our two kitties

are starting to get along! Just a few weeks ago, I would have never seen them relaxing together like this. They still have plenty of spats and swat at or chase each other, but also do friendly greetings, nose bumps and I've even caught Eliza briefly licking Mabel's head, or giving her eye-squints. Good signs!

my tucker fish

 has great color again- better than it shows in this photo. He seems to love the heat wave we've been having. 

I'd somewhat neglected his tank lately, but this week have got it cleaned up again. Did a water change, scraped algae off the glass, dosed with a bit of plant fertilizer, and replaced the airstone in one of the sponge filters. Will try to get a full tank shot soon too.

ditched the acorns

What happened with the end of that project. I got to the step of leaching the tannins out. Had all the ground acorns 

in three containers of water in the fridge. Poured off, stirred up and poured off again, and refreshed with new water every day. For over two weeks it felt like (I lost track). Just never seemed to get clear. Pictures of one container, several days apart each image:

Really dark with tannins at the beginning

Started to get lighter after just a few days

but then seemed to go on forever never getting clearer than this:

I finally stopped. I think it just went on too long- the ground acorns seemed to be spoiling in the fridge. Had that same unpleasant, slightly-pink greyish color as many of the nutmeats I'd tossed out when shelling them, because I thought they were bad.

So either all those acorns I saved in the freezer went bad, or they went bad from taking so long to leach the tannins out, or I'd thrown away masses of them at the beginning, that I didn't need to. I just don't know which it is.

Either way, I did taste a tiny bit of the acorn 'granola' (that's what it looked like) and it was very bland. Not soured or rancid, but not nutty and sweet either. 

So I never cooked with them at all. I think next time I collect acorn mast to keep the deer from hanging out in my yard all winter, I'll just throw them in the woods.

this blog

has kinda gone defunct, because I had various health problems and injuries one after another, and simply didn't plant a garden last season, or this. It's all weeds out there plus some self-seeded and perennial herbs, a few flowers. Borage, nicotiana. I still have the mints, the figs, the geraniums (for now). The chives died in the heat this week, but perhaps will revive with some watering. . . 

I don't know if I'll get the garden going again, but did want to make note of some changes.

One: we got a new cat!

two, actually-

The first one is quite a little beast. Sweet at times, but definitely has her own mind. And she likes to chomp on plants. Has eaten my big spider plant- all the foliage shorter, with shredded ends. Well, now I will be glad of all the babies to start new ones with! (I used to constantly give them away)

I had to give away and re-home a ton of houseplants that would make her sick (or outright kill her) if she nibbled on them. And I'm so glad I did, because she shows no signs of stopping. My Pilea peperomioides has bite marks in all the leaves. And the second cat we adopted, the tortie- she likes to dig in the dirt of my parlor palm. I'm sweeping up and replacing dirt in there all the time.

I kept only a few of the toxic plants- heartleaf philodendron, velvet philodendron, zebrina and pothos 'cebu blue'-

they are on very high shelves she can't reach, or hung from the ceiling.

It was difficult to part with so many, but many went to my brother-in-law's girlfriend, a woman just as passionate about plants, and when I visit her home I will see them thriving. The giant dracanea flowered again the week after she took it home!

Photos of our big schefflera, the only houseplant we'd named (Bob), right before I gave it away.

I had recently cut it back severely. There were plenty of new baby leaves growing

Some stem pieces I had cut and dipped in rooting hormone, the leaves all dropped off and I thought they were done for, but I pulled one out and after weeks and weeks, there were roots finally growing at the base of the cutting. So I was looking forward to see if those finally sprouted new leaves. Maybe they will and I will see someday.

I was most sad, to part with my angelwing begonias. These were cuttings I'd just started of the narrow-leaved one (forget the variety name at the moment)

And all my different coleus. They're planted outside in the front beds or in pots now, but I won't be bringing cuttings inside to keep over winter again. Toxic. I can't even name now, all the ones that are gone- but it was well over half my collection. Two-thirds or even three-quarters of it.

I do still have most of the semi-succulents, the creeping charlie (sweedish ivy), boston fern (shabby but regrowing), most of my african violets, and the zygo cactus. That's about it. For now.

Someone had just offered me cuttings of her zz plant, one I'd always wanted to have, but I had to decline. That one's toxic too. It's just not worth the risk. I know I'll never teach this cat not to chew on plants when she's bored (or antsy that dinner's not getting served fast enough). But we already love the kitties too much, they are more to me than plants right now.