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Mums

Category: Gardening | Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 9:32 pm

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These two mums were kind of haphazardly planted in the garden last year. I really didn't expect them to do this well.


Mums 2015 ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )


Mum 2015 ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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Gardening Before Work

Category: Gardening | Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 10:29 am

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I love this time of year because it starts getting light around 6:30 am. I have to be at work at 8:00. I've always said that work gets in the way of everything and that's especially true of gardening. By the time I get home I'm tired and the hot, Florida sun is beating down in all of its glory.

So, I do my best to get up early enough to allow myself 30 minutes in the garden before work. Like a lot of people my age high blood pressure is a concern and my job doesn't exactly help matters. I've found that my 30 minutes in the garden is a great stress reducer and it really helps me get my head on straight.


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Field of Phlox

Category: Life As I Know It | Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:49 am

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One of the things I love about this time of year are all of the wild phlox that can be found along the roadsides and in many open fields.


Field of Phlox ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:50 am

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Phenomenol Lavender

Category: Gardening | Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 7:04 pm

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I've always struggled with lavender. The plant is just not suited for the humid, wet environment of Florida. Well, I've been reading about a lavender that is better suited for Florida. It's called Phenomenol and I took the plunge and bought a plant the other day. I just planted it in the garden. I really hope it can handle our weather.


Phenomenol Lavendar 4/11/2015 ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:27 am

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28th Wedding Anniversary

Category: Life As I Know It | Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:00 am

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For our 28th wedding anniversary I surprised Donna by taking her to a play at the Ocala Civic Theatre last night. It was a comedy called "Tom, Dick and Harry" and it was very funny, but we had a few funny moments of our own along the way.

We got a later start to the evening than we intended so we didn't have enough time to go to the new Italian restaurant that I wanted to try. We decided that our only options were fast food or some kind of buffet. She had heard of a Chinese buffet near the theatre that was supposed to be good and neither one of us really wanted to go with fast food for our anniversary dinner, so that was the logical choice. Upon getting our seats I couldn't help but notice the woman to my right. Sitting in front of her was a huge plate of crab legs and she was steady breaking them open. It was as if she were on a mission to ensure that no crab should die in vain. We got our food and ate our dinner. The woman next to us got up and came back with more crab legs. Donna looked at me and whispered, "Did you see how many crab legs she's eaten?" I shook my head yes, enlarging my eyes to show astonishment. She finally finished the crab legs- then promptly headed for the dessert table. I know it was a buffet and people go to buffets to stuff themselves, but we were still amazed at the amount of food this woman managed to put away.

So, after the pre-dinner show we made our way to the theatre. As we were walking up to the door Donna said, "Look at all the older people here."

I retorted with, "Hello! Newsflash! We're not exactly young people anymore."

In her defense, she was right. Most of the people there seemed to be in their sixties or seventies, but we were in our early twenties when we got married and this was our 28th anniversary. You do the math. It is a rather somber moment when you realize that you are closer to the sixty and seventy generation than you are the twenty and thirty generation.

After getting our tickets I made my way to the restroom. I had just finished washing my hands, thrown away the paper towel and was walking toward the door when the father of an old high school friend walked in (he was definitely in his seventies). We recognized each other and both instinctively shook hands. It was at that precise moment that I realized my right hand was still a little wet. I could see in his eyes that he realized it too and a very awkward moment ensued. I'm sure he was wondering if I had just walked away from the urinal or if I had just washed my hands. There was no way for him to really know and I didn't exactly know how to handle it so I hastily said goodbye and made my way out of the restroom.

About halfway through the play the sodium from the Chinese food kicked in and I became extremely thirsty. When the play was over Donna told me that she was so thirsty that her tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of her mouth. We decided to go through the drive-thru at Sonic and get some lemonade. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate ordering food from a drive-thru. I especially hate Sonic because there are so many blasted choices. We really didn't know what we wanted so I pulled up to one of the ordering stations first to look at the menu and decide before taking on the drive-thru. After what seemed like a very long time we decided on a lime limeaide and a cherry limeaide. I completely forgot about going through the drive-thru and pushed the button to order. Before I could back out and head to the drive-thru a voice came over the intercom, "Can I take your order?"

I was committed now, "Yes, I'll take a large lime limeaide and a large cherry limeaide."

There was a long silence and then finally, "Can you repeat that please?"

"Yes, I'll take a large lime limeaide and a large cherry limeaide."

Once again there was deafening silence. Finally, after about thirty seconds I said, "Did you get that?"

More silence. Then, "Was that a large lime limeaide and a large cherry limeaide?"

Now I'm starting to get a little agitated so I kept my answer as simple as possible, "Um- yes."

"Okay, that will be $4.86."

Then the wait began. I realized rather quickly that there was only one person running food out to the cars. We sat in the car and talked to pass the time. It literally took ten minutes to get our order of two drinks and when they finally arrived the poor kid delivering them apologized, "Sorry it took so long but I'm the only one who is making the drinks."

We weren't really mad about it, just a little inconvenienced, but we were spending time together so it really wasn't a big deal, "It happens sometimes, I can tell you guys are busy."

The kid left on his roller skates and we both promptly took a drink to quench our undying thirst- but the drink order had been wrong. Instead of a lime limeaide and a cherry limeaide we had both gotten a cherry Sprite. There was no way we were going to tackle getting that straightened so we left Sonic and drove home.
All in all, it turned out to be a nice 28th anniversary and I am looking forward to many more- although I may stay away from Sonic for a while.


Last edited: Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:00 pm

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Amaryllis Picture

Category: Gardening | Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:41 pm

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Here is one of the 69 cents amaryllis that I bought back in January. I love the big, quad blooms. All of the amaryllis that we bought have been blooming.


Quad Bloom Amaryllis ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:45 pm

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Transgender Chicken

Category: Chickens | Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:51 pm

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So, here's a strange story. A couple of years ago we bought five full grown laying hens. As of right now we only have two of the original hens left. I noticed a while back that only one was laying, but since we weren't quite sure how old they really were I assumed that one was past it's prime.

Then, about a month ago my neighbor asked me when I had gotten a rooster. I explained that I hadn't. The neighbor insisted that one of my chickens was on the fence crowing. The description matched the two original hens.

I found them and, to my surprise, noticed that one was noticeably larger than the other. Also, she had spurs and her comb had gotten bigger.

Bewildered, I started reading and what I found out shocked me. It seems that only one ovary developes in a chicken and this is what gives the female characteristics. If that ovary gets damaged somehow then the other one begins to develop. If it is what they call an ovotestis then it can actually cause the chicken to start taking on male characteristics. In effect, it becomes a he/she.

So weird. I hate to get rid if her... um, him.. but he is starting to get aggressive with the other chickens.

Who knew such a thing could happen?


He/She ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:54 pm

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Amaryllis/Paperwhite Update

Category: Gardening | Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:06 pm

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The amaryllis are doing well, but a few of the paper whites have already bloomed. Not impressed with the smell of them though.


Amaryllis and Paperwhites ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:44 pm

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Amaryllis Bargain part 2

Category: Gardening | Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:00 pm

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My wife was thrilled with the amaryllis that I found for 69 cents each. So much so that we decided to go back and get the rest of them (I'll admit, it was more my idea than hers).

So, we make it to Walmart and put the eight remaining amaryllis in the buggy. My wife then mentioned that she really liked the amaryllis she had seen growing in glass jars. I told her that I thought I had seen some just inside the garden shop door. Sure enough, we stepped inside and found them.

Just like the other ones they weren't priced, nor was a sign posted. We put one in the buggy and made our way to one of the price checking scanners. We got there, scanned the barcode and both if us uttered the same bewildered expression, "Whaaaat?"

We couldn't believe our eyes, so I grabbed another one and scanned it. Are you ready for this? It read two cents. You read that right... two cents!

So, being the hoarders that we are we made our way back to the garden shop and filled our buggy with every one of them. We ended up with seventeen. Seventeen amaryllis bulbs for thirty-four cents! Sounds crazy, but it's true.

I can never outdo my wife when it comes to bargain hunting. In the end she managed to get seventeen amaryllis bulbs for less than half of what I paid for one... and I only paid 69 cents!




Two Cent Amaryllis ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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Amaryllis Bargain

Category: Gardening | Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:48 pm

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I've been watching some Christmas amaryllis bulbs at Walmart. They had a whole pallet of them and I knew they would never sell them all. They were $5.00, but I expected them to be marked down 50% after Christmas so I kept checking on them.

Anyway... I missed it. I went in today and they had sold them all for $1.25 over the weekend. I was bummed out until I saw some different amaryllis sitting outside. I scanned one and this is what I got.


.69 cents? ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )
Needless to say, I bought five of them Actually, I bought four amaryllis. The other was a paperwhite that had six bulbs in it.


Amaryllis ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:06 pm

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