Random Stuff

This was not going to be my leading comment, but I decided to put it here. Hubby came home from work on Thursday. Many of the employees went home, too much smoke. My friend who lives west of Madison said factories closed because of the smoke. It's bad. The plant closed today, as well (Friday).

My string of hearts plant (Ceropegia woodii) is blooming, or was. I picked all the blooms off and threw them away. The apartment smells better. There was a strange smell I couldn't pinpoint until I sniffed a bloom. I never noticed how much they smell like pee. My hubby was noticing the weird smell when coming home from work.

String of Hearts bloom, smells weird and a bit like pee

Wild fires in Canada and Minnesota are producing a dense layer of smoke that has plunged most of Wisconsin into unhealthy air. As if the heat wasn't enough. I do not like summer heat and humidity.

I ordered some products I needed. I ordered Leca clay pebbles and kelp seaweed concentrate fertilizer for orchids to help save my struggling purple orchid. The kelp is supposed to be a root booster. The Leca will be combined with moss in an attempt to provide it with an airy, moist atmosphere to recover in.

I am excited to be repotting orchids today, possibly three, because they are new (to me) and done blooming. I have been soaking the orchid bark for two days now. One day is enough but I just didn't get around to potting yesterday.

I need to make tags for them all. Currently I have folded sticky notes taped to plastic picks. I like to keep track of the color, when and where I bought them, when it bloomed and when I repotted it.

I re-arranged my succulents. Previously I had my Haworthiopsis and Haworthia stuffed in a corner shelf with a bright light that was also producing about 85 degrees of heat. Fine for winter. Here is the new arrangement. They get daylight and afternoon sun. 

I also added a small light to the left because that side gets no sun, and I placed my hoya there on the shelf where the succulents were

Two of my succulents are making me very happy. Well, three. Lavender Steps, always. Adromischus Little Spheroid, a cutie that sort of looks like split peas, and mother of thousands, which is finally growing after languishing for over a year. I found out it does not like to be transplanted . at . all. 

I also shared some others.

Lavender steps

My darling Little Spheroid

Mother of Thousands. Two plants here. Not even going to try to transplant until the pot is falling over and the roots grow out the bottom.

Some of my other succulents

Haworthia batesiana

Not doing a good job of trying to live

Adromischus cristatus. I love the hairy stems.

Adromischus triflorus. Has nice dots on the leaf edges if it gets enough sun.

Adromischus cooperi. This one will be darker with more sun. There is a white version on my wish list. Common name, Plover's Eggs

Gasteria cultivar, some offsets are variegated with yellow

Haworthiopsis fasciata "Alba"

Haworthiopsis fasciata. This one was Chrissy's

That's all for now. I'll post again after I get the little purple orchid set up.

This and That and the 4th of July

 First of all, belated Happy 4th of July. A lot of people celebrated but a lot of other people are holding their breath, wondering if our country can survive the idiot. We will, but so much damage has been done. 

Leave . the . cherry . trees . alone.

Kosovo celebrated our 4th in a big way. They always celebrate our holidays, because we saved them. 

Update on the UTI. My healthcare comes with MDLIVE and it was free! I filled out the information and received a call from a doctor. After several more questions I was prescribed an antibiotic, which my hubby picked up at our local pharmacy. I started feeling better after the first dose. I only take it for 5 days and I'm not having any bad effects, so I'm happy.

I felt well enough to go shopping later that same day. We went to Oshkosh. Hubby bought me another orchid. I have now scored two new birthday orchids. I think we are at a limit for now.

It cooled off! The noisy A/C is OFF and windows are OPEN!! What a wonderful day. We are staying home and enjoying a "do nothing" day. Hubby has the rest of the week off (company July shutdown) so we will probably do something, maybe tomorrow.

Here are my new orchids:

We bought this one on a trip to West Bend. This was my birthday gift from hubby.

Huge pink flowers atop a small plant. I didn't know I could love pink!

Yesterday we went shopping in Oshkosh and we found this one at Pick 'n' Save. The flowers are Peloric. Look at the extra petals in the centers of the regular petals! It gives the effect of jewels because of the added sparkle. Unusual!

Amazing flowers

It has 3 flower spikes!

And mottled leaves!! It is some kind of hybrid from a cross between Phal. schilleriana and something else. It might be scented.

It makes up for my sadness of this dying one, that may or may not have this name, but it might, so I gave it the name to give it hope to live. It's the purple one.

That's it for today.

The Number Must Be Wrong

 It's not possible that I am 76. The number must be wrong. Although the mirror keeps showing this odd person with wrinkles. I think the reason our eyes get bad as we get older is so we can't see them. And then we get glasses and we wonder what the h*** happened.

My daughter sent me flowers. My hubby had to work. But he will be off for a few days so we will go do something. I still have the UTI. I guess I need antibiotics. Ugh.

Here are my flowers. The vase is a party in itself. 

Here I am at Lion's Den Gorge. My daughter and I had a "grow our hair long" thing going. Hers is past her waist. Mine turned to frizz at shoulder-length. I have since trimmed it.

Here I am with my daughter and my hubby on the bridge in Omro

The heat has been exhausting, especially for people who need to work in it. Right now it has cooled off since it rained, so I am enjoying the quiet with the A/C off.

Well, I am going to go drink more water and take more D-mannose. 

Repotting My Tiny Orchid

I bought this tiny orchid on April 26, 2026. It is reaching the end of its blooming season, so I decided to repot it.

April 2026

Close-up of the blooms

The roots look good

Growers pack the tiny ones in moss, which I will gently pull away from the roots

The reason growers pack the moss so tightly is to prevent the plant from falling out and to help prevent overwatering. Moss holds a lot of water, even more when it is fluffy. Never reuse old moss.

Potted up with fresh bark and a few strands of fresh moss, in a slightly larger pot. The moss helps with moisture, because bark dries out fast, especially in a small pot.

Done

Bloom study

UTI

 I woke up to fire when I went to the bathroom. Well, that's what it felt like. I obviously didn't drink enough water over the weekend, and somehow ended up with a UTI.

So I pulled out the big guns. D-mannose. Ladies, let me tell you, this stuff works (usually). I take 3 tablets with lots of water, pee, then two more with lots of water, repeat, repeat as needed. I started at 9 am. It's now noon and I am better.

I added the salt to my first drink to boost electrolytes. I'm on plain water now. May add another dose of salty water later.

Let me tell you a story. About 15 years ago I had a very stubborn bladder infection. My doctor prescribed the regular antibiotics for that but they did nothing. He changed the prescription....still nothing. He put me on Levofloxacin (Levaquin). It came with three pages of serious warnings. It has numerous Black Box warnings and is now discontinued here in the US. 

Let that sink in.

From Drugs.com:

"Levaquin is a fluoroquinolone (flor-o-KWIN-o-lone) antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body.

Levaquin is used to treat different types of bacterial infections. Levofloxacin is also used to treat people who have been exposed to anthrax or certain types of plague.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause serious or disabling side effects.

Levaquin should be used only for infections that cannot be treated with a safer antibiotic.

Warnings

Levaquin can cause serious side effects, including Tendon Rupture, Peripheral Neuropathy, Central Nervous System Effects, and Myasthenia Gravis Exacerbation.

I could not handle the medicine at all. It was making my body sick. The thought of my tendons popping off even years later was enough to make me run.  

I started researching. That's when I found out about D-mannose. It cleared my infection in a couple days. It is rare for me to need antibiotics for a UTI now. It is also rare for me to get an infection, but not drinking enough water can bring one on. I used to take cranberry pills and probably should start again. However, D-mannose is a must-have for any time that a UTI might pop up. 

Edit....day two. I was fine this morning, but by evening I could tell I needed some more doses of D-mannose. Hoping I knock it out this time.

Edit....day three. Looking ok.

Another edit. By Saturday I realized the UTI was outrunning the D-mannose. I contacted MDLIVE through my health insurance, and after a long list of information I had to fill out, I got a script called into Walgreens. Nitrofurantoin Mono/Mac 100MG, 5 days, 2 times per day. It worked. It was tolerable.

We Had A Blast!

My daughter and her hubby came to visit about noon last Friday, June 19th. I had presents for them to open (it was her hubby's birthday on Tuesday and I always have a little something for my daughter, too). We ate some cheese and sausage and talked a bit, and then headed out. We decided to go to the Vines and Rushes Winery, but first drove up to Omro to take a short walk, since a walk was also on the agenda. We walked across a bridge in Omro, took some pictures, and then drove to the winery.

Omro. We took family photos, too.

Italian built pizza oven at Vines and Rushes.

We tasted some wines and then ordered pizza. The pizza could have been better, not the oven's fault. We sat outside and talked for awhile, then decided to drive into town. It really had not crossed my mind that it was Ripon Fest. I wasn't paying attention to the announcement on social media.

First we walked down to the Patina Vie, a beautiful shop that just won an award as the best Independent Home Decor store in the nation for 2026. We spend some time browsing the beautiful items, some quite reasonable, others very spendy. The we started making our way back down the street to where we were parked.

Suddenly....music! 80's Rock and Roll! My daughter (an 80's girl) announced "On to the music!" and we headed to the park. A band named Cherry Pie was playing. My daughter was over the moon. 

I must tell you a short story. When my daughter turned 16, she and I were playing her favorite songs. I was 36 at that time. It was late. The street was dark. We put on Van Haylen's "Jump". Oh, who can sit still with that playing?!?! We cranked it up and ran outside. We ran out to the middle of the street and were dancing like a couple of crazy happy kids. Suddenly we noticed way down at the other end of the block, headlights flipped on. They just sat there. Then they pulled out slowly. We ran inside, killed the music, closed the door and blinds, turned off the lights and looked out cautiously, just in time to watch the police creep slowly by. 

Guess what song the band played...Jump! 

Here is a video from June 19th in Ripon, from the Cherry Pie website. My son-in-law is on the right at 33 seconds. My daughter is next to him but they didn't pan over far enough to show her face.

We stayed quite awhile before heading back to our apartment. My daughter and hubby had to leave early because they had a race to attend in the morning. They love going to the races, and attend the Indy 500 and several other races every year.

We are happy that my daughter and her hubby have so much fun here.

Saturday, while they were at the race, hubby and I went to Grafton to walk the Lion's Den Gorge. It was a mild day, not too hot or humid. We walked all the way to the  bridge, which was broken in half by a tree. We took the 100 steps down to the beach and took a long walk. We took some pictures and walked back, up all the stairs and all the way back to the parking lot. Close to 2 miles. Our feet hurt from walking on the rocks along the shore!

Always love to see Lake Michigan

Non-native multiflora roses perfuming the air

The gorge

Stairs

Broken bridge

Closeup of the tree that fell and broke it in half

Lake Michigan was very reflective

That's it for tonight. This post is getting quite long.