the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

yes, more spider hunting today. i wanted to check my room under one of the bookcases and also under my futon because i knew it also needed dusting - which means i also did some cleaning (blech dusting phooey)...

i found two of the common house spiders (one female that had seven(!) egg sacs and the other could have been a juvenile or a male. another of the wispy spiders managed to get away but they don't bother me nearly as much as the common house spiders so i will find it some other time.

not really too bad overall to only see three spiders in that much space. i think the bigger ones do definitely keep the smaller ones under control...

 

[flowerbug]

a few more bean pictures...


another likely Lavender outcross. the shades of greens even went towards blues in spots.

one of many that looked like a gray bean with various shades of reddish. these were from the Purple Dove outcross patch...

and more beans from the Purple Dove outcross patch...

i refreshed some of my half white beans that were getting older. the pale version on the left was a surprise.

 

[flowerbug]

my old computer keyboard was starting to fail and my mouse was also not working very well so the other day while being out and running errands i got new ones so i can put the old ones away as backups.

the new keyboard is very colorful with RGB lights coming from or even through the keys. after a few moments of typing in the dark (i normally don't need a light on in my room because the computer screen gives off enough and i can touch type) the RGB stuff is way too much so i had to go through all the options to tone it down. the best one i found was the one which only lights up the key you press and then it fades away.

but before doing that i had to show Mom all the pretty colors and blinking lights and options.

having things work correctly is so much nicer...

as an oldtime computer person who's seen way too many versions of this it still does make me laugh and it fits:

Blinkenlights - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[flowerbug]

unless i find some other beans while sorting these are the last pictures from last season's beans. well, ok, a few of the pictures aren't as sharp as i'd like and i may come back sometime to redo them... maybe...

these aren't all of the beans i grew out (bulk beans and others i've not had great luck with growing plus some other outcrosses that aren't very interesting to me i haven't taken pictures of them this season).

Two of the Painted Pony outcrosses. The one on the left that is black with lighter markings was edible and a very nice plant so I’m excited to see if that repeats this coming season. I don’t know about the lighter colored bean on the right yet, but I will plant it again to see what it does.

Two Purple Dove outcrosses. I do not know if either of them are edible yet.

Another Painted Pony outcross (might be more than one if the color difference holds through a replanting and grow out). The patterns and colors of this one are interesting.

Two of the solid color outcrosses. The more orange and round bean on the right is one I would like to grow again.

Various White outcrosses. I’ve never had the light olive colored beans repeat their color when replanted - I wonder if either of these will be the first. The white beans that almost look like Pheasant are pretty tiny. Brown eye beans I’ve also seen before and they too don’t seem to repeat when I replant them.

The mixed bag of what was left. Mostly what catches my eye are the Purple Dove beans in the middle with the various markings and lines.

 

[Mini Horses]

I like the speckled ones . Last pic, on right ... Looks like an appaloosa. Horse person here

I like color! It's like, mixed veggies are more fun than one alone.

 

[flowerbug]

I like the speckled ones . Last pic, on right ... Looks like an appaloosa. Horse person here

I like color! It's like, mixed veggies are more fun than one alone.

i have a lot more other pictures on my bean web page some with speckles.

Beans | Anthive

I really like beans...

www.anthive.com

i just noticed i really don't have pictures of a few varieties and blends that i regularly grow so my next picture project will be to get them properly represented... i have one bean called Painted Pony and another called Appaloosa (these are not names i've given them but names they had when i bought them back in 2012).

 

[flowerbug]

taking some time to get some beans sorted through so they will be ready to eat at any time we need them in the future. it does take some time to go through them but i enjoy it even if it is a rather mundane task.

 

[flowerbug]

Peregion original sample from 2012 showing aging color. stored at room temperature in a plastic container (not air tight). some of them look like coffee beans.

Peregion blend grown in 2022. much brighter.

Appaloosa from a 2012 sample. These darker colors age better and it keeps the white background. Domino is probably one of this bean's children.

Painted Pony aged sample on the left from 2012 and then what was grown in 2023 on the right. i grow this bean most years and i think a lot of my half white beans are from this or Appaloosa.

 

[flowerbug]

we had our first big blast of the winter which did take the power out for almost an entire day and then the next day it went out again for several hours.

we did use the fake fireplace and did some camping as we took to calling it. cooking with tin cans on the fire and making soup and hot chocolate or other warm things. i learned again how much i dislike this fake fireplace (it's not easy to get going and it wastes a lot of fuel and heat) - still we don't use it enough for me to ever think of replacing it without a lot of research...

the internet was out until 5pm today so i was experiencing some symptoms of withdrawal but i also used the time to do various things i've needed to do plus i also tried to get the guitar out but in finding one of the strings broken and when when putting on a new pair of strings i broke one of the new ones so that idea didn't pan out. i also spent some time working on the bean collection and sorting through more beans and figuring out some of what to replant for this coming spring and also what to take to the seed swap, but i think the easier thing will be to think of what i won't be taking.

 

[flowerbug]

nice garden club meeting yesterday. the other two regulars showed up so we could chat away about whatever.

i took the peas with me to work on and got some dusty flats cleaned out and consolidated and reorganised. if i don't manage to get back to them i can even put them all in a box and take them to the seed swap as they are and it will work out ok.

the high point for me was talking about county fair and beans and what they might be interested in and if they'd do other varieties than Navy and Black beans. i have so many others that are worth being grown and used. we'll see how that turns out...