Huernia confusa 'Lifesaver'

I stumbled on another Huernia that I didn't already have!!  Let me correct that, I had one coming in the mail, but I really didn't know if they were the same or not, and the more Huernias, the better!  The other varieties I have were in this post.  Now I know that this one is different than the one that I recently received in a swap, because that one is red and this one is brown. 

Meet Huernia confusa 'Lifesaver'...in brown!

The first picture was outside, but I couldn't get close enough with my camera since it's pouring down rain right now.  I threw on my rain jacket, tiptoed through the mud to bring it in for a better picture.  I adore the raised "lifesaver" in the middle.  

I think these are running a close race for my favorite next to my treasured Kalanchoes! 

Elk Hunt

Little did I know 16 years ago when I married a hunter that we would have a freezer full of elk meat. 

In August, my husband and his friend went to Idaho for a week long vacation hunting elk.  He ended up with a 6x6...I'm still not exactly clear on the specifics, but it has something to do with the horns on each size.

Can you say, "Happy Hunters"!  This is my husband and his friend that he went on the hunt with.

I told them they looked like the Beverly Hillbillies on way home!  I think they each had three large ice chests full of meat and then all of the other stuff they took with them.

The horns are almost as tall as Shelby!

Venison and fish are quite common to have in the freezer, but we've added another big game variety to the family diet. I ended up moving all the elk and fish to the dedicated outside freezer, and they fill the entire thing up.  I really hope he doesn't shoot early in the quickly approaching deer season...there's not any room!!

It's taken me some time to get used to cooking venison, but the elk meat has been wonderful!  So far, we've had elk burgers...delicious and roast...equally wonderful! It's not as gamey tasting as the venison, so I think it's much more versatile.

Mall Fun with Hats

Us girls had a little fun yesterday trying on hats at the mall.  First there was the ear muffs, bow and sunglasses.

Followed by the badger hat, I think...both girls had to try this one on.

This was followed by the sock monkey hat, which came home with us.

She also wore it through the mall having a "little" fun with the front strings! 

The most fabulous though is this next one...

I adorned this one as well, but hey...only one person can video!

Hopefully this works...make sure to turn the volume up!

Daughter #1 walked out of the Hallmark store on this one, I guess she has her limits! Party pooper!!

When I was downloaded these from my phone, I realized I had his one too.  While they're technically not hats, these cornucopias sure looked cute on the girls heads during a visit to Hobby Lobby!

It excites this mother that her girls are finally appreciating her crazy hat fetish!

Job Change

My posting and visiting other favorite blogs has been sporadic over the past few months.  For a while I had not been happy at the job I was at.  I wanted to make a change, but kept procrastinating the inevitable.  Finally, this past summer, my husband and I decided that I was going to just put in my notice and take a few months off while I looked for another one.  I was looking, but I just just too stressed out all the time to put too much effort into it, much less get online when I got home.  I put my notice in the first of September and my last day was the 16th.  On the 15th, I got a call from a lead that I had originally missed getting my resume into because of timing, but they wanted to see me.  I went for the interview that following Monday and was offered the job on Tuesday.  This was a little overwhelming because I had come to a place in my mind where I was going to be off a few months.  I have several good friends who have been without a job for months, so I certainly didn't expect just a week off. 

I  had brilliant plans of cleaning out the house top to bottom, having the biggest garage sale of my life and spending some much needed time with my succulents.  Not to mention the books I wanted to get caught up with!  As soon as I accepted the job offer, I let my husband know right away that the week would not be spent tearing apart the house.  Heck no, I had books to read and shows to get caught up on!  I also got to spend half a day in my backyard with my plants; the cheapest therapy I've ever had!

It might sound strange, but I knew that this was the right time.  At church, it seemed like the messages were all aimed at me trusting that God had my back.  That was the same feeling that I had in my quiet time at home.  When I put my notice in, it was as though as switch flipped and I was back to my normal self.  The last week was a tough one because I started double guessing myself.  I refused to go backwards though and was really ready for the downtime.  All in all, I now know that all of this was just a trust thing, and I'm so glad that I took the leap of faith!

This past week was my first week at my new job, and I think I'm really going to enjoy it.  The funny thing is, it's just a street over from where I was previously.  That means that I still get to have lunch with my coworkers friends a few times a week, and that just added to the great week. 

All that being said, I am looking forward to getting back to my computer time in the evenings.  I've missed reading everyone's posts as well as putting my own together! 

New Succulent Additions

While I was at Rainbow Gardens for the sole purpose of identifying my Jewel of Opar, I couldn't resist a walk through the succulents.

First I found something that I've only seen once and that was at East Austin Succulents and also not for sale.  It's a Kalanchoe tomentosa, but not the usual Panda plant, Chocolate Soldier or even Golden Girl.  No, it's the giant leafed, super fuzzy one!!!  It's so fuzzy that it's actually kind of scratchy when it rubs against your skin, and it's leaves are huge compared to the other varieties that I have.

Now to find the pink tinged one that I've only seen online. 

They also had a few of the Kalanchoe 'Fang' variety.  My large one froze last winter, and the puppies decided to pluck the babies that I was growing up a few days earlier.  Of course I needed another one.

This next one is new to me.  It looks like it might be a Kalanchoe variety, but I'm not sure what.  I just really like the color, it reminds me of Kermit the Frog.  I'm thinking Kalanchoe because it looks a little like my Flapjack variety, but maybe not. 

The weather man keeps promising that we're past the triple digit heat, so maybe, just maybe these won't get fried!  It's funny how quickly they respond to the reprieve from the heat.  My Flapjack's have been stunted all summer...they're all nicely red around the edges, but wouldn't grow.  Just in the week that it's not been so hot, I can see where they've already started growing again.  Friday and then again today, we were blessed with some much needed rain.  I'm expecting nice changes as a result of this treat in the coming weeks also.

Jewels of Opar...Mystery Solved

She has a name!  She is a Talinum 'Jewels of Opar'...isn't that a pretty name!  Thanks to Karen at Life is What You Make It for the common sense suggestion of going to a local nursery to ask and to Amy at Go Away I'm Gardening for giving me the name and confirming that the guy I talked to at Rainbow Gardens is a genius! 

I've read a little bit about it today, and it used to be classified it the Portulacacaea family.  I can confirm with their consensus that it is a drought lover!  This has been a horribly trying summer with I think 53 days of triple digit heat with no rain to speak of, and this one has looked fabulous all summer.  My bougainvilleas and hibiscus didn't ever come close to looking as happy and content as this one.  I also read here on Dave's Garden that it can be a bit invasive by a few unappreciative people.  Evidently with all it's lovely wands of blooms and then seed pods, the seeds get scattered and end up all over the place.  This is the first year that mine's been so big since I had her in a tiny pot before, so I haven't experienced this.  Considering my fondness of the various Kalanchoes that do this very thing, I doubt it will bother me much.  That will just be more plantlets for me to pluck up and share with friends.  I warn them when I give them plants like this so there should be no hard feelings if they take over! 

Regardless, I adore mine!! 



Mystery Plant

About a year ago, I picked up a really cute little plant from the guy that does plant sells at his house.  I kept it in a small pot and it was doing good, but wasn't really getting too big.  Earlier this summer, I moved it to a larger pot and it's taken off like crazy!  He called it a Fireworks Plant, but I have yet to find anything similar by that name online.  The last time I went by, he told me he couldn't find the name, so that's just what he called it.  I'm going to take it by a nursery, but thought I'd see if any of you know what it is. 

I can see where he got the firework's name, that's really what they remind you of.  The flower stalks shoot up with little offshoots and the blooms are little balls until they open up to 3 petal pink blooms.

Of course, the puppies kept moving the plant and so it was challanging to get a shot that wasn't blurry!  Here's a close up too of the leaves.

When the blooms are done, the seed pod remains and it's about the size of a pinhead.  I also stuck a piece that a puppy who will remain unmentioned ripped off in some water and it's rooting quite nicely.  The only thing irritating me right now is that I have no clue what it is. 

Anyone have any idea?