Look for video of her at Monterey Pop singing ball and chain in a pantsuit and stomping her kitten heels (it was the late mid 60s after all), and Mama Cass reacting to her in the audience.

I went to see her with Big Brother and the Holding Company. I had her (first) album (Cheap Thrills?) but gave it away. Then regretted it. There’s only so many things one can hold onto, esp when student.

Summertime (I sing this to myself 🎵”…hush little bAyAby,,, do_n’t you cry.”) (Fish are jumpin’ nd the cotton is high….One of these mornings…🎶

Mercedes Benz

Piece of my Heart

Me and Bobby McGee

▪️Cheap Thrills https://vinyl-records.nl/acid-psych/janis-joplin-big-brother-holding-company-cheap-thrills-germany-vinyl-lp-album.html

Complete Track Listing of: Janis Joplin Cheap Thrills

Side One:

1. Combination of the Two
2. I Need A Man to Love
3. Summertime
4. Piece of my Heart

Side Two:

1. Turtle Blues
2. Oh, Sweet Mary
3. Ball and Chain

Thanks, Pal

Is anyone not a Janis Joplin fan?

Don't answer that. I don't want to know that about you ;-)

Definitely left us too soon as so many greats did (and do).

Wow. Very cool.

Next, now that we have all these name plates made up and want to put stems on them (again, there's more than one way to accomplish this, this is how I do it).

Part 2

Forming and soldering the stem:

I'm using #10 wire bc that's what I have on hand, #12 might work. I've used #8 and #6 for single stems (single stems spin in the wind). But #10, being a double stem is plenty sturdy if one doesn't make them too long.

Below I cut the #10 wire about 17" L. then bend it into a horseshoe, this is probably plenty long bc the plate will end up ~6" off the ground. The prongs to go into the ground an 1-1/2" or maybe 2". So here we have whatever your personal preferences are.

Next clamp the 'U' shaped end in the vice and bend the prongs over ~45d.

With #10 wire this could probably be done using a pliers or vice grips.

Then on your steel stamping block, with a small hammer (1 lb?), flatten the bent part of the round wire so it becomes flat.

A flat surface will be stronger once it's soldered to the plate.

Make sure that you clean and shine up the brass or copper with a wire brush or sandpaper.

I use a wire wheel on the grinder to do that and it must be done for solder to stick and bond properly.

I won't give a full on class on how to solder but you'll need solder and soldering paste.

I'm not pushing any particular brand but I got these from the local hardware store. Lead Free.

FYI:

To make it easier and more reliable, you 'Tin' the parts to be soldered separately.

Smear the flat surface with a coating of soldering paste (flux).

Heat the stem and apply solder.

The stem is now properly 'Tinned'.

Same for the plate.

Apply flux, heat with the torch and apply a thin layer of solder (I got mine on a little thick but that's okay). The plate is being held in a vice.

Note the little 'arrow' at the top end of the centerline. I haven't soldered a plate on upside down since I've been putting the little arrow pointing to the top.

Then with the plate still being held in the vice, place the flattened, tinned end of the stem onto the area of the plate that's been tinned, and heat both until the solder melts and it all flows together into one pool.

Remove heat and try not to move the stem until you see the shiny, silvery, liquid pool of solder turns dull grey (then you can let the stem go and it will stay put). It takes about 20-30 seconds for the solder to cool after heat is removed.

Everything stays very hot and if one has a tray of water handy, just place it into the water and it will be cooled instantly. Wear a glove while holding the stem and we already talked about wearing safety glasses.

Done! :-)

<continued>

This section isn't necessary if you can find sheet material for tags, available at a reasonable price.

Brass or copper sheets in the thickness of 0.050" or 0.060" would be ideal and if you find a place that also cuts to the sizes needed, that's about half the work done right there.

There's a metal and scrap yard in town here but the variety they have is so limited and variable, I'd have to be checking with them almost every day to find a batch of the right stuff that goes through and even then I'd have to cut to size, which would be nearly as much work as what I'm doing now, and necessity is the mother of invention.

Part 3

Using copper pipe to make Tag material:

Copper pipe or tubing comes in a variety of thickness and temper. Some is very soft and others can be quite stiffly tempered.

The larger diameter pipes tend to be thicker material and when your purchase those, they tip the scales more per square inch of plate, so ~1" dia. tube, that's thinner in thickness will produce more plates for the buck than a 3" dia. pipe that's 2-3 times as thick.

Personally, I examine what they have when I'm there and generally just buy whatever's available at the time. ;-)

I cut a length of pipe according to how long of a tag I'm targeting. And cut it a little long (1/16"?) so there's a little material that can be removed to finish the edges on the sander without shortening the finalized tag.

I cut this one a little over 4.25" long, one of the longer tags that I make. Then clamped it in the vice, and cut longways down the length of the tube with a hack saw. If the pipe has a seam, you might want to cut as close to the seam as possible, to have a chance to get rid of it.

This particular pipe is thin and was made with a stiff temper. When I finished the cut, there was enough tension built into it that it popped apart nearly 1/8" (which is the right direction). ;-)

I've had them do the opposite and pinch the saw blade.

I didn't get a good picture of this but I used this soft ended hammer to drive the pipe onto the end of the anvil, as far as it would go, so that it spread the pipe open.

With a wider opening, I could force the pipe down over the edge of the anvil. Then hammer along that side, flattening it. Then flip it around and do the opposite side (This feels much more pleasant if you have a heavy work glove to wear). :-)

With both sides flattened it formed a sort of 'U' shaped channel.

This made the opening wide enough, I could force it down, over the top of the anvil.

Then hammered the rounded center of the pipe down, flattening it.

Note: You won't flatten this with just a few whacks, what you try to do is distribute the hammering evenly, hitting in different areas. This unfolds it and reduces dents and creases.

Even the stiffer types of copper are quite malleable, so take your time.

So now we have a 4.25" x 3.25" piece of material that will turn into 3, 1"x 4.24" plates.

Not perfectly flat yet but you did it with a hammer and that's okay, it's much easier to finish flattening, once tags are cut to size and we'll explain that further down.

I use my dads old set of heavy duty tin snips.

Aviation shears might work too bc copper is soft. Brass, not so much.

Once the strips for tags are cut, finish flattening them using the same tool we used to flatten the plate, when we were stamping the text. :-)

And that's the rest of the story.

The End.

Bill, hard to tell from your photo, but make sure the mulch is not touching the trunk of the tree. The root flare should be visible. You probably know that. I will leave this in case someone might not. Around here, most of our neighbors have lawn guys/landscapers who pile the mulch so the trunk looks like a telephone pole coming out of it. Sigh. Their trees will eventually die.

I always pile wood mulch around my trees for the winter. How else can it protect the root ball from freezing?

You're probably talking about for warmer weather.

And just for clarification:

Once the temperatures, go down into the 30's & 40's, even low 50's, you don't have to worry about mold, fungus or bugs anymore.

And if you leave several inches, to a foot of bare soil around the trunk of tree, you leave the most freeze vulnerable part of the tree exposed, to bone chiling, below zero, freezing cold, which is what we have here, for months during the winter. So it's a geographic difference in how things need to be done.

Of course you can't leave it that way all year. Mine get the mulch pulled away from the trunk, as soon as the things thaw out enough to do that, in the spring.

But you're right in this, cyn427, that even people that are supposed to be professionals, make the famous 'Mulch Volcano', time and time again, around the trees they plant, and then leave it that way, never to return.

What happens then is, many good gardeners, see this, and think that this must the way to go, after all it was done by professional crews, right? The whole idea 'snowballs' into a sort of epidemic.

I grit my teeth evertime I drive by a center medium or park around town here and see this done.

Thanks for the input!

'Around the cities, the Korean maples I see in 100% sun have a tendency to look tired by late summer, especially if it gets dry. I think they actually do better in light shade or some afternoon shade.'

Thanks! pennlake.

It's good to hear this kind of information, from real life experience.

Mine gets irrigated but not the same as when it was seedling (I've been letting it go longer, between waterings, to make sure I let the roots develop properly).

And I've noticed, now that it has increased in size and crown spread, it handles the Full, all day sun better than it did when a seedling.

It still shows some stress when the mid summer sun is at its hottest but appears to be improving now that the surrounding trees are providing more shade each season.

Thanks so much, Pieter.

Thanks for putting in all that work, Pieter — like peren.all, I had also noticed things acting up, so I'm glad the redesign has it working again. The categories really do make comparing hostas so much easier when you're trying to choose between similar varieties. I'll have a proper look around and let you know what I think.

Well done Pieter!

-Babka

I use a #6.

I've used a Felco #2 for years, mostly on my roses, and it's the one I keep reaching for because it fits my hand well and stays sharp with just a quick clean now and then. If your hands run on the smaller side, the #6 is worth a look too — same sturdy build, but a little easier to close. Either way, I'd go for the real thing over a cheap copy; a good pair like that lasts for years.

I'd go for the real thing over a cheap copy; a good pair like that lasts for years.

For sure @asjad492. As I mentioned I did have felcos for several years but I lost them back in 2025; I was sure they would turn up...but alas it hasnt happened :(.

Anything that likes T is suspect and I believe the opposite! I am suprised his pants do not set off smoke alarms.

Cyn427, you are a very kind soul to respond to someone who might not even be around anymore!

4b is way too cold for 'Taurus', FWIW. That much I can say with certainty. It's a better red than 'Nova Zembla', at least, which has a muddy-reddish-pink I abhor. Taurus is a strig hybrid as rhodie breeder say, for R. strigillosum. Of those, I've either tried to grow or encountered, a bunch of them in my travels. 'Malahat' is the purest red of all of them.

I have made mistakes like that in the last few years with recipes I have cooked for decades. Yes, I felt really stooooopid. Sigh.

^^ It was still tasty, just not the texture I like.

Strangely, the latest bag of brown rice I purchased has been incredibly "thirsty". Usually I cook it with one cup of rice to 2 1/4 cups of water, but this latest bag I've been increasing the amount of water with each batch as it has been coming out too crunchy at the end, requiring more water and cooking. Last night I used three cups of water and it absorbed the lot and was pretty much just right.

As the sun changes in the morning, the ”dots” change shape. Sometimes we get the shadow of a leaf in the dot. Yesterday the shapes looked like ducks! We are easily amused here.

I wish gas were only $4.39/gallon here.

"I went ahead and planted them this morning."

Very good! Make sure you mulch them well (but take care not to cover them -- they are quite small).

Oh my, now the pressure is on! Hahaha! I'm feeling personally responsible for your plants lol!

Those ARE tiny! Can I ask where you got them from? My Mr. Bowling Balls were only about 4-5 inches but then again they are only supposed to get about 2 feet tall. The Berry Poppins should get at least 3-4 feet I believe off the top of my head, so two inches is a teeny-tiny specimen (as my 4-year-old girlies would say lol).

I too am used to starting small. I do mostly mail-order because of time constraints, disappearing nurseries, and the lack of selection at those remaining nurseries and garden centers, plus yes, cost is a big factor. When you can get three of something small instead of one of something big, well then, that's more stuff in your garden. One just has to have patience when one is not wealthy lol.

I will say I was going to be lazy and stay in the house today, but cyn427 you have inspired me to get outside and plant my remaining little shrubs! Thanks for the push!

:)

Dee

Oh, I have ordered several times from Trees.com (recent name change from Fast Growing Trees.com). I was hesitant at first but a few people I know ordered from them and were very happy. So I took a chance and honestly have been pretty happy with everything I've gotten from them. LOL actually I think my little Mr. Bowling Balls were from them!

Hopefully you will have as good luck with them as I have

:)

Dee

Sigh. A woman to be greatly admired. Thanks for posting,C C.

I didn't know anything about her so I just checked her out. If you are judging her by her personal relationships, that is her business. She was certainly an activist and worked for the betterment of people and I think that is to be admired. She came of age in a very contentious time and took on potentially dangerous work and did so in a time when women were not welcomed in the organizing of workers who were being taken advantage of and being held down from seeing the value of their labors. She was also a victim but seemed to not let that define her. Maybe her working to support Democratic candidates isn't something you agree with but trying to make this country a better place is something I would easily support.

“The ultimate breach of human rights is thinking you can kill innocent babies for your convenience all because you didn't have the self control to not create life.”

Most international human rights treaties talk about rights we are ”born” with. Those that extend full human rights to the unborn are in the minority, as are developed nations that don’t have some level of legal pregnancy termintation. (Let’s see if that passes the filters.) So while you’re certainly welcome to your opinion, recognize that that’s all it is.