Category: Blog

To Prolong Their Life
Cut flowers should be plunked immediately into water until they can be arranged. Then consider these tips, though not scientific, from several flower arrangers.

The Two Main Causes for Cut Flowers Wilting
Air bubbles in the stem’s transport tubules, and fungi and bacteria in the water. Change the water every few days and recut the stems under water. Remove leaves which will be under water helps prevent mushy, smelly decay. A few drops of chloral may retard fungus. Floralite (a product available from many florists) has some of these and plant hormones that also may help.

A bit of sugar added to the water supposedly helps the buds open and may provide an energy source for the flowers. Keep flowers away from heat sources (like on top of the TV), out of direct sunlight and also prevent them from freezing. Most last longer in a cool place. Some flowers are programmed genetically to last longer than others. Among the longest lasting ones are miniature carnations and chrysanthemums.

Roses
Much has been written about these because they wilt so quickly and the buds fail to open. For best results with roses, plunge them into water as soon as possible. To arrange them, make a new cut in the stem at an angle, ideally under water to prevent air getting into the fresh cut. Use lukewarm water immediately after making the fresh cut. When the roses stiffen up, change to cool water. Floralite is recommended. With luck …

This is a great cabinet, because it has many
different functions. The upper shelves can hold books and other decorative
objects, while you can hide almost anything in the sliding cabinets below.
The construction of this piece is actually quite easy. The shelf, floor,
top, and track strip are all nailed to the ends with finishing nails. Be
sure to separate the two tracks for the sliding doors 1/8 in. and place
a groove in the bottom of the shelf. Also place a groove into the track
strip.

In order to nail the back without any edges
showing, be sure to rabbet the back edges of the ends and top. You can
buy legs all ready made at almost any home furnishings store. You should
invest in legs that have nylon feet for easy sliding.

Materials Needed

 …

The flight simulator/shooter has become a ubiquitous genre of video game. For years, game developers have attempted to recreate the thrill of flying an airplane while shooting down your enemies. One of the first games of this sort, Red Baron, was developed by Atari in 1980 for the arcade and for Atari’s home gaming systems.

In Red Baron, your mission is to shoot down enemy biplanes while successfully piloting your own airplane. The game is in black and white, and uses vector graphics. Certainly, more modern games can provide a gamer with more realistic flight simulator action, but Red Baron is–even now–a great entry into the world of flight simulator/shooters.

Downloading Red Baron

With the aid of MAME software, it is possible to enjoy Atari’s Red Baron once more from the comfort of your home computer. MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) software mimics the hardware of the original gaming system, allowing the original game ROM to be loaded into memory. The ROM can be licensed for an extremely small fee, and the MAME software download is free.

Red Baron was originally played with an analog joystick. If you don’t have a joystick attached to your computer, fear not! The game play can be easily simulated with the mouse and keyboard. Once you get used to manipulating your plane with these new devices, you will be flying like an ace in no time.…

FALL IS FOR PLANTING BULBS
Their flowers are the harbingers of spring and one can never have enough
of them.Some repeat each year.  Some disappear.
I always aim to plant a hundred or so new ones each fall, and though it
sounds like a lot, it never seems to be enough when spring comes.

Most people know that bulbs are planted
with the pointed side up at a depth of about 3 times their height.
It’s worthwhile to improve the soil with compost,  add  superphosphate,
and even good loam if necessary. Bulbs like it moist,
but never soggy ( which causes fungus, so raise wet beds with a sand
underlay for drainage.

Bulbs look better planted in clusters
or “bouquets” instead of skinny rows. Instead of digging individual holes,
it’s easier to excavate a bed to a depth of 7 inches or so, add the
fertilizer and compost, plant the bulbs and then cover it all up.

Daffodils should go in the ground
early in fall so they can establish roots before winter. Tulips
are not so particular, so can be planted any time until the ground freezes.

BULBS AND THE DUTCH Bulbs were brought
to Holland from the Near East in about 1600 and have been grown there
ever since, at first as a wild financially speculative passion, now as
a profitable business. Ninety percent of all the bulbs sold are cultivated
in Holland.

Not all bulbs are the same. In general
you get what you pay for. Bigger …

PLANTING FOR DIFFERENT SEASONS OF BLOOM AND COLOR
One of the eternal quests of gardeners is a display of color and beauty
that delights the eye all year round. Like Jason’s pursuit of the golden
fleece, it’s not an easy task. But one can do it. It just takes planning
and time, plus eternal additions and replacements. A year round display
requires what’s called a “Sequence of Bloom”, where one chooses different
plants whose colors and flowers appear at different times, in orderly succession,
so something is always interesting.

Well planned gardens contain plants that catch our attention at all
seasons in a continuous changing panorama. We tend to think mostly of flowers,
particularly bulbs, perennials and annuals, but in fact many trees and
shrubs also provide color, flowers, berries or interesting foliage.

THE SEQUENCE OF BLOOM IN COOL CLIMATES is as follows. (For more southerly
places, it begins a month or two earlier, depending on how far south one
is.) Though northern gardens reach their zenith on that magical day in May
when the whole world seems to be one large bouquet, spring really begins
when the first shy bulbs like crocus, squill and chionodoxa peek out from
the melting snow. The sequence of bloom continues with the flowers of
early spring, such as forsythia, early rhododendrons, magnolia and cherry
trees and other early flowering bulbs.

Later, in May, blossoms of azaleas and rhododendron blooms clamor for
our attention along with the crabapple trees and dogwoods. Perennials …

As the leaves fall away from trees, shrubs and flower beds, evergreen foliage becomes more noticeable and more cherished. None so much as the ground covers that keep the bare earth green during the darkening days of winter.
Planting time for groundcovers is in spring when their rooting hormones run, but thinking time for them is now and through the winter. As the leaves fall, and beds become bare, look around and see where you wish you had some greenery.

One nice thing about ground covers is that you don’t have to rake out the leaves. Though they may lie atop the groundcover plants now, as winter proceeds, they will drop through to the ground, to decay into nice healthful compost. And this will happen without your lifting a finger to help. When you plant ground covers near each other, they compete for their place. I have done that and ended up with certain ones winning, and others being lost. When I was young and naive, I thought a border of moss would be more elegant than just plain pachysandra along the front walk. Little did I know. One can find lots of lists of ground covers, but they never tell you how each will grow over time. And more important , who wins when they fight with each other for space and light.

So here is a list of some temperate region evergreen ground covers that prefer shade beginning with the wimps and ending with the most …

When the Cape Cod Chapter of Habitat for
Humanity International met the Dennis Junior Woman’s Club the first Women’s Build,
all women Habitat blitz construction project in Massachusetts, was born.
Spearheaded by Dennis Juniors’ Vice President and Cape Cod Habitat for Humanity
chapter board member Paula Whitcomb, the project, which had been brewing
for almost a year and half, began to take shape last February.

95 women showed up for a public meeting
to explore the project. The group broke up into committees out of which
fundraising and product donation solicitation efforts were launched. The
group needed to raise $40,000 in cash as well as encourage local businesses
and national manufacturers to donate a significant percentage of the building
materials. They also needed to find a site – and, if possible, secure its
donation from either the municipality or private citizen who owned it.

Habitat for Humanity International is a
nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating
substandard housing and making decent shelter a matter of conscience and
action. Habitat has built nearly 60,000 homes worldwide. Volunteers work
with future homeowners to build or renovate houses, which are then sold
to partner families at no profit, with no interest charged on the 15-20
year mortgage. The money from the sale of each house goes into a revolving
Fund for Humanity, to support future building projects.

Fundraising
efforts included a raffle, an auction, a restaurant tasting event, and a
“men’s bake sale and baked goods auction”. Local celebrities from…