Wednesday May 31

[Shirlv]

Morning All, 57° partly sunny, humidity climbing boo hoo. I’ve been rather preachy (is that a word) so going to cool it. Shelia, I made Jambalaya in the crockpot. A watermelon slushy sounds wonderful. I don’t think I should eat crunchy shell taco in polite society. Will stick with soft bowls but fish and slaw was good. Going to fertilize balcony plants. Be safe

[OregonLuvr]

Good morning. 48 here and will be 70 today....great weather for this time of year. I have some housekeeping chores to do today after breakfast but nothing big. Then have to water the flower pots, they seem to dry out so fast. Think I will fertilize also today. My Hydrangae that never bloomed last year but had lots of leaves is full of flower buds this year. I guess I must have traumatized it at one point and I didnt water last year....didnt care if everything died. But everything looks good this year except one Azalea bush that is definitely dead, so will be replaces with something else. Probably my Peony bush I bought. I will try Home Depot again early this morning as yesterday afternoon looked wild there, but I went in anyway but they didnt have what I wanted. It was so busy so after they didnt have several things I needed I didnt even go in the garden section for other stuff I wanted. Stopped at the grocery store and it was packed, not sure why as the sales dont start until today, I only picked up a couple of things and got the heck out of there. Came home, jumped on Amazon and ordered everything I needed for my drip system and my BBQ. It will be here tomorrow and Friday....easy peasy.

Shirl, I dont think you have been preachy. Not sure why you think that or why you care. This forum is for our thoughts, good or bad. I am sure some people dont like what I post at times but I dont really care that is what the scroll button is for LOL I use mine frequently I might add LOL
Velda I dont remember how much it weighed but it was BIG and thick both of them. I froze one and ate one. I dont normally do most red meats. Have nothing against it but I use hamburger frequently. Just prefer seafood, pasta, salads. Occasional pork steaks. I like chicken so I do eat a variety.
I am not much of a smoothie kinda gal. I much prefer my blended mochas and eat my fruit in it's original state LOL Okay off to eat my breakfast, grab a quick shower, get dressed and head to Home Depot.

[Redetotry]

Good Morning Shirl and all who stop by later. Heat and humidity is coming in here also and I dread it. Shirl don't change I love your remarks! A watermelon slushy does sound good but I usually manage to eat what I buy as it is one of my most favorite food. So far I haven't seen any in the stores here yet that look good.
Not much going on today but have plans Friday afternoon to play Mexican Train with my cousins and then go out to eat early before the restaurant gets crowded. Although on Fridays it sometimes doesn't slow up from lunch on! They have made the patio pet friendly which I think is a mistake as most pay no attention to what their dog is doing. But with the weather forecast we won't be sitting on the patio.

DH is at the Toyota dealer again trying to get the technology stuff to work on his new car. The radio, when he can get it to come on will just suddenly stop plus his profile has totally disappeared and it keeps asking him to sign in as a guest. I almost went with so I could have some of the chocolate chip cookies they bake fresh for people in the waiting room.

I should put a dog on the grooming table as it is a never ending process especially with Pippa. She will only tolerate it for so long at a time then she is done. Yes she has trained me well in all aspects of her wishes.

Enjoy your day where ever you are.

Karen wish you could share some of your cool weather and some of your motivation! I just can't seem to plan food ahead of time.

[BirdbyBird]

And at first, fast reading I thought Shirl thought she was Peachy. It gave me a pleasant pause to imagine Shirl bring peachy and how special being peachy would feel. I am just going to go with that...... So maybe those individuals are right in suggesting folks often see what they are expecting to see. I will now often thinking of Shirl finding/creating her way through another peachy part of her day......

[Acadianmom]

I think Shirl is peachy too. lol

It's already 10:000 and all I have succeeded in doing is drinking coffee and feeding the dog. The outside cats are probably all on the porch looking for their breakfast. I have to go to Walmart to get Sugar's pills so should make a list so I don't have to go again tomorrow.

I seldom buy a watermelon because I can never get a good one. Sometimes I buy the cut up watermelon at Walmart but it hasn't been looking very good and it's expensive. If the fence wasn't down in part of the old arena I could grow watermelons in there. They do better in sandy soil and heaven knows, we hauled enough sand in there.

Hopefully my Facebook account is ok. My son reported it and I got an email from Facebook that they were checking into it. They had changed my header picture and I don't even remember what it was. I can't find the picture I wanted to use.

I think I'll start fertilizing my plants on the first day of the month so I can remember when I did it. It's a good thing I didn't plant anything in the tub I drug up on the carport because Inky has made it his bed. I would have to find a wire shelf to put over it if I want to plant anything in there.

BJ, all the new technology in cars makes me not want to get a new car. I can't even get the Bluetooth to work in my 10 year old car.

I am going to miss the ribeye dinner at the cattle women's father's day meal when I go camping. Those guys know how to cook a good steak.

Martha

[Cudedog]

I will try Home Depot again early this morning as yesterday afternoon looked wild there, but I went in anyway but they didnt have what I wanted. It was so busy so after they didnt have several things I needed I didnt even go in the garden section for other stuff I wanted. Stopped at the grocery store and it was packed, not sure why as the sales dont start until today, I only picked up a couple of things and got the heck out of there. Came home, jumped on Amazon and ordered everything I needed for my drip system and my BBQ. It will be here tomorrow and Friday....easy peasy.

Good morning, Karen, and all who follow. VERY unseasonably cool here - we have yet to have our first 100 degree day - and I'll TAKE it! I really hate hot weather.

Karen, dang, I have been meaning to mention this but I forgot. Maybe if you are interested you can file it away for "later maybe".

I have been using this kind of drip system for going on four years now, and it is fantastic. The pieces are VERY easy to join using just hot water (to get the hose temporarily warm and flexible) and the best part is that the water emitters are built-in (no holes to punch, nothing to insert into the hose).

One just needs to get whatever hose they like (I use the 1/2") with one's preferred spacing of the emitters and a few "t's", elbows and end caps. There is nothing easier than this:

https://www.dripdepot.com/category/drip ... g-dripline

Main website:

https://www.dripdepot.com/

Best of all, they have multiple short videos showing how to put things together, and how to do just about whatever it is you need to do, garden-wise.

Shipping is free on orders over $49.00, shipping is fast and easy. They are located in Oregon!! Shipping to my No. Cal. home was just a few days.

Their products are available on Amazon, but are cheaper when purchased direct from the company.

I use a timer, one timer waters my whole large-ish garden. I love this, because I can be gone for a day or two or three and not worry about garden watering.

I also use "garden fabric" in my garden, this takes care of about 95% of the weeds - and I just leave it on the ground year after year:

https://www.amazon.com/ECOgardener-Landscape-Heavy-Duty-Eco-Friendly-Convenient/dp/B06WRQF1SQ?pd_rd_w=JcwHK&content-id=amzn1.sym.724fac2e-0491-4f7a-a10d-2221f9a8bc9a&pf_rd_p=724fac2e-0491-4f7a-a10d-2221f9a8bc9a&pf_rd_r=HSAKA905AKWFEPRHH1G7&pd_rd_wg=6zGlv&pd_rd_r=8d3482d0-6fb1

Metal garden stakes are needed to hold this fabric close to the ground (these are well worth the price!):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073F1VMHS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LOL. The way I get rid of most of my cardboard boxes (and I have a LOT of them, as many of us do these days!!) is that I break them down and put them flat on the ground, then cover them with this garden fabric, and stake things down. Easy-peasy!!

My drip system goes on top of the garden fabric.

The cardboard doesn't fill up the landfill, it further helps to suppress the weeds, it acts as a mulch holding in water, it adds organic matter to the soil, and it totally decomposes after several months (I have peeled up sections of my garden fabric to make adjustments, and the cardboard is gone).

Win-Win!!

Yeah, yeah, I do understand that this isn't particularly eco-friendly - but without a drip system and this garden cloth I just couldn't do a garden anymore. It is so hot here in the summer my veggies need to be watered at least once - sometimes twice - per day. And my part of Northern California, with my rich river-loam soil is "Weed Paradise".

And, yes, the various bits are "pricy" but everything lasts several years - and harvesting organic produce from my back yard, year after year, more than makes up for the dollar investment.

Anne

[Othersharon]

Good morning all! Been busy trying to keep up with or get caught up on yard work the last few days. Like an idiot I was out front weeding one of the flowerbeds at 2:00 which is starting the hot part of the day. My house gets the hot afternoon sun and I do know better than trying to work out there that time of day but I was determined to get it weeded. Needless to say I had to quit after only doing the one side. Just got to hot. What is hard to believe is how dry everything is for the time of year. Usually I’m thinking about renting goats to mow down the grass but right now it looks more like August and hasn’t really needed mowed for awhile. And weeds don’t pull up easily! I’ve been trying to walk Buddy every day. Luckily the road is dirt and lots of shade from the trees but have still needed to shorten the walk since he starts panting pretty hard. Even with water now and again. I have to remember he’s still just a puppy. He’d probably go until he drops or at least I would! I still need to get to the store since I’m out of everyday items. I’ve been thinking about the conversations about having contacts each day or so. I find it so interesting how we all know each other here either through posts or through people we’ve actually met in person from the forum. I treasure each and every moment of it. Guess I should get moving if I’m going to beat the sun out front! Hope everyone has a great day and stays safe.

[BarbaraRose]

Good morning gals!

No jury duty again today luckily! I got a call from the employment agency this morning saying they have a cannabis job for me today. I told her I can't start anything until next week because of jury duty.

I have been having bathroom issues this morning. Not sure what is causing that. Didn't eat anything yesterday that was suspicious.

Getting excited for this afternoon! I pick up Adele (not decided on a new name yet) at 3pm.

Still very windy out today but cool yet (65*) with a high of 85*. I will enjoy every cooler day here since I know the heat is coming soon enough! At least we ticked off one month that is typically already very hot. So one less month of extreme heat is fine by me!

Am hoping to get my new phone today. I discovered that my current phone won't let me in to check my voicemails either.

Don't forget about "RABBITS" tonight!

[JudyJB]

Whew! I am so glad I called CoachNet yesterday. I had tried to call around the three nearby towns here, and could not find anyone who could or would check my coolant leak. But CoachNet did, and I think they have a little more pull than I do in terms of getting someone to come out. So, guy came out, put a special cover on the radiator coolant reservoir and put air pressure on it. Then he crawled under the engine and searched there, and finally noticed that he could hear air coming from one of the places where the hose is attached to the reservoir! Sprayed soap on it, and lots of bubbles, so rest of job was just tightening it down properly and making sure there was no more leak.

So, I can go out tomorrow and do some shopping. I have plenty of groceries, but there are a couple of things I want from hardware and other places.

Aunt is in hospital with sepsis, but is doing better today. Between that, the radiator leak, lack of sleep, and altitude, I was feeling horrible yesterday, but got to bed early and got about 10 hours of sleep, which always helps.

PS. I have been watching the black-chinned hummingbirds closely by my side window. What is interesting is that 2 or even 3 female birds will share the feeder. One male will sometimes share with one female, but two or more males will NOT share anything with other males!!

[Colliemom]

Tina, I had the exact same thought you did when I read Shirl’s post. I was thinking she was have a peachy morning, feeling great and all’s well in other words LOL. Shirl, I enjoy your posts, no matter what you write about.

It’s 90° here at 3:30 p.m. Way over normal for this time of year. Been in the mid to upper 80’s since last Friday and doesn’t look to cool down till middle of next week. Saving Grace has been low humidity. But that combined with lack of rain, has us under extreme fire danger. The saving grace in that department has been very gentle breezes or lack of wind altogether. There was a wildfire over the weekend that required the evacuation of a campground, but they contained it before it got that far. Burned 136 acres. Caused by a homeowner who had a campfire, doused it when they quit and went inside, but somehow a spark set the dry grass on fire which spread to pine needles etc. and took off. Fire officials are warning to be extremely careful out there. One spark from anything can trigger one off. Never been so dry this late in the spring season like it is now. My grass is all brown. No mowing till we get rain and it greens up. I’m sure the Jack pine forests to my south and southeast are a tinderbox right now. Needless to say, I’m not doing much outside till it cools down.

I’m pouring gallons of water on the flowers at the sub entrance and watering mine daily. Just bought some Dairy Doo compost and Dairy Doo Tree and Shrub soil to top dress my one flowerbed and around my shrubs. If you are curious as to what this Dairy Doo is, here’s a link to their website. http://www.dairydoo.com. I started using it this year as it has been around awhile and our local TV Meteorologist has weekly feature on gardening and other things with it. Terrific results. I was using Miracle Grow till I found out about all the chemicals in it which are not only toxic to the soil you mix it, but if you are using it for gardening, the plants and your veggies absorb it as well.. It kills all of the beneficial microorganisms and bacteria and stuff. That is a natural part of soil that the plants need. It also dries out extremely fast because it is a very dry type stuff. So you’re actually spending more time watering and fertilizing. I do have my raised planter box and a couple of my planter boxes on my porch railing that have it in them and I have had to water them every day where the ones I put the Dairy Doo in, I haven’t touched on Sunday. They’re holding very well. I just now gave them a drink this afternoon. I don’t have to fertilize them for the summer either unless I want to. So next year I will be spending a bit extra to go the organic way.

Gues I should go fix a little bite to eat. Had lunch out today, so eating light for supper tonight. Karen, I’m with you on the beef. Don’t eat much of it either. Too much red meat isn’t good for you anyway.

[OregonLuvr]

Anne thanks for the tips but I have been using Drip Depot for years. I love all their connections and the fact they work correctly and tighten down and lock the tubing in is a miracle LOL I am also using 1/4" tubing that has an emitter in the tubing every six inches so I just run it back and forth and around and it waters pretty evenly. I use the pressure compensating emitters for my flower pots tho and that is working well. I need to run a line to my squash tho and will probably just use the regular emitters on them. I have a yellow squash plant and a zucchini that need the line to them.

I made it to Home Depot and there was hardly anyone there today, now it was only 10:00 am but yesterday afternoon it was crazy. I got my plastic plant saucers for the pots on my deck and cruised the flower dept but the Plant Warehouse is much cheaper so will go there tomorrow and get some flowers for my big pots. I did find a plant on the Clearance, it was pitiful looking. the root ball was about 2" above the dirt line, it was on clearance tho so it came home with me. I dug up the dead azalea, amended the soil, planted the new plant, watered it and called it good LOL it is another Azalea "Coral Bells" the picture looks pretty LOL This is what is says about it:
One of the most prolific blooming azaleas of all time, ‘Coral Bells' is a low to medium growing evergreen azalea that produces a massive explosion of coral-pink hose in hose flowers in spring that nearly cover the attractive green foliage. Every flower has dark pink centers which make the spring flowering show even more amazing. The flowers are small (1") but what they lack in size they make up for in sheer number!

Judy glad it was an easy fix. Barbie looking forward to some pictures of your new kitty, and I kind of like the name Adele but whatever you end up naming her will work. Sharon I have a dog that is prone to heat prostration so I only let her lie in the sun for a certain length of time. She would lie out there longer but I dont want her to get sick. If we walk she is hot in no time if it is warm out. She is double coated and is starting to blow her coat. I brush her every night (one of her favorite things) and lately been getting LOTS of hair removed. Yesterday even the groomer said she is really shedding right now....YUP but this year she isn't driving herself crazy scratching like last year. She lost so much of her hair and such dry skin but this winter she had the best coat she has ever had. I also have a super groomer now for the past 8 months

Had lunch but it is warming up out there in the sun and I am overdressed right now so need to change my clothes before I tackle the front yard

[Cudedog]

Anne thanks for the tips but I have been using Drip Depot for years. I love all their connections and the fact they work correctly and tighten down and lock the tubing in is a miracle LOL I am also using 1/4" tubing that has an emitter in the tubing every six inches so I just run it back and forth and around and it waters pretty evenly. I use the pressure compensating emitters for my flower pots tho and that is working well. I need to run a line to my squash tho and will probably just use the regular emitters on them. I have a yellow squash plant and a zucchini that need the line to them.

Oh well! Sounds like you found out about Drip Depot way before I did! I was very hesitant, read a lot about them, and how their items worked, how easy it all was, etc., etc., etc. - and didn't really believe any of it.

I had tried drip irrigation in the past, and it was a major pain to set up, and never really did work right, and constantly broke or came undone.

I waited quite a while, hemming and hawing, before I finally made the plunge with Drip Depot.

But, like you said, their drip system DOES work just like - and just as easily - they say it does! And yes, especially these days, this IS a miracle!!

I ordered a few more parts from them this spring - elbows, t's and endcaps and stuff - I still had plenty of tubing.

Love love love not wasting tons of water with a sprinkler system, or (even worse!) spending a couple of hours dragging a hose around every day!

Anne

[Shirlv]

Anne and Karen just make mec jealous. I do the “farmers walk” carrying gallon jugs of water to the balcony. My exercise. Lol.

[OregonLuvr]

Anne FYI I first tried the pvc pipe with sprinklers inserted......what a pain..but it worked and it was for my yard when I lived in Redding, I had underground sprinklers for the grass etc but not the flower beds, Then when I moved to Talent OR in 2005 I had a partial underground watering system but needed additional. I discovered drip depot after trying other drip systems and like you they came apart and I had Old Faithful. I bought my first ones at our local Co-op but they only carried certain ones. And of course I needed the elbows, 3 ways, valves, end caps LOL So I started ordering from them. They are not cheap but I used them for years with very little repairing.
Shirl dont be jealous, you also discovered what would work for you. As in your wicking system. I know you still have to lug the jug LOL but it is working for you.

[Bethers]

Hopefully I'll be asleep before midnight so whether or not rabbits gets said is a crap shoot but I'm hoping. My next to last 3 day work week starts on the morning. Yes, I'm counting down the days.

On another note I'm having trouble with my screen door. I've had to tighten some screws before and now one is missing and I believe this series of 3 are stripped. So it's hard opening and shutting the door until I can get someone to help. But at least I can get on and out. With some difficulty.