There is an email for the OConnell 7 this AM.
Mom and Dad
Friday, May 22, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mothers' Day--5/10/09
Belated MD greetings to all,
Quiet, cool, breezy and cloudy day here!
Thanks for the phone visits which we've had over the last 3 days--and the messages you've taken time to leave if we did not answer.
We're getting the hang of the voice mail, but miss the visual signal we have to get something from Time Warner to restore our own message and recording.
Were Susan and Jay's guests for brunch this morning. So, as you might guess, we had a great and ample meal and time for some visiting. Did enough outside work yesterday to appreciate a day to do some relaxing. Went to Culvers for a takehome salad entre for our early evening repast. No need for another FULL meal!
A hint for you raised bed gardeners. I have implemented a new watering idea for our 4. During the past couple of summers I have been using a 5/8"soaker hose in the front flower bed under the living room window. Snaking it around I have about 3 east west lines and this has been a great way to water that area which gets all the sun with almost no shade--and it can water gently without tending for as long as one desires. So last fall I got some 1/2'' x
50' hoses along with a hand full of plastic hose repair male and female fitting and cut a hose into 4 10' lengths and put a fitting on each end. Then I joined ends together to make a loop tied with plastic wire straps which fits nicely into the 4' squares. I had some salvage 1/2" regular hose and made 3 custom segments and put on
male and female fittings on each end to connect the circles. It was easy to unscrew one end of each of the joiner segments to open the area between the boxes when I needed to mow between them.
So now I can run a hose from the farthest back yard faucet to one square and water the four of them at the same time. I have already planted bush beans, 3 kinds of peas, zuchinni and a yellow summer squash and some lettuce in the squares leaving space for
tomato, pepper, and egg plant transplants latter this month. You
westerners might want to think about this idea for your raised beds. The 10' foot circle should be great in Idaho, but you CO folks might be able to try this without as much cutting and end fitting installations. Hope you can visualize this!
This week we decided to replace the fading fake geraniums which we have used in the 6 pots on the racks in front of the living room window with real plants. So the green pots were painted "trim" brown and the transplants were put in.
Using one piece of 1/2" soaker hose I made 6 smaller circles which would fit inside the pots securing them with the plastic wire bundle ties. With fittings at both ends, the 6 can be watered at the same time. Some of the soaking water will fall to the ground, but as this area in under the awning, it will have value there, too, as rain does not reach it. These are the same pots which Susan attempted to water for us one time when we were gone until she realized the realistic looking geraniums were fake! These will be place in the plant holder tomorrow--more later after we try the watering scheme--because we know NO rain reached this area...
Enjoyed our 2 night /3day stay at the Elkhart Lake Osthoff House Resort for our retired educators' convention. Mom told most of you about it. We led off the days with a nice lunch visit with Susan and David at a Sheboygan river front sandwich shop, en route on Tuesday.
Mom has her first cataract surgery day, 5/23--the second follows about mid June. More on this later.
Our desk top is for a tune-up. Using the laptop tonight with the highspeed, but won't try to get email into this unit. Will respond to e-mails we find when we get the desk top back tomorrow.
Congrats to Magdalena on her commencement next weekend!
Love and prayers to each and all,
Mom and Dad
Quiet, cool, breezy and cloudy day here!
Thanks for the phone visits which we've had over the last 3 days--and the messages you've taken time to leave if we did not answer.
We're getting the hang of the voice mail, but miss the visual signal we have to get something from Time Warner to restore our own message and recording.
Were Susan and Jay's guests for brunch this morning. So, as you might guess, we had a great and ample meal and time for some visiting. Did enough outside work yesterday to appreciate a day to do some relaxing. Went to Culvers for a takehome salad entre for our early evening repast. No need for another FULL meal!
A hint for you raised bed gardeners. I have implemented a new watering idea for our 4. During the past couple of summers I have been using a 5/8"soaker hose in the front flower bed under the living room window. Snaking it around I have about 3 east west lines and this has been a great way to water that area which gets all the sun with almost no shade--and it can water gently without tending for as long as one desires. So last fall I got some 1/2'' x
50' hoses along with a hand full of plastic hose repair male and female fitting and cut a hose into 4 10' lengths and put a fitting on each end. Then I joined ends together to make a loop tied with plastic wire straps which fits nicely into the 4' squares. I had some salvage 1/2" regular hose and made 3 custom segments and put on
male and female fittings on each end to connect the circles. It was easy to unscrew one end of each of the joiner segments to open the area between the boxes when I needed to mow between them.
So now I can run a hose from the farthest back yard faucet to one square and water the four of them at the same time. I have already planted bush beans, 3 kinds of peas, zuchinni and a yellow summer squash and some lettuce in the squares leaving space for
tomato, pepper, and egg plant transplants latter this month. You
westerners might want to think about this idea for your raised beds. The 10' foot circle should be great in Idaho, but you CO folks might be able to try this without as much cutting and end fitting installations. Hope you can visualize this!
This week we decided to replace the fading fake geraniums which we have used in the 6 pots on the racks in front of the living room window with real plants. So the green pots were painted "trim" brown and the transplants were put in.
Using one piece of 1/2" soaker hose I made 6 smaller circles which would fit inside the pots securing them with the plastic wire bundle ties. With fittings at both ends, the 6 can be watered at the same time. Some of the soaking water will fall to the ground, but as this area in under the awning, it will have value there, too, as rain does not reach it. These are the same pots which Susan attempted to water for us one time when we were gone until she realized the realistic looking geraniums were fake! These will be place in the plant holder tomorrow--more later after we try the watering scheme--because we know NO rain reached this area...
Enjoyed our 2 night /3day stay at the Elkhart Lake Osthoff House Resort for our retired educators' convention. Mom told most of you about it. We led off the days with a nice lunch visit with Susan and David at a Sheboygan river front sandwich shop, en route on Tuesday.
Mom has her first cataract surgery day, 5/23--the second follows about mid June. More on this later.
Our desk top is for a tune-up. Using the laptop tonight with the highspeed, but won't try to get email into this unit. Will respond to e-mails we find when we get the desk top back tomorrow.
Congrats to Magdalena on her commencement next weekend!
Love and prayers to each and all,
Mom and Dad
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