Good news on the garden front

Last week I decided to plant some seeds in regular soil. I was pleasantly surprised to find sprouts in the basil pot already. I noticed them on Monday, but they seemed a little too small to show up in a photo. Yesterday they had really taken off and I snapped this picture today. So far, I can't see anything happening in the other pots, but I'm hopeful.

I also changed the hydroponic set up. The plastic starter tray was not working at all. I decided to take twelve 20 oz styrofoam cups and embed them in a wire grid. I put a slit in the bottom and four on the sides. Next I put the rooters into the cups and secured them with toothpicks. I'm really happy with the results so far.

I think one of the main problems with the tray was that the fish food would float over it and get caught on the rooters. The fish were probably bumping it because they knew the food was there. The hornwort was also washing up onto it and weighting it down.

Another thing I learned it that not all the rooters float. I skimmed the bottom of the pond with a net and recovered most, if not all, of them. Since I already had the problem with the fish food, I set the cups far enough apart that they could swim underneath and get to whatever food does rest next to the cups. I put the extra rooters in a plastic baggie so I can use them another time. Sphere: Related Content

Tucker

As much as I complain about this shop, it does have one redeeming quality. Tucker is a Ragdoll, given to the owners as a gift. He had a seizure, so the breeder decided not to sell him. He is about a year and a half old now and was finally neutered last week. Hopefully he will stop spraying all over the store now.

I know a lot about cats, but not much about Ragdolls. I have to say, this is the dumbest cat I've ever met. He is not curious about anything and has very little energy. I had two cats in my shop and they wanted to see everyone who came in because it meant they would probably get petted. Tucker just sleeps, completely oblivious to everything going on around him.

The basket he's in is where I put the orders I need to make. This is the first time he's gotten into it since I started working there in December. I liked having him there, so I moved the tickets to a table. Another time I was making a funeral spray and turned around to find him just sitting about three feet behind me. I don't know how long he had been there, but he was just sitting there watching me work. Most cats would have come up and started rubbing on my legs, but Tucker just sat there. Even when I petted him a little he just rolled over and stayed there.

It's a good thing he is so cute because he is severely lacking the "pet me" personality. Sphere: Related Content

Rotten grapes

Take a look at this. I don't know how well you can see it, but those are rotten grapes. For the past couple of weeks one of the coolers at work has been smelling like rotten fruit. On Wednesday, the owner of the shop pulled these grapes off the bunch and sent the rest to a customer in a fruit basket.

To make matters even worse, he made it Tuesday night and heat sealed it, locking the ethylene gas into the customer's "gift". All fruit emits ethylene. It is part of the composting process. By sealing it inside, the composting process will accelerate, especially as the temperature rises. Basically, if they don't refrigerate it immediately and instead put it on the table in their home, it will rot more quickly. If they leave it sealed it will be worse.

I sincerely hope the recipient of this fruit does not get sick. I hope the flavor was impacted and they throw it away. I am, once again, truly astonished that this is the way they do business and they've been able to get away with it for this long. Sphere: Related Content

Early onset Alzheimers?

I was reminded today just how ditsy I am sometimes. I went to the grocery store this afternoon. I usually try to go pretty early thinking it will be less crowded, but I got side-tracked doing something else. I *think* I got everything I went there for; I should probably start making a list due to the advanced age and all. I was pleasantly surprised at the short lines and was even thinking on the way home the afternoon might be a better time to go from now on.

Anyway, I got home, put everything up and started doing other things. It wasn't until a half hour ago, a full 6 hours from the shopping trip, that I realized I was missing a bag. Not only that, I couldn't find my receipt. I distinctly remember the cashier handing back my debit card with the receipt wrapped around it. I checked my purse, the debit card is there, the receipt is not. I have no idea where it went. I called the store anyway to see if the bag with all my food in it was still there waiting for me. At first they said it wasn't and that I would need the receipt. Well, that was obviously a problem, so I started naming some of the things I could remember that were in the bag.

Finally they found it and I just got back from picking it up. I wish I could say this was the first time I've left bags of groceries at the store. Sadly, it's not and probably won't be the last. I can't even be upset by it, it wouldn't serve any purpose. I've actually chased after people in front of me who have left their stuff, too, so at least I know I'm not alone. Just another day in my weird life. Sphere: Related Content

Garden progress - week 3, or is it 4?

I'm getting a little impatient with the progress of the hydroponic seedlings. Today I decided to plant some spinach, arugula, basil, and lavender in soil in regular terra cotta pots. Since the fish have bumped the plastic tray so many times, now I have not only mixed rows, I'm not sure if some of the rooters even have seeds in them anymore. I'm afraid the instability and floating sideways is adversely affecting the growth. I'll have to wait and see.

I heard a few days ago (on Real Time with Bill Maher - my TV crush!) that Michelle Obama is having a garden planted on the grounds of the White House. It reminds me of the Victory Gardens planted during the Great Depression. Hopefully it will inspire city dwellers to start growing some of their own food and reduce the dependence on the agriculture conglomerates like AMD, Cargill, and Monsanto.

Speaking of Monsanto, I am boycotting soybeans because this horrible company has genetically engineered soybeans that are contaminating other crops. They modified soybean seeds with bacterium from the pesticide they make called Round Up. They're called "Round Up Ready" crops and are designed to be resistant to it, so the farmers saturate them with it. Around 70% of soybeans are "Round Up Ready". Thanks anyway, but I don't want to eat that.

They're also suing farmers whose crops are contaminated by the GM (genetically modified) crops and taking possession of the land once "their" GM crops are discovered growing. They have literally driven farmers in India to suicide because the seeds they sell cannot be harvested from the current crop for the next year's crop. They are forced to buy seeds from Monsanto every single year. I watched a documentary called The World According to Monsanto that originally aired on French television that was a flat out display of capitalism at it's worst.

It turns out that Monsanto has been buying up seed companies, thereby cornering the market. Between that and their GM crops contaminating nearby fields, it is a possibility that food crops will no longer be capable of reproducing naturally in the not so distant future. The entire planet could be dependent on Monsanto for basic sustenance. That's a scary thought. They'll be the AIG of the agriculture industry. Maybe they already are. Sphere: Related Content

THE LITTLE DOG REPORT: A True Fight for the Little Dogs!

THE LITTLE DOG REPORT: A True Fight for the Little Dogs!

Rep. Senfronia Thompson (Houston TX-D) has introduced HB 3180, also known as the "Puppy mill Bill". It will require commercial dog (and cat) breeding facilities to meet minimum standards of care and housing of their animals. Sphere: Related Content

Happy Paddy Day

It should come as no surprise that the shop where I work ordered some green dyed Carnations for St. Patrick's Day. That's some of them on the right. These were dyed by putting green dye into a bucket, cutting the bottom of white Carnation stems and placing them into the dye. It is absorbed up through the stem where it leaves pigment deposits. You can't really see it, but these almost looked like lace doilies the way the dye was absorbed. Whether this was food coloring or specially made for flowers I don't know since I didn't do the dying.

Along with the green Carnations I used ivory Stock (smells great!), naturally green Spider Poms and Hydrangea. What struck me as odd about the dyed green Carnations is that there is actually a natural green Carnation called Pistachio. Ironically, it's the only Carnation I like and, of course, this shop never gets any.

After making this arrangement I decided to go rogue on the next Paddy themed order. This one was for a birthday tomorrow (the day after Paddy), but they wanted a Paddy theme.


I used a short green glass urn with the same flowers as the first one (sans Carnations), used white Stock instead of ivory, and added Bupleurum and Australian Heather. Obviously I made it in the style I like rather than the traditional style of the first one. The photo on the left is looking slightly down, on the right is straight down.


Sphere: Related Content

Cat grass grows fast

When I went on my seed buying spree a couple of weeks ago for the hydroponic garden I also planted some in dirt. One says "Cat Grass (Oats)" on the package, so I guess that's what it is. It also says it should take 3-8 days to emerge, but I just planted this 5 days ago.

I've planted it before and it grows, the cats nibble and destroy it, then it dies off. I only planted about 1/3 of the package this time. Sphere: Related Content

Rush Limbaugh at CPAC

Well, I finally got a chance to sit down a watch the speech from last week on CSPAN. It's pretty long and I'm actually listening while writing this. My initial reaction: propaganda, pure and simple. These are the ones who purport to believe in what's good for the country?

This is the same guy who said he wants Obama to fail in the second to the last sentence on his transcript from January 16. It doesn't make any sense to me for anyone who wants what's best for the future of this country to propagandize to the "ditto heads" that our President should fail. I did not support Bush, but I would have preferred for his policies and actions to strengthen the foundation of our country. In fact, those policies did exactly the opposite, leaving his successor to straighten out the mess he inherited.

• Restoring our diplomatic status around the world is Obama's job.
  
• Restoring the strength of our economy is Obama's job.
  
• Getting the military troops and equipment safely out of the middle east is Obama's job.
  
• Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is Obama's job.

In which of those would failure be acceptable? I would argue that failure is not an option.

Making fun of someone is a classic example of low self esteem. In the first 15 minutes of his rant at CPAC he admonished Obama for using a teleprompter saying, "Conservatives don't need notes. We speak from the heart." as he pounded on his chest. Less than 2 minutes later he not only looked down at his notes, he actually put his finger on them to find his place.

So much for speaking from the heart, blow hard. I prefer people who speak from their brain. Sphere: Related Content

Garden progress - 1 week

The sprouts from last week are a little bigger, but I'm not seeing much anywhere besides the mixed Japanese greens.

The fish managed to tip the tray and some of the Rapid Rooters fell out. They ate them. That's my guess anyway because there are 8 missing. Since they float and they're not on the top, that's the only thing I can think of. There were 14 empty spots that were filled with a Rooter the night before. I put 6 of them back into the tray, but one side is now empty. At this point I'm not sure which seeds are in which Rooter. If they grow I'll find out then.

I'm not sure which will actually grow besides the ones that have sprouted. The Basil appears to be surrounded by mold. Since I've never grown anything with water as a substrate I don't know what to expect. Technically I think the Rooter would be the substrate, but there's definitely more moisture than regular soil.

I bought some large Styrofoam cups last week that I am planning to transfer the sprouted Rooters into to use as the floating garden. Maybe I should have skipped the tray altogether and gone straight to that. Sphere: Related Content