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 (and none of the bad) in your orchids on this Orchid Sunday!

[Leafmite]

I miss the West Highland Terrier that I had when I first graduated from college. She left the birds and bunnies alone (I had a pet bunny and birds) but everything else that entered the yard would soon be laid on the patio (multiples were lined up).

If you know where the mice are coming inside, go to the hardware store and buy steel wool and plug up the holes. That is how I managed to keep them out of the house. They still get into the garage and I use both poison (which I hate to do) and traps.

Congrats on all the spikes!

Sorry about your camera. That is quite a betrayal.

[estación seca]

Often that degree of thievery is due to drugs. It might be a blessing if you could contact his relatives and relay concerns. Of course, you do not know what happened to the photographic equipment, so you can't even allude to that.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I miss the West Highland Terrier that I had when I first graduated from college. She left the birds and bunnies alone (I had a pet bunny and birds) but everything else that entered the yard would soon be laid on the patio (multiples were lined up).

If you know where the mice are coming inside, go to the hardware store and buy steel wool and plug up the holes. That is how I managed to keep them out of the house. They still get into the garage and I use both poison (which I hate to do) and traps.

Congrats on all the spikes!

Sorry about your camera. That is quite a betrayal.

I've been plugging holes all week. I also got some outdoor traps to put near the holes - these traps are weatherproof, contain an attractant, and seem pretty effective. Indoors I have a variety of traps, also earning their pay. A week or so ago, two mice brazenly popped up in the kitchen in front of me - you'd be amazed how deadly a wooden spoon can be! I don't use poisons because there are a lot of feral cats around here, and two of my dogs also hunt mice.

Yeah, betrayal is a good word. The loss of the camera isn't significant compared to the betrayal. I don't care about stuff, and stuff can be replaced. Interestingly, on Monday of last week I took the day off unexpectedly. I'd not yet discovered the missing camera and he'd moved to a cousin's home. He appeared at the house, and acted like he was just dropping by to watch TV or something; at the time it didn't seem AS odd as it does retrospectively. Had I been at work, as scheduled, then there's no doubt I'd now be missing a LOT more. On Wednesday he came by, supposedly to return my house key, literally minutes after I discovered the camera was missing - and, as it happens, minutes after I'd called the local police to report the theft. He asked to use my shower, and the police arrived while he was in there. The Smyrna, GA, police are quite serious, and sent three large, young, muscular, officious officers. By this time he'd long-since disposed of the camera (I doubt he got much at pawn) but they still searched him, his car, and then watched over him as he got his last possessions from the house, and finally hung out a while after he left to be sure he didn't come back (he's my size, half my age, and an athlete).

[Dollythehun]

As you know, I agree with Estacion, drugs make people do desperate things.

I had a boring day. Read the Chicago Trib, cleaned the bathroom and steam mopped. Cooked an enormous heirloom squash, made a Walmart run and chatted with my friends on the board. Tomorrow I am painting a horse...and watering.

[charlesf6]

Tomorrow I am painting a horse...

A horse or a house?...

---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 PM ----------

By this time he'd long-since disposed of the camera (I doubt he got much at pawn) but they still searched him, his car, and then watched over him as he got his last possessions from the house, and finally hung out a while after he left to be sure he didn't come back (he's my size, half my age, and an athlete).

Tough news Buddy but at the very least you are rid of him (some of these set-ups get really ugly when you finally do want them to leave) and he knows that you are aware of what he did ( if true) and he won't be looking to return.

Tough break but it could be that it's all a part of a learning experience somehow?

---------- Post added at 06:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------

Not much, repaired a recliner... then fell a sleep in it!

[Dollythehun]

Quote:
Tomorrow I am painting a horse...
A horse or a house?

A horse..I paint those Wonder Horses we had as kids and turn them into carousel horses.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by charlesf6

A horse or a house?...[COLOR="Silver"]he knows that you are aware of what he did ( if true) and he won't be looking to return.

Charles, I know you're trying to be kind and give the man hope/a break/a ray of doubt, and I appreciate and admire that. In this case it's undeserved. Only two people have been in my house since I last used the camera (and, as always, being a bit OCD, put it away in the camera bag wherein also sat the second lens, also now gone, and on the opposite side of the room from the spare battery and charger, also now gone), and I'm one of them. I want to be kind as well; he's a desperate person who has lost just about everything and, I still think, has a heart. I'm actually sad for him. Were there any other possibility, even a slight one, that the equipment disappeared in ANY other way then I would buy it gladly. There isn't.

I've decided that all future visitors to John's House will be strip-searched both entering and exiting.

________

I forgot to mention/address Ms. Huns and Mr. Dry Season's thoughts of drug use. It's a theory. I know he smokes green, but that's pretty meaningless. I have no idea about more expensive illegals, but I saw no sign of their use. Sadly, I know what to look for, but that's another story; in retrospect I see signs of just about everything conceivable. So it's certainly a possibility. I guess I'm more inclined to think he's just a sadly desperate person who is frightfully close to the bottom.

[Dollythehun]

Memo to self: NEVER visit John.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Cody. . .

? Lol, that wasn't me.

I spent my Saturday/Sunday playing video games until 8 am. My boyfriend started playing a game that we both had downloaded a while ago, and I decided I would pick it up again as well. For some unknown reason it has refused to function, and I spent several hours doing everything the internet suggested to get it to work. Mysteriously, this morning after we woke up, I tried it again. It was working fine until he ran it on his computer as well, then my game crashed within minutes. I'm grasping at straws by this point, but my only thought is that it's a network issue.