Bloomin' Tuesday

Good Tuesday morning blogging buddies. It's time to join Jean at http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/ to share our what's bloomin in our gardens. Ya'll go check it out and see who else is joining in the fun.

The following couple of photos were taken with a lot of humidity. We have been up in the 90% range of humidity. The camera fogged. It makes for interesting pics anyhow.

I have some blue forget-me-nots bloomin now. Thanks Darla.

Begonias my favorite easy plant.

Vincas another favorite. They put on a show all summer long and are not affected by the heat.

Verbena

Faithful zinnias.

A canna blooming. Yea!

These are some plants I purchased this past weekend at the once a year sale open to the public from Cottage Farms. I was a little disappointed that the plants weren't labeled very well and that there were not many in bloom to see the flower colors.

This one is a Butterfly Weed with blooms.

Jasmine.

Althea Rose of Sharon Hibuscus and Iris Cloud Ballet Iris (purple and white)

That's all I have to share today. Hope you all have a good day and don't get too hot in the gardens. Summer has arrived on the Gulf Coast with temps of 95 today with humidity of 75-80% which makes the temp feel more like 105 degrees.

Gulf Oil Spill Update

The oil spill is growing by the day. Even if the oil were to be stopped today it would still take 20 or more years to clean up the estuaries. This mess is affecting the entire nation if indirectly. There isn't enough being done to clean up the beaches and to keep the oil from coming ashore. There should be clean up crews working all of the beaches all day instead the crews spaced out here and there and aren't consistent. There are not enough workers cleaning. This past weekend some volunteers cleaned some areas of the beach where there were no crews and went to give the collected tar balls and oil to the official clean up people and they said 'It wasn't his job'. What! This is a reminder of Hurricane Katrina only this is worse. These higher ups at BP are more concerned with their image. This is so frustating to everyone on the coast.

This is an excerpt from WKRG.COM our local tv station. A third fly over was on Sunday and this is part of the report by Debbie Williams reporter for WKRG.

"At first we had to go out 10 or 12 miles before we could see anything," says Walter.We don't see the floating patches of oil close into the shoreline instead, we see a sheen or film covering the majority of the water. "75 percent of the Gulf of Mexico that I've been able to see along Alabama's coast has a thin film of oil and you can see it, it's a shiny film."Beaches in Orange Beach are clean. But further west we see our first clean up crews working at the state park from the beach pavilion to the first crossover.As we flew into Gulf Shores, seaweed was washing ashore and along with it tar balls and patches of oil as big as pizzas littered the beaches.There was evidence clean up crews had been here but left before the job was finished."The further you come the sadder it gets," says Bambi Grods a beach goer from Excel. "I grew up in Pensacola on the beach and it's so sad to see your white sands have all this on it."The waters have been closed to fishing. A swimming advisory has been issued by the state health department and yet swimmers are everywhere.As we fly by the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge we see more clean up crews and lots more oil, but as we get closer to the point where tar balls had littered the area, the beaches are white again.Still the sheen is everywhere including Mobile Bay and the oil keeps gushing.

On another note the temps here are horrible and getting worse this week. We will have temps in the mid and upper 90's with heat index of 105-112 degrees. Wow. No gardening for me till this breaks. The twice weekly weeding will have to wait till the temps change.

My son will be having surgery to remove about 18" or more of his colon. Please keep him in your prayers. My DIL is here with my sweetheart Ethan. Ethan has Jarcho Levin Syndrome. What a wonderful gift God has given us in Ethan. He is certainly a walking miracle.
Read about Ethan here. http://beccasgardenspot.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarcho%20Levin%20Syndrome. The son didn't tell me till last night that they came in on Friday. If he weren't sick I'd spank him. (well not really - just fuss at him). I can't wait to spend time with them this week.

I went to a plant sale this weekend - a once a year sale - yea! I only purchased 7 plants but they will be beautiful when they have some blooms. I purchased Rose of Sharon, tropical hibuscus, Iris - Cloud Ballet (purple and white) and Jasmine. I am at a lose as to the other plants I purchased. Memory well it ain't what it used to be. I had a great weekend - spending time with an old flame. The flame is still there. We shall see where it goes.

Hope you all have a great day and don't get too hot.

Fertilizer Friday - TGIF

Good Morning blogging buddies. It's Friday and ya'll know what that means. It's time to get together over at Tootsie Time and check out everyone's blooms they are sharing today. Check out Tootsie here http://www.tootsietime.com/

I have a few things to share today. I have to share this cutie. Little Buddy.

I am so in love with this hydrangea. This flower has gone from a pale pink and just keeps putting on the prettiest shades of pink. I am eager to purchase more hydrangea's. They are such a hardy plant. This particular one is a young bush from last year.

I love the way the Johnsons Blue Geranium blends with the dusty miller. Oops I got my toes in this one.

Love zinnias. They show off all summer long.

I soon will have some Blue Forget Me Knots. Thanks Darla.

Yellow viola's are still doing very well.

Verbena.

Ooohh and I must have more dahlias next year. I am so loving these.

More white zinnias.

More zinnias. Darla I do not know which ones you sent as they all kinda mingled in the beds. They certainly keep color in the beds.

Can't believe I still have some snapdragons putting on a show.

I soon will have a yellow canna to open.

The okra hibuscus will soon have blooms. Thanks Darla.

Well that's about all I have to share today.

I am feeling better after a week of feeling not so good. I spent last Friday at the hospital again. That is 4 times this year. The gallbladder is full of stones and sludge. The only reason that it wasn't removed last Friday at the ER is that even though there were more stones than the last time it didn't warrant an emergency operation. I will be trying to get into a state clinic to see what they can do for me. Otherwise I wait till it is an emergency. I do not have any funds to do any different since I barely pay my bills. Ya'll don't feel sorry for me though. It'll all work itself out. I always have faith. The good Lord knows exactly what my needs are.

The oil spill is on our minds daily. Everytime we turn on the news it is the headlines. Hope I do not bore you to death with videos but here is one that I watched and cried about these poor animals that are so helpless to what man's greed for oil has caused these poor babies. It is pure and simple oil greed. There is nothing we can do but learn from this. And I hope that WE can find better and less harmful ways of generating energy. There is so much clean up to be done and this will go on for years to come just like the Valdez spill they are still feeling the effects of the oil spill.

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/raw-video-oil-covered-birds/892921/Jun-03-2010_7-20-pm/

Hope you all have a great weekend and have some good weather. We will have a partly good weather weekend.

Update on Gulf Oil Spill

We have oil on our beaches in Alabama. There is an oil slick headed for Pensacola Beach and NOAA expects it to reach Florida by tomorrow. The area of oil and oil sheen encompass most of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf has been closed to fishing, shrimping and oystering. There are so many people who make their living in the Gulf fishing, etc. So many lives have been changed and are being changed. There are crews from the Coast Guard and some locals who have been trained to do clean the clean up of our beaches but it isn't but a drop in the bucket. BP does not have any of their people cleaning here but hopefully that will change. BP has let us all down. There is a current that swoops down from the northern Gulf down to the south and loops around the bottom of Florida and up the East coast. That is how large the area is that may be affected from this massive disaster. BP currently is trying to cut the steel pipes below with a digitally operated saw blade. Yesterday the blade became stuck but they say they are placing another blade down to complete the cut. This is expected to increase the flow by about 20% before they place another dome over it to siphon the oil to the surface. this method is only expected to bring barely half of the oil into a holding tank. If this doesn't work, it is iffiy at best, then we could be looking at mid to late August before the oil is stopped. We cannot even imagine the consequences if this isn't stopped. There are still so many unanswered questions because this has never happened before. People's lives have changed and many will never be the same. Hurricane season is upon us and there is so much wonder of what will happen if a storm comes into the Gulf. I guess we won't know until it happens. Think of all the animals - birds that migrate south in the spring and summer who won't make their destination. So much wildlife will be affected.

This is a connection to one of our local stations to get a first hand perspective on what is happening and also a live feed of the oil spewing from the rig 5000 feet below the surface. You can also see the blades cutting the rig. http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/spill_cam/

Bloomin' Tuesday

It's Bloomin' Tuesday and I'm hooking up with Jean over at http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/ showing off some beautiful flowers.

Little Buddy loves to roll in the grass. He is the sweetest little pal a person could ask for.

Hope you all have a great day. I'll be back with more to say later. I don't feel good right now. The gallbladder again.

Gulf Oil Spill - Live Video of The Top Kill

Check out live video of BP applying the top kill to the oil well. http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/spill_cam/

Bloomin' Tuesday

It's Tuesday everybody and that means it's Bloomin Tuesday over at Jeans. After you check out my goodies then head over the Jean's at http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/ and see who else some goodies to share today.




It's that time of year when we all have a lot going on in the gardens. I am very pleased with what I have going on. I have been waiting for a few days for this to open. Seems like the bud has been there a week. It isn't even finished opening up yet. This is one of the few I know the name of and this is Dahlia Lucky Number. Purchased at Walmart for $5.

Poppies look nice next to the Johnsons Blue Geranium.

Yellow violas. I have a lot of yellows this year. Yellow blends and compliments the shades of reds, purples and pinks.

Vincas. Very easy to grow and spreads beautifully.

Trusty begonias. They are very forgiving during the dry times of the summer.

Dianthus is also a great performer.

Portulaca is very colorful. I love the many petals in each flower kinda rose like.

Zinnias - zinnias everywhere. They hardly ever wimper about the heat or the dry conditions we sometime experience.

The snapdragons are making another statement. They are now dwarfed by these huge cannas. Too late to move anything. Can you tell me when is the best time to transplant cannas. They are crowding this bed now.

Purple hydrangea is trying to bloom. This also has been in bud stage for at least a week.

More zinnias. This little plant is really showing itself to be so small. Sometime the little ones do the best.

This is the flower I look forward to the most. My little helper Buddy. He just got a hair cut so he is sporting now.

Eyes are still focused on the Gulf as the problem seems to grow each day we turn on the news. BP has been ordered to stop using the disperants due to health hazards. These disperants have been banned by other countries so why were they using it here. The hair booms have been used and they failed sinking after absorbing water and oil. Booms are helping but didn't keep it away from the LA shorelines. Check out this site from our local news station. There is a counter counting the number of gallons constantly going into the gulf. Also view the slideshow and any other news concerning the oil spill.
http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/

I'm having car issues. All tires need to be replaced but also the power steering is leaking fluid every day and I have to put fluids in every 6 days now so something has to be done soon. This will interfere with my plans to see my granddaughter in her first recital. Luci is five and I so wanted to be there. I'm hoping. Hope you all have a great week and holiday.

Happy Memorial Day. The official start of summer.