So here's that photo of Mark that I promised in the last post. I have a good one of him with his HD, but it's on "his side" of the computer and I'd have to e-mail it to myself to get it on "my side." So this one will do. He was sitting at the computer playing poker when I took this one. See what I mean about him looking more like a "biker" than a "golfer"?

Anyway, so back to what's new in the GH... My plants are all growing nicely. Macgillivrayii finally took off (it's a late starter...) I took a pot of rooted cuttings of austrlis ssp. tenuipes that had gotten really rootbound and put them in a pretty squarish pot I'd bought a few years ago and put it in the sunroom, below a trellis I have nailed to the woodwork on the north side. I clipped a couple of the long tendrils to the trellis and, within a few days, there was already growth and upward twining! I can tell it will quickly cover the trellis and become a beautiful curtain of foliage. How exciting! I had put this pot of cuttings together with the intent of selling them at the annual auction my C&S club has, but they're doing it this year in KC and I'm sure I won't be able to make it, so decided to keep it...

And speaking of selling plants, because we had a slow May at work, I divided a butt-load of my Haworthias and other "pupping" plants, and Drimiopsis bulbs and made a bazillion little pots of these plants to sell at the show & sale in June. By the time the show rolled around, they all looked pretty darned good. I couldn't be there on Saturday (since I always work on Saturdays...), so Kathy (our club prez) was kind enough to offer to watch over my plants and handle the money for them. A few days after the show, she called for me to come pick up my "proceeds" from the sale. I had paid $30 for my space to sell and thought, well, if I make a little over and above that, I'll be happy. My sales totaled $215!! I about fell over! I hadn't added up what I had in the three flats, but they were mostly $1 to $3 plants - I had no idea they would add up so quickly! Amazing! I did also sell a few Hoyas, but I didn't put big prices on them, so that couldn't have account for the majority of it... Well, needless to say, I was pleased!

So my H. bhutanica bloomed for the first time. I found two peduncles budding up on the window-side of the plant. In the process of turning the plant (it's a BIG plant) so I could watch the flowers form, I discovered it had put on gobs and gobs of new growth, and it's a viner. I had to do a bit of untangling and gentle tugging where the new growth had gone up through between the shelf wires. When I got it turned around, the side facing the window looked absolutely fabulous. Here's a photo of plant and flowers.

I put my Rhipsalis' outside this year and they're all looking great. Pseudorhipsalis ramulosa, the flat-stemmed one I got from CBFM a couple years ago, then got some more this spring to add to it, had turned a beautiful red. I'll get a photo of it when I bring it in this fall. I hope it does well through the winter. The pieces I got this spring came with fruit on them that are still hanging on. Cool! Rhipsalis pilocarpa is putting on lots of nice, chunky growth, and it even went into a second blooming cycle.

Well, enough for today!

I'm posting from the basement (my laptop), so no access to photos. I got this laptop a couple months ago and it's been such a great addition to our electronic repertoire! (You know, back in "the day", I used to have the latest high-tech shit on the market! Now I feel like I'm constantly behind the times...) (And for those of you from places like California, "the basement" isn't some weird reference to "hiding out in the CELLAR!!"... it's where our TV room is, where we hang, where we stay cool on the hot summer days...)

I refer to Calif. because I lived there about a bazillion years ago (for a couple years), back in the early '80s, and was amazed to realize that not only do they not have basements there, but most native Californian's are completely and utterly freaked out by the idea of basements! I worked with several people in an insurance agency that thought it "spookey" that I'd lived in houses with basements and wasn't freaked out by them. Silly!!

Anyway, Mark is off hitting balls... After 8 years, he's decided to get back into golfing. Let me explain his sabbatical from golfing:

Back in 2001, Mark started to get the "itch" to get a Harley. Digressing just a bit more, he had a Harley back when be bought our house in 1987. In a fit of responsibility (not something that comes easy to my beloved!), he sold his HD shortly after we moved in, for far less that it was likely worth, to contribute to our new home-ownership. So it took him about 14 years to get an irrestistable "itch" to get another. Digressing once more (I know, the story gets SO convoluted!), over the years, I had SO often expressed my heartfelt desire to have a greenhouse, to which I was met by much scoffing. But when he started pushing and pushing and PUSHING for his desire for a Harley, I resisted over and over, for the expense was more than I felt we could afford. Well, when I realized that his will was greater than mine, I insisted that whatever he spent on a Harley, I would spend on a greenhouse. (Some of my thought was that surely this declaration would keep him from spending 20 grand on a bike!) I held my ground, and several months later (and a refinancing of our home), he bought a 1986 FLT and I got a 7x16' greenhouse off my kitchen. YEE-HAW!! Suddenly, the greenhouse was not something to scoff at! And, to be honest, I spend a lot more time in a state of JOY with my GH than he does with his motorcycle...

But, back to my original story,... (OMG, I got SO sidetracked!) So, he knew (probably even before I told him) that we could not afford two expensive hobbies (biking AND golf) and gave up golf to go back to being a biker. (I'll post a photo of Mark tomorrow so you know he's more a "typical" biker than "typical" golfer!) So he rarely played golf for several years. Well, in late 2006, Mark went to have "minor surgery" (what BS that is! - never believe it when they say that!) to have a blockage removed from a vein behind his left knee. Since I don't intend to drag this story out (and I could, for about two, three more pages worth of ramblings!), I'll skip to the end - he ended up having his leg amputated about mid-calf in March, 2007. By the first of Oct., he was back at work. Yes!!! Can you believe it?!! And he's been working ever since! The prosthetics today are mind-boggling! He rides his bike. And now he's back to playing golf. How freakin' amazing is that?! May God bless the people at Advanced Prosthetics in Omaha, Nebraksa!! Oh, and our very, VERY good insurance, which is through his union, MO-KAN Insurance. We should put you all in our will!!

Gotta go to bed... My Aunt Judy is coming to town day after tomorrow! I'm SO excited!