Yesterday was reasonably productive, but not in the things I needed to get done. I blame the rose project. My obsession has grown to the level of total infatuation. It’s a thing now; just like investing, cooking, writing, and music. At least it’s not a really expensive hobby like horse racing.
To give you an illustration of how much I want to throw myself into it, the significant other and I had a conversation – an actual, serious conversation – in the kitchen last night about whether or not it would just be easier to go buy a few acres of farm land, kick it into a new company, and run all of our gardening experiments there. I don’t have time to be thinking like this. It will escalate. Suddenly, I’ll be putting in a log cabin with a water wheel, and figure, “Why not add an orchard?”. It has to stop. I have to go back to work. No more roses for awhile.
[mainbodyad]I am going to find some design software, or, if I have to, use Photoshop, to start laying out what I would want such an arrangement to look like if I were to ever go through with it. I keep an entire set of “contingent project” files like that so when I get in the mood to work on a certain subject, or come across something interesting about it, I can pull the file and pick back up where I left off earlier. That way, if I ever do decide to do something, most of the work has already been done. I think that’s why it’s so easy for me to move quickly when I make my mind up on a course of action. By the time I take out the pen, I’m already prepared, familiar with the topic, and know what I want.
It’s not like yesterday I was lazy or anything. I spent at least 3 hours going between 5 or 6 different nurseries and home improvement stores (I’m sure they are starting to recognize me), bought several new urns, researched lanterns for the exterior landscaping, finalized notes for a written piece that will be featured by Western Union in one of its business resource sites, I moved forward with refinancing my house by sending off a packet of information (the economics of the transaction are interesting so I’m going to write about it in the future – after tax adjustments and inflation, I’ll be paid real purchasing power of between 1% and 2% per annum on the mortgage balance, which is why I won’t pay it off early, instead shoving the money into other investments), worked on a few draft essays that will be published in the future on this site, went over the disbursements for one of the LLC’s, checked the portfolio and researched a few stocks, made a large breakfast-for-dinner (which was delicious), approved a newsletter for About.com, watched some Japanese foreign film, made the list of replacement teas for the pantry to be ordered tomorrow, played my Bloons HD Tower Defense game on iPad, read for awhile, used the home gym, promised to review a book, responded to some reader comments from the past, worked on a technology project, and put two of the new roses in giant pots after seeing this picture from a grower who perfects his plants this way to see the actual flowers and use them for cuttings.
So, yeah … there was a lot off stuff accomplished, just very little of it related to my businesses and investments so I feel like I wasted the day because the important items on my checklist weren’t completed.
Speaking of roses, a couple of days ago when I was reading about silent trust funds in New Hampshire and wondering whether a family could use them to sidestep all sorts of things such as the FAFSA requirements for college aid, I neglected to mention I made the first cuttings from the roses I’ve been growing. I took only one deep pink, and one light pink rose from the knockout bushes, while the Dick Clark and Cherry Parfait roses have not yet blossomed and won’t for awhile. The pink roses smell much more fragrant than the others; very light but still definitely a rose.
The first roses from my house … the light pink one has a really pleasant scent. Had I known it before hand, I might have swapped 13 dark pink rose bushes for the light pink, instead, so the air constantly smelled like that during the summer. It’s subtle, but definitely there.
The first cuttings from my own property … I can’t wait for the more exotic, harder to grow roses to start blooming.
I’ll make up for it today. I’ll actually do work; productive, real work. I’m going to make myself. Yes. Focus. Just focus.
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Reader Comments (13)
Comments are presented chronologically, with replies indented beneath the comments to which they respond.
Joe Pierson
May 15, 2013
You should try something out of your comfort zone, iron man contest for instance, being several times stronger then you need to be is a new level of daily pleasure that no money can buy.
Joshua Kennon
May 15, 2013
Replying to Joe Pierson
Good thought. It would require several years of preparation, though, because right now, if I were to try a triathlon, the only way I'd probably finish would be like this.
Ian Francis
May 15, 2013
My flower obsession has been orchids for a while now. I don't know why, because while I have always liked gardening and yard work, the engineer in me is always drawn to productive plants, vegetables mostly. I have never been a fan of flowers, but something about their frailty and how unique they look draws them to me. It had subsided for a while, but the return of spring mixed with reading about your new obsession has gotten me hooked again. I had successfully avoided buying every new species I encountered at the store, but now I am not sure if I will be able to. Heck, reading your posts on roses makes me want to start cultivating my own hybrids. This is not going to end well.
Ian Francis
May 15, 2013
Replying to Ian Francis
...and now I have discovered the Vanilla orchid. Somehow I missed that vanilla comes from an orchid, the only orchid used in food production. That's it. The obsession has set in. I must have a vanilla orchid. Does it matter that the plant is actually a vine, must be around 10 feet long to produce fruit, the flower only lasts 1 day, and it must be pollinated by HAND? No, Josh, no it does not.
I told you this wouldn't end well. I currently only have 4 orchids in my house. By the time you visit there is a good chance it will be far more. Ashly, if you are reading this, I am sorry. (But at least you have some good ideas for small gifts for me 🙂 )
Aaron
May 15, 2013
Replying to Ian Francis
Ian, I bought one of these after the "Living off the Land" ride in Epcot on our last trip (it's a vanilla planifolia). It's growing quite well, though still small. Not only do we have to wait several years for the plant to reach its mature size and produce its fruit (the pods take at least 5 months to mature on the vine), we have to cure for them for another 6-8 months for use in food. And then if you want to make vanilla extract from your own vanilla pods, well, that's another 6 to 12 months.
Ashly
May 15, 2013
Replying to Ian Francis
Just great. My husband is going to become an orchid hoarder. Lovely
Joshua Kennon
May 15, 2013
Replying to Ashly
I think he needs more orchids. That's the solution. But I might not be the best person to ask because I have no room to talk. In under three weeks, we're up to 18 rose bushes - 15 in the ground, 3 in containers. I'm thinking about adding another few in containers, and several climbers, as well.
If I'm not careful, my yard will end up looking like this, and you'll have to wander through it to find the house ... wearing a bee-suit I'm sure, because I think the honeybees of Missouri will be convinced they had found paradise and invade.
Joshua Kennon
May 15, 2013
Replying to Ian Francis
This plant! It is everywhere! It must call to people. Aaron has been growing one of these for almost a year in a carefully guarded crystal or glass terrarium which I see him spritzing with a tiny water bottle to protect the plant. The inside is kept much more humid because of it and you see the condensation on the walls. He has been excitedly talking about how someday we will all have more vanilla than we can handle thanks to his magic vanilla orchid that he will need to pollinate by hand.
Have you ever thought about growing the extremely rare Monkey Orchids aka Dracula simia?
You could cross breed it with the vanilla one and create a plant that looks like monkeys but produces vanilla from the freakishly long monkey arms. You would be a demi-god of the orchid community.
The pale, white version freak me out. They do look like dracula monkeys staring at you with their sharp teeth.
Ian Francis
May 15, 2013
I must have been too focused on the banana plant. There's another plant obsession of mine. I really need to either find a plant I like that can deal with the cold weather here better or move. I'm guessing the latter will come before the former.
Ashly
May 15, 2013
Ian and I have made our own vanilla extract. It does take a long time but so worth it!
Ashly
May 15, 2013
I showed Ian the picture of the white monkey orchid. His eyes lite up like a kid with a new toy, a large smile grew and he looked at me longingly and said, "that's so cool, I want it!" Great, now I have to find one of these.
Joshua Kennon
May 16, 2013
Replying to Ashly
I apologize in advance for the terror you might experience as its cold, red eyes stare at you in the middle of the night when you go to get a glass of water ...
Realizing that I have just sent you on a quest to another continent to mail order a rare flower makes me feel like this particularly sad Monkey Orchid.
FratMan
May 16, 2013
What gives with the guy on the $100? 😉