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Post by Phalon on Jul 8, 2017 5:14:02 GMT -6
One week until "The Show". I learned yesterday that if the weather is nice, the garden tour typically draws 200-400 people; 50 to 75 special invites show up on Friday evening for the "preview". ACK! WTF?! I was thinking maybe 25-30 people on Saturday, and 10-15 on the Friday night preview.
Starting to freak.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 8, 2017 14:54:07 GMT -6
OMG! Who knew garden voyeurism was so popular?
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Post by Phalon on Jul 9, 2017 7:33:40 GMT -6
"Garden Voyeurism" - there's an idea for a story somewhere in there! I've always said those garden books and magazines filled with glossy photos are actually garden porn.
The people I work with are the best. A co-worker's Hubs gave me a barn quilt he painted to hang on the wooden fence. The Man Boss surprised me yesterday with a rustic bench he made for me out of logs. Everyone is for helping make this gig a success...everyone but Hubs it seems!
I swear, he seems to be sabotaging this at every turn (though I know he's trying to be helpful)! He's even given himself a nickname: "Edward Pruner Hands". I'm sure you can imagine why. Urgh.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Jul 9, 2017 7:47:54 GMT -6
UH OH.....Can you put safety socks on Edward Pruner Hands?
My garden this year is an epic failure. The heat killed everything except the basil. Pesto for everyone!
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 9, 2017 8:07:53 GMT -6
Handcuffs would be more effective. And a lock-box for the tools.
Oh, I'm sorry! Except for the pesto - I love pesto! Excessive rain here, followed by periods of heat and dry spells have lead to blossom end rot on the zucchini and summer squash - they'd get about 3 inches long, and then turn to mush. The plants seem to be coming out of it now though - Hubs harvested our first couple of zucchini and a few summer squash yesterday; had them on veggie pizza for dinner last night.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 9, 2017 20:30:25 GMT -6
... hmm ... Is there some way to keep the veggies off of the ground to keep them dryer? Maybe something similar to, but on a smaller scale as a drainage/soakaway crate?
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Post by Phalon on Jul 15, 2017 5:09:36 GMT -6
BP: "All of the sudden we (her friend and her) looked out my window and there were a hundred old people in the yard!" The garden tour preview was yesterday evening; I don't think BP's estimate of 100 people was accurate, but there were a lot. It was fun; I was the first stop, then we went to every other garden on tour. Today's the big event; I've got to get moving - there's still a lot to do. Places everyone. It's Showtime!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 17, 2017 10:59:27 GMT -6
I should have checked in here yesterday morning first. I would have then seen the board no longer supports photos before I uploaded all 15 of them to PhotoBucket, although I did end up posting some of them on the Whoosh Facebook page.
The garden tour was so much fun; I had a blast, and am not even being sarcastic! The weather was perfect, and despite all the work, whining, and nervousness, it's definitely something I'd do again. Everyone (I'm guessing there were 200+ judging from the number of cups I went through; I had pitchers of herb and citrus infused water I'd made, which I kept refilling throughout the day) was friendly, inquisitive, more than willing to scratch the dog's ears or stomach (she was loving all the attention), enthusiastic, and complimentary (even when they didn't know I was the owner, or when I wasn't around; I sneaked into the garage a few times for a cigarette...yes, I know, I know - nasty habit).
One of the sweetest moments was near the very end of the day when a man in his late 70s came through; his grandfather owned the house back then, even before the owners before us who lived here for more than 50 years. He remembered playing there as a little boy - the even remembered the weird lay-out upstairs with the split staircase, and bedroom that has its own set of stairs. Hubs offered to give him a tour of the inside, and when they were done, the man was visibly emotional reliving family memories from so far back. He was also able to shed some light as to how things were originally: the basement had two entrances - one outside (which are the current steps inside the mudroom which was added on), and another which led to the little fruit cellar off the basement; there was a hallway between what I call my office and the downstairs bath, and there was a wrap-around porch (I would love that!). The "door to nowhere" though off our second-story bedroom was always a door to nowhere - it let out to the roof of the porch, but not onto the porch. Some things about the house will probably always remain a mystery.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 17, 2017 17:22:35 GMT -6
I haven't blocked PB images. It has to be on their end. A few of theirs are still showing up for me, not sure what that means.
Tiny pics is owned by PB, if you want to go with them. Plus, there _are_ photo sharing sites that do not make you log in in order to upload & share images. Pastor Rick has lists of possible sites to use. I have a link in the first post of the PB Blues thread. The link goes to a Runboard thread on their support board.
Nevermind ... I won't make you go look:
bakheva.runboard.com/t8738
Here are my threads on the image problem:
bakheva.runboard.com/t16850
bakheva.runboard.com/t16852
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 17, 2017 19:27:05 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 17, 2017 19:31:35 GMT -6
Yeah. I was logged out, and they showed me nothing ... you will need to log in or join. (You can use a second email addy to create a second FB account. They frown upon that, but as long as you don't cause a problem it shouldn't come to their attention.)
I know accounts can create pages and post with them, but I don't know if pages are allowed to join groups. You can always try creating a page for your username and test it out to see if you're allow to do that.
Let us know if it works, and I'll post the info in our Facebook thread.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 17, 2017 20:17:03 GMT -6
Phalon: If you go with the German site, use Google Chrome. Chrome asked me if I wanted a translation, and then I had the option to always use the translation on that website.
abload.de/
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Post by Phalon on Jul 18, 2017 5:02:02 GMT -6
Thanks for all your advice, Joxie - it's no big deal though. I don't use PhotoBucket often, and at this time, have no desire or any real need to go through the hassle of finding another hosting site (from reading your posts in the PhotoBucket thread, it sounds like you're going through hell!)
The tour finished just in time - Hubs and the dog dug up a huge area of the vegetable garden yesterday chasing a mole. Actually, it was just the dog that did the digging; Hubs was goading her on!
The mole got away.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 18, 2017 14:30:13 GMT -6
There have been several dead moles in Mom's yard. I guess the cat is earning it's food & water, and my having to go take care of it every day.
I started using tinypic for now. (You don't need to create an account to upload images, but you do need to save the page to your favorites if you want to keep using them ... to remember the URL.) TinyPic is owned by PB, so I might move on to another site once I figure it out.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 24, 2017 10:36:34 GMT -6
One of the neighbor dogs is pretty good at catching moles; he's dug up a few anyway. Saturday, Hubs "caught one with his bare hands". (Eye-roll.) He used a shovel. There just seem to be so many of them suddenly - the worst is a star-nosed mole that makes these huge mounds when it comes to the surface.
The garden tour co-chairs came by one evening last week with an appreciation gift. The count of attendees they said, was over three hundred. Weird to think there were that many people in my yard - no wonder I was so tired at the end of the day!
Zucchini plant bounced back with the heat and humidity and is big, deep green, and producing zucchinis like rabbits; the yellow summer squash is doing the opposite - it's hanging on, but withering with powdery mildew. The surprising thing is the lettuce - four different kinds that are still lush, and haven't bolted one bit! The sunflowers - the 9 out of 16 that weren't destroyed when the dog wallowed on them - are starting to flower. I've got more parsley than I know what to do with, and the basil didn't die yet (the basil is in a pot, which dries out pretty quick if I forget to water). Potatoes and beets looking good; Hubs picked the first beans this weekend, though I haven't cooked them yet. Though we haven't had a ripe tomato yet, the plants are huge and full of green fruit, except the last one in the row in the garden along the fence next to the driveway - BP ran over it last night backing out Hubs car of the single car driveway, while trying to avoid my car. Ah well - better the tomato than my car!
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 24, 2017 19:34:33 GMT -6
Ooh! Green Tomatoes! I need to see if my b-i-l's garden has any. Me love fried green tomatoes.
My b-i-l is just about ready to quit gardening. The deer & raccoons leave him little to nothing to harvest ... but I told him yesterday what I learned online ... to soak rags in apple cider vinegar and place them around and within the garden, then re-soak them once a week. He's going to give it a try. He said he was anyways.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 25, 2017 5:00:35 GMT -6
There are all kinds of things people try to deter animals from their gardens, but I haven't heard the apple cider one; I'll have to remember that when customers ask. Out of all the products we carry inside the store, the deer and rabbit repellents are products that we sell the most from the time we open in spring to the day we close in fall; other gardening supplies have specific seasons, but keeping deer away from plants is a year-long battle around here. The sprays and granules can get expensive though, since they have to be reapplied.
There are gobs of homemade remedies though - one of the easiest is used cat litter (cats, to include wild cats, mark their territories by urinating). The ammomnia smell of cat urine will detract animals because they think a predator is in the area.
Of course, since your BIL is a guy, it would be easier for him to just urinate around the garden. Don't laugh - I even know women who do this!
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 25, 2017 16:22:52 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 25, 2017 16:31:11 GMT -6
BTW: He used to have his garden on the other side of the barn, but he put it in my front yard hoping Mom's dog would chase the critters away whenever she was outside. I have a big front yard, so it's not in my way.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 26, 2017 4:54:46 GMT -6
Oh, good to know - always looking for Facebook fodder for the nursery. I'll put it on my list...along with everything else I need to post. HA! It's a good thing I'm not the only administrator - I haven't even checked in during the past couple of weeks, except to answer messages!!!
Quetta's pretty good at keeping the rabbits out of the yard. I don't really think it's because she's particularly good at chasing them away, but rather it's her scent that keeps them wary of hanging out for long.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 26, 2017 13:34:05 GMT -6
Mom's dog loves to chase. She does NOT like it when what she's chasing turns around and faces her. She screams like she's being attacked, even when all they're doing is facing her. In the dark it scares me, because I can't tell if she's really being attacked or not.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 27, 2017 5:55:23 GMT -6
Quetta loves to chase too. And like you, I hate when she does it in the dark. Squirrels and rabbits she stalks and give silent chase. In the dark though, she tears through the yard, down into the ravine, snarling as if she's giving chase to something big - and because she's black, I can't see her, or whatever it is she's chasing. Sometimes, she'll be on her way back into the house, stop and just stand there, growling low with the hair on her back raised. "WTF do you see?" I ask. Other times when she's coming in, she'll stop in the middle of the yard, turn to the street and start barking for no apparent reason, then turn back toward the door and continue to bark the entire way inside.
Basically, it's just annoying, but sometimes I wonder exactly what's out there.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 27, 2017 14:38:03 GMT -6
She's given me a fright or two. Acting like something is out there and making me go out with her, and acting nervous, and me wondering if unlocking the door and going outside was a good idea. As soon as she's done her business we're both back in and I get the door shut and locked as quickly as possible. I have no clue why she does that. Nothing has happened to make me believe it's any real threat.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 28, 2017 4:47:07 GMT -6
I do, I do! Because dogs are like kids (my and Xena Sis's inside joke). They'll do anything just for the purpose of annoying you; if they know it annoys you, they'll do it even more.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 28, 2017 13:04:55 GMT -6
I believe that.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 2, 2017 6:26:53 GMT -6
Edward Pruner Hands strikes again...and this time it's not aggravating. Before the garden tour, Hubs took the weed wacker to the big Seven Sisters rose next to the garage - because "it was in the way of the garage" (which meant a few of the branches were touching it). Before he hacked it though, he cut me a bouquet of roses that were placed in a vase before I got home from work. Also before the tour, he pruned my hydrangeas which were apparently infringing on the shed's space (also meaning a few branches were touching the shed); he also made a hydrangea blossom bouquet that was waiting for me when I got home.
"A lot of wives would love for their husbands to give them flowers" he said, ignoring the fact that people would be coming soon (300 of them!) to view the gardens and see a weed-whacked rose bush, and hacked up hydrangeas. I'm sure the bouquets were like peace offerings because I told him after weed-whacking the Virginia creeper earlier that he was not to go near any pruning or whacking implements until after the tour! Please.
Yesterday when I got home, there was a bouquet of daisies, sunflowers, yarrow, and coneflowers waiting for me. And nothing was touching the garage, shed, or anything else! Of course, I haven't walked around the yard yet to see what else Pruner Hands may have been into.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 2, 2017 23:02:25 GMT -6
I think you need to handcuff him to the bed when you leave for work. BOLL!
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Post by Phalon on Aug 10, 2017 6:27:10 GMT -6
Veggie garden is still kicking butt. Lots of green beans; Hubs picks them young and tender, and they're oh-so-good! The same with zucchini - they are better small, and we've got lots of them; I put them in nearly everything (although BP has yet to make the chocolate chip zucchini bread she's been promising me!). The late season lettuce that Hubs just planted last week is coming up; we finished off the first crop last night with a big salad...
And in it, was our first ripe tomato of the season!!! An heirloom called 'Black Krim', it was a deep purple color, and oh-so-sweet!
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 11, 2017 10:18:46 GMT -6
I _love_ garden fresh green beans & small new potatoes cooked together. Yummy!
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Post by Phalon on Aug 13, 2017 7:41:13 GMT -6
I agree! Our potatoes are just about ready to dig - a couple more weeks probably until the vines die off. I could probably get in there and dig up some young ones, but Hubs planted them so close together this year, I'd most likely chop in half more potatoes than I could dig up whole!
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