Wonderful rain...

 We've been in one of those "seven day cycles" my grandfather used to talk about.  It doesn't happen every year, but often enough that old farmers used to point it out.  And maybe it does happen most years, but it's not as noticeable until it happens on the weekends... rain every weekend for several weeks gets us talking.  And that's how it's happening this year.  We had more rain overnight, close to 2".  Even some flooding in places like southeast Douglas and northwest Sarpy counties and over in Council Bluffs.  Low lying areas only, of course.  It pretty much ended right after I got up around 7 a.m., but was cloudy and cool all day.  A gorgeous day with my windows wide open!  And now (it's a little after 4:00) the sun is trying to peak out and there's an awesome breeze, so I went out and took some pics...

I have a planter on the back patio that I planted with a couple Sedums and a nice-sized Sempervivum ("Hen & Chicks), and the Semp is blooming!

In the first photo, you can see the size of the plant and how loaded it is with flowers and buds.  But that closeup of the flower... I love the little bit of deep red behind the yellow anthers (I guess that's what those are... It's always hard for me to remember the botanical names of the individual flower parts.)  I believe that when a Semp flowers, the main plant typically dies off leaving "pups" to fill in.  A little sad, but I'm hoping it will survive the winter.  If not, next year I will mix in more perlite to loosen the soil.

In the same pot are those two Sedums - this one is S. lineare variegated:

And yes, that's one of those annoying "Mother of Thousands" Kalanchoes in the pot.  It was in with another plant and if I was smart, I would have picked it out and thrown it away, but I just threw it in this pot thinking maybe it would bloom in the fall, and then I'll toss it out!  Or maybe I'll just put it in with my donations I give the the Holy Cross plant booth every fall...

And this is Sedum sexangulare.  Both are growing fast.  From my research, it appears that lineare is not winter hardy here, so I'll pull it out in the fall.

I've also got some very aggressive purslane growing in the pot.  I like the look of purslane and I'm letting it grow though I have to keep it in check by weeding some of it out about once a week.  I keep thinking I will put some in a salad one of these days and see what I think of the taste...

More tomorrow.  Right now, I'm off to have an early dinner with Liane...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Today is Monday (21st) - the Summer Solstice.  Meaning tomorrow the days start getting shorter, the sun starts moving south again.  It's weird that we say it that way since the sun stays constant and it's the earth's movement that changes the angle of the sun.  I suppose it's because to our bodies, it's the earth that feels like the constant...  Just one of those things that my mind wanders about often.

It's barely 7 a.m.  I would normally be doing "beginning of the day" things, but I got up (I'm using those words loosely!) with such terrible back pain that I could barely move!  Standing straight was oh-so-painful.  The pain is coming from the left side of my lower back - the opposite side from my every day pain.  So I can barely walk, and my cane is in the car.  I have another one downstairs, but it would be as much a challenge to get down there as to the car, so I decided to sit here at the computer and first ice for 20 minutes, then I'll wait 20 minutes, and then I'll use heat and see if I can get it settled down.  WTF did I do yesterday to bring on this hell??  I have a somewhat physical day ahead of me as I have to move shelves in the GH so they can replace the broken glass tomorrow morning.  I also need to go to the chiropractor and stop at the bank.  This could be an interesting day!

Getting back to plants... A couple weeks ago, a wind blew my Cissus rotundifolia off the porch shelf.  I've had it for years but started a cutting and gave away the main plant last year, so it was in a 5" nice clay pot that broke.  (Damn!)  It's a viny plant with somewhat succulent round leaves with tendrils for climbing.  I can't seem to find a photo of my own, so here's a photo from the web...

To my surprise, when I went to repot it I found that it has those gnarly roots that can be exposed.  I know there is a botanical name - it's not a caudex, but they're swollen and almost barky, so when I repotted it, I left them slightly exposed...

It could turn into an interesting specimen as it matures.  Keeping it from growing into everything around it is the challenge!

On the kitchen windowsills are some of my littlest Hoyas.  Hoya manipurensis is a species I attempted to grow several times.  Last year, I ordered yet another one from Etsy.  I ordered three Hoyas and a Dischidia from the seller and all were very tiny and only one was well rooted.  The other three had hardly any roots at all and manipurensis was one of those.  I was so sure they wouldn't make it that I contacted the seller and expressed my disappointment in the health and viability of the plants and crossed that seller off my list.  Of the four, manipurensis was the only one that survived.  I put it in my rooting tub where it recovered.  I potted it and put it over my kitchen sink so that I would see it daily and make sure it stayed well watered.  Well, it has flourished and very early this spring, I took a deep breath and whacked the top.  It's one of those Hoyas that grows straight up with no branching, so my hope was that it would branch.  I stuck the cutting in with the mother plant and made sure that I sprayed some water on the new cutting every couple of days to make sure it didn't dry out, giving it the best chance of rooting.  I honestly didn't expect it to root because it rarely works to root a new cutting back into the same pot, but probably because I was so diligent about keeping it moist, it worked and not only that but the mother plant then sprouted new growth at FOUR nodes!  I think I could actually get flowers before year's end!  I've wanted to grow this one forever because of it's unique leaf shape (some call it the "butterfly Hoya" because the leaved resemble butterfly wings), because of the unique flowers that look more like Dischidia flowers than Hoya flowers, and of course because Mom was a butterly collector.  I find it coincidental that I'm suddenly having success in growing it now that Mom is back in source!  Maybe she has a hand in that...

The leaves are a very dark green, almost black, and slightly pubescent, almost leathery.  

And the other little gem I'm growing that I took a pic of is a cutting off my very large H. sp. aff. burtoniae, one I've grown for a bazillion years.  It was the first small-leaved Hoya I ever bought. I love it because again, it has leathery somewhat pubescent leaves that develop black edges with some sun.  This little sweety is growing in a tiny 2" owl pot in hydroton (leca) and is budding for the second or third time (since the photo was taken a couple weeks ago)...

The mother plant grows in the bathroom and hangs about 2 feet and is heavy, blooms regularly.  That's it on the left...

Back out to the succulents growing out on the porch and patio, some photos to show how well they are responding to all this awesome rain we've been getting.  First is Adromischus cooperi, which is referred to as "Plover Eggs" in an old book:

This one has gotten large and heavy, considering it is still in a 4 or 5" pot!  It needs to go into a heavier pot because it wants to fall over easily.

Euphorbia francoisii is a very popular one since a few growers have started selling variations that are incredibly colorful and/or mottled/veined.  

Between the interesting caudex and the variable leaves, they make a beautiful bonsai plant.

I grow a lot of South African bulbs and the one that is blooming right now is Ledebouria concolor.  It's a large bulb whose leaves tend to get a little "crispy" on the edges if over or under watered, but it seems to be doing well with the rain.  The plant then the flowers:

The flowers are on a long stalk and they open from top to bottom.  Not by any means colorful, but cute nonetheless.

Aloes that are growing in dish gardens... this first one is Aloe 'Black Gem', which has several pups poking out from under...

In this next photo, the little Aloe at the bottom left is A. descoingii, one of the mini-Aloes.  The larger one above, according to google ID, is another Gasteraloe 'Flow', same as the one I just got from Karin (detailed in the last post).  If they are the same, the difference must have something to do with light because hers is growing more upright and mine is much more open.  I had no idea I already had one as they are quite different.  But I'm pretty sure hers grows under grow lights, which explains the difference.

I went to my chiropractor, and he said this is not a muscle pull but a subluxation.  I'm hoping the adjustment will help, but so far... I'm still suffering.  Not sure if I'll be able to work this week.  I did the the shelves moved out of the way, so I'm ready for the glass replacement tomorrow.

So on to more photos.  In one of the other dish gardens, I have a Crassula spiralis, which has stayed nicely compact and is starting to bloom...

And in another dish garden (I have 3 of them), this light bluish plant is Sedeveria 'Fanfare'.  Sedeveria is a cross between Sedum and Echeveria...

The other succulent is a Haworthia, most likely a form of H. cymbiformis.  Both are looking quite happy, which is interesting since Haworthias really don't need a ton of light to look good and it's usually suggested they are not paired with high-light plants.  But they do just great when grown in sun as long as they start out that way and you don't just thrust them into sun from a shady spot.

This Aeonium 'Kiwi' has many heads in with some other plants...

I need to get up and move around so I'm stopping for today.  

  

Nice days, cool nights...

I, along with my plant peeps Kathy and Karin, had a plant sale at Kathy's.  We decided against doing the Farmer's Market in Plattsmouth this year.  They changed their location, which is actually a good thing, but the new location would require setting up a canopy because we would be right out in the blazing sun.  And they want us set up by 7:30, which is a little daunting.  Parking was going to be an issue - vendor's cars would be about half a block away.  That would be a big issue for me since I'm still Miss Gimpy...  I never sell that much, so it's no skin off my nose and I'll certainly NOT miss getting up at 5:30 so I can be leaving here before 7:00!  But I will miss seeing my peeps every week... that's really the only reason I did it.  I never came home with more than 20 bucks, so it was NOT the money!

Anyway, we decided we will just have a couple sales this summer.  This first one was ok.  I'm sure Kathy and Karin did ok.  I didn't do much more than break even.  I made a few bucks, I spent a few bucks.  But it's more about hanging out.  And Friday was gorgeous!  Warm, in the mid 80's but super low humidity, so it was just perfect.  Saturday, on my drive to Papillion, all hell broke loose with an all-out torrential storm.  Buckets of rain made driving a real challenge!  Ran into a bit of hail as well.  It delayed our start time by an hour, but then quite a few people showed up for the next couple hours.  Even though the temp was 10 degrees cooler, it wasn't as comfortable as Friday due to the humidity.  But it was still decent. 

But I acquired a few new gems.  I got one of the miniature Haworthias from Kathy.  It's H. maraisii:

It was stuffed in a 3.5" pot and I repotted it into one of those shallow but wide (maybe 5") clay pots.  This one has a shallow root system - many Haworthias have a big tap root and need deeper pots, but some of these minis don't and they tend to lose their roots easily if they have too much "leg room" in the pot.  So I'm hoping between the porous clay and less soil I won't experience root loss.

I also got a very unusual plant from Karin - one I'd never heard of nor seen anywhere.  But maybe that's because technically, it's a tropical.  But it has a nice caudex.  I'm going to show a pic from the web as the one I got only has one leaf and a tiny caudex right now.  This shows what to expect:

I guess even though it has a caudex, it needs to be kept relatively moist, so that will be a challenge for me.  But I'm going to give it a shot.  It's name is Monolena primuliflora.  

And speaking of caudex plants, I'm growing this Sinningia bullata that I got from Karin two or three years ago. It's really a nice plant. The foliage can die completely back if it stays dry too long, but as soon as you water it again, new foliage pops right out. Mine did get too dry this winter but it has come back like gangbusters! I'm going to need to repot it into a bigger pot as the caudex has gotten almost too large for the pot it's in! Photos to follow of the foliage, and then I lifted a leaf to show the caudex. It's really a cool plant!

Karin also had a neat Gasteraloe (which is a cross between an Aloe and a Gasteria) called 'Flow'...

It's kind of a messy pic, which I took to do a google search.  I'm in the process of trying to find out its "parentage".  I know it's not really important, but I'm curious to know what two plants were crossed to get this.  I checked with my Gasteria expert, Breck Breckenridge, but he said he has little interest in hybrids, but gave me the email address for a hybrid enthusiast in Spain who can hopefully shed some light on it.

I also came home with a couple of outside plants - a miniature Hosta... I'm trying to figure out where I want to put it.  And a perennial called Pig Squeak (Bergenia).  What a neat plant that is!  I had one planted last year and my idiot lawn guys pulled it when cleaning up my landscape, thinking it was a weed!  I put it in the shade next to me generator.  

In other plant news, my Ceropegia africana is finally blooming...

Looks very much like C. woodii flowers.  It's an interesting species with a big bulbous structure that sits mostly on top of the soil with roots coming out the bottom and the vine sprouting from the top.  I find almost every other species of Ceropegia easier to grow than the annoying woodii that is so common.  I love woodii, mind you, but it's the worst mealybug magnet I've ever seen.  And it has a tendency to die back of the very fine vines.  The others I grow have much more hefty vines that don't die back nearly as easy.

A couple months ago, I placed an order with an Etsy seller thinking toward the Farmer's Market.  I got a big order of 50 mixed Lithops for a decent price... I think they were about 75 cents each...  I expected them to arrive bare-root, but they arrived rootless!  I asked the seller why they had no roots and he said he "trims them off" because they'll root faster.  Very weird!  But they did root just fine and oh what a nice variety I received!  I put them in two of those shallow clay pots like I was talking about before and here they are:

I sold two little pots, one with 2 (for $3) and one with 3 (for $5).  I'll probably keep one of each and sell the rest at our next sale.  I love Lithops but only seem to grow them well for about 2 years after which they start growing funky for me.  Maybe I'll figure them out one of these days!  I keep trying!

My Hoyas are all doing well.  Most are growing, many are budding or blooming.  A few of the ones I lost over winter and put out on the back porch have come back to life from the roots.  We'll see how they look by fall.  Many of them were duplicates and I would probably just sell them or give them away if they look acceptable.  Otherwise, in the trash they go!  I'm going to be selective about what I keep this year.  

I sent a package of cuttings to the sister-in-law of a Des Moines club member last week.  He said she had an interest in Hoyas though she didn't have many.  I think I sent her cuttings from about a dozen species, so that should get her hooked!

Well, that's about it for today!

A good week...

 This past week was pretty darn good on all fronts.  But I'll first go back to the end of last week.  Erica (from work) called me on Thursday (the 16th) to see if I'd be willing to go with a group to Waterloo on Friday.  I've never been to Waterloo and even though there was a packer-van involved (which we all despise!), I said yes.  It's a 4 hour drive over and my GPS (which I turned on at Des Moines) zig-zagged me through farm country.  Sounds like everyone else went straight up the interstate to highway 20, which is more direct.  But the universe (and apparently my GPS) knows I love driving through rural areas and it was a beautiful drive.  And I got I think I was 5th (of 11) to arrive, so it's not like it took me longer.  But the ride back was utter MISERY.  Packer vans are made for 15 people... I should say a driver, a passenger and 13 children, because the seats are narrow, the seatbelts are terribly uncomfortable, and space between rows is negligible.  So I ended up in the 3rd row with my knees crammed against the seat in front of me and by the time we got back, my legs and hips and back were all screaming at me.  My team's lead driver talked to Dan (who I've worked with a lot and consider a friend) before we left and told him to try to keep the front seat for me because of my back/hip issues, but Dan does not have a controntational bone in his body, so I'm sure when the first guy got there and jumped in the front, he wouldn't have the nerve to say, "Hey, let's save this spot for Denise."  And by the time I got there, Pete was in row 2 (which is the next best thing to the front as it has more leg room)... Pete is the guy that was such an asshole with me that I left that group, and I did not want to be stuck next to him for 4 hours.  So... I won't let them talk me into that ever again!  If they ask again, I'll say I'd be happy to make a long trip IF we're coming back in a minivan, NOT a packer-van!

So the rest of that weekend was pretty miserable in the soreness department.  In fact, I was still sore on Tuesday - sore enough I considered bowing out of work, but I got through the day.

Monday was my annual checkup with my doc and a mammogram... Hate the poking and the squishing, but it brought on all good news.  My labs were great - my A1C is down to UNDER 5!!!  This Ozempic is doing a great job!  Of course, I'm sure I can take some credit with my persistence in keeping my carbs down to 100 a day.  All my other labs looked good, though she still kvetched about my cholesterol, which IMO was very good at 227.  I know - they want it under 200, but my health guru says those standards is what had brought on such a high incidence is alzheimers and dementia.  So I do not aspire to under 200.  I have told her I'd rather drop dead of a heart attack than develop dementia!  But my "good" cholesterol is low - I asked what I could do to raise that, and she said "exercise".  Oh great - the one thing I can't do because of my back/hip/arthritis! Well, I have seen improvement in that, so maybe I'm moving toward a time when I can "get moving" more...

Anyway, the mammogram was also good.  And then on Friday, I had my 5-year exam with the oncologist - they've checked once a year since my uterine cancer/hysterectomy back in 2021.  And all is well, which means I don't have to ever go back unless I experience symptoms!  I said, "I really like you doc, but I hope I never see you again!"

Wednesday was Mom's birthday.  Some might be sad, but I just talked to her a lot that day (more than usual) and it felt like a good day.  Then yesterday was the anniversary of the day she passed, which also might be a sad day for many, but Merry and I got together for lunch, which was kind of nice... I love Merry to death, but it seems like our conversations are pretty one-sided.  She gets going about her friend Chris or how much money they win when they gamble, or a myriad of other things in her life and my side of the conversation is a lot of "uh-huhs" as she goes on and on.  Nary a question about what's happening with me.  I was looking forward to sharing my good health news, and I had to wait for her to shut up and take a mouth full of her sandwich to interject, and we quickly got back to her life.  I know she doesn't have a lot of friends, and I try to keep that in mind.  I imagine by the time we get together a couple times a month, she has a lot to get out! 

But the best part of the day was as I was leaving... I was thinking about Mom, wishing we had done more reminiscing about old times, and as I pulled out of the parking lot, there was a car in front of me, license plate number ending in 22 (Mom's birthday was 4/22/41).  I smiled because it felt like a little "howdy-do".  As I was getting in line to turn onto the interstate, I came up behind an SUV, the 3 numbers on it were 441.  Now THAT felt like a real "howdy-do"!  Lost sight of that one when I passed it on the interstate, and then as I'm coming onto 80 from 75, this jerk in a sedan in the left (disappearing) lane squeezed into the tiny space between me and the guy in front of me who was going awfully slow and as I'm cussing under my breath, I look down and his plate number is also 441!!  Ok, Mom, I see it!  I may not have noticed it if he hadn't been a jerk, so thank you for being a jerk, dude!  LOL...

This week, I've also been working a little on my outside stuff.  I found someone on FB to come do my yard cleanup.  I chose him because he said he wanted to help his daughter (12) start a yard cleanup business, something she can do to make some money.  I liked the sound of that and they did a decent job, only charged me $100 (a lot better than the $430 the pro company wanted!!!)  So I'm sprucing up around the generator - it became a weed patch last year.   They didn't do much around that generator, so I cleaned it up good and I'm putting down some edging and mulch.  I'm pretty impressed with what I've been able to do with my back as it is!  So I think this is evidence that it IS getting better!  Mind you, I work in short spurts, but it's getting done... BY ME!

I also got a decent quote for insurance - home and auto - that's going to save me almost $1000 a year.  I decided to go ahead and get it started rather than waiting until my old policy comes up for renewal in July.  I opted for a May 1 start date, and that gives us some time to look it over and make sure it's fine.  I just sent in photos for what they call a "self-survey".  We'll see if they come back and make a fuss about my greenhouse.  I suppose it could change my premiums.  But the auto was the real shocker.  It was over 40% cheaper than AAA, same coverage!  The HO was only about $370 cheaper.  AAA had the house covered for a ridiculous $393,000!  State Farm will insure it for $293,000 which is closer to its actual value.  Of course, they tell you "well, that's what it would cost to rebuild."  But, as I tell them, I don't WANT a new house... I like old houses, so I would just take the money and go buy another old house.  It's just a way to get more of our money!

******

The above was written a month ago (end of April) and I apparently intended to write more or simply forgot to publish it.  So now we're at the end of May.  It's hard to believe as this month FLEW by!  I went ahead and changed my insurance was of May 1st and other than my awful back issues, it's been a decent month...

I had a fun encounter that I'll relate here to give me a smile in the future when these things stop happening... I was at the gas station a week or so ago, getting gas in a packer van that I was to drive to Des Moines. As I got out of the van, there was a youngish guy in front of me getting gas in his SUV who gave me a big smile. I smiled back and went about my business of getting gas. The gas tank on packer van is right next to the door which is kind of a pain in the ass. You need to open the door to get the little flap open to reveal the neck where the gas goes in. I had closed the door behind me so I opened it and got that little flap open and started putting gas in. Looked up and the young guy said, "Well they put that awfully close to the door don't they!" and laughed. I laughed too, a little nervously. It felt like this guy was being a little flirty. But I brushed off that feeling, figuring I probably look like his mom or something! LOL. He was probably in his late 30s or early 40s so that would be about right. Anyway, after I got an iced tea for the trip, I sat in the van for a few minutes to connect my phone so that I could listen to my playlist on the way over. (I always do this... makes the trip go by faster and I don't have to be changing stations as I drive out of range...) I looked up and he was standing outside of the van waiting for me to look up and he gave me a big smile. It seems really clear that this guy was actually flirting with me! It was a feel-good moment!  Of course, I'm wise enough to know that he didn't get close enough to me to see just how old I am.. I do look younger than I am, but I still don't look anywhere young enough to be that appealing to a guy his age! But admittedly, it felt good even knowing that! Oh don't get me wrong, I get plenty of flirting from old guys, and that feels good too. But there's something about a flirty, younger, nice looking guy that feels really great! Of course, give me some time to think about it and by the end of the day my logical mind told me that he probably thought hey look, an older woman who might have some money.. maybe an easy mark! Damn my logic! LOL

I'm trying to make it a point to get these kinds of things into my blog because someday, this may be the way to retrieve memories.  I know everyone starts to feel a little "forgetful" as they age, but I have moments when it kind of worries me.  Those times when I can't find a word - it's right there, but I can't quite get it out.  And then I have other "senior moments".  For example, awhile back, I spent some time cutting sacks down - I take paper grocery sacks and cut them so that they're perfect for putting plants in, so about 6" high.  We use them at the farmer's market when someone buys more than one plant.  Anyway, I distinctly remember putting a rubber band around them and putting them **SOMEWHERE**.  A few weeks later, I did some more and do you think I can find the first batch I did?  Hell NO.  Where the f*ck did I put them?  I have turned this house upside down looking for them!  So frustrating!  Anyway, my point is that if I end up in some nursing home with memory issues, I can come back and read my blog (which I believe is going on about 20 years now!) and maybe jog my memory about specific events/experiences.  

I've been trying to spend time reading "Abrahamisms".  It helps me keep a positive perspective, which really comes pretty naturally for me, but with all the back/hip pain I've had for so long, it starts to wear me down.  I need the reminder that we are the master of our minds and bodies, and everything can be made better by controlling our thoughts.

So something I read yesterday reminded me of a thought process I had some years ago brought on by one of Abraham's analogies.  Abraham has a few regarding keeping your vibration high and one of my favorites is about turning and allowing yourself to go downstream.  Humans tend to fight the flow, so to speak.  We are told from a young age that you have to "work hard" and "beat the odds" or "fight for what you want."  All very "upstream" concepts.  Success isn't about hard work, it's about allowing.  Turning downstream and letting it happen.  This concept brought to mind the old song "row, row, row your boat" and when I recited it, it was clear to me that someone very familiar with the Law of Attraction and the art of allowing wrote that song!  Think about it...

Row, row, row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Life it but a dream

When you're going downstream, you really don't need to row per say, but the oars are to keep you from running aground (keep you on track) as you allow the flow of good things.  Abraham sums up our goal in coming here so succinctly - seek joy, get happy... that's it!  So... "merrily" certainly points in that direction!  And the last line, I think, states what I see as the obvious in the whole concept of afterlife and reincarnation.  "Life is but a dream."  We (meaning Mom & I) came to learn the concepts of Abraham a few years after I saw the first "Matrix" movie, and the more I learned, the more it felt like THIS is the matrix.  The "real" me (us)... we're in "Source" and these bodies are an extension of the real us.  Living a human life for joy, for experience that will enhance the real us.  I'm trying to think of a better word than "real", because it's not that we aren't real here in these bodies.  I'll have to think about that...

Tuesday (the day after Memorial Day), I had a dentist appointment.  I was gone an hour and when I got back, I found a broken pane of glass in my greenhouse!  It was one of the bottom panes, about 72" x 20", and it was all crackled and there was an obvious impact point.  I noticed the neighbor's lawn was freshly mowed, so I assume what happened is the mower kicked up a rock.  I haven't had a chance to tell them (they moved in a couple months ago) that I have my lawn guys mow along their house, so sent them a text about it.  This is going to be an expensive "fix"... first bid was $855!  I about fainted!  Second bid was $650.  I'm waiting on one last bid, then it's going to take a couple weeks as they have to order the glass.  What a freakin' hassle!

************

Time to finish this up!  I spent the weekend working on the cactus club newsletter.  I've been the editor for nearly 20 years now, and this month was the first time I've used a "rerun" - I put an article in that I used in 2012.  I wasn't feeling particularly good this weekend and just didn't have the enthusiasm to figure out something new to put in there.  I think it turned out ok, though.  I wonder if I can include a PDF here?  I've never tried!...

June RC Newsletter

Figured out how to do it!  I added it to my Google drive and linked it.  I need to get in there and upload all of them.  I've got 2007 through 2022 uploaded but have been remiss in uploading since then.  The purpose of doing so was to give access to the archives to new members, but I often forget to give out the link.  I need to be more diligent about that...

I woke in the middle of the night wondering about my old chiropractor.  Last fall, I had some bad neck issues going on and went to his office to find a note on the door that said it was "temporarily closed due to a family emergency."  I tried to call and the number was disconnected, which made me thing this seems more than temporary.  I found a chiropractor who is open 5 days a week - I'm sure I detailed my time with her, so I won't go into that, but later on (I looked it up... Jan. 3rd) I stopped in again with that neck issue and to my surprise, it was a young oriental guy running the practice!  Came to find out that Dr. Gerdtz (Randy) had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had handed the business over to this new doc. Wow... that stunned me.  Randy, such a healthy, awesomely wonderful man and only 56 or 57...

So when I woke at about 6:00, I grabbed my phone and googled him.  He apparently passed away only 3 days after that visit.  It breaks my heart.  He had such a gentle soul... kind, always so positive.  Not surprisingly, his obit was very moving... Obit

And just so I don't end this on a sad note, a couple photos.  This is my Hoya skinneriana, formerly known as 'Dee's Big One'...

And this is a cute little ice plants commonly called "The Pickle Plant", botanically it's Delosperma echinatum.  It gets the ittiest-bittiest yellow flowers!

And with that, I'm going to get this published.  I hope to have more photos to share soon...

More signs... and PLANTS!

 I'm already done with my 2 days this week.  They called me Monday and we went to Des Moines (shock!)  Then it snowed overnight and though the streets looked perfectly fine here in Omaha (I think we got a couple inches, but the pavement was warm enough it didn't really stick...), but they were talking about a swatch in Iowa, along our route to DM, that got 3-5 inches and those hills can be a real bitch when the wind blows the snow over the road.  They had called me Tuesday, and I got up "as if" I would go to work and got ready, all the while debating on whether I would go or not - if they sent us to DM, would I want to go and risk slippy-sliding through that swatch??  About the time that I really needed to make up my mind, Erica called and asked if I'd be willing to work the downtown branch and I'm like, "I can do that!"  So I did... and it was fine, except for the horrendous street work going on downtown.  OMG, e-v-e-r-y...s-i-n-g-l-e...s-t-r-e-e-t... is down to one lane.  I am NOT exagerating!  It must be a freaking nightmare during rush hour!  Between sewer reworking (which they've been doing all over the old part of town) and what they have to do to prep for the coming street cars, it's a holy mess.  

Anyway, so I have the next several days off and today, I got my nails done.  So while I was out that way, I decided I would stop and pick up a Culvers chicken cashew salad for lunch (one of my favorites and a good choice for my diet...)  I pull into the parking lot at about 10:55 and decided to pull into a spot and check their menu... it's been a while since I had Culvers (none in my part of town) and I wanted to make sure they still had that salad.  And I figured maybe the drive thru didn't open 'til 11:00 anyway, so I sat there a few minutes.  When I was done perusing their menu, I pulled into the drive thru and someone had slipped in ahead of me.  I got to the window and ordered, and if you've been to a Culvers DT, you know they put a little sticky-note on your rear view mirror with a number and you pull ahead and park and wait for them to bring it out to you.  So guess what the number was?...

The number Mark sends me most often.  (There are 5 numbers I see consistently that I give him credit for... 54 is his birth year, 58 is my birth year, 73 is his grad year, 77 is my grad year, 87 is the year we bought the house, and 89 is the year we married.  But 77 is the one I see so often, it is uncanny!)  Now, if I had gone straight into the DT when I got there, my number would have been 76, so... Yep, I think they have a way...

So when they guy came out with my lunch I asked if I could keep the number and of course he said yes and I put it there on my dash to remind me of how skilled they are at sending these signs.  And as I'm driving down 96th Street with a big smile on my face, telling Mark how good he's gotten at this, I came up to a stop light behind a white Ford pickup with a license plate ending in 077.  My smile got bigger.  "Now you're just showing off!"

I'm starting to see new growth on a lot of my Hoyas and some other plants as well.  I found one budding up the other day.  I've lost the tag so not sure which species it is, but I suspect it's a form of parasitica...

There's a second peduncle a little higher.  I will get a photo when they open.

Today has turned into a beautiful day! It's hard to believe that yesterday was cold and blustery and there was snow on the ground until late afternoon! There's no sign of winter today. It's in the mid 70s, breezy. I've got the front door open and a couple of other windows to let the fresh air in. But it's going to be a bit of a yo-yo this week. Colder tomorrow, chance of rain. But that's okay. We can use the moisture and with cooler temps, it will get absorbed nicely by the plants that need it so badly, and it won't just evaporate like it does in high temps.

I've placed a few orders over the last few months for Haworthias. I've decided I won't buy any more Hoyas and will limit myself to smaller, slower growing succulents in the future. I'm going to do a lot of cleaning house of plants that don't light my fire this year. In other words, if it isn't "hell yes!", then it's "hell no!" That's one of my favorite phrases! You get to a certain age, and you don't want to waste your time doing things that don't particularly excite you! So that's been my mantra for the last few years. 

Anyway, back to the Haworthias... here are photos of several that I've acquired over the winter. These aren't all of them, but a good representation. These are the ones that have settled in nicely and look really great. A few that I haven't had very long need a little bit of time to plump back up so they will look their best, so I will post pictures of those later.

Some fantastic cultivars!  The one called "Red Moon"... I guess I liked it so much that I ended up ordering it twice!!  So now I have two of those.  LOL!

I kind of feel like I have crossed a threshold and I'm feeling much better. Not that I ever felt bad, mind you. I've always felt pretty good, but the pain that I was experiencing in my back and hip is quite a bit better. I'm not feeling that sharp awful pain in my groin area that came from my back. They tell me that's a nerve, so I think the decompression has helped that. I'm still a gimp, but I'm feeling like there's a real possibility that that might eventually be able to take a real walk like a real person! Can I really hope that I could be gimp free someday? I'm starting to feel like it might be possible!

Before I end this today, I wanted to show some pics of very impressive leaves.  First is a speckled clone of Hoya 'Mathilde'...

And here is Hoya 'Sunrise' that gets so beautifully patterned under the grow lights...

It blooms pretty easy, too, but the leaves really outshine the flowers!  This is Hoya quinquenervia, and it gets some outstanding leaves under the lights as well!

This one is Sinningia bullata that I got from Karin in the cactus club a couple years ago.  It develops a gorgeous caudex and has the most un-succulent looking leaves that emerge from the caudex.  It got overly dry this winter and dropped all its leaves and when I cut it back, new leaves started popping almost immediately.  So these are the baby leaves, and it's sharing its pot with the dreaded "Mother of Thousands" Kalanchoe.  I just couldn't bear to pull them, though I probably will this summer.  And I will move this up to a bigger pot this summer as well...

And last, I wanted to share the dish garden I created at the March Des Moines club meeting.  I used this pot I've had in the garage for awhile - I think it turned out really nice!

That's it for today!

Long time...

Wow, looks like my last post was over 4 months ago!  I guess going back to work, even though only 2 days a week, has kept me occupied!  That's a good thing.  It's kept me from focusing so much on my back/hip pain.  And thankfully, that has gotten better.  I think some of that is because I've been distracted by work.  I noticed immediately that when I was at work, I didn't hurt as much.  Abraham says focus amplifies - whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.  I'm convinced!  On my work days, I feel better.  When I'm home all day, I notice all the little aches and pains.  I think this is why people decline once retired...

Anyway, I am better.  I'm now done with the intense decompression therapy that I was doing 2x a week.  The improvement has been soooo slow, and back and forth... that it has been hard to see the progress.  I would have one "good" day (which means less pain, not no pain) here and there.  Then it became a little more frequent, like maybe 2 "good" days in a week.  These good days have gotten more frequent, and now I have more of those than "bad" days (and "bad" days are not as bad as they were 6 months ago...)  And the pain I'm having now, I believe, is more about weakness from lack of use than whatever it was before.  I think (I should say Dr. Corey believes, so I'm convinced) that it is/was a pinched nerve, and (hopefully) the decompression has relieved that.  So now I'm going every 2 weeks for "maintenance".  Expensive, but doable.  

I also added soft-wave therapy a few weeks ago.  I'm sure that has something to do with the improvement as well.  I've got 3 more treatments of that. Here is how google defines soft-wave... 

SoftWave Therapy is a non-invasive, regenerative treatment that uses broad-focused acoustic shockwaves to stimulate tissue healing, reduce pain and improve mobility. 

As it has been explained to me, the waves draw blood flow into the area (which induces healing) and causes the body to produce stem cells that also heal.  As much time and money as I've committed to this, I SHOULD be feeling better!  And I can honestly say that for the first time in a long, long time, I feel real hope that maybe, just maybe, I have a gimp-free future coming!  My next commitment needs to be about building my strength and repairing those weakened muscles.

Now, on to other things!  The winter has been... well, not bad.  More warm days that normal, seems like.  A lot of back-and-forth.  Warm spells followed by cold spells.  This weekend, we had a little snow storm that looked rather blizzard-ish, but really didn't amount to much snow.  But the wind blew like a mother!  I don't think it was quite as bad as they thought it would be, but boy did it HOWL.  It got terribly cold overnight - it was 8 degrees this morning with a wind chill in the negative teens.  The GH and kitchen were sooo cold!  Probably down into the 50s.  Today, it's sunny and will get to 25, but by Friday, the forecast says it will be in the mid-80s!!!  Wow...

I've lost a lot of plants this winter.  My pain kept me from giving them the care they really needed, so I've had losses.  This is the kind of thing that shows you which ones are really tough and which ones... not so much.  And it's fine.  I've decided to see it as a blessing in disguise.  I'm getting older and it's getting harder to keep up.  It's ok to thin the herd, tune in on what I really want to keep.  Less is more.  I'd like to spend more time enjoying them, maybe a little less time watering and grooming them.  I'm not going to invest in any more fussy plants. I won't say "no more Hoyas", but I think I'm kind of "over" my obsession with them.  So I'm going to focus more on my "little" plants... Haworthias and small succs.  Any Hoyas that aren't SPECTACULAR will be whacked back and set on the back porch.  If they come back by fall gloriously, great.  If not, into the trash bin they go!

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A couple weeks ago, Laurie and I went over to Lincoln where Kevin, our favorite psychic, spent the day at a "new age" store called Euphoria.  He was doing sessions for $40/15 minutes and we sat with him for half an hour.  It was, as usual, amazing!  Both Mark and Mom came through.  He said they sit on the front porch "smoking" and watching me come and go.  Of course, they both spent so much time out there smoking...  And of course we all know they don't really "smoke" in the afterlife, but it's a good way for them to show him what's familiar to me.  I get mostly the same messages each time, and that's ok... it's just very comforting to know they're here.  Laurie heard from her dad, a message she really needed to hear telling her she needs to limit her contact with her daughter, who treats her like shit.  I hope she listens...

And this last week, I had so many messages from all of them... Mark, Mom, Wes, and even Thelma!!!  So many that I'm starting to worry they're trying to warn me about something.  Wed. was the first day - I was out and about and I kept seeing the numbers they often show me.  Over and over.  So many in such a short time that I thought "I need to be wary of something, but what?"  And I paid careful attention all the way home with no close calls.  But then I got home and as I was walking to the house, I tripped and went careening into the porch shelf right by the mailbox!!  I didn't fall, but it was close!  There was another moment a bit later when I was a little... well, not exactly dizzy, but I faltered just a bit when I was walking.  Now mind you, my footing is unstable because of my back and these things can happen when we're not operating at 100%.  But I thought maybe the message is to be mindful...

Like that wasn't enough, I worked on Thurs. and while in Des Moines with my chase driver Pat, I saw a license plate with 777.  I pointed it out to Pat and explained that triple numbers are a message from my brother.  And 7s are my "favorite" numbers, so it was kind of an extra "feel good" message.  Pat smirked a bit, which is typical for a lot of people, especially religious people who have a more traditional view of what happens after death.  So we headed back to Omaha and it wasn't 20 minutes later we come up behind a car with... 777 again!  I pointed it out and Pat just said "HUH!"  I saw this happen once before.  I get plenty of triple numbers, but rarely do I get the same two in a row.  (Once I was sitting at a stop light behind a car with triple 7s and a truck came around the corner with triple 7s!  It was one of those real attention-getters!!)  So maybe another half our down the road, we came up behind a big-rig - they all have a number stamped on the back, I assume it identifies that specific cargo container and it's usually a 6 digit number.  Well, this one ended in 777!!!  Pat's response this time was, "Well, that's a little weird!"  LOL!

So the clincher happened on Friday.  I was off and home most of the day.  About mid-morning, I noticed a penny right in the middle of one of my leather chairs.  The leather is kind of ecru, so the penny was a stark contrast.  I was sitting at the table and just kind of shrugged it off.  Maybe it fell out of my pocket?  I don't really sit on that chair, but I do sit there for a moment each morning when I put on my pants and shoes and my first thought was that the penny fell out of my pocket.  I often wear the same pants 2 days in a row, but later I thought, wait a minute - I brought up fresh pants last night.  Hmm.  Then my next thought was, what are the chances it's a wheat penny?  So I'll explain that thought...

Back in the late 90's, Ann Landers had a letter about "pennies from heaven".  Someone who was convinced that she got a message from a passed relative when she found a pile of pennies someplace unusual...  This evoked an avalanche of letters from people over the next several months, about coins that were "messages." When Mark's mom died... this was Xmas time 1998... I was hoping for a sign from her, but I told Mark, "How would I ever know if she sent pennies from heaven when you shed change constantly??"  And he did!  I was constantly picking up his change, and when we finished the basement and he spent all his time down there (where I insisted it was HIS job to clean up!), the floor was always covered with change!  Anyway, after she died, I suddenly started finding wheat pennies.  Over the next couple months, I probably found a dozen or so.  If you watch for them, you will find a wheat penny now and then.  I've watched for them the last quarter of a century since she died and I may, MAY find one or two a year.  So I always felt I could safely say those dozen pennies were an "I'm ok" message from Thelma...

Now that I've told this story, it's obvious that the mystery penny on the chair was, indeed, a wheat penny.  Which easily could have been one of those "one or two" I find a year because I can't remember the last time I found one.  But it's happenstance placement kind of screamed "message!"  Many of the others I'd gotten came that same way - one sat squarely in the middle of my seat in the car.  They were always somewhere by themselves, in a "weird" place.  So a bit later that same day, I walk through the kitchen and there's a penny on the floor.  I walked by it several times, thinking there wasn't s snowball's chance in hell that it would be another wheat penny, but my curiosity got the better of me eventually and I picked it up.  Another wheat penny!  First one was 1957, this one was 1953.  

So 3 days in a row.  Very, very distinct, almost shouting messages.  What are they trying to say?  I stayed home Saturday and Sunday, and haven't gone anywhere today.  Maybe I've avoided whatever it may be telling me.  Or maybe they're trying to say something positive?  "Play the lottery?"  "You're about to cross paths with someone who will change your life?"  "Trust your instincts that your physical well-being is improving?"  I just don't know what to think!!

And that's how I will end today's ramblings.  I hope to have lots of fun things to report soon about my plants!