Courtyard

...just re-arranging a few plants and pots in the courtyard. It's a nice place to sit and have a beer or two on the weekend after all the rain.

Avonia alstonii

I got this Alvonia alstonii a few weeks ago. I just liked the snake-like appearance of the plant. I had no idea what the flower would look like until now. It's very small and this blog gives you a better idea of the size.

BBQ Plans

I've gotten much better with Google's SketchUp program. This is the first draft of the backyard BBQ concept from Tropicana. These island dimensions are able to make it through the front courtyard entrance and through the house. It's going to be a tight fit. Now, I just have to work on the counter top details as well as adding some stools to the model. The artificial wood plank deck design is in the works, at least, for Plan A.

San Diego Fair

The San Diego County Fair is back, again. Here are a few dogs jumping into a pool as part of the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge. I partook in a cinnamon bun challenge and won (I got to eat the whole thing without getting sick!). Then, I spent ~8 hours on a very important, outdoor-type purchase. More on that, later.

I forgot to go back for the Jack Russell Hurdle Racing!

San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society

The SD Cactus & Succulent Society sale seemed much bigger than before. Or, maybe it's because I arrived earlier in the morning than before? I kept my eyes peeled for an Aloe vanbalenii, but didn't find any specimens. The prices also seemed higher than before. Or, maybe I've developed an eye for the rarer plants? Though, I couldn't bring myself to pay $45 for that one odd duck-of-a-plant. So, I stayed with the $6 to $10 offerings.

Epiphyllum: Dream Maker

Finally, after 4 years of growth, this epiphyllum blooms. Uh, yeah, the plant requires more sunlight for the flowers to make an appearance. I lost the hybrid name of this plant since the original cutting shrivelled up along with the inked-in description. So, I had to wait for a bloom to give me a hint. The hybrid's name is "Dream Maker" and makes a very large, pink flower.

This wouldn't be possible without the San Diego Epiphyllum Society's yearly sale. At the sale yesterday, I bought other hybrids like "Morocco", "Pegasus", "French Gold", "Clown" and "Siegfried". But, this time, I went with potted plants rather than cuttings.

Dahlias

Planted in mid-January, the dahlias are starting to bloom in the front courtyard. They were in a mixed bag, so I didn't know what to expect.

Angel Trumpets

There are 35 or more yellow Angel Trumpet flowers in bloom on this shrub and the scent is quite heady. This shot is taken in the front of the house at night time with no flash.

The Angel Trumpet Brugmansia is a member of the Nightshade (Solanaceae) family (tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, eggplant, Datura and petunias) and is also quite toxic.

Peach Trees in Bloom

The peaches are in bloom once again in the backyard in response to the very good rainfall San Diego is receiving this year. Last time, if I remember correctly, the peach tree with the showy, darker bloom had yellow fruit and the tree with the pink flower had dark and sweet fruit. I'm still trying to find the old paper work on this.

HP Pavilion Laptop Repair

I really enjoy taking apart computers! Laptops are much harder than desktops to work with because everything has to fit perfectly together. To get to the graphics chip, the entire laptop had to be completely taken apart. I only missed one connection ribbon the second time I had to reassemble without looking at the instructions!

The LCD screen on this dv9000 had gone out and connecting it to a small LCD TV via the HDMI cable provided a short fix. Then, that option went out after a month because the culprit, the nVidia graphics chip, finally had had too much overheating. As I researched the issue, I found that it has been an ongoing issue with nVidia chips installed on a whole slew of HP laptop models. Unfortunately, this particular model is not eligible for free repair like all the others. I'm glad my new HP laptop has an ATI chip and doesn't have this issue.

The defective laptop was replaced by an iMac. I'll probably follow suit as soon as I get a good excuse. So far, my HD has already been replaced once and I'm getting a few, sporadic HD errors on the new drive.

A month after the iMac moved in, I tore apart the HP Pavilion with these instructions. And, a corresponding YouTube video showed how to apply a quick fix. I was afraid to fry the motherboard with heat, but I had no other options. In the end, I was able to get VGA output to work and an extremely dim output on the laptop's screen. So, now I've got to replace the inverter for the screen and things may be back to normal.