May...

I'm up early and thought I'd start a rambling... it may take me a few days to finish it (we'll see), so today is Sunday the 20th... I'm going to Des Moines to the cactus club meeting today, and I'm giving a program about Hoyas.  I have a slide show, some fliers, and a short talk prepared.  I'm taking my Stemma Journals as well.  Might as well bombard them with all I've got!

As of now, I think I've got all my plants outside and have assessed my losses.  I'm working on my database to get it back to accurate.  After eliminating the ones I KNOW I've lost, it's down to under 150 species.  Which is fine.  Last year, my goal was to try to get down to my favorite 100 species and then if I chose to add one, I would give one up to maintain that number.  That didn't work, of course, so a winter of pain helped me get closer to my goal.  Ok, this is NOT the way I would have chosen to do it, but I'm trying to glean something positive out of suffering a winter of pain!  

So what I have left now are super-hardy species.  Mostly succulent species.  With some, it's still questionable if they'll make it as they are - I may have to restart some that are still showing signs of some dehydration.  We'll see...  I have some that haven't been completely crossed off the list because I'm hoping for a comeback.  Many of those are outside to catch rain and sunshine and if the roots aren't dead, they may just pop back to life.  I'm trying not to feel too bad about it.  I figure once my hip is fixed and I'm able to start moving about with a lot less pain (I know my back will still have issues...), and I find taking care of what I currently have is not a chore but a pleasure, I MAY try to replace some of the ones I feel broken hearted about.  Again, we'll see.  I plan to add no Hoyas at all to my collection this year.  Well, except for the few that Marco will send to replace some I lost.  I'm grateful he's looking out for me!

And speaking of Hoyas and Marco, he sent me a H. sp. India summer of 2016 and it's been hanging in my dining room window all winter.  At first, it was NOT happy adjusting from sunny Florida to Nebraska and I wasn't sure it was going to make it.  It kept dropping leaves... one here, one there.  But then it settled down and stabilized, but didn't grow at ALL last year...  Now it's putting out new growth! Two new vines, one reaching high, new itty-bitty leaves forming!  Yay!  And right next to it, on the armoire, is H. parasitica Lao 2 (can't remember where I got it).  I watered it a couple days ago and found a new peduncle on a new vine, AND I found dried up flowers on an old peduncle - the flowers must have been turned away towards the window and they were hiding under leaves as well.  Dang!  The flowers aren't spectacular, mind you, but I get so few flowers that every flower counts!

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I'm back from Des Moines.  It was a long day.  My program went ok.  I wish I was better at speaking in front of people, but it kind of freaks me out.  I just try to concentrate on the subject and hope people don't notice how nervous I really am. 

I'll be working tomorrow, which is ok.  My hip was pretty sore today, but was a little better later in the day than earlier, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.  I'll probably not work Tuesday, though... most likely I won't be called.  I'll probably play "wait and see" in hopes I won't be called.  The less I have to bow out, the less they'll think I'm a sloucher! LOL!

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Getting ready to leave for work.  It's overcast and cool, but it's supposed to clear off later.  I'm kind of hoping NOT to go to Des Moines today since I've been there 3 times in the last week!  Though I'd rather do that than go out to the auto auction.  Fingers crossed for a good day... at least I don't have to get Mark up to move his truck (we switched places last night so I'd be behind...)  He's such a fucking crank and tends to kick start my day with a cloud.  Of course, I soon as I get away from him, I'm fine.  but it's just the idea that he can bring me down like a lead balloon!

I've got a LOT to do this week.  I need to start on the newsletter.  I need to get down to see Mom.  I need to get this house cleaned up...

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And now it's Tuesday and I'm not working.  Well, not earning anything!  I'm hard at work with my plants.  It's stormy, so I can't do much outside, but I'm going to get a lot of watering and make notations as I go.  I'll finish this up today and "publish"...

Where to start?!!  Two in my bedroom - mcgreggorii and what I THINK is nervosa... both have new growth!  I'm particularly happy about the nervosa.  Marco sent me two of them in 2016 and I lost one and the other lost all but 5 leaves. But then it stabilized last summer, but I don't think it grew hardly at all if any.  But the leaves that were left looked happy as a clam.  So I'm so glad to finally see new growth!  YAY!

I repotted H. mnerredithii x crassicaulis, which has been in the sunroom for a few years.  It really needed to be moved up to a bigger pot, and I put it in a hanging pot this time and moved it to the greenhouse.  Boy does it look great!

Look at that giant leaf?  It's turned into quite a pretty plant.  I actually had two of these at one time - the first one I got from Ted Green, which I eventually lost.  It never looked near as pretty as this one, which I later got from Gardino's.  

I think I got my database up to date today.  It looks like I have 123 solid species now, and I have 16 in what I call "sick bay".  Several of the seem beyond help, but I will reserve an official "burial" until summer's end. I've seen enough what appear to be "dead" plants come back to life, assumably because the roots did not die.  I'm going to see the silver lining in my losses - last year, I vowed to reduce my collection down to my 100 favorite species.  I didn't even get CLOSE!  I think I got down to around 160 or so (from nearly 200).  This puts me very close to my goal.  Because there are some I want to replace, a more realistic number may be 125, but that still means that I will probably have to let go of some of what I already have.  Which is ok.  I can probably name 10 off the top of my head that I could live without, just because the leaves don't knock my socks off...

I will write more soon.  My hip is too sore to do any more "primping" today...