stx today,comments

Half and half

it's getting pretty hot for tomatoes, are they determinate or indeterminate? I'd probably go for part sun anyway, especially coming into summer. Ours always seemed happy with light and just a bit of direct sun.

thanks Tam, beachy i'm sorry but i don't know what you mean by determinate or indeterminate, they are whatever they were selling at the ag fair grounds,they are still less than 2 inches tall and i just moved them into big pots for a month or so until they get bigger, in minnesota i always had them in pretty much full sun and it got hotter up there than it ever does down here, i know the sun is stronger down here because of the equator but in july and august in minn the temps were in the upper 90's and low 100's

I don't know any more what they have out at the Ag Dept greenhouse. They used to save seeds from plants, so you'd get who-knows-what-type, but they would grow for us just fine. Determinate varieties are shorter and bushier, and get their fruit at pretty much the same time, and then the plants die. Indeterminate will keep flowering and growing, and sometimes on stx you can keep them going a long while. Tomatoes ripen from the heat, not the direct sun. They do not pollinate properly though unless night temps get under 75, and daytime temps stay pretty much under 90. Stx has more problem due to the night temps--which is why they grow better if you start them in Oct or so, but we've had them go all summer too... Determinate are usually the ones that would grow better in places like Minn., cause they tend to be the earlier ones--need a shorter season., but now there are so many hybrids who knows. We've got some growing on stx right now that actually are called siberian---real quick/short growing season, suitable since we started them this spring.
My aunt used to refer to the two minnesota seasons, 4th of July and winter....

lol Beachy or road construction and winter,thats the other one minnesota has turned into one urban area stretching from albertlea on the south to rochester on the east to st.cloud on the north west, it's just turned into one big suburb and it's so odd i remember growing up in delevan and blue earth and hearing tales of the big bad minneapolis area and now it's all the same with people and immigrants from all over the world,i don't remember ever seeing a non white in person in my life until 1971 when we moved to laredo texas with the border patrol and i was in 4th grade at the time.

when my aunt was old enough for a drivers license she just sent away and got it--there was no test. My father ( her BIL) always claimed she drove with a license from the Sears Roebuck catalog. She's 80 something now though, so that was a while ago....still drives just the same though...

my great grandma was in her 100's when she stopped driving, my mothers father was 83 and my fathers father was 91 or so,my dads father was in his upper 80's when he stopped,lol it's so odd,but back then hardly anyone lived in the rural areas of the state and so they were less of a hazard

LOL just watched the adam sandler movie on cable called "i now pronounce you chuck and larry" another movie about 2 str8 guys pretending to be gay for the domestic partner benefits,lol good thing neither of them works at carambola beach resort cause discrimination is alive and well out there, but anyway my point i guess is do people really think about doing this? is the health care/benefit system in the US so screwed up that it has come to situations like this,has being gay/domestic partnered become so mainstream that people lie for the benefits, i remember when the movie came out and the uppity political homos got all upset and said to boycott the movie, lol well to me that was a sign to go and watch it,it never hit the theaters here so i had to wait for cable,hey i was the same with eminem the uppity homos gasped and said no and lol i said yes and bought everything he ever recorded and i actually figured out he was a brilliant writer and satirist, is my thinking wrong or do i just have an open mind,being a gay man is not who i am or how i define myself,it's just another part of the person i am

With the price of health insurance, I would marry my mother if I thought I could save hundreds of dollars...LOL.....

wow cane bay and all the little side places on the way to the beast were packed when i drove through,lots and lots of people all over the place enjoying the day, it's so dry up here i've been watering for 2 days now

We had dinner at The Pickled Greek last night. We met the owners, Peter and Heike, who were very gracious, and the food was fantastic. Prices were extremely reasonable. I don't know much about Greek food, so can't really tell you the names of what we had. We had an appetizer that was spinach and feta in a flaky puff pastry. I would go back just for that. I had the lamb kabob and my husband had a casserole of lamb and macaroni with a red sauce. All very yummy. I'm sure we'll stop in for lunch this week and be back often.

Where on STX can you get good traditional Buffalo wings? Tried a couple of places today, but they had BBQ or just dry.

We just got back from the beach south of Cottages and everything was packed there too. Ate a lovely brunch at Beachside Cafe and visited with our favorite server on the whole island, Elizabeth. Water is warm and clear, but watch out for the sun. Even with sunscreen, and sitting in the shade, my back got a little red.

just finished watching "mrs.palfrey at the clairmont" with joan plowright, great movie it's kinda about how we really do end up choosing the people we want to call "family". Still running the sprinkler

I loved that movie, trw. Got it from Netflix. Wish more movies were made like that.

yeah trade as i get older i wish i would have had more time with my grandparents but i was always on the move,searching and roaming and trying to find some meaning in my life and i guess i just forgot about the people i came from and well now it's too late, they were all small town people and i spent years trying to escape that small town thing and now honestly i'd love to go back,i think about it alot, just going back to delevan or wells or blue earth and the cornfields

Doubt you could go back to exactly the same place & have it work out since there was probably a good reason it didn't work out the first time but you could go to a similar small town area & check it out.

yeah i know Trade "you can't go home again",but then on the other hand while we were watching the australian movie the other night one of the scenes was a dance bar scene in sydney and the music was so great and i turned to the other half and asked him if he missed that whole big city thing and the man surprised the hell out of me and said yes,and i mean it's not like we were big bar people up there but it was nice to know that option was there so i'm thinking we need to take trips to san juan every now and then. oh and i just got an email from my brothers wife ,they live in iowa and they've had so much rain there they have a lake now in their yard,she sent pics

well just put my watermelon seedlings into big pots now and took a turkey out of the oven,am going to go into town tomorrow and wander around and then i work on weds bartending,i need a new job not in restaurants,i've been doing this for about 30 years now and i need a serious change

What would you like to do?

oh juanita i have no idea,i know i'm an organized logical thinker,i'm presentable, i can carry on a conversation about almost anything,i'm well read,i'm somewhat anal about doing things the right way,i think i'm a good people and time manager,i'm not afraid to get dirty,i'm not your basic 40 hour a week person 60-80 are more my speed,i very seldom take time off, i went over to lutheran brotherhood and talked to them about the volunteering thing they had in the paper and it's an americore position,pays about 200 a week and you get food stamps and section 8 as well,lol so that won't work,i'd love the job but not the money,as a waiter i've always been in sales,i consider tips my commission,i've done the stay at home and take care of the house thing but that gets old,now maybe if it was a complex i'd like it more.I'm going over to Labor tomorrow to see what they have thats different. i'm fairly proficient with the computer but i'd need to be refreshed on some of it.

ok Juanita here's a better answer for you,in a perfect world i'd like 3 partime jobs, 1) working outreach with homeless men,2)working in a library or bookstore/coffeeshop,3)waiting tables and yes in that order, but because it's not a perfect world i'd like to learn how to manage an apt or condo complex or i'd like to learn the grocery business

hey Tam,i've been meaning to ask about your mom, how is she doing?

Trw, mom is doing ok. She wants to be with me but is living with my brother in Virginia right now. I have been taking care of her most of my life so it is strange for both of us right now.

This week for me has been bittersweet. My expectations of seeing my grandaughter for the first time was so different from what I expected. Beautiful wonderful child who was born 3 and one half months premature and made it against all odds. Wonderful daughter in law who is no longer married to my son but family means everything to her and wants her child to know her grandparents.

JJ came to me on the 2nd day of daughter in law and grandbaby arrived and said mommy I feel jealous and uncomfortable. It didn't even occur to me that he would be jealous and it is not a word that we have used. He was very sweet and gentle with the baby. The only indication I had that he might have any problem was the day before they came he told me I don't know how to play with the baby. I picked him up in my lap and said that is ok to feel that way and I told him I was so proud of him for being able to tell me how he felt. I think it was awesome that a four year old was able to express that feeling. So I just told the rest of the family that JJ and I need some mommy and JJ time and he and I went to look for crabs. He woke up yesterday morning at 4 am with a very high fever and all of his symptoms are dengue fever. His head and joints all hurt terribly,high fever but no rash yet. My daughter in law is a nurse and she agrees that he has dengue. We will take him in the morning to the doctor but it seems that it runs its course and the only thing to be done is to treat the symptoms and keep him hydrated. Poor baby. It is terrible to see your child or any child in pain.

I had envisioned a week of fun. Tan Tan tour, buck island and shopping and meeting kruzcandy on the beach watching the kids play but instead there was a lot of talking, tears and reflections. Good and bad. You know like funerals and weddings. It brings out he good and bad in us all. A good week but not without some pain. For now all my concern is on JJ and keeping him comfortable. And my beautiful grandbaby and her mother leaving tomorrow.

The very worst of the week was having a good time holding JJ and grandbaby in the ocean and having a helicopter fly so low over us that I dove with both children in my arms two days after the same helicopter made me throw both children to the ground on another beach and cover them with my body. I will say that I did not overeact. We have a loose cannon on the island and I am to put it mildly POed.

Goodnight all. A week in paradise for me.

Tam

I am so sorry JJ is sick. I just love reading the stories about him and I feel like I know him--what a wonderful little guy. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for him. Kim

Awww, Tam I am so sorry to hear about little JJ. I so truly hope that he gets much better, in a hurry. Give JJ a big ole kiss and hug from me, and tell him I hope he gets well soon. Take care of JJ, and make sure you get some rest also.