This Phalaenopsis Orchid has nice reddish-pink color in it’s labellum and column (I had to look up orchid’s anatomy for those names, but it’s the little colorful thingy in the middle). The color reminds me of the color of salmon steak, flamingos or a coral reef. I took this picture in the hothouse of our local garden center.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if they didn’t pick artichokes for the produce department? That question was answered for us last weekend when we visited the Botanic Garden. If they are left on the stalks they produce these giant purple flowers.

Whirligig is the nickname given to this Trailing African Daisy (osteospermum fruticosum). I snapped this picture last week at the Botanic Garden.

The Whirligig is a member of the Aster family, closely related to other mums and daisies with a single-tier of petals. It propagates well from cuttings and does well in the Southwestern United States. According to the Desert Tropicals website (Phoenix, AZ) this flower suffers in hotter climates like Phoenix, but is hardy when it comes to tolerating frost.

The film “Amityville Horror” was a box office success despite being given poor reviews by critics such as Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert, who described it as “dreary and terminally depressing.”

The past few weeks have been “dreary and terminally depressing” for those of us who oppose this terrible legislation. It’s as if our Senators have gone totally deaf.

While President Bush, key Republicans and most Democrats in the Senate embrace this turd, seventy percent of Americans see it for what it is - a badly cobbled together morass of pork, inadequate security and abundant entitlements for illegal aliens. Yep - illegal means they broke the law - illegal means they should be punished, deported and get in the back of the line.

I’m told that there’s still time to do something about it . . .

Continue reading » The Amnestybill Horror

This week’s pick for Weblog of the Week is Dragon Lady’s World. The Dragon Lady runs a colorful weblog with a little something for each of our conservative cravings. On a personal note, Dragon Lady helped me resolve a technical issue a couple of months ago, so I know that she runs a tight ship over there.

On today’s DLW, the Dragon Lady posted this little meme about rating your weblog - silly enough, but I clicked on the link anyhow and made this discovery about the rating system; They will rate you “R” not only for using foul language, but for using words like “suicide,” “knife” and “gun.” This is a typical nanny-state/gun-grabber take on firearms and such in the name of “protecting” us.

Ridiculous? You bet! However there’s nothing ridiculous about Dragon Lady’s World. We’re happy to name her as our Weblog of the Week and her link will ride along with the Never Forget Tribute this week.

When I first saw this photo that Damsel took last week at the Botanic Garden, I thought it resembled undersea kelp (seaweed). Just for grins, I futzed with the color balance to render this illusionary kelp forest.

Roll your mouse over the picture to reveal that it is actually a large cereus cactus (one of the largest I’ve ever seen). Photo credit - Damsel (as usual). JavaScript/PHP credit - yours truly.

With the important issue of immigration reform before the United States Senate, Senator Jim Inhofe and friends have established a new blog, Secure Borders Now. The primary focus of the new blog is to “Secure Our Borders. No Amnesty.”

The Secure Borders Now Petition (link at the top of the left sidebar) has been rather successful over the last several days. The map at the left depicts the signatories in a demographic — red flags are signatures placed on the map at the point of origin.

If you haven’t done so, sign the petition now. Also visit the Secure Borders Now blog.

This is off-topic, but important to point out that Senator Inhofe, as you may or may not know, also has a common-sense, rational approach to Global Warming and Climate issues. The Senate EPW Blog is Senator Inhofe’s official minority website.

We have an area along the side of the house where we don’t often go. We have a few shrubs and flowers over there, one of which is an epiphyllum. I think it had flowers a couple of years ago, but I don’t quite remember. I went out there this morning to check on something unrelated and was pleasantly surprised by this gorgeous white flower.

It’s really, really hard to pick a single image from the 125 pictures I took today in the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. I’ll show this collage of sixteen images, but none of them do justice to actually being in the garden.

I’ll post a couple of full-sized images later this week - they were all very beautiful.

And I now have taken possession of my new best little friend. After the long wait and finally taking delivery, I went into the range and promptly put 50 rounds through this little beauty. Not only did I put the rounds through the gun barrel, they actually managed to go through the target at (more or less) where I was aiming. She’s got quite a kick for a little lady, but I just love shooting this lightweight, compact firearm. When I slip her into my pocket she disappears from view, and you would never know she was there — until I whip her out. No hammer to catch on my holster or pocket either. She’s ready in a flash!

Can you say Happy Dance?

Congress recently polled at a miserable 14% approval rating. With their political feeding frenzy and blatant disregard for public opinion, I suggest this:

You might also consider signing the “Secure Our Borders - No Amnesty” petition and the “We Win, They Lose - No Surrender” petition. Both links currently at the top of the left sidebar.

These striped gazanias certainly add a lot of color to the patio. This is one of several annuals that we recently added to the the outdoor floral collection. Very pretty!