Morphogenesis Monday

morphogenesis ~ origin or development of a body part or organ

Just when I thought it was safe to put on my gardening gloves, this happened:

That’s not really snow you’re seeing, that’s the build up of ice pellets from our two day ice storm over the weekend. We were actually pretty fortunate that we never lost power – many communities around us did. Stretches of the 401 were closed periodically because slippery driving seems to bring out the stupid in people, and there was a whole list of closures and cancellations on Sunday.

I thought April showers were supposed to bring May flowers, not ice and snow?

The bulbs I bought last week are sitting on the dining room table sprouting in their little mesh bags. I’m sure this doesn’t bode well for them if/when I finally get them in the ground. But I have 50 iris bulbs, so surely a few of them will survive.

This week I really have to start thinning out the tomato plants the grandbaby and her Grappy started. They are growing like crazy:

The marigold seedlings are holding on, as is the brave little daisy. The forget-me-nots were still not doing anything, so I bought some more seeds and replanted them (which is why their pot is covered in plastic again).

Not pictured is the green divided tray the grandbaby and I planted a variety of seeds in last week – morning glories, stocks, catnip, and dill. Unfortunately, I did not label anything so I have no idea which pot holds which plant. Guess we’ll be surprised. LOL

We also planted a fairy garden last week. This was a kit that I bought from Giant Tiger and I actually had my doubts about anything coming of it because that’s where I bought the little single pots with the forget-me-nots, marigolds, and daisy. So imagine my surprise when I checked them on the weekend and saw this:

In conclusion, it may not be spring outside, but it’s coming along nicely inside. :-)

Monocarpic Monday

monocarpic ~ producing fruit only once

I think the above picture pretty much sums up why Mother Nature and I are no longer on speaking terms. I don't think the duck is all that happy with her either.

While we didn't get the massive snowstorm the weatherman was warning us to expect yesterday it was still pretty darn cold and we did get some snow last night. And he may be promising warmer temperatures and sunshine towards the end of the week, but I'll believe it when I see it. Just like those storms in the winter we never got. In fact, I'm pretty sure we've had more snow this spring than we did all winter.

Surprisingly, I'm keeping up with my blogging for the Blogging From A to Z Challenge, but boy am I glad we have Sundays off - I needed the break. I am behind on my blog reading for the challenge though. By my calculations, I should have visited almost 700 blogs by now and at last count I was just over 400. What surprises me is the number of blogs I've gone to where the blogger appears to have forgotten they signed up for the challenge.

I'm still having problems with the commenting - usually the WordPress blogs. Some days I'm able to comment, but most days it lets me go through the process and my comment just doesn't appear. And yes, I admit I don't comment on every blog I visit. Sometimes the post just doesn't appeal to me, and quite honestly commenting is really time-consuming, which makes it all the more frustrating when I make the effort and my comment doesn't show up.

In any case, I've found a lot of great blogs and the best ones I've bookmarked so I can return to them later. If you'd like to follow my progress, check out my other blog, My Writing Journal.

Last Monday, in a plan designed to save us some money, the hubby and I had our phone switched over to our cable service, where we already had our internet and television. And while we were at it, we got a TiVo receiver and changed our channel package. It was a good move ... in theory.

First, the installation process. Our living room is at one end of the house, my office is at the other. I need internet access in my office, so that's where the modem was, along with a router so my lap top and printer could connect wirelessly. I knew the phone would need a modem of its own, but since that was the end of the house where the cable came in, I figured it would be no big deal.

What no one told me was that that TiVo needed internet access too. And the installer couldn't figure out how we got our internet cable from one end of the house to the other in our mostly finished basement. So ... he installed the combination router and modem in the living room. Not only do I have to buy a wireless adapter for my desktop computer, I could no longer use my own router, which meant I lost the connection to my wireless printer. *sigh*

And let's talk television. Before he left, the installer showed me how to access the TiVo with the remote, and then referred me to some on-line videos that would show me how it worked. And then I tried to watch TV, specifically, the Space Channel. We were supposed to have basic cable and then 40 channels of our choosing. What we had was basic cable. One phone call and two hours later, I had the channel situation straightened out. Or so I thought.

The next night we discovered another channel was missing from our lineup. This only took about 45 minutes to fix. Then last night we discovered yet another channel missing, so I spent the next hour selecting every channel above basic cable, one by one, to see which ones we were getting and which ones we were not. We were getting 8 channels we didn't ask for and were missing two we did ask for. Unfortunately, by the time I had the chance to call to bitch at complain, it was too late. I'll have to do that later today.

Meanwhile, I was able to get the wireless connection to the printer going again, but for some reason it's printing everything twice. And it takes the signal forever to get to it. Now the printer is physically plugged into the desktop computer, so maybe once I get the wireless adapter for it the printer will behave. Or maybe I have to get a signal booster.

All I know is, this all better be worth it in the end.