cacti update 5/and other things

more in the unfortunate events column...

... there are only ten. (check the bottom left)

one little cactus passed away. i guess there really wasn't that much sun over the two week period where they were left in a windowsill without their artificial sun. in fact, none of them really look all that good(except maybe two of them), and many of the pots have algae growing in them as well, which i've since scraped out. it's a sad day; actually it bums me out more than i thought it would.

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hardcore crutching. (and andrew checking out flyboy, v8)

during that week in bishop i crutched up and down dirt hills, on uneven paths, over rocks both big and small, and even forded a creek via a few fallen trees. all while carrying my pack, water, and sometimes a crash pad for my buds. pavement and cement were cake after all that.

so i may not have made it all that clear in the bishop post that i was hobbling around on crutches for the past week and a half, but i was (i later added that info in the last post... kinda slipped my mind during the first go around....). so i went to the doc on wednesday, and she told me to start trying to walk normally! yay!

the doctor in bishop told me i had a grade two sprain and that they were surprised i didn't crack my fibula, and the lady here in montana said it could very well have been grade three, based on the amount of swelling, but yet that it would be better to start walking then stay on the crutches; which i found pretty surprising. she gave me a new brace thingy, a bunch of exercises and such to do, and that was that really. she said i'd be good to go once i could start doing one footed hops on my right foot, and that will likely be a few weeks. it's been just a few days, and the swelling has gone down like crazy, and i can pretty much walk like normal with my new fancy brace on.

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and none of you may care about this, but HC Zapdos lost a super close match against the number one seed FIRE N ICE in the round of four of my fantasy hockey league playoffs, sending me to the third place match for next week. sucks that i was fourth seed and had to face the number one seed, i looked at the match between the number two and three seeded teams and i would have beaten both of them pretty soundly. in the semi finals last week i also had a close match against the sixth seed, but won. i wasn't even there to manage my team... teehee.

(edit: 4/5/10 HC Zapdos won the third place match 5-4!)

cacti update 4! (part 2)

alright, so upon suggestion from a few concerned readers, my lovelies got a nice treat!

yep! artificial sun!

it's one hell of a light bulb. a 42 watt monster CFL that is equivalent to 200 watts.

it did not fit into the one lamp i have, so i had to borrow one from my good friend robbi.

 however, the bulb is so big that it stuck out the top of the lamp, which was far too much light to handle, so i decided to invert the lamp and lampshade, and anchor the thing to the pipes for the sprinkler system.

as you can see from the photo above, this thing is really, really bright. i have attached a piece of cardboard as an auxillary shade (which is definitely needs to be expanded... oh my goodness this light is bright....)

and yeah! here they are! 

(just gave em a smidge of water)

cacti update 4!

so i realized that i have left all y'all hanging. the hottest news on the internet was my Veggie Tales "Ballad of Little Joe" Cactus Kit Learning Garden, and no one has seen them since 2009!

my lovelies, in their element

they turned a little brown (hence the wide shot)....

when i went to helena in january to visit my bro peter, i accidently left the cover off their green house! the soil dried up like mad, and they looked horrible! so i did a little bit of research. ya see, while my cacti were at their auntie robbi's for the winter break (i had to leave my blinds closed on my windows while i was gone...), a few of the pots developed a green layer of algae, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but is also a sign of too much moisture, which is why i took off the cover. however! little cacti also need a great deal of moisture, these babies haven't formed into legit cacti yet, and until then must live in their green house(which i remove for these photos so you can actually see the cacti). i scraped off the layer of algae, and in one spot some mold. they appear to be doing better now, and two of them in particular are looking very good. also, i moved over the break, and my window no longer gets direct sunlight... please don't hate me my fellow environmentally conscious people, but that ball on the chain in the top right corner of the photo belongs to the lamp i've been using to provide some extra light during the day. it's not wrong if i'm trying to nurture some nature is it?? (by the way, i highly recommend all three of those movies in the photo)

(can't believe i used the word y'all... what is the world coming too?)

cacti update 3!

all right! my little cacti are starting to look like cacti!

i put the zapdos in the photo for scale. it's roughly 2 inches tall.

i had one suggestion to name them after the seven dwarves... but there are eleven cacti and only seven dwarves, so i don't see that happening. sorry to disappoint.

also, i finally collected 100 jarritos bottle caps! woot!

i'm sending them off tomorrow for my prize, i'm so excited!

cacti update

remember back in late september i showed a picture of my "Veggie Tales: The Ballad of Little Joe Cactus Kit Learning Garden"?

planted on 9/25/09, the box said that seedlings would appear in 7 - 56 days. i had 5 seedlings after 5 days... and now:

11 little beauties after 38 days!

still no idea what types they are, or when to take them out of their little green house thingy. plus, they have spines now! haven't watered em yet, it's still pretty moist in the green house.

but yeah, if anyone has any ideas or knows more than i do about cacti, let me know.

oh and don't you worry one little bit, i plan to keep you updated on these babies.

(edit: it'd be super ridiculous if these were peruvian torch cactus... i'd have to wonder about the veggie tales people and what message they are sending to kids... maybe.... we'll see...

oh and if anyone wants to see the TeNgaiolator in a gorilla suit. look no further)

my veggie tales cactus kit

Veggie Tales "Ballad of Little Joe" Cactus Kit Learning Garden

so i was uber bored, and found this ridiculous kit at lowe's. i planted all the seeds last saturday, and the box says it should start to sprout in 7-56 days. teehee.

so it has now been 5 days, and as you can see there are 5 sprouts already! 7 days my ass. but then again, they are kinda puny. But it's freakin veggie tales man! the most ridiculous thing ever, and the creators of the "where is my hairbrush" song.