Some new pots were added to my Etsy account you should check it out: http://gomezvi.etsy.com

Tuesday was Allyson's Birthday. I came home to find an aquarium full of angelfish eggs on both sides of the aquarium. The angelfish had formed two seperate breeding pairs. I bagged each pair separately, and made plans with George to drop them off. Unfortunately, Bernie made plans to go to Bookman's on the way to George's house. I insisted that the fish really really needed to get to George's house ASAP. Bernie insisted that we really really REALLY needed to get to Bookman's ASAP, as it was Allyson's Birthday, Bookman's was closing in 30 minutes, and that the fish would be okay. We went to Bookman's, and despite my constant prodding, we were in Bookman's for over 30 minutes. By the time we got to George's, one of the males was on the floor, very stressed. I thought we were gonna lose him. Fortunately George was able to revive him fully later on.

After going over to George's, I went over to Mishy's and picked up a bunch of finished pieces. We were in the neighborhood and we just sort of popped in. I was totally unprepared. I didn't drop off anything and I didn't have my lined box with me.

When we got home, we brought out the birthday cake and celebrated Ally's birthday. We got her a bunch of small items at Bookman's: some stamps, a sand castle making thingy, some other stuff that I don't remember. For those that don't know, Bookman's is a used book store. They also carry music, videos, video games, board games, comics, and small collectibles.

In case I forgot to mention, the Adenium obesum seeds I ordered last week came in the day before I left for San Diego . I hastily soaked the seeds for a few hours, then planted them in moist perlite in a covered Jiffy seed starter. I came home from San Diego to find about 40 had started to sprout, so I started to pot up the seedlings. Turns out there was close to 80 that had already sprouted. I was able to pot up about 66. I'll probably pot up the rest this weekend. Compared to my first batch of 100 seeds from the other source, I had a very miserable sprouting of about 25 in the first week. I looked at these first adenium seedlings while I was out there. On average, they only have about four leaves per seedling, but the stems are getting fat for their size.

The really nice thing about having two separate batch of seeds is I'm able to see the difference that a few weeks make. I really should take some pictures; the Adenium seedling start life with these chunky little trunks, definitely sturdy looking, yet they quickly grow into these even fatter trunks, ready for whatever harshness the desert environment might throw at them. The one thing that I have to watch out for is winter's frost.

LOL! Here I am, mid JULY. It's 110 today. On my mind is fall/winter. I start to think about what I want to do this for fall/winter. Phoenix bonsai club starts meeting again in mid Sept. There are seedlings that I want to order for next year. Seeds need to be ordered early enough so that I can plant them indoors by mid-winter and get a head start on next spring's growth. Pomegranates come into season in the fall and there will be fruits to purchase and more seeds to sow. My adeniums should be nice and fat by then; they'll require winter protection.

Of course I have lots to think about in the here and now. Some of the pieces that I picked up from Mishy were study pieces. The shells look mostly brownish, but you can sometimes make out a little yellow in some places. The technique I used of wiping off most of the brown that was applied gave the results I was looking for: the nooks and crannies in the shells were dark, but the raised portions remained light, thus bringing out the texture in the shells. I'm not seeing a lot of red, though. Perhaps it was overpowered by the brown, perhaps it melded with it and formed a darker, richer brown.

That's it for now