The Realm

It's been a busy last few days. Yesterday was a day off and we really enjoyed it. I went on one job with Chris and finished reading most of my Parrotlet book.I know a little more about breeding them now but still unsure if that's what I want to do in the future. Still bugs me Melville is taking up space and eating food. What a mistake that was. I love Nautica and may not want to breed them together since there's risk involved to the females of egg binding. Even without a male I worry so much about her coming into maturity at one year since they don't need a male to lay eggs. I had enough of that with Punkin my pigeon and some scares with Bullet that luckily she pulled through. But Natuica is doing well. I have taught her to hang and to wave. We're working on shake which she doesn't like. But because she has learned hang she finally knows how to use the ladders on the cage to get back down and into her own cage. Before she would just jump off the play guy which is like jumping off a four story building. Then she'd climb up the ladder on the ground.

As you can see I made a new icon of her. I have regretted not making one of Bullet though I had tons of pics. I don't know why I never did and to do so now would just be a bad thing I think. It would make me down to use her icon. Not making that mistake with Nautica so here is a pic of her. Though Chris suggested I should draw her as the Empress and use that. That could work since that's a fictional cartoon version of her. One thing I don't like about Natuica is I can't touch and pet her. She does not like it and bites. I also can't brag her like I can most budgies. I can even grab Melville and he doesn't bite or struggle. But perhaps I can train her to like it by using a skewer and the reward method. It will definitely take a long time but it could work. When her first molt comes I'd like to be able to preen her with my fingers.



Here is the pic I used as the icon. I noticed my camera really pics up the blue in the room from the walls and the cages. They come out over saturated in blue and green. So from now on if the photo is worth it they will be color corrected. This one looks like real life finally.





actipton80, Here is the photo I could not send you for some reason. It's so funny because Minion is through the toy and he's so tall as he looks at Nautica and she looks at him.



I put this rope perch on the side of Minion's cage. I love the pastel colors and got this at the last birdshow. I showed Nautica how to use and it she loves it. She uses both top and bottom and has learned to climb the side. Minion didn't seem to like it when I showed it to him.

On the garden front things have been growing well. The lotuses are doing great and almost all of them have produced at least one flower or bud. I LOVE how fast they grow too. These photos are from a few days ago and already outdated.



This flower is called Golden Monkey. My first yellow and I love how the bottom is green and the tips are pink. This flower has long since "exploded". That's what I call it when all the petals fall off. It looks like an explosion. It has two tall buds right now.



This was my first flower of Chu Chu lotus. A mini red lotus. Though it's not really red but a dark pink. I don't think any lotus out there is red though many have red in the names. This flower has exploded too and the bud behind it opened and is on its way out.



This is the first "shower head" that has stayed nice and is of decent size, considering this is a mini lotus called Dreaming of Yaotai. Some of these names are so annoying. If I ever make a new breed I'll name it something cool or simple like Florida Pink. Or Yellow Starship. Haha.



I thought this was funny. This new leaf has violently ripped through the old leaf. It came up from underneath. usually they just push the floating leaves aside when they are areal leaves. But this time it just punched through which is so funny to me.



This photo is a huge triumph. I have had this plant for years. Maybe over a decade now. This is Rhynchostylus retus or fox tailed orchid. I first saw this in the Atlanta Botanical Garden in 2007. On my first trip to Atlanta when I visited my aunt before she lived on the mountain. I can't believe it was 2007. Here's the old post that shows what it will look like in bloom. I loved how long and cylindrical it was. Just found out I ordered my plant Feb 7, 2013. So I've had it 6 years. Haven't done anything to it and finally it bloomed. I wonder why it took me so long to look up what this was and buy one? I hope mine will get as long as the one from Atlanta but does not look like it. When I bought it it was listed as flowering age in two years. Yeah right. I think I got a good deal too as I paid $15 with $9 shipping. I'm sure they're more expensive now a days.

Well the lotuses aren't the only things growing fast. So are the weeds. My poor front garden is not as nice as it was in Spring and I can't keep up with it. Grass has popped up everywhere. Disgusting bugs are out for summer. Stink bugs, leaf footed bugs and for the first time this year a type of ridged black beetle has attacked my tomatoes. My four plants are a loss. I got to harvest some tomatoes but the plants are bug eaten and diseased. I have new plants on stand by but worry I would be wasting them planting them. I did some research and found out the problem is other than cherry tomatoes, tomatoes don't grow in Florida in summer. All this time I've been planting on a northern schedule the rest of the country follows. But I've now realized the "typical garden info" does not apply to FL. We're totally different from everywhere else. Here's what I learned about growing.

* North Florida - Tomatoes may be planted between February and April
* Central Florida - between January - March
* South Florida - between November and February. They may be planted for late season crop between August - September.

I'm Central Fl so I planted in April. Way too late. Give this time table to any other state and they'd laugh because you'd be hitting their winter. August is the worst month but perhaps bugs will be on the way out by Sept. I could try for end of August if I can keep my current plants alive. Cherry tomatoes are year round.

I also found out about a native tomato that grows in the heat called Everglades. It's a tiny cherry. I'll try to get some of those seeds as well as a small sized tomato called Floridade. Developed in Dade county which is Miami to withstand the heat. Well heat is fine but bugs are another matter.

Last thing. Chris downloaded the game on PS4 called Hungry Shark World. jokerforever, I think you told me about this game a while back. I was a cellphone game that I guess is now on PS4. So much better that you can have a big screen and a controller. Anyway you play as different cartoon sharks and level up by eating to unlock other sharks. You find things to wear that give you different abilities. The art style is very funny and cool. It's definitely a dark funny game. Chris got as far as the Megamouth shark and unlocked the arctic. I may play this and start my own game. Oh gosh that means if I do everything will go on hold. Haha.
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