Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The Soggy Story....



Rhodies on Hold....

I Apologize for being so Absent in blogs lately, Dear Readers, but I am not succeeding in being able to comment on any blogs at the moment. This is probably due to the fact that I use Mozilla for my browser. And I admit that I resent being forced to change browsers to suit the algo-rhythms of google's new rules. After all, I have had this blog on Blogger for 13 years and have used Mozilla as my browser for all those years! I admit that I am sulking and hoping that Mozilla will be able to write their browser program to suit the new rules..... Is that likely? I have no idea. Meanwhile, I am unable to "play" with all my favorite bloggers in this otherwise magically Wonderful mini realm! And I also have too much to do to re-learn all my systems quickly.... not being naturally techno-fluent. I hope I will figure out what to do eventually... but meanwhile, life goes on, and at least (as of the last posting here) I was still allowed to post on my blog. But enough of my complaining.... well, maybe not, because my very next subject was going to be a complaint of the Drastically Wet summer we had in this part of the world! It started out a bit too dry in June and then the deluge began. We had 4.5 inches of rain in June (2.3 of it in the last two days of the month), then we had a shocking 18.02 inches of rain in July!!! The average is about 3.5" for July. It rained and rained. Downpour after downpour. One 6.2" rainfall in the middle of the month... but it just didn't stop! Hot, humid, Tropical weather in New England!

You might recall me showing you all the clusters
 of Rhododendron blossoms I had assembled.


And all the florets I had constructed in batches
 of ten but had not glued into clusters yet.
 


Well, in all that humidity the glue was taking Forever to dry!
I would start to assemble a cluster, get one blossom glued....
 and go do something else and forget to come back to glue another one.....
 really, the glue just didn't harden!
And I needed to make the leaves to go with the clusters..... 
and when I tried to punch the paper... 
it ripped rather than cut the edges! 
The paper was just soggy from all the humidity!
Soggy paper is No Fun!


So the Rhododendron bush has been effectively on "hold"
 since the middle of July, Dear Readers,
while the weather continued to Rain...
An "average" 4 inches in August, (slightly above average really)
and a whopping 10.02 inches in September......!
(The remnants of Hurricane's Lee, Ophelia, and Philippe)
Which would have been noteworthy 
except that it wasn't anywhere near like July...!

So that's my Soggy Sob story, Dear Readers!
I will eventually be able to punch paper again.... 
and get the glue conveyor belt going, 
but for Now the Rhodies are on hold
While I hope for a little less rain! 
(And keep my fingers crossed that this will post!)
 


7 comments:

  1. Wow Betsy! That is a lot of rain even by Seattle standards! It gets real old, real fast. Especially when it has the frustrating consequence of stopping progress on those gorgeous Rhodies! I certainly hope justice brings you a mild fall/winter and that your production line can begin moving again. That color looks amazing with the Folly colors will be a show stopping bush when it matures! Hope you are finding inspiration for other projects during your patience.

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  2. Now I know where all the rain went! We've had a super dry summer in Texas and fall isn't shaping up to be much wetter.
    The rhododendrons will be gorgeous once they're done though and I'm so looking foward to them!

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  3. I visited your blog but couldn't comment.
    Your flowers are amazing.

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  4. Oh, this all sounds so frustrating! I hope things will improve soon and you can get back to gluing your flowers and enjoying blogs! Hang in there!

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  5. The weather is unpredictable and it's too bad when it changes our plans. I hope it will soon be good and we'll be able to see your beautiful rehododendron in full bloom.
    Hugs, Drora

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  6. Hi Betsy, I commiserate with you over the effect the weather has on miniatures, but for the exact opposite reason, it's been so hot in France I was afraid for some of my most precious pieces, and I had to take all of my materials from my attic craft room to the cellar as glue, fimo etc does not like 42°c heat! What I would have done for some of your Seattle rain! Your flowers look lovely, rhododendrons remind me so much of my native Scotland where lots of the plants were imported in the 19th century. Another wet and rainy country!

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  7. It's me who really needs and even more wants to apologize for being so very late this time to drop by. My, I missed FOUR posts... and worst of all... my favorite posts of the year And you are the one who knows about thereal meaning of this remark as I simply love all your posts full of miracles, fun, eye candy and inspiration. But the Halloween tale is something I'm really looking forward to all the year long.

    However, as I just noticed you have already commented on my Halloween post (thanks *blush*) you know by now that writing this long story was one of the things which kept me busy and away from visiting and commenting on my favorite blogs. Keep in mind that I always have to write them twice... *LOL*

    I'm sorry to hear about your browser problems and cross my fingers that they are solved by now. And I'm even more sorry about your soggy problems keeping you away from making progress with your wonderful rhododendron project.

    Well, climate change is for sure reality and I will never understand why there are still people denying its excistence or thinking this would not concern them personally. We had also loads of rain in my part of the world but most of all we were dealing with the heaviest storm flood our East coast has experienced since 1904. We are used to heavy storm floods at our West coast as the North Sea is very rough but it's unusual to have these mighty water forces coming from the Baltic Sea. The damages are horrible and we are all concerned about what is yet to come as it was the first heavy storm of this season, even more as some dams broke or are soken wet.

    Well, we can only do our best to cope with all of this... but I am today totally on the happy side because now I'm going to jump over to your next post I've missed so far. I already know there will be so much fun, joy and a gorgeous tale waiting for me... and as I had a little preview glimpse when scrolling down I already know there are also some BiWuBearies waiting for me which gives me some extra pleasure for sure. My, Blue seems to be a very busy fairy these days... *wink*

    Hugs
    Birgit

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