Posted on 12/05/2014 12:42:32 PM PST by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.
No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.
It's a great day for baking, making soup, sipping tea and garden planning. No seed catalogs here yet. Have checked the pantry, and pulled out some canned goods that need to be used. Made some chili with the tomatoes.
Have some pumpkin and sweet potatoes to use. I am thinking about some sort of soup, since we overdosed on sweet pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.
The garden is about the same as last week. Things grow slowly during the cold weather.
Sunday is Pearl Harbor Day, and I like to remember our troops and say a special prayer of thanks for all of our Veterans and men and women who are serving today.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List. See update on Arrowhead’s condition below.
Kathy in Alaska has pinged me with this update:
Arrowhead Update from his daughter....
Writing to give an update on my dad. I was down in Austin from Kansas for the Thanksgiving holiday and was able to see him almost every day that I was there.
Dad is still very early in his recovery, but we are always excited about the little “hooray!” moments that we see. He is still on a feeding tube, but this week or next they will do a swallow test with him to see if he can swallow something soft, and make sure he does not cough it into his lungs. If all goes well with that, the feeding tube may come out, but it will still be a few weeks at best.
He tends to be very tired during the day, and sleeps a lot. However, when he is awake, we are able to ask him basic questions and we sometimes get a “yes” , “no” , or “okay.” (He does try to occasionally speak in sentences, but it is a very low murmur and is very difficult to understand - it tends to be garbled.) However, he does have moments of clarity. Mom brought a set of dominoes for his room (one of his favorites) and we sat and played for a while. He and I were on a team together and I held up a domino and said, “can I play this one next?” He looked at the dominoes that had already been played, nodded, and said “if you want to.” He was also able to shuffle the dominoes between games with his hands, like a muscle memory coming back very clearly.
With assistance from the therapists and a kind of sling, he has been able to walk about 20 steps a couple of times. However, this is only attempted once or twice a week because it is a huge feat and does tend to suck the energy out of him. He had a dizzy spell during therapy and his blood pressure dropped pretty low, so occasionally therapy doesn’t go as planned. But they are sure working with him to try and get him to move forward with baby-steps.
For now that’s about all! We love getting the FReeper cards, and mom reads each of them to dad multiple times and shows pictures, notes, etc. that people include. It is so very sweet and we are so grateful for the overwhelming support from his online community. You all are just wonderful! Thanks to everyone for their support and for the continued thoughts and prayers. Still no word on the overall prognosis, but we simply hope for the best in accordance with God’s will. :) It’s all we can do.
If you would like to send a card or note or ???, please FReepmail Kathy in Alaska for their address
I should have visited him since I was down there in Austin this week.
Yes. I'm taking advantage of winter to travel to visit my special friend in Austin.
We did discuss what arrangements would have to be made to move her in here.
I'm thinking (hoping) I'll be dead and gone by then.
I'm not getting soft in my older age.
Really.
Mostly.
/johnny
Raining now so will wait for a week to do anything. Maybe some composted manure.
It will all work out, I'm sure.
/johnny
I was hoping to bring home a load of stable waste this weekend, but the rain has put the kabosh to that.
Might be my opportunity to do some more cleanup in the garden and work on the cold frames that I’ve been wanting to build.
No progress on the potting shed this week, aside from locating a free window that will work perfectly in the south-facing wall.
The first batch of seed catalogs arrived in the mail yesterday...
Ha Ha. Can’t believe you are even considering it. LOL Best of luck though.
Of course I'll consider it for a few seconds.
/johnny
We’ve had a warm, humid week (we’re in Louisiana). We have collards, turnips, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cilantro, green onions, something called cheddar cauliflower, and arugula. And of course the rosemary and thyme. The Brussels are starting out a little slow, I think we were enjoying them by this time last year. My husband pinched the tops off some of them to see if it would help with the sprouts.
Thanks for the ping.
/johnny
A lot of distractions vying for our attention these days....We had broccoli, and used the last of it in a casserole for TG- we could plant some more this late?
Yahoo to the seed catalogs. If it quits raining, I’ll do some clean up out doors too.
Have promised to watch recorded NCIS with Daughter and grand daughter, help clean out Daughter’s freezer, and babysit with the great grand kids this weekend at my Grand Daughter’s house.
Am also trying to do fall cleaning and get everything kid proofed for the great grand kids at Christmas.
We just can’t have much garden during the winter months here, unless we would get a heated green house. Mostly I just use winter wheat, rye, or vetch. That way I don’t have to get out in the cold.
It would be nice to have all that stuff growing right now. Congratulations on the produce.
You are welcome.
I love my little vegetable garden and the few fruit trees I have. Hopefully someday it will look nicer and bigger. But right now, I trying to find some partial shade easy to grow perennials, pet friendly(seems like everything I think of is toxic) shrubs or vines for my front yard.
I was wondering if you may have any suggestions?
I am in Zone 7A
I will think about it, and get back to you later. I have to leave now for my daughter’s house.
Overcast and in the lower 70’s here in East Central Mississippi. This week the lower 70’s have been the norm. Nice! Clean up week out in the yard.
Went to the eye Doctor with my wife yesterday. She was needing new glasses and I had not been to one in about 20 years. The Dr first flashed a bright green light into our eyes using a machine we looked into. Everything was controlled by his computer. The machine we looked into, which changed lenses as we told him which image was more in focus. Then he showed us the picture he took of our eyes with the green light flash. Amazing, it showed blood vessels of our eyes. Both of our eyes looked great. But we both needed glasses.
We will have new glasses in about a week. Dr. visit cost us $10 dollars each, out of pocket. Frames and lenses came to about $200 each, out of pocket. With no insurance it would have been about $400+ each. Lenses for both of us were no line bifocals. I am happy. My glasses from 20 years ago were destroyed by one of our Irish Setters years ago and I just went without.
Apparently the Dr. can tell from the photos of our eye’s blood vessels if we might have other health problems, like high Blood pressure, Diabetes, etc.
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