I Think I Suceeded!

This little beauty is growing in my rock garden. OK, it's not too beautiful, but I'm pretty happy to see it.

This is the weed native plant I've been trying to get to seed itself in the rock garden, Bigbract Verbena. You might recall that I first identified it in 2106 growing along the shoulder of the road. Then it disappeared for a few years.

Then I decided I wanted to try to get some started in the rock garden. But it's an annual so I need seeds. Thought maybe I got those last year.

And, I am prety sure that I have some growing!

I showed you the tiny flowers last week, but we'll have to wait and see if it really develops those runners with the bracts all around.



I didn't get a lot done today becuase I still had people here for a while, and then others came later. Got in some garden time, but not much in the way of computer work.

Also, annoyingly, Google has changed the links to older blog pix, so almost every place where I showed an older photo on the blog for a second time to illustrate some point, the link is now broken.

I forgot somewhere I was supposed to be this morning. Hoping I'll be more with it tomorrow.

See Tiny Flowers

2026-1976 = 50, Yes 50 Years

Today was a reunion.

A few of you have known me long enough to know that about 3 lifetimes ago, Omer led bicycle trips for young people in the summer.

In 1976, at the 200th Anniversary of the USA, we put together a group of 35 guys, all high school age, to ride across the country, Washington state to Delaware, Pacific to Atlantic Ocean.

There were 35 riders, I drove the bus you can see above (support vehicle, kitchen, repair shop, etc.) Baby Steve (not quite 2) was a "bus buddy." Two other females went: the mother of one of the riders who was also a nurse, and a high-school girl. They helped in the bus and helped care for Steve.

A couple of the guys started planning a 50th reunion about a year ago. Today, 17 of the participants and a lot of family members gathered. This is just those who were actually on the trip.

Lots of memorabilia was brought to display, including some original shirts and jackets. Ed, the primary organizer, wrote to a number of the towns we went through and got them to send a letter celebrating the trip. Albums of photos, patches, two media shows made from photos were shown, story telling, jokes, singing and prayer. Oh, yes, and food!

I didn't get a lot of good pictures. The lighting was bad and people were moving a lot, but for example, here is one of the jokes. So, Ed is in the center, and he is awarding boxes of pancake mix to the winners of the popular annual pancake-eating contest from that trip. Ed humbly admitted that he thought he had won with a total of 50 pancakes. But, no, Rick (on the left) ate 55, and Rudy (on the right) managed 48.

Many of the stories were more serious, heartwarming, or spiritual in nature. Lifelong friendships were formed on that trip for many of these guys. A few of the participants have died.

For the conclusion, Ed had brought a flag that actually flew over Arlington Cemetery. We all stood around it and sang "God Bless America." Then another of the guys closed in prayer.

There were a lot of damp eyes and hard-slapped shoulders and hugs.

And that's all for today. I'm still processing the event. There are a few of the families we've stayed in touch with (You may notice good friends Doug and Cathy in the picture, and bus-helper Wendy is the daughter of my good friend Betty), but some of the ones who came today we haven't seen for those 50 years.

See Another Trip in the Way-Back Machine

Babies, but No Guests Yet

Lookie, lookie! The Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' is having babies. This is the first that either clump of it has made an attempt to spread.

And I told you the Donkeytail Euphorbia finally had babies. I've found 6 so far. I gave two away, have 2 in a pot to hold for contingencies, and these two are planted where I want them. One doesn't look great because something already dug it up once. Sigh. But succulents are tough. I'll see if it revives.

Guests are not here yet. One should arrive soon. The other is delayed and will be here in the middle of the night. Also sigh. But worse for him.

I figured out how to clean the filters on the vacuum cleaner after discovering there were two of them. That made it work much better. Some of the boxes of stuff are reordered and stacked, dishes are done. It's as good as it's going to get for me at this time.

Worked a tiny bit on gardens. The air was really oppressive today. But I got the Gaura out of its pot and into the ground. Finished weeding the driveway beds, did a few little tweaks here and there. Not sure if any gardening will happen tomorrow although I really need to get a couple of things out of pots.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's event.

See Rock Garden Report 2026- #2

250- Kind of a Big Deal!

I am aware that some folks are having a hard time celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the USA with all the tension in the political climate. However, I think it's a big deal. And I can say with a great deal of certainty that I won't be around for the 300th, so I'm making an effort to be a bit more celebratory than I often am on holidays.

The church that's near us had a fireworks display on Wednesday night. I'm not a big fan of fireworks. But I went out and watched some of theirs.

Today, White Pine Village had a day that was free to the public. This is a local living history musuem that has all buildings of local historical significance that have been moved to the site. It's really well done, with quite a lot of buildings now, but I hadn't seen it in a long time because it's also a bit pricey.

The entire village is built around this house, which is the first frame house built in the county in 1849. And it was in this location. All the other buildings were moved to join it. This was also used as the county's first courthouse, jail and general store.

I spent a bit over two hours there. A lot has been added since my last visit, and it was excellent. They were also giving away free ice cream! West Shore Bank, locally owned, sponsored the free day, and House of Flavors donated the ice cream.

I didn't show you any pix from the Patriotic Concert on Sunday, but I'll show you one now (that was taken Sunday) because the choir was also at the village today and sang their selections.

This is a lady dipping candles. The wiggly ones on the right are recently begun, and the ones on the left and the one she is dipping are nearly done.

I managed to catch one of the sawmill demonstrations. Of course, a huge part of the local history is tied up with logging and mills.

One of the local industries that operated into the last part of the 20th Century was Star Watch Case. And here is where I learned something new. I already knew what a pantograph is, and you probably do too if you've done any wood routing, or perhaps even some experimental kinds of art. It's basically a jointed quadrilateral frame that you can use to trace a design from one surface to another and make it a different size.

So, I did not know that this is how they made those detailed and fancy engravings on gold watch cases. The large flat disk on the left is a metal plate which has the design cut into it. Of course, it is large enough that you can see the lines. The watch case is at the other side of the pantograph. When the design is traced on the big disk, it is reproduced on the scale of the case at the other side. It's sort of like how micro-robotic hands work-- where you move your own hand a couple of inches, and the robot hand moves only a tiny increment.

And to end the day, David came to visit. Yes, the David that lives in Philadelphia. As a reminder, his wife is originally from Grand Rapids, so he tries to pop up here when they make the trip to Michigan. And the summer trip is even closer, since they all stay in a cottage only about 35 minutes from me!

The day started with a Zoom call, but it mostly improved after that. It was a good meeting, but I just am not a fan of virtual meetings. I'm glad I made the effort to get over to White Pine Village (and I saw a LOT of people I know). David helped me fix a computer thing, and also to clean the vacuum filter. I don't expect him to work when he shows up here, but it just sort of happened. And if someone mentions a computer problem around Dave he can hardly keep from fixing it! Then he showed me pictures from a recent trip he and Rachel took to London.

My tomorrow guests will not be here till evening, so I still have a little time to do the last bit of cleaning that is going to happen.

See Big Boy

Gaillardia and that OTHER JOB

Here's the blanketflower you've seen for the past several years. It's still going strong. This one is Gaillardia aristata, 'Arizona Sun.' It's so happy in the rock garden, in fact, that I decided last year that I wanted another one, but a different variety.

The blanketflowers start blooming in June and they just keep going the whole rest of the summer.

The one I selected to add was 'SpinTop Red,' for having nearly solid red flowers. It was in an online shopping cart. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to cruise the garden center at Meijer, not expecting they would have anything I haven't seen there already. And, wow, this exact plant was there at half the online price. I've been waiting to share it with you until it had several flowers open at the right angle to show up well.

The OTHER JOB:

Are we the only people that seem to need a toilet repair incredibly often?

This time, I needed to pull the entire downstairs toilet and replace the wax ring.

At least the PVC flange wasn't damaged. Had to cut one of the bolts to remove it, but at least I have the tool for that. Got it all cleaned up and the new bolts await the ring and the toilet. (First trip to the store)

But, I'm sorry to tell you, I'm no longer strong enough to lift the whole toilet and set it onto the bolts. Cathy came to the rescue, and the two of us easily did it. Got it back together today, and then the stupid bolts that hold the tank to the base were seeping (Second trip to the store).

Replaced the gaskets. I'm not sure it's fixed yet. The porcelain is weeping with condensation, and it's difficult to be certain if the extra moisture is that or if one gasket didn't seat well. However, if I have to take that apart again, it's not such a big deal or such a big mess.

I did all the usuals, too. The temperature was down a few degrees today, but I didn't have much time outside due to laundry, and some housecleaning. There will be real people here this weekend. I need the place to be a tiny bit better than my hermitage mess.

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