Isn't there any news from anyone else???

[GrannyNanny]

It seems that Viktoria and I have this forum all to ourselves. Where are the pictures of grandkids, or gardens, or garden pests that you don't know what to do with?? In all the years I've been frequenting this forum, I've never seen it so sparse for new threads. Come on, my seedy friends -- what's happenin' '????

[Linda P]

Hi, Phyllis
I check in most every day, but seems like I don't get much time to post. Since my husband retired last year, he's come up with many projects that usually involve more work for me. I also succumbed to the "Facebook virus" and check that out several times a day to keep up with my kids and grandkids. I know some of our regulars are there as well. Another forum to which I subscribe is having the same lack of posting, and most of them have gone to a Facebook group. Times are changing, I guess. Back when the forum started we didn't have as many options for getting in touch with one another.
I went to an open mic night in town Tuesday to see my grandson perform, and noticed that all of the teenagers in the room were looking at their phones the entire time that each person was performing. They would look up, then look back down at their phones, sometimes passing the phone around to the others in their group.

[Linda P]

I've been trying to post a new topic but have not been able to. Perhaps I can post the picture here! My grandson has been engaged for some time, but just set the wedding date. He and his fiancée have a friend who's a photographer, and she took their engagement pictures here on the farm.

[rosemarie]

I have noticed the same thing, Phyliss. Where the heck is everyone?.So I have been getting into alot of trouble, every one is having great sales and I keep finding them too hard to resist! I go on Facebook also to find out what my family is doing, but I end up with alot of posts by people I don't know! MY bones are telling me our weather is changing but it can't make up it's mind Last night we had a little thunder and lightening and one heck of a 5 minute rain storm, the first rain in awhile and they are telling us that by the week-end we will be in the high 80s. Sheesh!!! Good thing I had my heat pump checked, it must be having a nervous breakdown!! Well at least Football is starting!!

[Carol O]

Linda, great picture!

[rosemarie]

Boy this afternoon we are having a LARGE thunder storm. Lost the signal on the TV, but so far my 'puter is working! (Duh!) How are you doing Karma?. This kind of a rain would really help Washington and California!!! How about you Carol?

[Carol O]

We are under siege right now, Rosemarie. Flashes of lightening, horrendous claps of thunder, rain coming down in buckets. The 6 o'clock news said Lewis County was under thunder attacks until 6:45pm. Well now it is 7:03 and still continuing. We had to unplug the computer and I am using the laptop. We are getting no TV reception.

Our weather is coming from the south, so I'm sure it went right over kHT, too!

[rosemarie]

That is weird, our weather is coming up from the South: lots of rain some thunder and lightening! Lost my computer, but not my lights! It has been awhile since we have had that much rain. My 'puter is back tho'. And think of all the great watering that got done.And might help with a few fire sAnd I can get back to my football game!

[viktoria]

FRST here this morning! Had to make a four-letter-word out of it...

Viktoria

[Linda P]

Dry as tinder here. The grass is crunchy, hostas turning brown even with as much watering as I can do. The 10 days or so of extreme heat on top of a month of almost no rain really did a number on the garden (and the gardener). The temps are set to go back up to the 90's again for a couple more days, and no rain in sight anywhere.

[Chris_W]

FFFFFFrost? Yikes, that seems way too early.

Once Facebook started we saw a decline on the forums which is too bad as Facebook is just a void of information, really, but the forum persists and the information posted here is out there for the public to see and can be found in search engines. When someone posts on Facebook, even good information, it is just lost in that void. I call it an information vacuum that just sucks it all up and gets lost.

Personally I wish I had more time to keep up more here but the business gets busier each year and we had less help this year too so it was a slight stretch to keep up with everything. I won't complain though, as it is almost over and we are happy with the summer

[kHT]

Viktoria, please keep the frost there!! Thank you for the reminder it's on it's way.

Thanks Rosmarie and CarolO for checking in on me, let's just say I slept through the whole mess yesterday! It wasn't hard after a visit to the dentist and
getting two crowns started. I was up long enough to move the huge plants to safety once DH told me of the wind and rain storm headed our way. I have some
awesome plants in bloom and didn't want to see them blow over either. Then headed back to bed where I slept until 8 AM, out cold!!

LindaP I hear ya on fried hostas!! I have been cutting back in order to move them this weekend due to no rain here. Need to move some of the huge ones as they
are hiding the smaller ones and we want to bark next spring. I have the peonies moved and a lot of the nanas out so the hostas are the last to go.

News from here, again the doctors are telling me to give up gardening!! A month ago I was cutting back some of our spring bloomers and didn't get an area done so two
days later I was back in the area to finish and low and behold I stepped on a nest of yellow jackets. For the past five years we have watched them in the neighbor's evergreens
and knew to stay out of that area. Some thing made them move to the brick retaining wall around the electrical box where my day lilies are. Needless to say I ended up in the
urgency care clinic with well over 30+ stings!! Not a pretty sight and it was a quarter to 5 PM!! Call DH and told him to get straight home as I took Benadryl and was headed to take
a cold shower to pull off stingers. He then took me to the clinic where they were stunned I was still standing. More Benadryl and s shot of steriods in the right arm, then had to promise to see my regular doctor the first of the week or they would of sent me to the hospital. So I go in to see the regular doctor on that Thurs. with a bruise the size of a dollar on the arm where they shot me. She orders massive amount of blood work due to this bruise. She is also shocked that my BP was so low!! I have white coat syndrome and BP is always off the charts. So back to taking my BP again until it's back to normal readings. Needless to say more bruises showed up with taking of the blood but the good news is all the test were in the normal ranges so I passed. She was also pleased that I was down 15 lbs and told me to knock off the stress! She didn't like seeing me loose all that weight, but I'm fine!! Then I did the teeth cleaning and found I needed triple crowns!! Two now and one after the first of the year. Old dental work in the 1970s was starting to fail so I plan on living until I'm over 100 so it was crown time!!

As for FB, it's a thing of the past!! I didn't want to go there and have set my settings to the bare min in reading what folks write. It used to be flooded with every day things but
I have to much to do!! Then with getting the smart phone and having it tied to FB, it goes off in the pocket to the point I keep it on my desk! Love ya but FB goes off every few seconds!!

[rosemarie]

Geez, Karma, from the size of your garden I can see why the Drs. want you to back off on your gardening!And the bad weather does not help, except we don't have to water, at least for awhile. We had a heavy rain most of the day yesterday, which is unusual for us, and ditto the thunder and lightening.So today we are cloudy again and but the weaather yahoos say we will be in the 80's over the week-end. It's always something!

[kHT]

Hey Rosemarie, just finished putting all the plants back in their homes so I'm good for today! I even got the circle blown out so no need for a street sweeper.
We got well over an inch here over night, which is great news!! I'm tired of the garden hoses and glad this will green up the lawns that were allowed to brown.

I'm starting to think about where the plants will go come winter time as I had two well over 9 foot passies to put away. I know they and the birds of paradise won't
fit into the house this year. I have to many Iochromas that will need to come inside as they won't make it in the cooler temps we keep the greenhouses. To wet to
move hostas today so I'm back inside being good.

What is with the thunder and lighting which we hardly ever have here. Makes me think of the good old ones from the midwest??

[GrannyNanny]

whoeeee! All sorts of news -- thanks, all of you responders. I have never gone on Facebook -- don't want any more info about me roaming around in the ether than is already on it from emails. Hot here, too -- in the 90's again this week, after a State Fair week in which we got to 107 degrees with the combined heat and humidity. Sheesh! We are promised a cooler day ONCE this week, so I'll get out and work in the garden on that day but not otherwise. Frost, Viktoria -- surely you jest, except that I know you don't do that with such things as gardens and weather. The Weather Gods have definitely lost their sense of proportion!. Phyllis

[viktoria]

You are right, Phyllis: frst is nothing to joke about!

KHT, I would be dead! Cold chills race down my back when I read about being attacked by yellowjackets. My gardening (and other) days will be over when I can no longer run faster than they fly.

With great reluctance I finally went to Facebook. Most of my customers, friends and family are there and like to communicate that way.

Viktoria

[Linda P]

I totally agree with you Chris. If you ever want to find something that you saw the day before on Facebook, you might as well not even try. On the other hand, some stuff makes the rounds over and over, most of it variations on the useless scare emails that used to fly through emails.
Karma! I'm sure glad you were okay. I have docs telling me to give up my garden too, but it ain't happenin'. She knows that it keeps me moving and flexible and she says I'm probably her healthiest 'senior' patient. I have a LOT of stuff to move yet this fall if possible. Three or four peonies need new spots, along with at least a dozen daylilies, and 60-70 hostas. I will likely not get it all done, since the heat seems to be determined to stay here and the rain to stay away.

[Carol O]

For the past few years, I have given my green seedlings to the Master Gardeners for their spring plant sale. Today there was a community garage sale down at the espresso coffee stand. I decide since I give them away anyway, I would load the green seedlings up in my van and sit the morning out at the sale. I was giving them away free, but my donation can held $24.10 at the end of the day. Hahoo!

[newtohosta-no more]

I go on Facebook a lot also, but it's probably the easiest way for me to keep in touch with friends and family members who live out of state. I do check it several times a day when I am home. I haven't done much gardening the past couple years because of a back problem, but I really do need to get back to it. Maybe next year. Gee......I think I said that last year too!
I wasn't pleased to see that word "fr*st" appear! I am just NOT ready for winter yet and that's a sure sign we are getting close. I hope we have a long Autumn and a short Winter, but I doubt I'll get my wish.
Glad to hear your business did well this summer, Chris! You provide excellent plants and customer service, so I'm sure word has gotten around that you're the place to go for products and good advice!
I guess I just don't have much news to share. My daughter got married a couple years ago and there are no grandkids on the way...yet, but I remain hopeful.
My son got out of the Army and is working now and decided to go back to school also, so he stays busy.
So things are going pretty well (knock on wood) and I can't complain. I do check in here once or twice a week to see what's going, so I can keep in touch. I'll try and keep that up.
Oh.....Linda....I love the engagement pic of your son and his future bride!

[Pandora]

That is interesting about Facebook. I don't plan to ever use it. DH and I are both in the computer field and see too much about it. I've been pretty inactive in my gardens and online for a couple years and now it seems all garden forums are almost dead. I was wondering what happened and FB is probably it.
Since I've gone to mobile devices, it is very easy to keep in touch with family and friends. I'm more likely to twit or text, than type out whole sentences and paragraphs. Lol
Chris, nice to have good business in tough times.
Karma that is quite a bee episode.
We had about the wettest Spring and Summer on record, now dry as a bone. This was the worst growing year I've ever had for vegetable and flowers. As, the Browns' fans say,, Next year!

DH and I just took a quick trip to the beach. 11 hour drive, stayed 4days and 11 hour back. Whew. One day we stopped and got Subway for later lunch. DH got brilliant idea to stop roadside, walk to beach to eat there. Had nice walkway put down towel and started to eat. Oh, did I mention wind. 25 mph or so. We had to hold onto everything and eat one-handed. Oh, did I mention crunch crunch, grit in my lunch. It was truly a "sand"wich. What a funny adventure. But, very nice vacation. Lots of fun.
Pandora