Well damn

So... a couple of weeks ago,... one of my co workers began on the theme of how the evil pharmaceutical companies were enslaving and poisoning is all... which sent my antennae all aquiver.   Primarily because I've been around long enough to know that when someone starts that debate there's a very good chance that said individual is either preparing to stop taking their medications, or they already have.

Over the next few days the debate took the predestined course from debate, into rant, eventually ending at full fledged diatribe, with a couple of side rants about gay marriage, Armageddon, and no one giving him the respect that he deserved. 

There was one rather loud "discusion" about how he should be able to swim in the pool at 3 am even though it's locked at midnight, and he ended up pronouncing us all "dust to the master" -whatever the hell THAT means-  Actually I don't want to know what that means.

So, last weekend, I already knew he was at a boiling point and ready to pop.  Add in that he was with several of our guests drinking whisky in the courtyard (definitely against rules for employees)  Further add that the occasional breeze was wafting the scent of a certain herbal blend of smoking material... because, after all, that particular brain altering substance is evidently much better for you than the pills from the doctor, well, something was gonna happen I just couldn't pinpoint exactly how dramatic and sordid it was gonna be.

What happened is this:

Some male asked about the buildings orphanage past. 

Which is a common question I answer about 10 times a day.  But evidently, when this particular male asked... he was asking because he was a demon incarnate spouting evil  pedophilliac propaganda.  (Honest,  for real...I couldn't make that up if I tried)

The result was me trying to control the front desk (this of course happens while people are checking in) while 12 feet away our 6 foot 4 former marine maintenance guy is trying to get control of a blazing lunatic who KNOWS WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT (even though nobody else knows what he's talking about) And we should all just bow down to his superior knowledge and give him the respect he deserves because he's obviously a superior person to all of us.

Eventually, lunatic goes for former marines throat, lunatic ends up laid out in the lobby floor, and 15 minutes later, about 45 minutes after I called, the cops show up. 

The story goes down hill after that.  Yeah... how further down hill from THAT can you get, right?

But now, two days later, I've gone from part time employee to full time, which would be cool except I DON'T WANNA BE FULL TIME, I CAME HERE TO WORK IN MOVIES DAMMIT.

At the moment, because of the various fall out, I'm the only person who can run the web site, the only one authorised to run credit cards for reservations, I'm basically in charge of internet marketing (despite the fact that I don't know what the he'll I'm doing) And I'm not in a very good mood.

So.  How was your weekend?

Gardening at the guest house

Well, no pics of most of it, But here's what I'm up to... we had a temporary employee that was supposed to clean up the flower beds... for some reason he pulled out ALL the holly ferns and chopped a lime tree sapling down to the ground and was quite proud of that bare dirt. 

He's not around anymore, but the courtyard is now bare... for various reasons we weren't able to immediately replace any plants, and so I've taken it upon myself to aquire cuttings and attempt to fill in. 

Its interesting... many of the plants I'm getting I know as houseplants, but they're outside plants in this climate. 

I've taken three leaves from the Sanseveria on the front porch, cut each sword in three pieces and planted them in the ground... they now have roots and I'm expecting the first growth in about a month. 

There are two vines of ornamental sweet potato that I rescued... they had wandered to far from a public planter and were being beat up by foot traffic.   There's a "chartreuse" And a "blackheart" Just rooted good and beginning to grow.  Since these can grow six inches a day, I have faith that they'll soon make short work of all that bare dirt. 

Currently, there are several cuttings in my bathroom rooting on water.  Its not the best situation, but I'm working with what I got... Lol.

 

This mess consists of elephant ears, (Calocasia esculentia) fibrous rooted begonias (Begonia sempiflorens) Aluminum plant (Pilea cadierei) and a piece of Swedish ivy, ( Plectranthus esculentia  ).  

These were found dumped in a nearby vacant lot... it looked like a gardener had thrown them over a fence actually... the Colocasia were all small plants with a few roots and the bare beginnings of a bulb... they were put in water to perk them up more than anything else and they'll go outside in a day or two.  The begonias look like trimmings,  a couple had tiny root balls, the others were just broken off stems.  Rooted plants will go out on a day or two... probably near the pineapple tops I rooted. 

The aluminum plant will brighten up a shadier area... natives of Vietnam, they do like the climate here and I've seen some very happy plantings of them around.  

Same for the Swedish Ivy... its reasonably common around as a kind of informal ground cover.  

And now for a question...

I found this clump of upright elephant ear (Alocasia macrorrhiza)  in a lot thats fixing to be built on... and as much as I'd like to take a giant 7 foot tall clump home with me, i dont have the means.

But I inspected it further and found these...

So...does anyone out there have any clue as to how one sprouts Alocasia seeds?

Ive grown  them Texas, and I've even seem them bloom, but this is the first time I've ever ran across seeds... any help appreciated as the web isn't being encouraging at all