girlndocs's Xanga

Delta Creative has no problem with shooting artists in the back

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:57:07 GMT

In case any of you are the craftsy type, like me, who like to try new projects and might be tempted to try a product like Delta Creative's PermEnamel glass paint ... you wanna watch out for yourself. Because Delta CEO Bill George has made it abundantly clear that if you've had problems they're your problems, not his.

A glass painting artist named Vicki Silcox who has spent years and painted thousands of pieces with PermEnamel had the surface prep product fail on her -- losing her a wad of money in stock and time, a real blow for a small business artist -- and George has informed her that she's just out of luck.

"Their technical department confirmed the failure, the Director of Marketing approved the claim for time and materials, and the President declined reimbursement to me stating that Delta is not in the business of reimbursement! Most importantly, he stated to me that the company does not and will not guarantee the products."

She's been an unofficial rep and cheerleader for Creative the whole time she's used the product, standing behind Delta, and now Bill George refuses to stand behind her. Keep it classy, Bill.

The Consumerist has the whole story. http://consumerist.com/5058353/delta-creative-prez-denies-refund-were-not-in-the-business-of-reimbursement

Monday, June 16, 2008

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:46:33 GMT

Xanga says they want to free up names from inactive blogs for others to use. I doubt very much mine is among them but in case anyone is after the name girlndocs, which as far as I can tell has been mine and only mine since the day I created it, I'm signing in to post a few words and keep my blog active.

Maybe I'll be posting more content in days to come and maybe not, we'll see, it depends on a lot of factors.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:09:38 GMT

Black Dog

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:01:10 GMT

It seems Winston Churchill was the first to coin the famous euphemism "black dog" for depression, but since then it's been used extensively. (Google "black dog depression"; lots of hits.)

That black dog has been at my side for many, many years. Several times I've convinced myself that I've left it behind, but I was wrong. It always finds me, and always follows me. Its presence has shaped my life so pervasively that it's been easy for me to lose sight of how huge its effect has been.

As of yesterday, it is no longer the primary black dog in my life. Another black dog now fills that spot:

Her name is Zoe. She is 90 lbs of glossy Lab-Rottweiler mix, she is a 1 1/2 year old rescue, and she is officially an emotional support animal under federal and state disability laws (meaning her place in my life is protected by fair housing and disability statutes). Her future career, once she's trained to IAADP standard, is as my service dog, alleviating the symptoms of my agoraphobia and anxiety.

She has been with me two days and already she's changed my life. She wants to be by my side, my companion, filling in the gaps the other, starving, sucking black dog used to slip through. Working with her and watching how eager she is to please, how mind-bogglingly fast she learns, fills me with a sense of pride, capability and privilege. Every time she looks at me I love her more and she just exudes loving acceptance of me.

My next year or so will be full of work with Zoe. She has so many things to learn, but she's so joyful to learn all of them. This is a wonderful adventure for her, filling her need for a job to occupy her mind -- and it's pretty much a complete change of life for me with more activity and focus than I've had in years.

I'm looking forward to it.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 08:25:54 GMT

Thor is a yellow lab who was found, severely emaciated and near death, in Roscommon County, MI.

Despite the documentation of Thor's horrible condition, and the condition of six other labs seized from Larry Baumgart's "kennel", Baumgart was issued a brand-shiny-new kennel license within the month, and the neglect and abuse the dogs had suffered were actively covered up by animal control and welfare authorities in Roscommon.

Although Baumgart was recently sentenced to jail time, fines and community service in nearby Crawford County for what he did to Thor, charges still have not been brought in Roscommon: not for Thor, not for the other six labs, and not for six MORE labs recently removed from Baumgart's care. How many more dogs will he starve and traumatize before Roscommon officials see fit to do their jobs and stop him?

People in Crawford, Roscommon and all over the country are speaking up for these dogs and against the horrible animal cruelty Baumgart has continued to commit. You can call, email or snail mail too.

I Have No Voice. Do You?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:41:45 GMT

So, I have been thinking lately about new gardens -- about designing new gardens, and about being overwhelmed by even relatively small spaces when they're completely flat and empty. Then I happened across what is possibly the most helpful garden design advice I have ever read.

Those are easy words to write. Easily a chapter's worth in a book with illustrations. But, how does a non designer understand and accomplish this? May I suggest using lots of cardboard boxes. Lay them out, pile them up, spread them around the spaces to be planted. Stand at the window and study various patterns as you arrange the boxes. In time you will see how to direct the eye creating balance and flow to your design. Then as you substitute plants (perhaps hardscape objects) for the boxes think in terms of replacing them with permanent (evergreen) plantings. In other words, plant your winter garden first. This is the guts of your design.

It literally took my breath away for a minute and made me stare at the screen with my mouth open, the way that paragraph broke down all the intimidation of planning a new garden for me. Amazing.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:58:38 GMT

We all remember that live bunnies are not Easter gifts, right? Good.

Defenders of Wildlife is offering an Easter "Adopt A Cottontail Rabbit" program that might be a good alternative.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:57:17 GMT

I've started some taro tubers for the first time this year.

Taro, Colocasia esculenta, is closely related to and in some cases an actual ancestor of many ornamental "Elephant Ear" tropical plants (Colocasia, Alocasia, Xanthosoma spp) which feature huge waving umbrella-like leaves. Being the ancestor/food/common species, taro's leaves are plain green instead of the purple and red colors of hybridized elephant ears, but they have a distinct advantage: they're dirt cheap if you buy taro tubers meant for food.

We found them for 99 cents/lb at the Asian supermarket, both small ones the size of eggs and gigantic ones almost as big as hams. Ours were conveniently labeled Taro, but they can also be called eddoes or poi. They're very distinctive though, and easy to identify. I brought home a batch of small ones that I managed to rot and kill (by keeping them too cool and wet) and when I went back for the second batch, my successful one, I also got one of the big guys, a root the size of Mr. Potato Head. I was curious to know whether bigger root = bigger plant.

You want to choose tubers that are plump, firm, and most importantly, without wounds, nicks or bruises -- these puppies are prone to rot, and any break in the tuber's skin is an entry point for trouble. If you can find them with evidence of buds beginning (they may look green or pale), or greening, so much the better. Each tuber has a flat end, where it looks like something was cut off, and a rounded/pointy end. The shoot does sprout from the pointy end as I initially guessed, but the roots don't come from the flat end: they come, strangely, from a spot about a third of the way down from the sprout end. (The flat spot is where the tuber was either cut from its parent tuber or had a daughter tuber cut from it). This is all ahead of you right now, though: the first thing to do is wake them up.

I had good results burying the tubers in baggies full of damp peat moss (Mr. Potato Head needed the gallon size) and keeping them warm. That's damp, not wet, not even moist -- it should feel like fresh cake crumbs. It's better to be a little on the dry side than too wet, because the tubers have moisture stored within them. Go ahead and lay them on their sides or whatever. Poke or cut holes in the top of the baggie near the ziplock part, and if you're at all concerned that the peat moss may be too moist, open the baggie wide every day to allow some evaporation. Warm means 60-70 degrees, which I found out a plain old heat pad works fine for. Cover the baggies on top of the heat pad with a towel to keep in the heat, monitor them until you're familiar with how warm the setup gets and watch that the heat pad doesn't overheat, running constantly. An alternative is a cheap round shop light with an ordinary 60-watt bulb. A gooseneck desk lap would probably be enough for a single small tuber.

It doesn't hurt the tubers to be uncovered, so check on them as often as you like. If you find rot (soft, oozy, smelly spots) cut it out completely with a clean sharp knife -- as long as the top third of the bulb is mostly intact there's still a chance it'll grow, and the more tuber left the better. Dust the cut edges with cinnamon, which is antifungal, and let it sit out for a bit to dry out some. I also nuked the peat moss absolutely scalding hot to try and kill any rot organisms that might be present in it, and started over with a fresh baggie once the tuber was dry and the peat moss was cooled.

Things were popping for me in a week.

(Mr Potato Head next to a medium size apple)

Roots appear before sprouts, but the bud on top should be swelling (it will look pale like sprouting potatoes). Sometimes there are multiple buds.

There are two here, one dead center and a smaller one at about 4 o'clock.

I read that some people cut off the tuber below the root line before potting up their tubers, but I was scared to with all the trouble I had with rot. I do have one tuber I had to remove quite a bit from before potting it up -- it rotted and sprouted simultaneously -- and it seems to be doing OK, but I left the others intact and potted them in a mixture of potting soil with added Perlite (I wanted really good drainage). I didn't plant them very deeply, only about an inch of soil over the bud end. Mr Potato Head filled a gallon size pot by himself with almost no foot or head room. I can't wait to see what kind of sprout comes out of a bud the size of a nickel.

One of the smaller tubers was already sprouting when I potted it up and the next day the sprout broke the surface of the soil. It was white at first but turned green very quickly when I put it in a bright spot (under a shop light in my case, but a warm sunny window would have worked too).

At this point you don't need to worry quite as much about rot because the tubers have developed roots to handle water, but still stick to damp soil, and keep them at about 60 degrees. They're tropical plants, so don't try to put them outside until the temperature is reliably in the 60s, and when you do put them out be sure you harden them off slowly. They can be planted in sun or part shade in good soil with even moisture, and while they're in your garden they'll make new baby taro tubers that can be dug in the fall. In most of the country they'll need to be dug and stored over teh winter, unless you want to let them freeze and just start new ones in the spring. In the warmest parts of the country they can be invasive! Care from this point on is exactly the same as for ornamental sun-tolerant Colocasias.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:46:17 GMT

We've always talked about buying our own home "someday" but finally, financial developments mean that we have a measurable timeline on it now. In 2, maybe 3 years we're looking at shopping for a house of our very own.

This will mean, of course, leaving behind the house we live in now and the garden I've made here. I'm not exactly on the eve yet of saying goodbye to my garden, but 2 more seasons is 2 more seasons and not "someday" anymore. The thing about starting to think of time in finite amounts is that it makes a garden seem less permanent, and for me, that's removed a lot of the element of risk involved in gardening.

I blogged last year about my new ability to rip stuff out and get rid of it, but this year I'm making major changes, getting rid of many of the things I envisioned as my "bones" when I first began gardening. I'm not replacing them with anything expensive or longterm, because of the limited time left in this house, and that suddenly introduces an element of experimentation and play. So much of what's growing will be given away or left behind when we do go, and that somehow makes it OK to take risks with it, to look at it as material to learn on. It removes the pressure to make everything just right, here, now.

I gave away two roses already and more are going out the door -- I've come to accept that filling the yard with them as a novice gardener was not a smart move. So many of them are failing and so few of them are giving me any joy. The remaining ones are getting unceremoniously scooted around the yard to different spots. Why did I think it was a good plan to stick "Gertrude Jekyll" at the back of the yard? She's been moved up to within easy view (and smell) of the porch and house. For years I've been saying that if I did it over again I would plant "Iceberg" near the porch, for those glowing white blooms to be enjoyed at night. So, I finally moved the damn thing there. Enough already with plants in stupid spots to try and fill in every corner of the yard.

It's strange to me that the season I start by saying "the hell with it" also somehow seems to be the season that holds the most promise for the garden, for enjoyment of it and for making it be what I want it to be. I've grown so much as a gardener in 5 years, and changed so much. From trying to fill a whole yard with roses shoved into bad soil, to building dark crumbly soil rich with compost, coffee grounds and earthworms. From "cottage garden" cramming in every flower I could think of, to a focus on form and contrast that's led me to incorporate tropicals and foliage plants. A better understanding of living in my garden, enjoying it as a space to be in and to experience apart from working in it.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:21:48 GMT

Wintersown sprouts as of today:

"Oriental Leaf" salad mix
Annual lupine "Pixie"
Aster "Champagne Florette"
Second planting of peas
Second planting of spinach
Cornflower "Black Ball"
Basil
Cosmos "Sonata" and "Daydream"
Second planting of poppies
Hollyhock
Foxglove
Evening stock
Viola "Johnny Jump Up"
Bush bean "Royalty Purple Pod"

The bush beans were a particular surprise, as I only planted them as an experiment in how early they would be viable -- the variety is supposed to do well in colder soil, and many things with a tendency to rot somehow don't when they're wintersown. But I didn't realy expect them to sprout and certainly not this early. Next I suppose we see how they hold up to the slugs.