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debbie_n_ontario

Need a Garden Buddy from Northern Ontario.....November

Debbie_N_Ontario
18 years ago

Hello Buddies,

Yep it's November already. I have been keeping busying deocrating for Christmas. I can't seem to sit still too long Of course son is teasing me because I started so early but I could put them up on December 20th and he would still say it is too early. *S*

The Christmas cactus in the living room has started to bloom and I think there are going to be lots of flowers on it this year, if the cat leaves them alone. *S* I will try and take a pic of it in a few more days when more buds have opened.

We still haven't been able to catch the last remaining fish in the pond, so I guess he's a goner. Which is sad as I've had them for so long they are like pets now. I've tried and son has tried, he is just too fast or we are just too slow.

The trees are mostly empty now and the hosta leaves have all turned their autumn yellow colours. I haven't done anymore fall clean up as it has been too wet and cold outside. We have had snow three times so far, but thankfully it has melted.

I still have some things from the garden to bring in but just haven't felt motivated to do it yet.

Got a new downspout put on the back corner of the house as damp was getting into the basement and causing mold on the rec room wall. We cleaned up the "wrecked room" the other weekend and in the corner where a lot of boxes were piled we found the mold. So does anyone know how to get rid of that?

The roof over my closet now leaks and we have been waitng for the guy for almost a month now but I guess he is hoping for snow so he doesn't have to go up there. Then the prong of the kettle pulled off and got stuck in the outlet on the stove so the stove guy is coming over today to fix that.......can u say things are falling apart? *S* So I'm going to Wally world today to buy a new kettle.

Marcia, did u get all your bulbs planted? I'm so tempted to buy some but then I'd have to weed around them next summer.

Gale, did u get all your fish moved back into the house?

And Jak, how is the new house coming along? Are u all settled in now?

Take care everyone and stay warm.

Debbie :-)

Comments (5)

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Well woke up to snow this morning. It had been raining yestering so I was surprised to find snow on the ground.

    Still have some green plants in the garden yesterday. Some calendulas were still showing orange flowers, they are a tough flower and they reseed themselves every yea. Some green leaves left on the petunias on the patio too in window boxes, no flowers though just leaves.

    It seems to be a very strange fall, I don't mind though as it hasn't really been too cold and the birds are still sticking around.

    They have started to put things up in the park for Christmas but have a few weeks before the lights get turned on in the park.

    Have a good day!
    Debbie :-)

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago

    Hey, Debbie! Haven't been here for awhile, but i checked in this evening and there you are.

    Yes, it sounds as if your house needs a rehaul! LOL Have you gotten everything fixed yet? I bet your son could get up on the roof and find that leak! What about your fish? Maybe if the two of you went out and tried at the same time, one of you could scare him into the other's net.

    All the bulbs were planted in plenty of time. I don't mind weeding around them - to me, it's worth it when you see those gorgeous blooms nice and early in spring! Ack - how can i think of spring when we had a snowfall today? :( It'll melt, i know - the temperatures are supposed to be warmer next week, but still...

    Actually, i have pretty much everything done. Last weekend, i organized all my containers and put them away under the deck, and even got going on the last length of foundation bed at the back. Dh had put gravel all along the back, thinking that the weeds wouldn't grow through, but they did of course. Over the past few years, i've been slowly shoveling out all the gravel and replacing it with flower beds, and now that's almost done. I might get my son to haul a few loads of dirt to it this weekend so that it will be ready to plant in the spring.

    There are about three containers left to dump. I still have petunias blooming inside my mini-greenhouse! I don't know what i'm going to do with them because i'll have to take the plastic cover off before it gets too cold. Maybe i'll just take more cuttings and see if i can keep them going inside.

    Other than that, i'm starting a bit of seed trading. I don't have a real lot of saved seeds this year, but Patrick Studio had a clearance sale, so more are on their way. Where oh where am i going to find room for these things?? What a dilemma! :D

    No Christmas here yet. I never think about Christmas until after my daughter's birthday, which is next week. Guess that's soon enough, eh? I've actually gotten a few stocking stuffers already (so i lied about not thinking about Christmas! LOL). I'll be making a few gifts this year, but i'm not pushing it - i know me better!

    Oh, i just read about the mold in your rec room. You have to watch placing things too close to outside walls. We have a few spots in our basement too. Hard to get rid of the stains, but i think washing the area with lemon juice will help. Are your walls drywall or panelling? I just read something about painting a wall with some kind of vapour barrier paint. That sounded interesting. You should check into it.

    Not much else going on, so i'm off to check some other forums. Take care!

    Marcia

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Hi Marcia,

    Woke up to snow again yesterday. It had melted on Thursday, but it was snowing all day yesterday and we still have it today. It's gotten colder too.

    Son has arthritis in his back and can't do a lot of things he use to do for me anymore so I don't know what we will do about the roof. Won't get anyone up there now with the snow on it. Our roof is pitched so steeply it's hard to get up there unless u have a very high ladder.

    When is your daughter's bd? Son's is on the 26th.

    We have drywall in the basement and there is suppose to be a vapor barrier behind it so I was wondering how the mold got thru? It's in the spot where the hydro line goes underground into the garage and the corner where the downspout was missing. So I was wondering if somehow water got in thru that spot? That is why I got the guy to come over and put a 10ft downspout there to get the water away from the house. I will look for that paint u mentioned too.

    Good idea about the fish. I will have to pick up another net and see if we can still catch it. It's hard getting son over here to help do stuff though. Now he works outta the house and looks after daughter it's harder than ever!

    I took some pics of the Christmas cactus and it is really blooming nice this year. This was my grandmother's or a piece from her plant. I remember Nana having it on top of her tv when I was little and she has been gone since the 1960's. I even have it in the same old silver fruit bowl that Nana did that she painted green. She painted everything green. LOL *S* I've had the mother plant to this one for over 20 years and it is amazing how long they live. Mom got the plant when Nana died and I got a piece from Mom's and the one that Mom had I'm sure has frozen as no one would of bothered to bring it back into the apartment when she got sick. So this one will be extra special to me now. I took a few cuttings from the mother plant I had a few years ago and gave son's fiance a piece of it to grow on too.

    {{!gwi}}


    {{!gwi}}

    Take care
    Debbie :-)

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago

    I wish i had more luck with Christmas cactus. Mine bloomed nicely once, and it looked like it was going to again last year, but it fizzled out. Maybe needs more light. It's in the porch now (cooler) and in a west window, which is where it was last year when the blooms started. If that happens again this year, i'll leave it there until there are more blooms. Being the sucker for punishment that i am, i bought one at Safeway on the weekend that looks as if it will be white.

    What's wrong with painting everything green? :) LOL My daughter tells me i have way too much green in the house. I tell her, "Never enough!" Her birthday is on Wednesday, btw. Not much of a celebration for her this year as they just heard that her boyfriend's grandma is in the hospital and not expected to live much longer, so they're heading to Winnipeg tomorrow to be with her.

    We have panelling in the basement, and a vapour barrier too, but we still get mold in the outer corners if something is up against the wall. Dh says it's because houses are too airtight nowadays. We never had that trouble in the house i grew up in, which would have been built in the late 40s or early 50s.

    Our snow did melt, but it has been so grey and dismal out there. The time change makes it worse - total darkness by 5:30. Yuck. It's supposed to be milder by the end of the week. Yesterday, i hauled my own dirt to that little area behind the house. It could use more, though, so maybe i'll do that on the weekend. I'm still waiting for the ground to start freezing so i can dump leaves on the gardens. It'll be pretty final, then. Sigh....

    Ttyl!
    Marcia

  • Janet_On
    18 years ago

    Morning,

    Just got back from a trip to Flordia, running from hurricane Wilma. What a vacation, only thing I can say about it is that in the three weeks we were there we saw most of the state, and the lovely greeny, everything is so lush. Wouldn't you just love to live in a rain forest type yard. Hubby said that I was going to be charge for being a peeping tom as I couldn't help but look in all the yards.

    Under my front window I still have petunias trying to stay alive with flowers, also the pansy are still in bloom. No snow that has stayed yet but it sure does feel like it. I also have to dump some leaves in a few places. I take my christmas cactus and put it outside every year, it does great and blooms like crazy. I have had it for years, would love to have one in white.

    Busy sending out resume for a p/t job, so much I want to do, but no funds. Want to rip out the carpeting in the lvingroom and put in laminate flooring, so off to work I go.

    Later Janet

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