The Roses That Won't Quit

These roses have been repeatedly pounded by hurricane weather recently. And yet, they just keep blooming. There are a few rose hips. But more than that, there are buds everywhere. Amazing.

Flower Pics

Save The Beans!

So, I may have mentioned that I recently received some seedlings that I hope to grow to the edible stage in the sunroom this winter. Among them were fairly hearty bush bean plants. They are all potted up- but one of them seems to be dying and I have no idea why. The leaves seemed to curl and then the stem withered, but not at the base- more out the branches. So, I was disappointed, but not too worried since there are five more. But now I am wondering if the plant next to the dying one is also on the decline. Most of the plant looks great, but one section is starting to look iffy. I will probably cut that part off tonight in hopes of stopping whatever this is. But I see no obvious evidence of... anything! Help! Does anybody have any idea what this might be? Save the beans!

Winter Sunroom Garden

Our new house (new to us) has a sunroom off the back. It is a good size space built in the 80's on a conrete slab. Currently, there is no insulation in the ceiling. The exterior door is actually only a storm door. And the windows are the old style and not the new, energy conserving ones. Still, I am determined to grow some food in this room this winter. My long-term goal for this room includes replacing the awful carpet with tile that is radiant heated from below. But the radiant mats are expensive and I don't think it will happen this winter. So, I will focus on replacing the storm door with an actual exterior door and figuring out some way to keep heat in. Perhaps insulated curtains to pull shut at night? I bought some of that window film, thinking I would use that, but then I realized the window cranks stick out further than the window sill. So I'm not sure that will work- although I will probably try it out on a window just to be sure. And I'll try to get the attic area insulated, although the access door- or rather, panel, is so small I am not sure I can actually get my whole body through it. On the upside, the sunroom has a ceiling fan and a baseboard heater. So we should be able to keep the air moving and prevent things from freezing- though I have no idea what that will do to the electric bill. Any suggestions? Warnings? Encouragement? :)

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Here is how my day began...

At some un-godly early hour, as the sun was just starting to drag its sleepy butt over the horizon, Teak started barking. Teak likes to bark, but he also likes to sleep. Usually, he doesn't start barking until the neighbors head off to work. But this morning was different.

I tried to ignore him. I really did. But he sounded so... scared. I stumbled down the stairs and tracked the sound to the office. There was my brave dog (cough), hunkered down on the far side of the room, barking madly to alert me to the mass exodus of the worms!

Okay, it wasn't really all the worms. The older, wiser worms and the younger, less mobile worms all seemed content to remain in the bin. It was the darn teenage worms who were out roaming. I think they may have been on drugs. One of them had actually made a beeline for the sunny sliding glass door. What kind of worm goes toward light? Well, I'll tell you! A very confused worm!

I think perhaps they were jostled a bit much en route to their new home. At any rate, I think I can now add "worm wrangler" to my resume. And by tonight, they all seemed content to hang with the 'rents in the bin. Much to Teak's relief...

Good dog.

Biden-Palin "Debate"

Can we just talk about this "debate" for a moment? I promise I'll get back to the happy stuff afterwards...

First, let me just say that Palin's handlers did a really good job prepping her to the "basic foreign issues" level of knowledge. Not foreign policy; but to the level of being able to drop names... names I strongly suspect she was previously entirely unfamiliar with, such as Ahmadinejad. Clearly, she was not prepped to the level of being able to actually engage on foreign policy issues or economic issues. Which brings me to what irks me so much... She was not there to debate. She said as much herself. When did it become acceptable to go to a debate and announce that you don't plan to answer the questions? Buy an ad lady!

I have to admit that Palin had me smiling when she spoke. But it wasn't a smile of agreement. I can appreciate her skill at "folksiness", although I think the winking at the camera bit is going too far. For this voter, at least, that is the wrong angle to take. Sarah Palin wants me to believe she's so much like me she understands my concerns. She's one of us! Well, yep... she is just like your neighbor. Would you put your neighbor in the White House? I wouldn't put any of mine there.

So, in the end, my opinion of Palin is not really changed. She still misuses vocabulary. She still relies upon verbiage (which btw Sarah, is a word I can use correctly). She still relies heavily upon making a "connection" with the voters, and avoids anything substantive. She's all gussy, no guts. She brought a good show, but had little to add to the conversation.

Biden, I thought, had a pretty good night. He managed to not shove his foot in his mouth. And he clearly demonstrated his knowledge and experience. He also was able to offer specifics about the Obama-Biden "plan" and to humanize himself to voters by sharing an emotional, personal, and traumatic aspect of his own life. Two actually. The mention of his first wife's death was touching, but in a wholly to-be-expected way. It was a little bit unexpected to see this seasoned senator convey his emotions surrounding his son's deployment. It is easy to expect our senators to be emotionally removed from the decisions they make with regard to war. It is good to be reminded that they are personally invested in this too. It's not just a job.

Actually, come to think of it, I think maybe Biden presented himself better than Palin, McCain, and Obama. Go Joe!

The Worms Have Arrived!

Well, Bentley was right on the mark when he said the worms could arrive today. I was very busy this morning preparing their new home. I thought I'd share a few pics of the process and product.

Hmm... well, for some reason this first pic turned sideways when I uploaded it. I'm not sure what that's about. Anyway, this one shows the holes I cut in the Rubbermaid bin for air and drainage. There are three long, skinny air holes along the tops of both long sides of the bin. And there is one square-ish hole cut more or less in the center of the bottom for drainage and to allow the worms to migrate from one bin to the next when the bins are stacked.

This next picture is of the package of meshy stuff I used to cover the air holes. I wanted something that would permit good air-flow, but inhibit bug infiltration. I am sooo not a big fan of fruit flies! I have read that some people either freeze their scraps or microwave them before adding them to the worm bin in an effort to prevent fruit flies (by killing any eggs laid on the scraps). The "worm food" I've been saving the last few days went into the freezer. Anyway, this meshy stuff is actually replacement filter material for window air conditioners. It is washable, so if it gets gross I can clean it and re-use it. I read Encyclopedia Hydroponica's blog entry about the modifications he made to his worm bin. He used nylon pantyhose to cover the air holes on his bin. I worried that nylons would be too fine for good air flow and would possibly grow mold from the humidity of the bin. So I went with this air conditioner filter stuff. I'll let you know how it works out.

This next pic shows the section of hardware cloth I cut and set in the bottom of the bin. It serves a couple purposes. It helps distribute the weight over the whole bottom after I cut that hole in the middle. It also allows the worms to pass through into the next bin, while supporting and retaining the materials accumulated in the bin. The bottom hole looks dark because it is covered, on the exterior, by a piece of the air conditioner filter. That should keep the worms from exiting prematurely and also deter bug infiltration. But back to the hardware cloth- this picture doesn't show it, but because the edges were sharp, I melted a little paraffin wax to coat the edges. Don't want my wormies getting torn up! For the second bin I will probably coat the entire piece of hardware cloth. But this time I was racing the clock...

Here you see the exterior view of my duct taping handiwork. Okay, it may not win any beauty contests; but if it keeps fruit flies out, I think it's a shoo-in for Miss Congeniality. You can sort of get an idea of how much air this filter material allows through by the amount of back-light you can see through the air holes. I tried to get a close-up of the filter material, but my camera just did not want to focus on it.

This is just an exterior bottom view. You can see a hint of the hardware cloth through the mesh. Nothing too exciting. I tried to get a picture of the worm pile after I put it in the bin. None of those shots really turned out.

And last, but certainly not least, here is a shot of the finished set-up. I have the bin resting on a couple of broad landscape pavers that rest on an upturned bin lid. There is room underneath for me to place a shallow tray to catch any drippings from the bin without having to pull apart two bins like you often see with these Rubbermaid bin systems. This is all an experiment. I haven't cut the second bin yet bacause I want to wait to see how this set-up works out. If I need to make adjustments, I will.