Mostly Petunia Things
Thursday night we went out to see one of Jameson's friends perform his original music (classic rock style.)
It was at this dive bar/club, but it wasn't too crowded and the drinks were good.
Enjoyed listening to the band and catching up with an assortment of Jameson's buddies between sets.
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Friday I woke up too early, used the time to research what should come next for my firefly petunia.
I am very pleased with how it's bounced back from shipping. It's only been a month and it's twice as big and looks much improved.
However there are some dangly limbs with top-heavy new growth at the tips, which makes me think it might be time to try some cuttings. Here is one of the dangly limbs in question. Someone also suggested that I could bury the plant's main stem, bringing that limb down so it touches the soil and could produce roots there.
I also noticed that this week is scheduled to be slightly cooler, and heat indexes are below 100°F for several days in a row, so I am thinking to start acclimating the plant to live outside. This would free up the grow lights for use with cuttings.
In addition to all of that, I have a developing seed pod!
The pod could take months to develop, and once it does there is no guarantee that the seeds will produce bioluminescent plants. Something about which genes get passed down or whatever; it's like a 50/50 chance of getting glowing babies. So I will probably just harvest the seeds for now and sort that out at a later date.
While Jameson went for a walk I practiced, packed food for work, made a grocery list, researched petunia stuff, and went to Target for some stuff. Oh, and sent my order for my custom Kathy Jeanne hat, making sure to get my boss in the loop and also suggest to the milliner that she experiment with attachment designs so we can do this proposal for an interchangeable trims product line. My boss wrote back today and said he's pitching the idea to corporate and the owner, so I'll be interested A) to see if they accept it and B) to see if he gives me any credit at all or takes it all himself. To be fair it IS his idea, he does deserve the credit, but I'm just hoping he'll throw me a bone for my part in laying groundwork for this discussion to even happen.
I decided that today was Fedora Friday, and wore this white fedora with all-black. Fedoras don't look good on me but oh well.
And all of my coworkers were wearing graphic tees, despite them being outlawed in the employee handbook, so I will wear one on Sunday in solidarity.
The shift was fine, it wasn't as crazy as last Friday so maybe there are fewer people willing to stay out late now that school has started again? I somehow managed to sell THREE Tilley hats! They're $100 each and have a lifetime warranty, but they are HIDEOUS. I don't know who is wearing these or why. Unless you're about to spend a month in the jungle or something I can't see a need for 'em. Well...three people out there are now ready for a jungle safari :p
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Saturday, I'd had stress-dreams about the petunia, limbs snapping off or the plant dying :(
If this one dies, it's not like I can just go out and get another. It's a special plant...and it was expensive!
It will make me feel a lot better to get a successful cutting.
I mixed up it's fertilizer and had breakfast, then went for a walk before the heat got too oppressive.
On my walk I saw a beautiful clearwing sphinx moth, and found a beautiful dead butterfly.
Back home I did laundry, then drove to Whole Paycheck for salmon filets and a few other things.
Jameson spent the afternoon watching scary movies while I prepped dinner stuff and repotted the petunia.
Original pot:
Post-potting. I did take it inside before repotting to see if the roots glow, but if they did I couldn't see it at all. The roots were very thin and sparse. I'm hoping that burying the main stem will allow more roots to grow. I do think the plant looks more comfortable, closer to the soil like this.
Also, not sure if you can tell but that flower in the middle has a slight pink tinge to it! Perhaps the plant has a pink variety in its ancestry.
I made sous vide salmon with lemon dill sauce, lemon orzo, and roasted broccoli for dinner. Fancy for no reason.
Put the petunia out at night to acclimate to the humidity. It'll be out there until afternoon tomorrow.
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Sunday, I hadn't slept well but that's ok. I didn't work until evening so had a generally chill day.
Coffee and breakfast. Checked on the petunia and it was fine. It started wilting closer to lunchtime when the heat index got above 90°F, so I brought it inside and it perked up almost immediately. Practiced the trombone.
Partway through the day I got two exciting Papa Pal visits!
The hat shop has only been giving me about 18 hours per week so far, so I've decided to supplement by doing Papa Pal on some of my off days. Today I noticed that there were two upcoming visits only five minutes apart. Turns out one is at a memory care facility and the other is at a hospice, and both of them are "companionship visits," meaning instead of scrubbing toilets or mopping floors I'll be spending the time engaging someone in conversation, playing games or doing arts and crafts, and generally just chilling with a new senior friend :)
THIS is why I signed up to do Papa Pals; because it seemed like an opportunity to provide social and emotional aid. Not only that, these two visits are through actual medical facilities and I'll have to check in with a social services agent once I get there, which frankly makes me feel a whole lot safer than just showing up at a random stranger's house and hoping they're not a weirdo.
I know that the visits might not go all hunky-dory, especially the hospice visit. But I'm happy for the opportunity...and maybe this is strange, but I'm excited for them. I'm not a very emotional person, but listening to nursing home interviews as a TSOLife employee for the past several years really has touched me (see THIS entry.)
Anyway, I really hope both visits go well.
A few hours after lunch Jameson left to meet some friends for a movie. The theater is at Disney Springs so they're going to swing by and visit during my shift! I'm weirdly nervous about it but it'll be fine. After he left I took a quick trip to Walmart for a tiny orchid flower (for the person in hospice) and a cup of Mexican rice pudding (for the person with dementia.) Back home a quick shower and typing up this blog...dinner, and then off to work.
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You'll have to wait for the next post for Today's Hat photo. I'm wearing my pink graphic tee with a banana and a strawberry on it, and grey dress slacks. I'm thinking a pale green hat would be nice, or maybe I'll get REALLY crazy and try a tan cowboy hat!
Monday: Visiting my two Papa Pals, rest of the day is free. I may take cuttings from the petunia, we will see how it's doing.
Tuesday: Working the mid-day shift at the hat shop.
Wednesday: A day off, I'll practice because I've been granted a rehearsal with the Main Street Philharmonic on Thursday! I hope we play through the Halloween stuff!
It was at this dive bar/club, but it wasn't too crowded and the drinks were good.
Enjoyed listening to the band and catching up with an assortment of Jameson's buddies between sets.
---------------------------------------------------------
Friday I woke up too early, used the time to research what should come next for my firefly petunia.
I am very pleased with how it's bounced back from shipping. It's only been a month and it's twice as big and looks much improved.
However there are some dangly limbs with top-heavy new growth at the tips, which makes me think it might be time to try some cuttings. Here is one of the dangly limbs in question. Someone also suggested that I could bury the plant's main stem, bringing that limb down so it touches the soil and could produce roots there.
I also noticed that this week is scheduled to be slightly cooler, and heat indexes are below 100°F for several days in a row, so I am thinking to start acclimating the plant to live outside. This would free up the grow lights for use with cuttings.
In addition to all of that, I have a developing seed pod!
The pod could take months to develop, and once it does there is no guarantee that the seeds will produce bioluminescent plants. Something about which genes get passed down or whatever; it's like a 50/50 chance of getting glowing babies. So I will probably just harvest the seeds for now and sort that out at a later date.
While Jameson went for a walk I practiced, packed food for work, made a grocery list, researched petunia stuff, and went to Target for some stuff. Oh, and sent my order for my custom Kathy Jeanne hat, making sure to get my boss in the loop and also suggest to the milliner that she experiment with attachment designs so we can do this proposal for an interchangeable trims product line. My boss wrote back today and said he's pitching the idea to corporate and the owner, so I'll be interested A) to see if they accept it and B) to see if he gives me any credit at all or takes it all himself. To be fair it IS his idea, he does deserve the credit, but I'm just hoping he'll throw me a bone for my part in laying groundwork for this discussion to even happen.
I decided that today was Fedora Friday, and wore this white fedora with all-black. Fedoras don't look good on me but oh well.
And all of my coworkers were wearing graphic tees, despite them being outlawed in the employee handbook, so I will wear one on Sunday in solidarity.
The shift was fine, it wasn't as crazy as last Friday so maybe there are fewer people willing to stay out late now that school has started again? I somehow managed to sell THREE Tilley hats! They're $100 each and have a lifetime warranty, but they are HIDEOUS. I don't know who is wearing these or why. Unless you're about to spend a month in the jungle or something I can't see a need for 'em. Well...three people out there are now ready for a jungle safari :p
---------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, I'd had stress-dreams about the petunia, limbs snapping off or the plant dying :(
If this one dies, it's not like I can just go out and get another. It's a special plant...and it was expensive!
It will make me feel a lot better to get a successful cutting.
I mixed up it's fertilizer and had breakfast, then went for a walk before the heat got too oppressive.
On my walk I saw a beautiful clearwing sphinx moth, and found a beautiful dead butterfly.
Click to view
Back home I did laundry, then drove to Whole Paycheck for salmon filets and a few other things.
Jameson spent the afternoon watching scary movies while I prepped dinner stuff and repotted the petunia.
Original pot:
Post-potting. I did take it inside before repotting to see if the roots glow, but if they did I couldn't see it at all. The roots were very thin and sparse. I'm hoping that burying the main stem will allow more roots to grow. I do think the plant looks more comfortable, closer to the soil like this.
Also, not sure if you can tell but that flower in the middle has a slight pink tinge to it! Perhaps the plant has a pink variety in its ancestry.
I made sous vide salmon with lemon dill sauce, lemon orzo, and roasted broccoli for dinner. Fancy for no reason.
Put the petunia out at night to acclimate to the humidity. It'll be out there until afternoon tomorrow.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I hadn't slept well but that's ok. I didn't work until evening so had a generally chill day.
Coffee and breakfast. Checked on the petunia and it was fine. It started wilting closer to lunchtime when the heat index got above 90°F, so I brought it inside and it perked up almost immediately. Practiced the trombone.
Partway through the day I got two exciting Papa Pal visits!
The hat shop has only been giving me about 18 hours per week so far, so I've decided to supplement by doing Papa Pal on some of my off days. Today I noticed that there were two upcoming visits only five minutes apart. Turns out one is at a memory care facility and the other is at a hospice, and both of them are "companionship visits," meaning instead of scrubbing toilets or mopping floors I'll be spending the time engaging someone in conversation, playing games or doing arts and crafts, and generally just chilling with a new senior friend :)
THIS is why I signed up to do Papa Pals; because it seemed like an opportunity to provide social and emotional aid. Not only that, these two visits are through actual medical facilities and I'll have to check in with a social services agent once I get there, which frankly makes me feel a whole lot safer than just showing up at a random stranger's house and hoping they're not a weirdo.
I know that the visits might not go all hunky-dory, especially the hospice visit. But I'm happy for the opportunity...and maybe this is strange, but I'm excited for them. I'm not a very emotional person, but listening to nursing home interviews as a TSOLife employee for the past several years really has touched me (see THIS entry.)
Anyway, I really hope both visits go well.
A few hours after lunch Jameson left to meet some friends for a movie. The theater is at Disney Springs so they're going to swing by and visit during my shift! I'm weirdly nervous about it but it'll be fine. After he left I took a quick trip to Walmart for a tiny orchid flower (for the person in hospice) and a cup of Mexican rice pudding (for the person with dementia.) Back home a quick shower and typing up this blog...dinner, and then off to work.
----------------------------------------------------------------
You'll have to wait for the next post for Today's Hat photo. I'm wearing my pink graphic tee with a banana and a strawberry on it, and grey dress slacks. I'm thinking a pale green hat would be nice, or maybe I'll get REALLY crazy and try a tan cowboy hat!
Monday: Visiting my two Papa Pals, rest of the day is free. I may take cuttings from the petunia, we will see how it's doing.
Tuesday: Working the mid-day shift at the hat shop.
Wednesday: A day off, I'll practice because I've been granted a rehearsal with the Main Street Philharmonic on Thursday! I hope we play through the Halloween stuff!