Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Turn the music player off on the right

Last night Posse number 3 (Jerry, June, Winston and myself) went to see a show at the Hilton called Body & Soul staring Rick Faugno.
Rick has been playing the lead roll in The Jersey Boys for the past 3 1/2 years at the Wynn Hotel here in Vegas. He is playing at the Hilton in this one man show on Monday nights until October when he will leave the Jersey Boys to be out on his own full time. The show was really good and this guy can really sing and dance, if you get a chance go see it you will love it.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Bitchen Concert

Okay so last night the East Side posse and the West side posse came together for the 2011 Hippie Fest at the Hilton. We dug out our Peace & Love garb and jewelry and had a great time with good music and good friends. Dave Mason was just the best of the best we could have listened to him all night long.
Thanks girls for such a fun night out!

Hippiefest

Starring Dave Mason ("We Just Disagree," "Feeling Alright"), Rick Derringer ("Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo," "Real American"), Felix Cavaliere's Rascals ("People Got To Be," "It's a Beautiful Morning") and Gary Wright ("Dream Weaver," "Love is Alive"). Another special guest artist will be named at a later date.  Bring your parents, your grandparents and bring your kids!  It's time to break out the bell bottoms and the tie dye t-shirts and get ready to get groovy . be a hippie for a day at Hippiefest

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Grow Tomatos As Big As Your Face?


Yesterday morning Greg and I drove to the west side of town to go to see a lady about a tomato...oh wait a minute I meant to say see a lady about growing a tomato. Greg has a veggie garden out in our back yard and grows all sorts of things and for the most part it always goes pretty well. This year one of my new students told us about this lady here in town that is a test gardener....meaning she does all sorts of growing
tests for the local nursery's. She also holds gardening classes in her back yard where you can see all her beautiful veggies growing. I'm not into all that dirt stuff but even I found it pretty interesting.
Here's a little background on her:

If it's hot where you live, our new method combined with our super heat tolerant tomato variety may very well work for you.
Because, when it comes to growing tomatoes in high summer heat, , , It's different, , , way, way different."


Since 1995 The Sweet Tomato Test Garden has continually tested new seed varieties, methods of growing tomatoes and products in our desert garden, always looking to improve the growing method, tomato quality and size of the harvest for desert gardeners.

The combination of growing method and tomato variety I discovered now applies to the tomatoes we grow for our own table, my improved growing method is used for our trial tomato varieties. We assume; if our successful method does not produce lots of big tomatoes in our test beds then it is the fault of the tomato variety being unable to set in our desert heat.
If I can do it,
You can do it !

Leslie 2003
Picked July/Aug in Hot
Las Vegas, Nevada

Read what others are saying:
New Jersey Championship Tomato Weigh-In
Yes, this is not very scientific and we have no microscopes or laboratory. What we do have is a continuous supply of big tomatoes during the summer. So, I leave it to the biologists and horticulturists to work this over. I am just a humble Master Gardener searching for ways all of us can grow lots of big tomatoes in the hot desert.
As you travel around our site you will find desert gardening information, articles, a place for your tomato photos and recipes, plus wonderful products that will help you have a better garden in the hot desert.
For the real scoop on growing tomatoes in the desert be sure to order our book, "Growing the Tomato in Las Vegas in Terrible Dirt and Desert Heat." It was written after years of research and tells you what we finally found out to insure picking lots of tasty, big tomatoes in the hot desert.
If you live in a hot climate other than the desert, my method may very well work for you.
Leslie Doyle


Oh and one more thing .....her home is on Sheila Street just off Jones ...I had to take this photo, I have a sister named Sheila



Monday, August 1, 2011

Fledge is complete


Well it's that time a year when my eagles have hatched and now taken their first flight (fledge)
These are amazing birds and I learn something new each year I watch and engage in the chat room.
The live web camera will soon be turned off now that the eagles are off and out of the nest until next year when the parents return to lay more eggs and the process starts over again.
Q. How old are the eaglets when they fledge?
A. Nest departure as early as 8 weeks of age has been reported, but 11 to 13 weeks appear to be the most common ages.
The Hornby eaglets have usually fledged at 12 weeks of age. In 2009, the chick fledged at 85 days of age (the exact age reported in Doug’s book).

Q. Do bald eagle siblings fledge at the same time?
A. They fledge a few (or more) days apart, depending on hatching interval and sex.

Q. When they fledge, are the eaglets just pushed out of the nest?
A. No. While some eaglets fledge ‘prematurely’ (have a mishap when over- or underestimating distance to a branch), the majority take their first flights by choice and under their own control.

Q. Is it true that 40% of bald eaglets do not survive their first flight?
A. While this is widely reported on some websites and in some books, more recent studies (and nest cam studies) indicate that this is not the case. (See “survival”, below).

Q. Do bald eagle parents starve out the eaglets to force them to fledge?
A. No; they continue to bring food to the nest.
In 2009, Mom and Dad Hornby delivered 19 fish to the nest the day before their chick fledged.

Q. Do the eaglets try to follow the adult when they leave the nest?
A. Yes; once the eaglet has flown from the nest and landed, the parents will coax it to follow (luring it with food). The eaglets will follow the adults back to the nest and feed there until such time as they begin to feed alongside the parents; at that point, their foraging abilities improve quickly and they become less and less dependent upon their parents.

Q How long will bald eagle parents continue to feed the chicks after they fledge?
A. Studies indicate that this period varies; the average across the entire range is about six weeks.

Q. How does an eaglet learn what food items to hunt? Do eaglets learn to hunt from their parent or is this instinct?
A. The eaglet first learns to recognize foods in the nest; when it fledges and follows the parents, it learns by watching them and other eagles. It continues to learn by observation and through trial and error. The predator’s instinct to pursue prey is innate and is fine-tuned through learning and experience.

Q. How do you sex eaglets?
A. Biologists measure beaks and feet to determine sex but this method, while good, is not always accurate. Eaglets in studies are weighed and measured prior to banding and many biologists now also take blood samples to confirm sex.