Articles from RHH

My Blogs

nobody@ipernity.com (RHH) — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 14:32:19 +0000

RHH has posted an article:

For those who are interested, I have three blogs in which I post a lot more pictures than I post here. If you are interested, please have a look.

The first blog highlights the tropical orchids I grow:

orchidsinbloom-ron.blogspot.com/

I am no longer posting on this blog since I am no longer growing tropical orchids. My retirement and our move to Spokane, Washington, as well as our desire to do more traveling have put an end to that phase of our loves. I have left the blog in place, however, for those who are interested in the photos I've posted there.

The second has to do with the native orchids of our area.

nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/

I am still posting on this blog and trying to catch it up. We no longer do as much orchid hunting as we once did, but still visit some of our favorite haunts and always look for native orchids when we are hiking. I recently caught up the year 2019 and have 2020 and 2021 still to do.

The third is a kind of diary of our trips and hikes in Washington and elsewhere.

ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/

I have not been posting on this blog but will be catching it up as soon as I can. I have about a hundred and twenty posts for this blog and am working on them with a view to getting this blog up to date.

And I should add that my wife has been posting her pictures on a blog as well.

quietnaturetrails.blogspot.com/

Growing Orchids Under Lights

nobody@ipernity.com (RHH) — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:36:16 +0000

RHH has posted an article:

I have been growing orchids for nearly 35 years, longer than I've been hunting and photographing native orchids. I've grown them outdoors, in a small greenhouse and on windowsills, but mostly in a homemade wardian case or orchidarium. I've had two of these cases, the first built many years ago when we moved to Houston, to protect my collection of cool-temperature miniatures. The present case was built three or four years ago and was recently rebuilt with some changes and additional height and houses my collection of 250-300 miniature orchids, mostly New Guinea Dendrobiums and Pleurothallids, a family of orchids that ranges from Florida to South America.

The following blog posts give more information about these cases, their engineering, the lighting, and how the orchids are kept in them, and the rest of the posts on that blog show the orchids that I've grown in these cases.

orchidsinbloom-ron.blogspot.com/2013/06/rebuilt-orchidarium.html

orchidsinbloom-ron.blogspot.com/2011/12/orchidarium-changes.html

orchidsinbloom-ron.blogspot.ca/2010/07/my-orchidarium.html

I've grown orchids this way since I've rarely had the opportunity to own a greenhouse and because it gives me much more control over their environment.

Hunting Native Orchids

nobody@ipernity.com (RHH) — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:50:01 +0000

RHH has posted an article:

I've grown tropical orchids for many years, mostly cool-growing miniature orchids, but in recent years have become interested in native orchids as well. We live in western Washington State and have in the state a total of 42 native orchids including varieties. Most of these we have seen including some that are rare and hard to find. Since we are also avid hikers and backpackers, our love for native orchids has become another facet of our love for the outdoors and fits well with our interest in photography, too. My wife is my hiking companion, my fellow photographer and has the same interest in the outdoors as I do, and since our children are grown and out of the house, these interests keep us busy, especially during the summer months when both of us are less busy with work.

Finding native orchids, however, is not so difficult as it may sound. Often we find them along the roadside, as was the case with the orchids shown above. Very often the hiking involved is little more than a nice walk. It is helpful, however, to make contact with someone who knows where to find them, either a ranger in a national park, a member of a native plant society or someone who is interested in native orchids. In some areas there are even native orchid societies that sponsor regular outings for the purpose of seeing these wonderful plants in their natural settings and there is the Native Orchid Conference, a national group. We have been for several years now members of the Washington Native Orchid Society and go on four or five outings with them each spring and summer.

Back in Circulation (I Hope)

nobody@ipernity.com (RHH) — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:47:21 +0000

RHH has posted an article:

I haven't been around for almost three months and several of you have asked whether I'm okay and whether I'm still active on Ipernity. Here's what's been happening.

Back on March 22 I went in to emergency at the local hospital with what I thought and the doctors first thought was appendicitis. An abdominal drain was put in to drain off the expected infection with an appendectomy scheduled several weeks later. The abdominal drain, however, produced no signs of infection but rather a kind of mucous and I was sent on to a specialist in Seattle who diagnosed the problem as mucinous neoplasms of the appendix, basically a tumor of the appendix that was producing a mucous-like substance that would in time strangle my organs and that could also have been cancerous. I had surgery on May 9 and had my appendix, part of my colon, gall bladder, omentum and peritoneum removed and was in the hospital recovering until May 24th (15 days). Thankfully, there were no signs of cancer and I am recovering at home now, something that is proceeding very slowly. The doctor has said it will take two to three months to get my strength back, but we are, of course, hoping it takes less time. We are certainly expecting a full recovery by September and are planning to climb the crater at Mount Saint Helens in September or October.

In the meantime I hope to be back on Ipernity, though I can't promise a photo a day as in the past. We continue to hope that Ipernity will survive and that all the careful work of IMA will produce good results.

_______________________________________________________________________

Just a quick update (end of June). Back in hospital this past week with blood clots in leg and both lungs. Thus the lack of posts. Won't be posting again until very near the end of July.

_______________________________________________________________________+

It has been quite a spring and summer. Just returned from my fourth hospital stay since the end of March (beginning of August), this time for an obstructed bowel, the result of scar tissue. Thus, once again, the lack of postings and comments. Hope to be back here by the end of the summer. In the meantime I'm wondering what's happening with Ipernity since I haven't seen any news for a while.