I bought a couple of hard-luck cases at Home Depot in early December: two Mexican heathers, Cuphea hyssopifolia, for a buck apiece. I noticed them primarily for their yellow green foliage at the time, which was striking, though I was unsure if this was a seasonal change or typical coloring. The quart sized bushes were dressed in tiny purple flowers and showed no signs of stopping well into winter. However, as the temperatures plummeted, I saw that they struggled to stay green, and when we finally experienced some snow, I brought them in under the grow lights to defrost. My man is of the opinion that they might survive since he saw evidence of new growth. I’m more inclined to believe that they have reseeded since most of the top growth has all but died off. I am hoping that a good shearing and being indoors will resuscitate these specimens after their heroic efforts to stay bright and cheery in early winter weeks.
Unban me!
If you’ve found yourself unfortunate to lock yourself out of SSH and banning yourself from your own server via Fail2Ban, then here’s how to unban yourself:
iptables -L
look at the Chain fail2ban-ssh
notice the ip address to unban and count at which line number this is.
e.g.:
Chain fail2ban-ssh (1 references)
target prot opt source destination
DROP 0 -- 61.236.117.xxx anywhere
DROP 0 -- 61.236.117.yyy anywhere
RETURN 0 -- anywhere anywhere
execute the following command:
iptables -D fail2ban-ssh
iptables -D fail2ban-ssh 2
Seed starting 2011 part 1 and blues speculation
It snowed today, first snow of 2011. Good thing I broke out the grow lights from the shed earlier this week. I am reusing the Burpee grow system, minus their grow pellets. The man bought me two bags of seed starting soil, which I packed in half of the plastic cells. This morning I got to sow some seeds: 6x Red Rubin Basil, 6x Thai Basil, 6x Jupiter Bell Pepper, 6x Calico Ornamental Pepper, 6x Purple Flash Ornamental Pepper, 2x unnamed Thai Chili, and 4x Pansy seeds which I “borrowed” from the Arboretum trial gardens…I believe the cultivar was Iona Heavenly Blue.
I also planted a rosemary cutting which had a single root after about a week sitting in water. I have another sprig of rosemary and a red dianthus chinensis sitting it water, waiting to see them root. I need to remember to take some cuttings of the verbena and the felicia daisy.
While my attention is on the blue flowers, I must express my affection for the felicia daisy which has bloomed sporadically up to this month. This Cape Town Blue daisy has displayed amazing tolerance for the heat and cold, enduring the summer in a planter, and now mulched int the blue bed. I have tried to capture seeds from it to no avail; so perhaps taking some cuttings may work.
I also have hopes to see the Diana Blueberry dianthus blooms, though I know it won’t come even close to a true blue. Even so, a pale lavender will be a rare sight to see on a dianthus. Speaking of dianthus, these are the only seedlings that I’m aware of that have made it to the garden. The Red Peppermint dianthus seedlings unfortunately perished–to the best of my knowledge–due to heat well before they made it into the ground. I believe the dianthuses in the purple garden were all store-bought this year, and there are some purple, picotees and parfaits that have endured.
As I am browsing my camera pics, I am reminded of the beauty of the annual phlox, however fleeting it was. It seems that growing them from seeds may be too challenging for the home gardener, since I have yet to find any outlets offering them. I believe the 4 specimens that I picked up at Covington’s this last year were of the Phoenix Sky variety, a lovely pale purple star surrounded by white-cream. I’ll keep hunting, though reading suggest that these phloxes are cool-weather annuals.
The angelonia have succumbed finally to the winter cold; the purple variety which seemed a bit sturdier has browned like the whites. It’s amazing how these angelonia have grown so tall and wide from modest specimens. They definitely need more room if we plan on using them again next year.
Lawn and weed woes
The winter lawn looks abominable. Evidence of irregular watering throughout the year shows up in bald patches and weed farms all over the front and back yards. Weed and feed came late this past year, the man laid down the fertilizer in December. I am wishing for the perfect green lawn in 2011…but it looks like we will have to wait till spring to work on this. Meanwhile, everything from henbit, thistle to nettle weeds are growing. Thanks to this weed identifier, I now know the names of the enemy. The Bermuda bible will give us a leg up on the competition as well. Meanwhile I am thinking about investing in spot weed-killers.
Food finds part 1
SmashBurger
975 W John Carpenter Fwy
Irving, TX 75039
(214) 302-2681Smashburger is like a movie that you’ve seen before and recognize as having a plot similar to a ripoff of a remake of a great original concept. The novelty of a Smashburger lasted only 5 seconds, then I realized I’ve made a much better burger with modest production values and a smaller budget in my own kitchen.
I spied this newest location on my way to a nearby restaurant and ducked in for a menu. I had Smashburger on my wishlist to try out for to-go and when the time came, I was almost surprised but largely disappointed.
Almost surprised to see that care went into their to-go packaging. I had to give them points for dispensing with paper bags and styrofoam and approved the use of cartons. However, any lead that Smashburger gained in the packaging department disappeared in the taste category.
Largely disappointing: for someone who likes fries with their sodium chloride, I found the Smashburger too salty and too dry (i.e. overcooked). In stark contrast I found their sides (fries and onion rings) strangely bland (and not travel-worthy). I applauded the option of VeggieFrites (I like asparagus)…though no less healthier than their other fried goods. One glaring omission was the sweet potato fries which had been billed on our receipt but was nowhere to be found.
I really wanted to like Smashburger; but the disappointing food, the steep price and the “newbie” ordering mistake means that we are unlikely to give this blockbuster bomb another review.
Rating by epicureasian: stars
Five Guys Burgers & Fries
6440 N MacArthur Blvd Ste 110
Irving, TX 75039
(972) 409-7230If one measured a burger’s success based on the number of banners, citations and awards wallpapering their dining room wall, then Five Guys Burgers and Fries must be the king of all burgers.
Mark Five Guys as another of those self-absorbed, gourmet burger-ants that’s been taking the media by storm lately. But don’t write them off completely.
Once you make it past the self-validation screaming at you from every wall in the house (it doesn’t help that Five Guys is done up in fire engine red and enamel white), you approach the register and deliver your order to the folks behind the counter, then shuffle over to a table while you wait for your food–sound familiar? Nothing new here, except that you get to snack on dry roasted shelled peanuts (not a place for those with peanut allergies) while you wait.
And still you wait when you order your food online…’coz Five Guys proudly declares their fries aren’t cooked until you get there. As painless as the online ordering process was, I found this aspect flawed. Isn’t the whole point of “ordering ahead” supposed to be “less waiting”?
However, Five Guys can be easily forgiven if judged on fries alone. I found their Cajun-seasoned fries snack-alicious–dangerous when you’re driving home, and depressing when you arrive home and discovered that you’ve snarfed down every fry in the bag–even the strays that sank to the bottom. Yes, those fries travel extremely well–if they make it home with you at all.
But a burger joint must be judged on the merit of their burgers–not their sides–and Five Guys does a passable job delivering a meaty burger. Their normal, double-patty burger is a hefty one (somewhat reminiscent of Kincaids, actually), though it suffers a little from the dryness of a “medium well-done” temperature that most places will cook to. However, I am a fan of the “one-price, any topping” concept here. With the exception of bacon and some cheeses, you can have your burger dressed in a variety of ways for the same flat price as a burger with all the fixins or plain ol’ patties sandwiched between two buns.
About those buns: on many occasions the bread threatened to fall apart with every bite. Something so flimsy shouldn’t be bookending such a beefy burger…I hope they rectify this soon.
So aside from some service snafus (mostly the long waits), Five Guys serves up a decent burger and better-than-average fries. On my burgers-to-go list, they are tops. Three point five stars when they get everything right.
Rating by epicureasian: stars