I'm here!! Thanks for asking!
It's very nice to know I've been thought about. Here's a little photojournalism: I thought 2024 was going to be the Year of the Apple. For the first time since 2015, my trees were covered with them. I was most excited about my beloved King Apple tree, the oldest and tallest of my trees, producing the biggest apples, so perfect for baked apples and other uses. But in July a thunderstorm took down one of the three main sections of the tree. It was super heavy with apples. This forced us to address something we'd been avoiding. All the sections of the tree grew from a base that had become hollow. A good part of the one that fell was hollow. The tallest part, at about 60 ft. and covered with hundreds of apples, was a serious hazard. So I asked my son to cut it down. That was hard (except for the actual cutting), but necessary. I may have told you about this at the time.
As for the other trees, the Macs dropped early. I made a couple of batches of somewhat tart applesauce, but the deer and turkeys got the rest. The other trees dropped later, but the animals made out well with those too.One animal I never thought about was a porcupine. When I learned they sleep in trees, I realized why I was seeing so many bites taken out of dropped apples. Of course, squirrels could have been behind it too, but one day I saw my first porcupine--about 3 feet from my porch, where I took this picture. My apples were very popular!
The chipmunks liked them too.
I did get a few apples. And my bean arch produced very well. So did the delicious honeynut squash, which I grew for the first time this year.
And my son's young Fuji apple tree produced such large apples that I cut this one in half to bake it.
Here's a drawing an artist friend did of my King apple tree in 1991.
I'll spare you the x-ray of my spine. Taken last month, it shows "severe lumbar scoliosis measuring 60 degrees" and "multilevel degenerative changes." No fractures though, thank goodness. The spine doctor thinks it may be responsible for the shortness of breath I have with even mild exertion. The lung doctor thinks that's possible too. I actually hope they're right. My cardiologist is watching a leaky aortic valve, but says he found nothing to explain the breathing problem.
I lurk at the KT from time to time but need to go back to being more active here. Not being allowed to discuss controversial current events is healthier than what I've been doing these days. I never thought of myself as an anxious person, but let's just say my nervous s ystem has been badly affected. As Martha Stewart used to say, that's not a good thing.
Other than this, my grandsons are growing, and I'm lucky to live across the road from them and have them and their parents in my daily life. I'm also lucky that my granddaughter moved back to Pennsylvania after eight years in Florida. We are thrift-shopping kindred spirits!
One more thing: a photo I took last evening:
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I'm 'almost' embarrassed to ask...
Comments (14)" It would be like posting a 3-year-old's finger painting next to the Mona Lisa." LOL I like that as that's exactly how I felt when I first saw Jon's pics! Well, after I turned the pile yesterday I got to reading more and figured I probably don't have enough greens. I called Starbucks and asked them to save what they had. I brought home about 50 or 60lbs of coffee grounds! It's a shame I didn't do that BEFORE I turned the pile! Aw, well; it keeps me moving and I get a great workout! I still have lots of things stockpiled, so now I just need to figure out exactly where I want another new bed. I'm going to do that, as I don't think my body could stand removing this thick sod again! The people that lived here before put mega effort into this lawn and it shows. Now here I am trying to get rid of it! Oh! Can we compost squirrels?? (Just kidding!) Thinking ahead for my tomato harvest......See MoreGo on shoot me I'm Asking About Soil
Comments (18)JG-- The cuttings you show above that you put into your mix are normal, in my opinion. The roots you had previously are too mangled and stuck together to do much more growing in gritty mix, in my opinion. I've had some like this coming out of peat mix soils and for those, whereas others, I was able to cleanly pull apart, prune and plant as is. For yours, I'd have snipped off the roots, pulled off the leaves below the new roots and stood them in gritty mix. As you can see, forming roots in GM is not an issue, as shown by the new roots you have. A month or two like this and you have a fully established cutting. I have not used anything but Turface with GM since reading Al's posts, but it seems a lot of people claim the Napa product works just as well. Screening Turface, in my opinion, is THE most important step as those small bits can really make for a mess. The gritty mix will hold water, and despite how gritty it is, you still need to control watering. I don't think I can overwater to the point of drowning a plant to death like I could in regular potting mixes but I am certain I could overwater some succulents still, to the point of them not being at their best. Case in point: these were from two different small pots I bought where these particular cuttings were really hopeless as far as roots go. Just one small blob that I couldn't separate, so I chopped them off and put them into gritty mix with a couple other cuttings I took. I must water these once a week indoors or so and they look happy, as happy as plants can look anyway. Lol. FWIW, the mix is fir bark, screened Turface and small pebbles as I could not find chicken grit to save my life. Apparently, raising chicken is not popular in SF, haha. :-) I did find crushed granite but it was way too much dust for my liking. Good luck and I wouldn't toss the Napa stuff just yet! :-) Grace...See MoreIs it wrong to ask for perfection? (I'm coming with my level!)
Comments (3)Especially for an appliance, and one that's a drawer! You'd best be picky here and get it level. They may be able to shim it or adjust something somewhere (I have no clue how those things are installed!) but the microwave does need to be level. It just DOES. I bet the installation instructions agree with me....See MoreI'm in tears - would you ask them to leave?
Comments (39)Caryscott made some very good points. I have had English speakers and non-English speakers work on my house and I have to say that there have been more problems from the English speaking ones in my case. Knowledge of a language, or lack of, is not the deciding factor in how things come out. Skill, attention to detail and communicating with someone until you understand are all very important. Even if someone can't speak directly to me, there is always someone who is bilingual around and gestures, pictures and drawings help. I have had my words ignored by American born contractors who were told in simple English, often with pix, and yet managed to screw something up anyway. I think it is more about gender tendencies than origin of birth (ducking from the men here, lol). My dh will often not hear something that we, or at least I, clearly discussed. Mistakes will be made. I am just sorry this one has been one that is not easily fixable. I am sure everyone feels awful. I don't think the gc needed to yell at anyone as that solved nothing. Talking clearly to the crew in the first place might have been a better strategy....See More- 2 years ago
Thanks again, everyone. Your responses made me happy. Yes, nature has been a constant in my life for a lot of years. It's amusing to me to remember when we lived in midtown Manhattan and bought a little weekend house in PA, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to be in the country every weekend! But in less than five years we became full-timers, and in 1975 moved into the old farmhouse where I live still. I guess I adapted!
PattiG, I'm down to only one cat. That sounds so strange to me. For most of my years here we never had fewer than multiple cats and multiple dogs at any given time. It was relatively easy with three kids to pitch in. I still miss having a dog, but the cats have been great. This time last year I was down to two, Rocky and Scruffy, both of whom arrived as strays, separately, in 2013. I probably posted about Rocky several times. A Siamese mix, he was the most doglike of cats, so devoted, athletic, and entertaining. And vocal! But his Siamese genes made him vulnerable to anxiety and certain health issues. The vet suggested letting him outside a few years ago, and he certainly enjoyed making his rounds between my house and my son's across the road. We lost Rocky in May when he was hit on the road. He was 13. Here he is (the orange and white) with Scruffy in younger, healthier days.
Scruffy is still doing well. She's a tiny cat under all that fur, and she must have had a hard life before coming here. When she first arrived she was such a mess (hence the name) we thought she was seriously ill. She tolerated us, but just barely. We learned not to bring a hand down from above to pet her head, as she would cringe. Eleven years later, she still doesn't want to be picked up or sit in my lap, but if I lie down on the loveseat to watch TV she lies down on top of me immediately--and nose-butts me until I start petting her. She's indoors full time, loves to be warm, and loves to be brushed.Rocky loved toys, loved to chase balls and laser lights, etc., but Scruffy studiously avoided them. It wasn't until Rocky was gone that she started showing some interest--in a selective way. Balls are boring, apparently, but her absolute favorite toy is feathers dangling from a fishing rod wielded by one of the grandsons--even the 4-year-old. And when they pet her afterward: bliss!
Maire_cate, my son was just saying that about the apple wood as firewood.
Kathsgrdn, thank you again for pointing the way back to the KT.
Fun2BHere, I think of these photos as just snapshots. Don't encourage me, or I'll flood the KT with others I like better. lol
Nicole, I can see why my update turned out to be nature-based. Like many people my age (81), my circle of friends and relatives is diminishing. In the past year a significant number either died or moved away. In 2019 I was thinking I really should make an effort to make new friends because if I wasn't careful I'd end up being isolated. Then months later, the pandemic arrived.
Pudgeder, that's great! I hope you and your granddaughter will still venture out to the thrift shops when she's 33 (like mine).
Rob, ah, Jeopardy! I'll probably post separately about that, as I had something I wanted to ask the KT Jeopardy watchers.
Lily, thanks for empathizing. My fingers are crossed too, but more often it feels as though my eyes are crossed!
Suzieque, I always wished I had siblings, and I never got over that. But of course I'm grateful for what I do have. I'm glad you have wonderful friends.
- 2 years ago
Woodrose, thanks for complimenting the photo of the chickens. I hadn't thought of framing it, but now I'm thinking a nice framed print might be something my DIL would like for Christmas. They're her chickens!
Salonva, "my" porcupine was silent (except for munching the apple), but I listened to another on a YouTube video. Definitely squeaky!
Chisue, "general deterioration" sums it up nicely. 😊
Murraysmom, my friend's King apple tree drawing is a treasure indeed. It hangs right above my computer monitors, so I see it often. Another of her works hangs in a nearby room. I think this one might have been the original of a book cover or illustration. It doesn't depict anything or anyone of ours, but my friend said she was inspired by the horses, cats, and dogs we had at the time.
2 years ago- 2 years ago
AlisandeOriginal Author