Well that was alarming.

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annis
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Well that was alarming.

Post by annis »

All the way home from the bonsai society meeting tonight I thought I was likely to get rained on — the lightening in the distance was truly impressive.

But I got home fine, and was sitting down to send email to a fellow textkitten to, um, gloat over a book find (Foley's Homeric Hymn to Demeter). Anyway, I noticed a very strange sound out my window, so I went to the door to listen better.

Off in the distance — but not so far as I might have liked — was an immense rushing noise. I decided it would be best to be in the basement before that sound got any closer. I grabbed Foley (not sure what was going on in my brains there) and a flashlight. Just as I got to the head of the basement stairs, I heard the first very alarming thud. The thudding went on for about a minute.

When the noise stopped, I went to look outside, and found this:

Image

Because I'm a nerd, I had to go grab a few and toss them into the freezer:

Image

I'm afraid to go see what happened to my bonsai. Other parts of town are reporting much larger hail, so my worries in the morning will be trivial in comparison.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
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Post by GlottalGreekGeek »

I'm glad that you (at least) are okay.

Do you still spend more time on your bonsai than on Greek?

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Post by annis »

GlottalGreekGeek wrote:Do you still spend more time on your bonsai than on Greek?
This time of year, the trees wait for no morphology. When the sap is on the move and hormone systems are gearing up, I have to do a lot of work in a brief window of time if I want to get it done this year at all. So right now, yes, the wee trees get more of my time. In another week, two at most, things will be settled for the season, and I'll only have to do the usual maintenance.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
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Re: Well that was alarming.

Post by Kopio »

annis wrote: Because I'm a nerd, I had to go grab a few and toss them into the freezer:

Image
That could well be why they ended up in the freezer. But I must say, you have lovely hands....ever think of hand m0deling :lol:

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Post by Chris Weimer »

"I'm a hand model, mama. A finger jockey. We think differently than the face and body boys... we're a different breed."

:lol:

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Post by ThomasGR »

If understood correctly, this bonsai is kept outside in the ground? I thought they must grow in a pot for preventing them growing to 'normal' sizes. When later you transplant this in a pot, the damage to the tree might be huge and incurable.

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Post by annis »

Chris Weimer wrote:"I'm a hand model, mama. A finger jockey. We think differently than the face and body boys... we're a different breed."
Now that's just surreal.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

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Post by annis »

ThomasGR wrote:If understood correctly, this bonsai is kept outside in the ground?
I have no trees in the ground, though some bonsai people do grow things out it the ground when they need rapid trunk development — everything grows faster in the ground. We takes steps when growing things out to be sure they'll come out of the ground easily when the time is right.
I thought they must grow in a pot for preventing them growing to 'normal' sizes. When later you transplant this in a pot, the damage to the tree might be huge and incurable.
Wild collected trees can be lost to too early potting in too small a pot. My own collected trees have been in pot culture long enough that they can handle the full-on bonsai root-pruning which so alarms my more delicate gardening friends.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
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Re: Well that was alarming.

Post by annis »

Kopio wrote:ever think of hand m0deling
I hadn't even realized that was a profession until reading this post.
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Post by swiftnicholas »

annis wrote:I decided it would be best to be in the basement before that sound got any closer. I grabbed Foley (not sure what was going on in my brains there) and a flashlight.
What a great image, that made me chuckle. :) I have to confess that I sometimes daydream about which books I would grab if my house was suddenly engulfed in flames or something....

Kopio wrote:But I must say, you have lovely hands....ever think of hand m0deling
I'm not sure if you had this in mind, Matt, but I couldn't help but think of Seinfeld, when George becomes a hand model. If Will does take your advice, I sure hope he has enough "self control". :)


I'm glad you avoided any injury, Will, and were able to get home with your new book before it was torn straight through by one of those huge balls of hail.

~N

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Post by annis »

swiftnicholas wrote:I'm not sure if you had this in mind, Matt, but I couldn't help but think of Seinfeld, when George becomes a hand model. If Will does take your advice, I sure hope he has enough "self control".
So much pop culture I miss by not having a TV.

I'm glad you avoided any injury, Will, and were able to get home with your new book before it was torn straight through by one of those huge balls of hail.
Thank you. As alarming as it was for me, the south end of town got much larger and scarrier hail. One co-worker had both skylights taken out.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
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Post by GlottalGreekGeek »

swiftnicholas wrote:I have to confess that I sometimes daydream about which books I would grab if my house was suddenly engulfed in flames or something....
If anything, I would probably grab my notebooks (if I could). I don't have much in the way of valuable books - any books I really wanted to have I could probably re-buy within a year - but my notebooks are unique and irreplacable.

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Post by swiftnicholas »

Wow, some of those balls of hail are incredible!! And skylights and car windows are generally pretty strong. I wonder how often this happens in the world...what are the records for hail...is anybody there in Madison talking about that?
GlottalGreekGeek wrote:If anything, I would probably grab my notebooks (if I could). I don't have much in the way of valuable books - any books I really wanted to have I could probably re-buy within a year - but my notebooks are unique and irreplacable.
Yes, I'm the same way: I don't buy "valuable" or "rare" books. I cherish some books that were gifts from my grandparents or parents: some children's books; a dictionary that I don't use much, but was the last book my grandfather gave to me before he died; a rather ordinary edition of Shakespeare that my grandmother gave me when I was 12, with the inscription "when you're ready for Shakespeare, here he is". And probably some others. But now some of my daydreams involve Greek books that I suspect I won't ever find again for an affordable price. :) And most of my personal writings and old journals are either gone already, or saved on a few different computers, or in one portfolio, which I'll probably forget to grab if disaster actually does strike.

Sorry to get off topic Will.....

~N

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Post by GlottalGreekGeek »

swiftnicholas wrote: But now some of my daydreams involve Greek books that I suspect I won't ever find again for an affordable price. :)
Ah. Up to now I've been avoiding those Greek books, merely buying books which are consistently affordable. I'm holding out until I go to college, when I'll have access to all those expensive books at no extra charge ...

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Post by Kopio »

swiftnicholas wrote: But now some of my daydreams involve Greek books that I suspect I won't ever find again for an affordable price. :)

Sorry to get off topic Will.....

~N
Two things.....I have the same dream about one book in particular.....Fanning's Verbal Aspect in the GNT.....it is well over $100 (one of those Oxford Monographs) and is only about 200 pages, if that. But it is groundbreaking, sublime, and very well written. We worked out of it in my Exegesis class several years ago. It's my holy grail....I just can't see spending that much money on such a small book (it's the miser in me)...but I will own it one day!

Lastly.....books are never off topic for Will....he's a very bookish fellow. :)

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Post by swiftnicholas »

Kopio wrote:Two things.....I have the same dream about one book in particular.....Fanning's Verbal Aspect in the GNT.....it is well over $100 (one of those Oxford Monographs) and is only about 200 pages, if that. But it is groundbreaking, sublime, and very well written. We worked out of it in my Exegesis class several years ago. It's my holy grail....I just can't see spending that much money on such a small book (it's the miser in me)...but I will own it one day!
It sounds so awesome and expensive that I bet by the time you find it in a used bookstore you will already be an expert in Verbal Aspect! :) But if you need help rationalizing the purchase, then I can offer two thoughts. One, if you get a fair settlement for your car accident (glad you're okay by the way) then certainly the least you could do for yourself as a treat is to buy that book. :) Two, if you do buy it, think about how much more help you could offer here at textkit---so really you'd be buying it for all of us, and that would be soooo generous. But don't send the creditors after me....

And back to hail, I found this website, with a picture of the largest hailstone on record at 7 inches in diameter and 18.75 inches in circumference, although it's not the heaviest apparently. I had no idea hail could get that big. And also, I found this rather bizarre article about a group of people killed by huge hailstones in the Himalayas over a thousand years ago....yikes.

~N

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Post by annis »

Kopio wrote:Lastly.....books are never off topic for Will....he's a very bookish fellow. :)
That's an excellent rule of thumb.

But I have to say that if my house starts on fire, I'll probably not be grabbing books. While there are a few I'd miss for sentimental reasons — gifts, or the signed, first edition of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions — I prefer to leave books-as-artifacts in museums. So long as I have the information, I'm happy, and books are still often the most convenient way to store and retrieve that information.

It would be expensive to rebuild my library, but I take photos of my shelves from time to time as insurance documentation.

No, if my house is on fire and I can only take on thing out it'll be the USB external hard-drive I use for backing up my computer. It has all the in-progress Aoidoi.org work (finished versions are of course on the server), as well as encrypted disk images full of my financial information.
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Post by IreneY »

I haven't seen such big balls of hail for some time! How did you bonsai fared?

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Post by annis »

IreneY wrote:I haven't seen such big balls of hail for some time! How did you bonsai fared?
There was no obvious damage. If any branches were bent beyond their ability to survive, I'll probably not know for another week.

Hail is much harder on deciduous trees in full leaf, but those have only just now started to open their buds.

The mysterious hosta fanatics have much more to worry about from hail than bonsai people, I suspect.
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Post by IreneY »

annis wrote:There was no obvious damage. If any branches were bent beyond their ability to survive, I'll probably not know for another week.

Hail is much harder on deciduous trees in full leaf, but those have only just now started to open their buds.

The mysterious hosta fanatics have much more to worry about from hail than bonsai people, I suspect.
a) that's nice to hear!

b) I didn't get the hosta comment. Does this have to do with i. my clumsy (and I am being nice to myself) grasp of English language (I had to open my dictionary to find what hosta is)? ii. my general ignorance about things that grow on the ground that frustrates my sweet mother since I am generally only able to spot the basic differences between a tree and a flower (I had to do some web search after translating hosta to see what it looks like)

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Post by Emma_85 »

glad to hear you're ok and got home before the hail started! it would have been even scarier if it had happened while you were in the car - not to mention the car would have some serious dents in it.

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Post by annis »

IreneY wrote:b) I didn't get the hosta comment. Does this have to do with i. my clumsy (and I am being nice to myself) grasp of English language (I had to open my dictionary to find what hosta is)? ii. my general ignorance about things that grow on the ground that frustrates my sweet mother since I am generally only able to spot the basic differences between a tree and a flower
Did you do an image search on hosta? The things are mostly leaf, and get shredded awfully during a hail storm.

I personally find hostas dull. Plant breeders have worked hard to make hostas more interesting, but I mostly find these ugly (I hate variegation in plants — a pet-peeve, I know). I have sometimes encountered people who have entire gardens which contain mostly hostas, which to my untrained eyes make for an undifferentiated field of green. These people with the mostly-hosta gardens are completely distraught after hail.
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Post by IreneY »

aha! So that's why you called them mysterious! (I did find some pictures and they did seem to 'host' just a lot of green leaves but then -as I said- I am woefully ignorant in this field so I shouldn't talk, but I do and I have to say that bonsai seem much more interesting).

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Post by Kopio »

annis wrote:I personally find hostas dull. Plant breeders have worked hard to make hostas more interesting, but I mostly find these ugly (I variegation in plants — a pet-peeve, I know). I have sometimes encountered people who have entire gardens which contain mostly hostas, which to my untrained eyes make for an undifferentiated field of green. These people with the mostly-hosta gardens are completely distraught after hail.
Hey....I like hostas! I especially like the variegated ones! Seriously. I think if hostas are used appropriately they can make a garden lush and full. Dad plants hostas at the base of his clematis (the chinese evergreen variety) and they have both function and fashion. I wouldn't like a full garden of hostas, but like I said...appropriately used, I think they are a nice feature in a garden. BTW...why the pet peeve with variegation?? I've never heard of such a think before.

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Post by Bert »

annis wrote:
I personally find hostas dull.
I like Hostas. Not a whole garden full of them but they sure look nice in their place.

I admitt that your bonsai creations look nice but it is not for me.
I don't want plants that take a lot of work to maintain and keep in shape.
I don't even want evergreens that are to delicate to survive the winter without wrapping them in burlap. (What's the point of an evergreen if you have to cover the green in the winter?)
It is a good thing that we all are different. Not very exiting if all of us had nothing but Hostas or if we all mutilat..(oops) if we all did bonsai.

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Post by annis »

Kopio wrote: BTW...why the pet peeve with variegation??
It makes me think the plants are chlorotic and need some acidifying fertilizer.
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Post by annis »

Bert wrote:Not a whole garden full of them but they sure look nice in their place.
Someone with a lot more gardening experience once told me, "hostas solve problems." I now understand what he was saying — and not every plant in a garden has to be interesting on its own — but I still don't get the appeal of the mostly-hosta approach.
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Post by catfish »

I don't like plants. They supply habitats for spiders.

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Post by nostos »

I love plants, but unfortunately am cursed with a brown thumb :(

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Post by IreneY »

nostos, (and I know this is waaay off topic) I loved the article! both really funny and informative. I may give this a try and then translate it and send it over to my neighbour who always goes overboard when watering her plants and makes a mess of both our balconies.

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Post by nostos »

I'm glad you enjoyed it, IreneY. It's not that far off topic; we began with storms and bonsai trees, went on to hostas, and next how to grow plants hydroponically :)

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Post by annis »

catfish wrote:They supply habitats for spiders.
Actually, they supply habitats for sap-sucking bugs spiders find delicious and nutritious. I love the spiders.
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Post by catfish »

You love spiders?! You are officially considered evil. ERRRGH!!!!

Well I love Mortein.

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Post by nostos »

catfish wrote:You love spiders?! You are officially considered evil. ERRRGH!!!!
I doubt there's a word more wholly off the mark than 'evil' to characterise William Annis.

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Post by annis »

nostos wrote:
catfish wrote:You love spiders?! You are officially considered evil. ERRRGH!!!!
I doubt there's a word more wholly off the mark than 'evil' to characterise William Annis.
Hey, apart from occasional drinking with friends, I live a hermit-like existence devoted to my books and my garden. I'll take my infamy where I can get it.
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Post by Kopio »

nostos wrote:I doubt there's a word more wholly off the mark than 'evil' to characterise William Annis.
I believe the word 'bookish' is probably the best way to characterize William.
William wrote:Hey, apart from occasional drinking with friends, I live a hermit-like existence devoted to my books and my garden. I'll take my infamy where I can get it.
In some ways I envy you William. If Marj was not such an amazing woman, my proclivities would probably be very close to yours. This summer I am going to landscape my house, and I am very much so looking forward to it. The people who owned it before us had very poor taste in plants, and I am planning on tearing most of theirs out and putting mine in. I love flowering plants....and they do so well in this area....sometimes you can get plants to flower for several months if you know what your doing (which is why I ask my father the "master gardener" lots of questions. I am planning on taking a bunch of before and after pictures....maybe I'll share some online.

Which reminds me William....are you going to give us some spring pictures again this year??

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Post by Bert »

annis wrote: I'll take my infamy where I can get it.
:D

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Post by catfish »

You always think they are quiet and bookish and then.......

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Post by annis »

Kopio wrote:The people who owned it before us had very poor taste in plants, and I am planning on tearing most of theirs out and putting mine in.
Oy! The person who had the house before me did a bunch of landscaping just before deciding to move out. Plant location was determined by... wait for it... a bloody feng-shui consultant. It was a disaster: rapidly growing trees planted right under power lines, sun-loving plants planted right in the shade, and shade loving plants baked in the sun; young trees were planted without any bunny protection, etc., etc.

Only this year have I dug out the last of the shrubs that have to go.
Which reminds me William....are you going to give us some spring pictures again this year??
I've taken a few. This year is less attractive since not only am I still in the process of cleaning up previous owner's mysterious choices, I'm having to clean up a few disastrous choices of my own. I briefly flirted with some of the ornamental grasses. Never again. I don't have the eye for it, and in my enthusiasm I didn't pay enough attention to the fine print on one or two of them, and now I have to wage full-on war to stop one of them from taking over, well, I think it wants the whole state.

I'm not a big fan of a lot of the hybrid roses, since they're horrible drug addicts in my climate (fungicides, bugicides, etc., etc.), but I do like some of the old species roses. Both of the Austrian copper roses seem to have made it, so I'll be getting photos of those. They only bloom the once, but it's quite a sight. To even think "Washington State" in their precence would surely cause them to drop over instantly from black spot.

Two autumns ago (perhaps late summer) I grabbed some cheap miniature roses from Home Depó to take up some blank space in one bed. I take a fairly tough-love apporach to the garden for established plants, and since I put the minis in as an annual I paid them no more attention except to remove flowers past their prime. I did nothing special to the soil, I didn't dose them with chemical protection, I did nothing to protect them in the winter. They thrived. I put in more last year. Again they thrive. Needless to say, I'll be adding more, and will continue to ponder this mystery.

Big stinky is blooming again. The bloom is large again this year, so I'll get some photos of that and the resulting fly orgy when it opens.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
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Post by Carola »

I'm so glad to hear that William is a gardening person - all us bookworms need to get out and do something physical at times (I mean OUTDOORS physical!)
As for spiders - they are the gardener's friend. They eat nasty bugs and anything that does that is more than welcome in my garden patch! Bonsai are a bit risky in our 40degC + summer temperatures, unless you have a very kindly fellow bonsai person to water them if you go away for a day or 2. I grow lots of succulent plants, native plants etc, plus fruit trees (orange, lemon, feijoa, apples, figs, olives, grapes) and vegetables. A lot of the fruit trees would have been grown by the Greeks & Romans and every year 2 Italian men come around and take most of our olives for oil, as we only use a few kilos. No doubt the whole process is much the same as was used several thousand years ago.
The garden is totally organic so we get lots of birds - honeyeaters and parrots.
(I was going to post a picture of the garden but can't quite work out how to do this)

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