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Strawberry Tree

Since moving to Washington, I have discovered a great number of new trees. One of my favorites is the Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus unedo ). It is a four-season tree with semi-glossy evergreen leaves and lovely mahogany bark. In autumn, clusters of white flowers appear, bearing a resemblance to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers. And then there are the little fruits, which resemble strawberries that appear at the same time as the flowers. I am not sure why, but I have only seen a few fruits on ours. I don't know if birds are getting them before I see them or what happens. The fruits are said to be edible but not very tasty (to humans). This year, our tree is loaded with flowers, the most I've ever seen. Bees absolutely love it and so do the hummingbirds. The flowers usually continue to appear straight through winter, and it can be blooming even during the coldest periods of winter. Aside from the fact that I have not seen much of the colorful fruits, the major negative note is the fact tha

Sometimes technology can be a big headache

We were spared the bad storms over the weekend but something did happen late Friday night that messed up our phone lines, security system and disconnected our Internet service. Michael's brother and family were spending the weekend with us and they said that a huge bolt of lightening hit and was so loud it rattled the windows. The thunder woke me too but I drifted right back into my coma.

AT&T came today and the guy said that the ADT security system seemed to be the problem. The phone is working again. Still no Internet connection although I can connect perfectly fine with my laptop.

In the midst of all this, I decided to change my blog template (nice timing Phillip!) and of course that hasn't went smoothly either. I have now lost my blogroll and I'm attempting to rebuilt it from memory. If you come across any technical difficulties with the site, do let me know.

In the meantime, if anyone knows how to get the Blogger menu bar back along the top of my site, please let me know!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. I like the new template Phillip. That was some bad storms that passed. Thank goodness you weren't affected and neither was I.

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  2. Phillip, Yikes that was a serious hit! I like the new template and not being exactly sure how to add blogger widgets and addons is the primary reason I haven't made the jump! I like that blogger bar...Is there anyplace in your new template code that reads ~display none~ That may be what you remove to get it to show?
    I read that somewhere. Good luck, glad it was no worse then the lightning strike....gail

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  3. I can't help you with your computer problems. I am not very good with computers. I would like to change my blog look but I am a big chicken. cluck cluck cluck. I like your new template. I hope the rest goes well. I am happy you weren't hit with any of those severe storms.

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  4. Gosh, wish I could help you. That sounds frustrating. Just sort of wanted to comment on the fantastic red rose below, think it was called Tradescant? Anyhow, very seductive.
    Best of luck rebuilding.

    Annelie

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  5. Good luck with your 21st century headaches.

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  6. Hmm, one time I accidently got rid of the blogger bar and I remember it was fairly simple to get it back. But unfortunately I can't remember how I did it! So sorry to hear about your problems but I'm glad you didn't have any worse damage.

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  7. Technology really can be a headache. Our laptop got a virus last week and I still haven't gotten it sorted out because I only pick up that computer at night. Not as scary as a close lightening strike though. Did it hit one of your or your neighbor's trees?

    The new template looks very nice. A nice background for your beautiful photos.

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  8. Oops! I know it's difficult without Internet. When you say you have Internet on your laptop, do your other computers not have 'em? If so do you have a router? May be you've got to reconfigure the router. Let me know if I can help you. I am a network engineer.
    You can email me at chandramouli.s@gmail.com or drop me your number and I can call you and help you with the connection (it's free call for me to US)

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  9. Right by 'post comment' there's a google ad for lightening detection, spooky.

    I reckon Chandramouli S can probably help, as for blogger stuff, post a question on one of the forums if needs be, they usually get answers.

    I like the template by the way, good luck.

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  10. I am glad you guys are all okay, that sounds like some serious lightning! We use wordpress, but I remember from changing templates there that some themes have the blogroll, etc. in different places than what we are used to, just part of the layout. Not knowing how to work around that, I just chose a different theme.
    Frances

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  11. Sorry for all of your headaches! That's what my life is all about, making the right decisions at the wrong times :P You know Murphy's Law? Well, me and Murph are tight. Too tight. :P

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  12. Hi Philip, I know better than to try to change my template. Pretty sure I'd never recover from the frustration.

    Last summer we had a thunderstorm that took out my security system. They had to replace the whole panel, battery and keypad.

    Good luck.
    Marnie

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  13. I'm so sorry to hear about your tech woes. I do like the new template. Good luck!

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  14. The lightening strike sounds pretty scary. Hope you get everything working again soon.
    I'm always nervous when I change things on my blog that the whole thing will disappear forever. I hope you can get it all figured out.

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  15. How frustrating technology can be. I do like the new template, good luck with getting it exactly like you want.

    Jan
    Always Growing

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  16. Lightning is a serious force of nature. Had a home burn down from it a few years back. Glad everyone is okay.....

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