The News from South Philly

I went through the Class of 2011 part 1 like the Grim Reaper. Twenty-six hippeastrum bulblets are lying in the discard pile and the six largest have been repotted in palatial digs. They're sharing a deep 8" pot, plenty of lebensraum. Most of the bulblets I kept had put out six leaves and were more than an inch in diameter. I cut the leaves back to about 6" apiece to reduce stress on the roots and will probably give them a shot of Miracle-Gro in a couple of weeks.

My neighbor Sybil has expressed an interest in some of the culls, which makes me feel a little less like a mass murderer of helpless children.

Class of 2011 part 2 will be next, but I am a little fearful that I don't have enough baked potting soil to re-pot them yet. I'm not looking forward to the smell a second time. There are only eight of them, so no culling will take place. Besides, they're a cross of two exotics and I want to see what each one turns into.

Class of 2012, all eight of them, still have some breathing room in their pots.

I didn't ride my bike today and spent most of the day in my office chair and now my back is killing me.

A friend of mine suggested I might like the Barsetshire novels of Angela Thirkell. On her recommendation I borrowed High Rising from the library and liked it very much. Our library has some gaps in its collection which I may have to remedy by buying crummy used paperbacks at a pittance from ABE, but I've put in a request for one to be delivered to my local branch library rather than pedaling over to the main library to get it. I've also downloaded the complete works of Anthony Trollope to my smartphone and will start on his six Barsetshire novels while I wait.

I don't feel like woodshedding tonight. I think I'll go downstairs, make a fish chowder for dinner (tomato based) and read Trollope while listening to Pandora. Won't that be nice?

There are a lot of buds on the Schlumbergera all over the house, and the red one that is the pod parent of my seedlings has burst into exuberant early bloom over the past few days. The violently magenta ones in the second floor bathroom are right behind them. Buds on my yellowish ones are a little further behind, which pleases me -- I'd rather have them bloom closer to Christmas.

The true leaves on the Schlumbergera seedlings that have reached that stage are growing very quickly -- from something smaller than a match-head to something larger than my little fingernail in the past week. If this keeps up they may be ready to re-pot in late winter/early spring.

All the coleus I wanted to overwinter have rooted and one of each is doing well under grow lights in the basement.

Two of Missy's three squirrel babies, now big, sleek and sassy, are spending significant time in our back yard. Now that my next door neighbor has evicted them from his house I don't feel quite so bad about feeding the bold one the occasional peanut. They hang around under the bird feeder, eating up whatever falls, but so far have shown no inclination to raid the mother-lode. Unlike their mother, they have a serious sweet tooth and will eat all the apple cores I will give them.

I have more hippeastrum seedlings from this year's pods than I know what to do with and will need to re-pot them soon. The exotic cross I was sent has produced nine seedlings, none as vigorous as my mongrels. After Christmas I will cull the nicer of the Class of 2006 and discard the rest. They all have Hippeastrum mosaic virus so I won't be sending them along to anyone, but if they bloom nicely they may stay here.(Although....I read somewhere that virtually all commercially-available bulbs are carriers of said virus, so what's the difference? Also...everybody was terribly stressed last summer...maybe it wasn't mosaic virus after all. But still, no sense sending possibly infected bulbs to my friends.)

All the snowflakes are starched, and my Christmas card labels are printed out. The stamps arrived yesterday. I have already purchased the major presents for my niece, one daughter-in-law and my son. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm getting my nephew and my brother-in-law. My other daughter-in-law and our grandchilden haven't weighed in on what they want for Christmas. The granddaughter is a freshman in college, so I imagine cash will be welcome.

I brought up a few more Christmas decorations from the basement and will deck the dining room mantel this evening. The scarecrow window wreaths will come down and the snowman window wreaths will go up.

Today I was reminded that after January 1, 2012 it will be illegal to sell 100 watt incandescent bulbs. Screw that, says I, and ordered a lifetime supply from Amazon. We're okay with compact fluorescents in many places, but there are two places in the house that we want, nay need, nay deserve bright incandescent light. So there.

I have a nasty crick in my back and am walking around looking more like Richard III than usual -- hunched over, one shoulder higher than the other. I'm hoping it will go away soon and have started some stretching exercises.

I worked today. For a little while. Tomorrow will be easier.