Author: D. L. Keur

The Plant

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I have an Angel Wing Begonia that’s OLD.  Very OLD.  It was given to me by Mom, and I kept it for many years.  When it outgrew my house, I gave it to Undean, who had it for about ten years, then gave it back when it outgrew her house.  I put it in the garden for the summer, because it really was too big for anywhere in the house I lived in, and, come Fall, a lady who loves plants indicated a desire to own it.  So I gave it to her.  

Under her care, it got even BIGGER.  And it bloomed like crazy.  Then, a year or so later, times got tough for them and, ultimately, they moved to a very small, unfinished house that had few windows.  The plant had to go, and it went to her mom’s house, but not before losing a couple of it’s numerous shoots.  

Helping with the move, I snagged the one that hadn’t been walked on and stuck it in water, hoping I could save a small piece of the heirloom plant.  Sure enough, it rooted for me, and, holding my breath, a year later, I put it in soil.  

Moving a plant from water culture to soil culture is hard on the plant.  Very.  I did it in stages, adding soil to the water (mud), then, finally, moving it into a legitimate pot of soil.  And it survived…and thrived.  And now it’s big enough that it outgrew the living room window (which it loved).  I’m holding my breath again because the only place for it is a rather dark corner with no morning sun, fitted with a tall, artificial daylight lamp.  

If it doesn’t do well there, I’ll move it back to the big picture window, even though that’s going to take some major redecorating to accomplish.  We’ll see what happens after a few weeks.  The plant may be okay.   Then, again, I might be calling on hubs to disassemble the bookcase/sill under the front room window.

Means Provide Opportunity, Only

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I get a lot of requests from folks who want to “make a go of it” on their own.  And I can do that.  I do it well.  But.  Providing the means doesn’t provide the self-incentive needed to achieve the desired goals.  Providing the means can’t provide the motivation to do the work needed to succeed.  Providing the means only creates the tools and functions necessary to get there if someone is willing to apply themselves and do the work.

Reality? Most people want you to do it for them while they, doing nothing, reap the benefits.  I don’t sanction that kind of attitude or that kind of behavior.  I certainly won’t enable it.

Taking a Breath…Or Is It Limbo?

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I seem to be stuck in some sort of hazy holding pattern today — very unlike me.  Tuesday, I watched Obama become President, and, as someone else said somewhere, I can proudly say “my President” again, something that has not been true for eight, if not sixteen, years, but especially these last eight with GW Asshole.  Wednesday and Thursday were hell days, though.  Kind of a “back to work” nightmare with emergencies to handle with a client’s email and DSL troubles and bookkeeping/tax work to accomplish.  Then there was the “lasted into the wee hours” meeting with business associates.  After all that, I went to bed promising myself that I would get back into my “regular working routines” tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow is today, and today was like this vague daze.  I walked around unable to even contemplate doing anything productive.  Oh, I tried, all right, but every time I sat down to approach a project, my brain just went on standby.  I couldn’t even line out a decent priority to-do list of what remains on my plate to get finished by the end of the month.

Just not like me.

My mother calls it taking a breath.  Or is this limbo? Whatever it is, I can’t seem to fight it, so I might as well take the rest of what’s left of today off with good will and acceptance.

——

On a positive note ending this post, when the WordPress told me “no misspellings found,” it gave me a grin.  Thanks, WP.  I needed that!

One Thousand Raindrops

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I sit outside at morning twilight and listen to a thousand raindrops.  It’s quiet, except for the raindrops…and the wind (I think).  But, wait, there is no wind, no movement in the treetops. Is it, then, the lake, its waves?  No.  That underlying roar is raindrops hitting a thousand roofs.  One thousand raindrops each upon a thousand rooftops while humans mostly sleep.  Good morning.

I’m Spending Winter Moving Snow

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Winter started late here, around December 15th, but when it started, it opened up the gates with vengeance.  The day before it snowed the first 18 inches in one dump, I had a “niggle” to get straw down on the roses.  I did that, spending hours banking roses and other perennials.  That night, bam, eighteen inches of white stuff, then plunging mercury to the tune of -7 degrees.  I shoveled the snow from the driveway onto the straw I’d set, and just in time, because then came the wind at 45 mph, with bursts to 60, all from the Northeast — bitter with wind chills to -45.  Wow.  And, uncannily, it kept throwing down snow, though typical of cold, bitter weather, it was relatively light in accumulation with very little water in it — light to shovel.

This cold weather lasted a solid week and a half.  Then it warmed up and snowed some more — warm at 20 degrees, mind.  And it’s kept right on snowing and snowing and snowing.  We’ve had a good, solid five feet that has compressed itself down to about three and a half feet when one day it had the audacity to warm up above 34 and RAIN — yes, rain — and load what was down with water, decreasing height and increasing weight dramatically. Then it was back to more snow, snow, snow…and it is STILL snowing.

Last winter we had record breaking snows of eight feet down here in the valley.  This year we are well on our way to the same sort of volume, and it all has to be shoveled or blown.  Which is what I’ve been doing to three places since December 15th.  

And the new snow blower?  Ariens, no less?  Very expensive, to say the least?  And supposed to be a top of the line heavy duty commercial machine?  HAH!!!  I does fine with the light stuff, but bogs to hell and gone with anything that resembles N. Idaho normal snow.  Blasted thing was obviously designed for California suburbanites — paved drives, once in ten years snow accumulations of one inch, and wowy-zowy, see how pretty I can do it.  Here?  Ah, nope.  I spend more time wrestling it out of trying to climb over itself as it bogs and upends its front end, or digs its wheels down and stalemates itself.  Ugly.  And I paid how much for this monster?  *Sigh*

I’m getting very, very tired.