The debate

 It was... embarrassing is the only word I can come up with.  Two grown men acting like school children, one the bully and the other going into defense mode. Trump couldn't answer a question directly to save his life - all he could do was throw insults and lies.  And Biden, instead of just getting on with the issues, he felt it necessary to "punch back" and set the record straight.  I would have had far more respect for him if he would have used one of these responses each and every time:

"I won't dignify that load of hogwash with an answer..."

"WOW!! (Hesitates) Now let's get back to reality..."

"Have you had your mental health evaluated lately?"

"Are you living in an alternate reality?"

"Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"Did you even listen to the question?"

Do not pass go.  Do not dignify anything the man says with a response except a little "poke" that shows you are only amused by his crazy jibber-jabber.  Just answer the question and talk about the issues.  I think in his attempt to not appear weak and defend himself, it had the opposite effect, as if people might take his crazy lies seriously.  Of course, we all know the "Trumpsters" swallow everything he says hook, line & sinker, but you can't change those people's minds no matter WHAT you say, so why try?  So he should have stayed the course of ignoring the crazy man and speaking to the issues, focusing on pulling over the fence-sitters, solidifying the solid democrats, and maybe getting some of those so disgusted with our choices who either won't vote at all or plan to write in or go for one of the alternates. 

And, unfortunately, Trump being Trump threw him completely off his "A game".  His faltering was embarrassing - I feel for him.  If someone was throwing that much garbage at me, I'd have trouble focusing, too.  But when he got down in the mire himself to defend his record and deny the crazy lies, he wasted valuable time and became flustered. I've heard there will be another debate in September.  I hope someone advises him to just act amused by the crazy man and answer the damn questions!  He needs to find a way to put up a metal "force field" and let the insults bounce off.  Hurling insults and working his followers into a frenzy of hate is what he does because he has NOTHING to bring to the table, NOTHING positive to offer this country. I just wish the Kool Aid drinkers would snap out of it and help fix what's wrong here.  And I don't mean by becoming democrat.  I've voted both ways and I would have loved if they'd had a decent candidate on the republican side this time.  I wish both parties would go back to the days when the priority was what was best for the country, not this polarizing attitude of "I won't vote for that because it's a (Rep/Dem - take you pick) bill."  

And that's what I think!

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Guardian angel moment - I had one today!  On my last day off, which I think was Wednesday, I got a call from Dr. Jana's office.  Dr. Jana is the orthopedic surgeon who replaced my left hip in 2019.  Some background..he was a godsend for a couple reasons.  First, because he did not require me to lose weight to do the surgery.  A lot of surgeons want a patient to be below a certain weight to have the surgery and although he said it would be ideal if I weren't as heavy, he would do the surgery either way.  (Believe me when I say I would give ANYthing to lose some weight, but for whatever reason, I'm finding it impossible at this age...)  The other thing is that even back then, when it was a new option, his method was "anterior hip replacement."  I didn't really understand it at the time, but it means they make a small incision at the front which avoids some ligaments and muscles affected by going in through the side.  Faster, easier recovery.  So of course, I want him to do my right hip.  

I had made my first appointment to see him a year and a half ago (Jan. of 2023), but Mom was dealing with cancer and I put it off, moving the appointment forward a couple months.  I started doing "soft wave" therapy in hopes of delaying my need for surgery.  As the new appointment date approached, Mom was near the end and again, I didn't want to leave her alone and cancelled that one as the soft wave therapy was helping.  Fast forward a year... I had stopped doing the soft wave after about 6 months because it was all out-of-pocket and my hip had declined to the point that I really needed to do something, so I made a new appoint.  As usual with Dr. Jana, it was 3 months out, July 29th.

So back to Wednesday... his office called to say that he was leaving that practice and would not be available for my appointment - did I want to cancel or make an appointment with another surgeon?  (Mind you, this is just the appointment to get the xray or whatever to determine that yes, I do need hip replacement...)  I asked where he was going and, of course, they couldn't or wouldn't tell me, so I said let me get back to you.  So I'm feeling a little panicked, trying to figure out how I could find out - where is he going?  Is he moving away?  Is he retiring? So I sat down and composed a letter that I thought I would send to him at the old practice (they had told me he would be doing follow-up appoints only until late August) hoping I could get him to contact me and let me know if I could follow him to a new practice, assuming it wasn't a move or retirement.  I hadn't sent it, wanting to think on it a couple days.  I was sitting there at the Farmer's Market this morning telling Kathy about this dilemma when a woman walked up to look at our plants and she said, "who's your hip doctor?"  I turned around, not realizing she was standing there, and said, "Oh, uh, his name is..." and it was there but I couldn't say it (sign of age!!) and she said, "It wouldn't be Jana would it?"  I said, "YES! Dr. Jana!"  She said, "there are rumors that he's coming to the practice I work for."  My jaw dropped!!  I mean, let's look at the chances that this happened.  If I had told Kathy this story 5 minutes sooner or 5 minutes later, this lady would not have overheard us and I still be fretting over how to deal with this! How do our angels do this kind of thing??  I don't know, but I'm sure grateful that they get it done!

So it's Ortho Nebraska, and I will be calling them once a week until they start making appointments for Dr. Jana...

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I worked yesterday (Monday) and was called to work today, but last evening, I did something that caused my neck to slip out of alignment and pinch a nerve.  OMG, I've been in so much pain since!  I texted work and said I wouldn't be in then went to Dr. Corey (my chiropractor).  But as is typical, it's still hurting though maybe just a bit less.  I'm going back tomorrow...

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Today is the 4th.  My neck is much better.  I was a little afraid it was getting worse again yesterday afternoon, but it settled down.  I suppose I'll have some twinges for awhile.  When you get a pinched nerve, that really can screw up the muscles leaving soreness for quite awhile...

Last night, Laurie (my friend/hair stylest) came by and we had an hour with my favorite medium/psychic.  He said he was greeted by Mark & Mom on the porch, like last time.  It really sounds like they're hangin' together a lot, which I can see.  They are a lot alike - social butterflies, love to sit around and just shoot the shit... just have fun.  It's very clear that they are both here with me a lot.  Mark made it a point to tell me that "he's not mad" as Kevin put it.  He tried to articulate it carefully, but I knew exactly what he meant.  I am admittedly NOT a great caretaker.  Let me rephrase that - I'm good at loving, I'm good at communicating, and I will do ANYthing up to a point.  But I am not good at helping with things that involve bodily fluids and terrible smells.  (I did get quite good with helping him with his urostomy bag, but he would have to empty it...)   I get queasy and gaggy and it's all I can do to keep from losing my dinner. It's one of the reasons motherhood never appealed to me.  Mark quit taking regular showers several years ago.  He probably didn't shower more than once a month in the last few years.  Most of the time, he would just clean up with baby wipes. Enough so to keep the smell down for the most part, but the last couple years, he even got less frequent with that, to the point that I would tell him "please take a shower or clean up - you smell like hobo!"  And the last few months, there was some vomiting and he was wearing diapers because he couldn't get out of bed and walk around himself, so there were accidents. And between all of that and his size (he was a big 6'5" and a little under 200 lbs. when he was bony...), he needed to be in a home so he had help getting in and out of bed.  He wasn't happy about that and wanted me to bring him home.  Intellectually, I know that he knew he needed to be there and it would be too much for me to handle him and there would be lots of falls... but he hated being there.  I understood that, and it broke my heart that I couldn't take care of him, and it ripped my heart OUT that I couldn't spend more time with him there. (Stupid covid...)  So I'm glad he brought it up.  I do feel some relief knowing he's forgiven me for that.

Wes hasn't come through much the last couple times.  I didn't comment about it, but I was thinking about it when he said, "Your brother seems to have a lot going on there, like he's staying busy with other things."  I think his point was that he wasn't hangin' with Mark and Mom so much... he's got "things to do".  That is SO Wes! Wes did not spend a lot of time lounging around.  He was always tinkering with something, or fixing something, or figuring something out, or helping someone else figure something out.  

I was a little worried that my family would stay in front so Laurie's couldn't come through, but then her mom came through and, after a bit, her dad.  I think she was very impressed and touched by the messages she got.  Sometimes, he has a little trouble interpreting what he's seeing, but if you pay attention, you can usually figure out how it fits.  Like he talked about her mom by saying, "I think it's a mother-figure who always had to look sharp, perfect makeup, hair, etc..."  She said her mom wasn't much into wearing makeup by the time Laurie was born (in her mid-30's), but cosmetology was the family business - grandmother, mom, Laurie and one of her sisters.  Her dad said something like "blind leading the blind"... he was trying to figure what he meant by that, and Laurie said, "Well, he was legally blind."  So he was just trying to get that word out there to let her know it was him...  

But this may have all been a blessing for Laurie in another way.  She's having serious issues with vertigo.  I mean, BAD.  When she got here, she called me from her vehicle and asked me to come out and help her in.  She is SO wobbly!  Well, she was telling Kevin about this and he said he used to have really bad vertigo along with migraine headaches.  He said he started doing a 7 minute meditation that is meant to line up your Chakras and after about 45 days, it all went away!  He never had to take medicine for it again.  WOW!  So he sent us both this guided meditation, and he's going to develop one for me specific to weight loss.  

And speaking of which, I reserved a spot at one of the weight-loss group hypnosis sessions for the 13th of this month.  I really, REALLY have to get some of this weight off, and it would help a lot if/when I have hip surgery...

This has been an amazing year for my Hoyas! There have been a few that seemed to be getting a really late start or (I thought) may not grow at all. I got that new variegated hueschkeliana in May and it started to dehydrate. I was so worried about it because it's so pretty. But variegates can be super bitchy and I thought, this is not going to be one I'm going to be able to grow. I took it and put it in the kitchen window because both of my regular hueschkelianas are there and both of them do very very well. Plus it would be in a spot where I could keep a close eye on it, hoping it would rehydrate.  Well, today I noticed the leaves are firmed up again and it's looking spectacular and even has new growth, so I think it's going to be okay. 

I chopped up my biggest macrophylla and put the frog pot out on the back porch with nary a leaf on it. Well guess what? It's sprung forth with all kinds of new foliage! I brought it into the greenhouse for fear that it would get hail damage with this weird year we're having and it seems to be happy as a clam! Not sure where it's final destination will be once fall gets here, but we'll see how it does. I guess maybe it just needed some rejuvenation. It was putting on vines, but no leaves would ever fill in. I just figured that that meant that it was not happy anymore and the roots weren't doing what they're supposed to do. But here it is, with lots of beautiful new growth.

Patcharawalai (aka icensis) is one I got as a cutting in 2021. It's rooted fine for me, but this spring it had me a little worried because it started to dehydrate. I had it in the sunroom for a little while and then I brought it back out to the greenhouse and now it's putting on all kinds of new leaves and the old leaves have firmed back up nicely. I think it's going to be a spectacular species for me. I should add that I got two of this species the same year.  And they look nothing alike!  A little research reveals that there are actually two clones of it that look quite different.  This one is patcharwlai 029, and the other one is 023.  The other one has bloomed and is budding up again, but the leaves are somewhat dehydrated.  I'm trying to figure out what to do to encourage the leaves to fatten back up.  Here is the 029:

Acuta variegated, another one I got this spring, has a new vine coming on it. Patricia is one I got from Kathy in Colorado. I got the first one two years ago. It rooted nicely for me and grew for a while and then suddenly it just collapsed. Last year I got a replacement from her. This one I seem to recall she rooted for me, and it did okay through the winter but then when spring came, it really didn't seem very happy. So I tried to give it some TLC, put it in a nice bright spot that didn't get a lot of direct sun and spritzed it now and then. I just wasn't sure if it was going to make it for me or not, but now it's looking quite good and has a couple of new spots where it's grown. Today I took off a few homely leaves and it's looking pretty nice now.

Blooms are plentiful. It's a good year for obovata. All three of them are in some stage of blooming right now. On the other hand, 'Majic', which is a hybrid of obovata & carnosa and usually a much better bloomer, has not bloomed yet at all this year. My biggest one is outside and the smaller one is in the greenhouse. I'd really like to chop one or the other up and sell cuttings to bring me back to just one. I might make those offerings this fall.

 

Pubicalyx 'Philippean Black' continues to bloom and rambles all over the place. Nicholsoniae is blooming right now. Kerrii (the splashy clone) is also blooming. Pubicorolla 'Black Dragon' is blooming, which is nice since I've been trying to figure out which one is 'Black Dragon' and which one is 'Pink Dragon', now I know.

Elliptica is another one that wasn't doing so hot in early spring. It is suddenly taking off and looks fabulous.

Some people refer to it as the "turtle back" Hoya  because of the leaves...
 

Surigaoensis IML 1693 is of those species with giant shiny leaves Theu seem to grow and grow and grow. I have two of them, and the original one, which is in the spare bedroom, had leaves that were feeling a little wrinkled about a month ago. So I put the whole thing out in the greenhouse and took a couple of cuttings off of it. Well very quickly, it straightened right up and started putting on new growth. I guess maybe this species likes the heat and humidity.. but it blows my mind all the new growth that it's getting. By the time I bring it inside this fall, I may have to find a new spot for it! It's just lovely!

 

One I cut back last fall because it was looking a little tired was aff. clandestina.  I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to start growing, and suddenly it has new vines popping, three of them! So it's looking good now as well. Right next to it is ilagiorum. It looks great, but it really was not growing this spring. Finally, it has one new vine and a dark almost black leaf on it. 

Polystachya has put on a cluster of new growth. And now I see it has another new growth point. It's almost his lovely as my big mac!

 

A couple that continue to be stubborn.. the giant leaf monetteae has not put on any new growth since last year. And the new sigillatis looks like it's trying, but I don't think I've gotten any new leaves yet. There are Vines, there seem to be baby leaves trying to develop, but I don't think any of the leaves that I have right now are new since I've got it. But at least it's hanging in there! 

 

My old pubicalyx 'Pink Silver' seems to be looking pretty good this year. I moved it from its old spot and did a little bit of wacking. Not so much to make cuttings, but just to get some old stuff off of it that wasn't growing. I think it stimulated it a little bit because it seems to be growing some now. Check out these beautiful new leaves!

My vanilla orchid is looking good but still no signs of a flower. Memoria is blooming up a storm! 

 

And the lambii hybrid (EPC-15) is really starting to look awesome! I think that's going to be another spectacular species.

 

My new Cerp[egoa (ampliata) has new growth on it already! Little leaves even. Of course this is the species that does not keep its leaves. It ends up just being a bunch of empty vines that hang straight down. But the flowers are just spectacular. I've grown this species before. I can't remember if I got rid of it because it never has leaves, or if I somehow lost it. But I remember the flowers and boy oh boy are they awesome! I'll have to see if I can dig up a picture of one..

I decided to put inconspicua back in the bathroom. It grew in there for years and did very well, blooming often. Then a couple years ago it just all of a sudden started dropping leaves. There came a point when I took some cuttings and put it in the greenhouse to see how it would do. Last year it stabilized but really didn't grow much. This year it decided to take off growing. So it's looking much healthier and I thought I'd really like to have it back in the bathroom. Fingers crossed that it keeps doing well. So far so good.

Time for supper!