gardenbug8's Blog
gardenbug8's May 2008 Entries
Last Post 22 hours Ago
May 16, 2008 | 10:32 AM PST
Tag: clematis
We had verry strong howling winds the last two days here which wreck havoc on my container planters. Worst damage was on my clematis Rhapsody which dried up and wilted most of the blooms. The wind survivors are those in-ground planted against the back wall fence. Before I lose all the blooms with another strong winds predicted in the next few days, I took their pictures.
Victoria
Minuet planted with Victoria
The one surviving Rhapsody bloom.
May 15, 2008 | 11:50 PM PST
Tag: container tomatoes
I planted only one determinate tomatoe at the bottom on my second topsy turvy planter and none on top as the first planter. On the first planter, I planted two at the bottom and two on top. Both are doing very well. The planter instruction was to plant two at the bottom but I added the two on top just to experiment. Well the result is that the two on top are doing a lot better than the bottom two. I planted them both at the same time, same variety and same height. The top tomatoes are of good size with more blooms, the fruits are more rounded and clean but there are some weird shapes on the bottom ones. I think it could be the sun because the weird shape at the bottom seems to me hardly getting enough sun although the stems are reaching upwards towards light or it could be because of competition with the top plants. I will see what happens to the second planter with only the bottom plant.
May 7, 2008 | 7:53 PM PST
Tag: Scam
Last Thursday, a friend from my church gave me an email address for an application for a part-time job working at home. So, I did apply for the job and got an answer back that after completing their background check, I was accepted. My job is to accept by mail money orders, travelers checks, etc. cash these checks and wire transfer the money to the company’s representative. The company’s name is Arts on Tiles. It is a legitimate company in the UK but the scammer took their name and all company information on their job proposal that was emailed to me. I checked the website and sure enough, the UK Company exists with the same address, phone number and company information is the same on the email sent to me. So, my thought was that the job offer is legit based on the website information exactly the same as the job offer to me. So that was Thursday and by Friday, I received an express UPS envelope with 3 American Express travelers checks worth a total of $1,500. In my excitement, I went to my bank, cashed the checks, and wire $1,267 to the scammer. That is net of my supposedly 10% commission and $83 Western Union transfer fee. Wow, I made easy money of $150 just working at home and waiting for the mail.
Yesterday, I received another UPS mail with $1,000 in travelers checks. It is then that I got curious and suspicious because the senders of the two UPS mail I received are from the same address although different names but the handwriting on the envelope is exactly the same. My curious mind then thought, gee, why do these senders have to go through me and I do the wire transfer? Why can’t they not do it themselves? I compared the serial numbers on the checks and they are almost in sequence. So I called American Express fraud department and sure enough all 5 travelers checks of $500 each are counterfeit. So I am out $1,350 as I only kept $150 of the first 3 checks. OUCH. I am sure that my bank will get back to me when they find out that the checks are fake and I will surely be held responsible. I would have been out another $900 if I did not get suspicious. So the moral of the story my friends is this – if it is too good to be true, it is not true.
I emailed the scammer today, and told him that I forgive him and that to me, it is only money and I can live with that. But can he live with himself for defrauding people? Sooner or later, the karma comes back to you. If the law does not get him, then when it is his time to leave this earth, the Lord will take care of that. I often wonder too how people can turn so bad. Is it genes? Upbringing? Poverty? Whatever, I am so glad that I have my garden to go to when I feel blue. The blooms in my garden at least wiped away some of the OUCH. So my warning to you my gardening friends, be careful. There are so many people out there to pick your pockets of your hard earned money. Gee, I wonder how many plants I won’t be able to buy with this loss. I could have bought 50 clematis or so with this money. Well, at least, I am hoping to be harvesting tomatoes, corn, squash and cilantro this year for free.
May 6, 2008 | 4:27 PM PST
Tag: clematis
My only joy when I am blue is my garden and taking photos of my clematis. Today, I took pictures of Blue Light and Cassis although some Cassis blooms are fading now from too much sun. The colors are somewhat altered because I took them in intense sunlight. At least the blooms are still there. The first picture is Cassis. Can anyone recommend a good digital mini-camera for outdoor pictures?
