On capsicums

18 Nov 2011 4 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, rant Tags: , ,

Just a quick post from me today on growing capsicums from seed.

Last year, I tried to grow them from seed and they never came out to play.  It didn’t matter how hot it got, they wouldn’t sprout.  They’re supposed to like really warm weather to sprout, but I’m guessing I got a batch of bad seeds that season.

This year, I got my seeds from the same place, and they actually sprouted, albeit much slower than everything else.

I was ecstatic about them, though!

They’re doing ok now, but they are very fragile.I'll be your drama queen

Where my tomato sprouts can stand a cold breeze, these go all floppy at the merest hint of a cold front.

I’ve been hardening off everyone for a week or two now, which  means I’ve left them outside longer and longer each afternoon/evening the night, and last night was the first night I left everyone outside overnight on the back patio.

When I checked on them this morning, all the tomatoes & lettuces did really well, but the entire tray of capsicum sprouts looked like they were dying.  And the one lonely eggplant, too! I blame the capsicums for rubbing off on her.

I brought them inside right away, and put them in the bathroom where I normally keep them on cold days, and within 30 minutes they were back to being their perky little selves.

My experience with them thus far has led me to believe they are the drama queen club of my veggie garden.

To my capsicums:  All this babying better pay off, little plants.  I expect nice, sweet peppers from you in exchange for all the love and attention I’m giving you.  Love you!  Kthnxbai.

Have you ever grown capsicums from seed?  Did you have any trouble with them or other plants being difficult?

Giving credit where it’s due: pictures in blogs

21 Oct 2011 6 Comments

by Gwen in blogs, rant, reflections Tags: , , , ,

I recently read a blog post that had some really nice pictures in it.  Beneath each picture, the author had put “Source: Google Images.”  It was a really lovely blog post, but the picture sources made me cringe every time I saw them.

I realize that copyright laws and the internet can be pretty tricky to navigate, but something tells me that ‘Google Images’ isn’t the true source of any picture out there.  Google is a search engine that produces images as the results of what you’re searching for.  It doesn’t actually put the original pictures up for you to see.  A human does that, and most times, it’s the human who took the pictures, or a company that paid for those pictures.

Some people may read this and think I’m nitpicking, but it’s something that really irks me.  I also know that it’s really hard to enforce these laws, but it doesn’t mean we should use other people’s work without their permission just because we can get away with it and they’ll most likely never find out.

Look at this trippy pasta picture!

I might be hella pissed if I found out someone was using one of my images without my permission, but then again, as long as the person doesn’t claim they took the picture, I probably wouldn’t mind if they used it.  This is why in my last post, I used a picture from commons.wikimedia.org — I found a picture that I was allowed to use freely, as long as I gave credit to the original photographer.

You can take pictures yourself, or find pictures that you have permission to use.  I strongly believe in giving credit where it’s due, and I urge you to do the same, if you’re a fellow blogger!

I did some googling myself and found this great article on blogging rules & etiquette from idiotsguides.com and will definitely do my best to not steal anyone’s work while publishing my blog posts.

This article goes over what is allowed and not allowed when it comes to using pictures on blogs, and I really think every blogger should read it when they create their first blog.

Please don’t be a picturenapper! <3

Image source: Abillis

After the storm

19 Oct 2011 8 Comments

by Gwen in cats, gardening, home, rant Tags: , , , ,

Hey folks! Sorry I didn’t post yesterday — I was exhausted from getting next to no sleep and being up early, running around all day.

Yesterday started out well — I got up early to get Moose & Leon to the vet.  I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and managed to get both of them in their carriers right before the cab was due to pick us up (we don’t have a car currently).

It’s always important to me to not have them in the carriers too long because Moose & Winters really get worked up when they’re in a carrier, and have been known to rip claws out trying to get out.

And then the cab showed up.

I took them out and as I walked towards the taxi, the driver got out and opened the trunk (or boot) of the car.  I looked at her and told her that they weren’t riding in the trunk of the car.  She proceeded to tell me that they were.  I told her again that they’re weren’t.  She told me that she guessed I’d be taking a different taxi, got back into the car, and backed out of the driveway without so much as a second glance at me.

What a lovely woman.  I told her as much as she drove off.

I went back inside, called the company and said I wanted to complain about the driver they sent, since I specifically told them I was going to have two cats with me when I ordered the car the night before.  It turns out the driver was allergic to cats…

Why take a job if you’re allergic to cats? Let someone else have it. Telling me to put my cats in the trunk of your car is like telling a mother to put her child in the trunk of car, you daft woman.  They sent another driver, who wasn’t allergic to cats, and we dropped the boys off.

To make a long story short, they’re both alive and well, so far! :)

Both of their procedures went well, although the vet said she had a really hard time finding Leon’s orchids.  I feel so bad for him! I wonder now if I should’ve even bothered getting him fixed.  At least I know he won’t spray everywhere, and hopefully he’ll stop molesting his sister.

His suture line is larger than Damara’s was and his bald patch is basically all of his stomach and some of his thighs.

As soon as we got home, he started licking at his stomach (something the vet tech assured me wouldn’t happen, as his stitches are intradermal).  Luckily, I saved an Elizabethan collar from when Damara was spayed, just in case I needed it and put it on him…

Which meant that although we went to bed fairly early last night, I didn’t get to sleep until about 3am, because Leon decided to scratch his collar on every wall in the bedroom, lay in his litter box (sorry, kitty, litter on your suture line isn’t good for you) and then get the collar half-way off (twice) so his mouth was stuck in it.

I finally gave up on the collar at 3am and hoped for the best.  Thankfully, he was more interested in licking the outer edges of the shave line than the suture line, and when we woke up it still looked ok.

Leon new bikini wax

Leon's new bikini wax

The little bugger wouldn’t stay still for me to get a good picture of his stomach, which I guess is a good sign? He’s eating and drinking, but I haven’t seen him pass anything yet.

Meanwhile, nature was busy unleashing an ungodly storm on us outside all night and today — I don’t think we’ve gotten that much rain in one day all year.  The winds were blowing our big wheelie bins down the street this morning and the rain was blowing sideways pretty much all day.  I’m glad I hadn’t transplanted any of the new plants outside in my raised beds like I wanted to!

We spent today watching moves snuggled under blankets, with the two kittens snuggling on top of us, after we both had a good cardio work out on the new treadmill (yeah, we got a treadmill!).  I think I’ll be calling it ‘the beast’ since it was so hard to put together.

The storm has finally passed, leaving us with an eerily quiet sunset.  Everything looks so new outside.  The batteries to the camera died after I took the picture of Leon, so I can’t show you, but I’m sure you can use your imagination!

Just close your eyes and think of the pretty green that you get after a nice long rain.  It looks like that!

If you’ve managed to reach the end of this post, you deserve a gold star! Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who left me a comment on my last post! :) It was a good distraction from my nerves.

How were the past two days for you?

Ms. Courgette was plantnapped!

08 Oct 2011 19 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, rant, reflections Tags: , , , , ,

Warning: my potty-mouth is not filtered in this post.

She was there when I went to bed at 1am, I think.  I’m not sure.  Ben doesn’t remember seeing her (or not seeing her) when he got home either.

All I know is that I ran outside in my fluffy pink robe to throw a bucket over her because we got a freak hail storm today.  She wasn’t there. :(

Fucking theives stole my plant.

Ms. Courgette was last seen in this garden bed.

Yeah.  There are obviously asshats living near me.  Plantnapping asshats. They don’t deserve a better word with no swearing, really.

Russell, my garden security guard,  must’ve dozed off.

WHO STEALS COURGETTE PLANTS?! And the tag next to them?!

If you’re going to steal something, know how to grow it already. Better yet, grow up and buy it.

I’m fairly certain someone is just messing with us now.  Three different things going missing, all on the weekend.

Called the landlord and told him I want a better flood light.  I’m also now shopping for photoelectric beam sensor alarms. I’m sick of this shit.

I’m curious now, though. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever had stolen from you?

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 216 other followers

%d bloggers like this: