on Star Trek. mark my word, lol.
Here's another Burning Bush seed pic.
Andy P

Carrie, Get those Dahlias in NOW. Don't let the ground freeze before you bring them in.
A light frost only nips things.
A frost gets most everything.
A freeze gets into the soil.
Andy P

You guys are right. things change too fast. sometimes it pays to be a little behind the times. I skipped 8-track altogether :0)

Andy, I know I've told you about my DH's AF experience. I also had a boss who was in computers in the army. spent his Vietnam hitch in Saigon in an air-conditioned computer room. if you ask him about the war he'll tell you he had fun. bet you won't hear that from too many Viet Nam vets. and your dad couldn't see any future in it LOL it IS the future, like it or not.

keep those great fall pics coming, Andy. make a decision on the 'puter before it give up altogether. we need you.

Carrie, sounds like a great evening. you're allowed to forget about gardening for a while

say, Hikaro, there's nothing listed in PlantFiles under New Zealand cabbage tree. I'm guessing cordyline australis?

Here's Sat. morning's sunrise.

It looks like we are done with bugs for the season so I assembled the first insect PhotoShow, "Predators". It's the longest one yet with 42 pics, runs for almost 5 minutes. You can view it along with the others here http://photoshow.comcast.net/fantasyfinishes/ Click on the Praying Mantis.
Andy P

No real sunset...just the moon peeking out.

Sat. night's moon.....

Nice shots, Pixie.

Thanks Andy, now i'm going to go check out those predators!

I'll be back for predators tomorrow...gotta get some sleep. I have no sense, but DH tells me that I need to go to bed because I have to work tomorrow and HE has sense so I listen LOL

nighty-night

gram

Piixie,
Incredible sunrise!! Looks like a trifle!
See you at Andy's predators.

Sounds like a good idea to me, Gram. I'm done too.
Pleasant dreams.
Andy P

Great work Andy!!

Dave: The local rabbits, around here at least, don't hibernate during the winter... I often see them out late on moonlit nights during the winter... PA even has a late small-game season that starts in January that covers rabbits and squirrels.

Gram: Yes, the NZ Cabbage Trees are Cordyline australis, one of, if not THE hardiest member of that genus.... I actually confirmed (in addition to my own observation of people with ones in containers that "almost" survived the winters here) that one couple who goes to our church actually have two C. australis that they leave outside all year, and have done so for about 7 years or so... They treat them like perennials, and cut them back to the ground each year, and they come right back up. I'm trying to keep mine green the whole time, and hopefully get a bit of a trunk on them.

This weather is definitely wacky. Somehow, I remember most of the leaves being down the same time last year. I also noticed an Iris getting ready to bloom in a bed in the backyard along the south facing wall. Someone forgot to mention to it that winter is around the corner!!!

Andy ~ Nice job on predators. Was Ok until I got to the spiders and snakes...then I backed away from the screen! LOL

We had a nice weekend. It was gloomy but mild so we tried to spend time time outdoors to let the kiddos run off some steam. Oh I also stole some my neighbour leaves to cushion my beds LOL!!! We have no trees in our yard.

Can we just use regular old leaves as mu;ch in perennial beds? Here I'm thinking hay, straw, bags of something heavy from HD. Leaves? Free, already nearby leaves? I like it. Leaves. Who knew? (Don't answer that!)

xxxxx, Carrie

Carrie, I think the leaves work best of they are shredded.

Andy!!! That slideshow is incredible! I agree with pixie about the snakes though!

Amazing bug pictures, Andy. Pixie, the moon was beautiful Saturday night--nice pictures.

Thanks loretta, it was really cold out, should of seen the other ones...very blurry from my shivering!

Does anyone try a new dish on Holiday's? What I mean is, every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas I find at least one new dish to make. I have all the family's favorites on the table but I just add something new too. It's usually a desert, but sometimes I find a recipe that strikes me and I try it. For instance, last year for Thanksgiving I made my stuffing with sage spiced sausage. For Christmas I made Lemon Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Sauce. The year before I made this:
Ham and Veggie Cresent Wreath

Pixie, that looks yummy.
Anita, that's why I put the snakes at the end, lol.
Carrie, I use plain old leaves on the perennials. I try to let the ground freeze a bit and get wet before I really lay it on. It works great, keeps the weeds down, too. The Spring bulbs tell me when to remove the leaves by pushing them up. (Except for the tiny extra early bulbs which can bloom under the leaves, booo.)

I just got back from the used PC store (George). They still haven't gone through the 60 + laptops but he does have a few IBM ThinkPads in the bunch. Nice ones 3 times more powerful than this old one at a price I can afford. Plus he will give me a trade-in allowance. We'll see in a week or two. (He's slow.) I could get a desktop for $195. This will give me time to shop around for a new one, see how they compare.
Andy P

So what I'm hearing is bring the dahlias in ASAP (they're in pots) and save the leaves/mulch for a while.

I'll be out of town for a few - no more advice while I'm gone!

xxx, Carrie

Carrie, cut the Dahlias down to almost ground level and stop watering. I guess you can leave them in the soil in the pots for the Winter in a cool basement. Plant them in the ground next Spring.
See ya later.
Andy P

Thanks Andy! I actually haven't been out to check on them since it got cold(er). I know most people don't think it's cold yet by most standards but by the middle of October, when I put on my long underwear, it's cold!

The tops are probably mush now, then. They are OK as long as the soil didn't freeze.
Andy P

Thanks, bye.

I use unshredded leaves for a winter mulch too.

Hi Andy, I've been missing a lot of Dave time too! Busy busy!

Dave, ROTFL!!! We just bought our first DVD recorder/player to convert out VHS tape last week. Mainly my MTV tapes, when they actually had some good bands on. I haven't had time to read the book to know how to do it. Newfangled fancy machinery! We bring up the flying cars all the time!!!

Andy, we have Tivo. I wouldn't be without it!!!

Nice pictures Pixie! I try new dishes each year too, but not all are good. The wreath sure looks fancy!

Andy, I hope you can find a laptop. I wish I had one sometimes for the same reasons. It would be nice to sit outside or in the kitchen.

The new laptop got a small boost today. My customer (the one near the hi-way) gave me a $65 tip. What a deal, lol.
Andy P