Word of the Day

Moodifying - Something which changes your current mood, either for good or bad.

Still No Rain in The Valley of the Sun - 142 Days?

But...I'm told that we stand a good chance of getting rain any day now so I won't take in my rain gauge yet.

HTP and I went out last night to get stakes for our new trees. We won't actually have these trees until next week but it's best to be prepared. The thing is, nurseries always stake their stock of trees up with a single stake in such a fashion that this stake resembles a splint for a broken leg more than a stake to support the trunk of a tree. This is fine for while the plant is sitting at the nursery in a pot waiting for some person to adopt it but when you get a tree home you need to remove the splint. This is when you notice that the trunk will often flop like a wet noodle. Like a broken leg, the trunk needs to get it's strength back. You need to give the tree a bit of physical therapy. This is done by staking the tree, loosely, between two stakes. Letting it sway back and forth (within limits) so that it's trunk will develop a bit of muscle.

Besides the stakes for the trees, we bought a Rainbow Blue Hibiscus to replace the dreaded bouganvillea. Actually, it's not a Hibiscus at all. They just call it that. It's not even related to the Hibiscus. In reality, it's a Alyogyne huegelii. (I can now actually see my Mom running off to grab her plant book to look up Alyogyne huegelii). However, now you know why they call it a Hibiscus. I can't even pronounce Alyogyne huegelii. Anyway, it's got beautiful midnight blue flowers that are as big as Hibiscus flowers. Now, if you know anything about Hibiscus, you know that they don't have blue flowers. Hibiscus flowers come in a variety of colors but blue isn't one of them. Aside from that, the leaves are different. I'm told that my new plant loves the heat and it doesn't mind the dryness of our desert climate. Another plus? It will survive our occasional cold during the winter. It's hardy down to 23°F. Oh...and it blooms all year round and will grow to be six feet tall and four feet wide and NO NASTY SPINES.

So, early this morning before breakfast, HTP and I went out and dug up the bouganvillea. No sooner than we heartlessly ripped it from its desert bed, than I dragged it off to the garbage can. Don't feel too bad. With the root system that sucker has, I'm sure that it will plant itself firmly and decorate our landfill. My new Ayogyne huegelii has taken its place in our front yard. And it has one huge, gorgeous blue flower waving in the breeze with promising buds of more to come.

Murphyism of the Day

Perrussel's Law

There is no job so simple that it cannot be done wrong.