Jacquie, I meant to ask what is wrong with your dog and is he/she better today. It hurts me when little creatures hurt or don't feel well. Would you let me know how he is?
I'm sure you do miss your Marine Capt. husband. May I ask how long he's been dead? I'm very sorry.
We can be with someone for yrs and yrs. and when they die, it's truly as if part of us has died, too. And I don't think we ever truly get over the loss. Yes, we learn to deal with it over time but a remnant of pain is always there. Always.
Well, MY NEW FRIEND, here are some pics. for you. I'm going to post on Plant ID pics and ID of a plant. Charlene had sent me the seeds and it was suppose to be Jatropha but it's not. Instead it's Velvetleaf (Wissadula amplissima) and I'm most pleased because it's the larval food source for the some of the skipper butterflies. I started yrs. ago planting things just for the butterflies so they could lay their eggs and the larva could eat. I've planted over the yrs several stands of passion flower just for the Gulf fritillary butterflies because I had watched a program on PBS about b'flies and someone said that Gulf fritillaries were on the decline due to people clearing large areas of land, land which the passion flowers liked, too.
Oh well,.I'll run and chat later. Have a good day.
Murraya paniculata with a group of buds.
Jasmine officinale with unexpected buds.
Blc. Jewel Box 'Dark Waters'

Have a good day.
Lee

Great looking plants. I took cuttings from the Star and Royal Jasmine yesterday. It is strange, and I need some clarification on this. Are the Star and Royal the same? Logee;s calls it Star, Top Tropical calls it Royal. The only difference I see is the color of the leaves. The flowers are the same. I bought them years ago about the same time thinking I was getting two different varieties and they look so much alike I am not sure. Can you help me with that?

My husband has been dead since 1991. Yes, I miss him very much and when I get too lonely I go down to the base and watch the young soldiers and Marines there. It sounds weird, but I feel closer to him when I see them. I am really a nut case.

Barney is going to be 14 in a few months and he has a stomach problem that flares up once in awhile. If I keep him sedated for a day it clears up. But it flares up depending on how much fat he eats and if he picks up something he should not. On a farm it is difficult to know what he can get into. I really thought yesterday was going to be worse than it was. He seems good but very tired today. I have a compound I rub on his inner ear, it is the same as you give people who get motion sickness. It calms him down as well as keeps his chewing to a minimum. He gets allergies in the summer in the grass, etc. It also keeps the nausea in check and he then sleeps. My pharmacist and I worked on this together and the veterinarian went along with it. I would have put him down a year ago had we not come up with it. He had constant diarrhea and vomiting until we got it under control. He also take a Denosyl for his liver. Tagamet for his tummy and that is all. I will never let him suffer. I have had too many horses, dogs, cats, steers, donkeys, you name it we raised it to ever let an animal suffer. He is so special I even have a vet that comes to the house for him. Spoiled dog for sure. Thank you for asking.

Thank you, Jacquie, for sharing about your husband and Barney. No, I don't think you'd let Barney suffer one bit. Owen and I have had oodles of cats over the yrs. and many yrs. ago, the cats were getting sick and dying in no time. Finally, after some blood work on one the vet said it was Feline Leukemia so we started vaccinating them each year. We just order the 5 in 1 vaccines from Revival Animal Health and since I was an R.N. for yrs. I give them their shots as it would be prohibitive money wise to take them each and every one to the vet.
Now, all are spayed/neutered, thank goodness. People are cruel at times. What I'm talking about is that people used to drop cats off here, possibly knowing how much we liked cats. Well, we just weren't going to take any more. I mean at some point common sense has to kick in so after 3-4 had been dropped off, we took the others to the vet to be put down THEN we took out a two week ad in the local papers telling people exactly what we were doing. it's not pleasant to make that decision but there are lots of decisions in life which aren't nice. With each we took to the vet, it broke my heart--crying, wanting to isolate for a while, etc. So, knock on wood, it's been several yrs. since a cat has come up here.
It's great your vet worked with the pharmacist to, compound his meds? If the time comes when he has to be put to sleep, you'll know it in your heart. Deep down. But you've had to make that decision before.
I looked in Logees book I told you about the other day and I can't find Royal or Star jasmine. Are the ones you have the kind which live inside? They list Sambac, which is WONDErful: "rich, heavy scent". "Maid of Orleans" "Grand Duke of Tuscany" are examples of Sambac. Tea can be made from these but I don't think the others.
I'll see if I can find anything on-line about Star/Royal.
Lee.

I did a bit if research on the Star and Royal and they seem to be two different plants. The Star is also called the Confederate and is a real climber. The Royal, which Logees had is different in color on the foilage. I see no difference in the flowers, that is what makes me crazy. I just took cuttings of both yesterday and I am preparing them to go into the mix when the greenhouse cools down a bit. It is already 99 in there now, shade cloth on it, fans running, doors, windows and vents open and there is no way I can take the time to plant anything in there in this heat. I would have a stroke for sure. If you can find pictures of both flowers, please share them with me. Thanks. Someday when I have more time I will tell you about my five cats I rescued. I am such an old softy. But I love my plants and animals and birds.

Hey Jacquie,
I went on-line and this is what I found:
Star jasmine= J. multiflorum
Royal jasmine=J. grandiflorum
aka Catalonian or Spanish jasmine and this is the one which is used most often to make perfume and that its
fragrance is most pronounced in August and it's then it's harvested.
Arabian Jasmine=the Sambac varieties.

I'll see if I can find pics of them.
Lee

My Star and Royal are both finished blooming and the only way I can tell them apart is the color of the leaves. I even fed the Star some Iron thinking it was yellowing and needed some help. After reading more about the Star I realized I was comparing it to the Royal and it was not sick, that is the color of its leaves. I must keep the cuttings separate because if they root, I will have some really nice babies. I love trying new things.