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stoney321But it sure is effing things up for others, huh? Massive storm cell that ran from just north of Waco up past OKC almost to Kansas last night. In my area, DFW, there were EIGHT tornadoes. My friends in southwest Dallas had GRAPEFRUIT-SIZED HAIL. That is bigger than a softball, y'all. That'd brain you. My friends in Flower Mound, which is near my in laws, had baseball sized hail. My in laws locked themselves in their bathroom, texted me when it was over. A tornado touched down just north of them by a mile. And my neighborhood, well, the sirens went off, I had the laundry room ready, and we were in there for thirty minutes, waiting for all of them to pass. And they went right around us. I went on my walk this morning and five blocks north of me: a 60 foot high oak tree ripped out of the ground. No rotten limbs, trunk, or roots, just that powerful of a storm. Crazy.
Fun times in the "storm cellar" (aka the laundry room): cats are miserable being trapped in there with the four of us. Smudge decides to take a poop in his litter box (which is kept in the laundry room.) My son is feeding off the nervous energy and won't shut up. Emily is complaining about people "touching her" - child, this is a LAUNDRY ROOM, not a ballroom! Get over it! #2 curled into a ball in my lap, shaking. "Is it over? Is it over? What's that sound!@? Is it over?" Thank goodness my cell phone service was good, I could track the storm as it passed. Also helpful: twitter. Man, I love Twitter. @StoneyboBoney, if you wanna come over to the dark side.
This morning, however, was GLORIOUS. Not a cloud in the sky today. Nothing but sunshine. You can practically hearthe plants growing. I took pics with my phone, so they're not the best, but they're pretty decent.
This is a new-this-year-to-me lily. It doesn't capture the vivid orange, but get a box of crayons. Get "orange" - that's it. Stunning. And look at how many flowers on that ONE stem! I planted 12 of them, I may need to line the whole place with them, they're so pretty.
Another lily, bright and vivid like I like it.
Yet another lily, and this is in front of the yellow one, and there are bright blue Veronicas in front. Primary colors are one, two, three: red, yellow, and blue!
Over by the stone walkway, 1: gulf Muhly grasses, they put out pink puffs in fall, 2: ground artemesia, non-invasive. (A kitty laid in that one), 3: aliums, and these will be big pink balls in a few more days. I also need to move them, they're too tall to be up front.
Way around the side of the house, the gladiolas are starting to bloom. They're almost black until they open, then they are the brightest, deepest red. Sorry for the crappy shot.
Wee thatch of them (I planted 20 corms, I think they need to go deeper to keep them upright.)
Nothing yesterday, then today: Rain Lily! Guess what makes them show up? 1: creeping phlox, 2: rain lily, 3 bright citron sedum
At the end of the driveway the (1) French Hollyhocks (aka Zebra Mallow) is thuh-riving. 2: blue bearded iris, getting ready to put out round 2, 3: pink skull cap, 4: my 7 foot wide, 4 foot tall rosemary shrub. (I have 6 more. They're excellent evergreens in warm climates)
The shallots are bulbing (as are the onions and garlic) and will be ready to pull in about two weeks. I need it to get hot and dry. ...that's what she said?
Aaaaaaaand this is where I'm headed. Kindle + iced drink + lounge (or tanning ledge) = ME, SMILING.
I know it's only Wednesday, but I'm living like it's Friday!
Fun times in the "storm cellar" (aka the laundry room): cats are miserable being trapped in there with the four of us. Smudge decides to take a poop in his litter box (which is kept in the laundry room.) My son is feeding off the nervous energy and won't shut up. Emily is complaining about people "touching her" - child, this is a LAUNDRY ROOM, not a ballroom! Get over it! #2 curled into a ball in my lap, shaking. "Is it over? Is it over? What's that sound!@? Is it over?" Thank goodness my cell phone service was good, I could track the storm as it passed. Also helpful: twitter. Man, I love Twitter. @StoneyboBoney, if you wanna come over to the dark side.
This morning, however, was GLORIOUS. Not a cloud in the sky today. Nothing but sunshine. You can practically hearthe plants growing. I took pics with my phone, so they're not the best, but they're pretty decent.
This is a new-this-year-to-me lily. It doesn't capture the vivid orange, but get a box of crayons. Get "orange" - that's it. Stunning. And look at how many flowers on that ONE stem! I planted 12 of them, I may need to line the whole place with them, they're so pretty.
Another lily, bright and vivid like I like it.
Yet another lily, and this is in front of the yellow one, and there are bright blue Veronicas in front. Primary colors are one, two, three: red, yellow, and blue!
Over by the stone walkway, 1: gulf Muhly grasses, they put out pink puffs in fall, 2: ground artemesia, non-invasive. (A kitty laid in that one), 3: aliums, and these will be big pink balls in a few more days. I also need to move them, they're too tall to be up front.
Way around the side of the house, the gladiolas are starting to bloom. They're almost black until they open, then they are the brightest, deepest red. Sorry for the crappy shot.
Wee thatch of them (I planted 20 corms, I think they need to go deeper to keep them upright.)
Nothing yesterday, then today: Rain Lily! Guess what makes them show up? 1: creeping phlox, 2: rain lily, 3 bright citron sedum
At the end of the driveway the (1) French Hollyhocks (aka Zebra Mallow) is thuh-riving. 2: blue bearded iris, getting ready to put out round 2, 3: pink skull cap, 4: my 7 foot wide, 4 foot tall rosemary shrub. (I have 6 more. They're excellent evergreens in warm climates)
The shallots are bulbing (as are the onions and garlic) and will be ready to pull in about two weeks. I need it to get hot and dry. ...that's what she said?
Aaaaaaaand this is where I'm headed. Kindle + iced drink + lounge (or tanning ledge) = ME, SMILING.
I know it's only Wednesday, but I'm living like it's Friday!
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:36 pm (UTC)BTW: I watched Game of Thrones Episode 7 last night on HBOgo.com. WOW. That is all...
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:27 pm (UTC)I'm just about to post a pic from the Newcastle, OK tornado (about 15 miles from my house) that my friend Scott (not my brother, he's not an idiot) took.
And I totally owe you an email.
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:33 pm (UTC)Oooooh, I want to see that. So skeery, OKC and the Red River area seemed to get some of the worst of it.
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:31 pm (UTC)That pool! And those lilies! So beautiful.
This weather has been insane. We're pretty lucky in the NE and I'm glad to hear that you and yours were spared. But so many others weren't. It's just awful.
Are you on twitter often? I'm on, but more to follow clever people. I'm not that clever myself.
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:34 pm (UTC)The weather is CRAZY. And it seems like NE has had non-stop rain, that would get exhausting after a while.
I'm on Twitter pretty regularly! And I don't cross post, or stuff like that, so you don't have to file me under redundancy department of redundancy. Heh.
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:38 pm (UTC)I'm on Twitter pretty regularly!
Cool! Then I'll definitely follow. I'm stephrenb, just so you know, and don't feel obligated to return follow. I'm pretty boring.:-)
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:42 pm (UTC)Softball sized hail! That is some serious business.
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Date: 2011-05-25 04:54 pm (UTC)I think y'all are pretty safe down there, the hill country stops most of that from happening, I believe. Lucky! ;)
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Date: 2011-05-25 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 05:32 pm (UTC)Lovely, lovely stuff; I love Asiatic Hybrid lilies and their supersaturated colors, but unfortunately so do the Narcissus Flies, so I have Orienpets and Trumpets instead, none of which bloom until late July.
I cannot express the level of envy just a glance at your pool gives me; on the other hand, I have a nice double-bench trellis thingy and have set on it maybe once, and that to tie my shoelace: if it's not raining, I'm too damned busy to sit down.
Julia, was reassured to know that this spring has had the fewest warm sunny days since 1950, which means I'm not projecting that it was the worst spring I could remember.
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Date: 2011-05-25 05:42 pm (UTC)Narcissus Flies? I've never heard of them! We don't have many flies/biting bugs out here, which is one reason why I love it.
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Date: 2011-05-25 07:13 pm (UTC)I've got a couple other resistant horticultural pests, the Strawberry Root Weevil (http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb0965/eb0965.html) and the prunus leafhopper, which I'm having trouble finding articles for (as in, have had problems since the early eighties, since almost all the research is bring done on grapes). Root weevils can be fought with stem traps of that gooey pitch stuff the name of which I'm forgetting, leafhoppers with yellow sticky traps and dormant oil sprays and soap and pyrethrum sprays, none of which are particularly effective in wet or cold weather. The leafhoppers are also prey to ladybugs and a little wasp but unfortunately most years they only get to the second generation. They've all been sprayed and sprayed on field crops for so long that they're resistant to most pesticides and the only solution is to try to choose (where choose= "get left with") plants that are relatively resistant to them.
Or lure small insectiverous birds to the yard, and free-range chickens, the latter of which I was intending to do until the coyote got my cousin's big mean rooster.
Julia, being surrounded by people with yard and tree services means every bug I get has passed the chemical cordon.
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Date: 2011-05-25 05:38 pm (UTC)the pictures of your neighborhood though, make me homesick every time
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Date: 2011-05-25 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 09:42 pm (UTC)If you added in sun umbrella and spf 85 sunblock, I'd be smiling too. OH, I want to be back there, drinking all your yummy wine while your husband runs about cooking meat and providing a warming fire to roast our marshmallows on. Sigh.
The garden looks amazing. You should really do a comparison photo shoot. My garden. My neighbours garden. My garden. My other neighbours garden. Psst, you will win this competition.
And ARRRGHHHH about the weather. It rained really heavily here, it was traumatic because my hair got damp and extra frizzy. (Though seriously, between you and Sue I've embraced Jesus again as my own personal saviour and will pray for your survival as his Father attempts to kill you all.)
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Date: 2011-05-25 09:57 pm (UTC)Ugh, I hate that you live in a stupid hemisphere that makes it hard for you to come drink and relax with me. BOO.
While sitting in the laundry room, #2 said, "I wonder what would happen if we prayed?" The Boy said, "Nothing, and if he did, I would be pissed because why was God trying to kill us in the first place?" LOL
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Date: 2011-05-25 10:50 pm (UTC)The Boy is awesome! :)
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Date: 2011-05-26 05:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 10:13 pm (UTC)My brother and his family live in Lewisville and I haven't heard from my niece yet. Hope they are okay!
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Date: 2011-05-26 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 05:24 am (UTC)You, me, twitter during tornados = sanity. We can keep asking each other if we're still there!
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Date: 2011-05-26 12:19 pm (UTC)Man, you and Pete Delkus on Twitter (and my radar feed from NOAA) were what kept the kids chill. I'd show them that see? THey're just x number of towns over, and they're fine! <3
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Date: 2011-05-26 06:00 pm (UTC)I'm very glad you came through the weather unscathed. What a scary experience for the family (and the pets).
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Date: 2011-05-27 12:50 am (UTC)<3
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Date: 2011-05-26 11:21 pm (UTC)You have a lovely garden. You didn't by any chance go on the Garden Conservancy garden tour in Dallas last week, did you? I wanted to go, but last weekend was all about PROM (my daughter's graduating this year.)
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Date: 2011-05-27 12:49 am (UTC)Aww, no, I didn't get to go do that, we've had non-stop activities and guests all month.
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Date: 2011-05-28 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-28 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:52 pm (UTC)Also, I want to steal your pool. But I don't think I am the only one wanting that. ;-)
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Date: 2011-05-31 02:55 pm (UTC)But I just had to show you this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhk5Rjz7xk0&feature=share). A friend of mine watched it, and my first thought was "STONEY MUST SEE THIS!"