puzzler

Ah! Puzzler sent a little bit of sunny England to Baldur!

Tracy123

LOL.. No Baldur.. I was thinking about it.. Didnt want to miss anything..

Dragon

Baldur your first story of camping reminded me of a stop we made at a KOA (thats Kampgrounds of America for those who don't know). That was a very new experience of camping for me. We camped a great deal when I was a kid and it was always much more like the Provincail park trip Baldur described. The KOA was basically a large field that was divided into a grid so as to cram as many tents in as possible. I can't recall if we got a fire pit or not. I think we would have gotten more out of camping on the front lawn at home.
I recall the camping of my childhood with a great deal more pleasure. We had a tent-trailer so we each got a bed and didn't have to sleep on the ground. If it was too cold there was a heater but we rarely used it. It did have a tiny fridge and sink but we never hooked up to water and power so the sink went unused and the fridge was filled with dishes and such. We frequently camped in Provincial parks where the sites are large enough to set up the camper and still have plenty of room for the picnic table (sometimes 2) and lots of space around the fire pit. The sites were always surrounded by trees and while your neighbours were not far away they also weren't close enough to hear much more than a murmur unless they were being loud. I don't ever recall anyone having TV's or radios blaring. The parks are pretty vigilent about making sure people are quiet in the eve's and night time. I think of those trips very fondly and wish we could get out more often now.

Qsilv

nod... *I* have a scar in my memory of a night at a KOA kind of thing. I'd crossed up into Canada and the literature they handed out at the border emphasized that one HAD to spend the night in an authorized site, not just any ol' where.

For several years I had a self-contained VW van, nothing too big and unwieldy. Easy enough to drive in the cities and park like a normal car. I was used to either driving back along some country trail til I found a pleasant spot, or just parking among the big-rigs along the highway shoulder if utter exhaustion had snuck up on me.

That 'campground' was a real shock. It DID have hot showers, which was a treat (and I used that as an opportunity to bathe the dog too... which, um, as I recall it, didn't go over too well with some of the other neighbors there... but hey, it did remove the last vestiges of pig-manure that she'd discovered a few days earlier and delighted in to a degree where I'd actually dragged her into a creek... but that's another story...)

Baldur

Pig manure...... heavens, that must have been quite a noseful.

The weather in Primrose has swung right around. Today it was near 90 degrees F and there was not a cloud in the sky.
You just can't predict these things.

sheftali52

Pig manure indeed. Sheftali lives about a block from a horse boarding place, and the manure from those critters doesn't seem to smell all that bad. Ah, the weather here in Yorktown mirrored Primrose's today--about 90 and sunny. Everything in the garden looked like it grew before my eyes today. The pea plants have blossomed, and lots of impatiens have sprouted in the flower garden from last year's seeds. Life is good.

Dragon

Yes, horse manure seems fairly innocuos, pig crap on the other hand, has its own very special stink.
Glad to hear the gardens are doing well, wish I could see those peas and impatiens.

sheftali52

Dragon, Sheftali is trying very hard not to kill the peas this year. Last year, I planted the peas way too late, and then didn't keep them watered--so they withered and died. This year I'm determined to do better! As for the impatiens, it's kinda cool that they reseed themselves year after year. I do buy a few impatiens each year, but the ones that reseed I move around to fill in the gaps. I'll be pleased if the asparagus I planted this year actually survives and produces next year.

Dragon

My grandpa had a patch of asparagus that absolutely ran rampant. He had a chicken wire fence around it to keep it from infesting the rest of the garden. (Funny, I never remember them actually eating asparagus though.)

Login

Was it allowed to grow tall and used for flower arrangements?

Baldur

For tonight's musical interlude how about some fantastic stuff from the Black Eyed Peas...

I Gotta Feeling
Songwriters: William Adams; Stacy Ferguson; Jaime Gomez; David Guetta, ; Allan Pineda; Frederic Jean Riesterer

I got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good good night wooh hoo

Tonight’s the night night
Let’s live it up
I got my money
Let’s spend it up
go out and smash it
like oh my god
Jump off that sofa
Let’s get get up



I know that we’ll have a ball
if we get down
and go out
and just lose it all

I feel stressed out
I wanna let it go
Lets go way out spaced out
and losing all control

Fill up my cup
Mazeltov
Look at her dancing
just take it off
Lets paint the town
We’ll shut it down
Let’s burn the roof
and then we’ll do it again

Let's Do it and do it and do it 1
and do it and do it 2
and do it and do it and live it 3
up and do it, do it
4
do it, do it, and do it 5
and do it and do it and do it 6
and do it and do it and 7

I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good good night

Tonight’s the night
let’s live it up
I got my money
Lets spend it up

Go out and smash it (smash it)
Like Oh My God (like oh my god)
Jump off that sofa (cmon)
Lets kick it up

Fill up my cup (Drink)
Mazel tov!(le haim)
Look at her dancing (Move it Move it)
Just take it off

Lets paint the town (paint the town)
We’ll shut it down (shut it down)
Lets burn the roof
and then we’ll do it again

count to 7 and start singing again

Here we come
here we go
we gotta rock rock
rock rock rock

Easy come
easy go
now we on top
top top top top

Feel the shot
body rock
Rock it don’t stop stop
stop stop

Round and round
up and down
around the clock clock clock clock

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Friday, Saturday, Saturday to Sunday

we keep keep keep keep going up
we know what we say say
party everyday
p-p-p-party everyday

got a feeling oooo oooo
that tonight's gonna be a good night
that tonight's gonna be a good night
that tonight's gonna be a good good night
(oooooo oooo)

Robindcr8l

Never realized how long that song was til now. But it's a good one. Makes me wanna be in a mosh pit.

Over the weekend I watched a rented movie called "Hatchi, a Dog's Tale" (or maybe it was "a Dog's Story", but you get the idea). Anyway, it made me think of some of my thinkdraw friends. I thought of Baldur because it took place in Rhode Island, not too far from Primrose, I believe. They even mentioned the Woonsocket Gazette or something, and that's how I figured out it was RI. And thought of Dragon cuz as dog stories go, it's a very touching one, and loosely based on a real story that took place between a Japanese man and his dog in Tokyo back in the thirties. In this version it was the nineties and the man was from RI. But Dragon, knowing your love of animals, I think you'd like this movie. So everyone who can stand animal movies spend a buck at Redbox and watch it.

Wish we were getting some of that east coast heat wave you guys are bragging about. Just a few days ago it was snowing and hailing. The lilacs are just now blooming...the latest I've seen in the 15 years I've been here. Guess we'll go straight from winter to summer this year. May as well have never left Buffalo. Or could even go live in Red Deer, for that matter. This is Boise,though. should be warm by now.

New job is going well. I share the office with ambulance and life-flight dispatch. What an eye-opener. So I'll end tonight with a bit of advice to everyone out there: Please don't EVER call an ambulance because you've been constipated for 7 days. Call a CAB! Have them take you to the nearest drugstore and buy yourself...well...um...er...you know. But do not call an ambulance to take you to the ER. None of those people will EVER forget you!

sheftali52

Hey Robin, glad your new job is going well. Good advice on when NOT to call an ambulance. I, for one, am glad when an ambulance can come in a true emergency. My husband had a massive seizure about a month ago and passed out in our front yard (after parking his truck and getting out of it). I called for an ambulance, which arrived in 5 minutes, and he was at the hospital down the road about 15 minutes later, after the responders stabilized him. This is the second time in ten years that I've called for an ambulance, and hopefully won't have to again for a long time. But the point is, ambulances are meant for true emergencies, and I appreciated having one available when I really needed one. (PS, hubby is recovering, thank God).

Sheftali would love 65 degree weather year round, but that's a pipe dream. Today, (actually yesterday by now), the temperature hit about 92, and the pansies wilted big time. But the peas survived, aided by lots of water and Sheftali daring them to wilt. I have three rain barrels that supply the water for my garden. It takes awhile to water the garden from the rain barrels, but I remind myself that it's "free" water.

Robindcr8l

Sheftali, how scary for you with your husband, but yes, my point was exactly that. While someone with constipation is wasting an ambulance, someone else who truly needs one may have to wait longer than usual for one that's farther away to reach them. I've only been in this job a month, but I swear I never knew how many people used ambulances inappropriately til now. Another girl who was only in her thirties called one because she had a dog bite the day before on her thumb and now this day it was more swollen and painful WHAT??!!

Seizures, now they are very frightening to see! And unless the person has epilepsy, it is concerning to find the cause. I hope all is well with him.

Now, about those impatiens. Impatiens are one of my favorite flowers. My old house faced north and I could only put shade-loving flowers in the beds because they got virtually NO sun. So every year I bought several flats of impatiens and there would be a sea of color in those beds. But never once did they reseed themselves. Never. I never heard of that with them. I knew poppies did this, but impatiens?? Is it a certain variety of them that does this?? I want some and I want them RIGHT NOW! LOL

Alas, my new house faces west and I can only plant sun-loving and drought tolerant things in the beds. The summers here are HOT and dry. But summer is nowhere close yet, it seems. I couldn't plant anything yet for fear of the night frost still. Don't know why winter is lingering so long this year. It's usually over in late Feb. or early March.

I've been going through birdseed like crazy, though, so the birds must think it's spring. A flock of starlings have discovered my feeders and they literally empty them every day now. There is also a woodpecker, 2 morning doves, 2 quail that peck around the ground under the feeders, and dozens of finches. My cat brought me a live bird in my bedroom a couple of mornings ago. It was flapping its wings but only got a few feet off the ground. I finally managed to catch it and take it to the bird sanctuary. It had a few wing feathers missing, and a little scratch, but she said it would heal fine and they would rehab and release it. The lady there was very excited because it was a Pine Sisken and apparently they don't see many of those around here. Here's a website to show what he looked like and it even has a place to hear their song: http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/79/_/Pine_Siskin.aspx The bird was a male. I told the lady I was glad it was a male cuz I worried there were eggs being ignored somewhere. She said that even if it had been a female, the male would have gladly taken over the responibilities in the nest and continued incubating the eggs. I like that!

Dragon

Here's a cute call through for an ambulance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q5urQrh2Co

Dragon

Glad to hear the Siskin should recover nicely. I did my practicum in a bird hospital in Vancouver and while we didn't get many wild birds we did field a lot of calls about them. I was surprised to learn that if a baby crow has crossed legs its mother will push it from the nest and abandon it, we actually had one in the clinic being hand raised while I was there. Let me tell you, baby crows are surprisingly cute but my goodness does their poop stink!

Dragon

I don't think Robin would be terribly keen to move to Red Deer now. We are in the middle of a full blown blizzard right now. Visibility is almost zero and the RCMP is strongly advising against travel on the highways. By now there's probably a tow ban for the highways too. Yuck, I am so done with winter, where's spring already!

Baldur

Well for you folks stuck in a loop of endless Winter here is the Boughbreak Spring flower status report.
We have Irises open here. Not the very tall one just yet, but the semo-dwarf German bearded type that grow about 1 foot tall.
The daffodils are completely done but a few Narcisii still linger.
The Bleeding Hearts and Dogwood are at their peak.
Every last flower fell from the Viburnum at the same time ending it's display with a mini-blizzard of petals.
Only a few dianthus have opened but the ajuga has turned large patches of my lawn into a riot of purple.
This will be a banner year for Oriental lilies, no buds yet but the plants have divided and look especially lush this year.
This concludes the Spring flower report from Boughbreak. If this is actually happening in your area you should immediately run outside and enjoy it.

Baldur

semo - o+ i = semi

spam

Baldur here in UK eveything is so late - bluebells are just coming into flower, azaleas are breaking into colour oh so beautiful. The cherry blossom on the trees is so wonderful but as usual when this happens we have strong winds and rain and lo the blossom is everywhere but on the trees! The blackbirds are building a nest in my lollipop shaped conifer tree ( courtesy of my gardener) and the nasty crows are on the lookout for any likely prey! Have planted my baskets and troughs and am hoping for a wonderful summer!!! We all have to hope for good things. Last week was driving my car with roof down now too cold again!!! I just love the news on this channel.