Quote: Forcing bulbs is one of the more enjoyable indoor gardening projects. In simple summary, you are convincing a spring bulb that it has slept through the winter months and encouraging it to awaken into full spring bloom, even though the snow is piling up outside your window. Your reward is a colorful bloom and scent during otherwise grey and drab days. What better way to beat the winter doldrums!?!
Forcing bulbs is not too difficult. It just takes time, patience and a little advance planning. Sure, you can buy potted bulbs already forced and ready to grow. But why do that? You are the the gardener. Why let someone else get all the fun!?!
Some more advice from the article quoted in the previous message:
Quote: Chill your bulbs by potting them up and placing the pots in a cool location. The ideal temperature for chilling is 40 degrees, keeping them as close to this temperature as possible. Do not let the bulbs freeze.
Chill your pots for 12 to 15 weeks. This is the minimum period, but they can be chilled for more. Different bulbs will require varying periods for chilling.
Note: You can chill bulbs before potting.
Check on the pots from time to time. Make sure that the soil has not dried out. It should be slightly moist, but not wet. During this period, your dormant bulbs are not quite dormant. They are quietly building their root system so they are ready to explode out of the ground when you bring them indoors.
Important Tip: While you can chill bulbs in a refrigerator, they interact with many fruits in your refrigerator and will fail to bloom.
After the minimum chilling period has been reached, bring your pots in. Place them in a warm, sunny window. The warmth is your bulbs' signal to awaken. As soon as they emerge from the ground, they will need light to grow and bloom.
Amazing what you can learn on the Internet! Is this discussed in the SSM book?
I have a penis question, sorry Alex to infringe on your thread. I figured this was the best place to ask it..in the 'striving to understand genitals' thread.
This really should be directed to the LD guys (Dbrookie, I need you dude, even though you've changed, I still need your input~) but whoever wants to respond, I will take what I can get.
Here is the scenario. Last night I was horny to beat the band. H came to bed with me and snuggled up, spoon style. At first he had his genitals strategically placed so that they do not come in contact with...what else...the honeypot, lol. But then he maneuvered so that we were truly spooning. I thought I felt some erection action down there but wasn't going to do any grinding to find out for certain, lest I get a "I'm really tired" response. Within a minute or so, he was snoring. So I just let it go.
He wakes up 5 min later, hot and rolls on to his back. I was still on my side and reached my arm around and placed it on his stomach. I was laying there disappointed that there was no sex action when I realized that I hadn't done anything to make it happen (I usually don't..what is the point). So I reached down to touch him and he was ROCK hard. I mean, it was huge. I was surprised and asked him if he would like to make love. He said we might as well now that he was awake. So we did and it was good.
Here is my question though: Obviously he had gotten hard while we were snuggling. Now, can someone explain to me the physiology of a man's erection? That is...evidently a man can become hard and yet have NO desire to actually have sex. I understand that this happens with morning wood and all that, but I suppose I wasn't aware that it happened (erection without desire) while snuggled up to your wife's bare arse..?
Now for all of you who are thinking that he WAS aroused but just didn't want to say anything, I don't think that was the case. I could see and feel his desire arriving after I initiated. Prior to that, it was obviously just an erection from physical contact but with no desire or emotion behind it. What is this about? Is it normal?
Then when I touched him and mentioned sex, it was like the two things emerged into one right before my eyes--the erection and the desire were both there and integrated. I don't know if this is making sense but it was really weird! I wanted to ask him about this, but it was NOT the right time, lol.
Are men just so used to being hard that an erection, in and of itself, is not enough to bring the desire around? And why would he get hard from our genitals being snuggled together and then not want to take it further? (this one is for you DB, in particular)
I found the whole episode confusing and I actually had the conscious thought while we were making love: "This man brings UP more questions than he answers."
Oh, one more question: Is it possible and probable that a man can be turned on (hence the erection) but not turned on ENOUGH to make sex an option that he wants to pursue? That is what I am leaning towards. The erection was there, but until I took the bull by the horns and indicated MY desire, it was not enough to make him want to pursue it.
HP, What if you asked your H about this? These questions seem like simple curiosity, interest type questions. They're not "What's WRONG with you?!" kinds of questions.
The guys here can provide you with information about them, but I think the one you're really curious about is your H. This is a great opportunity to open up an intimate conversation with your H, where he gets to tell you something about himself and how his body and mind work. It works best if you make sure you ask him out of curiosity and keep your approach in that realm. He may get defensive at first if he thinks it's going to be a "What's wrong with you" conversation. Just let him know that you're really just curious.
Lots of emotional intimacy can develop from this kind of conversation.
Man oh man, HP, can I borrow some of your libido in injectable form for my W? My guess is that your hubby was just too tired to do it, and he just fell asleep.
Nothing I would EVER do, given the situation, but it could happen. He might have even be dreaming about doing it, but who knows.
Yeah, you'll probably have to ask one of those LD guys.
MPT, Thanks for the suggestion. I think, unfortunately, his response would be "I don't know" which seems to be (sorry for the gross generalization ahead) a frequent reply of the LD person to any form of inquiry. For the record, I really DO believe that he doesn't know why.
Hairdog, I think that you are right. He really succumbs to tiredness easily. He is one of those people who fall asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.
Plus, here is the thing: There is no burning NEED for him to fight that tiredness and stay awake. Imagine, if you will, that your W is ready for sex any time, any place. Now this might sound heavenly right now...but really and truly...it doesn't give one much motivation to stay awake for it! His attitude is "why does it matter, it will be there tomorrow night". He succumbs to the tiredness because he CAN. It depresses me to be somewhat 'dispensable' to him. Well that's not the right word but I hope you get what I'm saying. The only way I can change this dynamic is to NOT be available every single night and I don't see that happening without a drastic libido change, or some serious play acting on my part, both of which do not appeal to me.
I guess i'll take a stab at this big one though I might find it hard to describe. Note that I might be HD but I require a few planets to be aligned first. I haven't cataloged it but I think there are quite a few varieties of erection.
1. The Lovie - While kissing my W, feelings of desire sweep over me and the tingle goes down between the legs and up pops mr. happy and it is looking for nice warm place.
2. The Sleepy - Sometimes when you lie down, your whole body relaxes and it sends an overwhelming feeling of comfort through you that culminates between your legs. I'm embarrassed to admit this but I've had this start to uncontrollably happen in very "wrong" situations and it had absolutely nothing to do with where my brain or my desires were. It doesn't happen to me much anymore but I would sometimes have this happen in high school in the early morning. Similar to a morning wood. This can sometimes be converted into a Lovie but I've also had it go the other way when using the sleepy to ML. (maybe I'm not so HD after all).
3. The Morning Woodie - This is just the natural result of your body doing periodic system-checks throughout the night to make sure everything is functioning. Like the sleepy it may or may not be able to be turned into a lovie if the owner's head isn't into it.
4. The Defendor - This is a stiffy that happens when pressure is applied on top of your midsection. Embarrassingly, I've had this happen from putting a heavy bag on my lap...maybe I'm just a closet American Tourister.
5. The Yankie - This is one that comes from MB. It requires a combination of good thoughts and very specific physical maneuvers that only the owner knows. Converting this to a Lovie is very difficult because you are not really in the emotional mood. You are just trying to get off and are using every trick to get the end result. I've tried to convert it to a lovie when I wasn't in the mood and it didn't last (man, once again I'm showing signs that I might be LD).
6. The Monster - This is when a combination of things culminate at once. It's like the Lovie gets a shot of adrenaline because the erotic envirnment is waaay high. Remember my recount of "f*cking the bajeezus out of my W a while back" (to newcomers, that is a clinical expression in PM)? That was the monster. It can only last for about 10-15 minutes. It's owner is usually in the "energizer bunny" position.
Hope that helps. It sounds like you converted a sleepy-defender into a lovie.
Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time
-Steven Wright
I'll take a stab at answering your penis question. Clinical tests reveal a guy usually has 5 or more erections every night in his sleep. My guess is that your guy fell asleep and grew wood. When he rolled away from you, you went gathering sticks and found him willing to throw it into the fire.
His desire was probably more for sleep than sex while spooning (sorry). Once he fell asleep, his body reacted to the thought of what he was in contact with.
Maybe you've hit on a new idea. Snuggle/spoon naked and let him take a 5 minute power nap. Then go looking for wood. Even if you don't find any, if you're real good you can make it appear without waking him. Then he'll have the tools to work with when you do wake him up.
Mike - who's having trouble with the spooning naked and NOT wanting to do it part of your story
Oh man, I was just thinking about this. My W will (usually at my prompting) massage my yahootie while snuggling and I don't get an erection. Hey guys, I might be LD....naw. HD is a state of mind, not a perpetual hard-on.
Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time
-Steven Wright
Mike, Well normally he would have been ticked OFF that I dared to touch him while he was sleeping. I don't know why he reacted well last night but I do know that we have been in good spirits with each other and maybe he just decided to keep that going. Or maybe he felt horny at that moment, who knows.
I do think that it happened because he was snuggling with me and the skin-to-skin contact caused it. But he was, in the end, too tired to do anything with it. Plus, as I said earlier, there is no motivation for him to fight his tiredness, ever. He knows he can CHOOSE sleep and get a good night's rest, cause I'll be there the next night. Or the next, or whenever he decides to play.
Dave, THANK YOU for these well thought out descriptions! I loved them all and have experienced each of them with him except the mb one. The Sleepy describes him to a tee. He is very high strung and has a hard time relaxing. When he finally does, he just can't stop himself. It is complete and total relaxation and usually, sleep. I think that the erection comes sometimes from this relaxation.
It frustrates me a lot to feel the erection smashed up against me and know that 1. It has nothing to do with me; and 2. Nothing will come of it. Picture if your wives were frequently wet and you knew it but it didn't really matter anyway b/c nothing was going to come of it.
At any rate, things were fine and are fine now. I was just wondering! Thanks for the descriptions and help, all.
Honey, who is still crackin up at Dave's "yahootie". That is a new one.
