Wow it's been about 6 months since I've been on here and I really, really miss it. My job keeps me busy and my computer at home is so slow that I rarely get on it. In fact right now it's blown up so it's time for a new one! I lost my computer and a few other appliances to a ice storm a few weeks ago and haven't had time to replace anything yet except the washer which after a couple of trips to the laundromat, it was replaced asap! We had an ice storm and lost power for 11 days. We ran the generator each evening so we could use lights, microwave, tv, water & water heater. For heat we used to small propane heaters. Let me tell you, it was cold in there (we were able to keep the room we were in around 62 degrees) as the outside temps were well below 0! We made it and now just hope we never have to go through it again. I got a week paid off work since we didn't have power at my work either. That was sort of nice but I was getting some serious cabin fever by the time I got out and about! I have some pics that I took so if you want to see them, message me and I'll send them out.
What else is new....I didn't get much gardening done this year. We did have a small garden at my work so I had a few fresh veggies but didn't get much done at home. We had a lot of 100+ days this past summer so everything took a beating. 100+ days sound pretty good to me right now as it's 4 degrees out as I write this!
Just wanted to get on here to say HI to everybody and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I will try to get on more often now that the construction season has pretty much come to a halt!

Welcome back, hdsporty! Hope you get to visit more often now...

Dianna

Hello, hdsporty!
Nice to see you.
I was thinking that exact same thing today.
I will never complain about the wonderful heat of summer EVER again! :rolleyes:

Hope to see you back soon!


Cindy

Sorry to hear you had to go through all that. I hate being ccccold. Brrr. Glad you found your way back here, and don't worry about "catching up" , just jump right in!!!

hey sporty! glad to see you back, we missed you!

Hey sporty, sorry to hear you lost power---but we're awful glad you are back!

Heyyyyyyyy Amy, how you doing???
I was sick when you peaked in....
Figures..

Can't believe all that cold...
That's alot of work to stay warm..
Thank God for generaters, huh..

Did you get out on your bike this year??
I was just talkin' with Francine about
you the other day, and how you ride..
She goes for alot of those toy runs...


Anyhow... how's the job? It's not new anymore..
is it still better than the old one????

Did Iowa ever get ahold of you???

My "new" job is going great. I absolutely love it. I did get to ride quite a bit this summer but of course, not as much as I would have liked to! I haven't heard from Iowa and I see that she hasn't been on for a long time--even longer than me
We're still having really weird weather here. Yesterday was the 1st day of sunshine since Dec 24th and I was so nice to get rid of SOME of the ice we have layering everything. We've had rain, snow, wind, fog...you name it. Fog has been terrible lately. We on the downhill slide of winter (or so I like to tell myself!) and pretty soon it will start to warm up! Just wish it would hurry.
Hope you're feeling better Weezie. So far I've made it throught the winter without getting sick (Knock on Wood!)

Hi Hi!!!
Iowa peaked in the other day, and I wasn't
quick enough to get ahold of her...
Darn it!!!!

I wasssssssss just talking about you the other day with Francine.. They *hubby and her* ride in Toy Runs and things like that....told her to catch you when you got on...

Although both she and him just had some boo~boo's happen, sooooooooooo not sure when they'll be riding... hopefully by SPRING!!!

Well, certainly hope you peak in on us again!!!

Hopefully Francine and her hubby didn't have too serious of a boo~boo! Apparently they live in a warm area since the only riding we do this time of the year is on a snowmobile! I don't like riding my bike when it gets too cool so you can bet I don't get on a snowmobile and freeze my a$$ off during the winter!
We're supposed to get into the upper 30's today so I'm pretty excited. 1 more day of Christmas left (at my parents tomorrow) and then it's done for me until next year. Oh, except for the cc bills that I have to pay now

Hi Sporty!!!

Heyyyyyyyyyyy Sporty, where you be??
Getting any riding time in?????

I'm really here! It's been too long again. It's been a really hectic summer so I haven't gotten to ride very much at all. Only about 700 miles on my bike when I usually have over 2000 by this time. Sturgis is coming up pretty soon though so I'll get to put some miles on there. Summer is flying by way too fast. Too many things that I want to do but not enough time. My yard looks like it too. We're extremely dry again so my grass has already gone dormant. The only good thing about that is I don't have to mow it.
Has anybody heard from Iowa Delhia? I read through a bunch of posts but never did see her anywhere.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I hear you on that one.... a 76 yr old mother, and two young boys and a husband gone 6 days a week for 12~14 hours a dayyyyyyy, I hear you loud and clear and then some...

I have wondered about you often, just about every time I see a Harley and wondered how much fun you'd been having on your bike...

We haven't gotten out on my husbands' yet this summer..
Tooooooo many darn things in the pot...

No, I haven't heard from Iowa..
I also wondered how she was, she'd had a few mishapes around the house between relatives and garden and farms stuff...

How's work going??

A lot of my riding friends haven't been able to ride this summer like they generally do either. We're supposed to have super hot weather the next couple of weeks (without any rain in sight ) so we probably wont' get the bikes out then either. Last summer I went on a poker run when it was over 100 degrees and it wasn't even fun. I was sick from it for a few days afterwards too so it's not worth it. It's one extreme or the other around here! I see we have another Harley gal on here!

It's been hot here, but not 100's....
Then rain and gully~washers and for awhile there it was sooooooooooooo cold and overcast.

Just weird wacky weather that is for sure..

I'm so jealous. We need rain SOOOOO bad. We got less than an inch in June and none so far in July. The crops are looking really bad. They're comparing our drought to the dirty 30s. It's the worst that I ever remember it being. Hub hasn't been in the best of moods lately!

I can imagine..
It must be verrrrrrrry hard....
I garden for relaxation and a wee~bit o'eatin' supplies...
during the summer..
but I couldn't imagine having to rely on it
for a living...

I often think of the being a Pioneer back in the days,
I don't think I would have survived..
I get side tracked and my supplies would be eaten up by bugs,
and I wouldn't have much luck saving and storing my seed supply...

I am heading back outside for a wee~bit,
don'ttt be a stranger Amy, stop back in more often..
It's good to see you chatting..

If it was up to me, I'd probably have the farm run to ruin by now! My husband is a very good farmer and thinks way into the future before he does anything. Some of the farmers in our area have had to sell off their livestock since there's no water, grass or hay for them. I feel terrible for them. We're not that bad yet but another year or 2 like this and we'll be right there with them. It's sad that all they have worked for all of their lives is gone due to lack of rain. I'm so glad my dad retired from farming a couple of years ago so he doesn't have to go through the worry and stress of this.

so glad to see you!

My husband works with farmers..
and he knows...
Here this spring, alot of them took a chance with early planting of corn..
it was dry and no rain, but it was nice soooo early in the year.. and gambled the "spring~rains" wouldn't be bad or at all or as much (cause it was so dry that it might be okay) that they planted probably close to a month early...
And they got a good crop in, and ahead of schedule and it's rained just enough.....
to make it happy...

But they also know it can/could go bust any day..

Well, hope you get some Motorcycle ridin' time in for yourself...

*speakin' of which, Jiffy just got another motorcycle a couple days ago too*

Howdy, fellow returning member! It's been months and months since I've been here. I hope you feel welcome.

imtraz

Now I'm curious about what Jiffy got for a bike. I have a ride planned for tonight. Just a bunch of us gals getting together for a supper run. Forecasted high for today is 102 degrees with high humidity so it might not be the best day for a ride but it's a short one so I can deal with it. Counting down the days til Sturgis...

Let's see, what have I done in the garden this year....I mainly planted a small shady spot on the north side of my house. I put in a bleeding heart, 2 hostas, aster, spiderwort & a day lilly that is on the corner and will get more sun. So far the bleeding heart has died (but I think it's supposed to die back in the later summer--is it? somebody relieve my mind and tell me it's so!) and the aster doesn't look like it's going to make it either. Might have mixed a little too much manure into the soil before planting. Everything else looks good so I'm 3 for 5!

She told me, it's a Yamaha, and it's a V-star 650 Yes, they can....
Sometimes mine does, but alot depends I think on rain.. and soil.. I compost alot and water to keep moist and they can stay.. but if it's hot and dry and a long summer they tend to say, GOODNIGHT, see ya next year..

Asters don't require much care or too much soil ammending.. they live along the side of the road here, and are quite hardy and self reliant...
(*I loveeeee Asters, they are one of my favoritests.. and my birthday months' flower,
I let every kind grow around here and I have tons of it, several kinds/varieties of the white, dark purple, light purple... the only one I couldn't grow was the dark pink.. )

Have you tried PM'ing Iowa?????

My aster is purple if I ever get it revived. I do water it most evenings when it's this hot. This is a horrible spot to get anything to grow in so I'm lucky to have 3 of 5 left. Of course next spring they might decide to make a comeback for me. My fingers are crossed. Plants are NOT cheap!

That's why I grow the one's that don't need much
help..
I've got oethenara's *yellow sundrops*, grecian windflower bulbs, snow drops bulbs *spring time*,
Hollyhocks *they reseed*, LUPINES reseed prolifically*, euphorbia's, purple alliums, walking/nodding alliums, COLUMBINES reseed prolifically, hens~n~chicks, assorted sedums, and some more...
but I hardly EVER water that bed, and they grow...just rain..(of course now, I might get more than you do here, but that bed is almost half under pine trees, and so it is hot and dry most of the time)
So, those are the tried and true survivers' here.

I didn't even think about moving some hens and chics back there. I have a ton of them and they went crazy this year. A lot of the bigger ones ahve 2 towers coming out of them! I have to keep cutting them off or they'll topple themselves over. What do you do with them when the grow "up"? I just toss them but if they're good for replanting or anything, let me know!
My healthiest plant on the whole place (besides the weeds!) is a yucca plant that I have dug out twice now but it keeps coming back! Now it's just going to stay and I'll learn NOT to weed too close to it with my bare hands. I have creeping jenny that grows up amongst it and I'm always slicing myself open when I try to pull them out. I just can't walk past it without trying to pull some out of there! They're the most detested weed and almost impossible to get rid of.

The hens~n~chicks when they tower up like that are making flowers..
It will flower for a bit, then die... and will make more babies on the sides eventually..

Yucca's are very drought tolerant..

Is this the Creeping Jenny you're talking about??
I actually let that stuff grow..
I sometimes pull hunks of it, and put it in a hanging pot that holds some water..
It makes a pretty hanging basket when in full bloom!
If you make your soil so fertile, it will pull otu sooooooo much easier... and sometimes some plants can't stand the soil to be soooo rich in nutrients...*although, if it's the one above, they don't mind it* but if you put alot of manure down *the aged kind* it makes the soil very pliable and they pull out so easy, cause their roots can't hand on..

what we have is different. It's a vine that will cover an entire yard and it's got white flowers on it. It will choke off your plants, evergreens and other plants. I tried to find a pic on the net but all i found was like yours. I do have my camera with me today but have no idea how to post a pic!

Take the picture, put it on your picture place
(or open a free account at www.photobucket.com)
and put your picture there.. then copy the URL from that picture..
Come back here, CLICK ON THE FULL REPLY FORM, and find the two columns under options,
click on the last one, IMAGE,
there'll be a blue http//: thing, either delete or backspace on it, and PASTE your URL there..
and click on ADD REPLY...

Holler if you need more help..
*sometimes I leave a step out*

Now I've gotten busy at work so I'll try to get it asap!