Freebie Chat thread part 2 - - Page 139 - City-Data Forum

TFW46 · 06-01-2011, 07:28 PM

LOL! Good catch, Gandalara!

Before anyone buys any of these artificial flowers, i wanted to post a photo of what one order, from Harriett Carter, looks like. Here are one sprig of each of four flowers. These are fresh (no pun intended) out of the box and havent been fluffed up yet.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/texasfirewheel/ArtificialFlowers.jpg (broken link)

TFW46 · 06-01-2011, 07:31 PM

And here's how hot it was today, at not even the hottest part of the day. Oppressive heat and no rain at all in four months....and no rain expected for the unforeseeable future. I have to water the foundation but at least I dont have to water all my patio plants...

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/texasfirewheel/HoustonHot06-01-2011.jpg (broken link)

GloryB · 06-02-2011, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gandalara

Gee, you must really miss seeing the moon and the stars

Maybe the sun is even bigger in Texas!

Quote:

Originally Posted by texasfirewheel

And here's how hot it was today, at not even the hottest part of the day. Oppressive heat and no rain at all in four months....and no rain expected for the unforeseeable future. I have to water the foundation but at least I dont have to water all my patio plants...

Is is ALWAYS so hot there? I didn't realize you guys had some desert weather going on. It gets really hot is central Florida, but we do get rain on a fairly regular basis....even in a drought because we aren't getting the normal monsoons during the rainy season.

TFW, I like the way you've got some of the vines popping out of the planter. Gives it a real natural look. There are people who are against fake foliage, but I understand the reasoning and would go there myself. The only difference is that you are buying nice plants, I would probably go to the Dollar Store.

TFW46 · 06-02-2011, 07:24 AM

Thanks,Glory. Actually, those vines came with the fake plant. It's a very nice, but fairly inexpensive, arrangement called "Springtime Rose, Delphinium, And Lily Topiary". I divided the plant up and made two plants out of each one.

I know how most people feel about fake plants because I felt that way myself (and still do, in some respects). I'm actually embarrassed to have most people know that that I bought them. But you wouldnt believe how much $$$ I've spent replacing plants every year. I used to collect planters and have about 40 of them on my patio -- so replacing all those plants, even with just greenery, was not cheap. And I havent been able to walk around in a plant store since my stroke, so I have to buy all my plants online. I just couldnt afford to keep doing that. If something happens to these fake plants, I'm just going to put my planters on display and be done with it.

TFW46 · 06-02-2011, 07:37 AM

And, no, it's not normally that hot here, especially at this time of year. But our area has been getting drier and hotter over the past 4-5 years. We've had several long-lasting droughts (exceeding 93 days each) over the past 3-4 years, bad enough that outside water use has been rationed.

The last time it rained in the southwest part of Houston this year was January 24. We need a nice long soaking rain...I'm almost praying for a slow-moving tropical storm that will just sit here for a few days.

There was an article in yesterday's newspaper that foundation repairs are up 40% because people arent watering their foundations in this drought. My water bill is normally $12/month but, when I have to water the foundation several times a week, it increases to $50/month. When I was watering real plants several times a week (because of the hot sun), my water bill went up to $100/month easily. And, when I was using my underground sprinkler system for five minutes a day three times a week, my water bill was $300/month. I just about had another stroke the first time I got one of those bills. The city said I used 30,000 gallons of water in one month! I know that my sprinkler system has to have a leak but I just havent had the time or $$$ to get it checked out. So I havent been using it. My poor yard is so sad-looking.

TFW46 · 06-02-2011, 07:40 AM

[quote=GloryB;19410956]Maybe the sun is even bigger in Texas!

I'm here to tell you that the sun FEELS bigger in southeastern Texas these days!!

TFW46 · 06-02-2011, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryB

Country? And then there was that Russell Crowe face - in a uniform - and you know what, I just forgot about posting. I was mesmerized. Geeze Louise that is one sexy man.

Russell doesnt do that to me, but I understand what you mean. All I have to do is hear Freddie Mercury's voice and I turn to jelly. He was the lead singer of QUEEN and had probably the greatest voice in all of rock-n-roll. A glass of wine, a hot tub and "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the background...I could die happy.

Camper1 · 06-02-2011, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texasfirewheel

Russell doesnt do that to me, but I understand what you mean. All I have to do is hear Freddie Mercury's voice and I turn to jelly. He was the lead singer of QUEEN and had probably the greatest voice in all of rock-n-roll. A glass of wine, a hot tub and "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the background...I could die happy.

Ahhh, the days when....

That's how my daughter came to be.

Camper1 · 06-02-2011, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texasfirewheel

Thanks,Glory. Actually, those vines came with the fake plant. It's a very nice, but fairly inexpensive, arrangement called "Springtime Rose, Delphinium, And Lily Topiary". I divided the plant up and made two plants out of each one.

I know how most people feel about fake plants because I felt that way myself (and still do, in some respects). I'm actually embarrassed to have most people know that that I bought them. But you wouldnt believe how much $$$ I've spent replacing plants every year. I used to collect planters and have about 40 of them on my patio -- so replacing all those plants, even with just greenery, was not cheap. And I havent been able to walk around in a plant store since my stroke, so I have to buy all my plants online. I just couldnt afford to keep doing that. If something happens to these fake plants, I'm just going to put my planters on display and be done with it.

If you could see my real ones you would not be embarrassed by your fake ones. I'm going to look into that. I think your yard is beautiful. Mine is, shall we say, more "natural".

TFW46 · 06-03-2011, 07:36 PM

It has been TOO hot here to do anything but be lazy in the air-conditioning (as if I needed a reason to do that). My patio thermometer read 107.2 at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I didnt even bother to check it today.

Of course, that's in the sun and the official temperature that the weatherman gives us may be lower -- but where can you go outside where you're not in the sun? I love to sit on my patio in the mornings but, even at 7:00 this morning, it was already 80+ degrees. I just bought some small patio umbrellas (from amazon) that clamp on to either the arms or backs of chairs and will see if they make the heat more bearable.