My blog...

has moved. I decided that I wanted it hosted on our server so Michael set me up :)

Visit the blog here.

Grow bed...

Here is the grow bed today...

Carrots back and lettuce front of the photo above. Peas back and peppers front of the photo below.

A photo of the entire bed. As you can tell we made a trellis out of stuff we had around the house...well Michael made it.

And a photo of Thor today. After I took the above photos he came out and laid down in front of my exercise bike and just looked at me so I snapped his picture too.

4 days later...

The grow bed looks like this:

You might have to look at it full size but there is lettuce in the front left, carrots in the back left, and peas in the back right. The peppers have not sprouted yet but that is not surprising since they should take the longest. That one pea is about 6 inches tall and only sprouted on Sunday or Monday (can't remember which). It will be interesting to see how these end up doing. We might make another grow bed as the fish tank can support 2 or 3 beds this size.

What we've been up to...

We have been attempting to grow herbs. But it has proven that we really don't have much of a green thumb. Above it oregano and below is cilantro. If the cilantro grows, we will let some go to seed and then have coriander.

Below is cumin. It is growing fairly well so that is good. Besides these we also have parsley, basil, lavender, sage, chives and dill.

We are also trying our hand at aquaponics. It is similar to hydroponics except a fish tank is used to fertilize the plants. Below is our fish tank. It is a 20L and we have a few guppies in it. We have 2 males and 2 females. All 4 are in this photo...the females are yellow and the males have an orange/red tail. The females have given birth several times and there are a few fries (baby fish) of varying sizes also. You might have to look at it full size to be able to see. You can also see that the grow bed is on top of the fish tank and holes are drilled in it so that the water drips back down into the fish tank. This is the filtering system for the tank.

Below is the grow bed. Water runs through the PVC pipe in a continuous flow. There is a pump in the tank. Then the water drips onto the pea gravel. We have planted lettuce, carrots, peas, and peppers. The lettuce is already coming up. It is in the front left side of the grow bed.

Merry Christmas

This is what I picked out for my Christmas gift. I have ridden it 4 times this week (yesterday I did a strength exercise) and last week when I didn't even HAVE to exercise I rode it 3 times. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

Happy Birthday...

TO ME!!

It's beginning to...

Feel a lot like Christmas!!

I actually strung 2 strings of lights outside for the first time EVER :)
This is our second year with the LED tree. Now I just need some hot chocolate :D

Lately...

I've not been doing much but enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Almost all the leaves have turned now and they will be falling off the trees soon. Here is how my backyard is looking today:

You can tell it was kinda foggy this morning. Really foggy in fact. But by the time I snapped the photos it was lifting. 

I also got one of Thor the other morning. 

 He is 9 months old now. We take him to the dog park 3-4 times per week. He really enjoys playing with the other dogs.

I am running a Wellness Challenge. I have 25 participants this session...24 new people enrolled (I am the only one returning). Michael is making me a website that is turning out nicely so far.

Not much else is new.

I tried...

To upload a video of Thor but for some reason it won't work. So I will upload a couple photos of our tree changing colors in our back yard.

 These top 3 were taken on the 19th and these bottom 4 were taken today.

 We are headed to the dog park. I will try to get that video up later.

More New Carpet

Ma Burke and I were out running errands 2 days ago and she wanted me to stop in at Carpet One to look at their kitchen carpet. She picked one out but of course it was out of her price range. So she picked a second one out and they happened to have it in a remnant piece that would fit using one piece in her kitchen and laundry room. Even better they could install it today!! So another thing is checked off her list.

New Carpet

Ma Burke has been wanting to get new carpet for her back porch for a LONG time. She lives on Social Security and a small retirement from John Deere so has to save up a long time to be able to make large purchases. She had saved up for three years so that she could

1. refinish her kitchen cupboards
2. put on new countertops
3. put new carpet in her kitchen and laundry room
4. put new carpet on her back porch

Well, about a month ago her air conditioner quit working. As luck would have it, Steve and Sandi were visiting so Steve took over and knew what to do. But she had to pay for the new A/C out of her own pocket which was most of the money she had saved up for the above list. It looks like she will be reimbursed...eventually...hopefully but she had just enough left to get the back porch changed. She also wanted to do it before it got too cold. So off we went to Lowe’s to look at new carpet. But they would not install it on the back porch because it wasn't enclosed. They gave us the name of a man who would come and do it but his quote was pretty pricey. So I went back to Lowe's and ran into an employee who said her husband and brother could do it for less than that pricey guy so we had them come out and give us a quote. But in the meantime I had went over to Home Depot to check out their carpet there and get an estimate. Well, that seemed to be the way to go so we had them come out to measure the porch ($35 nonrefundable unless you buy their carpet) but that quote was almost twice as much as the guy who we thought was too expensive. So we went with the employee's husband and brother. They came out a week ago to remove the old carpet and then hauled it away. The next day it rained so the plan was to have them come over 2 days later. But the adhesive said it had to be over 50 degrees for 48 hours before, during, and after application and it was in the 40's at night so we had to have them wait longer. We yesterday it had finally been warm long enough for them to lay the carpet. It looks SO nice and she is SO happy that it is done. Here are some photos of the finished porch:

September happenings

As I mentioned in the last post, I flew out to Arkansas the beginning of September. I flew from Baltimore to Branson. The flight was uneventful. I had my camera in my carry on baggage and this was the first time I had ever taken photos while flying.

It was very cloudy as we took off but gradually cleared. It was fun taking photos.

This is Table Rock Lake. My family has spent many a vacation there. It looks different from the air. It is a VERY big lake.

But before I left I bought some artificial flowers and hung them on the front porch of my home. I hope they are still there when I return :)

 

The Branson Airport is kinda cool. This was the second time I have flown in and out of it. The first time my camera's batteries had died so I took pictures with my cell phone. This time I decided to take photos with my camera in case I didn't fly out of there. Here are a few photos:

That last photo is the baggage claim area but I wanted to include it because all the chairs were either like those or else there were benches.

 

While here in Arkansas, Dave and Karen visited. Karen wanted to go out to the cemetery that my father-in-law is buried at. It had been raining but mostly stopped while we were there. On the way we stopped at Hobby Lobby to  purchase some flowers.

Before I left home I made a cake for a colleague of Wayne's. He was touched by it. Here is the cake:

I fly home a week from today. I am anxious but I will probably be back before too long. Rusty's tumors in his liver and lung are inactive so he can have surgery and chemo on his tumor in his abdomen if he wants to. When he decides to go ahead and do that I will return.