RocketMan's 2015 Part II, A New Begining

So my first Glog ended kind of abruptly in January. Apologizes to those who were following for not posting up anything about what was up. To say the least we've had one heck of a year in the 5 months since then. The best part is welcoming our newest Grandchild A.J.
 

 

 
It's also been a rough 5 months for our little ones. As some of you know we adopted our 2 youngsters back in 2012 and in the time since then have made a lot of progress in their healing from the "stuff" and their bio put them through. This year though it's shown us that they're not as far along as we really thought they were, hurting other kids, teachers and property in school a big part of it, and that they need more from us than they have been getting.  So, after a lot of talks, consideration and prayers we have made some really big decisions. First, Mary has put in her resignation and yes, she is the major income in the family, to go along with this we've put the Launch Pad on the market. We can live on my income we just need to downsize to do it. With the problems they had last year in school we've decided to home school them for the next year or two. They'll still get out and be around other kids, scouts, church and functions held by local home school support groups will help with that. Most of all it will give us the time to work directly with them more. To teach them and help them in working through all the fears and demons that continue to haunt them. Your prayers, good Karma and thoughts will be greatly appreciated as we head into this.
 
Now, the Garden has been on hold so I haven't started on any of the raised beds or anything. I do have some peppers going though. Only problem there is none of them seem to be what I thought they were
 
So, these first 4 were supposed to be MOA Scotch Bonnets
 
This one has given me some peppers that are small and really almost white

 
Yeah, not an MOASB shaped pepper there.

 
Close up, any ideas?

 
No idea, but hopefully those blooms will develop into some peppers.

 
This one too has some peppers.

 
bad pic but they were supposed to be yellow.

 
These are supposed to be Fataliis. Haven't had any peppers yet so can't tell yet. Dang Florida sun hasn't been very nice.

 
Supposed to be a Fatalii up front and a Douglah in the back

 
Hopefully we'll get some peppers on them and get to see what they really are. I gave them a bit of Fish Ferts last night and have been thinking maybe i'd give them each a teaspoon or so of Epsom Salts but the jury's still out on that one.
 
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Any thoughts about the plants are always welcome. We're on the downhill slide into the weekend so have a great one y'all.
 
RM

 

[sirex]

Damn RM! Sorry to hear those things brutha.
 
Congrats on AJ though!!!!!
 
I know everything will turn out ok with you and your wife being more directly involved in the homeschooling. 
 
You gotta do what you gotta do bro and family comes first! You already know this of course.
 
Good luck on finding a new launchpad and just keep doin what ya been doin and them churrins will be A OK!!!

 

[santis00]

Congrats on the grandson! And also for making changes needed to raise the little ones!

 

[SmokenFire]

Not many would be willing to make such changes to their lives.  I respect and cherish your decisions and I am sure they will make the impact you seek on the children.  Much respect RM.  You and yours will be in my prayers.  

 

[RocketMan]

Thanks y'all and yep, family always comes first. These 2 have been through so much in their short lives that their lives should be free from it all for a long time. Unfortunately we know that's not how it goes. There's a lot of hope that our girl will be able to grow beyond it given the time. She still tends to go into the Fight, Flight or Freeze mode whenever she suspects shes in trouble or anything comes at her in an unfriendly way. A lot of that will come as she matures but may never completely go away. Our son was diagnosed being on the Autism scale though. He is high functioning but may never really be able to handle life on his own. He's pretty smart guy but can't seem to get the interpersonal relations between people down. It's like he just cant tell the differences in how others are reacting to him. Like he can't tell the difference between say fear and anger or comedic and sarcastic. This leads him to respond to you in a manner that's out of character for the situation. We know he can't figure out empathy and have been told by "the experts" that he may never get it but that he can learn to emulate empathy. Not so sure I completely agree with them on that one but it's clear that he's got a hard row to hoe to get where he'll be good to go on his own. We use what's called Trust-Based Relational Interventions or TBRI   (click if you'd like to know more) and have been through pretty in depth training with the TCU Child Development people and one of the things they told all of us that were at the training that there may come a time that we would have to make the decision to do this. So, now the real work starts and we'll stay with it till they're good to go.
 
Ok, enough with all the high brained stuff. Anyone have any ideas what that second pepper plant might be?

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Glad to hear you are rocketing on. And you are to be commended on making the arrangements necessary to take care of your family. I am no expert on autism or childhood difficulties, but I wonder if your son may connect with the plant husbandry in ways he may have trouble connected with people? Growing things can provide an excellent center (and tasty meals), as I'm sure everyone here knows.
 
The second plant looks like some kind of baccatum. You got any aji's planted?

 

[RocketMan]

Nope no Ajis planted. It must have gotten into some seed that was sent to me that were supposed to be MOA Scotch Bonnets.

 

[stickman]

Hey Brother Bill! Glad to hear about your newest grandchild, good on your daughter! Bless you for taking the time to do it right with your adopted children... a lot of people in the bible belt are against abortion, but I don't hear about any of them adopting themselves. It's something I feel strongly about since my Dad was orphaned when he was about 12, and he was never adopted by anybody who cared about him. He ended up being fostered by a family who used him for unpaid farm labor until he was old enough to enlist in the Marines to escape their clutches and spent a tour in Korea during the war.
 
That "not" MoA Bonnet looks an awful lot like my "not" Orange 7-Pot. It'll be interesting to see how much alike they are once they ripen. Take care Bill and the best to you and yours.

 

[RocketMan]

Got these off of the first plant above.

Don't look like MOAs to me but what say y'all?

 

[grantmichaels]

... can't figure out empathy and have been told by "the experts" that he may never get it but that he can learn to emulate empathy. Not so sure I completely agree with them on that one
 


Probably 2/3 of the time I emulate empathy, and the other portion comes naturally. And, the natural part, is probably selfish, anyways, because the empathy arises from imagining myself in whatever scenario the other person is confronted with, so that's selfish too ... I'm not awesome.

I actively think of the people in my immediate sphere each morning and make sure I'm not missing something I should be addressing or handling or whatever ...

Being considerate is something I have practice, and I have to form habits and practices that urge me in the right direction. For example, having a calendar of people's birthday's etc ...

Sorry, man.

 

[gnslngr]

Never seen a white MOA...the 2 green ones look like they want to be longer, similar to White Not Fataliis I had 2 yrs back.
+1 on family comes first in these days of"i" everything.
The right thing is usually the harder of 2 choices,and you did the right thing.
Bigtime.

 

[KiNGDeNNiZ]

Wow definitely some commitment by our hit have... I have experienced what you habe. Years before my folks did foster care and it was very difficult thing to have the kids and help them deal with their demons.. took us years to find 2 girls that were half sisters. .fell in love with them.. but our license was more of a temporary until they found long term families. Yes. It's difficult but worth it..

As for your MOA. Man. None of them play the role. Hope things get better foe your garden. Keep in growing

 

[RocketMan]

Probably 2/3 of the time I emulate empathy, and the other portion comes naturally. And, the natural part, is probably selfish, anyways, because the empathy arises from imagining myself in whatever scenario the other person is confronted with, so that's selfish too ... I'm not awesome.

I actively think of the people in my immediate sphere each morning and make sure I'm not missing something I should be addressing or handling or whatever ...

Being considerate is something I have practice, and I have to form habits and practices that urge me in the right direction. For example, having a calendar of people's birthday's etc ...

Sorry, man.

 
How old were you when you started making the connection? The hard part with our son is that we have to find our way through the PTSD to get to where we can start to work with his Autistic issues and we never know when something, it could be something as small as an expression on our face or a tone or inflection in our voices touches the PTSD and down come his defenses and we're locked out. No Ctrl, Alt, Delete sequence to reboot.
 

Never seen a white MOA...the 2 green ones look like they want to be longer, similar to White Not Fataliis I had 2 yrs back.
+1 on family comes first in these days of"i" everything.
The right thing is usually the harder of 2 choices,and you did the right thing.
Bigtime.

 
They remind me of maybe a White Hab. I haven't tried them yet, probably will this weekend to see what the flavor / heat is like. Hopefully I'll get some more pods on soon and we'll see what they come out like.
 

Wow definitely some commitment by our hit have... I have experienced what you habe. Years before my folks did foster care and it was very difficult thing to have the kids and help them deal with their demons.. took us years to find 2 girls that were half sisters. .fell in love with them.. but our license was more of a temporary until they found long term families. Yes. It's difficult but worth it..

As for your MOA. Man. None of them play the role. Hope things get better foe your garden. Keep in growing

 
We fostered for 8 years in San Antonio and again after we moved to Florida. The last set of siblings we had in San Antonio were TPR'd (Termination of Parental Rights) and we were asked if we would adopt them. At that time we were in to foster only. We wanted to help families to heal and reunite and so we said no. The way it affected them told us we could never say no again. They were adopted by the family they were with before they came to us and it was a really awesome fit for them. We learned from that, it's that kind of commitment we needed to have going into it again. So yeah, what ever it takes to help our children heal is what we have to have.
 
I'm actually thinking about putting these plants in the ground here and then picking up some seed or seedlings that I know are what I want them to be and starting over at the new house when we get there.
 
Have a great weekend. Happy 4th!

 

[RocketMan]

If you look at the pictures of the plants above you'll see that the root pouches are really only abotu half full. They compacted a lot I guess so my son and I got out yesterday and topped off the pouches with more soil and did some trimming off of old dead wood, now the plants look a lot happier today. When I went out to give them all a drink they weren't all droopy like they have been in the mornings.
 
some happy pics
 

 

 
Winner of the most trim award

 

 

 

 
Yep, aphids, going to have to do something about this and the darn ants that are all over the place here.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Plants are getting going! And I bet the flavor on the not MoA is pretty good. You may have a nice recessive trait there.

 

[RocketMan]

Plants are really filling out now. They love having better soil wrapped up around them and there's a good portion of stem in there too so they're much more stable.
 

 
pods are coming and there's one getting ready for me to pick.
 

 
This one was the most drastic cut back. When I cut it there were only 2 or 3 small leaves left and look at it now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Some kind of white gunk all over the leaves of this one, top and bottom.
 

 

 
Any idea what it is and what I can do to clear it up?
 
Hoping everyone is having a great week, we're on the downhill now
 
Cheers!

 

[RocketMan]

WOW, are these plants loving the Florida weather now that they have all that new soil! All but one are growing like Gangbusters! Lets take a look at what they were looking like this morning.
 
This little mystery even has 3 pods about ready to pick.
 

 

.
 

 
Just a few weeks ago this was just a stick with a few leaves on it.
 
Then
 

 
Now
 

 
Getting Big!
 

 

 

 
And this is the reason I ordered 300 Ladybugs found out that the white are Mealy Bugs
 

 

 
Can't wait to see those Ladies getting all big and fat on them
 
Cheers,

 

[PIC 1]

Bill your plants stocky and healthy !
 
The one plant with the white residue appears to be a mealy bug breakout.......how's she looking, have to treated it with anything ?

 

[RocketMan]

I ordered 150 ladybugs yesterday. Can't wait to see those ladies all fat, happy and full of mealy bugs

 

[stickman]

I ordered 150 ladybugs yesterday. Can't wait to see those ladies all fat, happy and full of mealy bugs

 
Glad to see you've gotten your potted chilies dialed in Bill! Mealybugs are sure a drag, hopefully the inner perimeter defenses take care of them permanently. I always plant basil, dill and aromatic marigold varieties like "Lemon Gem" around mine to attract the friendlies like Ladybugs and Lacewings to groom them.
 
Keep up the good work!