Yesterday morning, Pod chased a squirrel from the feeder to the fence line. He almost caught him and I kept thinking you don't want to do that... LOL
Jungs ~ I never have ordered by they always send the catalogue. Wishful thinking on their part?
This message was edited Dec 29, 2008 10:07 PM
Fireside chat - Part 2 - pull up a chair and sit a spell...
I used to order from them back in Illinois and had good luck with what I ordered but have yet to see a catalog down here LOL
Good to know, I will look closer at their goodies. Boy, we have a heavy frost and I am off to work. Someone keep the homefires burning today please!?!!
Glad to see you, Phyllis. I have missed you.
Christi
I'm around LOL was workin on gifts for my mom ...stayin in town since I now have a split shift 6:30-8:30 , 11:30 - 1:30 , 2:30 - 5 so no sense in driving home between any of them
I'm gonna start some seeds today I think then off to play with my new toy my folks got me ...a baby lock sewing/ embroidery machine.
but then I'll have to clean things up again since DH has decided the tv in the bedroom needs to be in the living room and for it to fit he has to make a hole in the wall for it to fit in the center of the entertainment stand *sigh*
That would be the critter podster, oppossum. I have finally chased away an armadillo that was chewing up my side yard of st. augustine. I will have to put down grub killer and eliminate their diet. My Chihuahua Ohso chases the squirrels too. These Texas squirrels are about as big as he is but he doesn't know it.
I'm around today too. We had to take my mom to the ER yesterday as she was severely dehydrated and weak from this nasty bug we all caught. They gave her fluids and drugs for nausea and diarrhea. So she is staying with us for a few days until she is strong enough to take care of herself. She is 86. I have some bulb blooming in the front yard I don't know what is. We bought this house in June of 2005. Each year something new has popped up that the previous owners planted. So, I will wait to see what it is. The daffodils I transplanted fall of 2007 are putting out their leaves and are promising to put on a show here in a couple of months.
It's a beautiful day here, a little windy, but warmer and sunnier. I just saw a King Fly Catcher eating my peanut butter suet. I couldn't believe it. He doesn't cling to the feeder because he catches his food on the fly. So he would fly up to it like a hummingbird and peck at it, get a mouth full then perch on a post. Goes to show you that birds will eat other things than what the books say. So just put out your feed and let nature decide who will eat what. It was fun to watch.
Hole in the wall doesn't sound goo Phyllis! lol! We went TV shopping and Truck shopping today for DH. We bought neither...he is still pricing. DH is a big procrastinator, but saves money sometimes. When I start looking around and I am undecided and want to wait, it bugs him too. So guess we are even!
Sorry about your trip to the ER with Mom TX grower; hope she will recover from it soon. Respritory hits older folks quickly, and they get dehydrated fast.
I have never ordered anything from a seed catalog. I did get some hostas from City_Sylvia's company. Just never got into doing mail order. Most of the plants I have in my yard have been swapped with other DGers, gifted by friends, or bought locally. The Botanic Garden here has sells twice a year and a lot have come from there and the Native Plant Society sales.
NO....I don't want you guys putting me on a mailing list! LOL!!
I have bought from Jackson and Perkins and Park Seed, all with good results. I am not going to do that this year because I too have been blessed by DGers and know that there is a spring RU coming. I also have learned a lot about cuttings so I have been taking cuttings or rootings of plants of neighbors who don't even know what they have. :)
Sheila, thanks for the kind words for mom. I wish what we had, had been an upper respiratory infection. But alas no... it was the Monster gut bug from Hell. We had vomitting and diarrhea for two days. I haven't been that sick in 25 years, no lie. I have lost six lbs. Poor mom though is just very weakened. She is sleeping now. That is good. The 11 month old grandbaby had it too and now is fighting an URI. But she keeps a happy mood. I'll say that much for her.
Glad you are all on the mend. I make sure to get my flu shot the minute I hear it is available. My Mom however was alergic to it and was in nursing in my childhood. I can't tell you the times she was sick with the flu. We really had to watch her fluid intake as she got older.
The URI is usually caused from antibiotics in little ones. Fix one thing and break another.
Sorry, everyone has been sick. Seems that has been the story lately.
Sheila, when is DH next surgery?
Christi
Maddie hasn't been on antibiotics. The image that keeps running through my mind is when my daughter, Maddie and I were at the mall last Fri. She was in her stroller and we passed another litle boy about 18 months old, and he sneezed a congested sneeze right at her level as we passed each other. I knew then that she was going to get sick. We should just stay home in the winter. That's only the third time I've been to the mall in Tyler in the 3 1/2 years I've been here. I bet I don't go again.
I don't think they make a shot for what we all had. It is the nastiest bug any of us have come up against in a long time. My poor hubby, after watching me hurl my cookies a couple of times, asked if he could sleep in the guest bed. He said he didn't want what I had. I had to laugh. I wouldn't want it either.
I have to do that when I get sick to keep DH well. He has breathing problems and really suffers if he gets congestion.
Someone earlier was asking where to get swamp lilies... I just got a bulb on ebay from bulbsnmore, who seems to be VERY highly rated. I'm planning to keep it in a pot with no drainage hole. Just search for "crinum americanum" on ebay.com
Dennis
This message was edited Dec 30, 2008 10:32 PM
DH has to do the flu shot yearly. This year, they were a bit later with it to make sure they had the right vax for the expected flu? I've often wondered why they can't do a 2nd flu shot if the flu turns out to be a different one. I am a wuss, never have had a flu shot and I work in the public. I am blessed to be healthy and fairly resistant but get aggravated with all the ill folks that can't seem to stay home when they are sick. Seems they want to share the misery. Grrrr! TXgrower ~ I am really sorry for your Mom and grandbabys' illness. So hard on the elderly and helpless for the little ones. Best wishes on their recovery.
I love the old time names like swamp lilies. I have some of the old original Louisiana iris. I had cut a bouquet to take to work and had an older gal exclaim that she hadn't seen "ditch iris" in years. LOL She said she was married during the depression and those were the wedding flowers they had. Went out to the ditches and cut them. I was delighted to hear her memories and glad the blooms triggered those happy times.
I am so excited to see Frostweeds' Narcissus in bloom. I am watching the buds on mine developing and wonder why they are so slow. LOL They always help me anticipate springtime and warmer weather.
Well, they are the only thing blooming at my place now, and they are earlier than I have ever seen them before, I guess with the crazy weather, cold and hot, they don't know what to do. They seem to withstand the freezes quite well.
I still have blooms on the Mexican Flame, the petunias are solid mounds of white, the hibiscus, plumbago, angel wing begonias, salvia, dianthus, allysum, pansies and lobelia are all blooming well. I have a few pots of cyclamen that are adding shots of deep magenta. I put the magenta ones surrounding a large potted JM. The JM colors have been great this year. They usually just brown and dry out, this year they are a deep burgundy red and so pretty. I even have a bleeding heart vine that has just put out new blooms. Everything is confused with the weather. The mums are done for now, but some geraniums are starting to put out buds. I'm amazed I still have so much color, but I'm sure enjoying it.
DFWDennis, I will look on Ebay, and thanks for the info. I closed my Paypal account some time ago because there was a lot of chatter on the financial forums I use, where people were talking about their bank accounts being compromised due to someone hacking into Paypal. Paypal required you to have your bank account linked to your Paypal account with purchases of a certain dollar amount, so I didn't like leaving my bank account "exposed" if Paypal didn't have appropriate security. If I buy anything else, I'll have to go through the whole rigamarole of setting up a new paypal.....might be worth it though.
It's frightfully windy and cold outside today for me to do anything with the garden. But, by golly! I saw hyachinch with buds yesterday beside Daffs. Likes someone has mentioned earlier, this is the earliest I've seen these flowers trying to bloom at this time of year! Come to think of it. It's blooming a "whole year" early, yup, because technically tomorrow is the NEW YEAR. Happy New Year everyone.
Hello all! I have a question for ya'll that may sound really stupid....I have never sown seeds before and I have a new heat mat that I'll be using soon. Almost every seed packet says "Sow X number of weeks before last frost"....How the dickens do you know when the last frost will be? Anyway of looking it up and finding out?
It's a "best guess" as far as I'm concerned. If I'm using seed, I usually plant over two or three weeks, so that if a freeze comes and nips some of the sprouts, a week or two later, I have more coming up. If they all make it, I have produce that ripens over the course of several weeks, so it works out well either way. My problem is not enough room, I need a bigger garden area. I may have to fill in this swimming pool to create a corn patch!
Here's a Texas map of last frost dates.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homeguide/frostspring.html
This message was edited Dec 31, 2008 11:10 AM
Karen, I think our date for last frost is mid April. I usually start my seeds indoors late Jan to Mid Feb. That way they are ready to put in the ground or outdoors pot by April. I have a MG tree I will be sowing hopefully in a week or so.
Baby Maddie is running a 101° fever this am. Dr wants her in for IV fluids at noon if she doesn't take in at least 6 ozs of fluid. She won't drink anything. They try and push fluids but she won't have it. They try spooning it to her but it's not enough. So I suspect she will be getting the IV. It is a good thing. She needs the help right now. Poor baby. Mom is eating a little better but still weak. I don't do the flu shot either. Hubby does and so does mom. The baby had one too.
I have buds on some of my daffs. My Chinese Fringe has bloomed. All my GH plants are still blooming. My plumbago has been frost bit nad shriveled to the ground. But it will be back. I have it next to my red salvia. It of course looks great. My roses are putting out new growth. They'll be needing fertilizer here in a few weeks. I am grateful for the warm sunny days. I at least need the sun. I get a little blue without it for too long.
Happy New Year to everyone. Stay safe. We obviously will be home, but that is fine by me.
I looked at that map and was surprised to see Mar 1 for our counties. I could have sworn I read April in a Texas wildflower catalog. Oh well It does say "average". We just haven't been "average" since we moved here in June of 05. Every year I've been here save one we have had snow and sleet in March and April and now Dec 08. When we first moved here everybody told us it hardly ever snows but occasionally we will get an ice storm. In three years we have had three snowfalls. Last March and April 07 being the heaviest. I will still wait until April to plant outdoors. I worry enough over my new starts as it is without worrying about a late frost or sleet/snow. It's almost like living in the Panhandle. I said almost.....
My F-I-L use to put coffee cans over is tomato starts. He would push the lid down if there was a frost coming at night and then open the lids when the sun was up. He lived in Ok and always had a good start on his tomatoes. We do that here too.
That Narcissus is so pretty, Josephine! I'd like to plant tomatoes like I have in the past some years, but this drought is getting SO BAD! Just keeping my plants alive over the winter is hard. I hate frequent watering in winter! Makes me love my drought-tolerant plants even more, however. I'm starting to forget what real rain was like. Oh...I did fencing wire cages with clear plastic on the sides when I'd put tomatoes out...if freezes were likely, it would be so easy to just put garbage bags over the top of the cage. And the plastic pretty much kept the insects off too...so they were healthier...then I'd take the clear plastic off when it started getting too hot.
what is this? It's the bulb I found yesterday. It's just now opening. Sorry the sun is so bright the pic isn't the best. It's probably about 7 or so inches tall.
Texasgrower, I think you have a daffodil.
AJNTEXAS thanks so much for the link to that map, it's exactly what I was looking for and couldn't find. I appreciate the help!
Jeanne, hope Maddie feels better this evening. Poor little thing, hate to see her sick.
My "babies" are 45 and 42. In the old days when they ran high fever the doctor instructed an enema. When they are dehydrated the body absorbs the liquid if they won't drink. Sounds crude and cruel but it was my only choice and it worked.
So hard to watch a little one when they are ill.
Christi
If it is a daffodil it doesn't look anything like my others nor are the buds like my others. They are smaller too. So, I guess there must be all kinds of daffodils like there are other plants. It's just so small.
Here's a pic from last year. I found it in my comp. I had forgotten this little plant until I went looking through my pics.
Maddie has pneumonia too. She had a wet diaper at the eleventh hour of her Dr visit. He was encouraged by the fact she had'nt had diarrhea since 3am. She got x-rayed and blood work taken. They got to take her home with the proviso that she be given at least 2 oz of any liquid every two hours. If she develops fever, diarrhea , cries w/o tears or has no saliva or becomes lethargic she is to go to the hospital. The Dr will call in the early am as he is on call to see how she is doing. I put her in God's hands. That is where my faith is.
I may be back at the hospital with mom tomorrow or maybe even tonight if she doesn't improve. She is so weak and pale. She has eaten twice today and had 280z of Gatorade. Everything is staying down. Her blood work and vitals were good two days ago but I doubt it now. But again, God is in control and I trust Him.
Happy New Year
TexasGrower the first picture looks like a daffodile that did not open properly. Colors are about the same as your last year picture. Could have just been stunted possibly this crazy hot/cold weather.
Hello everyone! Y'all have been busy today! Always fun to sit down and catch up on the visiting...
On the coffee cans over the tomato plants, these new ergonomically designed, molded plastic cans would not be as easy. Have to cut a lot of bottoms out by hand but that is a good idea. Thanks.
I'm thinking those blooms are in the process of opening. Is it possible that is a Narcissus? The Daffodil is in the same family also but we've always called the solid yellow ones Daffodils. This one is commonly called Butter & Eggs. Fragrant and so pretty.
TXgrower ~ my heart goes out to your loved ones. They will be in my thoughts and prayers for a speedy and full recovery.
I agree ~ AJNTexas ~ thanks for that link on the frost dates. Off to peek at it.
But first, let me wish everyone a safe and sane Happy New Years eve. Wishing you all only the best of the New Year ahead! We're staying home and keeping a low profile just like the old foggies we are ~ LOL. I hear the neighbors already shooting and setting fireworks. Good thing, maybe they'll be out of ammo and fireworks by midnight. Happy New Year!
Very quiet here. No fireworks allowed because of fire danger during this extreme drought. Am glad everybody's following the law so far. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to Everyone!!!
Hope each of you has a New Year full of blessings and sweet surprises!!
Sheila_FW
Happy New Year!!!!
Good Morning to the New Year.
Christi
Happy 2009 everyone!! Hope to have a nice quiet day today. Mark & I will be staying home but we hope to get out for a walk later this afternoon.
Happy New Year!!!
Hope he is doing better with medical issues now Stephanie; glad to hear he is walking. My DH is due for another back surgery, just not schelduled yet due to holidays. He is active now, but in pain a lot.
I pray for better health for all of us this New Year! Hope your DG will feel better soon Sheila.
Good morning and Happy New Year! Here's pic of us at neighbors' ....freezing...
Seems like all the grandparents we know were babysitting last night! We, along with some other grandparent friends, took our crew to early dinner at Red Robin. The kids loved it, and we got to visit a bit. We had a quiet evening playing with DGS until his parents came to pick him up at 10. Then it was time to go to our crazy NYC neighbors' home for the 4th Annual "banging of the pots!" They run outside and make noise at 11PM (NYC midnight) and again at 12, along with champagne and fireworks....did I mention we're under a burn ban and I'm terrified of firecrackers? Street looks like a war zone this morning. They only had the "legal" fireworks, but there were still some that went off target and into their trees..... We made it till 11:45, then headed home.... (and we used to be party animals....well, one of us was!).
