I Found One!

 I found a purple orchid! A little mini. I hope it survives. The roots look ok. The pot is impossibly small. I need to leave for 2 weeks next month, so I don't think repotting will be wise. Moss tends to hold water longer than bark.  I also bought another mini with white blooms and teeny tiny purple dots. It had some root rot, so it's "in hospital". The previous weekend I found a dark pink orchid on clearance for $5. My new acquisitions below:

Mini blue Big Lip peloric. "Big lip" because the bottom petal is large, "peloric" because there is a tiny extra petal on the big petal.

Here is the white mini with tiny purple dots. It had root rot. I am working on recovering its health

I removed as much of the rot as I could, sprayed with peroxide and treated with rooting hormone

This the $5 rescue

It's growing a new leaf!

And it's growing another bloom spike!

I have been missing the apartment we had in Hartford. It had 4 windows plus the sliding glass doors, a big patio, and a view to die for. I never wanted to leave. I really miss the patio and the view. I took dozens of beautiful pictures there.

For now, we are stuck here. The new apartments being built in town are a design we would not be happy with. For some reason, this company does not build private patios/balconies. Everyone can see everyone else, in a row, facing the garage. Why not at least turn them around to face the woods?

At least it's quiet here. We often have a Great Horned Owl in the field. Lately we've been hearing coyotes in the distance, only twice so far.

Ok, I will stop complaing for tonight.

Tide of Change

 Yesterday were the Midterms. It was more than a blue wave, it was a tsunami. It was even referred to as close to an "extinction-level event" by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. I am incredibly grateful that the Democrats have regained control of the House and Senate. I hope we can undo the damage, or at least as much as we can, and move forward. 

My parents were Democrats and typically I follow in their footsteps. My first husband was a Republican, as was his dad. His mom never said, although she always voted. My family is mixed. I do not and will never hate any of them. What is heartbreaking is the lies, the conspiracy theories, the hate and the misinformation this administration has strewn all over us like vomit. We are supposed to be a two party government. I remember when Democrats and Republicans could have lively debates, agree to disagree, and remain friends.

I couldn't sleep last night. I started reading Threads and the congratulations from around the world were amazing. People from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Italy, France, lots from CANADA, Scotland, UK, Melbourne celebrating in the streets, people crying with happiness. Someone wrote,  "I'm in Scotland and I can't sleep, Did you do the thing?" 344 people answered, "YES, we did the thing! We did ALL the things! We F'n did the THING. Texas is Blue up and down, soup to nuts. I just kept reading and crying with them all. I tried to go to bed a 3 and got up at 5 and kept reading. Italy lit the Coliseum in Blue, France lit the Eifel Tower in Blue, there was probably more. I'm watching a tictoc now that there was an Iowa state House race in a Republican district where a Democrat got elected who wasn't even running. He had dropped out for health reasons. So everyone wrote him in. It's just amazing. So many people around the world making videos of themselves thanking us and standing with us and celebrating and crying with joy.

I'm tired and it's late. Gotta sign off and get some sleep tonight.

All The Leaves Are Brown

 ...and the skies are grey. 

But they were blue all last week. It's been too dry. A lot of trees didn't color up. Maples are good, but maples are mostly in people's yards. Since we didn't go anywhere Saturday (we were both tired, and decided to rest), we shopped on Sunday. We wanted to walk somewhere around Oshkosh because that's where we were shopping. We decided to go to the Sheldon Nature Center. We walked there before, back when we were looking to relocate. I remembered it because "Sheldon".

It was a beautiful day for a walk, mostly sunny skies and mild, breezy, fresh air. The fields of dry weeds smelled sweet. We passed a gentleman and said hi. We passed again and stopped to talk. It turned into a 20 minute conversation. He had been to Israel twice. He talked about his travels. Hubby talked about Kosovo. We all agreed our country is in trouble, and agreed there is too much division and hate. No politics mentioned.

Here are a few pictures from our walk.

Maple at the entrance, which is near a school

A playground in the pines is being built

We think this is a new bridge because we don't remember it the first time

Field of dry weeds and grasses. Smells nice

We walked over a creek

Some colorful trees on a nearby property

The creek again

While we were talking, I took this pic of a tall tree

When we were done shopping in Oshkosh we met a young man who is trying to become an independent reporter. We talked for awhile, gave him some ideas on how he might be able to get his content out there. He has no website or business email. He thinks he might start by placing fliers on people's cars. We wished him luck and headed home. It was an interesting day.

Trying Something New

I bought some Keiki cloning paste. A Keiki is a baby orchid that grows from the bloom stem, so it is an exact clone of the mother plant. A Keiki might grow on its own, but not all that often. Keiki paste is a growth hormone that can trigger a Keiki to grow or just more blooms. I have been wanting to try it. Currently I only have one spent bloom stem to experiment with. 

I peeled off the sheath and found a tiny nub. I accidentally cut the tip off with my fingernail

Here a small glob of paste is applied

Tagged. Now we wait. Might see something in about 3 weeks.

This is the one I'm trying to clone. Normally I trim the spent bloom stem all the way off. This one I did not, so it's the only one I have to experiment with.

Ugh

 Migraine with aura. I was getting them every day for awhile. I was also taking some new supplements. I decided to drop all the new supplements for awhile. 

I haven't had any migraine episodes for awhile. I kind of forgot about them. Today I said, to myself, "I should start taking the Krill Oil again." So I did.

Half hour later and I have this:

I took two headache tablets as soon as I noticed it. It's going away. Still blurry on the right, head is tender, proof-reading twice, LOL

I have no idea what it is about the Krill Oil that triggers this.

I'm going to throw them away.

What's Up With the Plants

 The orchids are doing very well, except for the dying purple one, which seems to be beyond recovery. It hasn't completely died, so it lives is a zip bag on top of the orchid shelf. 

Oh Purple, how I miss thee

I may have mentioned before I was learning about fertilizers and I chose RePotMe brand MSU as it was recommended by a grower I follow. It was spendy, $29 for 4 ounces. It has made a huge difference in the health of my orchids. They are growing shiny new leaves, healthy roots, and I have at least one bloom spike!

Michigan State University formula fertilizer, with all the minerals orchids need when watered with rain, distilled or RO water. I'm using cheap bottled water most of the time, sometimes distilled. There is a different formula for tap water that has appropriate minerals but is not too hard for orchids (like mine).

The leaves are showing a lack of proper minerals

A flower spike!!

My set-up, showing filtered afternoon sun.

LED lights 

My succulents, for the most part, are doing ok. Everything is inside. I didn't have that much outside anyway. I decided that if something kicks off I'm not going to get stressed about it. I put all my Jades in the spare bedroom window. They seem to need their watering monitored more closely than some other succulents. 

Spare room window. The "empty" pots have sleeping oxalis bulbs in them.

My Sedum Cape Blanco is struggling from accidental overwatering

I got a Lithops bloom this year!

Adromischus Little Spheroid, one of my faves

Pachyveria Powder Puff growing crazy

Croton

Beautiful sanseveria Moonshine

More sanseveria

Sanseveria Samurai

Titanopsis

Lavender steps

close up

Oxalis blooms

I need to go through my collection and rearrange them for winter. I might need more lights. After I do that I'll take more pictures. I am done writing for tonight. I'm sleepy and we have a fun weekend planned, chasing autumn leaves.

I Am So Far Behind!!!!

I will try to catch up.

Labor Day Weekend

My daughter and her hubby had planned to come up early Friday, but family business came up. My hubby worked a short shift (eight hours) so he was coming home at 9pm. It worked out perfectly because my daughter and hubby arrived about 9:40pm. We brainstormed plans for the weekend while they snacked on some cheese. They didn't stay late because we decided on an early-ish start on Saturday.

West of the Lake Gardens

The Plan...Saturday, antiquing, this time in Manitowoc. Spontaneous stop......West of the Lake Gardens, which was a big hit. Sunday was set aside for the Wade House in Greenbush, Wisconsin, which was amazing. We paid for our tickets at the visitor center, and the guy behind the desk called someone on a walkie-talkie. 

"Your ride will be here shortly" he told us. "Go outside and wait under that window" (pointing to a large stained glass window on the other side of the room).

As soon as we got outside, a wagon drawn by two beautiful horses pulled up. Let me repeat A WAGON PULLED BY HORSES was our ride!!!!! I wanted to jump up and down and squeal like a kid but I restrained myself. 

Here are some pictures from our visit. Our Ride!

The Sawmill

The Wade House (picture from Wiki commons)

The Blacksmith Shop

The Carriage Museum

After Wade House, my hubby wanted to drive us up to Door County. We stopped in Sturgeon Bay and then drove up to Egg Harbor to eat. We were having so much fun we decided to spend the night....somewhere.....on a holiday weekend. My daughter started making phone calls. The only rooms available were $300 for the night, and we needed 2 rooms. We kept looking. We finally found a house for rent with two bedrooms, $310 for the night, in Sturgeon Bay. We stopped at a drugstore and grabbed some things, since we didn't pack anything, and drove to the house. It was good. Buggy outside (Northwoods bugs) but clean inside. We decided to go out and found an Irish bar. We had a good time.

We set off early Monday, got some breakfast, and headed north. We drove all the way to Ellison Bay which is near Gills Rock, because...family name. Unfortunately we had to head back because my daughter and her hubby had to drive all the way back to Indiana that night. 

Sunrise in Sturgeon Bay. I don't see many sunrises because our apartment faces west

The house we rented

Sister Bay, Door County

Walking around Sister Bay

The goats on the roof, Sister Bay

Gnomes, Sister Bay

Ellison Bay

Ellison Bay

Inside a gift shop, flowers and pots

Technically we didn't make it all the way to Gills Rock but we visited all the gift shops that sold Gills Rock merch. We were short of time and faced with a long drive back.

Note to ourselves...plan better next time. Spend more time in Door County. Reserve a room. Leave some time to visit downtown Ripon. There are not enough hours in a day. nor days in a weekend.