The Empty Cabinets of my Mind

More on the Front Yard

When I bought this little vacation getaway the front yard was just a rockpile and since we are not there enough to keep up a garden, I thought it would remain drab.  But we had a couple rainy days and a few weeks later, some scraggly looking cactus plants that looked quite dead perked up and started showing buds.  Now we have a plethora of these to view out the front window:

Have You Got the Time?

Whatever that means, my answer is usually "No!"  That comes from having lived in Berkeley, CA in the 60's when strangers would come up before us on the sidewalks, trying to block our path with the question "Have You Got a Dime?"  It was easier to tell them "No" than to say "Yes, but it is mine and you can't have it!"  Probably safer, too.  Time? Dime? Why take a chance?

But there are times when it would be nice to know what time it is.  If I have to ask a stranger I always ask "Would you please tell me what time it is?" That is because I don't want them to think I'm panhandling. 

Of course, I would not have to ask the time if I wore a watch.  Usually my smart phone tells me what time it is, but there are places where cell phones are not allowed, like in the critical ward of a hospital, for example.   There it is important to have a good watch.

Best of Time - Where Time Lasts Forever

My favorite watch was $3.97 and sports the image of a skunk Furby on the face.  If you want a really comfortable and stylish watch sporting diamonds and sapphires, however, you could pay quite a bit more and buy a Rolex.   They have had a reputation for elegance and precision for a long time now, but it is nice to see they are keeping up with the times, too, and offering more interesting colors.   Best of time makes it possible to shop price online and get substantial discounts.  Let's see, the emeralds are nice and so are the rubies, but I think I will stick with the sapphire and diamond bezel.

I think I like this one best:  Diamonds and Sapphires and Gold, Oh My!

Cactus Flower Time Again

Every spring I go looking for cactus flowers to photograph.  From time to time we get a circle of little red blossoms each about the size of a push-pin on a potted plant that we've kept on our California porch for many years, but there in Arizona there are scads of the huge pink ones.  This year for the first time, we have one in our own yard:

The blossoms are short-lived, but with a dozen or more open now the plant is in its glory.  Many thanks to the neighbor who waters this for us when we are away. 

We have a few more weeks before our next trip and are hoping that the yellow cactus will bloom before we leave.  If it does, I'll be right out there with my camera, even if it is 110F.

Going to the Dentist

I keep saying I should go to the dentist.  But then I keep not doing it.  Someday, necessity will probably drive me there.   Necessity may have to as I probably won't feel like driving if anything hurts bad enough to motivate me to go to the dentist.

On the other hand, I am always shopping for a dentist.  It would be nice to have a good one on file in case of an emergency.  I had a few good dentists in the past, but sometimes they moved away and sometimes I moved away, and then the search was on again.

My mouth has too much metal in it.  It would be nice to have it all taken out and replaced with something that doesn't leak mercury or attract lighting bolts.  Seriously, I have so many silver fillings that once I picked up a radio station.   They were advertising the raceway at Sears Point.   That is how I could tell it was a radio station.  Well, that was a while ago, but I still keep an eye open all of the time for a good dental office that does restorative work.

Maybe I'll move to Texas and give these guys a try:

Katy Cosmetic Dentist

No, Katy is not the name of the dentist; it is a town in Texas.  Their ad is so well done that it even makes going to the dentist seem appealing.  That is the power of really good advertising.   I like everything about their ad.  They even have an Intra Oral camera which they say lets "you easily see what your dentist sees during treatment planning and dental procedures."  Nobody around here has anything like that!  

Yellow Bird of Paradise

We have some wonderful neighbors at our vacation home.  When I was suddenly called away to spend a month at the bedside of a hospitalized friend, one watered a porch full of my hydroponically grown plants.  He had asked if he could help me in any way and I had thanked him but said no.  When I got back and saw that all the plants were not only still alive but full of yummy beans and cucumbers and tomatoes all ready to harvest, I knew who had helped them along. 

Another neighbor who shares my love of rooting cuttings, did something nice for us years before we even moved there.  She planted new Yellow Bird of Paradise plants she propagated from cuttings and put them in a row all along the edge of our lot. 

Now they are lovely mature bushes which burst into bloom every spring and keep blooming, I am told, until fall. This plant, unrelated to the regular bird of paradise plants that we have in Northern California, are heat tolerant desert shrubs which attract honeybees.  It remains unknown as of yet whether those bees are going to pollinate any of my porch plants.  It is said hereabouts that the rabbits won't leave anything alone long enough for that to happen.   We were here for some time before we ever saw a rabbit, but we do have them, and they are so sweet looking that all I can saw is Awwwww!   When I get lucky enough to snap a photo of one, I'll post it here.  Ditto for the road runners.  They are cute as a bug's ear, too, but no threat to the garden. 

Here is a Challenge I Enjoyed

I was asked to decide which of the products on a website called Scenic Furniture I'd most like for my home.  Here is their link:

western furniture

Not being much into rustic furnishings, I wondered if they would have anything I liked.  I started with the bedroom furniture first because I wondered what a "western" day bed would look like.  We just bought a very nice day bed for our vacation home and like it so much that we are thinking of getting another one.  Nope.  That they did not have, although there were several bunks sets.

Moving on to the kitchen items, I decided that the Diamond Walnut Cutting Board might be useful, but then I took a broader look around the site and stumbled across this:

Patio Furniture

They call that one the Prairie Dog Fire Pit Camp Grill, and I'm sure I could find space for one of those somewhere.  It is advertised as corrosion resistant and rust proof.  Big Smile :-)

Their Aspen dressers are nice, too.  I like light colored natural wood products, whether they are made of Aspen, White Oak, or even Pine. 

Neem Oil to the Rescue?

If you have been to my gardening blog lately you know that whiteflies tried to get my eggplant.  For some reason they didn't attack the lovely outdoor cherry tomato next to it, but a few got indoors and laid seige to our Thanksgiving petunias.  That did not make us happy campers.  Outdoors, I just sprayed a diluted solution of Neem oil onto the leaves every other day for a week or so and now the eggplant seems to be fine. 

That didn't work on the petunias.  For one thing, Neem Oil has a pungent odor that is not altogether unappealing by itself, but it just didn't mix well near the kitchen and dining area.  Then too, the texture of the petunia leaves wasn't right for the application.  So I nuked them in a huge pot of boiling water instead.  That usually wipes out the whole lot of them.  This time, however, a few escaped and tried to invade my currant tomato.  If this sort of thing interests you, I'll have an update over at Ann's Air Gardens soon, along with some information about the fascinating Neem plant and and whether or not the Neem Oil was able to save our pampered indoor tomato.

Stinky Feet

In the last post I mentioned that scallions growing on the window sill need to be rinsed regularly when grown hydroponically (from cutting off the bottoms of those we buy at the supermarket!) or they can get stinky feet.  That reminds me of the luscious aromas some of our other plants offer up, especially those grown in the AeroGardens.  Talking with a fellow gardener, I learned to my surprise that some people don't like the smell of young tomato leaves.

Scent.net

I joked that I would grow tomatoes just for that smell because when I brush against them they release an aroma that really makes me all warm and fuzzy.   Papalo, a heat-tolerant herb we grow to use in place of cilantro is another of my favorite smells, which to my horror another writer described as smelling like laundry soap.  Mmmmm, I'd like to try some of his laundry soap! 

I take paid surveys online from time to time and my favorites are the ones about laundry soap.  Once a brand we didn't use much in the past sent a free sample and paid us a few dollars to try it out and then answer some questions.  Wow!  That brand was indeed new and improved and did a great job of getting the laundry clean.  But in those laundry soap surveys they usually have one question that confuses me.  They want to know how much scent we like in the soap, but they are talking about how much scent stays in the clothes after they are washed.  I like some scent in the detergent, but it should disappear afterwards, and I don't like for it to remain on the clothes afterwards.  Duhhh.   Same thing with body wash!

Same thing with perfume.  I don't really use perfume that much.  I like some for a little while and then it gets tiresome, even the nice scents.  Then I think if it is tiresome for me, how other people might feel about having to be near me. 

I like the scent of Thieves Oil, for example, rich with cinnamon and cloves but please leave out the eucalyptus.  Thieves Oil and lavendar are two scents I could probably be around forever.