Yup Russ, I think I would wait a bit. I had to go to the dr. today to get my stitches out. He is 90 miles away and it was 6 degrees below zero at home. The power went out so we decided to leave early. By the time we got 20 miles from home it was 25 below zero there. But, it got better. It was only 10 below by the time we got to the drs.
I had to make an appt. for next week to get the wires out of my toes so I hope it gets better???
Happy birthday to Barb!!
Jeanette
General Discussions 2008 - Chapter 25
Jeanette; ; Will tell her as soon as she wakes up, She is napping right now, Lol I guess I mean watching TV from behind eye lids.
That foot sounds real painful. And I doubt if the 90 mile ride helped any.
As long as it is better by spring- - - -RIGHT?
The cold weather; I had some drain traps froze up this morning. My fault, I failed to close up the lower access to the crawl space. With the low temp and the wind last night. That was all it took. We were awakened by the sound of the water softener discharge spilling over the on the floor. I had to put the softener on vacation and switch over to the bypass, to get it to stop. I have one of the traps open, but that is enough for now. I will move the heat lamp to the next one tomorrow.
Think if I hurry I can stand it long enough to make that switch. as long as the wind isn't to stiff.
Take care give that foot some rest.
Oh just told Barb; She just revived so we can go to bed LOL
Russ
Guess it is winter in a lot of places. It was 4 degrees here this morning, north wind, 8 inches of new snow, which is drifting. Blew a lot off my roof so won't have to hire someone to shovel it off. I didn't go anywhere from Thur. late afternoon until this morning. I rode to Senior Center with close friends, after lunch we played bridge.
Thur. late afternoon a fellow from NCI Data Dot com, came and got me hooked up for wireless internet. I used it a bit Fri. morning but then got busy with candy making. Sat. morning could not get on internet. I called, but their business hours are Mon-Fri, 8:00 am to 5:00 so not much help there.
This morning a fellow called and walked me through the process to get internet. Since I really know nothing about such things, I was happy to have internet going again. He said something was disabled, but I don't know what. Anyway NCI is much faster than Dial-UP, but I sure would have liked to have been able to use during our long snowy cold weekend.
Donna
You will like the satellite (wireless) internet until it is storming and then you just have to wait, Donna. If the snow piles up on it you will have to sweep it off. Is it where you can reach it without any trouble? I sure hope so. If not, you will have to have them move it.
That is the only problems I have had with it. Probably not the best time of year to get started on it, but actually I have only had twice I think that it has been out. Also, even tho it is wireless, if the power is out you will lose it because the power runs the computer.
So, if the power is out you will lose it. If the weather is bad you can lose it then too. With dial-up you only lost it when the power was out. But think of the speed.
Jeanette
Jeanette, I don't think the storm was the problem, the fellow said something was disabled, since I don't understand technical things I have no idea of what was wrong. They NCI said there was a strong signal to my house all the time. The little dish that they installed on the end of my house looks like a small, probably 12" , washbasin with the curved solid bottom pointed toward the tower. No way for snow to collect on it like the regular dishes. My TV dish is half covered with snow but hasn't affected my picture.
Anyway now that I am busy with other things and don't have much time for the computer I can use it. It is much faster than Dial Up but not as fast as my daughters computer.
The snow really ;has blown around the past couple of days with the north wind, blew a lot off the roof. We had 8 inches of snow. I slowly managed to shovel out about half of my pathways, then of course partly drifted back in. Hope your foot is healing nicely and that you arenot in too much pain.
Donna
All this cold weather talk, and Im actually cold today too! Bit of cold wind and rain, nothing like what you are experiencing over there. Still enough to keep me inside with my school work.
I have wanted to take some pictures of my garden for a while now, but cant find my camera battery charger. Its a real nuisance. SO this picture is from a month ago, it looks very different now, the plants are huge. Its the new raised bed I made out of the remains of last years strawbales, simply boxed off with cardboard and a bit of extra soil and compost thrown on top. Cant remember if Id already shown you or not.
I hope your foot is healing well Jeanette.
Lena
Hi Lena;
Is that mostly drift wood, that is holding the cardboard in place??
It looks good there.
We here in the northern parts of the world are in a bit of cold spell. I was very thankful when I awoke this morning. The temp was not near as cold as they had predicted. They had thought it would be around
- 25 Celsius. Instead it was about -17 Celsius. Cold enough but for us that is on the plus side of 0 F. Don't know why, but it makes me feel better, being on the + side of 0. Very little wind, which is a big help.
I have the frozen drains taken care of, so we can use the washing machine and take showers again. I still need to find that big piece of Styrofoam to wedge in the opening. For now I just put a couple of straw bales over the metal plate that covers the outside part. Don't want to draw any more mice, so I better find the Styrofoam, for the lower door way.
I have a row of about 9 or 10 rotted straw bales. I think I will try some potatoes in that. Spring is a long way off yet so I could still change my mind. It just seems like a good idea.
Get the pictures when you can, although I can almost vizulize the tomatoes all tied up.
Keep up with the home work don't let us side track your studies.
Russ
Awwwww, come on Russ, first things first. LOL Don't worry, Lena has her priorities in place.
Looks nice Lena but would love to see a current picture.
The foot got the stitches out yesterday and next week the wires come out, but I think the screws stay in forever. Other than that, it is going good except when I stub the toes and the wires are shoved in farther. That smarts.
Jeanette
Jeanette; don't tell me your not anxious for spring, all that time just sitting around with the foot proped up and looking through them new seed catalogs. LOL
Stubbed toes with wires still in them- - -OOWWW OOWW
That hurts just thinking about it.
Take care
I just took some new pictures with someone elses camera. This is what it looks like today. Jeanette stop stubbing your toe it sounds terrible.
We posted at the same time Russ. What time is it for you? Its almost 5pm here. Look how big everything has grown in the past few weeks.
I was off line for a few minutes. but it is now 10.25 pm.
It looks like your last post was at 10.03 PM.
Russ
Isn't it funny how it is light in NZ at the same time it is dark where Russ is posting in Iowa?
Lena your garden is gorgeous. Wow, look at those tomatoes. How many did you plant? I know you said you had started so many. I bet you went out and sold those seedlings on the street corner to pay for your schooling.
Are you still planning on moving this summer, or next year Lena? Big decision isn't it? You are about finished with school aren't you?
Jeanette
I have planted about 110 with another 50 to go in next week. I gave alot of seedlings away, never tried to sell any. I would hate to see my seedlings go to bad homes, I chose my foster parents very carefully.
I could never move in summer, only in winter, because of the garden. So either this winter or next we will move. Probably 2010 when we have enough money saved for a deposit on a house. I dont want to start another garden in a rental and have to leave it behind again. I want to plant fruit trees, asparagus, rhubarb, herbs, my potted bay tree etc, lots of perennials. And put in long rows of permanent raised beds with tall trellises for the tomatoes and other veges. Have the beds edged off properly with bricks to make it easy to mow around. I could do that here but whats the point if im leaving soon, and somebody else will just neglect it anyway. And I would like to put in decent irrigation and drainage sytems. No more winter floods please! Moving is a big deal. We are going to start looking at locations this summer, and keep watching the property market. Interest rates took a huge dive recently, from near 9% down to 6% so that gives us a little hope.
I have almost finished studying. Doing two papers over summer, then one more in first semester. I would like to keep studying next year to postgrad level, but am fed up with being so poor. I will probably start working full time in feb, so I can earn and save some money. Its hard enough to pay the bills every week as a student, saving is near impossible. The government lends us up to $150 a week to live on. My rent alone is $105 per week, then theres power, gas, phone, internet, water, groceries, garden supplies etc, so its not hard to work out how insufficient that is. It would pay more to be on the unemployment benefit, they get over $200 and dont even have to pay it back! Being on a sickness benefit as an unemployable cripple or drug addict pays even more, plus you dont get harrassed to apply for jobs each week. Something to think about... lol. So many people in NZ fake an injury or disability to get free money, its such a joke. Or they have alot of kids very young and get looked after that way. Is it as easy to get a benefit in the US? What do students get?
Enough talk, Ill go find a picture.
All the students I've heard are living with their parents. Most students here have huge loans to pay back by the time they graduate. A friend's daughter with 2 kids, rents a house from her parents and they babysit, and she already owes $80,000 and has a couple of years to go.
I think most of them end up quitting and getting jobs before they get the amount of schooling they need to do whatever it was they had initially planned to do. Did I confuse you with that one?
Maybe others could give you ideas about ones they know of.
My grandson, 19 years old, lives at home, earned quite a few college credits while in highschool, but his folks are pay-as-you-go with his school and paying for his gas and insurance. He gets paid on an internship during vacation times, like summer, Christmas, etc. He does get straight A's so I suppose his folks feel that as long as he is working hard in school that it is worth it to them.
Jeanette
No that makes sense. I have a huge student loan too. For tuition fees as well as living expenses. Living with parents would be ideal, but NZ is so spread out and rural, that alot of people dont have that option. There are less than 10 universities in NZ, most of us have to move far away from home to study.
Lena
I wonder if it is reasons like that that the U.S. gets so many foreign students. They seem to get higher on the entrance roster than U.S. students.
I am sure I have a lot of this wrong, or there are reasons for why this seems to be. Anyway, the friend I cited above is really working to get further education in the same facility she has already put several years into. Doesn't seem right.
Jeanette
Our universities are flooded with international students too, most from China and your fine country. Sometimes they reserve a certain number of placings for international students in the limited entry courses like vet science or engineering, which makes it even tougher to get in for the nationals. But theres a good reason for it: International students pay full fees, where as ours are subsidised. Without the fee paying international students our underfunded universities couldnt survive, so we welcome them. The Americans are friendly and integrate well. But most of the Chinese students keep to themselves alot and dont speak english unless they have to, thats a bit annoying. Especially when they start working as tutors and are VERY difficult to understand. Or you get stuck in a tutorial group with a few too many of them and they dont even bother speaking english. But its there fees that are keeping my friends and I here, so I cant complain too much.
Lena
Here each state has different rules for their universities and colleges. In Washington State, where I live, I read in the newspaper last year that they were giving the internationals, as you call them, the same status as state residents, which is cheaper than students from other states in the U.S. coming to our universities.
Resident students are charged considerable less than students from other states attending our schools. I don't feel it is right for the foreign students to get that break. It is very difficult for the resident students to get in.
I think it is terrible what they charge for an education. The schools here, I don't know about other schools, own so much real estate and it is all off the tax rolls. And, you are always reading where alumni are leaving huge estates to the schools. Oh well, not my call.
Jeanette
Hello , All , Am at library in Tex. and checking in on everyone . Jnette, hope this finds you healing fast, and by now, doing much better . Rand and russ , here's to a blessed new year and Lena I miss your posts , I'm 15 mi from puter. Ruth and Suz , good to know your still posting .I'll be so glad to get home to my puter so I can keep up with you all again . prayers and hugs for you all for 2009 and forever. digger
Hi Digger;
Not much excitement on the ol forum, think we are all just trying to wait out winter. Got a bunch of catalogs but just can't get into it yet.
Just working on a few winter projects and trying to stay warm.
Well take care everyone and rest up for spring gardening.
Russ
Hey Sally, what about me? Don't I count? Just kidding! I'm trying to get in the mood for some winter cleaning in the house and painting a room. Happy 2009 everyone!
Doug
Ain't dreaming fun? This past fall I purchased 10 bales of Texas grown wheat straw and placed them under a tarp to await Spring planting. Although I grew up around farming and rural dirt gardening this will be my first try at strawbale gardening.
This is also going to be my first year at growing in 5-gal plastic grow bags filled with Coir and using an automatic drip/micro spray system for watering.
Oh, being retired is fun too.
Jerry
Jerry. One really nice thing about being retired.
You can tell your Boss to go fly a kite and you won't get in trouble for it. LOL
Coir? I must be behind the times. I haven't heard of that. Guess I'll have to look that up.
If you get the hang of bale gardening, you will love the no weed part. The no till ain't bad either.
I still plant a lot in the dirt as well. It seems to do well for me, as I mulch as much as I can.
I've given some thought to tying 5gal buckets to a fence and growing cucumbers in them. Call it no stoop gardening. LOL
Russ
Russ,
Spend a few minutes perusing this thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/928423/ . leetomkatebob (BocoBob) seems to have mastered the skill/science of growing in Coconut Coir with the use of a drip watering system.
If will notice in some of the photos there are veggies growing in 5-gal plastic bags, commonly referred to as Grow Bags.
Jerry
Jerry: great link, thanks.
Hey you guys, and DIGGER!!! My computer has been down for a week now so trying to catch up. Darn power outage knocked out the power in my machine. Expensive.
Jerry do you use the coir with the bark? The course stuff? I really like that better. I haven't had a chance to look at the link. I will tho.
Also, one year I tried growing corn in 5 gallon buckets. LOL, got 3 ears off of each plant. I had 3 plants in each bucket.
It was really good too.
Jeanette
Jeanette,
This is my first go at coir. I have not yet hydrated my bales so I can't say how much bark. From what I see thru the plastic covering it appears to be rather fine in texture like peat moss.
Jerry
Jerry; What is the price per bale? We're probably so far from a source that I would be afraid it would be prohibitive. But it does sound interesting.
Russ
The 10-12 lb bales retail for about $10 a bale. They hydrate to 60-80 liters of moist coir.
If there are any suppliers for organic growers, hydroponics or green house nurserymen near you that would be a good place to start your search. Also, I just recently saw the small coir brick at my local ACE Hardware.
Jerry
Thanks loads Jerry, I will start looking around. Not sure it can be found around here though.
Russ,
leetomkatebob (BocoBob) sell it on Dave's Garden Market Place.
If you decide you want to try it and want to buy it online, BocoBob is the person I would go with. He'll be here for you if you have any questions in regards to the coir and container growing.
Thanks;
Russ
Russ,
BocoBob just posted this thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/941950/ with his most recent pictures of his veggies he grew in containers with coir.
Jerry
Jerry; it would be an advantage, this time of year to be in zone 9 or 10.
Although, by having a larger garden and growing things that keep well over winter isn't bad. just kind of miss my own fresh tomatoes, carrots, and salad greens.
Not too many tomatoes will ripen when the temp is 1 to 10 degrees out.
LOL
I will check with him on the coir. I think I will also look around here as well.
Thanks
Russ
Yes, I too noticed BocoBob is in Fl.
Jeanette
I searched quite a while and fornd coir pellets, at Peaceful Vally farm and garden supply. I don't know if I can do the hyperlink thing but if you google >http www.groworganic.com/item_GP090_coconut_fiber<
Or just "Peaceful Vally Farm and Garden". 100 are like $0.12 each.
I don't know if that is a bargan or not. I think I may try some. Eventhough they are just the pellets.
Russ
Edited to say that link don't work. Just google coconut fiber. it should get you close.
This message was edited Jan 11, 2009 7:00 PM
Randbponder,
Not sure what you meant by coco pellets. But I finally found it on that site. Boca Bob sells a seeding system but I think that is different from just buying pots in different sizes. These are intriguing. I just bought cow pots from the DG Marketplace. 12 cents a pot seems fair. Here is the link for all the coco products at Grow Organic including the pellets.
http://www.groworganic.com/search.html?pCommand=DoSearch&pMode=Search&sText=coco&sCategory=catalog
This link is only for the small coco coir bricks.
Boca Bob has the Grow Bags and larger 5 kg. Coir bales 2 of which can fill 3 Earth Boxes. Lots of places sell the bricks but 10 at 20% off is a good price depending on the shipping charges. This coir can replace the potting mix one uses when planting the straw bales. I plan to experiment next summer substituting this for my Pro-Mix in the bales and see if it makes a difference. I also plan to use it in my Earth Boxes after seeing the success Boca Bob has had with it.
http://www.groworganic.com/item_PSO110_Coco_Peat_13_Cu_Ft_Brick.html
This message was edited Jan 11, 2009 10:29 PM
This message was edited Jan 11, 2009 10:33 PM
This message was edited Jan 11, 2009 10:46 PM
They are the same as the peat pots. They have them in 3 sizes, 4" being the largest. They are recommending them instead of the peat pots for the reasons all cited.
Jeanette
Thanks for clarifying that, Jeanette. I knew there were the coir "sponges" like the ones Boca Bob offers but didn't catch that these were actually a peat pot substitute! Coir is going to be a great alternative!
Jessica