Jalapenos, Habaneros & Cactus

The last weekend in March, I started two habanero chili pepper plants in 12 inch containers.  The photos are from last weekend.  These were small plants from a store, but they were already nice size.  The habanero plants have at least doubled in size.

At the same time I started five jalapeno chili pepper plants.  They were much smaller, hardly larger than seedlings.  They are coming along pretty good, although one plant is smaller than the restl  The squirrels have been digging in the dirt of the pots, and the smaller plant was once almost totally dug up.  The squirrels don't eat the plants, but maybe they are looking for food.  I was told by a friend to sprinkle just a little cayenne pepper powder on top of the soil.  The pepper gets into the squirrels paws and burns, then they lick their paws and get it into their mouths.  They haven't bothered the jalapenos anymore.

Nearly two years ago, Jo Richardson, one of the Political Science professors I work with, gave me three cactuses.  The three were in one small, 4 inch pot.  After about 2 months, I forget them in my old office, where they sat on the window sill without water from Sept to Dec 2007.  I brought them home in Dec 2007, and transplanted them into separate pots in the Spring of 2008.

Bonsai - Ficus microcarpa "Golden Gate"

On May 2nd, I attended the Louisiana Association of Bonsai Societies meeting in Shreveport. After a morning demonstration on a Japanese Shimpaku juniper and following lunch, people broke into different groups to work on various trees.  The President of the Shreveport Bonsai Society (http://shreveportbonsai.org/)  helped me with a small fig tree (Ficus microcarpa "Golden Gate").  

We pruned the ficus, removed most of the leaves (they should grow back within a few weeks), and wired the remaining branches to help the shape of the tree.  The pot is 5.25 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches deep.  The finished tree is 10 inches tall from the soil level to the apex. The wires around the base of the pot were added before I left Shreveport to help hold the ficus for the trip back home to Ruston.  I will probably wait a couple of weeks to remove the wire from the base of the tree and pot, but the wires on the branches will probably stay on for up to 6 months. If the wires begin to cut into the tree, I will remove them earlier.

This tree will take another couple of years to start getting real good.  Bonsai does not go fast!  I will post more photos of this tree in the future.

Allergic to Louisiana

Back in October, I had a full allergy test done, and it turns out I am allergic to a bunch of molds, weeds, grasses and trees common to North Louisiana, and especially to pine, oak and pecan pollen.  The allergist said I have some of the worst allergies she has ever seen.  Fun, happy allergy shot every week!  Actually, it is much better than not being able to breathe.

The pine pollen started in March, the oak earlier this month, and the pecans about anytime now.  Back in March, I took a few photos of the pine pollen covering cars in the parking lot.

Here is a car that has a bunch of 

pollen covering the hood. Notice the pollen smeared across the windshield.

Here is a photo of my truck.  I had 

to run the windshield wipers to clean the pollen off on the way to work. 

Las Vegas - Penn & Teller, Hotel Riviera, and Elvis

Last month I went to Las Vegas for the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers.  My paper presentation on agricultural change in North Central Louisiana was well-received, there were many other good presentations, and we conducted business for  some of the professional groups to which I belong.

But there was time to see the sites.  On Sunday, March 22, 2009, my friend from grad school at LSU, John Heppen,  and I saw the Penn & Teller show at the Rio.   I got autographs from both Penn and Teller, and John took photos on his iphone.

Me with Teller (left) and Penn (right). In the photo with Penn, I am holding "Penn & Teller's 'A Perfectly Ordinary Deck of Cards'."

The conference was at the Riviera Hotel, now one of the older hotels on the Vegas Strip.

At the LSU-Texas Party, I had my photo taken with Elvis!

A Waste of Time

It all started in 1997, when I started with a Geocities web site. Now it has expanded to things like facebook, twitter, and a blog.

Just what I need - more stuff to try to keep up with!

Anyway, enjoy the thrills from my blog.