A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Coffeehouse 2295...Let's go for a drive..

A new week starts with a new coffeehouse.

Calling for some showers this afternoon then clear for the rest of the week, thinking I might take a drive to the garden nursery tomorrow and buy my veggie plants and some annuals

Not much planned for today, my sun burn is still achy

Good morning. It is still cleaning around here for me. Not my favorite thing to do.

morning Tina...lost my 'gumption' today. I feel tired and lazy Ya I said it, it's true

I want to work outside, not in. I am procrastinating. I went out to move my hoses and sprinklers around and stayed to rake a little. But it is getting on for 8 am and time to wake my kids with the vacuum cleaner whether I feel like it or not. I will defeat the cobwebs in the end.

You go Tina

I'd like to be digging outside as well but I think the rain is almost upon us..looking rather grey out there. I really should be taking apart my sewing machine to see what's clunking...

Nothing to report. Had to go to the BIG town this morning. Yuck. I much prefer the country.

You go get those cobwebs, girl!!

Still vacuuming and cleaning in segments. Then resting.

WOW tina here any time now you are going to have to put on "shades" because your house will be sparking so much.

but yes rest much--you do not want to strain the foot again

My house will never, ever sparkle, Carol. And it has slid way downhill with my concentrating on the outside so much. But I truly felt that getting the fire danger taken care of was most important. So my last year has been out there with barely much done indoors. I spent some of the rainy days sorting, tossing and storing stuff inside. But barely touched what needs to get done still. My visiting friend is a very good friend and will understand. I won't let many people inside right now.
I have been online checking out the consumer reviews of vacuums. I would like a new one that will handle our rough stuff and keep on ticking. I know I'm going to burn up the cheapo that I have.

check out the Dyson for pet hair. Both of my girls have one and LOVE it.

.I figure if it can pick up pet hair it will pick up just about anything & has got to be sturdy?/

I have a Rainbow, but have mixed feelings about it. It does have some nice attachemnts though.

Otherwise I suggest sticking with a well known brand name.
Good luck with the search.

I'll be gone all or at least most of tomorow.
Places to go, Things to do, People to see..... :wink:

& goodnight to everyone...

I own a cheap $100 Bissel(Powerforce 12 amp Max) from Wal-Mart, I've had it over 7 years and runs great yet..and trust me I am hard on vacuums

Morning all, freezing outside..calling for a high of 50*F today No wonder my garden doesn't grow.

Thinking of going to visit my grandmother today then heading further into town for a few garden supplies and other treats. Took a little money for myself from the calf sale

Juniegirl, stopping 'running the roads'

Good morning, Tamara. Thanks for the vacuum endorsement. I have owned a number of vacuums over the years. I am very hard on them also. My most current is also a Bissel Powerforce 12 amp. And still works quite well. I won't get a new one until this one dies. I really use my vacs at times when I should be using a shop vac. I kill them with crud we haul in along with wood for the stoves and such. Today I am going to vacuum more. I had thought to get more done yesterday but my foot is definitely slowing my life down.

I need a new vacuum, too. Except for the two guest bedrooms and the kitchen, we have all parquet floors (and only a couple of mud mat throw rugs in front of the doors) and what with the dog hair and stuff we drag in... . Whew! When the light is right, you can see the paths we take through the house.

But what I want is a wet/dry vac cleaner. I have a little "flip it" but it's way to small to do the whole house. What I'm talking about is one that has a reservoir tank for putting in cleaning solution. So you'd dry vac the dust & such, then be able to clean the floor.

Good. Something to do-- go look at web sites and see if I can find what I want. An excellent excuse to just sit here. I was out in the melon patch from 7:30-11. IT was getting hot. It's 92* with a "real feel" of 110* now.

TTYL!

Where is everyone?

Well, I'll chat with myself. I did find the vacuum/cleaner I want. And I also found one that I want and can afford. :-) With all of the other stuff we need on the farm, I cannot justify $400 for a floor cleaner. Geeze.

We've had some pretty nice afternoon thunderstorms here today. This is good. I only wish I'd gotten further along in side-dressing the tomatoes. I am so far behind, and it's been so hot that my plan now is to look forward to a late season tomato harvest. I was so gung-ho getting my seeds started & whatnot, but totally lost it with respect to getting the gardens tilled up. Way too much company in May, bad rainy weather in April, to wet to till... . Blah blah. Breaks my heart to see those little 2' plants trying to make tomatoes. On the other hand, the pepper "trees" that are 4 years old and were in pots that survived the ride in the back of the truck from Cincy to the farm and a lot of other insults have been in the ground for about a month and are cranking out the peppers.

The first year in a new place is always the hardest.

Now here's a question for everyone. This is Coffeehouse 2295: Time to go for a drive. Where do you go when you get a hankering to just go for a drive?

I'm here.. so busy today.

I never just go for a drive, gas is just too expensive here.

Oh I must add, we all need a new vacuum.. those new ones just call my name but their prices say no way when I get there.

My seeds only got planted last week, picked up tomato and pepper plants today. We had frost here a week ago.

I usually go to a few nurseries that are further afield than the local stuff. They have much more interesting plants than Walmart or Home Depot. More expensive but worth it sometimes.
How much is gas there, Tamara? I am paying over $3 a gallon.

Tina, it's down to about $4.50 a gallon and my truck is a guzzler. We have another private nursery here(20 minute drive)also, I haven't gone in 3 years, got tired of dropping off resumes and never getting an interview ...way,way too expensive like 5 times the price of Wal-mart.

Put me on the list for a new vacuum--BUT here is another delimma:

Does one spend their $$ on a new floor/carpet ?, or do they spend it on a new vacuum???
I have no clue which way to go about it??? I cant do both...

I paid $2.63 a gallon for gas yesterday in Staunton IL

Today I Missouri it was $2.59 a gallon.

Today in Edwardsville, IL it was $2.67 a gallon

Its $2.93 in Sultan, Wa

Yes, Cal is usually more expensive for gas than most places except NYC. And of course Canada.
I want new floors, badly. My carpet is a mess. Under it all is plywood, not a pretty sight. Although I am considering ripping up the wall-to-wall, sanding and polishing the plywood and living with it and a few throw rugs.

I would love a new vacuum but wouldn't know where to start. I need something that is good to my dust allergy, can handle a lot of human hair, and is not very expensive. We can't replace the carpet, we're renters so that would be up to the landlord. I prefer he replace the windows if he was going to replace anything though. The living room and kitchen windows are not very good. The vacuum we have now came with the house. The last tenant either didn't want it or forgot it. I've had to take it in once for repair, which only cost me about $30. I have no idea how old it is but it looks nothing like what's in the stores these days. It keeps going though. We actually had something funny happen with it yesterday. It wasn't getting everything off the carpet very well and was smelling funny. I pulled out all the the hair and stuff and it didn't make a difference. Thinking that our vacuum was on the fritz I starting telling Aros about it and he noticed that the hose was still attached. No wonder it wasn't sucking up very well.

The kids only have one week of school left. Next Tuesday is their last day. The girls had a really rough day at school yesterday. On Saturday there was a really bad apartment fire and five people died, four of them children. One of the kids went to the girls school. The girls said that everyone was crying, it was really depressing, and they basically had no classes. The school board had brought in some grief counselors to help out. It's a really sad story.

I'm getting pretty sleepy so I'm going to start thinking about heading to bed. See you all later!

That is a sad story, Cheryl. Prayers for the families involved and for all of the shaken students.
I am heading to bed also. Good night all.

Oh my Cheryl, so sorry. Prayers for your girls and all families involved.



Well you wait for a really good sale and do both I have no rugs or wall to wall carpet) but NEED my vacuum for getting in and under and into everything, I have a hand vac also but the Bissel works so much better on my couch and chairs(next set will be bought a lighter color, that's for sure).
I need new floors as well, most of my floors are those peel and stick tiles..they'll do for now but someday I'm gonna break the bank and buy myself something better.

Morning all, sun is shining and it's supposed to be a hot one, gonna spend the day outside with my lawn mower and tools..and planting my new plants.

Good morning. Lots of busy days for lots of busy people.

Morning Tina...on a lunch break here. Oh my the deer flies are out in full force..ouch.


Who sent me this nice heat? almost 80*F here today.

We have nasty deer flies too. They will not be gone until the beginning of next month. I hate those things. Then we have some large biting black flies. Those are fairly new here and I don't know their weather/territorial habits. But they are quite welcome to leave. We don't have much livestock nearby to be pestered by too many other flies, thank goodness.
I am still cleaning and doing a little cooking as it is still our June gloom season and cool in the mornings.

Hi Tina, our bigger blacker flies are called Horse flies..and when they bite, they cut..not just a little sting, a full cut..hurts something awful.

The deer flies have my horse in fits today..

It gets cold here overnight as well but our days are slowly warming up...well not like you'd ever find it warm here(you get the real heat) but you know

Off to hand mow around everything..makes one wonder, "why did I plant that there?"

O.k. out of all the land we own, I just had to take the piece with the 210 ft long and 7 ft deep ditch. Honestly...either I'm getting older or that ditch is getting deeper I need to figure out something in the next few years 'cause using that push lawn mower in that ditch will be the end of me.

In for a 5 then out again with the weed wacker..

The ditch is getting deeper. There's no doubt about that!

The bug guy was just here. Very good news.

We have these huge big giant biting flies back around the pine plantation. They are just awful. It's hard to go back in there now-- even on the paths John has cut around. I hate flies.

Yuck. I have errands to run-- the kind of errands that I can't postpone. Yuck.

Most of our horse flies are a large iridescent green. They bite too.
Is there anything you can plant on the sides of the ditch to keep the taller growth down, Tamara? Depending on the pitch I wouldn't even want to drive a riding mower down and up and down again. I'd get seasick. Or tip over.

Hi Tina and Marica,

OMG, you could never use a sit down mower..too deep. In fact a few times I have even fell with the push mower...just don't tell DH. The ditch is only 2 and a half feet wide in the bottom, took me 3 years to clean it all down to grass(pulling trees and stumps)..I hate to see it fill in. Some people tie the handle of the mower to keep it running than tie a rope to the mowers and pull them up and down,..but if you fell with one that way..you'd definitely lose a limb.

On another break, cooking DH's supper than back out I go. I've been burning ant hills

Oh. That sounds like a recipe for disaster-- tying lawmowers. Geeze. I'm all for being resourceful and for creative thinking, but at some point you cross over the stupidity line.

Is the ditch a drainage ditch? Does it have a purpose? ... Could you convert it to a "water feature?"-- like a landscaped waterfall/pond?? Just trying to help.

Just looked at Merme's photos. Looks like everyone is having a great time. Too bad they got rained on.

I should go do something constructive. Right.

Yup, a drainage ditch that can't be piped or filled in...we already asked.

Naw, can't do anything with it, it runs 210 ft long...most people leave them filled in with brush and cr@p, it ruins the whole look of your lawn. And I can't slope down the front lawn because of where the power pole is..a no-win situation.

Burned 2 ant hills, planted two perennials and my peony..lawns all done. Now off to grab a good shower..or two

I took two showers yesterday. Unless I go out and get very grubby, one will do tonight.
I went shopping for a couple of items I forgot yesterday and some fun stuff to tuck into the treehouse for my company. Filling the fridge with snacky stuff and the cabinets with a few things too. Midnight snacks are going to be an easy reach.

Now I want snacky stuff..should have eaten my supper, I was just too busy.

I had no real supper either:

raw veggies & dip

potato casserole & corn

I still "want"

I think it is a popcorn night here.......

While it is still cool I have a big lasagna in the oven. I will cut it and freeze it in meal sized portions when it is done. And have a trial piece to see how it turned out.

that sounds like a very very good idea--sounds yummy.