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silver suz · 04-09-2004, 09:10 AM

One of my son's A&M buddies ran the 4 wheeler into a neighbor's brick mailbox edifice. He managed (being invincibally in sandals of course) to take off a toenail ,had several cuts and scrapes. Since they decided I would fuss so much, and all being Eagle Scouts, they took care of the bandaging. Of course the AMOUNT of bandaging was rather alarming. but they are into being Tough Guys, so I finally gave up being a mother hen. Now there is a new rather significant project of mortaring the mailbox back together. Ahhh.. back to guineas.. I had them in CA. One day a male guinea and his 3 females wandered into his yard. We checked, nobody owned them. then some nasty teenager deliberately drove on the side of the road and killed the 3 females. So "Burtbird" took up residence with us sleeping in the solarium with our german short haired pointer- who was NOT happy about it, and sharing her bed. (Burt never pooped in the solarium and used the cat door) The dog already had to put up with 3 very spoiled siamese cats, who regarded her as part of their cat family, and baby turkeys pecking at her toenails. She gave me quite eloquant looks that told me exactly what she really wanted to do. Anyway Burtbird lived with us for 6 years,never left our property, we got him a harum, and his own sleeping quarters. He came when called, and guinea eggs are the best tasting eggs we ever tried! We even have a couple of his feathers to decorate our Xmas tree. But we finally took pity on our suffering neighbors, after Burt passed, and got rid (ate) the female guineas, because they are increadibly LOUD. Better than a watchdog!!! They are good for eating ticks and keeping snakes away. there's is nothing like swimming in your pool and seeing a cottonmouth gliding towards you with its head 2" above the water and it's stinky white mouth open! We have a lot of copperheads, rattlesnakes, and a harmless 4' black rat snake who discovered the lily pond and proceeded on chowing down on all my Koi. Expensive meals. I am not happy with that snake. It also eats my toads whom I love. And scares me now and then. There is something about a thick 4' long slithering snake seen out of the corner of my eye that brings on primal instincts, like screaming! But after, I am ashamed and should know better.
Would you check for sure about the fireants? I would brave my neighbors wrath if that were true. and my life would be immeasurably safer. Thanks silver suz

silver suz · 04-09-2004, 10:57 AM

Edie, if it is not a portulaca, it's a purslane, which would be my guess. Yes- purslane that weed that they have genetically "gussied up" but still has the toughness of a weed. The thickness of the leaf is the giveaway- it is in the succulent family. It takes a lot of abuse and keeps growing. Here it even blooms through the hot dry summers. silver suz you can overwinter silps in vermiculite etc. with sun or a lamp.

summerkid · 04-09-2004, 01:14 PM

you mean like from a digital camera, GT? honey, those were actual kodak photos lying on my desk. and i read the photo-posting threads but couldn't quite apply it to my scanner. so my solution was to first make the resolution "medium"--still too large--then to just make the size no larger than 640x640 so the site would accept them. could i make them 640x640 yet still leave the resolution on high? i have to admit to being a little ignorant on this front because one of the world's best graphics departments is at my beck & call & i usually just lean on them.

but please educate me.

love love LOVE everyone's photos--what wonderfully different styles.

john hd · 04-09-2004, 07:57 PM

edie has seen this before, but i thought i'd share with the rest of you.

3 shots merged into one...

john

05ModPod · 04-09-2004, 09:29 PM

Nice Place John! Where do you sleep most of the time - in your house or in your Airstream???

Here is the finished patio well not quite but you can get the picture....notice the nice little tractor - that is my little pride and joy - the 1969 MTD B&S 7HP that I restored all by my lonesome - okay I had someone clean the carb for me

.

The market umberella fit perfectly on a tree stum in stead of using the stand that I would trip over all the time.

Summerkid - re try to make it simple for you - all scanners have detailed settings - try to find out where you can set the actual resolution by a number (not high, medium or low) - or at least find out what they represent.

I use photoshop to change/reduce my photos for the forum - rule of thum they are set to 72dpi - if they are from my camera they are shot at 280dpi 6X4 inches so I just have to reduce the resolution to 72. If I have taken an SLR photo and scanned it in I will scan in at 300dpi so that I can print or reproduce other than on the computer. If I want to e-mail I change the resolution to once again 72 dpi and sometimes I have to reduce the size usually by one inch on either the height or width of the photo - this produces a photo that is under the 100KB required for the forum thread attachments.

Without knowing what your scanner is I can not look up the directions and may assist you further. (note some scanners that are not very good produce poor quality scans regardless of what you try and do - it is simply optics and colour balance.) If you fiddle with the sharpness and brightness contrast some scans can be "butchured" - I guess with anything it takes lots of practice and hands on know how - sort of like restoring a Vintage A/S

05ModPod · 04-09-2004, 09:32 PM

What a nice blue....

05ModPod · 04-09-2004, 09:43 PM

I can not remember the name of this annual - actually it was a bi-annual. I had made a little seeding greenhouse when we first moved here. We went away for 3 weeks and all inside became toast!

It was dismantelled and soil dumped out and mixed into the ground - 2 years later this lovely unique looking flower sprouted - there was a small bunch of them- they grew to about 4' high and lasted most of the summer. We are hoping they will come up again this year if so will try to get some seeds.

wahoonc · 04-10-2004, 06:19 AM

Silver suz,
We have fire ants too, I have never seen the guineas eat the fire ants, it they are eating them, the ants are reproducing at to fast a rate for the guineas to keep up

The way I deal with fire ants is not EPA approved but it works for me. I douse the hill with gasoline an torch it. My FIL uses a chemical spray of some sort, but the just move over a couple of feet and make another mound. There is supposed to be some type of critter(insect) that will eat fire ants, the USDA had an article on the preliminary testing a while back, but I don't remeber what it was.

Aaron

maxandgeorgia · 04-10-2004, 07:51 AM

Sharon, I think your pretty rose colored flower is Cleome. I've had white and the rose that you picture. I have both seeded and set in transplants. They do have a long bloom and are beautiful at the back of borders or along fences. I like to seed them along my vegetable garden fence for a screen. They liberally selfseed so that once you have them, you'll probably keep them. I usually shake a generous supply of their fine seed into an envelope and scatter them where I want their color and heighth in the summer. The flower that I am told is similar in its selfseeding is poppy, bit I have never been successul establishing those in our gardens.

Happycampers · 04-10-2004, 07:55 AM

I have Orange poppies and they are everywhere in the garden.. almost impossible to get rid of.. don't get me wrong I do like them but they will take right over .. make sure you put them in an area that you only want this plant in.. I have managed to keep them in check by digging them up and giving them away and taking the pods off.. they are pretty but only last a short length of time... Annie

silver suz · 04-10-2004, 08:42 AM

I have to use organic methods on fireants. I even have a solar trap! effective on one mound at a time. There is a parasite one can spray on the lawn (3 1/2 acres) that kills the fireants. Very expensive. about 3 years ago we did in the main area and that controlled them. For some reason they like coming up at the base of trees and that would be disasterous for some of my big oaks. There are so many mounds along the drive that I might consider that method with my pyromaniac older son home (they are supposed to drop the pan today.) I have to be careful because the chickens would eat any pellet bait and my horse eats the grass. We also have multiple queen mounds now- harder to get rid of. that's why guineas would be a blessing- also we have tick problems.
Orange poppies wont grow here (CA state flower). If you plant and nurture the shirly-iceland- oriental kinds from the nursery, they last a year or two. It always amazes me that a "weed" in one place is treasured in another place.
! silver suz

WolfSong · 04-10-2004, 09:47 AM

This is what my garden looks likes this morning!

05ModPod · 04-10-2004, 10:36 AM

Oh Wow Wolfsong - you do have a ways to go - unless a good warm snap comes.

Don't get me wrong I love winter - but this year with the new A/S the warmer weather could not get here fast enough!!!

As everyone has been telling me - be patient Spring will arrive (make some curtains or something to pass the time

)

Sure Glad we don't have to contend with those fire ants - we have enough to deal with the little black ants in the spring and soon it will be the flys then black flys then mosquitos - then the dear flies - they hurt ouch.

Poppies I have some of them - did not know it - previous owner must have thrown some seeds around here - and when we cut some tree down and opened the place up for more sun - I have an amazing wild flower garden that is filled with all sorts - poppies Black Eyed Suzies to name a few and tons of others?????

I am lucky I have room so something that may be invasive to another garden is welcome to grow abundantly here.

Maxandgeorgia - Yes Cleome that's right - must get my garden books out - too much time on the A/S right now. Sweet Williams seem to love it here too - I collected many seeds and hope that they will come up everywhere along the driveway.

Oh ps Silver Suz - Portulaca - is it for the basket - I remember now several ladies from my Mom's place when they were here mentioned the same name. So I have now written it down. As for my gardens I will have to make plans and then write in all the plant names - instead of stick markers for the Puppy to eat again. Pepper to keep Haily off - not she would probably eat what it is on - as she likes tobasco!! I think I will have to make either twig fences or dense shrubs - enough that she knows that inside is off limits - but you can run around where there are no barriers. Big job though - do it later - for now I will just go around and repair, replant, replace her after mass.

Pahaska · 04-10-2004, 11:25 AM

Taken 10 minutes ago. The red is Cedar Sage, so named because it can grow in the dense shade of the cedar breaks. If it is kept watered well, it does fine in the sun, as well. The Cedar Sage drops lots of seed and fills in every bit of open space.

Pahaska · 04-10-2004, 11:31 AM

One of many bees on the plant.

maxandgeorgia · 04-10-2004, 01:22 PM

Honey bees

We used to keep bees as the project of my oldest son when he was mid teens. He is a grown up diabetic (since he was 4) with disabilities resulting, but he loved bee keeping. He is now living with us, and along with our gardens, he wanted to keep bees again, so we had a friend place two hives back of the veggie garden. Steve (our son) decided to check them out early in February on a cloudy damp day (he knows better!) and became covered with angry bees. God's hand is on us, I firmly believe, because that day as soon as school was out, I left to go directly home instead of staying for late work. I walked into the back yard to find him just when all this happened, quickly created a smoke pot for him to stand by, got out the hose, and started blasting the critters off. To cut to the quick, he had a severe reaction, seizure et al, and after a 911 call, we rushed him to the ER where they stabilized him. Now we keep Epipen on hand, bees are gone, and he is under strict orders to keep his distance from any! So, bees bring mixed feelings. We have loved bee keeping, enjoy the rewards of their polinating, but no longer can have hives here at home. Pardon the rambles. . your photo brought out the story!

silver suz · 04-10-2004, 01:31 PM

I am really enjoying all the pictures of everyones flowers and gardens! I made a hard (for me) decision not to do or buy any gardening stuff this year as the effort and money are going to the airstream. But it feels like cutting off an arm or leg. I pant after the flower catalogues. I'm physically restraining myself from going to the Argyle Aacres iris show, today. It's raining enough to take the pollen out of the air. Does anyone else get these urges to plant something? It happens a day or two before the full moon. It's almost a physical urge to plant in the dirt. Must come from my Dutch farmer genes. No I don't howl at the moon, I just want to plant seeds. seeds, plants, 6 packs, trees, flowers etc. It's physically hard not to grow something. don't worry I'm not really deprived- with perrenials and fruit trees. But does anyone else feel those urges? silver suz

Pahaska · 04-10-2004, 02:08 PM

When we bought our acre and a half hilltop, I vowed to plant no fewer than 5 trees a year so long as I am able. This spring, so far, I have planted 2 Pride of Houston Yaupons and a Retama. All my new trees spend a couple of years in wire cages because of the deer problem; the fawns especially sample everything in reach. Only the Texas Mountain Laurel and the Yaupon are exempt from deer damage.

The photo is a Anachacho Orchid Tree that I planted last year. I already had to put it in one of my larger cages and will need some more landscape cloth and stone to fill in. It should get to 10'-12' high and it is already covered with blossoms this first spring. In the birdbath behind it are 2 new cactus for my succulent garden.

silver suz · 04-10-2004, 02:40 PM

I have Bois D'arc in my tree nursery bed ,about 20 trees I'll never get around to planting, and lots of succulents from my collection but none with thorns. The Bois D'arc make up for them!! If you are ever in my area, come get some. I also have leeks that have gone sort of wild and they make the pretty allium ball heads that last so long. some white, some pale pink. 4' high, and not liked by deer! silver suz

maxandgeorgia · 04-10-2004, 05:25 PM

I'm sitting at the computer looking out at the old wisteria that swamps my deck. It's encrusted with developing buds-just can't wait til the sun warms up a little and the wisteria cascadaes in a purple waterfall. Hmmm-I can imagine the fragrance! I'll take photos and maybe figure out how to put post the way the rest of you are doing. I'm so darned un-techy!