Robindcr8l

Baldur, you're a genious in so many ways! That cryptogram was quite challenging, but its directions are even tougher!

Now, off the subject, can I ask you some gardening questions? I have a bad wing this year (shoulder surgery in April has gone awry!) and so I couldn't really dig a garden in our new home whcih did not previously have one. So I opted for a small pot garden. I don't mean I planted pot, I mean I planted vegetables in pots.

Well... my roma tomatoes are thriving, but most of them have a very dark spot on the bottoms for some reason. I just don't know what that is, or if they are safe to eat, so I haven't been eating them.

My beefeaters or whatever the species they were, have just wrinkled up, and although the plant continues to grow, it's leaves are shriveled and the flowers never produce into fruit. Someone suggested I have "blight". My green peppers too, have these soft mushy tan spots on them, almost every pepper. And even my basil looks kind of shrively (if that's a word). It's disappointing. Someone else suggested that perhaps the potting soil is too rich. I don't know, but it all looks like crap. I water them daily because it is sunny and 100 degrees here. They are in full sun. What do I do, Mr. D.J.??

Robindcr8l

- whcih, + which

Dragon

Robin, your trouble with tomatoes sounds similar to a problem we had in Kelowna. We found we had Tomato Bugs. They are not harmful to people but damaging to tomato plants. They're like a giant caterpillar and are light green with yellow spots (the exact same colour as a tomato plant) they have a big ugly horn on their head and their back feet are like suckers, so they're hard to find in the first place and hard to remove once you have. They are an incredibly disgusing bug to find but once you start pulling them you kind of get used to them. I'm not sure if this is what's ailing your plants but we had the same trouble with tomatoes that looked perfect and yummy on top and dried out, rotton (if that combo is possible) on the bottom.

Dragon

Here's a picture of one (hopefully the link works - this is not my specialty)

www.flickr.com/photos/sfbaynadine/2782729290/

Dragon

I'm not sure that worked, I'll try again
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/2782729290_2f37c4559a.jpg

Robindcr8l

Thanks Dragon. I went out and inspected both of my plants and can't find anything that looks like that or any other bug on them. Are those bugs on teh foliage or in the tomato itself? I am pretty much ready to give up on the stupid things this year. I mean, there's a farmer's market right down the road for goodness sake! It's not like I can them or anything. There's just something very rewarding about growing and eating your own stuff, you know? But maybe this isn't the year for me. Next year I'll hopefully have 2 functional arms to shovel with!

Robindcr8l

By the way, call me weird, but I think those little caterpillar-like things are kind of cute with their suction cup feet! Who puts them on your plant...a butterfly or moth or something?

Dragon

They hang out on the stems and blend in quite well but they are very large so if you didn't find any I'd guess that you're in the clear. (Trust me they aren't very cute when you come face to face with them unexpectedly - but they are a really interesting worm) I did find a little info that said they like peppers and potatoes as well as tomatoes.

Robindcr8l

I better look again, then, since my peppers are doing pretty much the same thing. Thanks again, Dragon.

Normal

Ooh! I love mesmerizing asterisks! However, I did go ahead and put my original thought on the picture. Thanks for the aid from all directions.

Normal

Yikes! Can't read either. Asterisks may be even more mesmerizing than aerialists. How about Bad ass lions don't usually roar?

Baldur

Robin, the tomato problem sounds more like blossom end rot to Baldur than Tomato bugs.
The tomato bug referenced in the other comments is a nasty thing called the tomato hornworm. This critter among other things will systematically strip the leaves off your plant. This does not appear to be part of your problem.
Nature has a special cure for this pest. There is a species of wasp that lays eggs inside the tomato hornworm. The eggs hatch and the larvae devour the host. One of course should try to refrain from cheering when witnessing this special event, it is no doubt quite painful.
If you spot the evil hornworm with what looks like grains of white rice attached to it's body the wasps are doing their job.
I leave them alone to procreate and make more and more wasps to police the garden.
Now back to the issue at hand, blossom end rot. This occurs when the tomato plants are deprived of either sufficient calcium or water.
Generally for most of us this is because of water.
If the plant is fruiting and the roots dry out even once the tomatoes on the plant are at risk. However the problem is not contageous.
It cannot be spread from one plant to another, and if the water supply remains uninterupted future tomatoes on those plants will be normal.
Baldur cuts away the ugly part of the tomato and eats the good part, it's not unhealthy.

As for the peppers that sounds like a moisture problem too, but they do like to dry out a little between watering.
Go figure.
It also seems that they prefer sandy soil, something I do not have here.
Peppers hate my garden.

My Basil is less than spectacular this year too, the weather has not cooperated.

Baldur

'All Baldur, All the Time'
Baldur has had no luck however with the short cryptogram posted by Normal. I don't think there's enough there to go on.
At first I hoped it used the same key I had devised. Silly Baldur.

Baldur

Baldur should head off to bed.
I started a new aggravating project this afternoon, stripping multiple layers of paint off of an old table.
My mother bought this table back in the 70s at an antique store.
It was a perfectly pleasant walnut gateleg table.
She painted it 'almond'. Then not liking that she painted it 'cream'. In rapid succession it got coat after coat of paint. It took 8 coats to get the color she imagined was perfect. Then she added decals that looked like early American stencils.
This should answer your questions as to where Baldur got some of his traits from.
Anyway last Winter Mother anounced that she was tired of that sad old table. So Baldur rescued it.
I'm returning it to it's original beautiful walnut woodgrain finish, then it will reside in our newly rehabbed family room at Chateau Baldur.

Dragon

Ok Baldur here's one for you
http://www.thinkdraw.com/picture.php?pictureId=51722

(I know I cheated a little on my title but I think I should get extra points because I didn't actually solve the cryptogram - I figured it out from other peoples pic)

Baldur

Yesterday Baldur finished painting the shelving to hold his cd collection. This shelving system spans the entire wall in the lower level family room, surrounding the 2 windows in the process.
This consists of 3- 15.5' shelves, the top shelf being built in level with the windowsills, Then there are 8-45" shelves, 8-55" shelves and 8-21" shelves. That's an awful lot of shelving.
They are spaced just far enough apart heightwise to hold a cd jewel case comfortably, except for the lowest one which is spaced to hold dvd cases.
Each shelve has a stop-strip nailed across the back so the cd cases will all come to rest with their leading edges all lined up pretty. Each shelve also has half-round molding facing the front edge. All is painted the same yellowed ivory to match the walls and the interior wood shutters.

Baldur spent this morning putting the cds in place. An office supply store supplied filing tab cards made for filing cds, That was a godsend,
Baldur bought several sets.
In addition to having the alphabet Baldur now has file tab cards for the artists or genres that he favors.
So special categories exist for Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Leon Redbone, Soundtracks, DooWop, Christmas music, Pop compilations etc etc etc.
Whew!

Dragon

My mom had a neat little chest passed down from her mom that hung around in our house for as long as I can remember. It was a very clean shade of white except where it was chipped in several places and you could see a mulititude of different paints including yellow and orange. Eventually my mom (with the help of my woodworking step-father) decided to strip it and repaint it. When they got all those layers of hideous paint off they found a beautiful oak chest underneath. Naturally they decided on a simple stain to bring out the real beauty of the wood. Makes you wonder who decided 'Hmm, this lovely oak would look really good with a heavy coat of orange paint'

Baldur

(CHEATER!)
But yes Dragon you caught on correctly. All you need to do is distort the English a bit to make it fit.
Try: 'Daring rebellion against gravity over net'

I think Mother got it from her mother. She followed home fashion trends as shown in magazines. If the color du jour was lime green she would repaint.
There are no family heirlooms from that side of the family tree.
My grandmother replaced things at whim. My grandfather would come home to find a new living room set, new dishes, new everything. When she got bored she changed things.
Once a better apartment became suddenly available in the building they were living in. She jumped at the corner unit immediately and dragged everything down the hall while my grandfather was at work.
He came home to a stripped empty apartment and no sign of his wife.
She did come and get him, must have been an interesting marriage.

Baldur

-ve +f = shelf x2

Dragon

Ah yes that would have worked beautifully. I was going to name it something about daring Russian acrobats but just couldn't get it to work. (plus I loved using something about gravity)