A cool front came through and today we didn't even turn on the air. I baked in the oven!
I also sent a photo of my plant to the extension agent who told me I had Curly Cup Gumweed. I was instructed to pull it up, dig out any tubers and do it NOW before the yellow flowers made seeds that blew all over the state. Even cattle and wild animals don't like this plant. It tastes bitter and is very invasive. Oh...the nursery who sent it to me better duck! I've got a few words for them. I'm trying to put them into civil sentences before I call them up and see what kind of response they give me. To think I paid good money for Curly Cup Gumweed. Sounds like a plant on Sesame Street growing in Bert & Ernie's apartment. They sold it to me as milkweed.
Mom got her stitches out. Now she has to use her elbow again. She can get her hand up to about 6 inches from her mouth. She can't quite say the Pledge of Allegiance because she can't get her hand over her heart--yet. (She teaches preschool and does theh pledge twice a day.)
School starts Monday for my kids so we're putting finishing touches on supplies, clothes, all those details. Lots of fun!
Heidi

Dianne, Congrats!!!!

Your Angel package is in the mail and I'll send the # to your email.

I will not be around for Sept. and Oct. as I'm going on a trip. Going East but my hubby hasn't let me see the plans yet. I'll check in once in a while.

Have a good 2 months.
gmom
Sharon

Happy Friday!!

Sharon, Have fun on your trip. How exciting! Not knowing where your going.

Shirley, your "Angel" is in the mail. Just got back from the po :) DC# 0312 0090 0000 8208 2296

Cool, breezy and a generally wonderful day today...and the best part...a box of iris arrived just a little while ago...tee hee!
OH...A PLANTING I WILL GO...
vina :D

Sharon hope your package gets to you before you leave!! Have fun on your trip :) A whole month!!! Hope you have some wonderful things to share with us when you get back...like pics lol...Enjoy your trip :)

And in case you never got your confirmation # it's 0311 3260 0001 1292 6513 ...my email has been whacky lately off and on so not sure if it may have got lost or maybe i got sidetracked and didn't send it...hope you get it soon...you should :) and it's super nice getting to know you, dianne

Right back at ya, Vina!
I too, just got back from mailing your angels!
DC# 03121430000296841932.

Safe Journey, Sharon! And yes, pics and stories when you get back!

Heidi, good to hear an update on your Mom; hopefully the elbow will "straighten out" quickly!
And I think I would be raising a little cain over the Curly Cup Gumweed, please, it doesn't even look like any milkweed I've ever seen!

Hi to everyone else, now to get back outside and do some more "rain damage control", not that I'm complaining! We've had rain everyday for the past 5 days! Two days ago it came down pretty hard, for quite a while, which is what caused a little damage.

Talk to ya all later!
Shirley!

Heidi I got my package today...OH I so LOVE it!!!...I've been wanting some gladiolias and don't have any so those will be my 1st glads lol...and the keychain is beautiful!!...now I can carry an angel with me everywhere i go...thanks so much...I just don't know how to thank you lol...wish i had a working camera so i could take pics to show everyone...maybe by the time the glads grow and bloom i'll have a camera :)

The angel package from me is on its way!
Jeanne

The rain beat down and drowned my kangaroo paws too Shirley along with a few other things...my kangaroo paws look dead as they can be :(...my fault for leaving them out there in the rain but it was raining super hard and i didn't want to go out in it...and then when the rain stopped i thought i'd let them soak up the sun and heat and that they'd dry out...they didn't get fully dry before the next batch or rain tho and it's continued this crazy cycle...so i looked it up and it says to cut it down and cut all the dead off and it will come back...the only thing i'm wondering is do i need to bring it inside or leave it outside...it's an australian plant and dies back in winter but comes up every summer there...hope i didn't kill it...

The rain nailed my Black Adder Hyssop, Diane, it all bent over on top of the Monarda, lucky I left it there after it bloomed, or the BAH would have been down on the ground! It's still blooming, so I'm trying to get it staked; it's a bit of a mess! Nothing else got beaten down, thank goodness!
Gotta go eat some dinner!
Shirley!

My package has gone out and I did get DC. The receipt is in my car and I am in Columbus at my sons house and took our other vehicle. I will post it when I get home, I promise.

Going to spend tomorrow doing some fun shopping, My sons and husband are going to an airport where there is skydiving. The sons are jumping and there is no way I am going to watch. We will spend the evening visiting. On Sunday, we are doing the Color me Rad 5k on Sunday morning. Wish me luck. I don't plan to run the whole thing but do plan to do the whole thing.

Will let you know how it goes. Margo

Wishing you all the luck in the world, Margo! What a great thing to do!

I know what you mean about watching our kids do something like skydiving. I watched my oldest son rapel off a bridge once, not a very pleasant experience, I ruined the camera.

A cool but sunny day here, no rain, took a walk down to the river to get shots of the low water, but DUH, it filled back up again, did I just say it rained for 5 days! Sometimes I really wonder about myself!

Later,
Shirley!

Good Morning!
Just wanted to wish FOTESS member Corrine a Happy Birthday! Hope your day is a good one, Corrine!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday, Corrine! Have a wonderful day.
Jeanne

Good Morning FOTESSers,

Happy Birthday, Corrine!

Whew! what a week. Or maybe I should say "what a month!" And I thought things would slow down once we got back from the field... more updates on that later. Right now I'm juggling all that comes with being out of town for 9 days, returning to the office this week to be greeted by 40 incoming laughing gulls at our aviary, plus trying to finish up 2 assignments & a test for class I am taking that ends Aug. 29th. Once I catch a breather, I intend to share some of my field adventures (photos included).

Heidi, I received your package. Thanks so much!! Heidi sent me 2 angel figurines, and seeds for Datura (Angel's Trumpet) and Schizanthus pinnatus (Angel Orchid). Wow, these flowers are beautiful! Down in southern Louisiana, Angel's Trumpet grows as a long lived perennial and can be found overhanging city sidewalks. They really cheer up a neighborhood. My mom and sister are both down there, so I will also grow some of my seeds to give plants to them as gifts! I have tried to make cuttings from a friends plant in New Orleans, but was unsuccessful. Hopefully I will have better luck with seeds! They make for a magnificent blooming plant!

Last night I finished making your angel, Heidi! So everything is packed up and waiting to be picked up from the mailbox today. Your DC # is 9405 5036 9930 0110 3949 13. Hope you enjoy!

Wanted to share this photo with the group. too. It was taken by my step-dad, Dale Lowery. It is titled Prayer Orchid, and I thought it was fitting of this month's FOTESS theme. Dale is a photographer and has some really amazing photos, especially ones of flowers, plants, and other natural things of beauty. (If anyone is interested in seeing his other photos, you can on his FB page: Lowery Photos)

{{gwi:1290471}}

OK, back to the salt mines for me. I've got a million things left on my "To Do" list.

Katie

Sharon sent
Dianne sent
Ellie
Annie
Margo sent
Jeanne sent
Shirley sent
Vina
Heidi sent
Katie sent

Happy Birthday Corrine! My husband's birthday is tomorrow. It's a tradition in our church to "rat out" anyone with a birthday during the week. My 12-yr-old is making sure he's there to be "ratted out." I just finished decorating his birthday cake.
Dianne, I'm happy about the glads! I am tempted to buy them over and over, but I don't want to dig them up in the fall. I'll stick to other bulbs. When I saw you were in a warmer zone I thought maybe it would work better than here!
Katie--can't wait to see some photos and hear your stories. Learning is great any way you can get it, but stories are the best!
Heidi

Hieidi, Happy B-Day to your husband; hope he doesn't mind being ratted out!
And Vina sent her package out!
Spent the day wandering around Monroe County, also went a little farther north hunting for the Grosse Isle lighthouse. only to find that it is on private property. Drat!
Later, Shirley!

Thank you, Shirley. I'm glad for the help!
Sharon sent
Dianne sent
Ellie
Annie
Margo sent
Jeanne sent
Shirley sent
Vina sent
Heidi sent
Katie sent

Well, sons made it down from the big sky just fine. They loved it.

We ran the 5k today and I didn't do too bad. My youngest son was 7th in and my oldest was 15th. They weren't keeping track but the boys were. I came in not too far from my 20 year old daughter so I was pretty excited about my finish. This was a leukemia fundraiser and there was 4000 people there. It was held in a parking lot in Columbus. I have to work tomorrow so was careful when running through the coloring stations for fear I would be all stained up. They were throwing corn starch colored powder and at some stations it was mixed with water and sprayed on as you ran by. I barely got any on me but it washed off the kids just fine so want to do it again and really get into it. It was so much fun to do with all of them. The picture is 3 of my 5 and the one guy in front is my daughters boyfriend.

Pic didn't go through so trying again.

The finish line.

Great pics, Margo, congrats on finishing the race! Way to go!
Nice looking kids, very "colorful"! See what ya mean by avoiding the cornstarch and water! How long did it take all of you?

Long, slow day here today. In the mid 70s, and that's fine with me!
Have a great day tomorrow!
Shirley!

I'm impressed! Our church had olumpics today. Our family has been known to be a fierce competitor in the egg toss. We were outdone by some very compeitive high school boys and young married men. I think they threw their egg 40 feet and caught it!
You all know it's been hot and plants went dormant. I had a 5' cherry tomato plant that fell over in a wind and I left it there. The roots were still in the ground. In fact, it was easier to pick them as the tomato plant grows horizontal! Because things went dormant most of the tomatoes are tiny. I took some pictures. I would call the 'pea tomatoes' instead of cherry tomatoes! The quarter is rather difficult to see on the gray background, but I used it so you could compare size. The few larger tomatoes that grew don't look very good.
Heidi

I recieved my box from Dianne today. A wonderful box with a long letter. In the box was a pop can wind chime with butterflies, An angel with a stand holdig a heart shaped plaque that says..."YOU WARM MY HEART". A canning jar painted with flowers and fruits. Inside the jar was candy sticks, gum, and flower seeds; Poppies-2 pk., white rose,pink downy phlox, White moon flower, red hollyhocks, peas, and chamomile. Thank You Dianne. Great box.

I made these upcycled aluminum plant tags this morning. I cut up an aluminum soda can and punched holes in the tags. Then I placed one tag on a napkin and wrote the name of the plant. (I wrote the name on the back so I had to write 'backwards'.) Each spring I generally pull/dig something up I shouldn't. I'm trying to tag as many of the plants as I can in an inconspicuous way. Pens, greasepencils, popsicle sticks, plastic, pencil and electrical tape have not stood up to the weather. I'm hoping these do better. I attached them with a nylon tie like the blue one in the picture.
Heidi

Ellie,

Angels in August is finally headed your way.....

DC# 0312 0090 0001 5685 7768

Heidi, aluminum plant tags...love it! I have seen this before...quick and easy!

Annie

Love those tags. I will definitely use that idea. It is great to put in pots when going to swaps too. Thanks Heidi

My package came from Jeanne today. She was very creative in how she chose the seeds she sent. She sent
Shoo fly
Transparent yellow tomato
gaillardia goblin
Love in a Mist
Forget me not
Delphinium-blue
Coreopsis - Sunray
Marigold -Suger an Spice
Lychins - Angels blush

I bet many of these you can figure out why she sent.

Along with the seeds were notecards with a cherub angel and some bee stickers. Both very cute.

Thank you Jeanne, you did good with the angel theme.

My DC number is finally being posted, 03112550000343435122 although I just checked and it has been delivered.

Margo

Shoo Fly?
Transparent Yellow Tomato?
Margo or Jeanne, please explain!
Shirley!
Oh, Duh, forget Shoo Fly. Just got it.

Margo I love the shirt that says go time lol...looks like ya'll had lots of fun... :)

To those that had birthdays and family birthdays happy belated birthdays...hope all had a wonderful special day on their day :)

Sharon, I'm so glad you like your angel package...on your profile you have quilting as 1 of your hobbies and when i found the angel it reminded me of quilting...enjoy your vacation...glad you got the package before you left :)

Heidi I love those tags...gonna have to try that as i've tried about everything too and nothing works...it either gets washed away or fades with time...

The kids started back to school today...so I've been doing things that haven't got a lot of attention lately that need to be done...finally got the pots of flowers outside weeded out and some of them repotted in between rains today...it wasn't too hot this morning and felt nice out for a nice change...plan on doing some more tomorrow if it doesn't rain all day...may even get up the go-juice to weed eat so hubby doesn't have to when he gets home from work...

Hope everyone's week started out good :)

TTYL, Dianne

Yes, Margo, my package arrived today and you were more than generous! Margo sent an angel cookie cutter, some lavender bath soak, a pretty angel pendant on a silver colored chain (love it), some delicious candy called "Sea Salt Caramels" with dark chocolate (very delicious), and she spelled out angel with the seeds she sent:

A - Alyssum Royal Carpet
N - Nicotiana Baby Bella
G - Gaillardia Galla Peach Frenzy
E - Echinacea Coconut Lime
L - Lobelia Queen Victoria.

How smart of you to do it that way!
Anyway, I love everything and thank you so much.
And thanks, Heidi for being such a wonderful hostess!
Jeanne

Wow I would have never thought to spell it out like that!! A very neat idea...and original...

Happy, Happy Birthday, Vina!
Hope you have a great day!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday, Vina.
Have a wonderful day!
Jeanne

Sharon sent rec'd
Dianne sent
Ellie
Annie sent
Margo sent
Jeanne sent rec'd
Shirley sent
Vina sent
Heidi sent
Katie sent rec'd

Happy Birthday Vina. I, too, love how A-N-G-E-L was spelled out. I knew you all had hidden creative juices!
Heidi

Happy Birthday Vina.

Finally got to the post office. Ann your DC # 0308 2040 0000 9888 8031

Raining here today...feels so good to have a day reprieve from heat. Trying to get a few things done in the greenhouse since its cooler today. Have a great day everyone!

Ellie

Whoo Hooo! I got my Angels in August from Vina today, what a great package!
She sent:
A glass Angel ornament-where did you find this?
A red stuffed felt heart magnet;
and a little book, appropriately named "Peapod" the little rabbit with a big heart!
She really nailed the theme with the seeds she sent:
Poppy Angel Choir
Poppy Mission Bell and
Poppy White Cloud!
Also sent White Baby's Breath and Red Baby's Breath, which I REALLY wanted because I wasn't very successful harvesting seeds from my BB plants!
And here is a picture of the Garden Angel she sent; you're right, Vina, it is right up my alley!
Thank you, thank you for a great package!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday Vina :) Hope your special day was awesome!

Sharon I received my angel box today...and I love it :)...knowing the history behind it kinda makes me feel like part of your family lol...i know that sounds quirky but your Christmas Angel will have a loving home on top of our tree and every time I hear the wind chimes I'll think about friendship...thanks for passing these special gifts on to me :)...thanks also for the tea's and drink mixes and the cards and postcards...they are lovely.

Included in my box was a nice card explaining the history behind the gifts, a Christmas Angel tree topper that is from Sharon's family Christmas tree, Angel wind chimes, some different tea's, some flavored mixes for waters, some cards and postcards that are pretty and have angels or scripture on them...that box really makes me feel special :)

Oh and how could i forget to mention the seeds...my angel seeds are purple datura angel trumpet and blue and white columbine :D
It's all the better as I didn't have any of these...thanks Sharon :)...I had got so caught up in the tree angel that the seeds escaped me...and i'll tell ya'll why...feb 2011 our house burned down...so Christmas 2011 we had to get new ornaments and decorations...our tree survived because it was in the shed...we were low on money and so we made do with things i bought from Christian and Goodwill centers and some dollar store ornaments...we used a cheap star on the top as I couldn't find an angel that seemed just right for the tree...our old angel had some meaning behind it too...so now i'm all the more excited because now i have an angel that i think will be perfect...she is simple but beautiful :)...i also didn't have any windchimes either...as all my windchimes were on my front porch and we haven't used any money to replace them yet...so those are the 1st windchimes for our new home...wow I didn't mean to go on and on lol...but isn't it wonderful how God uses people we don't even really know to bless us!!! ...just had to share that...forgive me for being sentimental lol

Morning!

I had a terrific B-Day yesterday! Thanks for all the well-wishes. Worked in the garden most of the day yesterday. Taylor got her letter for "back to school" from her new teacher. Hubby surprised us with a special dinner.
WONDERFUL DAY! :D

And, I rec'd my ANGEL from Shirley!!

Shirley and Margo must have been in cahoots because she spelled A~N~G~E~L~S too...LOVE IT!

A~ Ammi (I love the picture you sent!)
N~ Nigella: Blue
G~ Geum: Mrs. Bradshaw (THANK YOU! Mine didn't make it this summer. Try, try again :) )
E~ Euphorbia: Amil Jassa (The picture you sent for this is so pretty!)
L~ Larkspur: Splish Splash
S~ Sweet Corn: Sugar Pearl Hybrid...YUMMY~

She also sent a lovely angel coloring book. I hope this is for the kids, because they have already claimed it! Thankfully, they didn't see the angel stickers...I have claimed these, lol.

Shirley, thank you so much for everything. You are so creative!!

This has been such a fun swap.

Have a great day everyone!
vina

ps. Shirley, I just noticed that you rec'd mine as well. PHEW! Glad the angel made it one piece. I got her at a craft show. The lady who made her says she's a guardian angel. She's suppose to hang in your car. But, I think she's cute enough for anywhere :)

I love the stories and the pictures. We had a house fire, too. You think, "I have one of those! Nope, not any more." Replacement items become special, too. Someone gave us a blanket that became our favorite. We all want to snuggle in it--because it's soft and warm and because it gave us a feeling of security and comfort during our difficult time. Thank you for sharing.
Sharon sent rec'd
Dianne sent rec'd
Ellie sent
Annie sent
Margo sent
Jeanne sent rec'd
Shirley sent rec'd
Vina sent rec'd
Heidi sent
Katie sent rec'd

I found something on the internet. Do you know what August is? It's National "Leave Your Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch" month. Maybe next year we'll have to do the Zucchini Swap! ha

Shirley, I am not sure about the transparent yellow tomato but I will definitely grow it.

Jeanne, glad you liked the package. I made the lavender bath salts and sure hope it didn't put a lavender smell/taste to the chocolate. I tried to wrap it good.

My daughter is feeling better although they aren't sure if the cyst caused the problems. Yesterday, someone hit her car in the apartment complex she works at. She has only had it for two months. The driver had no insurance and no license. He was arrested when he left the lot. Then her and her husband came home to water gushing from the apartment above theirs. The water heater pipe burst. There was water throughout the bedroom and bathroom and it has stated to seep into the living room. What a day for Elizabeth. We went to help with moving things and fortunately they didn't have any damage. We took them out to eat to give them a little break.

Tomorrow is another big day. Our youngest of five is going off to college. I think I need a vacation.

Margo

What a day, for real!! Those poor kids!
A vacation does sound good.

I think the "transparent" means the wings?

I had a scare with the computer today. I did something really stupid, and why, I have no idea, but somehow I changed the default settings so that everything, including all the icons on my desktop were going into my HP software, which I can't get out of, once I'm in. I couldn't get online!! I finally found a systems restore type thing on the control panel and was able to go back to Monday's settings and voila!! Everything was fixed! Kind of scary tho.
Maybe I learned my lesson this time!
Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!
Shirley

Oh, my... lots going on in everyone's lives!
I just wanted to mention that Margo received her package also and posted. Since some wondered about the meaning of the seeds, I will give it a try. The last one is obvious.

Shoo fly - angels fly
Transparent yellow tomato - sometimes angels are shown as spirits and a bit transparent
gaillardia goblin - goblin - same idea
Love in a Mist - angels love everyone and the mist (same as the above with goblin and tranparent)
Forget me not - our guardian angel will not forget about us
Delphinium-blue - angels in the blue sky
Coreopsis - Sunray - sun and sun rays are in the blue skay
(same idea as above)
Marigold -Sugar and Spice - Angels are nice like sugar and spice
Lychins - Angels blush

Okay, so not so hard to figure out.
Wow, August is going by really fast, but I love fall!
Jeanne

Thank you Katie! I love, love, love it.
Katie sent me a handkerchief angel she made herself. It's so delicate and pretty.
She also sent:
Viscaria Oculata Rose Angel (Catchfly)- 2 packages
Viscaria Oculata Blue Angel (Catchfly)- 2 packages
Salvia Patens Blue Angel
We had also been doing a seed trade and she was waiting for her white coneflower seeds to mature so I received many seeds. I'm doing the seed dance around the house right now! I am bound and determined to have poppies growing next summer and Katie sent me seeds for that!
My mom's arm is doing well. She got stitches out and the cast/sling is off. They want her to use it. She's in physical therapy, too. She can't quite get her hand to her mouth or put her hand over her heart for the pledge of allegiance, but she's getting there.

Sharon sent rec'd
Dianne sent rec'd
Ellie sent
Annie sent
Margo sent rec'd
Jeanne sent rec'd
Shirley sent rec'd
Vina sent rec'd
Heidi sent rec'd
Katie sent rec'd

So glad you liked your box o' goodies, Heidi! I thought the handkerchief angel idea would make a nice use for anyone that has old antique or family heirloom handkerchiefs, too.
Glad your mom is doing well with her recovery, too.

Jeanne, how are your eyes feeling?

Spelling A-N-G-E-L with the seeds sent, very clever, ladies! A great idea.

Katie

Hi everyone,
Well, as promised, here I am posting about what in the world I've been doing all summer while traveling to & fro Wisconsin. As some of you already know, I work with fish-eating birds: cormorants, pelicans, herons, egrets, gulls, wood storks, etc. My husband and I have been working in Wisconsin for the past 3 years, but we also regularly work in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Ontario, and a few other places. Yes, we are a husband + wife team, working together out of the same office. Many people are surprised that we work together, but it is great. We make a fantastic team, and are often at our best under challenging field conditions. Great minds think alike, and being dear friends & in love sure helps too. (ok, enough with the mushy stuff).

So now for a few photos from the vegetation surveys we did this month.
Background: We are working on remote islands in Lake Michigan, around the Door Co. Peninsula area. All the islands have nesting double-crested cormorants and herring gulls. Some also have nesting Am. white pelicans and Canada geese. Back in April, we put up some 6 ft x 6 ft pens (we call them exclosures) to exclude the cormorants because they damage vegetation with their nesting activities (too much POOP!). So then we went back in August to catalog everything that grew in the pens, by plant species, and weighed it to also determine biomass. That meant breaking out the field guides, studying up on botany and the flora of Wisconsin, and bringing the plant presses for species we couldn't identify on the island. We compareed the exclosure plots to some "control" plots, which had nothing but 4 wooden stakes at the corners. We had 45 plots to do on 3 islands, plus another 3 islands down by the city of Green Bay that we did simple vegetation surveys on (no pens). It was alot of work, but very interesting.

The bottom line: there are lots of nonnative species on those islands, like motherwort, catnip, pigweed, common mallow, stinging nettle and sow thistle. The native vegetation was primarily lambsquarter and smartweed species.

Almost done clipping this 1-meter plot:

Looking for small plants beneath the lambsquarter

The finished, sampled 1-meter subplot

Who would even know what this was?!?! I saved seeds to winter sow and see if I can't figure it out.

The very last veg plot to measure. You can tell, because we look so happy!

A friend found crawling across the plant press

The stinging nettle I hacked through to make us a nice trail to get to the center of the island. At least its not poison ivy!

Ok, that's all for now. Have a great evening.
Katie
(heh - I've been working on this post for days!)

Well, I don't think I'll ever complain about my little patch of stinging nettle again!

Katie, how are the non-native plants started/transported? Air, animal, water?
And is anything being done to promote the native plants? Will the non-natives "have to go"?

Your job is so interesting, thanks for sharing and for the photos too!
Shirley!

Katie,
This should probably be obvious, but why do you catalog the plants? Do they have a negative effect on the birds? (You might have to draw me a picture.) Obviously many could be invasive and affect the ecosystem and the balance. I had the same questions as Shirley about promoting natives, removing non-natives.
My angel is hanging above my computer!
Heidi

Ellie,

Angels in August arrived yesterday! Thanks so much!

I received
*a lovely card
*seeds
Nicotiana Fragrant Cloud
Morning Glory Early Heavenly Blue
Olive Tree
Angels Trumpet evening Fragrance Datura
*a book titled ANGELS EVERYWHERE, Miracles & Messages by Lynn Valentine............very interesting...peoples encounters with Angels, their stories!

Ellie, simply wonderful!! Thanks!

And I just checked the tracking for your package. It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

Happy Friday....Have great weekend!

Annie

Ellie,

My brain calender is off. Your "Angels" should be delivered today the 24th.

Annie