Bears in Labor

No, not political. Lily the Black Bear is in labor, they think, and can be viewed on webcam here:

http://www.bear.org/website/visit-us/lily-den-cam.html

Turn down your audio before clicking the link. There's a godawful hum.

Pregnant holiday cactus

2010-01-21schlumbergera
Originally uploaded by lb_philly.

I cross fertilized two cultivars, a white one and a red one, around Christmas time. The red-on-white doesn't appear to have done much, but white-on-red appears to have taken, and I have this swollen ovary. I read somewhere online that the fruit will become shocking pink and will take a year to ripen. When it's ripe, it's supposed to look like an overripe blueberry. I should be able to squash it and squirt the seeds out into a paper towel, cure for a day or so, then plant. Et voila -- two to four years later I should see flowers on the babies. I guess that means I can expect them some time between 2013 and 2015.

Bugger.

I have just lost a $3200 check on my desk.

Hippeastrum and found money

I potted up my new hippeastrum bulbs, for which I paid honest-to-god cash money, shortly after the new year. There's growth on the 'Exotica' and I am about ready to let myself believe I see a new shoot and not an optical illusion on the 'Gervase,' the one I really really really wanted.

Oh, and I found the check. I had put it on the flatbed to copy and then got distracted. It's not my check, it's a donation to a pet cause that I need to forward to the payee. All the more reason not to lose it! I will mail it today for sure.