In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

btw Brenda, I'm from the northeast. In my last few years living up there, out of nowhere, I developed a strong phobia about slipping on ice. It made winters up there difficult.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Sunday, January 29, 2017 6:23 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

That was some ice patch, Brenda! It seemed like it took forever to start melting!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

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Saturday, February 4, 2017 4:49 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I feel for ya Brenda. We've had an amazing winter here so far, but living around Chicago all of my life I know a thing or two about terrible winters.

About 7-8 winters ago me and my bro were living up in Wisconsin. New management came in and cut corners everywhere. Rather than have the normal plows come in and salt everything in a winter with very heavy snowfall, they used their own crew with tiny bobcats for some reason. At one point things melted and froze up right away before having a chance to drain off. The entire parking lot was literally an ice rink for about a week. I'm not even joking when I say that there was about an inch and a half of ice covering every square foot of the parking lot. And they did nothing about it!!!

My brother slipped and fell one morning and a neighbor yelled "GOOD!". Pissed off, my brother yelled "What!" back to him. He said "Good. You fell and I saw it. Let's sue these bastards!".

Fortunately we were still in our 20's back then and it wasn't a bad fall, so there was no lawsuit. If my brother fell like that today with his weight and older age, he could have been crippled by it.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, February 4, 2017 10:42 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Brenda, wow, this seems to be a helluva winter for you!

I know that a lot of BC gets snow, but around Vancouver it's kind of a rarity, right? Kind of like Portland and Seattle?

I wish I could do something for you from this distance.

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

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Saturday, February 4, 2017 11:32 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

As for here ... not quite at normal.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Saturday, February 18, 2017 1:54 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Amazing that our weather would be so different.

I guess you got the warm air and we got the cold air!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017 6:50 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Three weekends ago, we got what I believe to be the last big storm of the season. It rained, harder than I've seen in rain in years, and the swirling gusts were so strong they blew that rain into spray. My casual rain gage said 3.25" in one day and it may have overflowed, so possibly it was more than that. For the first time, the swale in my front yard filled up.

It seemed like a mighty generous rain year, and compared to the previous years it was. But south of (roughly) Point Conception, the "overage" was only five inches or so ... hardly enough to overcome the three FEET of deficit accumulated in the past five years. Surface-water-wise, we're doing great. Groundwater-wise, not so much.

Still I can't believe how GREEN everything looks! The hills are cloaked with green. Lupines - ever shy to sprout unless there are several weeks of near-continuous wetness- may bloom again this year. Maybe this year we'll get a blizzard of painted-lady butterflies again. There are two places I hope to visit once I get past the busy-ness of the next few weeks: Turnbull Canyon Road, and Rancho Santa Ana. I'm looking forward to it!

We have been blessed.

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR IS A DEEP-STATE TROLL

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017 3:18 PM

DREAMTROVE

the frozen wastes of Winterfell here are finally melting.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2017 4:40 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I almost had a heart attack just now...

2:30 in the morning and I went down in my basement to roll a cigarette and on the cold tile floor my socks were sopping wet! I thought my sump pump died again and I was going to have to wait 4 hours until the Menards opened so I could buy a new one and thoughts of my previous two nightmares of swapping out sump pumps in the crawl space in a foot of freezing water hit me in the face.

Turns out it was just about a gallon worth of water that seeped in from the outside. I still haven't had gutters installed and we got slammed with the hardest rain I've seen in 5 years last night. It's a wonder the power didn't go out in those thunder storms.

Crisis averted... My sump pump even did me the solid of kicking off while I was down there, just to let me know it was still doing its job

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, March 8, 2017 7:10 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Right now we're in "roller coaster" weather - up 25 degrees, down 25 degrees over the course of 5 days.

I think our "rainy season" has come to an end, with maybe 4 or 5 extra inches of water so far. Enough to make the farmers, plants, and animals (fish, too!) happy.

Except that poor parking lot tree: I think it's dead. Or almost dead. The 8 -10 gallons a week that I would water it with was probably just enough to keep it green, but not enough for it to store sufficient sap in its roots for springtime budding. All of the other Callary/ Bradford pears have flowered by now ... I was hoping this tree was just getting a late start but I took a real close look at the branch tips this past weekend and noticed that there were very few viable buds.

I'm sorry, tree. What I didn't wasn't enough.

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR IS A DEEP-STATE TROLL

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Wednesday, March 8, 2017 8:34 AM

Gotta figure out when the best time to re-seed my grass is. Something nasty got a hold of my backyard toward the end of last summer and about 20% of it is barren now. It wasn't moles... I've had those before. My dad's had grubs before and he said it wasn't grubs. My backyard is my little sanctuary and it kills me how bad it looks right now. Still too great a chance of it getting too cold at night to try seeding it yet though.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 2:45 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, it's a good thing that nobody knows exactly where I live because I'm about to confess to acts of guerrilla gardening!

I had a bunch of old leftover poppy and lupine seeds that I didn't know what to do with, so while driving slowly on the right-hand lane of some nearby freeways I just threw the seeds out the window.

I was very pleased to see a patch of poppies growing where I don't think poppies have ever grown before, and a stand of lupines where I KNOW lupines never grew before.

Pretty!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 7:33 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

That pear tree really is dead? Poor tree.

You did your best.

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 7:42 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Meanwhile, my very own, large self-planted coast live oak was looking worse and worse over the last few years. Last summer I looked up and realized I could see sky through the canopy. I've never been able to do that before. And the leaves and twigs were drooping down. And though you aren't supposed to water live oaks in their dormant season - hot summer weather - I felt I had no choice or I was going to lose it.

Then the rains induced a lot of new growth this year. The canopy is full again. And this year the tree was loaded with catkins, a new sight! Looking around at all the other coast lives oaks in the area and surrounding towns, I see they too are undergoing a revival.

But I learned my lesson. When fall comes I'm going to start watering, just in case it's not going to be a good winter for rain.

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 7:54 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
That pear tree really is dead? Poor tree.

You did your best.

I see a few tentative blossoms on some branches so maybe not completely dead. I guess I'll go back to watering the tree, but I plan on 10 gallons/ week, no exceptions!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 9:36 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Good for you! YAY for the tree!

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Saturday, April 1, 2017 10:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, it's a good thing that nobody knows exactly where I live because I'm about to confess to acts of guerrilla gardening!

I had a bunch of old leftover poppy and lupine seeds that I didn't know what to do with, so while driving slowly on the right-hand lane of some nearby freeways I just threw the seeds out the window.

I was very pleased to see a patch of poppies growing where I don't think poppies have ever grown before, and a stand of lupines where I KNOW lupines never grew before.

Pretty!

I did the same thing back once back in my youth.

Had a few nice looking plants growing for a few weeks....

Until one of the cops discovered they had a few pot plants growing next to the front door of the station.

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Monday, April 3, 2017 4:13 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Until one of the cops discovered they had a few pot plants growing next to the front door of the station.

Thanks for the laugh, SIX!!

Boy, I have to say this has not been one of my best months ever. Just way too many things to deal with ... If it isn't one thing it's another. I don't think next month will be better because there are still too many loose ends to nail down, plus MORE things to nail down. Maybe the month after...

Sigh. I think I'm going to have a pity-party all to myself.

At times like these, I have to declare victory over little things, like having a nesting pair of scrub jays finally take residence in our neighborhood (they like the peanuts I toss out 2X/week!) and seeing some pretty flowers bloom in new places.

Plus I have a bouquet on the table of purple/pinkish statice and yellow freesia

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Monday, April 3, 2017 4:41 PM

DREAMTROVE

Slowly but surely, the snow here in little Russia is receding, but no flowers yet.

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Monday, April 3, 2017 5:18 PM

I'm still waiting for some of my grass seeds to start sprouting. We've got a ridiculous amount of rain in the last 10 days but only about half a day of sunlight. The birds were out there having a feeding frenzy in my back yard about a week ago, so I hope there was still some grass seeds left that take hold.

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Tuesday, April 4, 2017 7:06 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6STRINGJOKER:
I'm still waiting for some of my grass seeds to start sprouting. We've got a ridiculous amount of rain in the last 10 days but only about half a day of sunlight. The birds were out there having a feeding frenzy in my back yard about a week ago, so I hope there was still some grass seeds left that take hold.

I think you had some birds with tummy-aches in your neighborhood, SIX. That's an everlasting problem: how to keep birds from eating seeds that have been sown. Not good for you, and not good for the birds either, since the seeds are treated with fungicides and pesticides.

I've had entire crops of cosmos, CA poppies, and lupines eaten up by hungry birds! I don't know what the answer is ... lightly rake the seeds in? (Too much work!) Set out a scarecrow? (Birds stop caring after a day!) If you find one, let me know!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Tuesday, April 4, 2017 7:07 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Sun today then suppose to rain for the rest of the week.

I suppose the one good thing about rain is that it knocks the pollen out of the air. But then, it encourages mold spores. I hope you're not allergic to mold, Brenda.

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Tuesday, April 4, 2017 2:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think you had some birds with tummy-aches in your neighborhood, SIX. That's an everlasting problem: how to keep birds from eating seeds that have been sown. Not good for you, and not good for the birds either, since the seeds are treated with fungicides and pesticides.

I've had entire crops of cosmos, CA poppies, and lupines eaten up by hungry birds! I don't know what the answer is ... lightly rake the seeds in? (Too much work!) Set out a scarecrow? (Birds stop caring after a day!) If you find one, let me know!

I raked them in best I could, but I didn't have the proper tools for sure. Not a whole lot you can do with a plastic rake, and any of my power tools would have been overkill.

I'm not really much of a gardener. I'm just hoping that some of them took hold. Those things are expensive. Whoever is in the business of selling grass seed is making a killing.

It would be nice to finally get a little bit of sun to see if anything happens. My power went out sometime last night. Must not have been too long because my basement didn't see any flooding. Now I've got to go around and re-set all the clocks again though. GRRRRRRRRRR

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Tuesday, April 11, 2017 10:55 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
It would be nice to finally get a little bit of sun to see if anything happens. My power went out sometime last night. Must not have been too long because my basement didn't see any flooding. Now I've got to go around and re-set all the clocks again though. GRRRRRRRRRR

Oh, you too?
There we were comfortably watching TV. I was also checking our bank account online when all of the sudden - blackness. Things flickered momentarily on before going out again. This happens in our (comfortably well-off) neighborhood A LOT, and for no reason that WE can see: no earthquake, no storm, no strong winds ... I mean, WTH??? You'd think SCE could keep the electricity on! Hubby's typical comment is Welcome to the Third World.

Usually juice comes back on after a minute or two - but not this time! Fortunately we have enough flashlights and emergency lights, and have an UPS which powers our modem which allows us to make a phone call out to SCE. It was a "widespread outage" and they were "analyzing the problem" but was expected to be fixed in an hour. IF it had gone on longer I would have run down to the store for dry ice for the frig and freezer.

Heh. I know what the problem is: Equipment that hasn't been replaced in 65 years!

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Tuesday, April 11, 2017 11:05 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, on a happier topic:

The blooms are profligate this spring. Some of the early-spring blooms (camellias, gooseberries and currants) are still hanging on, while the mid-spring blooms (roses, ceanothus, CA poppies of all colors- pink, gold, pale butter-white, burnt orange and red - are having their own super-bloom in my front yard. Spanish lavender is also blooming like crazy. The later-spring flowers are just beginning - royal penstemon, suncups, cosmos. With so many blossoms in my front yard, it looks a little like the Crazy Lady yard ... yanno, the woman plants flowers of every colors without regard to design. But most of these are there as fill-ins for when the larger, more-restrained trees, shrubs, grasses, and succulents fill in. It's a work-in-progress. In the meantime, I'm happy for blossoms and for all of the bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and (eventually) the seed-eating birds.

Thanks to the natural and supplemented food, I see so many more birds in my yard than before- scrub jays flitting quietly in for the peanuts, goldfinches, house finches, English sparrows, mourning doves, hummingbirds, black phoebes, and the occasional migratory interloper like yellow warblers and white-crested finches.

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Thursday, April 13, 2017 11:44 PM

I actually see some grass filling in. Not 10 bucks worth, but it's a start. Probably going to take me a few years to fix my back lawn assuming whatever it was that ravaged it last year doesn't make a comeback.

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Friday, April 14, 2017 12:07 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

A record drought in CA, followed by (nearly) record rain. (It's the second wettest year in ~150 years of historic records.)

I wonder what the upcoming years will bring. I'm leaning towards drier overall.

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Saturday, April 22, 2017 5:36 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
A record drought in CA, followed by (nearly) record rain.

Followed by record mosquitoes. Especially the latest import: Aedes aegypti, Egyptian mosquito. Damnit.

They are tiny, but their bites are mighty. NOTHING kills the itch - not topical/ oral benadryl, not cortisone cream, not alcohol, not any of the hundred home remedies that have been suggested to me .... although lidocaine cream helps. I have so many weeping, crusty lesions in various stages that I look like I have some terrible skin disease.

I FEEL like I have some terrible skin disease!

=====

AND we have a new temporary (possibly permanent) family member: A stray dog that's probably a mix of chihuahua and rat terrier. The closest that I can find online is this ...

"Sport" is fierce with a tennis ball!

We've been seeing her in the neighborhood for a week or so and bedding down in our leaf-pile, but I thought she was "somebody's" dog until I saw her trying to climb our avocado tree to get avocados and realized that she was starving.

So I started feeding her, and she adopted our yard, and then I let her into the breezeway at night to keep her safe from coyotes and she adopted our house, and now she sticks to me like glue.

Today I had her checked for microchips (none), examined (2 y/o or less unspayed female in great health) and given shots (rabies, parvo, kennel cough, distemper) and treated for fleas and worms - all for $20! - and now she can come into the house without her little parasite friends.

I'll probably keep her for a week or two and see if she will socialize with the rest of the family, but if it doesn't work out for us (DD really doesn't like the dog!) then I will give her to a no-kill shelter with all of her papers.

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Sunday, April 23, 2017 12:20 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
I suppose the one good thing about rain is that it knocks the pollen out of the air. But then, it encourages mold spores. I hope you're not allergic to mold, Brenda.- SIGNY

Unfortunately, I am a bit. So I have to be continuley treating my allergies. Pain in the butt I tell ya. - BRENDA

Just out of curiosity, BRENDA, what do you do to treat your allergies?

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Sunday, April 23, 2017 11:55 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I have as many meds for my allergies, but they're very different kinds.

Active rain clears outdoor air pretty well. (I can tell by how my allergies are doing, plus we see it in our particulate matter measurements.) But when it stops - oy vey. Then everything blooms - trees, grasses, molds ... and it all just freely floats away on the faintest breeze.

I don't know about you, but for me, just trying to get enough air can be hell.

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Monday, May 1, 2017 5:54 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I got one of those Aedes aegypti mosquito bites, on the outside of my hand between thumb and forefinger.

You're right Signy - DAMN !! but does it itch.

Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.

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Wednesday, May 3, 2017 3:17 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I can't tell if this is the thread about food, GMO and pesticide, and stuff - I keep finding posts about snow and such.

Anyhow, saw this article about Skippy peanut butter no longer available in Canada.
Apparently it has a different formula for Canada - less sugar. And the requirement of 2 languages adds to the cost of the product.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/skippy-peanut-butter-no-longer-09000
0413.html

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Thursday, May 4, 2017 7:41 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
And as to the weather. Rain, rain and possibly oh more rain.

The Dakotas had blizzards last week.

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Tuesday, May 9, 2017 8:10 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

BRENDA - So I looked up "Reactine" and as it turns out that's the same as our "Zyrtec". I was wondering - when you get stuffed up, are your symptoms all in your eyes (red, watery, itchy) and nose (drippy, stuffed)? Or do your symptoms extend to wheezing?

=========

Crazy, crazy weather here. For a week it was windy. That's not unusual for places OTHER THAN SoCal, and not unheard-of in the canyons and passes (where winds funnel down from the high desert thru the mountains to the coastal lowlands) but here, in the flatlands, anything over 20 mph is unusual and a week of wind is unheard-of. Every day that I came home from work there were new palm fronds and pine boughs on the ground.

Then, it got hot. Not springtime hot but midsummer hot - 90+ for a week. And Saturday, we had an amazing thunderstorm. We were out playing tennis and keeping a eye on the clouds ... we could see one storm band coming at us but fortunately it slid sideways and passed us to the west. We were just finishing up when another storm band headed right our way, and once dear daughter got zapped by her racket we decided to pack up. On the way home from the courts we got LIGHTNING! And THUNDER! and BIG RAIN DROPS! And even BIGGER RAIN DROPS! And then all hell broke loose - the hail went from small to pea-sized and the clouds unzipped and just dumped water on us while the lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Even a Buffalonian would have noticed. It was a furious storm, but very brief - fifteen minutes, maybe. In two hours, the sun was shining and the birds were singing their evening songs. Sunday was pretty chilly - for here- but Monday was the weather we dream of here: mid-70s, clear, breezy, and blessedly refreshed by the rain.

=======

However, the thunder scared the crap out of the dog - literally- and unbeknownst to us she left a steamy pile on the doorstep, which got tracked a bit into the laundry area. Cleanup on aisle two! We are still trying to figure this dog out. She's extremely attentive to disapproval, but I felt we just weren't clicking with her previous training because she wasn't entirely housebroken and we were trying to figure out how to accomplish that. In desperation I decided to try "crate training" her first .... and it appears that she's already been crate trained, which is a missing part of the puzzle, I think. She LOVES being in her carrier. This will make (re?)housetraining so much easier.

We're thinking of calling her either Pogo (She has so much energy she literally bounces all four feet off the ground when she plays) or Zippy (She's really, really fast.) Which one would you pick?

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"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Wednesday, May 10, 2017 2:52 PM

I was just out de-weeding the hasta area in front of my house and BIIIIG problem with my sump/drainage system......

Looks like the water is getting out of the house, but right outside there must be a huge crack in the pipe. There was about a 1'x1'x1' hole next to the foundation and I thought "GREAT. WTF dug that out????!!!". Just then the sump system came on and water started filling the GD hole.

That amount of erosion doesn't happen overnight, so it's probably been doing it since winter started and is probably why the seal busted and I had all of those problems inside back in December.

Here's hoping that it's an easy fix and I don't have a nightmare on my hands.

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Wednesday, May 17, 2017 7:55 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

BRENDA< glad to know that your allergy symptoms don't extend to wheezing. Long-term asthma is dangerous, so if at any point your symptoms should progress you need to be as persistent as necessary to get your symptoms treated!

As an allergy sufferer whose symptoms start at the eyes and nose and work their way down more-or-less continuously thru the nasopharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles.... there IS something a little tricky that allergies can do, and that's swell up your nasopharynx, soft palate, and uvula. It sometimes goes by the name of Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) and while some doctors don't believe it exists, hubby had it so bad that he was treated surgically - by a major university hospital - which trimmed his turbinates, straightened his septum, removed his uvula and scarred his soft palate (The scar formation caused his soft palate to lift). He used to have severe sleep apnea, but no more! Plus he was getting allergy shots.

Anyway. should your allergies cause you more symptoms, there are options besides surgery. There is a steroid NASAL spray which is a powder, here called Qnasl, which penetrates better and farther than any liquid-mist spray, which could be very useful.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20120326/fda-approves-dry-nose-spr
ay-for-allergy

====================

Hey SIX, how's the sump drain going???

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Sunday, May 21, 2017 2:07 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
BRENDA< glad to know that your allergy symptoms don't extend to wheezing. Long-term asthma is dangerous, so if at any point your symptoms should progress you need to be as persistent as necessary to get your symptoms treated!

As an allergy sufferer whose symptoms start at the eyes and nose and work their way down more-or-less continuously thru the nasopharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles.... there IS something a little tricky that allergies can do, and that's swell up your nasopharynx, soft palate, and uvula. It sometimes goes by the name of Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) and while some doctors don't believe it exists, hubby had it so bad that he was treated surgically - by a major university hospital - which trimmed his turbinates, straightened his septum, removed his uvula and scarred his soft palate (The scar formation caused his soft palate to lift). He used to have severe sleep apnea, but no more! Plus he was getting allergy shots.

Anyway. should your allergies cause you more symptoms, there are options besides surgery. There is a steroid NASAL spray which is a powder, here called Qnasl, which penetrates better and farther than any liquid-mist spray, which could be very useful.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20120326/fda-approves-dry-nose-spr
ay-for-allergy
SIGNY

Hi Sig. My brother is an asthma sufferer so I know how bad my allergies have a possibility of getting. Hence why I am so diligent in treating them when they get bad.

At one point they were so bad that I thought I was going to have to have my sinuses drained but I didn't. Lucky me. BRENDA

Well since you have had the experience of seeing what your brother went thru, it seems you're forewarned. I'm glad. This kind of thing can really sneak up on people and I'd hate to think of it sneaking up on you.

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Sunday, May 21, 2017 2:35 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Still doing roller-coaster weather. Three days ago it was warmer in Bufflao (83) than here (69). Today it was 94. By Thursday it's anticipated to drop almost 30 degrees.

But with last week's thunderstorm and downpour, the flowers are still blossoming extravagantly. I love to see the activity in my front and back yards: The first flush of cosmos flowers have set seed, and the goldfinches and house finches are flocking to the seed heads to eat. Sparrows and mourning doves are feasting on the CA poppy seeds, the mockingbirds are eating the pineapple guava petals (edible and sweet), the butterflies and bees are nectaring on the nasturtiums, verbenas, and poppies ... the scrub jays are still coming in for the peanuts. Today I heard and saw a hawk up on the wire, and a woodpecker in our avocado.

We're finally reaching a modus vivendi with our new dog. I mentioned that we didn't understand how she was trained and ... as eager to please as she is ... she just didn't know what was expected. The biggest problem was that she was only partly house-trained; I think she must have been an apartment dog and actually been trained to use potty-pads, which would have been terribly confusing for her. But - success! She now reliably does what she needs to do when I take her for a walk, and now that we know she won't pee in the house we can let her out of her carrier at night. We're ALL much happier!

She's a fun, attentive, playful, active little dog. Over time we've accumulated various toys so she can exercise her rat-terrier drives .... thrown/ rolled tennis balls to "chase" and "hunt", a knotted rag to "wrestle" and "kill", chew strips to gnaw on, and of course dirt to dig in. It's a pleasure seeing this little dog being happy just being a dog and doing dog-things.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Sunday, May 21, 2017 7:09 AM

I saw my first "yellow" bird the other day when I was on the phone with my Grandma. She said that it was a canary. Damn near 40 years old and never seen one in the wild before.

My grass in my back yard filled in about 80% with that one bag of grass seed. Thought it was done a few weeks ago but it just keeps sprouting. Maybe I'll get even more. Finger's crossed.

Still haven't looked into that cracked sump drain though. Man I'm worried about what I'm going to find when I uncover that.

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Monday, May 22, 2017 2:44 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Still haven't looked into that cracked sump drain though. Man I'm worried about what I'm going to find when I uncover that.- SIX

I have nightmares about things like that ... the hubby and I bought a house and, on inspection, discovered some fatal flaw. Like ... the frame isn't to code and is all too lightweight or termite-eaten or something like that.

Probably what you will find is a busted pipe. Ouch.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

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Monday, May 22, 2017 4:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Still haven't looked into that cracked sump drain though. Man I'm worried about what I'm going to find when I uncover that.- SIX
I have nightmares about things like that ... the hubby and I bought a house and, on inspection, discovered some fatal flaw. Like ... the frame isn't to code and is all too lightweight or termite-eaten or something like that.

Probably what you will find is a busted pipe. Ouch.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.

Yeah... the foundation should be fine. No water is leaking into the house, and everything is built high enough on concrete so termites aren't going to be an issue. If the house was going to sink, it would have happened already after existing almost 60 years on a floodplain.

I get to learn a new skill. How to replace a section of old clay pipe with PVC without breaking it even more or having to hand dig about 300 feet out to the street and replacing the whole thing.

Good times......

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Thursday, June 8, 2017 5:53 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I think your rain is like our sun: There's just too much of it.

I recall after I moved here, I said something like Doesn't it ever RAIN around here??. The answer is ... NOT REALLY! Wouldn't it be nice, BRENDA, if we could just swap weather once in a while?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one

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Thursday, June 8, 2017 6:04 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, the doings around here .. Zippy-dog is still zipping around. She has tremendous ratting instincts ...

We saw something over a couple of evenings that I didn't think lived around here because they don't climb well... a baby skunk. Fortunately I always walk Zippy on a leash, and skunks are very inoffensive unless you really, REALLY bother them.

Other than that ... we're in June gloom: morning clouds (marine layer) burning off by 11 AM- 3 PM. Probably the first normal June we've had in over a decade.

Have not had time to plant a vegetable garden this year, been way too busy with other stuff. But the flowers are still nice. I'm just a sucker for color. Some of the CA poppy seeds that I scattered kind of late were specialty colors. I guess because they went on the ground so late they bloomed late, but a few weeks ago I started seeing poppies that were so gorgeous, I've never seen anything like them before ... old rose/ reddish plum fading to white centers; very pale/ almost cream yellow with golden centers, and fuschia. The mourning doves are still having a field day with the poppy seeds, the goldfinches are still stripping the cosmos seeds, the bees are happy with pretty all of the flowers.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one

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Thursday, June 29, 2017 1:58 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I've been fiddling around with a vegetable lasagna. I tried to reproduce the kind that you can buy frozen, and failed ignominiously- twice! But although this isn't like the commercial frozen lasagna that inspired it, this is even better. So, here it is ...

VEGETABLE LASAGNA (serves four)

1 glass loaf pan
4 lasagna noodles, uncooked (break them if you need to fit them into a glass loaf pan)

1 lb ricotta
2 eggs
8 oz shredded mozzarella, divided in half
1 T sugar or Splenda

2 cups fresh spinach leaves, ribboned
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves, ribboned
1 medium red bell pepper, diced fine
1/2 jar Alfredo sauce

Parmesan cheese

Break noodles into pan-sized pieces, place 2 of them (uncooked) into the bottom of the pan.

Mix the ricotta, 2 eggs, 4 oz mozzarella, and sugar. Spread half of the ricotta mix onto the noodles. Sprinkle half of the red pepper on the ricotta mix, then sprinkle half of the spinach and half of the basil, then sprinkle on half of the remaining mozzarella (about 2 oz), a few good shakes of Parmesan, and drizzle about 1/4 of the jar of Alfredo sauce (I used Newman's Own).

Repeat the noodle, ricotta, red bell, spinach, basil, mozzarella, Parmesan and Alfredo sauce layering. Make sure that you have a good covering of cheese on top because it's supposed to "seal" the lasagna so the bell peppers etc cook thoroughly.

Bake at 300 F for 60-70 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the lasagna is cooked though.

This is THE BEST!!!!

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Friday, June 30, 2017 2:36 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

25 fires? Isn't that kind of a lot??

Every mountain range has a 'wet" side and a "dry" side. Am I right in assuming that you're on the "wet" side - which explains your late dying out; but that the fires are on the "dry" side, which explains their flammability?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one

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Sunday, July 9, 2017 5:23 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yes, I saw the other thread. My heart goes out to those affected by the fire, and the thought of all of those trees burning saddens me. Here's hoping that BC is not in a long-standing weather pattern, and that it turns around soon.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one

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Sunday, July 9, 2017 5:31 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Meanwhile here in SoCal ... we went from a somewhat-higher-than-average rainfall winter to a mild spring ... and immediately into furnace conditions.

We had one ten-day heat wave (temps near 100 where I live, and higher inland), a roughly 7-say reprieve, and now ANOTHER ten-day heat-wave.

There are only two pieces of good news, as far as I can tell ...

That parking lot tree. I spoke with one of the business owners where THAT TREE is located, and though it seems that the property owner/ manager has no intention of fixing the sprinkler system, at least one of the business owners knows that I'm doing and seems to be OK with it. Which is good because we've graduated to 14 gallons per week, and between that and the limbing-up that was done the tree looks much MUCH happier, and ...

Hubby finally agreed to put solar panels on the roof. This will be the last summer that we see hellacious electric bills because of our AC, which we really DO try to use sparingly!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one

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Friday, October 6, 2017 4:43 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

As I mentioned here, and also in the Burn BC Burn thread, we got the solar panels up. They were installed a couple of months ago, and I was anxiously tracking our electric bill, as we had sized the system to meet our average use.

As luck would have it, they were connected in the last week of yet another hellacious heatwave (100+ temps for over a week) and although I really tried to be very sparing of our AC use, the bill was still around $130. Quelle desappointement!

But now that the weather is more normal, our bill is in the negative direction: we're producing slightly more than we're using. Hooray!

Our front yard is still pretty bare. It was gloriously colorful when the rain coaxed the CA poppies and cosmos into full bloom, but after a searing summer, I have to say it looks pretty drab. I still need to buy and plant many more plants. But what was gratifying was the reactions of the various solar installation crews when they saw the backyard: they literally stopped when they turned the corner and goggled a bit, and made some sort of comment about it being like a park. How nice!

I'm still feeding the small critters peanuts and seeds. I've seen three scrub jays at a time- so brightly colored! And of course squirrels, sparrows, phoebes, doves, mockingbirds, crows and ... a young Cooper's hawk. It's shown up twice now, hoping for a nice dinner of unwary bird, lizard, or squirrel. Fortunately, our dog keeps them all on high alert- being a terrier, she's an inveterate hunter. The squirrels and birds are too fast for her; all I can do keep the lizards and skinks safe is provide convenient rocks for them to hide under.

We're sliding into autumn; there is always at least one heatwave or two before November (We've had some pretty toasty Halloweens) but the nights are definitely cooler now, which is great.

For now, that's all the news that's fit to hear from Lake Woebegone.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017 6:06 PM