Before and after not quite 4 years. Things certainly grow a lot here in Low Country…like year round!
Loropetalum, Ferns, Vines ~
Category / Enviroment
Crepe Myrtle Forest – Bonsai
About a year and half ago I took the seed pods from our front landscape fuchsia crepe myrtle and stuck them in a brown bag. The following early spring (which is the end of February in Bluffton SC) I put a few of the million seeds I had in little seed pots. Well, last year they grew and I got about Ian 80% success rate and now have about a dozen of them about 10 inches tall. Some made it back into the landscaping and a half dozen made it into this new creation of a Crepe Myrtle Bonsai Forest. During the seedling process I got a lot of moss collected in the containers and that I used in this display as grass. Next year the forest will be ready for a shaping, but it looks great today. It came out pretty good as my 5th bonsai, with today adding 2 others to my collection, all from seed or saplings.
Southern Mornings
Coffee view from porch.
Little Guy Mantis Update
My little buddy found one of my bonsai trees a few weeks ago and has been moving between the many trees effortlessly now. Today’s update shows how much he has grown, now over 1” long.
The right tool for the Job.
I always tell my wife Brandi, “You have to have the right tool for the job”, I think I nailed for this one. P. S. the Honda is 22 years old and in top notch condition , single pull start, used once a month for our lagoon bank.
Ordinary Miracle
I felt the need to post about ordinary miracles today. We had our 2nd large snow fall of the season yesterday amongst other ordinary things. I snapped a picture about an hour or so into the storm. Last night we took Scottie out for potty and was greeted by our neighbors dog who had gotten loose while clearing the snow from their driveway. It was pitch dark and we live in the woods where bad things can happen to house pets running in the night so I leash him up and return the not even 1 year-old bouncing Tigger dog to its home. He was all in his glory of having his rooming freedom and attention from new people…bouncy bouncy Tigger dog…for sure he thought this was all about play which gave me a good chuckle as our dog is a mature 13 years young and doesn’t bounce nearly as high as this pup! So we trudge our way through the 13″+ of snow and arrive at my neighbors drive where they’re feverishly working at clearing the snow. I could sense the frustration they had that their dog had gotten loose and inconvenienced me but quite the contrary, I was thankful to have found him and gave him a safe return home. Just another ordinary miracle right? This was no inconvenience to me, I feel a dogs life was saved, who knows what may have happened otherwise. I’d like to think someone would return the favor.
I found this song entitled “Ordinary Miracle” by Sarah Mclachlan featured in Charlotte’s Web. It’s a nice reflection on ordinary miracles. Take a listen to it . . . all I can say is “beautifully put”!
Diesel Jeep Wranglers in the US, WHY NOT?!
As many of you know I am a believer of the diesel engine for many reasons which I will not bore you with right now. What puzzles me the most is why JEEP does not offer (or is not allowed to sell) diesel Wranglers in the USA, yet it is available in other countries like Australia, go figure. Here is the link right to JEEP’s own Australian website. I am a full blooded American but on somethings like our politics, (right) left winged environmentalist and corporate businesses I am left wondering, they need to WAKE UP!
Get Off Those Mailing Lists
Happy New Year’s everyone! Mike and I made it up to watch the ball drop, wahoo! So yesterday we pick up some goodies to make margaritas and I grabbed a bottle of champagne to celebrate the evening. Well, Mike goes to open the champagne to find I grabbed red wine by mistake. Good Grief, where was my head? So we had our margaritas and enjoyed a couple glasses of sparkling cider instead LOL. It was a nice night.
Today I bring to you a link which provides seven addresses you can contact to have your name removed from those pesky junk mailing lists. I just finalized our letters today and out to the mailbox they’ll go tomorrow. Nice way to ring in the new year! Check it out here at the resources recovery authority.
FOTHR Bluefish Tournament Results 2007
As a director of FOTHR I am pleased to report that our first tournament was a huge success. The final results from 83 contestants was massive trophy bluefish weighing 18.88 pounds caught by Dave Youngquist from Shelton, CT.
Moving Lower Housatonic Sludge UP RIVER?
That is right. “Apparently” State Officials quickly and quietly approved dumping of highly questionable contaminated sludge UP A RIVER! We all know the direction a river flows and our officials obviously don’t. (I thought they work for us)
Tonight I attended the first meeting of “Friends of the Housatonic River” with more than 50 people showing up to show support for our “improving” river. The unannounced dumping schedule in the last weeks has started in Shelton just a few hundred feet up river from where I keep my boat. Many people stressed their concerns of this dumping with many valid points stretching from fishing, boating, pollution, nearby schooling, well drinking water, and many others.
This secrecy is what has us up at arms the most. This seems to be deliberately fast and quiet, mainly because this is so obviously wrong to move such material to an area that has struggled in the past but now thriving in every environmental way.
I have to believe the key questions to all of this is: If this material were to be brought on land could it be placed anywhere? If so lets do that, I am sure we can spread in out somewhere where people would gladly take it, no? If not the then it MUST NOT BE CLEAN, well then does moving from one place to another concerned place make sense? Lastly, since when has the Housatonic River become a dumping ground? I don’t think this is something the DEP should start allowing regardless if the fill is clean or not, do you?
Does this look like a dumping ground?
Directly across from a boat ramp that does not have enough depth to launch a boat now!
More on this: Zwire | New Haven Register | Connecticut Post
Talmadge House 