Among Friends

[Bird mama]

@luvsbulldogs

Luvs, my husband was a freak about his computer.  At one time he had Norton running, Webroot Spy Sweeper running and Webroot Windows Washer running.  Then he would wonder why his computer ran slow, lol.

Spy Sweeper and Windows Washer got together and became Webroot.  I have never regretted having Webroot.  On the rare occasion I had to talk to them, they were in country :-)

[Bird mama]

@possummink

If I looked out the window and saw that kind of weather, we know how scared I am of strong wind, I'd be making peace with my maker.

[mousiegirl]

Hi everyone!  I just finished bathing Remmy so I can take him for a nail trim.  The girl won't go this time as she is being spayed next Tuesday so the Vet will cut her nails way back as I requested, to where they belong, and then hopefully, with regular trimmings, they will stay short.  Her nails don't recede, so no matter how often they are trimmed, they are still way too long.

I have a sort of funny story about eggplant and an ebay seller.  a few months ago, I bought quite a few plants.  He sells them in plugs, three-four in a set, so cheap to buy this way, very small, so they need to be repotted when they arrive, no prob, lol.  Well, I bought a set of three small round eggplants, thought I would try this, but also wanted a regular size.

He said he didn't still have the small eggplants, tossed them, but I told him they were still listed, so he emailed he would send those, and some regular.  Order arrived, neither of the two types of eggplants were in the box, but two varieties were, the tags I couldn't read.  I meant to email, but forgot.I planted them the other day, and googled what I could make out on the tags which was enough to bring up the two varieities, both Japanese, one white, one purple!  I emailed asking him what happened to the regular, etc., no reply.

I planted them the other day, and googled what I could make out on the tags which was enough to bring up the two varieities, both Japanese, one white, one purple!  I emailed asking him what happened to the regular, etc., no reply.

My new order of plants arrived yesterday, and in the box were FOUR MORE EGGPLANTS, and the clincher is that they were BABY eggplants, what the heck, lol!  So now, I have many small eggplant varieities, so googled recipes for babies, and came up with some, but the problem is that they are much more work, more to peel, to cook, etc., so am not happy about this, but will try.  I don't think I will plant all four, too many eggplants already, in addition to which I bought a plant from the garden center for the large eggplants.

I have my lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, small, sweet and Fresno, beans to go in this weekend, cucumbers, basil a a few more herbs also.also.

I bought some sack planters, will post pictures, as I did not have enough fifteen gallon pots for everything, and am using the expensive vege mix that I bought in bulk and that DH brings three loads a week of to the boxes.

I spent all day yesterday gardening, weather was gorgeous, today a bit cooler but still very nice, but I will be running errands all afternoon, so no gardening today.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.   DH will be off work, so two gardening days, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bird mama]

Good grief, I nearly forgot the bird of the day, lol

Western Marsh Harrier

Geez, check out those eyes

[possummink]

Luvsbulldogs,   I can't say for sure that lightning rods work, but I do know that the house has been struck since we had them installed.  While I was down here in Florida,  my DD called and told me that Brinks said the house had been struck as there were problems with the security system giving off strange signals and so when they checked they found the system wiring all messed up and that lightning had done it.

 When the house was struck the first time we were still in bed on a Saturday morning and there was a 'dry' thunderstorm going on, lots of thunder and lightning, and hardly any rain.   When the lightning struck, it came in through the fireplace chimney and hit the plaster lathing.  It traveled across the ceilings into my daughters bedroom and blew holes in every wall from bullet sized to cannonball sized.  Her room was full of plaster dust. It looked as if a bomb had gone off in that room.

  Then it jumped to the guttering and ripped it off, blew out the phones in our bedroom and wrecked the clock-radio in my son's room and started the furnace at the other end of the house. When I jumped out of bed, I got shocked by the electricity.    It also damaged the stove which was on the opposite side of  the wall where the furnace is.  Random destruction but no fire.   The fire department came and checked the whole house,  so we were lucky,   as down the street a few years later,  a neighbor's house top floor burned from lightning.  Next door to us, the neighbor's aircoditioning unit was struck after our house was struck.  We do live on a hill.  

We had a commercial company put our lightning rods on.  They installed them on the hospital down the road from us.  Thick copper wires, braided, run from rod to rod(or point as they call them) and then down the guttering deep into the ground.    I don't know if there are any DIY ways of installing them,, and I don't know if I'd feel as safe, not that I am ever feeling that way as far as lightning is concerned.   If it's threatening outside and I have to be out in the weather,  I 'shrink' , bend way over to walk. It must be a funny sight, but I know what it's like to be hit and burned and know that in an instant, life can end.   

I have a big battery that is connected to the computers and also power surge thingys that help with the sudden loss of power.  It gives me time to shut them down safely. There are also power surge things on the outside where the power lines connect to the house's wiring. 

Speaking of computers,  I have a Dell laptop with 10 on it.  Though it's different a bit from 7, I treat it like 7 and don't have problems with it.  I  do not use IE at all.  It's on here, but I use Chrome for all 4 of them and have Chrome on my smartphone.    The computer that has 8 on it, just sits and sits.  I hated 8.  I may see about getting 7 on there or 10.

I've never heard of Webroot, that Bernie mentioned.  What is it?? 

[Bird mama]

@possummink

Your lightening story - just let me say, Holy Mother of God!!!!!!

The product is called Webroot Secure Anywhere.  There are different levels depending on what you want to pay.  If you google Webroot, the site pops up near the top of the page.

[possummink]

Thanks, Bernie,   Will look it up.   

Even with the close call I had, I love to watch lightning, but from a distance.  I have over a thousand pins of photos of lighning bolts and strikes.  I've often wondered what the one that hit me, looked like.  Never heard it or saw it, just smelled my hair and skin burn and felt the blow in the head, like some one swung a baseball bat and hit my forehead full force.  A stunning blow for sure. 

[possummink]

[mousiegirl]

[Winifred]

Hey Mousiegirl - send me some of those eggplants when they are ready to eat. I LOVE fried eggplant and always cook way too much to eat at one time but do that so I can have sandwiches for several days. Love those things. Another reason to thank my Mother - she sure got me hooked on them. Bless her, she would often call me at work - I worked in Palm Springs for 40 years but REFUSED to move there - to tell me when she was cooking fried eggplant, fried yellow squash and fried cabbage - to stop by. You know I never missed that. Bless her - I miss she and Dad so very much but will say hello to both of them on Monday - they are buried at Riverside National Cemetery - my brother and quite a few friends are there also. It is NOT a sad place to go, you find peace and quiet and pride when you visit that cemetery. Bless them all!!!

Bought a new Hummer feeder today at WM - say a prayer this one will not leak. I remember the good old days when NONE leaked. For the past 10 years or so ALL leak. Grrrr.

Hope one and all had a great day!