How about PNW Round-Up?

did he talk about Turtleheads?

I'm so glad I live in this country where we can all relate through our gardens and experiences, whether we agree or not on any one particular point. Life is good on DG. I cherish all the friends I've made here and look forward to meeting someday.
Bill Cosby is too funny!
Judi, congrats on your new purchases. Have fun checking to see when they germinate.
Got home late afternoon from an overnight at my SIL's. It was an enjoyable break. We went to see a short underwater sealife movie at an IMAX theater in the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City. Walking through the area to find the theater was an eye-opening experience. Like walking through a maze. I'm trying to catch up on the 26 threads I'm following. Whew! Maybe I need to pare some of them down.

no hey didn't talk about Turtle heads. what is that about?

It's a very old skit: Turtleheads under the bed, and how he'd have to jump from the doorway to the bed, cuz the evil turtleheads might get him.
I heard it as a teenager, and could relate well: turtleheads were easier & more cartoonish to deal with as opposed to the Big Bad Wolf head that had taken up residence under my bed while i was a toddler.
Funny funny man - I had several of his albums released in the 60's.

I like to be informed too, and think it's important to stay abreast of world order, etc. But where is the line? Yes, for Portland, watching CNN before bed is not working for her, but watching during the day would be fine. Problem solved for her, which is excellent! I think it all goes back to the individual's preference and how they handle it.
I, too, prefer to read my news. I find that having my 'ego' (in the psychological definition of the term) do the filtering for me I can handle more information without being overwhelmed. I want to be informed, but I don't want to have anxiety and I don't want to feel burdened by the problems of the entire world because I can do nothing about any of them directly. The best thing for me to do is to do my best to maintain an attitude of joy, gratitude, and unconditional love and to spread that around in my part of the world. If everyone did just that, the world would be better. In order for me to keep that going, I can't afford to be overwhelmed with sadness and despair. I would be no good to anyone, even myself. Part of this is probably the work I do. I do not go to sad movies, I do not read sad books, etc. I do not find sadness and trauma entertaining, nor do I find bickering and dissent entertaining. Probably because if I want to hear bickering, all I have to do is take on another marital counseling case. I listen to people's sadness all day long at work, so I guess for me it's just a personal boundary issue. I think there is too much information available for most people to handle well. We have information overload, population overload, intonation overload, and mean vibration overload. And anxiety disorders are on the rise. This is directly correlated to being 'overloaded' in many, many ways in parts of this country (Montucky excluded, of course). People do not even realize how stressed they are until they get a break. Then it hits them. I see too much news as one more way of overloading our system.
In addition, if one really wants to be informed, one must not rely on the main sources of news, and I think really one must read news from other countries as well. I could probably spend 24 hours a day just getting news if I wanted to. And being able to tell truth from falsehood, or 'spin' as Kayte so aptly put it, is really almost impossible anymore.

Can you tell I have a lot of opinions about this?LOL! That's because I see so many people with anxiety. It's a HUGE issue out there. And most of the people I see who suffer from anxiety don't realize much of the problem is that they being bombarded with just everyday stresses and they haven't learned to 'turn down the volume'. My favorite one lately is the really intelligent young woman I know who works hard at her job, has a great deal to do there because she is a good worker, so the boss lets her do more than her share, then listens to loud, angry rap music on the way home in bumper to bumper traffic. Then she wonders why she isn't in a good mood at the end of the day and yells at her spouse and kids. HHHEEELLLOOOOOOOOO!

Okay, that looks slightly off topic, but it's not really, because i want to make the point that too much TV news, or other disturbing TV shows (which are defined by the individual viewer) are only part of a larger package of everyday modern life stressors. It's like going to an endless buffet and not being able to tell where the end of the line is. You start putting a little of this and a little of that on your plate thinking you're doing a great job of managing your choices, and then all of a sudden your mashed potatoes are falling on the floor and there is no room for desert because your plate is completely overloaded. Then you get a panic attack. Then you call me for an office visit. LOL!

However, when I look at a plant, I know for sure the color of its flower, the form of its foliage, the scent of its nectar. It returns me to a simpler time and is all the more valuable for that. And putting hands in the dirt is an excellent way to clear all that negative energy from the day! More plants! It also teaches valuable lessons in patience, and also in our complete inability to control the world. That's why I have many dead plants from this past winter. Nope. No control whatsoever.

Hey, I missed the Bill cosby stuff! I LOVE Bill cosby! But I thought that skit was about snakes. His mom would put him to bed and then tell him there were snakes under the bed who would bite his toes if he got out of bed. I don't think I've heard of the turtleheads. I'll have to find that one!

Pix when I read your post I felt like I had an hour of therapy! Thank you! Truly, I did not realize how stressful my job was until I quit. I remember one time I woke up in a hotel and had no idea where I was. I had to open the door to get the newspaper for a clue. I finally realized that I could continue that life but it would jeopardize my health, and no amount of money is worth that. I got off a plane from London, went directly to the office, and wrote my letter of resignation. Then I went home, took a bath, and slept for 12 glorious hours. I took the next day off and didn't answer the phone. I was free!
My release has always been skiing- it feels so good when everything is in sync.

Ahhhh!!! That kind of 'ah ha!' moment is just awesome! Imagine waking up and not knowing where you were! There is a fine line between 'exciting' and 'overly stressful' in terms of jobs. I'll bet that was the best bath and the deepest sleep you've ever had. I'll bet you felt as though a huge weight had been literally lifted off of you. My bill is in the mail! :)
The last time I worked for someone else was 9 years ago. I was working for a mental health clinic supervising interns, seeing clients, and various and sundry other things. I was spread thin and the only thing I was enjoying was the interns. I had no idea how stressed out I was. One day I got a memo in my box and for some reason, it just pushed me over the precipice. I think it was just one 'memo' too many. I walked into my colleague's office and said, 'I've had enough. I can't do the work I want, I'm at the top of the payscale already and no increase in sight, and I'm finished. I'm opening my own practice. Want to come with me?" And my colleague said, 'Really? Yes!'. I had office space by the end of the week and never looked back. It felt just great!

AAHHH, I can just see the relief from your colleague's shoulders lift as you said that. :)
Have a great day, everyone!

I too had one of those glorious days when I sold my practice. I walked away missing only those wonderful friends I had as clients but the conflictS, decisions, planning, resolutions, sacrifices...... left when I walked out the door. I took a year off and played in my new home of NW Montana. then designed my life today.

There are so many similar stories - and I'm glad that all of you that made these decisions seem to be as happy as I am. Pix & Sofer it sounds like you both had the same kind of experience. Unfortunately after I resigned I did need to stick around the firm for another month to transition clients and tend to unfinished business. That was not a pleasant time, but I had had several conversations with my colleagues to express my desire to travel less and do fewer speaking engagements. Let someone younger commute across the Pond! They didn't get it. After I left 4 other architects left within a month.

Boy, we sure get off topic here. I do hope I can come to the roundup and meet all of you in person!

we just build friendships while we wait for topic discussion to resume. quite relaxed here.

I like that thought, Steve.

So true! The PNW forum doesn't generally cotton to keeping on 'topic'. We have no agenda. We just like good company. It generally weaves back around to the main thing that started the conversation in the first place. And you notice we have members like Jan and Laurie who don't even live here! By the way, Jan, my undergrad degree is from Douglass College at Rutgers. Out in the wild west they think that's an Ivy League school! That's why I live here. :))))

The only other time I've ever left a job precipitously was just before my boss fired me. So that was a 'twofer' because it's the only time I've ever been fired. But then, it was after I quit so I don't know if it counts. I was only about 21 years old, just out of college, and living with my DH in Evanston, Wyoming. What a place. He worked on an oil rig, I worked at the local grocery store, and I HATED it. Every stinking minute of it I hated. I was never one who really enjoyed going by rules anyway and I believe the boss noticed that. We both got mad and I quit/got fired. As I stomped out he said something like, "You just do whatever you #$% well please, don't you?". I just said 'Yep.' and left. OOOH it felt soooooo gooooooddddd! Makes me feel good all over again just thinking about not working there anymore!!

Okay, when I start typing stories like this, I know it's passed my bed time. Nighty night to all!

Pixy, I thought Douglass was 'Ivy League' too. ( wink-wink) What year did you graduate? My maid-of-honor went to Douglass also. '73 I'm sure things have changed dramatically since you were there.

well I never was fired. well almost once. it was when I worked at a grain delivery co. we had several baby pig farms (farrowing farms), and myself and an older friend of the boss had to shovel the slimy stuff. it was Christmas eve and we were sent out early in the morning and we stopped by the liquor store to get the necessary motivation for stepping knee deep into our task at hand. well needless to say 1/3 of the fifth was gone after taking the long way to the pen of pigs. it was snowing heavily as we delayed one more time at the gate of the swill. just then Buck my alcholic associate calmly said "Here's the boss" and know ing he was joking I handed my glass out the window saying "Here Gerb have a drink". the glass was lifted out of my hand by my wrinkled brow boss who simply said "Looks like we are all done here".

Thats call a BIG AU O, what where you 22 at the time. LOL

I was fired once, for something I did not do. Took a year till the truth came out, I was offered my job back and back pay. I told them I'm worth more than that, and you can put where the sun don't shine, your company sucks. He went under 3yrs later.

Both those stories sound rather awful. I was only laid off once, from a candle factory where I just couldn't go fast enough. Something about my nature, I couldn't turn out shoddy product just to make the quota.They were these wax globes that I had to spin on a hot plate to get off all the lumps. So my candles looked really good, nice and even, but I didn't do enough of them in an hour, and I was the first one let go when they reduced workforce. That's a long time ago, when I was a teenager. It was a boring job, so i wasn't so sad to leave it behind. Since I've been teaching, I have never been bored on the job for a single minute.

Back to the subject of gardening....I looked up some of those nurseries on Rachie's list (posted above on Feb. 5) and decided to check out Hartman's Fruit Tree Nursery. They had several varieties I was interested in, and do all their own grafting and tree growing. I just went out there yesterday and came home with 5 trees. If you buy 4, you get one more free. Couldn't turn that down! I spent the whole day today digging holes and getting my new trees all settled in. Hartman's has a lot of great trees, and you get to go out and choose your own from the growing rows. Bob Hartman digs them for you right there, so they are not kept in cold storage like many other nurseries. He is very knowledgeable about his trees and answered my numerous questions about varieties, pruning, and planting. They are open to for fruit tasting in August, so interested parties can go there from our Round-up to taste test which varieties you might want to grow.

We also stopped at a greenhouse place on the way, and found the one we want if we come up with the funds to buy one....an English style tempered glass beauty.

Thanks, Holly. You left out the most important piece of information. What fruit trees did you buy and will they bear this year?

Any pictures of the greenhouse?

Holly, Update on your tread, so we can see, like looking at old with new. too cool good buy. Like Kathy said, what you get?????? ^_^

I foolishly did not have my camera with me, so have no pictures of the greenhouse. We stopped on impulse at 'The Glass Gardener' on Pioneer Way. The full size 'Magnum' greenhouse, 8 by 14 feet costs about $3000. Of course we were impressed by that one and wish we could have it. You can get the Magnum in a shorter length, but still pretty much, $2500. They have a shorter smaller greenhouse, about 6 by 6 feet for $1000. I haven't done any price comparisons, but these seemed reasonable, along with free delivery in Puget Sound region. Wesite: www.glassgardener.com

Fruit trees bought and planted, yeehah:

1 pear- Highland
1 plum- Early Laxton
1 apple, but 2 varieties grafted on it- Florina and Sweet 16
2 cherries- Compact Stella (red cherry), Emperor Frances (yellow cherry)
I already have another plums, apple and pear for pollination. They won't bear this year, or next, probably not for several years, though I don't know exactly how many. And that is if I can keep the deer from sneaking in and chowing on their branches and the voles from chewing on their roots, but hope springs eternal or I would never plant anything.

The owner of The Glass Gardener is Mike. He is very helpful and knowledgeable. We stop in to see him and have bought supplies for our greenhouse from him.

We plant fruit trees and have to wait for about 3 years to get them producing. My apples are hopefully gonna thrive. I have cut back on the fruit by pruning each spring. But not this year let er rip. Lots of Macintosh and a couple of others (?) for pollination. Mid bloomers.
Holly does your plum 'early laxton' need a pollinator? Or are plumb trees self pollinators? Mine hasn't even had a flower on it. Probable a seed grown plant.

Great haul, Holly! I agree, teaching is NOT a boring job.

Steve, MacIntosh apples are my favorites.

Holly, it sounds like you'll have enough to feed an army once they start to bear. Congrats. The greenhouse looks beautiful. Check with Pix and others for their recommendations about clear glass vs the other and heating the greenhouse.

The plum is a European type, and needs another European variety to pollinate it. I already have an Italian Prune Plum, and they are supposed to be compatible. One of my cherries is self fertile (the Stella) but it will pollinate the other which needs a second tree for fruiting.

HEY Y'ALL!! sorry been away for so long... been super busy. been thinking about opening up another biz here with indoor plants and cold water fish. our house plant selection here sucks! all we have is fred myers and wally world. my karate school is growing by leaps and bounds (which is very good) and my mom jsut got married so the last few weeks been working on that!

everyone has been busy....im so happy people want to do the round up... this will be alot of fun. i just glanced at a few messages and will check them over for locations. im thinking something up in northern oregon or southern washington? sould like a plan? any other ideas...... we also got a new puppy.. named Qilak... alakan malmute he'll be 13 weeks on monday... hes a handful but training is coming along jsut fine. this was his first day at the beach this week.. he fell into a big tide pool in the crack was soooo funny

one more happy happy puppy .....qilak is a native alaskan word for cloud or sky

Welcome back. You have some catching up to do!! We've arrived at a date and a location. Sure hope you can make it.

Very cute puppy. Malamutes are escape artists - hope you have a high fence with concrete underneath. :-) They certainly remind me of going to the dog sled races in Fairbanks.

so i take it the round up is the weekend of august 29 and 30th? in buckley WA? that will be great!

Um the weekend before Labor Day weekend - is that Aug 29th? Yes, in Buckley at Lynn Weidmann's. So glad you think you can make it. It should be lotsa fun.

question for y'all........... im seriously thinking about opening up an indoor plant store/cold water fish shop soon. i am hard pressed to locate a fairly close WHOLESALE houseplant nursery in oregon and washington.... does anyone have ANY clues or names that i can check into???

That pup is so cute! He is loving being at the beach. Wholesale for indoor plants? The only wholesaler I've worked with is NW Bulb, but I'm not sure they do houseplants.

I forgot Terra Nova Nurseries. They have several kinds of plants that would be indoor plants year round up here, and they are excellent.

Holly, may I suggest that you build your own greenhouse - especially since your husband is handy with hammer and saw. I have a pretty good sized one - 14'x22, and it cost a fraction to have it built over pre-built. Try working out the costs first before you spring for a pre-fab.

Laurie, your point is well taken. We were really just dreaming about potential greenhouses and having a good time talking with the proprietor. I am quite unlikely to be able to afford a pre-built, and DH might someday build us one if he ever gets finished with the interior of our outbuilding. We really liked the design of the one we looked at, big enough to walk into and be comfortable moving around, room for a raised bed of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. One other idea we saw, was to use cement chimney flues as planter boxes. They hold enough soil to support a fairly large plant and release heat overnight. For this year, I'm going to experiment with getting a jump on Spring veggie planting using my little 3 foot tall plastic hoop house which is installed directly in the garden. It did keep several Chinese cabbage plants intact over the deep freeze though my lettuces and chards succumbed to the snow. They were on the end that blew open and got swamped.

Hi there I haven't been on Daves very much at all. I think cool house plants would be great. I use some of them in the garden in the summer. I get some great plants from Carols greenhouse in Oregon and she has huge begonias and some things that might work. She is the nicest lady in the world. You can d-mail me for her e-mail. Thanks and cute puppy heidi

I'm months behind on threads, and there's no way I can ever catch up - but have to comment on that darling puppy!!! A heart stealer, for sure!

Good to see you Murmur!!

I hope folks here don't mind me momentarily interupting, but I thought that this thread might be a good way to catch quite a few from all over around these areas!

It's a thread to show whatever is going on in your garden or whatever garden you want to show! Any type of plant, any garden subject (I love pics of work projects, the down and dirty stuff), just to show everyone what's going on in our plant worlds! Welcome to anyone who's Northwest of somewhere! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/973344/