Orchid Sunday

[jkofferdahl]

Nov. 27: It's hard to believe it's Sunday again. I'm starting this thread, rather than adding to ES's Saturday thread, just because. Please, no offense to ES's thread yesterday - I'm just used to being chatty on Sunday!

After this week, the only way I know that it's Sunday is because the NFL is on TV. Fall has finally arrived in Georgia. It's in the high 50s, and bright but overcast. The dogs are really excited by this weather. All three seem to have a temperature switch in them and when it gets cool like this that switch ups their energy about 3 notches! (The same switch essentially turns them completely off when it rains and they need to go outside.) Even Sully, with his bad leg, struts about like he owns the world! There's just about nothing in life that makes me smile and feel good like seeing my dogs so happy! No matter what happens in life I know that I can always count on my canine brothers to get me through the day, so, yeah, I spoil my boys. What's especially nice is how, as they cavort around the yard, they come over to me, tails wagging, then lick my face before going back to play. Yes, I take a chair into the yard just to sit with them.

This has been, as I said, quite the week. In late October I had invited a friend to stay at my house for a while after he lost his home and, essentially, his family. I've always believed that when a friend is down it is my duty to help; call it a fault of my upbringing. I bought a bed for him to sleep on because I didn't have a guest bed (thank you, divorce), fed him, put gas in his car so he could get to his job, and generally did what I could to make him at home. He moved out over a week ago, and supposedly is now in Asheville with his father. On Wednesday I discovered that my camera and lenses had been carefully removed from their storage bag (the bag was left exactly where and as I'd last put it) and were gone. From when I'd last used it, only one person other than myself entered my house. My insurance is doing very right by me, and I've been able to order a replacement which is actually a nice upgrade, but to trust a person and have them do this is really nasty hurtful.

Orchid-wise things are up and things are also a bit down. I'll talk about the down first. My house sits by an exceedingly overgrown empty lot. As you can imagine, overgrown empty lots are rodent-havens. This is the first Fall I've not had a cat in the house and so the mice (I'm pretty sure the OB would censor my comment if I called them what I want to call them) are coming in. Did you know that mice EAT ORCHIDS??? Neither did I, but they do. They got growing spikes on 2 or 3 plants (I initially thought I'd somehow broken them off) but now have started eating leaves. First the leaf of a cornu-cervi was almost half-eaten and today I found the growing leaves of two bellinas had been chewed up. I've virtually lined my plant table room with mouse traps. WAR IS ON! I'll state right here that there will be mouse blood spilled and mouse bodies strewn. Now, they're not getting to my kitchen grow window, which is a good thing because that's where seedlings and minis live. And in that room, if it CAN happen it is happening. I love the kitchen window because each time I look at my plants I discover cool new things. Back in August I bought 2 or 3 Phal stuartianas and 5 or 6 schillerianas; the plants are young, about the size of a mini-Phal and so I figured about a year or so from blooming size, if not longer. The largest is perhaps half the size of another schilleriana I have and which is both fully-grown and in bud. They must be happy, however, as every one of the plants is in spike! If they hold (and if I let them grow to bloom) I should have a nice show in late January! Meanwhile, both my P thailandicas are also just spiking, as is P Vio Vio, P heiroglyphica (it's on the table but not mouse-chewed), and a couple other virgin hybrids.

In other news, I am seriously considering another cat. Despite my cat jokes on this board, I am very fond of them. There actually was a cat here last year (her name is Rorschack) who got along with the dogs and yet had a truly vicious attitude toward most other life. A cat like her would fit in nicely here, and having a cat bed next to my light table might be a good thing.

I hope that all of you are finding similar good news in your orchids on this Orchid Sunday!