November 30, 2009
November 26, 2009
Holiday Season = Peanuts
I love this time of year because it means fun tv specials, and few things compare to Peanuts specials. ABC Family is airing "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "Come Home, Snoopy" this Saturday! Of course the typical ones are airing or going to air, but I am really excited about these two.
November 25, 2009
Wanna get grossed out before T-Day dinner?
YOU CLICKIE NOW!
bwah ha ha ha ha..... my latest deviantart submission...
Actually the joke's on me because I can still smell it.
bwah ha ha ha ha..... my latest deviantart submission...
Actually the joke's on me because I can still smell it.
November 24, 2009
Haycorns
"Hallo, Pooh," said Piglet.
"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."
"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."
"Not the big ones," said Tigger.
"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for, because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast
yet."
Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns...
After a long munching noise he said:
"Ee-ers o i a-ors."
And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went outside for a moment.
When he came back he said firmly:
"Tiggers don't like haycorns."
"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.
"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.
---------
I feel so mediocre right now.
---------
Cross-posted from my DeviantArt account: Original Submission.
"Hallo, Piglet. This is Tigger."
"Oh, is it?" said Piglet, and he edged round to the other side of the table. "I thought Tiggers were smaller than that."
"Not the big ones," said Tigger.
"They like haycorns," said Pooh, "so that's what we've come for, because poor Tigger hasn't had any breakfast
yet."Piglet pushed the bowl of haycorns towards Tigger, and said: "Help yourself," and then he got close up to Pooh and felt much braver, and said, "So you're Tigger? Well, well!" in a careless sort of voice. But Tigger said nothing because his mouth was full of haycorns...
After a long munching noise he said:
"Ee-ers o i a-ors."
And when Pooh and Piglet said "What?" he said "Skoos ee," and went outside for a moment.
When he came back he said firmly:
"Tiggers don't like haycorns."
"But you said they liked everything except honey," said Pooh.
"Everything except honey and haycorns," explained Tigger.
---------
I feel so mediocre right now.
---------
Cross-posted from my DeviantArt account: Original Submission.
Overwintering Coleus, Terrarium-Style
UPDATE!
I have a few coleus plants outside that aren't hardy here, and I really like their coloration and growth habit. There's a slim possibility they'll make it through the winter, but it's not worth risking it.
I'd first heard how easy it is to propagate coleus on Gardening by the Yard, and recently on the Martha Stewart Show, they did a segment on propagating coleus and reaffirmed just how easy it is. I started some coleus in crappy pots about a month ago, and they're doing fine. Basically, I was doing a trial run to see how I could do this before it got down to the wire.
However, I thought it might be nice to have a centerpiece of sorts and use one of my large glass vases. I'm completely new to terrariums, but they offer a way of protecting plants from my naughty cats who like to gnaw on just about everything. I also figured starting cuttings in a terrarium would be the easiest way of creating a terrarium because it's trickier to put full plants inside a terrarium than cuttings, so I'm killing 3-4 birds with one stone. I only started them within the past week, so I'll have to update on how well (or unwell) they do.
My method was pretty straight forward. First I cleaned, rinsed, and dried the vase very well. Next I filled the bottom carefully with well-rinsed gravel. Then I gently added potting soil being careful to keep dust on the side of the vase to a minimum. After adding the potting soil, I firmed it, used skewers to make some holes, and carefully stuck the cuttings into the holes firming the soil around them. Then I poured a thin layer of sand on top of the soil and around the cuttings to keep potential gnats away. Finally, I used the mister on my hose to clean the sides of the vase and add water. Some of the sand splashed onto the leaves, but I brushed it off gently once the leaves were dry again. All in all, it was a very simple process but took a little tiny bit of care.
I have a few coleus plants outside that aren't hardy here, and I really like their coloration and growth habit. There's a slim possibility they'll make it through the winter, but it's not worth risking it.
I'd first heard how easy it is to propagate coleus on Gardening by the Yard, and recently on the Martha Stewart Show, they did a segment on propagating coleus and reaffirmed just how easy it is. I started some coleus in crappy pots about a month ago, and they're doing fine. Basically, I was doing a trial run to see how I could do this before it got down to the wire.
However, I thought it might be nice to have a centerpiece of sorts and use one of my large glass vases. I'm completely new to terrariums, but they offer a way of protecting plants from my naughty cats who like to gnaw on just about everything. I also figured starting cuttings in a terrarium would be the easiest way of creating a terrarium because it's trickier to put full plants inside a terrarium than cuttings, so I'm killing 3-4 birds with one stone. I only started them within the past week, so I'll have to update on how well (or unwell) they do.
My method was pretty straight forward. First I cleaned, rinsed, and dried the vase very well. Next I filled the bottom carefully with well-rinsed gravel. Then I gently added potting soil being careful to keep dust on the side of the vase to a minimum. After adding the potting soil, I firmed it, used skewers to make some holes, and carefully stuck the cuttings into the holes firming the soil around them. Then I poured a thin layer of sand on top of the soil and around the cuttings to keep potential gnats away. Finally, I used the mister on my hose to clean the sides of the vase and add water. Some of the sand splashed onto the leaves, but I brushed it off gently once the leaves were dry again. All in all, it was a very simple process but took a little tiny bit of care.
November 23, 2009
Cactus Monday: Leuchtenbergia principis
At the last Garden Club of Austin meeting, I picked up a funny looking plant called a Leuchtenbergia principis. It's in the cactus family and the sole species of its genus. 
I imagine it was difficult to place within a taxonomy due to its unusual growth habit. It looks more like an agave at a young age which might explain why it's called the "Agave Cactus." However, it blooms from the side, not through the center like agaves do. At the end of each tubercle, there are soft spines which are not dangerous at all. As the plant matures, it forms a trunk like yuccas and aloes. Scholars have speculated that it's a mammillaria, a cycad, an aloe, a ferocactus, and probably some other possibilities that I haven't come across, so it's no wonder it was put in the cactus family and given its own genus. Apparently, it has been in and out of botanical fashion over the past 160 years since its "discovery" in 1848. It's hardy to around 20F and native to Central and Northern parts of Mexico.
During the meeting, a gentleman presented a slide show of his latest visit to the Sonora Desert, and he kept talking about "nurseries". However, these nurseries weren't places to buy plants - they were plants in nature that gave shelter to young cacti. I'd never heard of that term although I've been warned to keep young cacti out of full blazing sun. I imagine the leuchtenbergia does best with a plant "nurse" as it is a very slow growing cactus, and apparently the plant looks better in cultivation than in habitat which is true of many succulents.
Speaking of succulents, I had a friend ask me what was the difference between succulents, cacti, and agaves, and honestly, it stumped me. I ended up looking it up. Succulents come in 3 forms: stem, leaf, and caudiciform. A stem succulent stores its water mostly in its stems such as with cactus whose spines are modified leaves. A leaf succulent stores its water mostly in its, DRUM ROLL, leaves such as with agaves and aloes. Caudiciforms make their own specialty group within succulents. The most common caudiciform that I've seen is the desert rose. All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. I hope I got all that right.
Taxonomy is a wondrous thing.
To participate in Cactus Monday, go to Teri's Painted Daisies.
I imagine it was difficult to place within a taxonomy due to its unusual growth habit. It looks more like an agave at a young age which might explain why it's called the "Agave Cactus." However, it blooms from the side, not through the center like agaves do. At the end of each tubercle, there are soft spines which are not dangerous at all. As the plant matures, it forms a trunk like yuccas and aloes. Scholars have speculated that it's a mammillaria, a cycad, an aloe, a ferocactus, and probably some other possibilities that I haven't come across, so it's no wonder it was put in the cactus family and given its own genus. Apparently, it has been in and out of botanical fashion over the past 160 years since its "discovery" in 1848. It's hardy to around 20F and native to Central and Northern parts of Mexico.During the meeting, a gentleman presented a slide show of his latest visit to the Sonora Desert, and he kept talking about "nurseries". However, these nurseries weren't places to buy plants - they were plants in nature that gave shelter to young cacti. I'd never heard of that term although I've been warned to keep young cacti out of full blazing sun. I imagine the leuchtenbergia does best with a plant "nurse" as it is a very slow growing cactus, and apparently the plant looks better in cultivation than in habitat which is true of many succulents.
Speaking of succulents, I had a friend ask me what was the difference between succulents, cacti, and agaves, and honestly, it stumped me. I ended up looking it up. Succulents come in 3 forms: stem, leaf, and caudiciform. A stem succulent stores its water mostly in its stems such as with cactus whose spines are modified leaves. A leaf succulent stores its water mostly in its, DRUM ROLL, leaves such as with agaves and aloes. Caudiciforms make their own specialty group within succulents. The most common caudiciform that I've seen is the desert rose. All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. I hope I got all that right.
Taxonomy is a wondrous thing.
To participate in Cactus Monday, go to Teri's Painted Daisies.
Amazing and Hilarious Bluebird Photo
I never did submit a photo for the Dave's Garden 2009 Photo Contest, but I always have to check to see who all won. I should have known that with all the bird enthusiasts with their tenacious bird-watching patience, they would pull some of the best photos. I have to give some major kudos to the second place winner in the Birds! category, David Kinneer, for his picture of a mama bluebird returning to her adolescent chick with a worm. I love this photo because it's a perfect snapshot capturing so much action and emotion and plain hilarity, and it obviously took mad photography skills and lots of patience. I am truly envious of someone being able to capture such a moment.
Reposted with the permission of the artist
You can see more of David Kinneer's work on his SmugMug account.
Reposted with the permission of the artistHow to Pick Posts on Blotanical
Recently, I've noticed that some people are a little confused on how to use Blotanical, and I must admit that when I first joined, I was a bit confused because there's so much to see with lots of tools and features and it's very consolidated. When I was doing a test run for this video, I came across the PING option which I hadn't discovered before, so I'm still learning as well. I'm a very audio-visual learner, so I thought a video might be helpful.
This video is just on how to pick a post:
I did not go through all the options on finding a post to pick because I wanted to keep the video to a manageable size that was still easy to view. Clicking on any of the links will bring up different blog posts to view and explore, so you can click through any of them to discover which ones you enjoy and would like to pick. It's also great to check out blog posts because it's one way of discovering bloggers and blogs you haven't heard about and learning new and exciting things.
I would like to give credit to CamStudio which is the program I used for making this video.
This video is just on how to pick a post:
I did not go through all the options on finding a post to pick because I wanted to keep the video to a manageable size that was still easy to view. Clicking on any of the links will bring up different blog posts to view and explore, so you can click through any of them to discover which ones you enjoy and would like to pick. It's also great to check out blog posts because it's one way of discovering bloggers and blogs you haven't heard about and learning new and exciting things.
I would like to give credit to CamStudio which is the program I used for making this video.
November 22, 2009
Picture This! Photo Contest Submission
New Beginnings at the End of the Line
With trunks removed and branches bear
Axes chopped the autumn air.
With shouts and whoops we felled the tree.
There is still hope for fruit and bee.
There was no room for us to spare
With potted plums and a pear.
With little room to disagree
Axes happily belong to me.
And here's my comedy submission:
November 13, 2009
Ecofeminist Gardening - Rambling
The first thing I ever read that made ecofeminism come alive for me is Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide by Andrea Smith. It seems like such an odd place to start connecting environmentalism and feminism, especially since Smith never once mentions ecofeminism. However, much of her books involves ecofeminist philosophy and ethos. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about ecofeminism, Native American women and men, and the cost of racism, sexism, and the disregard of our environment. She weaves between these issues beautifully, and she makes them very easy to see. It's an emotionally difficult book, and many people cry. It's worth it.
Ecofeminist philosophy is a way of looking at the world holistically and connecting human cost and environmental cost so that one cost isn't necessarily greater than another because they are so deeply interconnected. The clear cutting of rain forests is connected to the global disparities in wealth. It isn't just a human issue, and it isn't just an environmental issue. It's both. This is probably what most attracts me to ecofeminism because environmentalism lacks the human element and feminism lacks the environmental element. Ecofeminism is a bridge between the two, and it's my preferred worldview. When in doubt, I ask what an ecofeminist would do or believe.
Environmentalist philosophy can take you a long way when it comes to gardening with a supporting philosophy, but it doesn't account for growers. It also seems to have an undertone that humans are separate from nature and should not be involved with the natural world - that humans only pollute. Feminist philosophy can cover issues surrounding growers, but it generally only talks about nature when it comes to 19th century idea that women are natural and men are civility. Not much there, right?
So what would make an ecofeminist garden? I think it would come from a respect of nature and humanity. It would be humble for sure because I can't imagine a vanity garden being an easy sell as ecofeminist. It would be vegetables and fruit. It would be making your own compost. It would be using plants that are suited for the climate. It would be seed sharing. It would be growing your own. It would be recognizing that there is a potential human/environmental cost when purchasing a plant. It would be connecting the pesticide used on plants to the child down the street with cancer. It would be growing your own cut flowers rather than importing them from Ecuador. It would be changing expectations for what the land should look like. It would be making do with what you've got. It would be a lot of the things many gardeners do already.
Ecofeminist philosophy is a way of looking at the world holistically and connecting human cost and environmental cost so that one cost isn't necessarily greater than another because they are so deeply interconnected. The clear cutting of rain forests is connected to the global disparities in wealth. It isn't just a human issue, and it isn't just an environmental issue. It's both. This is probably what most attracts me to ecofeminism because environmentalism lacks the human element and feminism lacks the environmental element. Ecofeminism is a bridge between the two, and it's my preferred worldview. When in doubt, I ask what an ecofeminist would do or believe.
Environmentalist philosophy can take you a long way when it comes to gardening with a supporting philosophy, but it doesn't account for growers. It also seems to have an undertone that humans are separate from nature and should not be involved with the natural world - that humans only pollute. Feminist philosophy can cover issues surrounding growers, but it generally only talks about nature when it comes to 19th century idea that women are natural and men are civility. Not much there, right?
So what would make an ecofeminist garden? I think it would come from a respect of nature and humanity. It would be humble for sure because I can't imagine a vanity garden being an easy sell as ecofeminist. It would be vegetables and fruit. It would be making your own compost. It would be using plants that are suited for the climate. It would be seed sharing. It would be growing your own. It would be recognizing that there is a potential human/environmental cost when purchasing a plant. It would be connecting the pesticide used on plants to the child down the street with cancer. It would be growing your own cut flowers rather than importing them from Ecuador. It would be changing expectations for what the land should look like. It would be making do with what you've got. It would be a lot of the things many gardeners do already.
November 11, 2009
Potential Photo for the Picture This Contest
The end of a short-lived bloom dangling from a stem that still has hope.
Photos never look good resized on blogger. It has to be viewed full size for the detail and focus.
Picture This Contest
November 10, 2009
November 9, 2009
Watermarking Your Images Using Gimp 2.6
First you need to have Gimp installed. Go here and click on downloads. If you're using Windows, just use the installer for windows and forget you ever saw the rest unless you're very, very interested in Linux or the source code.
Open/Run Gimp.
Go to File->Open and select the image you want to watermark.
Right Click somewhere on the white portion of the LAYERS box.
Select the TEXT TOOL in the TOOLBOX box.
Click on the upper left corner of the image and drag down to the bottom right corner of the image.
Change the COLOR to white or some other pale shade in the GIMP TEXT EDITOR that pops up.
Type out 1 line of what you'd like the watermark to say. Highlight the text, hit CTRL+C, and then hit CTRL+V repeatedly until the text box covering the image is full. For my example, I used "This is the property of notsoangryredhead. "
Hit the CLOSE button.
Click back to the LAYERS box.
Click once on the text layer you just created.
Above the layer, towards the top of the box, there is a scale labeled OPACITY. Change the OPACITY so that you can just barely see the text.
Click on FILE->SAVE AS.
Rename the image something slightly different than the original with the abbreviation for the extension (e.g., .JPG or .PNG).
Select the folder where you would like to save the folder.
Click SAVE.
A new box will pop up asking if you would like to export the image and compress the layers. Click EXPORT.
If you are using a JPG image, which is most likely, another new box will pop up asking for the quality you would like to save the image as. Between 85 and 98% is pretty common. I usually use 90% for an image I'm posting on my blog.
Click SAVE.
DONE!
Here's my before:
Here's my after:
To see how the watermark worked, click on both images and compare. The difference is very, very slight but enough. You can keep the OPACITY higher for a more obvious watermark.
There are many other tutorials on how to do this, and they range from using images as watermarks to hidden watermarks. I am just demonstrating how I copyright images.
If you have any questions/opinions/objections, please let me know.
Open/Run Gimp.
Go to File->Open and select the image you want to watermark.
Right Click somewhere on the white portion of the LAYERS box.
Select the TEXT TOOL in the TOOLBOX box.
Click on the upper left corner of the image and drag down to the bottom right corner of the image.
Change the COLOR to white or some other pale shade in the GIMP TEXT EDITOR that pops up.
Note: You can change the font and font size if you'd like as well.
Type out 1 line of what you'd like the watermark to say. Highlight the text, hit CTRL+C, and then hit CTRL+V repeatedly until the text box covering the image is full. For my example, I used "This is the property of notsoangryredhead. "
Hit the CLOSE button.
Click back to the LAYERS box.
Click once on the text layer you just created.
Above the layer, towards the top of the box, there is a scale labeled OPACITY. Change the OPACITY so that you can just barely see the text.
Click on FILE->SAVE AS.
Rename the image something slightly different than the original with the abbreviation for the extension (e.g., .JPG or .PNG).
Select the folder where you would like to save the folder.
Click SAVE.
A new box will pop up asking if you would like to export the image and compress the layers. Click EXPORT.
If you are using a JPG image, which is most likely, another new box will pop up asking for the quality you would like to save the image as. Between 85 and 98% is pretty common. I usually use 90% for an image I'm posting on my blog.
Click SAVE.
DONE!
Here's my before:
Here's my after:
To see how the watermark worked, click on both images and compare. The difference is very, very slight but enough. You can keep the OPACITY higher for a more obvious watermark.
There are many other tutorials on how to do this, and they range from using images as watermarks to hidden watermarks. I am just demonstrating how I copyright images.
If you have any questions/opinions/objections, please let me know.
November 8, 2009
Garden Club of Austin Fall 2009 Plant Show
I just got back from the end of the plant show. The Garden Club of Austin hosted its biannual plant show at Zilker Botanical Gardens this weekend. Friday morning I was buzzing around the yard and garage looking for plants to submit and spent a couple hours selecting them and cleaning them up for the show. I'd hoped that some of my plants would look better than they did, but who doesn't hope for that regardless of there being a show? Psh.
I brought them in Friday, and there was quite a buzz around my planter full of thanksgiving cactus in its bud stage. I was hoping it had the potential to win best of show, but there was some serious competition. Best of Show went to an amazing staghorn fern that was absolutely COVERED! Hard to compete with that.
Best of Show/Section Table
After the show, people were still impressed with my thanksgiving cactus, and I must admit I am very proud of it considering that I made up the potting medium myself and only started growing it this year. All was not lost on it. I still got a Green Thumb for it which is like an A+. Each plant is graded against itself and then within its section and the overall show. The Blue Ribbon (1st Place) is the 90th percentile and so on.
Thanksgiving Cactus
I actually took home a few Green Thumbs for a number of submissions.
Staghorn Fern (Green Thumb)
San Pedro Cactus (Green Thumb)
Roadkill Cactus (Green Thumb)
Buddha Belly Plant (Green Thumb)
However, not everything faired so well. I had one plant get the blue ribbon and a jar of pickled green tomatoes get the blue ribbon. I can understand why they didn't get a green thumb, so I'm not particularly upset. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't get any second or third places.
Alocasia 'Shock Treatment'
Canned Green Tomatoes (not enough liquid)
And then there was one plant that got no feedback, but it was a club plant we were all given to grow. Mine looked really sad, and it was a bit neglected. The winner had 5 large bell peppers and lots of beautiful growth.
Bell Pepper 'Camelot'
Apparently no one else entered the canning section of the show, so I won by default. Thankfully, I did get a Green Thumb for it, and I was particularly careful to pack those cucumber spears. Huzzah.
Canned Dill Cucumber Pickle Spears
So there it is. It was fun. It was great to get some feedback. It was even better to pull such good reviews/awards on my first plant show, and I guess cacti and succulents are what I'm good at. Now I'm motivated to nail the spring show for 2010. I've already got some ideas brewing.
I brought them in Friday, and there was quite a buzz around my planter full of thanksgiving cactus in its bud stage. I was hoping it had the potential to win best of show, but there was some serious competition. Best of Show went to an amazing staghorn fern that was absolutely COVERED! Hard to compete with that.
Best of Show/Section TableAfter the show, people were still impressed with my thanksgiving cactus, and I must admit I am very proud of it considering that I made up the potting medium myself and only started growing it this year. All was not lost on it. I still got a Green Thumb for it which is like an A+. Each plant is graded against itself and then within its section and the overall show. The Blue Ribbon (1st Place) is the 90th percentile and so on.
Thanksgiving Cactus
Staghorn Fern (Green Thumb)
San Pedro Cactus (Green Thumb)
Roadkill Cactus (Green Thumb)
Buddha Belly Plant (Green Thumb)However, not everything faired so well. I had one plant get the blue ribbon and a jar of pickled green tomatoes get the blue ribbon. I can understand why they didn't get a green thumb, so I'm not particularly upset. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't get any second or third places.
Alocasia 'Shock Treatment'
Canned Green Tomatoes (not enough liquid)
Bell Pepper 'Camelot'
Canned Dill Cucumber Pickle SpearsSo there it is. It was fun. It was great to get some feedback. It was even better to pull such good reviews/awards on my first plant show, and I guess cacti and succulents are what I'm good at. Now I'm motivated to nail the spring show for 2010. I've already got some ideas brewing.
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