Coffee Klatch

He said the duty station was nice. He was at Osan and the base is huge, like it's own self contained city. Plenty of entertainment for down time. They had some base closures for NK rattling the stick, but nothing too serious. I'm glad he is back stateside. My nephew was also as Busan (Navy) base and said he met more local people and they were very nice to the military folks. We have 28,000 service people stationed there on a normal day. I wonder how many more will be sent over? This is what gets my anxiety going. I figure they will send both son in law and nephew back over since their paperwork is recent so it's an easy transfer. I don't like that.

I heard how many they have there now but I can not for the life of me remember the exact number.

Maybe your family members would actually have less of a chance of going back since they were there recently.

It's hard to tell. Some of the people there are considered deployed while for others it is considered their normal duty station.

Signal received a letter about the sequester saying troops that are deployed to sk would still receive what ever they needed.

I know some one that will be pcsing there in the next 8 months. I am really hoping all of this will go away before that.

Also my nephew is in SK teaching english and my brother teaches english in Japan. My friends son is currently in SK.

I'm hoping this blows over as it has in the past. But I really hope the US does not send money and/or aid this time to buy Kim off. It's time to draw a line on this nonsense. When my son in law and nephew were over there, it was temporary deployment. Son in law was there for 15 month, nephew for 9 months.

Most of what I know about the Army revolves around signal. (hubby was navy) They rotate deployments one year on, one year off.

My son is currently in Arizona. He was in Iraq for a year.

Momma Coop - I know the feeling. My son in law is Air Force and has been to Kuwait, Iraq, and South Korea in the last 5 years. My nephew is Navy and has only gone to SK, 3 times so far in the last 8 years. I'm hoping since they both have been out of country so much they will stay here for a bit.

had trouble getting onto this site for a bit. now time to sleep.

I had the same issue, must be overload. Hope you sleep well!

Nine's, didn't somebody do this on TG's thread? I have no idea where it would be in there, though.

Thread: Unused mason jars for canning water?

Don't remember TB. If they did, I probably mentioned that I did it. It was a stupid waste of jars and I used the water. LOL.

I did mine in a pressure canner and they lasted til I tired of seeing all that glass holding such a small amount of water. Takes a lot of space.

Yeah, that's what I thought at the time, but, hey. Why not, when you're storing the darned empties anyway.

Weight and space. Empty, they can be stored in a garage or outbuilding. Filled, they'd freeze in the winter and it wouldn't be nice in the summer either.

Shrugging shoulders here. It just didn't make sense for me. Someone else might like it though.

Didn't want to take up too much space on DF's thread, but
I'm sorry Baby got your grape vine. That's sad. I'd have yelled too.

Maybe Buddy is bringing the bones home and Baby is putting them aside for hard times. You set an example for them, now they're following it. Goooood Mommy. Good GIRL!

My empties are in the garage. I always thought even quart jars would be too small. Oh well, just saw the thread and had a senior moment!LOL

I replanted the grape and watered it back in. I'm getting some more chicken wire tomorrow to fence that section in, too. Good thing we already fenced off the raspberries!LOL

The dogs have the bones scattered everywhere and the cats are hiding in the holes!! They're that big and deep! It's funny. You won't see them and then, they pop out! If only it wasn't in our little spot we got grass to grow in last year.

They are too small for most practical purposes. They're good for a drink, but there are lighter, more compact choices for that. It just didn't work for me.

If only you'd let Baby come in, she's show her gratitude by not digging. LOL. Seriously, it's hard to stop it when you don't catch them in the act. Be careful walking around if they're deep enough for a cat to be in. Good way to break or sprain an ankle if you aren't paying attention.

Glad you got your grape replanted. Some of my choice plants, I bury chicken wire on each side of the row, a couple inches under the top. Then the chickens don't scratch in that area. Doubt that a dog would like that wire either. Might be worth a try.

Easier to just put up the fence. I did it originally to keep the bunnies out. We got the 2 ft. height and a few short posts. NP.

BTW, don't worry about 535. Really. Idk if he's real or a bot. He takes care of himself. See if you can look up some of his posts. Can you do that with an AC?

Good about the fence. Glad you can fix it, but it would still be frustrating. Guess it's better now, than when it's a hundred degrees in the shade.

No, I won't worry about 535. Just didn't want him to think he was being avoided. I've read quite a few of the posts. Spoke to him once or twice quite a while back. Thanks.

Well, I'm going to go find my pillow! Baby is quiet, hope she's not digging! At least, if she's going to dig, I think she should just dig in the same place so I can have a storm cellar!LOL Don't you think!?!

I'll catch y'all in the daylight, sometime! Love you all!

Awesome idea about the storm cellar! LOL.

Was just thinking the same thing TB. Gonna have to sleep fast to get up in the morning. Sleep well and get a good nite's rest. Love right back to you.

Sorry I missed everyone. question for someone on the raspberries. Do you cut them back? I have a bunch of new growth at the dirt level but the branches from last yr just look dead, no growth, they are not dead but not getting leaves. Are you supposed to chop them back and when?

I do generally cut them back every year, usually in the fall (severe chop, leaving about 6 inch-1 foot of cane)...but I have done spring clean-up to remove dead brown canes (I used to just pull them out, they would break at ground level), and cut back any "attached" brown canes, and haven't suffered problems. As you said, they normally send up new shoots every year at the base of the plant.

No matter what you do, even if you chop the heck out of them, they usually come back just fine once the weather warms enough, in my experience. They usually grew very fast for me (even with chopping back) around April and May in zone 6b, sending out new canes, and producing fruit on the older brown canes with new leaves (if I remember correctly). In your case, I would just probably clean up around the plant, and give a little trim (if needed) for the older brown canes with leaves, nothing too drastic. A quick trim if needed, and a tie-back, a bit of compost or fertilizer, and I usually had a good bunch of raspberries during the summer. How old are yours? I've found them pretty low-maintenance, once established. Good luck!

We only planted them last year and the canes are about 2-3 ft but no leaves on any of them, just new plants at the base.

Okie doke, maybe in that case just let them be a lil' and see what they do, this year(?) Just until they establish some more(?) The raspberry patch I was working with was inherited, and about 30 years old.

you are very lucky! Raspberries are my fav

I don't cut back anything living. I do remove some "suckers" or offshoots that pop up in an area I don't want them. Each year, I remove the dead canes , the ones that bore the previous year. A living cane isn't going to snap if you bend it. The dead ones pull or bend right out.

This is a good article that explains it better than I could.

[link to gardening.about.com]

I have been thinking about adding raspberries and blueberries to our garden. I think raspberries would be pretty easy, blackberries grow like invasive weeds here. I tried blueberries a few years ago, but they only made it 2 years and died. I don't think they were well enough established to take our hard freeze in the winter.

Raspberries are easy. They're like blackberries and will also grow like invasive weeds. I'd thought about blueberries too, but my soil where I'd want them, would need some work and mulching each fall.

There's a person near me that sells organic ones, pick your own, for a dirt cheap price. Have apples, cherries, plums, raspberries, strawberries, mulberries, and enough other fruits that it just doesn't seem real important to add blueberries right now.

Hi Nine's! We have strawberries and I have managed to keep our little Myer Lemon alive through it's first winter. Had a bout with bugs when it was indoors, but I hope it's ok. No blossoms yet but I think they wait till may or so for that.

That's awesome SO! Was it outside? I'd love to have Meyer Lemons, but don't think there's any way they'd make it through the winter here. But, if they did where you live....hmmm. What's your coldest weather?

That, and figs are a couple things that would be great to have.

If you ever hear of a northern Meyer Lemon, let me know. Have my eye on a fig that supposedly grows this far north and am debating it, but haven't figured where it would go and can't quite convince myself that it would make it. Would love to be pleasantly surprised though. LOL.

Also, on the blueberries, if you decide to get them, seems I recall you have to have a couple different types for them to pollinate. Might want to research it, but seems like when I was thinking about them, I was trying to determine which two varieties would do better together.

The lemon tree has to come in for the winter, we get pretty cold. We have that really hard freeze cold snap every year where it's down in the teens at night and doesn't get above freezing during the day and lasts about a week. The Meyer Lemon stays fairly small so I can drag it in the house. I have a friend that has one that is about 10 years old now, she just covers hers for winter and leaves it outside because it's too big to bring inside. Maybe I didn't have enough blueberry plants for proper pollination? We had 2 plants. My neighbors have 5 and they do really well, but have been in the ground for more than 10 years. Perhaps we just put ours in the wrong year.

Ahh, that makes sense. No way would it make it here outdoors then, and I'm not going to nurture one til it gets to big to haul it around, then watch it die. No lemons. LOL.

With the blueberries, I'm pretty sure you have to have different varieties, regardless of how many you have. Know they need really acid soil. They are nice trees to have and fun to pick the berries. 8)

Hi Nines and SO!!

Hope you are doing well! Just popping in to say hi!