It's Good To Be Home!

14 years ago

It's always wonderful to visit with family and friends for the Christmas Holidays... but it's equally wonderful to finally arrive home after such a visit!

I hope this message finds everyone recovering nicely from a great Christmas filled with good food, the warmth of family and friends, and a most generous "Santa"!

We rolled in a couple of hours ago... and man, am I glad to be home! The main highways were clear, but the secondary roads were solid black ice, or ice with a snow covering... not conducive to good traction!

Upon entering our apartment, it became immediately clear that the pilot light had gone out on the heater sometime while we were gone! It was quite chilly! Luckily, not chilly enough to affect my plants! Whew!

This is what greeted me upon arriving home...

H. Minerva...

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H. Pasadena, second scape...

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H. Sweet Lilian, second scape...

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Plus, there's a fat bud on a new Apple Blossom bulb! I actually think the cold helped retard the fading of the blooms, somewhat!

We managed to deliver all nine pups to their owners, most on the way up... we met up in the city of Chicago... and the rest once we landed at my son's house. We were going to keep the little dark female, Baby Emmy, but she was wanted by the doctor who bought one of the males. His kids will love and adore her, too! All got spectacular homes, though I confess... I will miss this litter more than most. They were awesome.

We spent a lovely Christmas Day watching the grandkids open gifts, and then we went to my daughter-in-law's parents' for a huge dinner! We spent a couple of extra days relaxing with my son and his family, visited with my daughter and my other grandson, saw my middle son and his woman who were down from Des Moines... all in all, a most excellent trip!

But, I'm glad to be home. I brought Maia in from the kennel, and she's glad to be "home", too! She doesn't seem to miss the babes... I think she's just glad to be back inside the house, sleeping in her own bed!

And so... how was YOUR Christmas?

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Comments (7)

meyermike_1micha
14 years ago
Aw..Excellent..
I just sent you a message making sure you were ok, when I was at other side,the hot tamali side, prickly side, when I realized you hadn't been there. You have a huge welcome waiting you there from many folks I tell you.....

I am at work and can't wait to see what you posted for pics...! I will also have time to read your post thoroughly....lol

Glad you are back!

Mike:-)
lathyrus_odoratus
14 years ago
Gorgeous blooms, Jodi. Love that Sweet Lillian.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time with family and didn't have any problems on the trip. Can't ask for more than that.
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I thought something bad had happened too, given all the cold temps snow and ice of late. I haven't started, yet. Seems I amassed this large colection of juice jugs and they are heavy (I don't know what you qualify them as, PVC or just heavy plastic) so I had a hard time getting through the one I cut. I don't have any other tools either and don't want to stab myself. But they are nice and clear and have that sort of rectangular shape. Anyway, I read about using hole punch and pipe cleaners to fasten them back instead of tape. Of course I can't find the hole punch now. Which brings me to the drainage holes. I don't think I am going to be able to stab them with the scissors and I just read about how holes, not slits, work so much better at keeping the jugs from drowing. Then there's all the soil which I left outside. It's now frozen. I have to try and find all those seeds I bought and saved too. Gee, it sounds like I am procrastinating which is the last thing I want to do~ as the WS gives me such joy and it's a pleasure to read and look at the photos on here. Not to mention winter's fleeting (did I mean to say sleeting? na).
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Thanks, Andy! Yes, the photos were taken the day before they were posted, I believe. The Glads are just opening, and both of my Echinacea patches are in the first stages of blooming... they'll go on for quite some time! I'm a bit disappointed in the Glads, though... they're fading soon after opening. I was hoping they'd last longer. Perhaps they aren't liking the heat we're having... this is the first year I've grown them, so I'm not certain what to expect. I planted both whites and greens, and the whites are lasting longer, so far. Chicago is hot and beautiful in the summer, and cold and very windy in the winter! I love the Blues, and there are some wonderful blues clubs in Chicago and the surrounding area! It's been a long time since I went to a good blues club to hear a band play... eons ago, I would go to a little place called "The Blue Note" to see different bands... they got shut down due to the illegal trafficking of certain chemicals, I heard! Imagine that! There was also a place in southern Wisconsin called the "Silver Moon" that featured wonderful blues! I saw a band called The Kingsnakes there, and the sax player was out of this world! My favorite music is Classic Metal and Rock, but I still have the complete set of Robert Johnson recordings packed away somewhere! You know what they say... "the Blues had a baby and they called it Rock & Roll"!
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Mary, was just implying it would be highly unlikely that they were N. milberti because of the numbers. FWIW, typically in most national parks and reserves the rangers each have one of two fields they specialize in and have formal training in, and just general knowledge of the rest. Nothing at all against these rangers, but that's the way it is and even more so now that funding has been cut back so far to the parks. Add that even the parks entomologist may specialize in other bugs and not our lepidopteran friends. So they may not pass along detailed information about leps to the other rangers there. I have been issued Class A permits in national parks because I noticed something either very rare or unusual while visiting or driving through them, and sought out the resident entomologist to see if they were aware, and to point them to the exact location if not. I usually was given a permit so I could take the field with the entomologist. One time while traveling to the Beartooth Plateau for the summer to do more research for my book, I saw such an instance happening in Grand Teton NP, and soon found out that the resident entomologist was away on leave (vacation). The parks superintendent not only gave me a permit to collect a few for their synoptic collection, but since it was so scarce on most of the more unusual species found there he also asked me to collect them as well for their collection. I limited collecting to three pairs of each species, two for the park and one for my SC (legal to have because I also have the permits they were collected under). When the entomologist returned, she contacted me and wanted me to come up and stay the entire following season to do all the parks lepidopteran species with her. Heck of an opportunity, but we already had a schedule for that year and I just didnÂt have time to do it (I wasnÂt too keen on spending the entire summer away with a young lady the ex had never met either Â although I know she would have accepted me going with a smile if I had chosen to). Anyway, if you ever passed through GTNP and had the opportunity to see their synoptic collection, the ones I collected for the park that year will be there.
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It had been absolutely fabulous weather here, every day I would open all the windows and doors since I have screens on all of them and enjoy the nice breeze airing out the house. This weekend we were doing some Spring cleaning and built up quite a sweat so had to turn on the AC for the first time this season, last night the temp was dropping so turned off the AC and opened some windows. Today it is 59 and very over cast. I have everything open again but there is a little chill in the air.
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puglvr1
14 years ago
Thanks for sharing your beautiful blooms Jodi. I know what you mean its great seeing family and friends...but its a great feeling to be back home...just like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...there's no place like home...SO true!

BTW, my Minerva blooms is completely dead now...should I remove the long green stalk(still looks very healthy) or might I get another flower from that? Thanks Jodi...

We are having our Christmas celebration next week...when my DD comes home from college(Chicago). Then it will be Christmas for us,lol...
jodik_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks! Got your message, Mike... I'll try to get over to the Cacti Forum sometime this evening.

The trip was not without its problems, but we managed... Larry took the wrong Interstate cutoff while I was on the cell phone... took two hours to find out where we were and to backtrack to the right highway... the Bluetooth piece for our GPS had a dead battery. If I knew all the smaller roads, we could have saved a lot of time, but I'm not that familiar with Chicago.

We ended up letting little Emmy go... we had sort of intended to keep her... but she's got a great home, so it's ok... we'll do a repeat breeding in another two years.

And, we came home to problems... but I don't even want to go there... maybe some other time.

Anyway...

Nancy, just let the stalk die back naturally... let it dry up before cutting it off. Your bulb could possibly send up another stalk, but each stalk, or scape, only produces one set of flowers. Once it's done blooming, you can begin feeding it regularly with an all purpose plant food, and give it as much sunlight as possible. You could even plant it directly in your gardens, given that you live in a warm climate. Just make sure it has good drainage, and keep it fed while it grows its leaves and photosynthesizes for its next bloom cycle.

I'll try to remember to help you through the seasons with your bulb! They're really fun to grow and re-bloom!

We used to have some of our Christmases after the fact... it depended on what the kids' mother had going on. Sometimes, we'd get lucky and be able to hit the after Holiday sales so the kids could have more presents to open!
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
14 years ago
..... and it's good to have you back. ;o)

Al
jodik_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Aww... thanks, Al! I missed you guys! :-)

My husband brought his laptop with us, but he was so busy helping everyone with computer issues while we were there, I didn't want to ask if I could surf GW! Maybe next time!

Actually, I'm not as addicted to it as I thought I was! I can step away any time I like... with minimal withdrawal symptoms! ;-)
meyermike_1micha
14 years ago
Jodik...What a sight for sore eyes ha....Sweet!! They are sooooo beautiful..

P.s. It is good to see your not addicted to your computer like some of us are..lol

Mike..:-)

It's Good To Be Home!

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It's Good To Be Home!

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meyermike_1micha

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