So I was researching lighting and fertilizer when I came across the probable cause of the unhappiness. It turns out that house plants in general, and asparagus ferns in particular prefer soil-less potting mix. The stuff I used last time I think was particularly soily.
The pot is quite large for the amount of plant that still survives. I think it's a 10" terra cotta pot. I'm thinking I should re-pot it in the same pot, but with a high quality potting mixture made of peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite.
Here's where Dr. LJ can help me. I'm not sure how much of the old soil I should remove. Should I just shake it out, or should I rinse out the old soil fairly thoroughly. Does anyone recommend any particular potting mix or fertilizer? I've had this plant for about twenty years, and i've seen it really thrive. I want to help it to thrive again, and I don't want to hurt it any worse in the process. I'm open to any advice the green thumbed among you can offer.
I found this Tux on my lunch break today. The Antique store on Main Street had a lot of vintage clothes out on the sidewalk for Halloween. This tux was $20 and it fit! OK, Señor Ropp, the dude it was apparently made for, was probably a little taller and a little slimmer than me, but it fits close enough for twenty bucks. :D
The tag inside reads:
Sastre de lujo
Enrique Carrizosa N.
Bogota Columbia
Sr. Ropp
Fecha 25 de Marzo 1938
- Mood:
pleased
Happy Birthday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
magickalpony . You are loved.
With Russell moving into a new apartment after 15 years in the last one, he was badly in need of new furniture. Being the shopmeister that I am, and given my unnatural love for Ikea, the Great Ikea Expedition was undertaken.
What you see here is just MY stuff! There are 2 beds and a couch in there, and of course a Poäng. How did I ever get by this long without a Poäng?
Russell got even more than this. When we were done the van was loaded floor to ceiling with a queen sized box spring lashed to the top. Last night we assembled his Poäng chair and footstool, 3 lamps, 1 Expedit book shelf, and his bed. We've still got lots more to do at his place, and I need to tackle the above pile of cardboard before Friday.
I <3 IKEA! Much Allen wrenching is in my future.
Lately as I ponder the disposable commodities of our consumer culture, I long for the types of products that were made to last, and made by people with the luxury to take pride in craftsmanship. Quality crafted products are becoming increasingly hard to find, and this causes my thoughts to turn to the people who make them, who are increasingly sweatshop workers. Where once labor laws protected trade unions and workers in the U.S. today manufacturers have apparently decided our labor laws are to onerous and the only way to remain competitive is to ship jobs off to countries that have not yet protected their workers. Where the U.S. once manufactured a significant portion of it's own goods, we've become primarily consumers of cheap products made in other places, primarily in sweatshops. Now some of these "cheap products" are of fine quality, but even the good quality products come a a cost in human labor. The interesting thing to me is that even the cheap stuff isn't all that cheap. We're not paying significantly less for clothing today than we did 50 years ago. I've started thinking a lot about how the way I spend my money impacts the rest of the world. How purchasing products made by companies with no regard for their workers only contributes to the problem. There was a time in this country's history when our own factory workers were the ones being exploited, and trade unions, and the legal protections we developed turned that around somewhat. There was a time when people took pride in the fact that they always "looked for the union label" when they went to purchase goods. Nowadays that union label is increasingly hard to find. So difficult in fact that most folks have forgotten it exists. There are so few manufacturing jobs left in this country that even proud union members usually don't bother looking for American made/union made products. I tend to wear out my clothes, and I like to get quality stuff that will last me a while, I don't mind spending some money on it if I know it's made to last, and if I know that those that made it were paid a living wage and decent benefits to do it. I'm not xenophobic about it. I don't mind buying imports, but there are a lot of good reasons to buy stuff made closer to home. Supporting local jobs, and cutting down on the carbon footprint by not buying stuff that had to be shipped halfway around the world are both good reasons to buy stuff made in North America, but it's also very difficult to ascertain if most imports are made with ethical labor practices, and more often than not they aren't. So I've begun to contemplate making a vow to myself to buy union made and American made whenever possible, and to at least try to make sure the stuff I buy was not made in a sweatshop. That's gonna be really tough when it comes to clothing and electronics. It feels roughly like making the decision to eat vegan in that for personal ethical reasons I'm deciding not to buy the vast majority of the products currently available. Currently the vast majority of my wardrobe comes from the sale rack at the Gap, or from Levis both of which will be out. Finding shoes, especially sneakers is gonna be really tough. The last pair I bought was from Simple. They pay a lot of lip service to being ethical, but these shoes were made in China, and they fell apart in less than 2 months. TWICE. (I got a warranty replacement that was no better than the first pair) Interestingly I've found that though the selection of U.S.A/Union Made products is pretty slim, the prices aren't really bad, in fact they are often LESS expensive than similar imports. Knowing that the monthly wages in most sweatshop factories are MUCH lower than the daily pay of a U.S. union factory worker, kinda makes one wonder where the difference is going doesn't it? I'd like to think that when I pay $60 for a jacket, or $40 for a pair of jeans, that a reasonable portion of that money is going to pay the person who made it. Even though it's hard to find, looking for the union label helps assure me of that. I'm not really sure how well I'l do with this. I LIKE my clothes, even more than I like bacon, but I think I'm gonna give it a try.
Wilaiwan Kitchen. This little cart served up some delicious Thai food. They're on the corner of State and Elm in front of the court house. I had the Red Coconut Curry, Russell had the Thai Grilled Beef. Sidewalk table service, and beautiful presentation all for five bucks! It was delicious. I have a new favorite street vendor.
A brand new (ca.1913) unused Wade & Butcher straight razor I picked up at a flea Market this weekend. I managed to get it tolerably sharp with just a leather strop, and even managed a reasonable shave with it, but it needs honing, and my hones are still in the mail.
- Location:my sunny balcony
- Mood: pleased
I went to an amazing yardsale today. Overwhelming quantities of bike parts. I got there at 9:30, and guys had alreadt assembled huge piles of parts. I really didn't NEED any bike parts, but I LOVE bike parts. I was very happy to find a few oddball things that made me go squee. The Purty vintage steel Cinelli stem, and the 3ttt bars and adjustable stem set were particularly nifty.
I just discovered Season one of The Fall Guy is now on Hulu! Oh wow! This show was singlehandedly responsible for inspiring my childhood ambition to be a stunt man, a goal which I pursued in ernest for years to come. Training myself for the career I'd chosen, I learned to crash my bicycle into walls and jump it off cliff-like dirt mounds and make it all look like a crash, to jump and fall from high places, and of course to take a stage punch. I never DID get a job as a stunt man (or a bounty hunter), but the love for adventure that show instilled is still with me. The desire to take chances, to find out how to do more than go to the edge, to peer over the edge, and devise a way to go over the edge and still get back up and walk away, and live to do it again and again. Sure being a stunt man is all about tricks. A stunt takes planning. Some danger is inherent, but planning and precautions can minimize the danger. You can't fall off a cliff without an air mattress waiting at the bottom and walk away, but those tricks are what let us stunt men and women go places and do things others only dream of. I've still got a chipped tooth to remind me of the time I jumped 20 feet from a treehouse and forgot to let my feet roll under to the side. Instead my knees came up and hit me in the jaw. I've also got an ineradicable sense for how to take a fall gracefully, and get back up and fall again and again. To me this is a crucial life skill. Not just to survive the falls, but to embrace them and enjoy them, and I have The Fall Guy to thank for that.
- Mood:
nostalgic
I also successfully patched my first tubular tire last night. I've always though of that as sort of a daunting task, but tubulars are expensive, and I don't want to let a little thorn hole ruin one. So I got out needle and thread, and seam ripper, peeled back the backing tape, and went to work. It was extremely difficult to get the backing tape peeled back, and once I had that back, and had cut open a couple inches of stitching, it was still difficult to find the leak even though I'd marked the location of the thorn on the outside of the tire. Once patched I found a needle nose pliers helped get the needle through the casing. pinching the two sides together so the old holes lined up also helped. I wish I'd taken a few pictures It would have helped describe it and I'm proud of how the stitching came out. After gluing the backing tape back in place and gluing the tire back on the rim I pumped it up to 40 pounds, then 110. It's still rock hard this morning, so I'm calling the operation a complete success!
Yesterday as promissed Douglas vetoed the bill, and today the House voted to override the veto 100-49. I am so proud to be a Vermonter right now, and proud of our legislators and all the folks who worked so hard at a grass roots level to get this bill passed, and now I only have one thing left to say to Governor Douglass: Suck it mother fucker!!!
- Mood: ecstatic
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it...
In just over 2 weeks from now I'm flying to Seattle. YAY! I've been wanting to see Seattle for years, but my excitement about visiting Seattle is nothing compared to my excitement about visiting
punzel !My mind is buzzing with preparations, my body tingling with anticipation, and a silly grin is spreading across my face.
First ride of Spring! I needed it to get to jury duty this morning. I gave myself lots of time to futz around with it and go to plan b if it wouldn't start, but I installed the freshly charged battery, checked the petcock, flipped up the choke, prodded the kickstarter and it started on the first kick!!! Way to go old girl!
Filled up the tank and the tires on the way, and now I'm like an hour early now. Sitting in a coffee shop in Barre with a huge cup of french pressed Sumatran, a raspberry muffin and my internets.
==========================
►Contact the Governor's office here:
http://governor.vermont.go
►Please call the Governor with your thoughts:
802-828-3333 or 800-649-6825 (in VT)
►Find your local representative here:
http://www.leg.state.vt.us
=========================
PLEASE ALSO VISIT:
http://www.vtfreetomarry.o
The group is so large now that Facebook no longer allows me to send messages to the group via mail so please check back for updates/links/etc.
==========================
VIGILS IN SUPPORT OF EQUALITY
[from http://www.vtfreetomarry.o
Vermont on Sunday, March 29th from 4-5pm (Note: Bennington is on Saturday March 28th). It is absolutely critical that we have a strong showing of support at every one of these locations:
Burlington
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church of Burlington
152 Pearl Street
Rutland
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church of Rutland
117 West Street, Rutland
Brattleboro
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
Wells Fountain
Middlebury
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
Town Green
White River Junction
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
749 Hartford Avenue (Rt 5)
Montpelier
Sunday, March 29
4-5 PM
City Hall
Bennington
Saturday, March 28
1-3 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church
108 School St.
- Location:Cloud 9
- Mood: ecstatic
I just walked through town with a box on my head!
I grabbed the box on my way out of work to strap to my bike for the groceries I needed to get on the way home, but I had forgotten about the broken fender that caused me to walk this morning. So there I was walking down the sidewalk with an empty box. What's a guy to do?
I knew just what to do. I whipped out my handy dandy pocket knife and cut two cartoony eye holes, then put the box on my head. It was very entertaining and interesting watching people's reactions as I walked down Main Street. Some people looked away, but more smiled. Some waved and said hi, and some even said "Hi Boxhead Man!" I smiled and waved to all who acknowledged me. Though they couldn't see my face, how could they NOT see I was smiling. One guy even came out of a store to shout "That's the most awesome thing I've seen in my LIFE!" While I'm sorry to hear his life has had such a relative dearth of awesome, I'm glad I could bring a bit of awesomeness into his day today.
Most of all I'm just glad to have learned for myself that I haven't outgrown silly.
- Location:Main Street, Montpelier VT
- Mood:
silly
Ginger Kombucha and pretzels is a winning combination. I highly recommend it!
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