July 1, 2005

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  Yay! Fourth of July Weekend! – Well, we’re off tomorrow morning to Redding for this wonderful long weekend and this time, about 8 of us are heading up which I know will be a blast.  Speaking of which, Hal and I (and Rex) are heading down the peninsula after work this eve to pick up some FIREWORKS! San Francisco has banned them for several years now so any opportunity for this pyrophile to get his hands on ‘em is guaranteed a fun time. 

  Pride was fun last weekend – This is the second year in a row that I had every intention to get to the parade and subsequent festivities at Civic Center, but we awoke to such cold and misty weather we ended up watching the parade on tv.  We headed out around 3:00 and had delicious Thai food in the Castro where we eventually set forth to, of course, the Metro, to see friends and watch the crowds pour in from the events.  Much fun, what I like to call my personal pride.  I’m glad the city hosts such a fun and safe event – I always underscore the amount of people who attend but officials estimated up to 1,000,000 people attended. Good for the city, and fun for all.

  Urban Garden Update - The cool weather we’ve been having has lessened the amount of watering, hence less attention on the deck but weekends are great to sit out and just recharge my batteries from an increasing load of office work these days.  Here some recent pics.

  

  This fuschia is called Venus Upright and grew incredibly fast I’ll probably transplant it a second time this summer – go go go!

  

  This pot of lil’ pansies if one of two that took over the snapdragons that were planted together at the same time – which was a good thing because the snaps had some rusty blight (that thankfully only on them) before they played out. 

  

  Here’s the two bushy Peruvian lilies that are thriving on the deck.  Notice no water in the fountain = no signs of pigeons.  We started to let the water dry up unless we have guests nowadays.  Curiously,  the center pot of yellow pansies and snaps weren’t just yellow at first, but they seemed to have taken over and laid claim.  There’s just a little bit of purple on the left.

  

  The dwarf Lily-of-the-Nile is doing just fine in his corner of the deck with Hal’s zinneas (bottom left) that self seeded themselves from last years bounty.  The liles remind me of the large versions I used to have in my front yard growing up.

  

  I’m pretty pleased the pink flower seed mix took – I had no idea how they would do when I planted them at the beginning of the growing season – really long lasting and great for cut flowers too – I hope they continue to seed and grow year after year.

  

  Amidst the flora is Rexster – how can I not include a pic in this entry.  Wow – he’ll be 15 at the end of the year.  I love seeing old friends and letting them know Rex is still around.  I had to order some intense doggie breath treats from BC - it was getting pretty evident his doggie breath was getting big time horsey.  The treats are made of charcoal, peppermint, parsley and chlorophyll.  Man, what a combo – if that doesn’t work for him, I don’t know what will! 

  

  The succulents are doing fine too – I try to keep all from crowding others when growing together – not difficult with these moderate growers.

  

  The lavender is doing just fine too!.

  

  This lobelia I also started by seed is called Cascade of Color and definitely lives up to its name, I’ve never seen red lobelia before.

  

  The baby blue lobelia under the rosemary also didn’t disappoint.  The rosemary is starting to look like the castle in the Dark Crystal – wow what an imagination, but Hal agreed too.  See I’m not going crazy!  My friend Mike T. gave me this easy side dish using long sprigs of rosemary:  4 asparagus with a sprig in the middle wrapped with a slice of bacon (I use peppered bacon) and doused with basalmic vinegar and popped on the grill or oven – heaven!!

  

  My gardenia didn’t flower this year until I gave it some citrus food – too bad I didn’t use it earlier.  Citrus food contains minerals that other stuff doesn’t and I finally realized what it needed late in the game.

  

  ok, enough plantspeak but here’s a fun container I put together using plant keikis, cuttings and a rotund cactus.  The forefront and tubular succulents eventually cast numerous keikis of their own off the plant’s leaf edges. 

  Celestial Fireworks! – I’ve been so looking forward to this come Sunday night.  I hope it does succeed and the weather in Redding should nice and clear so who knows? Maybe I can catch a glimpse with my binoculars!

  

  Rich’s Need to Nurture - With respect to Rexster, I’ve already decided to get another Sheltie after he passes.  This time, however, I thought and Hal and I both agree that the next dog will have to have a companion, soooo……

  

  Meet my depiction of “Chase” . . .                   and “Squish”!  Of course these buddies are just twinkles in my eyes but it’s fun to plan for the future. So what to keep Rich entertained with in the meanwhile?  The fish, Hans und Glans are doing just fine, but I want to nurture something else (Hal won’t possibly discuss adopting for a mandated two years so I started thinking what I also enjoy…

  

  Cockatiels! I already got a large bird cage and with the approval of names by my friends, soon I’ll proudly introduce Bo (or Buzz) and Gigi!  There are many breeders in the Bay Area that offer hand-raised ones so in a couple weeks the home will be full of chirps and whistles (friends and family know that I have raised and bred birds for years in my past) so it will be fun to play and roam with the dinosaurs again!

  Well, I’m glad I got a chance to update what’s going on in my world.  I hope everyone has a safe and sane weekend.  Laterz!

  • 7:41 pm
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