Stuff that makes you ridiculously happy.

[Queen Victoria]

The PR is over the moon! Her name was drawn from the hat and she is to be QUEEN of her therapy group's Mardi Gras parade! 

Before you get too excited, I'm sure it's just the clients marching around the block.  But she does get to wear a tiara.   

[renaeden]

Wow! Going to look like the Princess Royal she is.

[Gopher Gary]

The PR is over the moon! Her name was drawn from the hat and she is to be QUEEN of her therapy group's Mardi Gras parade! 

Before you get too excited, I'm sure it's just the clients marching around the block.  But she does get to wear a tiara.   

[WolFish]

congrats to the pr

my orchid bloomed. not over the moon, but very happy.

[DirtDawg]

NICE!

On a similar, but far less complicated note, I have managed to force a pot of white Easter lilies over the past few months. They are not yet open, but still very showy with all the blooms yet to open soon. Some of the upper ones are over four inches long, still closed.
 

[renaeden]

NICE!

On a similar, but far less complicated note, I have managed to force a pot of white Easter lilies over the past few months. They are not yet open, but still very showy with all the blooms yet to open soon. Some of the upper ones are over four inches long, still closed.
 

Post a picture when they open, DirtDawg? They sound nice.

[WolFish]

here is a pic of the orchid

[renaeden]

Not a big fan of orchids, but that one is really pretty.

["couldbecousin"]

here is a pic of the orchid

  The orchid is gorgeous.  How long will the flower last? 

["couldbecousin"]

  Judee Sill's music makes me so happy. 
  I love the sound of her harmonizing with herself
  on this track.  It's like a whole band of Judees! 

[Icequeen]

here is a pic of the orchid

Beautiful!!

Mine is still in bloom as well, it put up a runner before I noticed it and could stake it on the 2nd shelf of my stand and is crooked as hell though.

It's pink also, but a lighter shade, about 3 yrs old? now, the leaves are huuuge. Out of the other 2 one bloomed around Thanksgiving...the other I had to repot and it wasn't in good shape when I brought it home. It's holding it's own, but I don't expect it to bloom for awhile.

[DirtDawg]

Not a big fan of orchids, but that one is really pretty.

Not a fan? How many have you killed trying to grow one? 
Most who hate them have failed at trying to grow them successfully.

That appears to be a Phalaenopsis orchid, I think. Quite prolific for orchid genera, as far as the number of blooms sustainable on one plant over a period of time.

Have you ever had a flower bloom that lasted for four or five weeks (indoors, maybe more) or even ten or eleven months (in a properly maintained greenhouse)? Phalaenopsis blooms are known to commonly last for almost half a year awaiting the proper pollinator to create seeds for the next generation.

We have native orchids here in Indiana, but they are endangered species. I have only encountered one in the wild and it had an armed guard and a protected walkway leading up to it (Parks and Recreation Agent was guarding it) patrolling within about fifty feet in a state park. Kind of discourages people from stealing it.   Seriously.

Most of these Eastern Hemisphere genera are widely propagated by horticulturists worldwide and the resulting species, varieties or cultivars only slightly or rarely resemble the parent plants. That is a part of the fun, though.

I think you should give orchids another chance.
 

[Lestat]

QV if there are any pics taken, I'd love to see them.

Seeing the PR with a huge grin on her face would make my da...wee..not sure how long but quite some time.

Another thing currently making me happy is getting the toolshed to myself all night. Hopefully now I can get to production of some violet phosphorus.

The preparation takes a long time, 24 hours at least, heating a sample of elemental phosphorus in molten lead, and then dissolving the lead away with acid to reveal the violet phosphorus within.

Going to try it with both red and white phosphorus and see if there is any difference, or if one succeeds and the other does not. Red P comes as a powder, and I've 2kg to play with so to speak, and the only time I've seen violet phosphorus on sale on ebay, it was going for about £20 PER GRAM. Not reactive much, unlike white phosphorus, and like red P, its not pyrophoric, and it is not known,  unlike white phosphorus to be highly toxic. I want to try making some lead molds, filling them with white phosphorus by melt-casting, then topping it off with more molten lead.

First, I shall have to get out my alembic and begin purging it with argon, and leading the outlet into hot water, to melt the recovered white phosphorus. Got plenty to try with, in fact I might just try it on test-tube scale first and see if my hotplate alone will reach the transition point, or if I need to frabricate a metal distillation vessel.

First things first though, I'm finishing my can of beer, jar of pickled olives and jelly-babies (love the black and thee green ones...biting their little baby toes off, and pulling their heads off..yum)
And finishing my rollup.

[WolFish]

here is a pic of the orchid

  The orchid is gorgeous.  How long will the flower last? 

i don't know. we have another bought this year that stopped blooming as soon as we got it home. it's in a small pot so we're going to fix that.

[WolFish]

Not a big fan of orchids, but that one is really pretty.

Not a fan? How many have you killed trying to grow one? 
Most who hate them have failed at trying to grow them successfully.

That appears to be a Phalaenopsis orchid, I think. Quite prolific for orchid genera, as far as the number of blooms sustainable on one plant over a period of time.

Have you ever had a flower bloom that lasted for four or five weeks (indoors, maybe more) or even ten or eleven months (in a properly maintained greenhouse)? Phalaenopsis blooms are known to commonly last for almost half a year awaiting the proper pollinator to create seeds for the next generation.

We have native orchids here in Indiana, but they are endangered species. I have only encountered one in the wild and it had an armed guard and a protected walkway leading up to it (Parks and Recreation Agent was guarding it) patrolling within about fifty feet in a state park. Kind of discourages people from stealing it.   Seriously.

Most of these Eastern Hemisphere genera are widely propagated by horticulturists worldwide and the resulting species, varieties or cultivars only slightly or rarely resemble the parent plants. That is a part of the fun, though.

I think you should give orchids another chance.
 

i am not sure if mine will last that long. We have one that's not blooming anymore - just acquired last month. the one in the picture didn't bloom for two years and then the leaves got big so i repotted it and voila! we may have three blooms. i am going to repot the white one tomorrow. the pot is so small that i can't get an ice cube in there without it touching the leaves. the other one doesn't do ice cubes. i switched to dripping water onto the leaves a couple of times a week.