Two More Succulents

 
Worked all day, did a little bit on book formatting, and went to a program tonight. Nothing much photoworthy, so I'll share two more succulents from the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show.

I don't have names, or even genera, for either one (the tags say "succulent"). Well, that's not true. The first one MAY be Faucaria tigrina, common name Tiger's Jaw. Or maybe just something similar. But I liked both of them.





I'm really tired, and tomorrow is Friday- the big day at work, so I think I'm hitting the sack.

The program was about an effort to find out what happened to a plane that was lost in Lake Michigan in 1950. That's a pretty lame explanation, but the program was really good. I wanted the book, but decided it was too expensive. Maybe I'll find a used copy somewhere.

	See Why I Buy ISBNs for my one real accomplishment of the day
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show - Twiggy

 
This will probably be the last post about the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show. But I saved this for last because it's something I've always wanted to see. OK, not a burning bucket-list goal to chase, but I have been very curious, and now I've seen the real deal. It's Twiggy, the water-skiing squirrel!



This year is Twiggy's final tour. The handler said she'd be doing some shows near home base, but they've been traveling with the squirrel(s) since about 1980, and I think the humans are more tired than the squirrel.

The lady in the blue vest lifted Twiggy from her cage. This was directly in front of me, so I got to see Twiggy snuggle in, and then go for a little excursion around the inside of the vest.



Here's some of Twiggy's story. The first Twiggy was rescued in 1979 when she was orphaned after Hurricane David. She became a family pet, and then someone dared the lady's husband to teach the squirrel something crazy... like water-skiing. Apparently he was a guy who couldn't let that pass, and thus was born a phenomenon!

They take advantage of the novelty to promote water safety to kids... thus Twiggy's little life jacket. They talked about learning to float and how to be safe around water.

If you have concerns that the squirrel is stressed by all this, I don't think you need to worry. This does not look like a stressed animal!



So, the "skis" are a little platform with toe holes and a bar to hold on to. The rig is pulled by a remote control boat. It goes fast enough that I only got one picture in focus, and this isn't it. But at least you can see the whole set-up in this picture. The crew in the boat is stuffed animals.



She put Twiggy in the water, so the kids could see that the squirrel can swim. She swam fast to the skis and climbed on board, no worse for the wear, except her tail was wet and heavy and drooped in the water after that. Here's my in-focus shot.



What can I tell you? It was fun. The squirrel seems to think it's fun too- she didn't want to get off the ski. Gray squirrels can live up to 20 years in captivity, but even so this must be Twiggy number 3 or 4. (There are probably several squirrels all trained at the same time, now.)

In other news: work, work on taxes, work on book formatting, back to work tonight. See you tomorrow!

	See Fairy Garden
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show - Fairy Garden

 
This, again, was a totally commercial display. All the pieces were for sale, and there's not a thing "real" about it. Even the grass was fake. But it's cute.



Personally, I thought the carrot on the stick to lead the bunny was cutest, even if he does have a price tag on his butt!



Here is the other side of the exhibit.



In other news: Work, working on taxes, working on book formatting. Too many looming deadlines!!!! I paid money to get my scanner to speak to my computer again. Well worth it. It's a good scanner and I hated to see it become a useless lump of plastic.

	See Fort Wayne Show- Succulents
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show - Succulents

 
If you've been hanging around a while, you know how much I like succulents. There were a fair number of nice ones at the 2018 Fort Wayne Home Show. But they were all part of a commercial booth. That means they were for sale, which is great, except the issue for me is that there is little effort made to identify succulents for sale beyond "succulent."

I can made some genera IDs, but that's about it. Here's a nice planter filled with various Sedum (and maybe Sempervivum- or maybe all Sedum)



This is an Echeveria, sometimes called a cabbage Echeveria. I've killed a few.



Here's a really nice Aeonium. When they get this big they look like rosettes on top of a naked stalk. I didn't really show that in the picture, because I was so captivated by the spots. I like it.



I have no idea what this is, but it's funky!



This is probably some kind of aloe, but it's pretty amazing that it agreed to be in perfect bloom for the show.


Finally, just another nice collection. Most of these are Sedum, but there are some other things, possibly a Haworthia.



Finally, today's sunset seemed unusual to me. And, oddly enough, can you believe I've never shown you a sunset in March before? Anyway, I loved how blue everything was, but look at how the rising billows of clouds more or less parallel the tree line!



In other news: Working on book illustrations following regular work.

	See Fort Wayne - Live Animals
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show- Live Animals

 
At the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show, Ester and I decided to wander through the other two halls which were exclusively retail. Except we sort of forgot that one end was devoted to family and children's activities. We stumbled onto a petting zoo. The animals were really calm. I'm not sure why the rabbits were all content to just sit still in their open containers (boxes, pails, etc) and wait for the next little kid, but they were.



The pony looked bored. I hope he was only bored and not sad.



The liveliest critters were the baby goats. They were hopping on and off mom constantly. She was completely unperturbed by eight hard little hooves



The lambs' major goal was to butt the pig and get it to run around.



I liked the tuxedo rabbit best.



This was a nice find in the midst of all the patio bricks and roofing and siding companies. It made me smile to see the children interacting with the creatures. I'm sure city and suburban kids get few chances to do this on a regular basis. (Not pictured was a chicken that appeared to love being petted, and some baby ducks)

	See Fort Wayne- Decorative Animals
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show- Decorative Animals

 
Since most of the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show was more about selling things than wowing people with displays, one had to look for little gems hidden among the vendors. However, I think this first one, the primary colored bull, was just a display. He's cute. He'd go well in my kitchen (except I do not need any more stuff).



I'm not exactly sure what you are supposed to do with these little heads on sticks, but they are happy. Maybe you just stick them in the garden so there is a smiling face poking through the blossoms.



The laid-back frog is for my buddy Lin.



The most amazing art was being sold by a lady who makes these from leather. Each is unique. She sculpts the form for the animal head, then molds and arranges the leather over it. Eventually, when the leather is dry, she breaks the form out. She had horses and wolves.



But her most impressive was this bison.



Today, Ester and I just chilled and fixed a nice meal at her house. I took a couple of walks and finished The ABZ Affair.

	See Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show intro
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Fort Wayne Home & Garden Show

 
So, once again this year, I didn't feel that I could take the time or money to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show. But March and I have a very touchy relationship. I want green and color the scent of flowers. It gives me gray, brown and the scent of mud.

I have to also say that someone has decided- not without merit- the Philadelphia Flower Show is the "Event of the Universe," so it's not like anything one can do "locally" is going to be anywhere in the same class. But, armed with this knowledge, one can make choices. Ester and I followed the instruction of the day (March 4th) and chose the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show.



It was held at the War Memorial Coliseum, and with senior discount was only $6 each. That price seemed reasonable to us, given how much (little?) plant material we figured would be there. We read the exhibitor list and knew that it was primarily deck/patio/lawn/decor/remodel stuff. But we thought there was a reasonable number of groups that would be likely to have plants.



We also knew that one should not expect too much. We'd both been to the Chicago Flower Show (different years) and had been highly disappointed. I'd been to the Grand Rapids one once and double ditto. One problem of expectations is that both of us have helped with the Ann Arbor Flower Show (no longer being held), and that was a good one.

But, for $6 and gas, it was a fun trip. I'll show you some pictures over the next few days.

The entrance display was created by Arbor Farms





A few plants posed for some nice closeups- rose



and bromeliad



There was one special treat (I'll show you another day), that tickled me to see. Altogether a good day (even though it gave us pause when we stopped at Meijer on the way home and they had only slightly less live plant material than the show!)

Next stop? A smoothie shop. Ester had a peach-mango-papaya one and I had peach-green tea. Both were excellent. The book? Well, the Acres Land Trust which operates in southern Michigan, NE Indiana and NW Ohio was selling a very nice trail book that covers all their preserves in that area. Had to get that. Most of the trails are short, but one could put together a nice weekend or several-day trip with outings.



We had a grand day! I just needed something different, colorful and somewhat green that wasn't going to cost WAY too much, and this filled the bill.

	See Philadelphia Flower Show 2009- V
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