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Spring 2011
message 151:
by
Miriam
(new)
Apr 21, 2011 05:11PM
All the research shows that you sleep best when the room is around 65 degrees, so it really isn't a luxury- sleep is critical to wellbeing!
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Oh I feel better now its not a waste of money! 65 sounds a bit chilly for me though.
Frost & freeze warnings for tonight! Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings in the garden. Lots of lovely blooms around town now!
Petra, I sleep in 55 or lower, myself, most of the year. No heat in the upstairs of my house, and I keep the downstairs set at 55 unless I am up and around. This is a big house to heat!
Although when I stayed at a Victorian mansion Bred and Breakfast in Dubuque Iowa, they said that when they heated with oil, their winter heating costs were $10,000! I don't know how they could afford that!
Slightly warmer today and no rain, so couldn't stand it and went outside to pull weeds in the mud. Mud up to my elbows. Did get some significant progress in several areas of the yard, chopping with the hoe. Raked up all the wet leaves along the north of the house. Was supposed to be mostly sunny- we had about an hour of blue skies before the cloud cover of solid gray returned.
Beautiful day here in S. California--it's in the mid to upper 70's. I finally planted my green beans, some green onions, more carrots (the last batch I pulled up tasted sweet, Yay!), and got my tomato cages out and ready for the transplanting. I also threw in some radishes just for fun. I'd like to see what they taste like straight from the garden.My blueberry bushes are growing by leaps and bounds and have begun to form the berries (so exciting!) and the same goes for my strawberries.
The roses have little green buds--I can't wait to see all the magnificent colors!
Next I have to plant some chives, oregano, rosemary (mine died), basil and maybe some chamomile. The corn I still haven't gone to the feed store to price the troughs. I think that's about the only container big enough to grow corn in. My son told me he wants me to grow soy beans. He loves eating the organic edemame (sp) you buy in the store.
Petra X wrote: "I love grape hyacinths. My father used to grow them, I don't think I've seen them in decades.I didn't get the books out. My bookshop is three parts, the main concrete part slopes 11" over the 24'..."
This all sounds really scary.
Petra X wrote: "That's true! I've lived - or stayed for extended periods - in quite a few countries, but ended up here partly because of the climate. The rainforest is almost always 72-78, although the temp. does ..."I tolerate heat realitively well and we do get into the 90s at times here in the summer, but it can be in the 40s and if it is humid I am miserable. I run my AC more to get the humidity out of the house than anything--just can't sleep if it's humid.
Its humid here too, but the trade winds stop it feeling so. Something I've always wanted to know is what is a swamp cooler exactly and what does it do if you live in a tropical climate?
A swamp cooler cools the air, but does not remove humidity, sort of like a cool breeze blowing in off a lake- same physics. Water is the cooling agent that a fan blows air over. Can get the same effect by putting a large pan of water in front of a fan.
Thanks. Obviously not suitable for a humid climate then.
message 163:
by
Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie
(last edited Apr 24, 2011 08:14AM)
(new)
Our raw temps & flooding rains have given way to Very humid air and warmer temps. Peonies have buds on them! Exciting!!! I re-spray painted the chair on the font porch a lovely, bright 'leafy' green, switched the end table with one out back and spray painted that one as well. (I've had barn red out there for 2 years, had mint green before that). Makes me smile now when I walk in and out the front door!
Jo: Sounds pretty. Amazing how much of a difference paint can make.I wondered about the swamp coolers too, Petra. Interestingly, the only time I've ever had one was when I lived in a small town up north that was extremely humid. ???? No wonder it never really felt good in the house.
Jo wrote: "Our raw temps & flooding rains have given way to Very humid air and warmer temps. Peonies have buds on them! Exciting!!! I re-spray painted the chair on the font porch a lovely, bright 'leafy' gre...":-)
It's 63* with 93% humidity and it's not raining lol! Some fog but no rain until another round of thunderstorms passes through later today after the sun warms things up again later. We'll have temps into the 80s again tomorrow like yesterday. Seems we're going from fall-like weather into early summer weather & skipping true spring weather. Sigh. Picked up a Crimson Hardy Azalea yesterday, the blooms are so pretty!
One day of sunshine has made such a difference. Hosta poking up through the soil as well as peonies. Scilla and crocus blooming like magic overnight.
We're ending the day as we started, with lots of thick plums of fog rolling about but at least there's an on-shore breeze so it's nice & cool, not so disgustingly humid & hot like it was this morning. I love fog. Beautiful and mysterious. I must have changed clothes 4 times or more today because of the crazy up & down temps today. Re-potted the hydrangea's and azalea today. Still need to find a pot to put the african daisy in. Front porch is looking clean, bright and colorful! Love it! (Hm. Did I say that already somewhere?)
Jo wrote: "We're ending the day as we started, with lots of thick plums of fog rolling about but at least there's an on-shore breeze so it's nice & cool, not so disgustingly humid & hot like it was this morni..."Just sounds like you're glorying in the season to me and who cares if you repeat yourself.
lol! :-)
Since it was ANOTHER gray rainy day, I decided to clean all my gardening tools and spray them with silicone spray. Now I just need to sharpen all the cutting tools. (I know, you are supposed to do them in the fall- I gathered them up and they just sat on my back porch.) I also tidied up the back porch some. I also spray painted the frame of a Victorian lamp shade, maroon. I am going to hang it just as it is, without recovering it, as a sculptural piece. It looks pretty cool! Still drying, but I will take a pic when it is hung!
Oh good, I always like to see makeovers. I inherited a glass chandelier with crystals hanging from it from my MIL. I think it's called a Gone With The Wind style lamp. Anyway--I love the design but I HATE the colors. I know you're not supposed to mess with antiques, but I figure if I'm going to keep it and hang then I'd better LOVE it. I'll try and get a picture of it this weekend and maybe you all can give me some ideas. I bought a HUGE Hydrangea at Costco today. I just couldn't help myself! Even though I already have four in the back yard at various stages, this was just too good of a bargain to pass up. Normally for a small potted hydrangea here at this time of year they run about $19.00 at Lowe's/Home Depot. This one was $23.00 and as I said--it's HUGE! They had stacks of them in all different colors. So I had to pick the pink one. They didn't have any blue ones though which is strange. Maybe those cost more? I know the soil PH determines the color so I really can't imagine why they didn't have those. They had everything else. Even white ones with purple edges which I've never seen before. They're on my dining room table right now and they look lovely. :)
Terri wrote: "Oh good, I always like to see makeovers. I inherited a glass chandelier with crystals hanging from it from my MIL. I think it's called a Gone With The Wind style lamp. Anyway--I love the design b..."I want to be out buying garden goodies, but since there is slushy snow perdicted for tonight I guess I am going to have to hold off. I can just envision your hydrangea and hope there are some available around here when we finally get the weather to plant.
Wow, still snow? :( It's spring here for sure. It was 78 here today and absolutely beautiful! I went to the garden center first to get some neem oil for my rose bushes: they have aphids and white powder mildew and I was looking at the itty bitty Hydrangea pot for 19.99 and said "I don't THINK so!" Left there feeling pretty good because I didn't buy any plants. Then went to Costco...who knew?
Terri,I have a Gone with the Wind style lamp. I will download a photo for you.
Cheryl, I share your frustration!
You spray painted the glass? If so, how did you do it and not cover up the white pattern?
Costco does get some great stuff gardening & book wise. I just can't be bothered going all the way out there nowadays.
Terri, the glass on mine is maroon, not painted. Maybe you could change the color of the lamp by changing the color of the bulb? The B&B I stayed at in Dubuque did that with their chandeliers.
There is glass paint, if you painted the side the pattern isn't on, you might get good results, but it would lose all resale value. You could experiment with water colors or other paint you could wash off if it didn't work. Make sure it is spotlessly clean if you try any painting. No fingerprints, even. Handle it with gloves on.
Just got done outside spray painting the grates I have been working on, then realized it felt a bit chilly! Checked the temp- it isn't even 50 degrees! Hopefully since the paint and grates were warm when I went out there, it will dry properly! I am getting so fed up with this cold rainy gray weather! I have so many projects I could be doing if it warmed up! Most years, it is warm by early April! Argh!
Miriam: Thanks for all the tips on painting. I know it will lose it's re-sale value, but I plan to keep it and pass it down and I just can't stand the way it looks and neither can my husband. When I drive down to her house again I'll take a picture. Probably by this weekend. Weird weather! My sister in Colorado Springs says it's snowing there. It's almost May! On days like today I'm so glad I live here. It's a beautiful 80 degrees--but high winds are on their way. Otherwise it would be perfect. Give me another month or so and I'll be complaining about the heat. Spring is waaaay to short. :)
It should dry alright Miriam. I did my spray painting and it wasn't 50* either and all dried fine. Not as warm here as yesterday but a lot more humid, yuck! Chance of storms tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get hammered with storms morning to night. Some or all could be severe. Yippie. Hope none of it's too bad, we have bookclub tomorrow night.
Got a new gnome for my garden today! Here is a pic!'not for those easily offended'
http://poorlydressed.failblog.org/201...
message 187:
by
Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie
(last edited Apr 27, 2011 02:58PM)
(new)
Miriam wrote: "Got a new gnome for my garden today! Here is a pic!http://poorlydressed.failblog.org/201..."
*Puts moderator hat on* Now I'm not offended by this but some could be so please, on the rare occassion anyone posts a link like this, add a disclaimer like 'not for those easily offended' so no one ends up feeling uncomfortable. Thank you muchly! *Takes moderator hat off*
I've had it with the weather. I've tried to be patient through the whole month of April, but honestly today was the crowner. Rain/sleet/snow with wind chills in the 30s. I had so many plans for this spring and I will get some of them done, but I have a feeling one of my big projects will go by the wayside for another year.
Miriam wrote: "http://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/4...There you go Terri!"
Love the glass Miriam, it look very beautiful. I love the kilim behind it too.
Miriam wrote: "There is glass paint, if you painted the side the pattern isn't on, you might get good results, but it would lose all resale value...."
There are several sorts of glass paint, some of them are very fine and clear and peel-off or you can get them off with acetone or other dissolvant. The glass will not lose its resale value at all. I was a glass artist and occasionally painted cut crystal glass and if I didn't like it would just remove it with no damage to the glass at all. Something else that can moderate the colour (but is useful in all sorts of ways) is a spray-on frosting, also very easy to remove. Pebeo Vitrail, Decorfin and Marabu are all amazing with a huge range of colours. I don't think they would be hard to get in the US.
Praying for all who are flooding in the Midwest and all who have been going through today's massive, deadly and destructive tornado outbreak in the South & Southeast. The footage is unbelievable and terrifying. As of now 40 have died from today's tornado outbreak and that total's expected to rise by morning as more are confirmed and the outbreak continues through the night. Utterly heartbreaking. I was so relieved when I go a hold of my cousin in TN a little while ago I cried - we've been watching TWC since about 9pm est and I've been so worried! (I broke out in hives). I don't know how people can go through this every spring! All but 1 state we've talked about moving to has had deadly tornado's this month - the footage alone scares me enough. I love the South but I couldn't handle this every spring. I can't. I told my husband tonight. We'll have to go with where we originally wanted to move to, where we both feel we're home and that's PA. Anyhow...We're supposed to get severe thunderstorms off and on all day tomorrow so I just went out and pulled everything on the front porch close to the door (to keep it from blowing off the porch) and nestled the 2 'Crimson' Hardy Azalea's I picked up at the supermarket today between some heavy larger containers I know aren't going any where.
I'm @ such a loss. Prayers to all, especially in TN, GA, MS & AL.
My heart just breaks more each time I see the destruction and the death totals rise. Sending love and prayers to all of our members in the South - I hope you're all safe!!!
Miriam: You don't have a TV? Wow. Good for you. So do you listen on the radio to the news? Or from the computer? I usually don't watch the news so what I do get is from Yahoo's front page.I haven't watched the news in days so I'm not up on all of this stuff but it sounds horrible. I feel so bad for the people who live there. I've been displaced during an earthquake but never had my entire home destroyed. And so many have died! Very, very sad. My prayers for all involved.
Jo wrote: "My heart just breaks more each time I see the destruction and the death totals rise. Sending love and prayers to all of our members in the South - I hope you're all safe!!!"
From me too.
Terri, no TV. Never was much of a TV watcher, and spending $70/ month for it is a waste. I can buy lots of books for that!I get my news from the computer.
Jo wrote: "Praying for all who are flooding in the Midwest and all who have been going through today's massive, deadly and destructive tornado outbreak in the South & Southeast. The footage is unbelievable an..."I just watched footage on those storms as well and the images are just unblievable. In some areas it looks as if there is nothing left. We have tornados here too, but we have never had anything close to this degree of destruction. My heart goes all to all of those poor people.
Finally, a nice day. 67* and blue skies, light breeze. I hoed the park for two hours. Wish I had some mulch for it now, but have to wait on the city. Have a 8'x15' section left that is really bad, and then need to touch up the main 25x25' bed that is in pretty good shape. Did a 25x25' section today that was pretty bad. No mulch left last year, even though I had it all hoed in the fall, and the city didn't get any for me before it snowed. So it was full of two types of quick spreading weeds.
The city gives you mulch? Really? Wow. We don't get that here. Sounds like you've been doing a LOT of work! Hopefully you didn't over do it. But isn't there something so satisfying about cleaning your beds all up? I've been trying to "de-weed" (which means hoe or pull up) the backyard. So far I've only got about two feet done. About an hour and my back starts hurting. Sigh. I'm trying to get it done before the intense heat gets here. I'm going to try hoeing then laying newspapers on top to block out the sun and put all my potted veggies and such on top of that to hold it all down. Supposedly that works. I should mulch on top of it to help the soil, but since I'm planning on having it all dug up anyway, I don't see much point.
Terri, I take care of a park downtown, volunteer, so the city provides the mulch for that park. Not for me. Has two 25x25' beds and a smaller one. Was neglected for years when I took over maintenance. All the plants are donated. Still fighting the quack grass after four years, it was so infested.
