Time to make some observations...

Today is Thurs., 10/15 and I'll be working on this blog over a few days... 

It's been 8 months since the whole coronavirus thing started and we don't seem any better off, and perhaps worse!  As of today, we've had 53,543 cases of coronavirus in Nebraska, 535 deaths, so exactly 1%.  Compare that to the national numbers, which are 7.95 million infected and 217,000 dead, or 2.72%.  Comparing some of the big states:  FL 2.1%, NY 6.8% (WOW!), CA 1.93%, TX 2.03%, and our neighbor, Iowa 1.45%.  I was surprised to see that California, Texas and Florida have actually had more cases than New York, which I thought was the hottest spot in the country.  I see that there are still 4 states, Wyoming, Vermont, New Hampshore and Maine, that all have less than 10k cases statewide.  On the CDC's website, it cites deaths per 100k by state and, wow, is there a significant difference with no real rhyme or reason.  It breaks out NYC from the rest of the state and of course THAT is crazy-high at 284 deaths per 100k.  Add it to the whole state total and it's 81 per 100k.  Looking at the same states above, deaths per 100k... FL 72, TX 57, CA 41, IA 47, NE 27. So even though the news makes it sound awful here, we're still not that "hot" compared to even Iowa.  Looks like Wyoming has the lowest number (9 per 100k) and when you take NYC out of the mix, Massachusetts is the most (139 per 100k). 

But, I'm taking my 3rd "furlough" from work because we've had a couple drivers test positive for Covid, one of them being Ken Zeeb.  So far, he has very mild symptoms.  Kathy has been tested but hasn't heard back yet.  I don't have great fear of it myself because I have a hell of an immune system, but I'm afraid if I brought it home to Mark, he may not survive it with his breathing issues.  I told Jessica to take me off the schedule for a couple weeks and we'll see how badly it spreads.  If it doesn't, I'll come back, but if it does, I may just take the winter off, even if it means re-applying in the spring...

Fri., 10/16...

Hoya pubicalyx 'Royal Hawaiian Purple' is finally starting to grow again.  I whacked it back significantly at least two years ago, maybe three - I'm not sure.  Anyway, it has done essentially nothing since then.  I had it in the south window in the GH until this spring when I moved it to the furthest north (but east facing) shelf, where it continued to do nothing all summer.  Well, I noticed it finally starting to put on some new growth in the last month and I took it down yesterday to water and inspect and it has FOUR new growth points!  FINALLY!  I'd really like to move it to a spot where it will get more sun and thus the beautiful dark leaves that it's famous for when they are young, but I'm afraid to move it from where it is since that is where it finally popped out of its long, long rest...  Maybe in the spring.

I got a new shelf for the living room in August, something I've been wanting to do for years.  We really don't use our living room at all - if we're upstairs, we sit at the dining room table to watch TV, and the big TV is in the "family room" in the basement.  So I got rid of the love seat and put a nice shelf, which I bought with my Hoya money (something I'll go into...) and put it in front of the south picture window, the perfect spot for some of my high light plants.  Well, of course I picked a few favorite Hoyas to put there as well, including one of my Big Mac's!  Some photos:

Last one is the "cow chair" I got to sit by the shelves... a cute, cheap, novelty chair.  Not comfortable, will probably fall apart if we actually use it (which we won't, most likely), but the cats love it!  LOL!  Anyway, I do love the style of the shelves and wouldn't mind having a second one (screw the chair!), but it was EXPENSIVE!!  It's solid wood and heavier than shit!

Now, about this summer and selling Hoyas... I'm pretty sure I posted about selling back in May or June after I started selling them.  Well, last time I checked, I'd made over $5000 since May!  That's pretty damn good for a little hobby!  And if Uncle Sam decides to try to make me call it a "business", CHA-CHING!  I get to write off all my expenses, including a good chunk of my electric bill to run heaters in my GH, my "home office" where I list, sell, pack boxes, print invoices and labels, etc... Pots, potting mix, new plants!  I could actually end up having a FREE hobby!  Part of what I spent some of that money on was two 4' grow lights that I installed on the lower shelf of two of my shelves, to keep young rooted cuttings going (and hopefully GROWING) over the winter.  This way I can start selling earlier next year, and maybe even do some more propagating over the winter.

Now, about my hand.  About a week ago, I was sleeping in the chair and I had a vivid dream that I could open my hand all the way. I've had signs that there has been improvement, but I've been skeptical that it's simply the fact that I've gotten acclimated to it and have learned to manipulate around the shortcomings.  But this dream kind of startled me awake and when I tried it, I COULD open my hand - not ALL the way, but almost!  I was truly astonished and excited. Well, next time I sat down to the computer, I started pecking with my right index finger while using my left hand as normal, like I've done for over a year and a half.  At some point, I thought... let's try typing normal again.  And I can!  Oh, I make a LOT more mistakes and it's really hard to push the backspace button because my little finger is still only about 50% and doesn't want to reach out like that, but I'm just so excited that I've got this much function! I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never type normally again.  Right now, because I haven't really used my right hand much in the last year and a half, it gets really sore after a short time, but that should get better as I use it more.  Funny though... I can't seem to get comfortable using the mouse with my right hand now because I'm so comfortable using it left handed!

In early-mid September, I started bringing plants in and snapped some good pics.  I took a pic of my Lophophora williamsii, the magical peyote plant, because I noticed that even though I missed this year's flowers, I have a tiny fruit, a first for me!  Here it is...

I got this from a guy in Plattsmouth that I got a lot of my plants from, must have been at least a dozen or 15 years ago. I would swear that they have not grown and iota since I got them, so I assume they were mature when I got them from him.  Well, I posted the pic on FB, of course using only the botanical name, which got me thinking about the guy I got them from, so I tracked him down on FB and sent him a message, wondering how long he had them before I got them from him.  Well, he sent me a curt message that said, "Call me, it's urgent."  I didn't, because he's a little bit strange and I didn't want him to have my number (and I don't have his...)  Within a couple days, he called my sister, who lives and has a business close to him, and told her to tell me to take down my post - didn't I know that peyote is illegal to posses!  LOL... c'mon, I bet every cactus collector has one in their collection!  We aren't EATING them, we're just admiring their beauty and enjoying their beautiful flowers...  I messaged him and told him not to worry, that even if they broke my door down to take away my peyote plant, I would never divulge where I got it!  LOL

Sat., 10/17...

Went to see Mom yesterday after a 2 week stay-away.  They've had an outbreak of Covid at Cassco Arms where she lives and she thought it best I don't come by until she was sure she wasn't infected.  Well, she decided to go out and stay with Merry starting last Monday, so I went down and we went to lunch at DJ's, played some Keno.  I've been pretty lucky the last few times... won $65 bucks one time, $27 another (not that great) and $165 yesterday!  But it was good to see her and we had a nice long visit...

I've been pretty impressed with the continued growth of a lot of my Hoyas, but at the same time, I'm observing that a few are developing yellow leaves out of the blue.  I watered my ripple leaf finlaysonii about a week ago and today I see three older yellowing leaves.  They aren't ready to drop off yet, but I assume that's where they are headed.  Surigaoensis has a large yellowing leaf as well.  In the GH, 'Philippean Black' also seems to be ailing.  I can't quite figure out what's going on...

Tues., 10/20...

I got two cuttings in the mail yesterday.  I traded with one of the moderators on the Hoya Lovers FB Store.  She contacted me asking if I would sell her some cuttings of H. carnosa ssp. carnosa and Dischidia nr. Burma and I said I was reserving cuttings for trading.  So I got a 'Rosita' and Sunrise in exchange.  Sunrise is a cross between obscura and lacunosa.  I have resisted getting one because it just looks like another obscura to me.  Granted, in photos it had beautiful red tones, and the one I got has those red tones.  But obscura can get those as well, but in all the years I've grown it, I only saw it sun-kissed one winter and I have no idea why it did it that one time.  Even Marco says his doesn't display red tones, and look at all the sun he gets down there!

'Rosita' is a cross between two of my old favorites, wayetti and DS-70 or what they now call aff. burtonaie.  It just looks like the DS-70 with slightly elongated leaves. 

Neither feels like a big addition to my collection since they are so much like others I have.  But that's ok - they will give me something to offer that's different once they grow out.

A week or 10 days ago, I was walking through the living room and there was a penny in my path - turned out to be a wheat penny!  Since Mark's mom passed away in 1999, wheat pennies have been a "howdy-do" from her.  That's because right after she passed, I found them at every turn.  Back when she was dying (she had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease), she expressed to me one day in a kind of round about way, that she had some fear of what was awaiting her.  She was a very religious woman, but her first husband (Mark's dad) had been abusive and I suspect maybe it was the fact that she stayed so long in spite of the abuse... I told her that in spite of her religious upbringing, that is not how it works.  There is NO hell and there is NO punishment, ever for anything.  Those are things that are made up by man to "keep us in line".  True to form with any "properly raised" Christian, she didn't buy my philosophy.  I told her, "You'll see for yourself someday, Thelma, and when you do, I want you to find a way to give me a little 'you were right' poke, ok?"  And she did with the inordinate number of wheat pennies I found over the next several weeks after she died.  After awhile, it stopped and now I find one every now and then and acknowledge it as another howdy-do.  So here's the penny...

 

I decided to look this one us and I found more than one on eBay and Etsy for BIG bucks!...

Hmmm, crazy right?  On other pages, it's listed as practically worthless ($2-$15).  I can't find any data that explains why one would be worth $1000 and one worth $2.  

I got a flower on my "black" Desert Rose a couple weeks ago...

It IS darker than it appears in the photo because of the light shining through it, and the center is really, really dark, but by no means black.  But it's still gorgeous!  This is one of the two I got via mail order from Walmart.  I may have shown the other photos in an earlier post, but they're worth showing again:

I really, REALLY love this one!  I love yellow with red, and this one bloomed quite profusely back in August.  I plan to buy a couple more eventually as they have lots of colors and flower styles to choose from.  I really like these double, rose-like flowers.

When I went to bring in my biggest and oldest Desert Rose, I discovered a friend who I'd seen hanging out on it several times through the summer was STILL there!

And she was now pregnant!  I promptly took it back outside and decided to wait until closer to frost.  I checked every day and she was always there.  I decided to snap a couple photos then take her to the vine that grows on the fence to "shoo" her off.  I put off the "shooing" until the next day and she was gone.  I don't know if I annoyed her with my photographing or if she got the hint... I just love praying mantis type bugs and she was particularly pretty!

And the last thing I'm going to babble about before I go ahead and publish this one is a Rhipsalis pilocarpa I got from a friend of Kathy's just a few weeks ago... it was after our last meeting, so the week of Oct. 5th.  I got a cutting and put it in soil, put it under the new lights in the GH for the first week or so, then moved it to the spare bedroom window.  It rooted FAST and is now blooming!  

 

Such pretty little flowers!  And it has 5 of them!  A very nice surprise.  Some Rhips can be stubborn to root, and almost everything is stubborn this time of year!  I'm wondering if it's the grow lights...