Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....


--
Claude

www.picturetrail.com/phalguy

Remove NOSPAM to reply

Claude,

I noticed the same thing. It has been very quiet. I don't know why others
have been quiet (although wasn't there supposed to be some big orchid
related event that a whole bunch of our regulars were going to? could that
be why they are not here?), as for myself I have been exceedingly busy at
work (and continue to be so), I have lots of deadlines and I have been
putting in 10 hour days at work. However, even with that, I have still been
checking the newsgroups regularly, but have not had much energy to post.

Here is what has been happening on the orchid front in my life:

Just to show how much of an orchid addict I am: One of the priest at the
Episcopal church we go to has a daughter who turned 5 recently. The birthday
party was last Saturday, and I thought "Hmm, what do I get a 5 year old ...
I will buy her an orchid!" I know, I must be nuts. In my defense I knew that
this girl likes flowers, and that she had been visiting the US Botanical
Gardens regularly with her parents looking at the orchid exhibit, and that
she had been talking with her parents about how Joanna has orchids. I
consulted with her mother beforehand, who thought it was a good idea. I got
a really impressive looking No-ID Phal for her, with 4.5 inch pink flowers
with 4 flowers open and 5 more buds. The little girl liked it a lot, and she
petted its leaves, and the orchid has been nicknamed "Pink Panther".

The cochleanthes amazonica is still in bud and the bud is bigger than ever
before, no signs of blasting this time (knock on wood). I am now as sure as
I can be that the humidity was the culprit behind all the bud blasting.
Apparently unlike Phals, cochleanthes are not tolerant when it comes to
humidity. The weather in DC is starting to get more humid now on some days,
but it is not predictable enough, so we have been running a humidifier
constantly right next to the plant. Our old humidifier broke, and we had to
go buy another one quickly, and it turned out that most stores no longer
carry humidifiers at this time of year in the Washington DC area -- they
have dehumidifiers instead -- but we found one, and so far so good.

Most of my Phals are busily growing new leaves, and several are already on
the second leaf for this year :-) The blooming Phals continue to be
gorgeous, and I am beginning to look forward to the summer bloomers (a few
Dtps, and one phal bellina -- hopefully they will reflower, none of them
have been with me long enough, so I do not know yet whether they like these
conditions enough to do so.

That's all that has been going on here. How about you, how are you and your
orchids doing?

Joanna

"PhalGuy" wrote in message
s.com...
Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....


--
Claude

www.picturetrail.com/phalguy

Remove NOSPAM to reply

Hello Joanna!

For my part, tomorrow will be my monthly orchid meeting.... You know what
that means...

Most of my phals are growing leaves and 3 are spiking. My very young Phal
equestris `Zuma Canyon` is growing slowly 4 buds for it`s first time.
My Phal Taisuco Lemon is spiking a long 5 inch flower spike so far. I`m
having problem with my new Phal amabilis who had 6 buds when I bought it.
One of them opened but I lost the flower after 2 weeks. Now, 3 buds are now
yellow and wrinkle. I don`t know what is causinh that but I`m loosing my
flowers. I think I will cut the spike and give the plant the summer to gat
some energy.

My young species seedling ard doing just fine, growing roots and leaves.
I`m trying new thing now on my plants about the PH of the water I use to
water them. I will see some results soon, I hope!

I`m working very hard too, as a nurse on 12 hours shift on a cardio-thoracic
surgery unit ! I`m often exausted but nothing like an orchid can give you
that boost of energy you needed!

That`s it for now, I`m planning a nice summer growing season and hopefully,
all my plants will blooms next year!

Bye

Claude

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
| Claude,
|
| I noticed the same thing. It has been very quiet. I don't know why others
| have been quiet (although wasn't there supposed to be some big orchid
| related event that a whole bunch of our regulars were going to? could that
| be why they are not here?), as for myself I have been exceedingly busy at
| work (and continue to be so), I have lots of deadlines and I have been
| putting in 10 hour days at work. However, even with that, I have still
been
| checking the newsgroups regularly, but have not had much energy to post.
|
| Here is what has been happening on the orchid front in my life:
|
| Just to show how much of an orchid addict I am: One of the priest at the
| Episcopal church we go to has a daughter who turned 5 recently. The birthd
ay
| party was last Saturday, and I thought "Hmm, what do I get a 5 year old
....
| I will buy her an orchid!" I know, I must be nuts. In my defense I knew
that
| this girl likes flowers, and that she had been visiting the US Botanical
| Gardens regularly with her parents looking at the orchid exhibit, and that
| she had been talking with her parents about how Joanna has orchids. I
| consulted with her mother beforehand, who thought it was a good idea. I
got
| a really impressive looking No-ID Phal for her, with 4.5 inch pink flowers
| with 4 flowers open and 5 more buds. The little girl liked it a lot, and
she
| petted its leaves, and the orchid has been nicknamed "Pink Panther".
|
| The cochleanthes amazonica is still in bud and the bud is bigger than ever
| before, no signs of blasting this time (knock on wood). I am now as sure
as
| I can be that the humidity was the culprit behind all the bud blasting.
| Apparently unlike Phals, cochleanthes are not tolerant when it comes to
| humidity. The weather in DC is starting to get more humid now on some
days,
| but it is not predictable enough, so we have been running a humidifier
| constantly right next to the plant. Our old humidifier broke, and we had
to
| go buy another one quickly, and it turned out that most stores no longer
| carry humidifiers at this time of year in the Washington DC area -- they
| have dehumidifiers instead -- but we found one, and so far so good.
|
| Most of my Phals are busily growing new leaves, and several are already on
| the second leaf for this year :-) The blooming Phals continue to be
| gorgeous, and I am beginning to look forward to the summer bloomers (a few
| Dtps, and one phal bellina -- hopefully they will reflower, none of them
| have been with me long enough, so I do not know yet whether they like
these
| conditions enough to do so.
|
| That's all that has been going on here. How about you, how are you and
your
| orchids doing?
|
| Joanna
|
| "PhalGuy" wrote in message
| s.com...
| Hello everyone!
|
| Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
| Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....
|
|
| --
| Claude
|
| www.picturetrail.com/phalguy
|
| Remove NOSPAM to reply
|
|
|
|

Nope...10 more days to Redland!!! Just have nothing blooming worth
posting/talking about presently, I'll try harder.


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
Claude,

I noticed the same thing. It has been very quiet. I don't know why others
have been quiet (although wasn't there supposed to be some big orchid
related event that a whole bunch of our regulars were going to? could that
be why they are not here?),

Claude,

No one is busy cleaning anything up... or repotting.

That maudlin sappy "orchids for mom" thread by Nancy G on May 2 took the
steam out of the RGO engine. It will be another week before we recover from
that ice-water downer/pox.

Talk of cancer and death have a way of bumming a lot of people out. We come
to RGO to forget things like that and when some erupting lurker slams it in
our face (under the guise of orchid news) it takes the fun out of
writing/reading on RGO... or any similar newsgroup... other than the victims
whining pity-me newsgroups, of course.

Mick

Mick Fournier wrote:

Claude,

No one is busy cleaning anything up... or repotting.

That maudlin sappy "orchids for mom" thread by Nancy G on May 2 took the
steam out of the RGO engine. It will be another week before we recover from
that ice-water downer/pox.

Wow! never noticed that one. I guess you folks have more time on your
hands than I do...I just read the ones that seem significant...and
Mick's (never boring).

"PhalGuy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
s.com...
Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....

....having a raging cold...

But I have posted a couple of pics on abpo. Nothing terribly exciting, but
just to show I am still alive...barely.
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.675 / Virus Database: 437 - Release Date: 02.05.04

[snip]
Wow! never noticed that one. I guess you folks have more time on your
hands than I do...I just read the ones that seem significant...and
Mick's (never boring).

Tennis,

"Have" time to read rgo is the wrong verb, "make" time or "take" time is
more like it. I read rgo to decompress from work and to procrastinate on
household chores and such, as a result I have been pretty much at least
glancing at every message -- reading some more carefully than others.

Joanna

PhalGuy wrote:

Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....


Let's see... I got 20 fruit trees in the mail last week, another
half dozen today, plus blueberry bushes. Then there was the
catastrophic plant bench collapse in my basement - I guess I engineered
it a little too loosely and the three year warrantee ran out. *grin*
Most everything will live. And it turns out those jaybird foggers work
a lot better when you clean the little screen where the water goes in.
Who would have thought?

Add to that a 9.5 month old learning to walk, trying to get
permission from the *$#@)#%! township to put up a greenhouse that is
both way too big and will take far too much time to tend, watering said
greenhouse in its present location 25 miles away, and that pesky full
time job... I guess I am a little busy. I don't like to be bored.

Just remember, it is already too late to do all the things you
wanted to do. But there isn't any point in not doing some of them.

Rob
--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit

It will likely pick up next week, with posts about Mothers' Day gifts
received ... and for sure after Redlands, as people post about their
acquisitions.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

"molli" wrote in message
...
Nope...10 more days to Redland!!! Just have nothing blooming worth
posting/talking about presently, I'll try harder.


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
Claude,

I noticed the same thing. It has been very quiet. I don't know why
others
have been quiet (although wasn't there supposed to be some big orchid
related event that a whole bunch of our regulars were going to? could
that
be why they are not here?),

That maudlin sappy "orchids for mom" thread by Nancy G on May 2 took the
steam out of the RGO engine. It will be another week before we recover
from
that ice-water downer/pox.

Guess I'm still not getting all the headers. Never saw that one and a quick
check just now tells me it's not there. Just as well that kind of post,
but makes me wonder what else isn't coming through.

Busy, busy Claude! And Redland, here we come......

Diana

Busy busy busy
Lets see...
Painting the sun room and hanging ten foot long poles to hang pots
from. Pressure washing, sanding replacing boards, and staining the
deck so the plants from the sun room can go out on the deck.
Moving grown up plants from the propagation room to the sun room.
repotting all ten inch pots. putting in RO water lines on the deck for
misting and morning waterings. Trying to get the USDA forms 586 and 87
for importing to save a bit of time at arival point. (if you would
like to speak to a live person for help please press one now.....
"Hello I'm not in right now leave me a message and I'll get back to
you, NEVERRRR)!!!!"
Mounting new Stans that are ready to go on cork. Convincing my wife
that a "small" (he he) green house won't look ugly where I want to put
it.Spending over 2 grand to have trees cut down in the back yard (for
the green house) and trees trimed up in the front. Trying to teach my
wife about care and feeding of seedlings just out of flasks so when I
go to Costa Rica later this month I don't have to pay my plant man to
take care of them. Working in the yard and flower beds as fast as can
go before it gets to hot. Trying to fit in some docent work at the
botanical gardens. (don't think it is going to happen untill late in
the summer)
Teaching A plus cert. Teaching the cat to hunt the under brush (he is
up to four moles so far)
Oh yeh.. and a more than full time job with the newspaper
"House of Stan"
NOOK










On Tue, 04 May 2004 22:12:51 GMT, "PhalGuy"
wrote:

Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....

NOOK,
You do indeed sound quite busy, but at least some of it sounds like lots of
fun (greenhouse, upcoming trip to Costa Rica, cat). About that cat, how does
one go about teaching a cat to hunt? Just curious.
Joanna

"NOOK" wrote in message
...
Busy busy busy
Lets see...
Painting the sun room and hanging ten foot long poles to hang pots
from. Pressure washing, sanding replacing boards, and staining the
deck so the plants from the sun room can go out on the deck.
Moving grown up plants from the propagation room to the sun room.
repotting all ten inch pots. putting in RO water lines on the deck for
misting and morning waterings. Trying to get the USDA forms 586 and 87
for importing to save a bit of time at arival point. (if you would
like to speak to a live person for help please press one now.....
"Hello I'm not in right now leave me a message and I'll get back to
you, NEVERRRR)!!!!"
Mounting new Stans that are ready to go on cork. Convincing my wife
that a "small" (he he) green house won't look ugly where I want to put
it.Spending over 2 grand to have trees cut down in the back yard (for
the green house) and trees trimed up in the front. Trying to teach my
wife about care and feeding of seedlings just out of flasks so when I
go to Costa Rica later this month I don't have to pay my plant man to
take care of them. Working in the yard and flower beds as fast as can
go before it gets to hot. Trying to fit in some docent work at the
botanical gardens. (don't think it is going to happen untill late in
the summer)
Teaching A plus cert. Teaching the cat to hunt the under brush (he is
up to four moles so far)
Oh yeh.. and a more than full time job with the newspaper
"House of Stan"
NOOK










On Tue, 04 May 2004 22:12:51 GMT, "PhalGuy"
wrote:

Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....

You just work on his natural instinct
I have a couple of training poles I used to teach him to cut off his
prey as it runs. I also fish one under the leaves and brush and jerk
it away from him to get him to dive in and pounce on his prey. One big
mole he caught by diving into a pile of sticks and brush using the
very way we practiced. He came out with blood on his nose and the mole
in his mouth. A stick had poked a tiny hole in the side of his nose
but he still had a firm grip on that mole. This is a very trainable
cat. I have taught him to use a step ladder.(now if he just had thumbs
I would teach him to paint) He understands that the knob on the sink
makes the water come out, he touches the knob (but the thumb thing
again) He knows the words, up, down, squirl, outside, no, he will come
to you when you whistle for him. He will play fetch the ball untill
you are sick of throwing it and you go to bed, he will jump up on the
bed and drop the ball on you to play more. With a little more teaching
he will understand right and left. He almost has it now but he gets
confused and just walks off like a little kid. He will walk with you
on a leash with his harness on. The key to teaching any animal is
exploit there natural ability and what they like to do and work with
them until they get tired or loose interest then stop and come back to
it later. He is on a diet now cause he has gotten up to 18 lbs.
House of Stan
NOOK


On Thu, 06 May 2004 23:01:27 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

NOOK,
You do indeed sound quite busy, but at least some of it sounds like lots of
fun (greenhouse, upcoming trip to Costa Rica, cat). About that cat, how does
one go about teaching a cat to hunt? Just curious.
Joanna

"NOOK" wrote in message
.. .
Busy busy busy
Lets see...
Painting the sun room and hanging ten foot long poles to hang pots
from. Pressure washing, sanding replacing boards, and staining the
deck so the plants from the sun room can go out on the deck.
Moving grown up plants from the propagation room to the sun room.
repotting all ten inch pots. putting in RO water lines on the deck for
misting and morning waterings. Trying to get the USDA forms 586 and 87
for importing to save a bit of time at arival point. (if you would
like to speak to a live person for help please press one now.....
"Hello I'm not in right now leave me a message and I'll get back to
you, NEVERRRR)!!!!"
Mounting new Stans that are ready to go on cork. Convincing my wife
that a "small" (he he) green house won't look ugly where I want to put
it.Spending over 2 grand to have trees cut down in the back yard (for
the green house) and trees trimed up in the front. Trying to teach my
wife about care and feeding of seedlings just out of flasks so when I
go to Costa Rica later this month I don't have to pay my plant man to
take care of them. Working in the yard and flower beds as fast as can
go before it gets to hot. Trying to fit in some docent work at the
botanical gardens. (don't think it is going to happen untill late in
the summer)
Teaching A plus cert. Teaching the cat to hunt the under brush (he is
up to four moles so far)
Oh yeh.. and a more than full time job with the newspaper
"House of Stan"
NOOK










On Tue, 04 May 2004 22:12:51 GMT, "PhalGuy"
wrote:

Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....

Nook,
Sounds like a great cat!
Joanna

"NOOK" wrote in message
...
You just work on his natural instinct
I have a couple of training poles I used to teach him to cut off his
prey as it runs. I also fish one under the leaves and brush and jerk
it away from him to get him to dive in and pounce on his prey. One big
mole he caught by diving into a pile of sticks and brush using the
very way we practiced. He came out with blood on his nose and the mole
in his mouth. A stick had poked a tiny hole in the side of his nose
but he still had a firm grip on that mole. This is a very trainable
cat. I have taught him to use a step ladder.(now if he just had thumbs
I would teach him to paint) He understands that the knob on the sink
makes the water come out, he touches the knob (but the thumb thing
again) He knows the words, up, down, squirl, outside, no, he will come
to you when you whistle for him. He will play fetch the ball untill
you are sick of throwing it and you go to bed, he will jump up on the
bed and drop the ball on you to play more. With a little more teaching
he will understand right and left. He almost has it now but he gets
confused and just walks off like a little kid. He will walk with you
on a leash with his harness on. The key to teaching any animal is
exploit there natural ability and what they like to do and work with
them until they get tired or loose interest then stop and come back to
it later. He is on a diet now cause he has gotten up to 18 lbs.
House of Stan
NOOK


On Thu, 06 May 2004 23:01:27 GMT, "J Fortuna"
wrote:

NOOK,
You do indeed sound quite busy, but at least some of it sounds like lots
of
fun (greenhouse, upcoming trip to Costa Rica, cat). About that cat, how
does
one go about teaching a cat to hunt? Just curious.
Joanna

"NOOK" wrote in message
.. .
Busy busy busy
Lets see...
Painting the sun room and hanging ten foot long poles to hang pots
from. Pressure washing, sanding replacing boards, and staining the
deck so the plants from the sun room can go out on the deck.
Moving grown up plants from the propagation room to the sun room.
repotting all ten inch pots. putting in RO water lines on the deck for
misting and morning waterings. Trying to get the USDA forms 586 and 87
for importing to save a bit of time at arival point. (if you would
like to speak to a live person for help please press one now.....
"Hello I'm not in right now leave me a message and I'll get back to
you, NEVERRRR)!!!!"
Mounting new Stans that are ready to go on cork. Convincing my wife
that a "small" (he he) green house won't look ugly where I want to put
it.Spending over 2 grand to have trees cut down in the back yard (for
the green house) and trees trimed up in the front. Trying to teach my
wife about care and feeding of seedlings just out of flasks so when I
go to Costa Rica later this month I don't have to pay my plant man to
take care of them. Working in the yard and flower beds as fast as can
go before it gets to hot. Trying to fit in some docent work at the
botanical gardens. (don't think it is going to happen untill late in
the summer)
Teaching A plus cert. Teaching the cat to hunt the under brush (he is
up to four moles so far)
Oh yeh.. and a more than full time job with the newspaper
"House of Stan"
NOOK










On Tue, 04 May 2004 22:12:51 GMT, "PhalGuy"
wrote:

Hello everyone!

Is it me or it`s been very quiet here this week?
Maybe, we all are busy with spring cleaning, repotting, etc....