Fall Replacements

Spring Hill Nurseries sent some replacement plants for ones that never came up. Last week I planted five hostas and this morning I went out in the rain and planted three Hardy Cyclamen (neapolitanum).

It's not immediately obvious which side goes up or down. Here is what they look like: some kind of cookie with a rough spot on one side.



I decided to plant them with the smooth side down. Since the previous ones did not come up at all, I picked a different spot and prepared the soil by digging a hole that is over a foot across, mixed in sand, fertilizer, and dirt mixed with sawdust (from where the tree was removed at the back driveway).

Here they are, I thought it would be handy to have a picture so that I can look for them in the spring.

Finally I covered them with a couple inches of dirt.

Now I'll just have to get some mulch to cover them over. (Does anyone sell mulch this time of year?)

House Painting Reunion

Drew, Adam, and Tom are home for the week to paint the house. Local painters gave us estimates of $6K, so even with airfare, we are way under that.

Saturday was bright and sunny, and was spent in scraping and priming preparation:



The old basketball hoop is now a shadow of its former self:



Some areas needed more preparation than others:



Shutters:

Painting of the body color happened on Monday, thanks to a paint sprayer loaned to us by Bernie Benson:

Anson was on vacation for the week, and helped paint the garage:

Madelyn also got a few strokes in:

Looking beautiful:

Two more days, working on trim in rainy weather, and it was done.

VC No Comm Event

Score a temporary victory for the machines in Man vs. Machine. A couple of weeks ago, an external event triggered a rebellion of our HP Blade Servers.

Without getting too technical, a bug in the firmware meant that the Virtual Connect network switches were checking out an incorrect IP address when validating management communication. The Virtual Connect Manager apparently decided to stop talking to us when someone in China configured DNS for their new network using that address.

Once that happened, the Virtual Connect Manager started reporting NO_COMM and other disinformation. Just going into the manager and looking to see what was going on made things worse, and eventually rebooting the switch (to clean up the mess) abruptly took down every blade server (even though they are configured for complete redundancy).

(The HP Customer Advisory gives a long list of what can trigger disaster.)

Reminds me of the Uncle Remus Tar Baby story. Starts out with a lack of communication, but quickly becomes hopelessly sticky if you try to find out why and then keep slugging it out.

Trimming Maple Branches

The Saturday before our trip, we were working in the yard and decided to trim the maple branches that hang down in the next door neighbor's yard. See if you can spot anything important in the picture that I missed:

We set up a ladder under the branches and had the pruning shears ready, I climbed up there and pulled the branch down and hit myself in the back of the head with a huge hornet's nest. It made the hornets very angry. I jumped down, stumbled, and splatted flat on the ground, then jumped up again and flailed my arms around, running and yelling like an idiot. I had to get the hose and hose myself off before I got them out of my hair and shirt collar.

Green Industries Seem to be Booming (in Mexico)

Driving in on I-80 toward Omaha, we kept passing windmill blades being transported on trucks going the other way. We were behind another one going the other way and took pictures of it at Little America.

The transport escort said that they were driving up from Mexico and going to Washington State. They must have been resting up for the night before facing the canyons in Utah.

Yard and Garden Update

We tore out the overgrown bushes along the garage, so now the walkway (where I go in and out every day) is a part of the side yard. The bushes were replaced with a rock run that will handle the rainwater from the downspout that would otherwise come down in the new foundation shade garden.



View from the back patio:



Things are growing well in the butterfly garden. We will have to do something with the stray maple tree soon.

Foundation Shade Garden

As built:

1. Hardy Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifclium) - 3 bulbs
2. Sister Theresa Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) - 1 plant
3. Mixed Hostas - 5 stumps
4. Amethyst Astilbe (Astilbe x. Arendsil) - 3 clumps
5. Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) - 3 twigs
6. Mulch - 3 bags
7. Red Scallop Edging - 12?
8. Dirt