SquareState.net - Recommended Diaries

Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 4.40

Frankenoid — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:48:39 GMT

Good morning, and it's getting a bit nipply out. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver had a bi-polar weather week. On Tuesday we had a record high of 78° out at the airport (and over 80° here in the City); it also was a record-breaking high-low on Tuesday of 47°.

On Thursday I had to hack pebbly-freeze off my windshield; the high was 34°, and we had a rare day of total cloud cover - days of complete cloud cover are very unusual here.

Unfortunately the cold brought little moisture with it. Historically November is Denver's 2nd snowiest month. This year, we've only had a trace of moisture: a bit of rain early on in the month, the bare dusting of snow we received on November 14, and just enough freezing drizzle to coat my car windows on Thursday morning.

But, despite Caligula's best efforts at smashing it, sleeping on it, and knocking off buds, the Christmas cactus is blooming - as it didn't last year. I guess it does get enough light in our front window!

In Orange
This weekend the forecast calls for seasonable temperatures in the 50s - a good thing as we need to finish back-filling the front flower beds. I planted loads and loads and loads of bulbs all along the new front wall - including the majority of the antique hyacinth I bought from Old House Gardens. The bulbs are expensive - for the same amount of money spent at Van Engelen, my usual source, I would have gotten a couple of huge boxes of bulbs, rather than one small one. However, I think it's worth it to try and preserve some of the older breeds that have been commercialized out of production (per Old House Gardens, the "King Alfred" daffodils sold commercially aren't really the original King Alfred daffodils). And I'll have something different in the spring garden.

I still have loads of daffodil bulbs to plant - some from Old House Gardens, and most of the large bag of reverse-bicolor Hillstar daffodils from Van Engelen.

I also need to put together forced hyacinth kits to take down to the folks in Pueblo for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving travel could be problematic; there's a chance of snow coming in on Thursday night, and between Denver and Pueblo is Monument Hill, infamous for becoming an ice-slicked, bottle-necked, road hazard with the smallest amount of cold and moisture.

Thanksgiving will be weird. For many years the main gathering has been at the Mister's brother Bob's house. As some of you may recall, Bob died in mid-July, so this will be the first full family gathering since his death. This will be the first time there really is a huge Bob-less hole for me - I'm finding it hard to contemplate being at his house, without hearing his gentle voice, and the underlying humor contained in his observations of the world.

That's what's happening here. What's going in your gardens?

Arnold wants job

therebis — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:05:19 GMT

Well, well wouldn't you know that Arnold- a sometimes consumate politician- wants to work in Obama's administration.

From LAT:

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to President-elect Barack Obama this week and would be willing to work for the Democratic administration once his term expires if asked, the Republican governor said in an interview broadcast this morning.
"I will help in every possible way the administration to be successful," he told Fox News. "So whatever they need, I'm there."

Will Arnold quit before his term ends? What could be in store for Arnold in an Obama administration? Private trainer ( "He told me that he's going to build a big gymnasium in the White House to bulk up and that I should help him bulk up," Schwarzenegger said. "And I said only if he helps me play basketball.")?

Rosen Godwined in the Boobies

pacified — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:11:22 GMT

Those of you who are fellow Fark readers will appreciate this gem from resident right-wing talking-point repeater Mike Rosen:

'There's a tired old saw in the news business that if both sides criticize you for what you've reported, you must be doing a good job." Those, the words of Fred Brown in a recent Denver Post column, establishing his credentials as a balanced columnist by providing examples of criticism he's received from readers on both the left and right. But this old saw is anecdotal and simplistic. Some people in Nazi Germany loved Hitler and some people hated him. Did that make him a moderate?

Is Mike even trying anymore?

I don't even really know what the column is about. In the dead tree addition, they always take one sentence and make it larger. The editors went with the Hitler one, and I just laughed.

For reference, Godwin's Law and a little bit of Fark on Boobies