Splitcoaststampers - MMTPT260~ July 23, 2013 ~ Don't Call Me a Sissy; I Ain't the Least Bit Prissy

Welcome to Teapot Tuesday
the Sisterhood of the Traveling Teaparty
and Challenge #260

Don't Call Me a Sissy; I Ain't the Least Bit Prissy

Note: Anyone is welcome to play! You automatically become a Teapotter the first time you play in our challenge. Also, you do not have to write a story. You just have to be inspired by the teapot or by the story about this week's location! Have fun! If this is your first Teapot Tuesday Challenge, please mention that in your commentary so we can be sure to greet you properly, in pure Teapot Tuesday fashion! Your participation in Destination Station is 100% voluntary and not at all required. Just have fun!

The Rest of the Story:

1: The collectors and growers of tropical flowers are an interesting lot. There are as many men as women that claim to be lovers of those hot house beauties; and the more difficult to grow or the rarer the bloom, the more devoted are the followers. Some are so devoted to them that they name their children after their favorites, or build elaborate greenhouses with the latest technologies avail to mimic the natural growing climate, some have even been known to sit up all night waiting for their favorites to bloom. So even though it may come as a surprise when I tell you that one of the most ardent orchid collector and growers around these parts is a big, brawny, tanned and fit former NAVY Seal...don't laugh and don't you dare call him a sissy. I double dog dare ya to tell him it's a sissy hobby....C'mon I dare ya.....LOL!!!

2: Of all the rare, beautiful and hard to grow tropical flowers; orchids are some of the pickiest, therefore the satisfaction for bringing them to bloom repeatedly is immense. The showy and seemingly fragile orchid has drawn many a person into it's web where even the tiniest success spurs them on to keep trying. Travis Trent never was one to back down from a challenge, not during rescue missions nor in his quest to grow this pickiest of flowers. He grew intriqued with them when he was on a mission off the coast of South America. While on an excursion through the Amazon river basin, he noticed huge trailing bunches of them in amazing colors. When reading about them and how hard they were to cultivate outside of their native habitat, he grew more and more determined to do just that. Since retiring and moving back home, he threw himself into designing and building a greenhouse and designing watering and misting equipment to mimic the humidity of the rain forest. Working with his hands and challenging his brain this way helped him "return to normal life" It gave him a place to escape to when he needed.

3: He was so successful at building this environment that his collection of rare and beautiful orchids is world renowned and he has amassed an enviable number of different species. He is always tinkering with the environmental systems in his huge greenhouse, even partially dividing it into rooms with differing levels of moisture and light to facilitate the needs of various ones. He is always on the lookout for new, rarer and harder to grow varieties to add. He even has a small plane equipped with a miniature greenhouse to fly to remote areas and hunt for specimens so they will survive the air conditions of the flight back. The one he wants the most to have in his collection is the rare and threatened white orchid native to Columbia, South America known as the "Cattlaya-trianaei var Albescens". With it's nearly all white ruffled blooms with yellow-green throat and tiniest touch of lavender on it's lip; it is a showstopper for sure. It is one of the rare winter blooming orchids and only has 3-4 blooms on each stem, however they do bloom for about 5 weeks in the middle of winter when nothing much is blooming. They also can be lavender but the white ones are much harder to find and cultivate. They must have just the right mix of light and water with good ventilation to prevent to much moisture at roots. They attach themselves to the bark of trees and grow in the "cloud forest" at a dizzying height of 1500-2000 meters above sea level. Due to deforestation, they are becoming harder and harder to find and many feel they will soon be extinct. Travis is more and more determined to find some before then and has completed a section of the greenhouse with the right environment. He has been in contact with some natives who are asking around about anyone finding a growth of them.

4: Finally, he hears from a guide who has heard from a local fisherman of a large colony of them and he feels it is reliable information. Travis makes arrangements to fly down immediately and meet this guide to travel into the wilderness, to hopefully bring some back home. However, when doing his routine pre-flight check of his 1947 Cessna-140; he discovered one of the hinged window frames bent and not repairable, and parts will have to be shipped. He doesn't have that much time! He has no idea how long the orchids have been blooming and he won't be able to spot them otherwise. Rut-Roh!! Help Teapotters; we need a plane, and I mean on the double. We need to get Travis to Columbia before this flower quits blooming.

Challenge Translation:

Bring planes, big and small, decked out or plain as can be. Just make sure they can get to Columbia and back. Surely that isn't to hard a task for Teapotters of such fame as we. No slow boats to china or you come in the back door.

Destination Station:

This week we are sending our cards to Arlington, VA. If you want a destination for your card, how about sending it to Trent, brother of Teapotter Tina TMD

To find out why and get an address to mail your card, check out post #360 in the destination station. Please remember that just because you participate in a Teapot Tuesday challenge that is combined with a card drive request, it does not mean that you are REQUIRED to send your cards. It is totally 100% voluntary!

Here is my card

Here is his sister Tina's card

Here is a quick link to MMTPT260 gallery

Be sure to you use KEYWORD MMTPT260 in your upload and post a comment here so we can all see your card!

Ever want to get a jump on next week's challenge card? SCS has given Sheri (KSNurse) permission to create an email Teapot Tuesday Cheater Group and email the challenge out on the Saturday before the Tuesday of the challenge so you girls can have the weekend to make your card. Send her a pm with your email address if you wanna be a Cheater!

If you are confused about these challenges, see the first sticky post of this thread for more information. There is also a directory of individual challenges. Feel free to grab this I survived Teapot Tuesday Badge for your blog!