Bogieblog

Some Women's Dreams

Susan, over at The Muddy Dog, has stumbled upon a book called P*rn for Women. It's not what you think and I don't think any sensibilies will be bothered.

Food Is Good

You're a Pig!
A lover of foods of all kinds, you really like to eat. While this has given you a reputation for gluttony, you know that there's nothing wrong with taking pleasure in a good meal. While not eating, you have strangely developed a taste for mud-wrestling. While most people find you to be altogether unclean, you are actually one of the smarter folks around. If you are rather small for your age, you are considered to be a hero by a variety of different people. The shape of your feet has saved your life, perhaps on multiple occasions.
Take the Animal Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

I do love food! Mud wrestling is probably not my strong suit though.

Quiz accessed thru Dispatches From Bloglivion.

Color me Surprised - Not!

My Conservative Identity:

You are an Anti-government Gunslinger, also known as a libertarian conservative. You believe in smaller government, states’ rights, gun rights, and that, as Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com

Quiz lifted from Bruce at No Looking Back.

Pictures on the Deck

Yes, this is a series of pictures taken on the deck, not from the deck (well, really both from and on). I have plenty of planters on the deck. Several of them are filled with plants I started from seed. Others are filled with roses:

 

   

Making Plants More Difficult Than Neccessary

Have you ever gotten a plant that others could grow and you can't? Have you tried that plant year after year, trying different combinations of sun, soil, fertilizer and still failed to be able to grow that plant?

The dirty little secret that the Renegade Gardener doesn't realize is two-fold. First, goatsbeard thrives in clay (regardless of what the tag said). Second, it thrives on neglect. It is the perfect plant for my yard and gardening style. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate nursery tags? The tags tell you that most plants need a certain set of circumstances to grow, which is a crock (some do, but most do well in a range of circumstances). They lie to you all the time and tell you things like "fertilize" and "rich, well-drained soil". Goatsbeard is a native plant, and as such, does not need pampering and certainly not fertilizing.

Another plant that tags lie all the time about is Rugosa Roses. Just ignore any tag that make rugosas sound complicated to care for. They are so easy; plop them in the ground and let them do their thing. Whatever you do - DO NOT AMEND THE SOIL, OR FERTILIZE, OR USE ANY SORT OF SPRAY ON THEM! Perfect for my yard. I have a neighbor who I have given countless pieces of Rugosas to. They have failed to thrive. He laments, "I water them faithfully and put them in nice soil and . . " I keep telling him he is babying them to death. I proved this point by planting a rugosa for him a couple of months ago and not telling him about it. It has thrived wonderfully and started blooming a month after planting.

Friday afternoon I dug up a bunch more rugosas and potted them up. I will give them away to 3 people that have dibs on them (the roses went so crazy after the pruning in spring that the spot I had planned to plant striped rugosas in was over-run, so I had to dig up that whole section). The pots are filled with clay and after two weeks I should know which ones will make it and which ones won't (some were literally ripped out of the ground so don't have much root). When I told the neighbor that I had more roses for him that should be ready in a couple of weeks, he started talking about how if I just kept them in water they would be fine.

NO! NO! NO!!! That just drowns the roots AND means you have to check it every day to see if it needs more water to cover the roots. Although, yes, the rugosas would probably recover, they would have to develop new roots before being able to concentrate on putting out leaves and stems. Put them in clay, water well (or not), and ignore them until next weekend. Water again if needed, then ignore again.

In another week they are ready to give away with strick instructions to NOT amend the soil (clay or sand, doesn't matter), not to water except perhaps at the time of planting, not to fetilize, and especially not to spray for fungus (black spot, powdery mildey etc) or bugs. Rugosas resent all that and will sulk (or worse). Oh, and I also go against grain and tell them to plant anywhere from sun to shade.

What plants have you found to be so super easy compared to what the nursery tag claims? And what plants have you had no luck at all with even though you see them thriving elsewhere in your neighborhood?

Going Up

With milk prices recently jumping from just over $3 per gallon to $4.39 per gallon locally (a 33% increase), I am wondering when Congress, news agencies, and the public, is going to put out the call for investigations into gouging like they did with oil. There seems to be a stunning amount of silence about that along with meat and prices (other than the notation that prices are going up).

It probably isn't politically correct to go after the farm industry like it is to go after oil complanies.

More Pics From June

I have uploaded more picture, but having so many pictures on the last couple of posts, I decided to put them in the 2007 Photo Album. So, you can just head over there by clicking the link and then click on each picture for further descriptions for most of them. I didn't bother with descriptions on the Peace and Arizona roses because they are just there to be pretty.

However, I don't want Buffy to miss the Rugosas that I had cut down earlier this spring - they don't look like they ,minded a bit, do they? (there are 2 seperate pics)

Snowmound and Others

I have more pictures that I will share today (and probably otheres for the weekend). First up is a picture of the Snowmound Spirea in full bloom. I thought that I had not gotten a picture of it in its full glory, but it was on another roll of film:

This is a shot of the pathway from the yard down to the AFOTFT. It is taken from below (looking toward the house). Not a bit of that is weeds. There is creeping thyme, creeping yellow sedum (I think it is what Cop Car has a problem with in her yard) and creeping phlox (top left). There is also a fern in the foreground - the ferns like that corner for some reason.

The next pictures are all of Chicago Peace. I put them below the fold so that I had time to tell you to protect your eyes - these really pop out at you:

Snowballs in July

The other day, Cop Car was asking if she was seeing a "snowball" in one of the pictures I posted. After my so cleaverly saying, "duh, what", she added that she meant a hyranrangea, also known as "snowball bush".

I know that a certain vibernum is often called snowball bush, but didn't realize that other people called hydrangeas the same thing.

Then came this thread on the Gardenweb, which showed that other people have the same confusion in discussions of snowball bushes. Also check out the link that Georgia-Rose provides to the Cobb County Cooperative Extension that pretty much sums up the differences.

Touring

Yesterday started as most Saturdays; dump run, bank (for allowances, paychecks are direct deposited), breakfast at the local diner, and laundry. After that, it was anything but a normal Saturday.

WS and I jumped on the bike, met with WS's brother and his wife and headed of to Portsmouth to see the Tall Ships. We had good riding weather; in the mid 70's and and cloudy. Okay, so it was very cloudy and I was constantly looking at the sky to see when we would be hit by rain. At least it wasn't in the 90's - hot enough to not be pleasant on the bike as the sun is baking down on you (yes, we have had a couple of stretches in the 90's already this season - which is rather hot when the rest of the time it has been in the 60's to mid-70's).

We were almost to the parking lot when we ran into a bit of rain - just enough to remind us Mother Nature could turn nasty anytime. But, the clouds cleared out and we had mild weather while we were waiting in line to tour the ships. Once we got on board, it was clear that we had a bonus; not only was this the first time in nearly 100 years that 3 tall ships were at Portsmouth at once, but there was a 4th ship from the Netherlands, the Urania. Here is a list of all the ships participating in the Tall Ships Challenge(R) to Nova Scotia.

Three ships were tied next to each other, which made getting from one to the other easy by just hopping the railings. The Pride of Baltimore II was tied up separately and was the last ship we visited. This ship is a replica of an 1812-era clipper and she was a beauty! The serious time and skill that went into the woodwork of the lifeboats, masts and railings resulted in pure beauty. Checking out the old time anchor system of gears/locks was interesting (I think I am the only one that got to see a slight adjustment on the line so I know that it wasn't just for show. As we were almost ready to leave, the clouds came scuttling back in.

After the tour it was 5:30, wow, where does the time go? We headed for the bikes and decided to check out the Albacore, since that was the parking lot the bikes were in. Alas, the museum was closing, so we didn't get to tour the sub, but we did take a gander at her hull and some dedication plaques. Naturally, it started raining during that time. We took shelter under some pines for a couple of minutes until the worst of it passed, then finished looking around and headed back to the bikes.

Everyone donned what gear they needed or had brought (BIL has a full dresser, so doesn't need much, WS and I donned full gear and SIL had her jacket and helmet). We rode towards home in the rain, but soon it slowed to sporadic drops. Even those hurt at 50-60 MPH, but you gotta go anyway. By the time we got to Concord, we were dry but hungry. So we stopped and had some superb steaks, then headed home. We rolled into the driveway about 10 PM.

It was a really nice day. For once, a bike ride did not end in me being sunburned, and I only had to put on sunscreen once (and I was in a tank top until we suited up when we left Portsmouth). Good riding, great ships to tour (even a bonus ship), good company, good food, and no sunburn. Can't ask for anything better than that!