The Realm

Yesterday was a good day despite the one bad thing that happened. I got up early to go to Home Depot. The night before Chris and I had gone out to eat to Tokyo Grill and Sushi. It is now a hang out for us. We love it and it there several times a week. After that I wanted to see what they had a Home Depot. I had forgotten my gift card though so it was just browsing for me to come back the next day. They had a orchid in a color I liked so I hoped it would still be there in the morning. So I went and yes it was still there. I got that, 100 feet of green twist tie and a small bag of bark. When I got home Chris had to leave for work but it was nice having him for so long in the morning. He'd gone to Starbucks and bough me a latte and a bagel. Yum.

I made cuttings of my Vanda teres orchid. It was a gift some customer gave Chris. We had no idea what it was and only recently found out about it. I know how to care for it now so I potted the main stems in the new mix I bought and made cuttings I'm rooting in water. I have little jars all over the house with cuttings, mostly hoyas, rooting. I then started to work on building a new canopy for my post in the backyard. I used to keep nepenthes out there but the original canopy was destroyed in storms over the years. The old one was 4'x2'. This one is 4'x 4'. I changed the drill bit because I had bent the old one. I used a brand new one and didn't realized this one needed less strength to push. It went through the wood and grazed my left thumb on the nail. It didn't bleed a lot it didn't hurt a lot. It didn't hit the bone but I freaked out. No matter how I told myself it wasn't bad and tried to be logical about it fear was not having it. I washed it out and had to lie down a bit because I had the shakes. I figured I'd just go to my doctor and have it looked at and confirm what I already knew. But I was in no condition to drive. I texted a friend but didn't get a reply. So I texted Mike's mom. She came over right away and took me there. But it was Presidents Day and my clinic was closed. We tried three other clinics and nothing. Only one was opened but they wanted to charge too much and do Xrays. No, I just wanted it looked at. So we just went to a pharmacy and had a nurse look at it there. Yep he said to keep it clean with peroxide and change the bandage. Mike's mom bought me a peroxide bottle she insisted. She's so nice. I visited her a short time. She was so worried about me. More than I was. I couldn't seem to say anything to put her at ease that I was ok. That things would be fine. I knew the worst was coming though. Once the adrenaline wore off I'm sure the pain would kick in.

I was well enough to still do stuff and luckily I don't type with that thumb. I repoted the new orchid and did a few more plant chores then took it easy and watched videos. Chris came home and helped finish putting in the last screws on my project for the canopy. It's almost ready to go up. I have to cut some braces and it will be good. Well I have to paint it still and buy shade cloth for it. I'm annoyed because I've been a wood worker for at least 10 years and I've never done something stupid like this. It did start to hurt last night and I had a rough night. This morning it hurts less and I think I'm on the mend. Chris is taking care of me. Despite the injury I got lots of progress done so I call it a good day.
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It's been a busy last few days. Yesterday was a day off and we really enjoyed it. I went on one job with Chris and finished reading most of my Parrotlet book.I know a little more about breeding them now but still unsure if that's what I want to do in the future. Still bugs me Melville is taking up space and eating food. What a mistake that was. I love Nautica and may not want to breed them together since there's risk involved to the females of egg binding. Even without a male I worry so much about her coming into maturity at one year since they don't need a male to lay eggs. I had enough of that with Punkin my pigeon and some scares with Bullet that luckily she pulled through. But Natuica is doing well. I have taught her to hang and to wave. We're working on shake which she doesn't like. But because she has learned hang she finally knows how to use the ladders on the cage to get back down and into her own cage. Before she would just jump off the play guy which is like jumping off a four story building. Then she'd climb up the ladder on the ground.

As you can see I made a new icon of her. I have regretted not making one of Bullet though I had tons of pics. I don't know why I never did and to do so now would just be a bad thing I think. It would make me down to use her icon. Not making that mistake with Nautica so here is a pic of her. Though Chris suggested I should draw her as the Empress and use that. That could work since that's a fictional cartoon version of her. One thing I don't like about Natuica is I can't touch and pet her. She does not like it and bites. I also can't brag her like I can most budgies. I can even grab Melville and he doesn't bite or struggle. But perhaps I can train her to like it by using a skewer and the reward method. It will definitely take a long time but it could work. When her first molt comes I'd like to be able to preen her with my fingers.



Here is the pic I used as the icon. I noticed my camera really pics up the blue in the room from the walls and the cages. They come out over saturated in blue and green. So from now on if the photo is worth it they will be color corrected. This one looks like real life finally.

( More pics of birds and garden )

Well the lotuses aren't the only things growing fast. So are the weeds. My poor front garden is not as nice as it was in Spring and I can't keep up with it. Grass has popped up everywhere. Disgusting bugs are out for summer. Stink bugs, leaf footed bugs and for the first time this year a type of ridged black beetle has attacked my tomatoes. My four plants are a loss. I got to harvest some tomatoes but the plants are bug eaten and diseased. I have new plants on stand by but worry I would be wasting them planting them. I did some research and found out the problem is other than cherry tomatoes, tomatoes don't grow in Florida in summer. All this time I've been planting on a northern schedule the rest of the country follows. But I've now realized the "typical garden info" does not apply to FL. We're totally different from everywhere else. Here's what I learned about growing.

* North Florida - Tomatoes may be planted between February and April
* Central Florida - between January - March
* South Florida - between November and February. They may be planted for late season crop between August - September.

I'm Central Fl so I planted in April. Way too late. Give this time table to any other state and they'd laugh because you'd be hitting their winter. August is the worst month but perhaps bugs will be on the way out by Sept. I could try for end of August if I can keep my current plants alive. Cherry tomatoes are year round.

I also found out about a native tomato that grows in the heat called Everglades. It's a tiny cherry. I'll try to get some of those seeds as well as a small sized tomato called Floridade. Developed in Dade county which is Miami to withstand the heat. Well heat is fine but bugs are another matter.

Last thing. Chris downloaded the game on PS4 called Hungry Shark World. jokerforever, I think you told me about this game a while back. I was a cellphone game that I guess is now on PS4. So much better that you can have a big screen and a controller. Anyway you play as different cartoon sharks and level up by eating to unlock other sharks. You find things to wear that give you different abilities. The art style is very funny and cool. It's definitely a dark funny game. Chris got as far as the Megamouth shark and unlocked the arctic. I may play this and start my own game. Oh gosh that means if I do everything will go on hold. Haha.
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