Okay, you people are just no fun!

Where is everyone?!!!

I'm here! Just hanging out here with my garden hose handy in case the fireworks enthusiasts in the neighborhood behind me manage to set the field between us on fire! And comforting my dog who decided a couple years ago that even though fireworks had been no big deal for the first 10 years of his life, all of a sudden they are something to be afraid of. I love the 4th of July!

Was that said facetiously? Our cats don't seem to ever mind the noise, but I always feel so bad for the animals who are terrified. Glad to know someone is around anyway..I kept thinking that I'd have to change my info to say I'm in Ohio or Florida or somewhere where the people pop in now and then anyway...lol...

Between the fire danger and the dog freaking out, I have to say the 4th is probably my least favorite holiday! But I'm going to see if I can get him off my lap for long enough that I can go out on my deck for a few minutes and watch some fireworks (until I start to freeze to death...it's 60 degrees and windy so I'll probably only last 5 minutes!)

That's enough..I'm getting tired of hearing about how cold you guys are up there. I'm going to check wunderground and see if you're fibbing to me. Do you think you could get him to wear ear muffs? I suppose he would sense the booms anyway....
I'm not a fan of fireworks, either, though one year in Washington we enjoyed them. On Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor. I suppose it was such a great show because it was helped a lot by the military base there. There were fireworks that parachuted little paper houses that came floating down. I was enchanted by them....never have seen or heard of them elsewhere. Maybe the booming is over by now and he can be at peace til next year.....

This forum is pretty dead lately, I agree.

89* here today, but thankfully it's not humid...that comes later.

Raccoons chewed one huge clump of my Japanese Iris down to the nub, and left the others. What's THAT all about?

Sherry: Did you start the Echium seeds yet?

Raccoons don't do that, JD. There must have been something like a dead mouse in the middle of the clump.

Today I discovered what gophers do when you plant your roses in gopher-proof cages. They eat your daylilies. They haven't touched the ditch lilies, just demolished the nice expensive double ones.

I just got back from babysitting a dog. She's terrified of fireworks and her people weren't coming home until 10:00, so I went to her house and spent a couple of hours with her. I gave her some yogurt and read her a bedtime story, and she didn't freak out much.

Sherry, I know you're sick of hearing about how cool it is up here, but I can't resist telling you that the low tonight is supposed to be 51 degrees. That's the great thing about Sebastopol: The nights are always cool. Earlier this year, when the temperature shot up to 104 in the daytime, it was 54 that night.

OK...so are you telling me that dead mice have a taste for JI's ??? LOL

Then what's chewing them down? Maybe it's my brain dead cat ?
I'm stymied as to what's eating them. We don't have gophers, or deer, the possums just eat the garbage, and I know lizards don't like to eat plants.

Maybe it's an armadillo.

No, you silly person, I'm saying that raccoons have a taste for dead mice, and if they ate the JI clump, it might have been because it had a dead mouse in it.

You don't really have armadillos, do you?

Not as many armadillo's as there were before. They moved south after a really wet winter a few years ago.

Zuzu, I'd be in Sebastopol if I could, or at least somewhere thereabouts...Occidental, Jenner..oh, anywhere would do just fine. Actually, our nights haven't been bad either. Yesterday and last night are the first I've noticed the humidity. I thought gophers never ate DL's.....I also didn't know that 'coons had a taste for dead mice. See all of the interesting things we learn on DG? JD, if I were you I'd be hoping for the dead mouse idea. Otherwise I'd be thinking that whateverhad developed a taste for the JI would becoming back to finish off the others. Nope, echium seeds are still sitting in tthe box on my table...I'd better do that today, huh? I can't tell you how far behind I am. I have tons of stuff to do cuttings of, but have no more room in my nursery with proper light...too much shade or too much sun. I need to do more shadecloth area with cloth with less sun blockage. Need a large greenhouse, need more tables, need,need, need......got my iris from weege yesterday and need more clay pots for them. I'd just finished using up all of my newest batch for foxgloves. I keep the closest WM cleaned out of 10" clay pots. I always thought that the Iris / Daylily nurseries were such a good idea because gophers didn't eat either, then I found that, uh oh, the little so and so's DO eat iris. Now Zuzu says they're eating her DL's, so that shoots that theory totally.
I spent the 4th watering, scrubbing pots and drinking margaritas...I think today will follow suit.....

I think gophers are like deer, if they're hungry enough they'll eat pretty much anything!

Sherry: What did you do MORE of? Watering, scrubbing pots or drinking Margaritas ??? LOL

Fess up, lady !

The margaritas are topping the list lately...it's a summer thing.....

ha ha ha
we spent the day at Santa Cruz, away from the Boardwalk - it was beautiful.

... ick, my kids are watching a commercial for llame ahora - snail goo in a jar, that apparently solves all kinds of problems - cellulite, pimples, hand cream etc., if you rub it on your skin. Finally, something to do with all those snail trails !

I don't think the name of the product is llame ahora...that's just Spanish for "call now"! LOL Can't say I'd smear snail goo on myself though no matter what it does!

ha ha ha ha ha , oh, too funny : )

It was disgusting, they kept showing the snail trail, and big snails sitting on top of the product ? ! I made the kids turn it off!

Is it still cool in Dublin? It's pretty here this morning, we saw a baby hawk - I wasn't sure if he could fly, but as the car got closer he took off for a tree.

I do it every year - order plants then the heat hits and it's
too hot to go out.

Pray for rain!

It's still nice here--I think today's going to be OK but then starting tomorrow it's going to be warming up and then we're in for temps close to 100 for several days. Our "average" summer high here in July/August is 89 degrees, but generally that works out to half the time we're around 80 and half the time we're at 100. Or at least that's the way it feels, there never seems to be anything in between!

I'm with Sherry, where is everyone? Are we living up to our "too busy" Californian reputation? Hey everyone, keep in touch and post more often. (myself included.)
How was and what did everyone do for the 4th? We swam, drank and ate and got home before the dogs were scared out of their wits by fireworks, which are illegal here and surprisingly enough, there were none going off in the neighborhood. Could just hear the boom from the high schools firework shows all around us.

Yeah, I think everyone is out going to the beach, having picnics....living up to the Ca lifestyle. Some of us are staying home, working, sweating. My big evening will be to go pick up some birdseed and stop at In n Out and grab a burger. I'm pretty sure my life used to be more exciting than this.....lately I'm just glad to see each day come to an end. I bring home movies and don't even watch them 'cause I love the quiet of just sitting and reading with no noise.

Oh yes, tis a holiday weekend.
Well, I must get out and do some watering myself, gotta clean up the side yard and move some wood, I hope no black widows show their bellies, they scare the bejeebers out of me.
Maybe Monday everyone will wake up and be back here conversating! At least your post did stir a few Sherry!

Let's see! BBQ went up in smoke so had to go buy another (before we all starved. Too darn hot us fire up the oven inside.) Had to put said BBQ together.

Our community is like a small town. We close the main drag and have a 4th of July parade and party. Had to go see Fiona belly dancing (it never ends with that kid) and then had a gang of teens and a few adults over after that. We walked up the block to the park to watch fireworks-with 150 light sticks in tow. You can find our group in any crowd after dark. You are NEVER too old to decorate yourself with light sticks.

I miss the street dances that were held in the small community I grew up in. That's how small towns should be.
I move nothing now without looking for widows first. After sitting on a couple of chairs that later proved to have widows under them, I now look first.
Mike, I'm afraid that Bailey's on the rocks has beaten out the margaritas. I ,of course, blame all of this on Don who wanted an Irish theme for the RU. This from one who won't try Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry's because she doesn't want to know how good they are....lol...
Happy that everyone seems to be having a good weekend!

Fireworks are illegal here, too...although you'd never know it.

I divided iris, deadheaded and groomed daylilies, groomed and deadhead daylilies , and when I was done with that I groomed and deadheaded MORE daylilies. Yes, it's my obsession.

Then I knocked over the boxes with the iris in them, which were seperated by color, so now I don't have a clue as to what's what.

My cat's haven't surfaced since the first fireworks went off last night.

In 'N Out sounds verrrrrry good right about now.

The In n Out was pretty good...haven't been there for awhile.
I can't tell you how many things here have ended up unlabeled...for the life of me, I can't figure out how.
Worried about the cats, J.D..

I always make sure they're both indoors when the festivities begin...so I know they're in the house...somewhere! I brought them in at 3:00 yesterday afternoon and shut all the doors so there's no way they could get outside.

One is probably behind the piano and the other one is most likely up inside the box spring of my bed!

They ate the food I put out this morning...or something did !

BTW...did you know that there's a whole other "secret" menu of things you can order at In 'N Out that isn't posted on the walls? They evidently have several veggie burger type things, bun-less burgers, etc... I don't know how one becomes privvey to this info. but all my sisters seem to know about it...I never think to ask the guy at the register when I'm in there. It's all very mysterious ! LOL

Also, I never knew this before, either: If you turn one of their paper cups upside down and look at the bottom ridge, there's references to Bible verses printed on the little ridge underneath. I discovered that by accident once when I dropped one and it spilled all over my lap.

I hope you looked up that reference, JD. Some higher power must have thought you needed it, making you spill coffee in your lap in order to bring it to your attention.

The 4th was quiet here. DH put the flags up in the morning - UK at half-mast as usual on Independence Day. LOL Actually hauled my body out of bed at 6 to do the watering. Nobody tried to blow anything up. Watched some of the fireworks on the coast - have no idea where - Legoland? We're just high enough to usually see some in the distance.

Finally got the flower cart oiled today - have some plants coming next week to pot up. Surprise for DH: a Yorkshire rose and a Lancashire rose (he was born in the former, raised in the latter). Apparently they will grow in part sun. Also, some stuff from Annie's.

Frogs, that sounds like a fun tradition you have going in your neighborhood! Any pictures of Fiona dancing? :-)

Thank you Sherry for waking everyone up! There's still a few AWOL though.

J.D., I always get the burger 'protein style' which is wrapped in cold lettuce instead of the bun, did not know about their veggie burgers or the bible references, I'll have to check that out. I agree with Zuzu, must have been a sign re: spilling it in your lap. Being as I haven't spilled any in my lap, it must be that I don't need any help.....
Glad to hear the kitties were in the house, I was sure you'd be more responsible than to leave them out on the 4th!
No more Irish Cream for me...I found out how much is TOO much.........not an experience I want to repeat....lol...

Speak of animals eating plants is Opossum! It eating any plants flowers and roots....

I has one of sago plam and it been digging to get some food roots also some other plants flower's petals... I never heard of Armadillos or Raccoon! lol... Well, never know it will be happen...

Poor Rusty got panic from fireworks and I gave him calm down pill and 2 rib bones.... He still chase the squirrels for fun! I have a baby hawk flying around here and sure Rusty trying catch so close....

Hostas, Coleus, & Blue Spruce tree...

I never developed a taste for hard liquor. Beer, yes, but that's as far as it goes.

The cats have emerged and are cautiously pacing the garden, so they must be over it by now ! These felines have entirely too much control around here.

Raccoons are wreaking havoc on ponds all over the city here. The brazen little critters ! The herons do their fair share as well.

My DS in Camarillo has to deal with all sorts of animals...owls, bats, turkey buzzards, snakes, possums, raccoons, tarantuals...and TEENAGERS !

I frequent other forums more, like the rose forum but I do eventually wander in here.
I've been gardening 2 full days, finally getting around to getting some poor plants out of their original containers. It sure feels good to get the patio cleared of trays of baby plants! My whole body aches and I have a sunburn from the first day before remembering to put sunscreen on. I worked until after dark, watching 4 rats every evening cross the power lines onto our roof (I squirted them with a blast from the hose 4 X but they were determined) and into the orange tree for their nightly fix of citrus. I am getting pretty tired of picking up empty orange rinds so DH is going to set traps.
Ok, out for day three, I am so sore but determined to get more done before it gets too hot.

OH, here's some trivia reading, the In-N-Out interesting history, complete with 'secret' menu JD! The Bible verse explanation is at the bottom. I always wondered about the palm trees that form an X planted by the In -N- Out Burger, seems it was a reference to the founder Harry Snyder's favorite movie, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in which individuals look for a hidden treasure and find it under "the big W" made by four palm trees, with the middle two forming an 'X'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger


This message was edited Jul 6, 2008 8:09 AM

Wow - I've never had an In'nOut burger , now I want to try one! My DH is vegetarian, so good to know you can order that as well.

Sue, sounds very productive !!!- Do the rats come every year for the oranges? I really wanted to try some citrus, lemon, orange, lime - but I'm not a big fan of rats. Are they hard to deal with?

Frogs - your neighborhood sounds so fantastic. Were you a part of starting that tradition? We are moving soon, and am hoping if there aren't traditions set, we can start some ourselves.... so fun with the kids.

I can't find my Annie's gift card : ( -what in the world did I do ? I put it somewhere "safe" and now my aging mind can't remember where?

Wow Sue ! That was a most informative link ! It never occurred to me to look them up online. Thanks for the tip !

In addition to having good food, it has always impressed me how polite and courteous the young kids are who work at these places.
Clean cut, wholesome, and they SPEAK ENGLISH !!! They obviously train their employees well and enforce their policies.

A few years ago, my folks stopped at the one in Valencia. They were at the drive up window. When they went to pay, they both discovered that neither one had any cash in their wallets. They don't take atm cards or credit cards, so my dad of course, was mortified and apologized profusely for the error. There were several cars in front of them, and in back of them, so they couldn't exit the line.

He offered to write them a ck. but the manager said they could have the food anyway, and just pay the next timew they came in. WHO DOES THAT ANYMORE ??? LOL He probably figured that 2 people in their early 80's were "good for it" and let them slide.

My folks went to a pay phone and called my sister who lives 5 minutes from there and she came over in her nightgown to pay for the food !

The next day, some friends of their daughters came over and said to my nieces, "Hey...does you mom always go to In 'N Out in her pajamas?"

Too funny !

Well, now that I know they have veggie burgers I can go there! There's one right by work and people go all the time for lunch but I always passed because I didn't think they'd have anything I could eat.

I think th rats come pretty much year round because I have oranges on the tree year round and every stage of development and can't get to some of the older ones on top. So far these are all small, probably from the same family as it used to be only one coming over, now I see 4-5 smaller ones following the bigger one.

I read some of the menu to DH - he has never understood my liking for In-N-Out. He heard 'grilled onions' and 'animal fries and burgers' and asked what we were having for lunch.

My brother used to always make a stop there on the way to "The River" (shorthand for Colorado River) on Friday nights and that was my introduction. He was so happy to get that double-double and a chocolate shake!

Mike, I discovered a left off item on a Tree of Life Nursery receipt once and the next time I went there I paid for it. They were so pleased they gave me a T-shirt; maybe shocked is the better word?

Kathleen, they were probably DUMBFOUNDED !!! LOL