In an Octopus's Garden

Of hurricanes and chisels

2012-10-29T05:28:45Z

Since I guess I'm going to be confined to my house for the next few days since the remnants of Hurricane Sandy are supposed to utterly spank my area, I bought a couple of pumpkins and brought them in to carve them. Except I couldn't find the knife I wanted to use so I used chisels instead.

It's been several years since I've carved a pumpkin and yet I'm infinitely better at it than I ever was before. Still slow though. I had to stop in the middle of this little 8x8" pumpkin because I got sleepy.

Gayture, Part 1

2012-09-21T03:02:33Z

I hope y'all like scrolling because you're going to be doing a lot of it if you click this cut.

Over the last several months, I've seen a LOT of plants. Beautiful plants of all shapes, sizes, and origins. I visited the Smithsonian gardens and made a trip to Longwood Gardens, which is one of the most incredible, diverse gardens in the country. It's also where I want to intern. I also, of course, did some gardening of my own.

I also got a scholarship from a tree care/preservation group, which I didn't even apply for. I felt extremely honored about that. Hell, I still feel extremely honored about that. It's reassuring to know that I'm doing a good enough job at what I'm doing that there are apparently people taking notice.

I'll talk a little more about school later. I have an absurd number of photos to post.

This set is from Longwood Gardens. If you want an ID on any of the plants in the post or a larger version of any of the pictures, feel free to let me know.

(I only took a picture of this tree because I thought the aerial root looked like a big floppy dong, to be honest)

Stay tuned for part 2 and additional updates about life and stuff.

Anyone home?

2012-07-14T08:00:11Z

Dang I haven't posted since February. DANG.

I'm still alive, as is Fatty.

As are many, many other plants.

A Melon for Ecstasy

2012-02-08T04:34:54Z

It's probably a good thing that I didn't stack my schedule this semester because I decided to do all of my physically intensive classes this time around, and while they're fun as hell they do tend to leave me a bit wiped out.

Two weeks ago I had a three hour session dedicated specifically to pole climbing, y'know, like the guys in the lumberjack competitions do. Everyone in the class who was brave enough to go ahead with it put on spurs and doofed on up to the top of a pole, then went back down, then chainsawed the pole over (which made them much easier to climb.). My two landscape construction classes have also been pretty busy - in one we're rebuilding a memorial that a previous class built but which was completely destroyed by the flooding we had this Fall, and we're also building a seating area for a playground. In the other, our activities depend on our skill level - since I suck ass at carpentry I had to build two birdhouses and eventually got proficient enough that I could move up to sawhorses, and I think I might be building chairs or something next.

Last week was all about cutting down trees and cutting them into usable pieces, as well as identifying various tree deformities and signs of illnesses - stuff like determining whether or not a branch wound has or is likely to cause decay to move into the trunk, how to tell when a branch junction is doomed, stuff like that. Basically, how to estimate and then greatly reduce the chances that a giant tree branch (or a whole tree) is going to fall over and crush you and/or your car.

This week is the most exciting so far, though. On Monday we all headed to a public park where the trees have never been groomed at all (and as a result are a total disaster). I had been looking forward to it for the last few days because I wanted to climb around in trees but I had assumed that everyone would be as stupidly enthusiastic about it as I was and only about 5 of us could be up at a time. As it turned out almost everyone was really reluctant to do it so I didn't even have to assert myself to get one of the in-tree positions.

Getting up a branchless trunk is a bit of a pain in the ass, but once you get into the branches things become much easier and a great deal more fun. Unless you're afraid of heights, which I'm not.

Today was a bit more subdued. The class split into groups and me and a few other guys just built a colorful winding walkway connecting two points. It turned out really cute.

flawless victory

2012-01-23T21:07:42Z

Climbed my first tree for arboriculture and didn't die/get injured/experience any mishaps.

What a pleasant surprise!

yay I'm a spider

2012-01-10T03:12:50Z

It's the first day of the semester and I spent the first three hours of it learning different knot tying techniques, then proceeding to put on a harness, lasso a rafter, and climb to the classroom ceiling with 24 other people.

God I love this school.

Crimmus

2011-12-26T07:55:34Z

I eventually fixed the cookie disaster even if I didn't decide to be seasonally appropriate about it. My Christmas was fab, and I hope all your Christmases were also fab (even if you don't celebrate it). My gifts this year were primarily clothes and snacks, which I am more than okay with. :3

Visiting the extended family went super well. I ended up weaseling my way out of visiting my dad's side of the family, which is great because they stress me out. And I spent the time I wasn't there watching Doctor Who instead.

With my mom's side of the family, for the first time in like... Ever, possibly due to a combination of amphetamines and really sugared up coffee, I felt really engaged in conversations with them and I left feeling really encouraged and motivated. Hell, I even felt comfortable around my aunt's dogs that usually scare the crap out of me. And was courageous enough to rescue one of them when he got a gift bag stuck on his head.

To top it all off, I won $50 from a scratchcard that someone gave me.

Yeah it was basically rad.

WORST WAIFU

2011-12-22T03:34:24Z

Wow I am super embarrassed. I told everyone I was gonna bake a bunch of cookies and started with a big batch of red velvet cookies.

... Except they turned out horrible. Like, literally the worst. I knew something went wrong when some kind of red ooze had accumulated around them as if they'd been stabbed while they were baking.

Wow you guys. Just wowwwwww.

2011-12-16T08:22:28Z

I can't even handle you guys right now! I'm scrolling through my flist and seeing things about new jobs, big projects, buying houses, university applications... Maybe the world's ending next year after all. Haaaw.

But in all seriousness, damn, I'm proud of you guys.

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

2011-12-14T18:08:54Z

Waterproof shoes (I'm already getting those!), a pitchfork, some kind of big huggable stuffed animal, a packet of mixed color Gomphrena Qis seeds. Hair accessories/makeup. Permission to redo my parents' landscaping, or at least to remove the plants that are hopelessly infested with scale insects.

That pretty much covers it I think.

Big ol photo dump

2011-12-11T08:27:27Z

The semester is overrrrr. In a way I'm kind of glad because it means I don't have to fret about my business class anymore, but I'm kinda sad that all my other classes are over. I do need a bit of a rest though.

The other rad thing about it is that I got a bunch of free stuff. Our poinsettias mostly sold out, but we did end up having a few left over. One of the varieties ended up flowering much more slowly than the others, and was generally kind of a disaster - it didn't sell well. I got a big peach colored one (There was only one left, and I think the only reason it didn't go is because I kept threatening people about it. I really should've put it in the backroom or something.), a big one with super bright pink bracts (the slow flowerer), and two of the smaller bright pink ones which I took strictly to experiment on.

I also got a bunch of free cut roses and lilies.

The peach colored poinsettia. It has little speckles, too, but they're hard to see.

OTHER STUFF I'm tired and don't feel like captioning/putting these in any kind of order

This is a set though

anyway

I know I'm missing some pictures in here (I specifically recall having a picture of a fungus that looks like a butt.), but I'll have to retrieve those when I'm not falling asleep all over everything.

leafing @ 2011-11-26T15:10:00

2011-11-26T20:10:12Z

I had been worried about the written driving test because my sister kept telling me how horrible it is (she failed it the first time she did it and never took it again) but I got around to the DMV today and it went just fine so I've got the permit part of this stuff taken care of so now I just gots to practice and then do the skills test at the end of December or whenever

Awwwwww yeeeeeee

And dare I say

2011-11-16T07:15:08Z

Things have been going really well lately! Well, aside from my business class, which I hate with the passion of a thousand splendid suns (almost as much as I hate the book A Thousand Splendid Suns.). It's not even that it's difficult, there's just a lot of pointless and time-consuming paperwork.

But. Like I said, everything else is going great. The picture at the top here is one of my poinsettia plants from this semester, which I'm getting graded on the quality of. The bracts should be done turning color in about a week. I don't actually really like poinsettias, but I've been obsessively concerned about their well-being, and it shows - poinsettias are very sensitive to basically everything, and there is a noticeable quality difference between my section and the one behind it where the students aren't as anal about things. It's mostly about the leaves. Splash even a diluted fertilizer on the leaves, and they're going to turn into these dead crispy little pathetic bacon limbs within a week or so.

Another of my profs, the one who I had my production class with last semester, seems to have warmed up to me quite a bit. This semester I have a landscape plant identification class with him as well as a propagation class. We do a walkaround quiz of latin plant names every week and he started calling me "The Queen" because I've been doing really well and in both classes just generally being very friendly and complimenting me a lot. Also I have direct permission to pretty much use a particular section of the greenhouse for whatever the hell I want, so I've been starting some seeds and taking cuttings and what-have-you. Notable things include Kniphofia and Crocosmia, "Dragon Lady" holly, blue rug juniper, and a variety of different lettuces. I've been waiting for an opportune time to set up a Seven Sons plant and figure out how the hell you produce a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar (my last attempt ended in me getting covered in cedar pollen.).

Sometimes I think about how I got where I am now and I want little more than a time machine, so that I can go punch my younger self. Younger me would've looked down on current me, and it would've been totally unjustified. And when I say "younger me," I don't mean just 15 year old Mayor of Jesusville me. Even two years ago, I would've looked down on someone who was the way I am now, doing what I'm doing. Rolling around in the dirt all day isn't dignified. Jobs which involve earth-moving and getting covered in mud, chainsawing down trees, being outdoors for reasons other than collecting water quality data, all those things were for the uneducated men in the world, you'd embarrass your entire family (and possibly even your entire gender) if you didn't study something seemingly complex and difficult to relate to.

Hah.

Ultimate Chimera

2011-10-14T01:28:50Z

The other day I haplessly found a weird looking Lamb's Ear plant, which I dug out of the ground and showed to some of my profs. Generally when I find an oddity like that it's the result of something like a chemical burn or a magnesium deficiency, so I didn't get my hopes up that it was anything special.

Turns out it's a chimera, which is basically the real-life botany version of finding a shiny Pokemon.

Hellooooooo

2011-10-04T20:03:28Z

This has been a post.

leafing @ 2011-07-31T00:04:00

2011-07-31T04:04:36Z

Guess who just turned 21!

It's this guy

Right here

Writer's Block: Saints and sinners

2011-07-21T21:48:03Z

This question sure does get asked a lot!

I'd just leave it where it was. It's not my problem.

Jaaaaaaahb

2011-07-06T19:01:28Z

I got to talk to someone in a little more detail about what the natural resources guys wanted me to do, and it wasn't quite what I expected - they actually wanted to hire me as a botany tutor.

I AM OKAY WITH THIS.

GET MONEY GET PAID

2011-07-05T17:12:56Z

I just got a phonecall from the school of natural resources saying that they want to hire me this year. To do what, I don't know yet, but I suspect it's probably taking care of the greenhouse plants full-time since everyone knew I practically did that for free before anyway.

ME GUSTA

leafing @ 2011-05-29T23:59:00

2011-05-30T03:59:39Z

HAPPY MINUTE BEFORE THE END OF YOUR BIRTHDAY, hamburger!!!!!

I hope your day was totally mokes and full of ponies and cute bugs and birdies and snorlaxes and cheesecake. :3

dude bro dude bro dude bro

2011-05-27T21:40:45Z

Of course n-

omg you guys

2011-05-07T05:26:38Z

Why did I not know about taxicab beetles until tonight?

THEY'RE SO CUTE I CAN HARDLY STAND IT.

I'm giving all of you an assignment

2011-02-23T03:13:27Z

Step 1: Cook this http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pumpkin_in_Coconut_Milk.htm

Step 2: Mail it to me

This is definitely a good answer.

2010-11-27T04:09:42Z

I don't know what "onerous" means without looking it up.

Writer's Block: Captain Planet

2010-10-28T03:36:51Z

COVERED IN BEES