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Sunday, August 27, 2006

Eliza is in the air!

We dropped our outbound daughter at Dulles this afternoon. We had an enjoyable ride out to the airport. We stopped for lunch at a little Thai restaurant that Mary knew in Alexandria. It was good, but Eliza couldn't eat much. I guess she was way too excited to eat anything much.

I'm so proud of her. She did everything that she needed to do to make this happen.

Anyway, she will arrive in Amsterdam in the morning and then fly on to Budapest to meet her host family. And she starts school on the first of September.

Mary is taking Eliza's flight well. She escorted Eliza to the baggage check-in (Eliza was 7 pounds over on one bag) and paid for the overage. She then went with Eliza down to the security and got her started on that, then came back out to the car. I managed to wait at the departure area just long enough for her to get back, without a security guy shooing me on.

On the home front, Phase 5 of the rain barrels are done! Yes, I have them all done now. I can just sit back and relax... yea right! Now I can devote the time to getting the blueberry beds ready by digging in peat and sulfur to get the ground acidified enough that they will grow well. And after that, I'll be getting the sheet mulching done, since Mary has found us a composted manure source from one of the local horse farms. All we have to do is go get it and bring it back!
Yea!

We had some lovely time with Tori and the twins today, playing games and just hanging out.

Friday, August 25, 2006

The time draws down

Eliza's going away pool party was a rousing success last night. She had about 40 of her friends and their family at the pool last night. Fun was had, cake was smashed into her face, and well, she had a good send off.

Eliza has been doing a lot to get ready to leave. She has one of her suitcases completely packed and sitting in the living room, ready to go. She has another that is almost done. She has a few more things to put away in boxes from her room.

We had a lovely meal tonight. We had 3 kids and Melissa Moss (the widow lady from across the street). Mary was over talking with her, and I had finished cooking the dinner (with Samuel and Miriam's help!) and went over to let her know dinner was ready. It just made sense to go ahead and invite her to dinner too. We had plenty. The menu: Mashed Potatoes with veggie brown gravy, freshly picked beans from our gardens, and a very ripe honeydew melon (which Samuel cut up.) It was a lovely, simple meal.

We've been without rain for quite some time, (since Sunday, Samuel reminds me) but that rain wasn't enough to do any good. We do still have water in the rain barrels, and I have the supplies for Phase 5, and am planning on taking photos of the process and putting together a how-to page of some sort. So you may soon see a link to it here. I've learned a great deal about making rain barrels and the various ways of connecting them together. Some work better than others. And I'll probably (when I have time) go back and retrofit the first couple of phases to the later configuration.

Mary has found a person that will lend us their pick-up truck and let us take all the composted manure they have on hand. I have no idea how much that will be, but I'm sure we can use just about all we can get. When that happens, we will be ready to start the sheet mulching. Then we will be able to buy the blueberries, and the Nanking cherries. And plan out our garden for next year.

I seem to have over planted the kale a little bit, but with the number of caterpillars and such out there, I think we will have enough. I'll just eat the thinnings! They taste good!

Simple life is good.

I'll end this entry with a quote from a famous doctor...

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

Peace, Love and Veggies!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Kyle visited!

It was a wonderful visit from my tired son. Seems he has been doing the "Band Camp" thing. He has been working for 12 1/2 hours a day on marching, playing, and of course drinking lots of water to keep hydrated out in the August sun.

He really likes band and talked of it a lot.

Kyle also visited with Eliza, who in just one week departs for Hungary! Eliza and Kyle went up and played Mini-golf with a couple of Eliza's friends, and then they all came back here and played some Skip-Bo, had dinner and lots of great conversation! Another of Eliza's friends, Mat, came over, and things really got loud. Anyway, fun was had by all.

Not much going on in the garden right now, just watering and light weeding.
Mary and I went to a garden center after dropping off Kyle, and got a bee-balm plant to put on herb hill. We also got the idea to go "frogging" to catch a few beasts for our pond. Where we should go? When? I don't know. I'm thinking nets would be a good idea.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Kale is planted

I got that in this afternoon. I used Mary's mulch method... Pull grass and lay it over the seeds, then water. We'll see what happens.

Mary and I planted the water Iris that we got from Dad's house. We have 3 big pots sitting in the pond and it seems to be doing well. Mary says they are happy.

Against my Dad's advice, I took some of the lemon balm and planted it in the lower patio out back. It will take and hopefully push out the grass that is determined to grow there. I'd rather have something that the bees can get nectar from rather than just dumb ol' grass. And the stuff smells great when you walk on it!

I haven't started spreading out my Azomite yet, but I got 3 more bags of it on the last trip to Floyd VA. But when I do, I'll make sure to put some on my neighbor's azaleas so they can do better next spring also!

It sure is nice when going out to water plants, just going to the nearest corner of the house and filling my watering can. That makes it quick and easy to get the watering done... Less walking.

Last night, when going up the library, we saw a new neighbor moving boxes out to the street for recycling. Mary and I stopped and chatted for a bit, and then asked if we could take some of the boxes for the sheet mulching. He said sure! There would even be more boxes as the rest of them were unpacked... Probably for a couple of weeks, and we were welcome to all of them. He even offered to save them for me. Nice fellow.
This goes to show you that you can get things that others see as a waste source, and turn them into a resource. Now I need to find some manure sources so that the sheet mulching can begin.

Such a fun, simple life.

Tomorrow, I think we should plant the broccoli...

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Good Storm Last Night

Sometimes simple things really can give me a sense of peace. And peace in such a tumultuous world is something to really strive for.

Take the thunderstorm we had last night, for instance. We had a hot, humid day, and the rain started just as it was getting dark. And besides being exited that the rain was watering my garden, I was enjoying sitting on the front porch with Mary, just as the wonderful rain smell, and coolness overtook us. I feel lucky that I have someone who appreciates these simple things with me. And I feel lucky to have her in my life too. After we went to bed, we lay awake together and watched the lightning show play out on the walls.

The rain barrels phases 1 through 3 are full, and phase 4 is 2/3 full. Phase 4 didn't get any rain in the morning, because it wasn't assembled yet. So we have plenty of rain water for watering our lovely garden in a few days.

Mary, Eliza and I are going down to Christiansburg to visit family on Friday, so I'll get phase 5 built after the next payday. Doing a whole bunch of little projects like these over a long period of time is easier, both physically, and financially. It really is nice to pay for things with cash, instead of using the stupid credit card.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Phase 4 of Rain Barrels is Complete

Yes! Only one more phase left!

I got it done after work today, and it was both hot and HUMID outside! It took about 2 hours to do an hours job, because I kept taking cooling breaks. Anyway, the barrels are ready for the rains to come again.

We have 3 phases of 2/3 full rain barrels, so we have plenty of water to water the plants later in the week. Now we just need to make sure that we get out there and water!

Otherwise it has been a good weekend. Please see Mary's blog for a story on peach pickin' and processing.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Pond Plants

So Sunday Mary and I bought some plants for the pond.

Well, today, we went and picked up a few from some Freecyclers. I put out a "wanted" email, and they came back with, "we have pond plants you could have." They were very nice, and I figured that with all the plants Mary and I gave away over the last couple of years, it was good Karma coming back on us.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of the pond, now with plants!
(Click on the photo and you will be shown a much larger picture!)

The list of plants is long. Hornwort, water hyacinth, water lettuce, 2 pink water lillies (the lady said they would overwinter just fine) and some sort of arrowhead specimen that has clusters of purple flowers on the end of stalks.


I'm hoping that dragonflys will soon find the pond and hang out on the plants! Then maybe we will get frogs!

And to celebrate my beautiful daughter and my fine young son, I include a stunning picture of sibling love...

Ah, the simple joys of one man's life.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Rain Barrels Phase 3

I finished phase 3. It was quicker and easier this time, since I have this rain barrel process down.

Each time I make one, I've improved the process a bit.

This time it was by drilling holes in the lid of the first barrel, then putting screen over the holes, and the plastic itself holds the screen up. This seems to work much better than cutting one large hole, and hoping the screen holds up.

The hardest part of the whole thing is getting all the concrete blocks to the same height... so that the other 2 barrels fill up from the lead one.

Anyway, they are done.

Mary and I are going up to a garden center (that has pond plants) and get a few pond plants to start off the pond. Also going over to the nearest pond, and getting a gallon of natural pond water to get our pond started off. I don't want tons of mosquitos in our little pond. I hope to catch a few dragonfly nymphs.

We are back from the garden center... we picked up a water hyacinth, a water lettuce, some sort of ground cover thing, and some purple arrow head blooming thing. I forget the names for now, but each came with some free duckweed too!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

All I wanted was a refrigerator...

Mary and I try to conserve resources where we can. We have goals of someday going "off grid" for both power and water. We are planning for Solar power and water catchment systems. With that in mind, I've been working on the rain barrels and such. But for the power, we've been finding ways to cut back on everyday consumption of electricity also. I was surfing and found the following link: Chest Refrigerator and it sounded like a good idea to me, so I sent the link to Mary. She looked it over and said, sure!

The catch is that the larger version would not fit in the space in our kitchen. So we started talking about knocking out walls and rearranging things and pretty soon, we were talking about gutting the entire kitchen and building a new one. And all I wanted was a refrigerator that was energy efficient! That energy efficient appliance is going to cost me about 2 months time, not to mention the $$$ that will be needed for the materials. Sheesh! It makes me not want to be energy efficient... but I do, and we really will benefit from the remodel. We will make the house much more sellable with a dishwasher, and new stove with oven. And getting the microwave oven and gas oven stuff out of the kids computer area.
Oh, and Mary will get a broom closet out of the deal too!

So with that in mind, we are planning for the remodel to happen sometime after the gardening season is done. And after we get the painting in the living room done, so that we have a place to move into while we do this.

Have you ever lived by microwave and hot plate? The trick will be keeping things clean with no kitchen sink.

Cheers,

James

Sunday, July 23, 2006

It rained last night!

The rain came down in torrents. The gutters ran it to my rain barrels. I had 5 full rain barrels this morning. Five, because barrel 6 was taken out of the loop last night due to a slow leak. I fixed it today, and the sealant is curing now. I'll put it back on the phase 2 group tomorrow evening when I get home.

It was a quiet morning, Mary and I watched the final stage of the Tour de France, and various kids watched with us. Kyle got up about 10:30, and Floyd Landis crossed the finish line, in the yellow jersey at about 11:45. So it was a restful morning.

After the tour, I went out to garden. Since I had full barrels, I proceeded to fill the pond. But I made a slight modification to the way the filters worked. I drilled a hole, and attached a hose to the bottom of the wood chip bin, so that the chips would not constantly be sitting in water. That way I can have both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria working on the grey water. So I ran a few buckets-full of rainwater through the filter to make sure that it was draining to my satisfaction. It was.
So I proceeded to carry the water from the water barrels up to the pond. I carried about 150 gallons of water up to the pond, and I still have about 6-8 inches more to go before I reach the top. So I'm guessing I have about 200 gallon capacity in that pond.

I'm tired again. Funny how that happens when I'm doing all this fun stuff.

For dinner, I went out and picked all of the fresh green beans I could find, and mixed them in with carrots, broccoli, and cabbage for veggies. I also made sloppy joes to go with.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

How to build a small backyard pond

I had an idea planted in my head recently by my dear wife, who teases me about being careful what she wishes for, because I will figure out a way to make it happen for her.
Anyway, today I planned to dig the pond for her.

Here are some before pictures, to show what I was up to.



Notice I used the garden hose to lay out where I wanted the edges to be.
The square black things are sold to mix concrete, but have become a simple 3 step, grey water purification system. The grey water is poured into the top bin, which is completely filled with wood chips, then the water flows to the next bin, which will have gravels, and about an inch of regular soil on top, and will be planted with mint or some other plant that likes wet feet. The same for the third bin, and finally the water will make it to the pond. The three bins will take out just about all of the soap, and break down anything bad that would poison the pond.

Above, I'm standing in the almost done hole, I've moved the hose after having carved out the shape with the shovel. I piled the dirt up around the edges to make it easier to backfill after putting in the liner.
And here is the finished hole... Just before we put in the plastic liner.


So after Mary and I put in the liner, we lined the whole thing with old carpeting Mary scored from the neighbors up the street. Seems they had a bit of a flood in their basement, and replaced the carpeting, and were throwing out these pieces. So we took them, cut them into manageable small pieces, and set about lining the liner with them. We placed the carpeting pile side down and the carpeting protects the plastic from the UV rays of the sun, and also from punctures. We used 6 mil plastic from Home Depot and it seems to have worked very well, we just have to see what happens when it gets water in it!
Now we have to get the water provider to come and rain on us for a while, and then get the planting going!
Dad, when you come to visit, Mary would very much like a bit of that yellow Iris that you have growing in your pond... If it isn't too much trouble. Thanks.

After all that construction, I'm a bit tired. I think I'll go to bed early and hope for rain!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Little plants and joys of daughters

Mary was very excited and greeted me after I got home on my scooter. She dragged me out into the garden, and showed me the little seedlings that had seemingly exploded out of the soil! It is so cool to see the new radishes, turnips, and salad greens growing up so quickly. I'm looking forward to having lots of salads with all of the new plants.

Last night was excruciating! I took Eliza and Miriam and Mary to the thrift store, and gave them each a spending limit of $20. I am happy to say that I'm the only one who got up to $20, they tried on lots of clothes, but didn't get to $20. The downside was that we went over to Kohls after that to get intimates for the girls, since they have, um, outgrown their old ones. I've got to warn you, girls clothes can be very expensive! And teenagers seem to take forever in a store. They seem to forget that the adults are just standing around waiting for them to finish... Ah, the joys of daughters!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Another Hot Day

I've been taking advantage of the rain-free days to ride the scooter to work and back. The county has been repaving a stretch of road in the middle of my commute, so I have to take care of the edge traps, gravels and crazy car drivers that are out there.
I've purchased a new summer jacket, with armor, for riding. Actually I wear it while riding, but it is a "just in case I lay the bike down" jacket. There is armor in the shoulders, back, elbows and forearms. Very nice jacket that I found on sale on one of the online stores.

Mary has been taping the Tour de France, and we spent about 2 hours watching it this afternoon.
Ah, the simple things in life! Good company, good bike racing, and a beautiful garden outside to enjoy.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Kids and garden

It is

HOT

outside! And I don't just mean a little bit. The temp is around 96 and it feels like an oven in the sun!
So the kids are finding inside things to entertain themselves. Samuel, Kyle and Miriam have created a game, kind of like D&D on their own. They have been at it quite a bit. Here is a picture of the two boys playing nicely while Miriam is off sharpening her pencil.
I made Samuel pause his game for some dinner training. He learned how to make enchiladas for dinner. He did a very good job of getting the food prepped and put together. I can smell them cooking in the oven now. I'm going to be teaching each kid a different dish, and they will be teaching each other the dishes they know. Eventually they will know how to cook quite a few things.

And here is what Eliza is up to. She is working on pins for her foreign exchange program.
And I braved the Maryland heat to take a few photos of the garden. That rock dust that I put down really seems to be having an effect!
Mary's popcorn has the scarlet runner beans growing up the stalks and blooming... You can just see one bloom in the lower right corner of the picture above! She is very excited about them!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Rain Barrels (Phase 2)

So I got up early-ish and wanted to make my chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, but found I was out of flour. So I got out the flour mill, and ground a #10 can of wheat into flour, then proceeded to make the muffins. They turned out well.

I went to wake Kyle up, so that we could get an early start on the yardwork, and he was less than eager to leap out of bed and get going... But he did eventually. He worked until he had filled 3 trash can loads of brush, all chopped into little pieces. What is hidden by the piece of plant he is holding is the little pruner he was using to cut the pieces. Here is a picture of Kyle working on that...
He did a good job, but it took him a while to get everything going.

And I got the second set of rain barrels set up in the back. I'll have them all done eventually, but it does take a determined effort to make them happen.



I have the left barrel's top inverted to catch and direct more water into the barrel, and the overflow goes straight into the drain system to the front of the house. With this, I should be able to catch about 80-90 gallons of water before it goes to the overflow. And I'll be able to water lots of plants between rain storms with the 6 barrels so far. I don't know when rain barrels phase 3 will begin, but I think it will go faster and faster, now that I know what I'm doing. I left a length of hose on the right side to make filling watering can easier.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Wonderful day to work in the garden!

Kyle was out with me this morning. He wasn't working very fast, but at least he was out there. It was HOT! I had sweat dripping off of me, and had to keep drinking water... Good thing to do in the heat. Anyway, we tried to get the work done before it got too hot, but the rain this morning made it extremely humid when we went back out.
I moved the bird feeder because we have a dare-devil squirrel who will leap from the tree and catch the feeder about 10 feet away. So I moved it across the yard... Now let's see if that little critter can jump that far!

Kyle Mary and I watched the stage of the Tour de France this morning, and have been having a basically lazy afternoon. I have some rice in the cooker, and will fry up some lumpia in a while for dinner.

We have some clouds passing over now, which is giving the house air conditioner a chance to catch up with the temperature for the day.

Eliza and Miriam got back from camp today, and stopped by. Eliza opened her AP test scores and found that she got college credit for all 4 of her classes! Great job Eliza!!! An entire college credit for only the low, low price of $89 per test!

Friday, July 14, 2006

It has been a few days since

I last Blogged. So here it is.

I've finished Rain Barrels, phase 1.And another view...

The barrels are arranged such that water will flow from the one barrel on the right, into the other barrels. This lets them all fill, and makes it possible to easily disconnect a problem barrel, and keep the others from emptying.

And here are some pictures Mary took of the Friendship Garden...The yellow day-lilly above is named "Mary's Gold" and was given to Mary by my mom. It really did bloom up nicely.

And these turned out beautifully too!

Mary surprised me with a gift this afternoon! She went out this morning, and worked in the garden, hacking up forcithia bushes. She cleared out the rest of it, leaving the stump digging to Kyle and I. She did a fantastic job, and stopped when it got too hot outside for her to continue. So Kyle and I will get some done in the morning while it is still cool, then relax for the afternoon time.

Kyle is back here visiting, and we had a lovely afternoon, watching today's stage of the Tour de France. Kyle helped me out with rain barrels phase 2. He cut the lids, and fit the screen into them, and sealed them in with the silicone caulk, while I was busy putting the hose bibs on the barrels, and inserting the overflow fittings. I think I have this rain barrel thing down now, and would be happy to show anyone how to make inexpensive rain barrels. I have it figured out that each of these barrels comes to about $25 when done. So when I get done with the entire thing, I have 15 barrels planned. That should more than get the flowers and trees through any dry spells we have this summer.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

It is just Mary and I

this evening. I made her a beautiful salad for dinner. We are planning on having some together time as we enjoy a house to ourselves. ;-)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Ran Barrel tables

I just got done putting on the first coat of paint on the tables. I painted one half of each table yesterday, and the other half today. Tomorrow I guess I'll put on another coat of paint so that I can get my first rain barrel system set up. The ironic thing is that it has rained both yesterday and today, and I am not catching that free water, even though I have all of these barrels and such. They just aren't quite ready yet.

I liked Dad's idea of getting a pump to move the water around via the hoses, I'll look into that when I get the chance.

Mary and the Wonder Twins got home today from the Christiansburg-Alabama-Christiansburg trip. I sure am glad to see them. I missed them terribly and am very happy they are home.

Now I'm off to make a smoothie with some of the frozen berries I collected. I'll ask Mary if she would like some.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Fireworks Day!

I have had a very restful day, even though I got quite a few things done that I've been wanting to get done.

I slept late this morning, since 7:20 am is late for me. I had some oatmeal for breakfast, made with some of yesterday's fresh raspberries.
I then went out and put down the Azomite minerals around the yard. That took about an hour to get it all done. I still have a bag and a half left, which will be perfect for building the sheet mulch beds later. I noticed that there were mosquito larvae in the grey water barrel, so I went ahead and emptied that out around the yard, so those pesky bugs didn't hatch out and eat me alive!
After that was done, I drew up my list of things to get at the Home Depot, and then went and got the stuff. I came back home with my lumber and such, and set about building the water barrel tables. They are very ruggedly built out of 2x4s and 2x6s. I managed to get them put together and sanded before the first thunderstorm hit. I must have looked funny running around putting my tools away and setting the tables inside. I managed to get it all done, and with a few seconds to spare before the big downpour hit.
So now I've had a shower, carried out my greywater, made and drank a smoothie, and sat on the front porch and watched the rain. A very restful day.
I wanted to get the tables painted, at least the first coat on the legs, so I think I'll go get that going.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Pretty Relaxing Weekend...

So Mary is off to Alabama with the Wonder Twins. I have been here at the house with Eliza, who is off doing her "I've got to get a job so I have some $$$ for my Hungary trip" thing. Until Friday, when I drove down to C'burg to visit my folks.

It was a rather uneventful drive, as I had shifted my schedule to be able to take off a couple hours early, which let me get out of the Baltimore - D.C. area before the great exodus started. I arrived in C'burg just as Dad was going out to get something to eat for Mom and Kyle and he. So I tagged along, and got a veggie sub at Subway. Then came back and had some visit time.

My brother Kirk, his wife Melissa, and my wonderfully intelligent and beautiful niece Jessica came over for a little bit Friday evening, and invited Kyle and I over to watch a movie. It was fun to go over and spend some time with them! They were planning on having Kyle spend the night, and I was invited also. I didn't see any reason to refuse good hospitality, and enjoyed a very restful night on the futon in their spare bedroom.

Saturday morning, I had planned on going to Seven Springs Farm in Floyd VA, to pick up some organic fertilizer for the remineralization efforts for the garden. So I got up early, since Ron was only open from 8 to 12 Saturday morning, and went to get Dad, who wanted to ride along. It was an absolutely beautiful ride through the Virginia countryside, with the windows down, and fresh air blowing into the car, we drove for about 30 minutes, across beautiful mountain roads, and deep cool valleys to get to the farm.
I wanted 3 bags of the rock dust, since I figured that would be plenty to remineralize all of my planting beds, and also the trees, azaleas, and shrubs around the small property here near Annapolis. So I asked for 2 bags of powdered and 1 bag of pelletized. Ron then asked me if I was planning on using it or eating it? I was a bit shocked, since I hadn't even considered that people would eat rock dust! But thinking about it, what better way to get your minerals, than directly from powdered rock? I mean, we take mineral supplements in the form of pills, why not just mix some powdered rock into a smoothie and drink it own down...
But no, I am going to use it on the garden, and then take my minerals out from the plants that I eat.
Anyway, I had read on Ron's website that he had comfrey also, and could I have a plant or two? Ron didn't have any potted up for sale, but was more than happy to go dig some for me! So he did, and I have to go plant it when it cools down out there this evening.
The ride back to Dad's house was just as pretty as the ride out, as we noticed a profusion of ditch lilies, blue chicory patches, and black-eyed susans all blooming by the roadsides. I guess the recent rains were very good for the flowers!
The day slowed down a little, and I read the paper, and relaxed around my parent's house.
I had a lunch date with Melissa, Jessica, and Kyle, so about 11:30, I went back over to their house. Kirk had a previous engagement as an amateur wedding photographer for some coworker friends of his, and couldn't go to the India Garden Restaurant with us. Too bad for him. I remarked to Melissa over lunch that I felt a little guilty eating all of that wonderful food, and Mary was not able to enjoy it with me. Sorry Mary, it was VERY good!

The afternoon was rather quiet, with a quick nap on the loveseat in my folks' TV room as The New Yankee Workshop was on, and a wonderful dinner of fresh corn and tomatoes (the rest of the family had hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on Dad's new gas grill.)
The cousins played together, and as it go on towards dark, Kirk wanted to shoot off some of the fireworks they had purchased. I thought it would be better when it was darker, but we did some around 7 pm. They were fun, but you couldn't see them very well. So we went back inside and visited for a while longer, until it got dark. Then we went back out and fired off a LOT of fireworks! Jessica and Kyle were allowed to hold sparklers, and Kirk, Melissa and I lit off the bigger fireworks, despite Kyle's wanting to light them too. Safety and fun, but safety first. Jessica had fun chasing lightning bugs and trying to catch them. Later, Jessica said it was the best time of her life! But remember she is 4 years old.

All in all it was a very good visit, if a bit short. I got up early this morning to bring Kyle back to his mother so they could go to Williamsburg for their vacation. After dropping Kyle off, I drove on back home, and unpacked the car.

I went outside in the hot and harvested some beans from the bean patches (enough to fill a bowl) and steamed them for an afternoon snack. Did you know that purple beans turn green when you cook them? I didn't until today!

Now I think I'll go and build some more rain barrels, and perhaps make another trip to Home Depo to get more supplies later.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Rain Barrels

I've purchased supplies to make rain barrels. I have yet to get the concrete blocks to put them on, and will probably get them a few at a time, as they are heavy!

Anyway, I can't find the screening material that I need to keep the mosquitos out, but it has to be around here somewhere.

I put down several cardboard boxes and watered them down, then covered them with woodchips for the path that washed out last night. You would think that the boxes would cover a lot of ground, but they really get used up quickly! I'm also almost out of woodchips in my pile, and will have to make a call to the tree company to have some more delivered.

I cleaned out the gutters, in preparation for the rain barrel installations. I will have to figure out how to attach the new downspout to make it pour into the rain barrel. I have figured out how to connect several barrels, so that there is less chance of them overflowing. It should be really cool when I get the whole system going.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Rain!

Yep, as a Right Coaster, we've been getting slammed with storms for a couple of days now. The ground is saturated, the reservoirs are full, and any more of the rain just runs down the hill. Bad thing is, it is taking some of that dang clay that I spent so much time putting at the top of the hill, down to the bottom. When the rain stops I'm going to have to reinforce my woodchip path that is also the path the water is taking down the hill. Everything is working according to plan, I just didn't plan for 3 days of 6 inches at a time rain!

I went out and looked around the house during the last downpour, and there was water flowing along BOTH sides of my house, down toward the street. I have captured as much in the soil as it will hold, now the water is just running off.

Well, it will be a good thing soon, as summer is going to be VERY humid around here. I think I'm going to buy stock in mosquito repellent and dunks.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Enjoyable games of Skip-Bo!

I sat down with Samuel, Kyle, and Miriam after dinner and played Skip-Bo with them. This is a long standing family tradition for me, as my folks played with me when I was a kid too. I have many fond memories of sitting around the table with my folks playing this game. It is a simple counting card game, and doesn't take much thinking, which leaves lots of opportunity to rib on the kids as we go along. Oh, and they rib me right back most of the time too! Good times.

It has been a little tense around here since yesterday. Mary was planning on taking Eliza out to a family celebration dinner for her birthday. That didn't happen, due to several converging events, and Mary was very hurt and frustrated. It was not a fun evening, as things were said, feelings were hurt, and tears were shed. It seems that Eliza is trying to break away from us, since she has so little time left before she is whisked off to Hungary, and Mary is wanting to spend some time with Eliza, just when Eliza is wanting to spend less time. Conflict and hurt feelings arise.
I understand how a person usually deals with impending change: There is a tendency to pull away from the people you will be leaving, in a mistaken attempt to make the separation easier on them and you. I think this is part of what is going on with Eliza. She also seems afraid that something is going to pop up at the last minute and keep her from going on the trip. I really hope it doesn't.
Eliza hasn't found a summer job yet, and she has to pay for her ticket to Hungary. She will have to get out of the house tomorrow afternoon and start pounding the pavement. I've offered to help her out by giving her a ride to various locations that may have jobs -- from Mickey Dee's to pizza places, to hardware stores. At this time, she really can't afford to be picky, she needs $$$$.
Good luck Eliza.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Hippo, Birdies, Two Eues!

Eliza is 17 today! Happy Birthday my favorite 17 year-old daughter! You are loved!

Kyle and I went for a walk last night, this time I thought to bring containers! We spent about 2 hours out picking blackberries from the college grounds. We went to places that Mary and I didn't go previously, and found lots more berries. We came back with 2 heaping bowls full of berries, and I slid them into the freezer for smoothies and such later.

I'm sure we will be back soon for even more berries. I have other kids who would like to be able to pick some and eat them!

The trip to Fredericksburg was uneventful, as Kyle had been up late and slept in the car on the way back home.

Kyle did come out to work with me in the garden, after some talking to. Once he gets going, he does well. We are still taking down the forcythia, and it is a big project, because we have to dig out the roots when we get it cut, and that isn't easy at all. It will be worth it when we are enjoying the Nanking cherries that we will have out there soon.

Mary has been diligently working on her translation project, and it is fast approaching completion! She is very glad to have that almost finished. Today she should be done.

I aquired 4 comfrey plants for the garden yesterday. I put a "wanted" email out on Freecycle, and someone offered some to me. Mary took a break from the translation and went with me to get them. I planted them in various places around the garden, and I am hoping they make it.

We are still carrying water from the showers and dishwater out to the garden. Even with the rain, we manage to find things that can use more water, for instance the trees. They are always grateful for a little more water.

I've begun collecting materials for the sheet mulching projects. It looks like I'll need huge piles of the stuff, but once I get done, I won't have to do it again. Unless of course, someone comes and digs up something in the yard with a backhoe. Grrrrrr.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Friday evening with Mary

It is interesting what Mary and I do for fun. Last evening, before it got too dark, but when the sun was going down, we went for a walk, mostly just to get the blood moving in the bodies, but also to share some time.

Well, we walked down by the woods bordering the college, and found TONS of ripe blackberries and black raspberries! We must have spent about 45 minutes picking and eating them. Somehow the birds hadn't found them yet, and when we got through, both Mary's and my hands were purple! We had big childlike grins on our faces, and seeds stuck in our teeth, but we enjoyed those berries!

So living a simple life, where the bounty of nature presents itself, and we have enough time to notice, is a good thing. I posed the question to Mary: "I wonder how many of the people in the houses in this neighborhood know about the berries over here?" She said something like, probably not very many. Their loss, our gain!

I'm planning on taking Kyle for a walk later and this time taking some containers so that we can freeze some of the berries we find tonight.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Simple dinner:

Tonight I stopped in at the farm stand on the way home from work. I picked up one very large, fresh tomato. I love the taste of summer tomatoes! I don't eat them much in the winter, it just isn't worth it for the bland taste. But summer tomatoes! Wow! Anyway, Mary, bless her heart, doesn't like tomatoes, so I get to eat it all by myself.
I also picked up several ears of corn, and some peaches for dessert.

When I got home, after kissing Mary, who has been very busy all day working on her rewrite into Spanish of a mediation manual, I went out and picked some of the beans from Mary's bean plants, and harvested some of the wood sorrel from the 3 sisters bed. I didn't have enough beans to make enough for Mary and I, so I added 3 small zucchini that I had picked up on Saturday at the farmer's market.

I shucked the corn, and put the veggies on to steam, saving the sorrel until just 3 minutes before the veggies would be done. I put the sorrel on top of the beans and zuccini, and clamped the lid back down.

The sorrel lends a wonderful lemony flavor to the veggies, and was not overcooked as it had been when added to the greens the other night. It was really good! Oh, and so was the corn.

UPDATE: After having that lovely dinner, and blogging, I went out in the evening coolness to do some gardening. I moved a couple of wheelbarrow loads of woodchips from the pile, down to where the rain washed out my path. I had the bright idea of putting down some firewood, as temporary swales to hold the woodchips in place until they form soil. Anyway, while using my trusty digging fork to put woodchips into my barrow, I was attacked by yellowjackets! I ran down the hill, while being stung on both arms. Mary was outside in the gazebo, and saw me running. She helped me nurse my battle wounds and I took some benedril to fight the allergic reaction to the stings. I think one got me 2 or 3 times on the right arm, and the one on my left about 5 times, because the left arm is still hurting!
After about a half an hour, I went back out to retrieve my hat, which flew off as I was evading the onslaught of angry critters. I checked out the woodchip pile, and found the reason for their ire: I had uncovered their entire nest, and hadn't even noticed it. So when I get home tomorrow, I'll put out a bucket half filled with soapy water, and suspend a piece of fruit over the water. The idea is that the workers will find the fruit, eat lots of it, and fall into the soapy water. After they drown, I'll be able to remove the nest (with the queen) and save my sons the agony of being attacked by these beasties.
If it weren't for the facts that I want to use the woodchips, the boys like to hang out back there, and the colony will only increase if I left them alone, I would just leave them to live in the back yard until winter, when I would be able to remove them without fear. Alas, I think this is just the first chapter in a long story: James vs. the yellowjackets! Stay tuned.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I made Mary a treat

today. Lumpia! Mary helped me peel the wrappers apart, and I filled and rolled them. I then fried them up and we had a nice dinner. We had 2 leftover wrappers, so I cut a banana into small pieces, and dipped them in brown sugar, and wrapped them and deep fried them. Outstanding!

I then went outside and planted lots of beans! I had soaked some bean soup mix, the kind with 15 different kinds of beans. I planted loads of them out in the back garden, and when they get going, we'll have lots and lots of different kinds of beans, lentils, and peas to eat. Even if not all of them grow, I'm sure plenty of them will.
I read somewhere on the internet that wood ash would deter slugs and snails. So I put some around the marigolds (which my slugs love!) and the new beans that Mary and Aria planted recently. I hope it works.

I cleaned out the gutters, and took out the trash. It has been a busy afternoon, but relaxing.

I love you Mary!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Thunder and Lightning!

Here comes the storm! I hope it rains a bit and waters my garden for me. Those places that I haven't been watering with the greywater from the bath and kitchen.

Mary watered today, after she worked on her translation for a few hours.

The power just went out, and I unplugged the computer, and now it is back on again.

Here comes the storm!

Rain! Rain! Water the garden please!

I lucked out today and didn't get caught in the rain while riding my scooter back and forth to work.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

First D&D Campaign

We had the first actual sit down family campaign now. The kids really seem to have enjoyed the adventure. Even though only 2 giant rats were dispatched. The emphasis was on role playing. And we all did a lot of that. The snacks and pizza were good, and the good natured joking around the table was good too!

Lots of fun had by all.

We started around 5 pm, and ended around 9 pm. 4 solid hours of playing.

The first part of the day made me very proud of my 4 youngest kids. They all went with Mrs Moss from across the street out to her late husband's boat, and helped her get it cleaned up and ready to be sold. They were up by 7:30 this morning for the 8 o'clock ride to the marina. They worked for a solid 3 hours on the boat that was in drydock. The did great work and Mrs. Moss had nothing but praise for our fine young family members. Good job Samuel, Kyle, Miriam and Eliza!

Garden progress: lots of grey water being saved by the kids from showers. I've been watering the plants that need it, since it hasn't rained since last week. Mary's corn is sprouting in the front garden, and when it about 2 feet tall, she will plant some more scarlet runner beans and some sort of squash too. The beans she planted on Mt. Leahi with Aria last week are coming up too. The hydranga is blooming pink, and we have some lovely lillies on the side garden. I bought some ginger root, and planted them in a few out of the way places this afternoon. I've never grown ginger before, but it should do ok.

Friday, June 16, 2006

It has been a while and

a lot has been happening around here.

We are saving greywater from the showers to put on various plants around the garden. It is a bit of work, but it soon cuts down on water use, especially when you have to carry your own water out of the bathtub!

The kids seem to be doing well, and have a job offer from the neighbor across the street. It seems that there is a boat that needs cleaning, and she needs some help, before they sell her. So the 4 kids remaining at the house are all going to do some basic sailor work tomorrow.

Mary and I picked the first green beans from the garden today! She has the picture on her blog.

The solar clothes dryer seems to be working well. When coupled with the indoor rack, clothes do get clean and dry. Eventually.

The kids have dragged me into doing some Dungeon Mastering for the family Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I'm using the OLD rules, since I didn't really want to go out and purchase all new books. If they want to play with the new rules, they will have to provide them. Anyway, I've got to have some time tonight to get some dungeons together and the start of a story to weave it all into one big fun session. So.....

There have been several talks with Kyle, and with the other kids about life and life goals. I've tried to keep it light, and not bash on Kyle about his less than good grades. The way I see it, Kyle will eventually choose his own way (when he finds his passion) and then, hopefully, he will remember the lessons that I'm trying to get across to him.

Eliza is learning Hungarian. Good for her!

Samuel and Miriam are both volunteering at the library to make things happen down there. Neither have said much about what is going on there, but they seem to be enjoying the time there.

I've been reading lots of things about Permaculture and am excited about incorporating those ideas into my gardening. I haven't taken the course, but you can learn lots from the internet and library books.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Whew! Long day.

I haven't been getting much good sleep lately. The Kyle situation has been on my mind.

Kyle did come to visit last weekend. Mary and I explained in detail how much he hurt both of us with his decision to put his Fredericksburg family, band and scouts in front of time with us. It is hard to take when you are 4th on your own son's list of priorities!

I have been listing out in my mind many of Kyle's positive qualities to balance out the negative energy that we have been directing in his direction. So I've conciously turned my mood around. I cannot remain that negative for that long. I accept the situation as it is, and drop how I wanted it to be. Life goes on, and sometimes it just doesn't go my way. Accept it and press on.

Zippy took me to work again this morning. It was a good ride, the weather was overcast, but no rain and a little bit cool.

The ride home was good too, and I picked up Samuel, and ran him over to his Kung Fu lesson, then went to the bank to make a deposit for Mary. I stopped in to the motorcycle shop on the way home, and purchased a pair of armored riding gloves (summer weight). These are much more comfortable in the warm weather than the leather gloves I have been wearing.

I made some hummus for dinner, and had Miriam and Eliza help wash and chop veggies. With some corn chips or potato chips, it is very good. And with lots of fresh chopped veggies, the kids will eat lots of things good for them.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Kyle is visiting

I drove down to Fredericksburg with some angst yesterday. Would Kyle come with me? Would he even want to see me? Do I matter to him? All of these questions going through my head and more that I won't write down.

I got Kyle at 7, since he had band after school. The band was interviewing the rising Freshmen for next season's band. Kyle seemed to be in good spirits when I picked him up, but I was tired.

It was a light topic ride home.

At about 9 we got home and then Mary and I had a sit down discussion at Kyle. I think he felt overwhelmed with the emotions, but since he has choice now, he is fully responsible (like it or not) for the consequences of his choices. We talked with Kyle for about 2 1/2 hours until we finished saying all of the things that his choices have impacted.

What we learned from him... He doesn't call to let us know of his achievements or to let us know of things that are of value to him. He didn't call us to let us know of the spring band concert date, his band banquet (in which Kyle, as a Freshman, received a Letter for band!), and his Scouts Court of Honor (when he was promoted and received his merit badge for fishing.) I'm extremely proud of his achievements, but hurt that he didn't want to include me or anyone else here in his successes.

Kyle is off with Mary to a scout merit badge workshop this morning, even though he really didn't want to get moving at 8:30 this morning. He has some homework to do early this afternoon, then we are going to play Magic: The Gathering.

This evening is Eliza's last viola recital, and I think we are planning on going to dinner where Tori works (Ruby Tuesday's) before the recital.

It should be a good day.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Rain

Today it rained. But no ordinary rain. The gentle soft rain that cools a hot house down after a few days of very warm weather. The rain that washes the pollen from the leaves, at the same time as it soaks the plants enough to spark a burst of growth.

Today was a beautiful day. The morning began with the usual, a quick shower at 5 am, a bite of Cherrios with soy milk for breakfast, then pack a lunch and take Eliza to her seminary. I take her in the car, drive back home (it is only a mile or 2) then hop on the scooter and ride to work. I enjoy the morning ride more, because there aren't really that many folks out at 6 in the morning.

Work was good. I had a few minutes to look up from my current assignment, which is finding out how to port my databases over to the new server that will soon be purchased and installed. No big deal, I have a few months to get the process down (in theory!)

I had a good ride home on Zippy the scooter, and saw Samuel riding his bike when I got home. I got in the house, and Samuel came in a few minutes later... He had a small accident, falling off of his bike and skinning up his knee and elbow. The elbow was worse, and had to be scrubbed out because it had dirt still in it. Samuel was strong, because that procedure HURTS! He got 2 bandages on the elbow, and just ointment on the knee.

I made some fried potatoes with onions and garlic with thyme and wild sorrel from the garden. Yummy! I then made chocolate-chocolate chunk muffins for dessert. (Mary needed chocolate...)

I watered some of the potted plants in the garden, and the herbs (and pinched off the blooms from the basil and the cilantro.) Then the rain came...

Life is good. The flowers are beautiful, the garden is growing (with some unwanted plants) and it is wonderful.

Since my trip to the Ecovillage in N.C., I've discovered the interesting tastes of the some of the wild plants growing in the garden. Sorrel, dandelion, and wild onion/garlic. Very good stuff. I haven't eaten the plantain yet, as I'm letting it get a little bigger, so that I can mix it in with spinach.
I need to find some chickweed, since Mary and I have been so good about pulling weeds, there isn't any in the yard.
Purslane is another plant that is easy to grow, and very good to eat. I need to find some of that.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Been a while since

I've blogged...
I have been dealing with quite a bit in the old simple life. Working some long hours, so that Mary and I can run off to North Carolina this weekend. Been riding Zippy to work most days.
Had an appointment with Child Support Enforcement on Monday, because Kyle's mom thinks that she deserves more money to keep Kyle in the style that she wants to have. I guess she gets her wish, since my payments will go up starting June 1.

Mary has an "alergic" cough, that she hasn't been able to shake for about 3 weeks now.

Not much else going on.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Concert Night!

Eliza's orchestra concert is tonight. So this will be quick and to the point!

We have quite a bit of driving to do... Take Eliza to the concert, the twins to the church, then we go back to the school to see the concert.

Whew! It is a quick bite, then we're off!

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all of the special mothers in my life, Mom, Mary, Melissa, Becky, Lisa. You are all great with your families. Thank you!

It has been a quiet weekend. It rained Thursday and Friday. Saturday was a beautiful day. I spent it at a Buddhist Teaching. I learned about the Four Seals. Not the marine animals, but the Seals of Buddhist philosophy. It was interesting.

I spent Saturday evening with Mary, watching a movie that Kirk lent us when we were there last. Just a quiet evening with no kids.

Today, I worked on Zippy, getting my milk crate all attached to the back. I had to build a bracket for the milk crate to sit on, because I wasn't sure that it would hold up with just the quarter of the bottom support from the other rack. It took about 20 minutes of searching at Home Depot for the right sized bolts, some wood, and black spray paint. And about 2 hours to build the rack, paint it, let it dry, then mount it to the bike. I built a cardboard template of my design before I started putting it on the bike.

Mary and I spent some time out in the garden today, just doing maintenance weeding. She wanted to go to the Navy Exchange to get some trellises for the rose on the side of the house. So we did. And while there, she found hostas. I told her to pick out two, because the prices weren't shown, and the nursery that we had visited previously had the same sized pots for $15. So when we got to the checkout, and asked how much they were, we were shocked to find out they were $4.10 per pot. I sent Mary back for 2 more. So we got four hostas total, and have them tucked neatly into the landscape. The trellises are put up and the rose is settling onto it. We may have to trim the rose back a little bit, but it should do fine.

Mary asked for enchiladas for dinner, so I made them for her. We had a sit-down dinner with the kids and then did the dishes together. Mary was excused from cleanup due to the Mother's day thing and all.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Rain today

so I didn't ride Zippy scooter to work today.

No gardening either.

Cooked spice rice for dinner.

Very simple day.

I'm off to read "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. I figured since the movie opens next week, if I don't read it soon, everyone will tell me how it ends anyway.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Simple Sunday visit

Kyle, Mary and I went to Rob and Lisa's house prior to dropping Kyle to his mother today. It was a nice visit and the niece and nephew have grown so much. Evan does like to climb!

Rob and Lisa's garden is beautiful and coming along nicely.

Kyle was in a better mood today, even though he is facing the wrath of his mother. Long story short is: Kyle was lying to all of his parents, all four of us, about his grades. He did this because he didn't want to "get in trouble". Well, he is in loads of trouble now! He sat through a 3 and a half hour conversation with Mary and I on Friday night, and I'm sure that his mother and step-father will be having a nice little chat with him this evening. Oh, and he had the time in his mom's car to talk with her on the way home... About an hour and a half.

Good luck Kyle, You're gonna need it, son!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Beautiful Saturday

The morning started early since Kyle had a homework assignment to do. He needed some sources for a research paper, so we went to the Library at 9 am this morning. He's been working for about 4 hours on and off to get this thing done. He is finishing up the bibliography now.

I've been out hanging laundry in the light breeze, and enjoying the sunshine on my face. We have some more yardwork to do, like weeding the wildflower garden on the side yard. That should take the rest of the afternoon.

The garden is beautiful, and the neighbors do comment on it quite a lot.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Zippy took me to work again today.

Every ride on Zippy gets me just a little bit closer to having the money to buy our new property.

Work was a whole lot of problem solving, and making sure that my databases are backed up, just in case the hard drives crash... And we all know that never happens.

I got a notice from Child Support Enforcement that my ex is petitioning for an increase of child support. Mary ran through some numbers, and if we guessed right, I'll be forking over about $200 more to her for Kyle's care. My appointment is on the 22nd, so there will be more news then.

The garden is doing very well, peas are coming up all over the place, beans too! I saw some broccoli and turnips too.

The herb hill is doing just fine, and when all of these plants grow big, then I'm sure the hill will stay where we put it.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Zippy the Scooter

took me to work this morning. I ride all the way up to BWI from Arnold. Right up Ritchie Highway. It is about 15 miles. I should have checked my odometer this morning! Anyway it was a wee bit cold this morning, but there weren't any problems getting there. I'll definitely be doing more of that, if it ain't raining on the way to work.

The yard is looking wonderfully. We spent the last couple of days just doing basic maintenance like sweeping and moving the gazebo into a better spot on the patio. Mary and I shared dinner with Samuel on the patio this evening.

I'm going to fetch Samuel from his Kung Fu lesson (again on the scoot!)

Friday, April 28, 2006

Mary approved

the garden path, so I rode the scooter to the store and picked up some weed mat. I put down the weed mat, and covered it with the FREE woodchips that Mary got for us earlier. I still have about half the pile out there to use for other things as we need.

I've already been out on the scooter today too. I needed to deposit some checks into the account, and get allowance $$$ for a kid. So I rode the scoot up to the bank.

I made 3 grain cookup for dinner. This one has an Italian sauce, with lots of basil, oregano, garlic and onion. After the grains get cooked, I'll stir in the leftover steamed veggies from last night, so we don't let them go to waste.

Perhaps Mary and I can have a quiet night at home? I do have some DVDs that I'd like to look at.

We'll see.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Soup

Whatever veggies we had in the 'fridge soup is for dinner tonight! Yummy!

We are going to Samuel's Boy Scout Court of Honor tonight, when he gets 5 merit badges. Way to go Samuel!

Mary is building a display for the Scout bulletin board.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Garden is beautiful!

I got home from work today, to find Mary hanging out under the gazebo. She was laying on my chaise lounge, so out of the kindness of my heart I let her remain comfortable on it as I sat on another chair. Mary really likes her new "room" now that she can use it.
I need to find some roll up/down shades for the west side of the gazebo, so that when the sun comes in the afternoon, she can still enjoy it out there.

The azeleas are hitting their peak, so I want to go down to the National Arboretum to see all they have there too! Hopefully we can go this weekend because the azeleas are hitting their peak. It is great to see and FREE! A must for any flower fan.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Rain and patio furniture

Mary and I went patio furniture shopping today. It is raining very well, watering the garden and making it challenging to work outside. So, shopping we went.

We purchased the "Napa" chaise lounge, and 2 chairs to match. We are planning on going back and getting another glider loveseat to match. So we will have well built furniture that will last several years.

Otherwise it has been a great time with the kids and enjoying each other.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Lab company found my sample!

So I'll start work tomorrow morning.

And yes, it proved that I don't do drugs. Something I knew anyway.

In the mean time, I drove down to Fredericksburg and picked up Kyle today. He is still tired from his band trip earlier this week. He really seems to have enjoyed it though.

I got 3 bags of "Blue Crab" compost worked into Mary's latest raised bed, and got that all watered in and ready for her to plant some more beans in. Now I'm getting some more water in me, then I'll take advantage of this fine day and go ride my bike. My pedal bike first, then I'll take Kyle for a spin on the scooter later.

Ya'll have a wonderful day now, ya hear?

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Waiting for the job

I went in and started my new hire orientation on Monday morning. But there was a small snag. My drug test has not come back, so they sent me home, pending its results. But now after almost 2 days of waiting, it seems maybe they lost my sample. Hmmm.

Anyway, I'm waiting and hanging out at home enjoying this fantastic weather. Mary and I have been planting things and getting the back hill all dressed up with thyme plants, harvested from the front yard. I dig holes, she splits the plants, sticks them in the holes, covers the roots, and I go behind her and put some wood chips down to act as a mulch. Our system seems to be working. I love perennials, because when I bought the thyme, I bought 5 little plants 2 years ago, now I have large numbers of plants. I did a little net research on thyme, and find that it is suited to the sandy soil of our back hill. YEA!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Simple spring observations

With spring comes cleaning. Kids don't do this willingly, they have to be either cajoled, bribed or forced to clean. Even when you ask them if they enjoy living in a clean house, they don't want to put the effort into making it that way.

Spring is warm. I like warm. I like being able to sleep with the windows open and hearing the birds settling down at night, and then waking with their gentle conversations in the morning.

I like seeing the results of all the work that I did last year, when the bulbs blossom, and the plants leap out of the soil to enjoy being awake again. It is amazing how excited I get seeing each little hosta point, dandelion (I still pull them because they will take over if I don't,) and plant that has been shared from friends and families gardens. It is such a joy to watch the neighbors slow down as they pass by, and most even stop to talk and complement the beauty of the entire thing.

I like being able to ride my bikes (motored and pedal) and drive the car with the sun roof open. I like the breeze blowing through the house, and the hush that falls over the garden when a stray cloud blocks the sun.

I like spring! I like seeing the trees sneaking their leaves onto their branches, and the butterflies suddenly appearing, as if from thin air. I also enjoy the feel of the warm April sun on my skin, after so long of having to cover up just to stay warm.

But spring cleaning is getting done!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Cool Scooter

I bought a cute scooter. I intend to use it for small trips around the neighborhood, and for commuting on those days when it is absolutely beautiful outside. I expect to get wet sometimes, but the silly thing gets 70+ miles to a gallon of gas. That is double what my Saturn gets. And, it is pretty fast... downhill with the wind at my back. Actually it goes about 40 MPH most of the time. If I have a kid on the back it goes about 35. I had it up to 50 MPH going downhill. That was fun.

I got it home, and started riding the twins around on it. Just a short little trip around the block, and out on the highway. Lucky for us the highway has huge shoulders here, and bikes and scooters are allowed.

I think my dad would have a blast on this one.

It uses a 4-stroke engine, for 2 horsepower. The emissions are excellent on this, and it really is easy to drive.

Eliza needs a little more instruction on it yet, but I know she will get the hang of it. I'll just tell her to go only as fast as she is comfortable going.

In Maryland, you have to be 16 to operate scooters, so the twins and Kyle are out of luck. They have to just ride for a while.

I've been looking at the idea of getting a scooter since Hurricane Katrina hit, and the gas prices went up. Well, they are up again, and now I'll only use the car for those times when it either really nasty outside, I'm in a hurry, or I need to get a large amount of groceries.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

First day of vacation!

Well, its been an interesting day.

James got up early to run Eliza off to Seminary before she went to school.

I came back and went to bed. Got up about 7-ish and kissed my wife. She had a student at 8, so she got in the shower.

I got dressed (again) and had some breakfast, then drove myself to L3 Communications to drop of some paperwork for my new job. I got back about 10, after stopping to pick up some anti-seize compound from the hardware store. This stuff is great for keeping nuts, bolts and such from rusting together.

Anyway I picked up the compound to keep the new gazebo nuts from rusting so tightly that I couldn't take it apart to move it.

I had some water, then set about cleaning the old dead leaves off of the patio. This consisted of a bit of raking, running the mulching mower over the leaves and spreading them around our newly planted hostas in the back. This went quickly. I was using my leaf vacuum to get the last bits off the rocks, when Mary scared me trying to get my attention...

It turns out that Jeff Moss, the 22 year old son of Jim Moss, our across the street neighbor, had knocked on the front door, asking if anyone knew CPR. Mary went quickly with Jeff to help. Jim had fallen on the kitchen floor, and wasn't breathing. Jeff and Mary turned Jim over to see if they could give CPR, but Jim had already grown cool to the touch. So Mary quickly came back to let me know what was going on, and then went back over to be with Jeff. Jeff's mom was on a trip, and due to be back today, but Jim was the only one who knew what airline she was using.
Mary stayed with Jeff. I went to pick up Samuel from his dad's house just as the ambulance arrived.
When I returned with Samuel, the ambulance had gone, and a lone police officer was still there. Jim had died, and the ambulance couldn't take the body. Jeff had to have a funeral home come and take his dad. That took a while.
Jim was a retired customs agent (among other things) and had lots of friends. As word got around, they began to arrive to help Jeff out. The first order was to get the arrangements made, then to find Jeff's mom and get word to her.

Anyway as the day wore on, there was very little I could do over there, so I came back and proceeded (with Samuel's help) to put the gazebo together. It went up easily. The instructions were good, and easy to follow. Yes, I did read them, since it was a bit complicated.
Here is a shot of the finished product!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Last day at old job

So today was my last day at the old job.

I decided to take 3 days of vacation and have a little bit of holiday (since I earned it!)

I start the new job on Monday. I have to take a urinalisys test for this job. That is no big deal, I just have to go into a local lab and give a, well, sample.

I need to go over tomorrow and drop of some paperwork, then I'm ready to go on Monday!

Mary has been a bit stressed out, with my job search and such, Kyle's grades, Tori's not following rules, Mary's ex being stupid, and the twins deciding to lose self control, I can understand.

I've told about the job search, so that is just waiting now.

Kyle brought home a really bad grade, mixed with mediocre grades too. Mary and I "think" we got through to the boy, but still, it is stressfull doing that sort of talking.

The Tori situation: She seems to have lost all adult judgment, and has neglected to clean up after herself (her stuff is a mess) and she "forgot" to pay her rent, car insurance and accident payment. Not just once but several times. Mary and I fume that Tori is spending more on fast food than on her other financial obligations. So, to make the long story short, Tori is very soon going to have to find another place to live. And that is very stressful on everyone!

Yesterday Samuel and Miriam decided to act like very little kids and began bickering before Mary even got up. So both of them got in trouble. Long story short, Samuel missed Kung Fu because he had not followed Mary's directions, and mouthed off to her in a very loud voice. So Samuel began throwing a temper tantrum like a 3 year old. He was banging walls, and screaming at the top of his lungs. I was ready to just say that he was done with Kung Fu for the rest of the week too, for screaming at his mother like that. That is not allowed in this house.
Miriam wasn't without fault, because she is being quietly defiant, with such little comments as "you can't make me do that, " and "I'm not going to do that." So she has her own things to work through right now.

About Mary's ex. Seems he likes to honk the horn at 8:00 AM to get Samuel to come out for his trip over to his father's house for home schooling. Mary walked out, and asked her ex not honk the horn, due to the 2 neighbors that are not in the best of health and probably sleeping at that early hour. She asked him to come up to the door, and knock, so he wouldn't disturb the neighborhood. He flew into a rage. He got out of his car and followed Mary up to the front door, screaming obscenities at her as he came up the walk. Mary came inside, and bolted the front door. Her ex began pounding on the door with his fists, hard enough to knock the screws out of the lightswitch next to the door. Mary quickly went through the house and locked all the outside doors. He kept pounding on the door, and even tried the latch, as if he were going to come in! Mary called 911 at that point. Her ex left before the police arrived. Mary talked with the nice police officer for a while, learned that there wasn't anything the cops could do at this point, and that honking a horn wasn't illegal. She just has to put up with someone who screams nasty words at her. One wonders if it is safe for the kids to go to his house when he can fly into such a rage?
So should we swear out a restraining order? Or was this man just angry? What will he do next time? If he thinks he can just walk into someones home when he is uninvited, that scares me.

So stress is the order of the week, I think.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Grades and talks with Kyle

Kyle got some disappointing grades this marking period.

Mary and I made sure that he understands how this could impact his future in Band, and his future college plans. This isn't easy, nor is it fun, but unless he gets the message, he will be in for some extremely difficult times going to school. Since Kyle doesn't live with us, and visits only once or twice a month, we have very little opportunity to have these discussions.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Mixed feelings on job searching.

I have interviewed for a new job. I like the idea of working for this new company, but this job just sounds too good to be true. (Or the folks doing the recruiting have done such a good job that they have me sold on the company already.)
So I want to get this job searching over as quickly as I can. I don't want there to be a gap in the $$ from leaving one job and starting another. I also don't want to have to go back and not have this opprutinity pass me by.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Split the last of the Hostas

I was out after work, playing in the yard again. The thunderstorms last night did us a world of good. I know the mulch was very wet this morning, and it is doing it's job well in the front yard. I'd like to make sure that I have a job soon, so that I can spend a little more $$ and get some more mulch for the back yard.
The hostas will be everywhere this year, and I'll soon be out planting rosemary plants down the slope from them. Mary is ready to plant the thyme in the new patio, and I'll continue to make things beautiful around the yard.
I'm almost done!

I have just a little more to do in the back, then the raised bed idea has been growing on me, and I'll get the energy up to build them. I don't know what I'll use for the sides yet, but probably something from freecycle. Or some long pieces of firewood. I'm creative, I'll think of something.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Splitting more Hostas

Yep, after working for my 8.5 hours today, I came home and split hostas again. I still have a couple of mounds to go with them, but I'll get them all done before they are unfolded. It is easiest to split them when they are points.

The back yard is going to be covered with hostas. And we will have lots more in the front yard. The great thing about hostas is I can get lots of good "plant Karma" from sharing them out when I have too many. I won't this year, but next year, I expect to have huge amounts of the silly things.

Mary had a "discussion" with Tori this afternoon. It wasn't easy for either of them. It consisted of both money and is Tori going to continue to "live" here. More on that as the story develops.

Eliza and I are going to the Buddhist lesson tonight. She has shown an interest in know more about what the Buddhist philosophy is. She went to one lesson already. I haven't told her yet, but she can be a Buddhist-Mormon if she wants, but I'm not sure how the Mormon church would like that.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Quick entry before early bedtime

Daylight Savings time.

Simple concept, but does it really work?

I don't think so. My body really wants to stay awake, but if I don't go to sleep, I'll be really tired tomorrow when the alarm goes off.

This weekend was a lovely one. The weather was wonderful! Mary and I drove down to pick up Kyle on Friday, then went on to visit my folks. It was a very relaxing weekend for me, and Kyle got to hang out with his uncle and aunt and cousin for a while too!

Jessica (Kyle's cousin) is growing like a little blonde weed! She has grown so much since last we saw her it is just amazing. It is very good to see her and be able to hug her up and enjoy her for a few hours. I'd love to be able to see her more too.

My folks are doing well. Dad was proud of the remodel of Mom's bathroom (great job Dad!) and the painting he has been doing. Which all looks great.

I love visiting folks, but it is also very good to get back home.

We dropped Kyle off to his mother's house, and made our way back home. Now I'm off to bed in a couple of minutes and hopefully able to sleep.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Job Searching can be a "little" stressful!

So I went to a Job fair. I passed out numerous resumes. I chatted with hiring managers, techie guys (and gals) and generally put myself out there. I am having a problem with location, but I'm not going to let that get me down. I was a little discouraged hearing from some companies that they didn't have jobs matching my skillset, but of course they are out there.

I'm considering going for government jobs, using my VA benifit to my advantage.

I'll be looking this weekend while visiting with my parents. The wonderful thing about the internet (and the jobs I'm looking for) is that they are mostly all online!

On to cheerier news. Today was absolutely beautiful here in eastern Maryland. The flowers are blooming, the cherry trees have exploded with blossoms, and the forsithia is bright yellow. There are some other trees blooming, and they are bright white now, looking like snow has fallen on just them. So what did I do when I came home from work? Something to work off the stress of the last few days? Something that I love to do on beautiful sunny spring days? That is right, you may have guessed it -------> Bike Ride!!!!!!!

It was beautiful on the trail, a little cool, but nice enough to be out in just shorts and a short-sleeve jersey. I LOVE SPRING!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Complexity comes unrequested

Today my boss took me (and my 3 coworkers) aside and let us know that the funding for the contract that pays my salary has been realocated. So all of us are on 2 weeks notice. I've been updating my resume, and plan to go to a job fair tomorrow after work.

Needless to say, it has been a tad stressful around work. All of us are looking for jobs, and our boss is helping us out.

So how does this play into my simple outlook on life? Well, Buddha said that all is change, so expect it. So I do. I've planned for something like this, the proverbial rainy day, and have some savings to fall back on. I'll meet the new challenges with optimism and hope. Also, I always fall back on family, who support me 100%. I'm so lucky to have you, Mary.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Simple Saturday building again

Today I got up pretty early and had a bowl of cereal. I had Home Depot on the mind, since I needed some sand to get the next back patio built. I bought some plastic patio edging to fix the front patio, because I had 2 bricks that keep wanting to come out of it. I took care of that little project first, which only took about 25 minutes. I took up the row of edging bricks, tamped down the earth beneath, placed my plastic edging, nailed it in, and reset my bricks. Now those little suckers won't go anywhere.

I have been reclaiming bricks from around the house's flower beds for about 2 years now. I'm an advocate of doing things inexpensively, and using as much on-hand (or scrounged) materials that I can. I used the stack of pavers (thin bricks) and another stack just as big of full size bricks.

I thought I had enough pavers for this project, but I wound up using all of them, and all of the bricks, some of the stepping stones that I have been saving, and 4 pieces of flagstone that friends of ours gave us from a project of theirs. The patio looks like a patchwork quilt. Ok, so it doesn't look like a quilt, it looks like a patio, but you get the idea.

I finished up about 4:30. I only had to make one more trip to Home Depot for another 8 bags of sand, on top of the 10 I had bought earlier. This patio is pretty well done. Mary helped to sweep the topsoil into it, to get it ready for the thyme plants, and I wet it down to see how well it drains. I have 2 spots that still hold water for a while, but the rest of it drains quickly. I took special care to make sure that the french drain wasn't blocked by all of these bricks and pavers, flagstones and stepping stones. You can see the change in colors on the left side, and the stepping stones on the far left, and on leftmost, the flagstone.

The main idea for this, is to keep the water away from the house. With a "hard top" patio, I'll always be able to get back down to the bricks when cleaning and whatever.

That is pretty much the extent of my day. I'm planning on celebrating my hard work by going out to get Mexican food at Los Portales, near BWI airport.

We drove to Los Portales, but the line for that restaurant was way too long. We went to the Asian place next door. This was BETTER than the other restaurant, and much less crowded.

NINI's Asian Food is excellent. They have Philippine, Viatnamese, Thai and Chinese dishes. These dishes were all cooked to order, nothing was cooked before we ordered. The food took a while to get to the table, but that is because they cooked to order. Yummy! The food was delicious, but the presentation was fantastic! Miriam had a fish, which was carved out of a lemon. Mary had an apple swan on hers, and Tori had a flower made from a turnip, and fried to keep it's shape. Very nice! The family's vode on this place is that we will be back!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Optimism and simplicity in a busy world

Its been a good week.

Samuel is off camping with the scouts tonight.

Poor Eliza has been fighting a severe cold for most of the week, but she mustered up enough energy to go meet the Hungarian Ambassador yesterday. She took Mary with her, and they seemed to have enjoyed themselves. They got home around 6:30 last night after riding back through the D.C. traffic.

Miriam has been secreting herself in her room to draw in her sketchbooks. She goes through lots of sketchbooks... so if any family members or friends have any unused sketchbooks lying around that you don't want anymore... Miriam would be glad to have them.

I havent seen Tori (except sleeping) all week. I guess she is ok.

And then there is Mary. She is thinking that she might have sleep apnea. This is due to the fact that she is always tired. This makes sense, because she does slow down breathing at night, and starts awake several times a night. So we are going to get a tape recorder or something to record the sounds of her sleeping, so the doctor can get her more help. More on that as the information becomes available.

Kyle, if you are reading this, know that you are loved.

Mary and I are planning on taking Kyle down to visit my folks next weekend. This weekend, we have a "rest day" on Saturday and Dan and Ellen's wedding on Sunday. I have no plans for tonight. I may just light a fire, curl up with a book and relax. That would be simple, yes?

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Long Day

I made a small vow to myself, not to post things about work. Just to bend that a little, it was a LONG day.

I got home at about 6 PM.

Mary and Eliza are down in D.C. Visiting with the Hungarian Ambassador. I have no idea what time they should be home.

I made myself a bowl of avacado dip, and enjoyed it with some corn chips. A very simple meal.

Mary left me some clean clothes to fold on our bed. I'm about to get up there and take care of them.

I'm going upstairs, turn on some soft music, and get a bite of chocolate! How's that for simple?

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Veggie Soup

The computer seems to be working well.

I came home from work, made some soup, because Samuel's mouth hurts from his new orthodontic work. He wanted something soft and easy to eat. The soup was a mixture of leftover veggies from last night, and a can of corn, a can of black beans, some spices and veggie stock. Very easy, and very good.

Mary is going to the troupe Committee meeting, to get the Merit Badge counselors trained up.

I've been shopping for new memory for the old laptop, but I don't think I'll get it. I'll just get a neat cooling pad for it, so maybe the fan won't have to work so hard.

I'm kind of between books right now, just finished the Earthbag building guide. It describes in detail how to build walls and houses and domes out of rammed earth bags, held together with barbed wire between each course. For me this is a step up from building houses out of rammed earth surrounded with old tires. I may give this a try out back, by building a shed, or wall using the system.

So now I think I'll start the new Reader's Digest and then fall to sleep.

Simple computer work.

The fan switch was successful. I did manage to mangle the speaker covers for this laptop, but the machine if fully functional and the fan seems to be cooling the computer well. No shutdowns.

It did take me about 3 hours, and taking it apart twice. The first time, I booted it, the monitor didn't work. So I had to take it apart again.

I had to take the computer completely apart, remove the motherboard, and then replace the fan. It was very easy to replace the fan, but opening the computer was the hard part!

The best thing is that I saved myself about $100 doing it myself. And I have the satisfaction of knowing that I can do this kind of work if I need to.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Flowers for Mary

I'll be starting my CPU fan replacement on the laptop after dinner.

I'm eager to see if I can do it.

Mary has been good to me, so I brought her a small token of my affection today... Flowers.

I like to suprise her with flowers for no real reason. She seems to be very appreciative when I bring them, and I enjoy giving them to her.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Simple Saturday

I'm taking a few minutes to update this blog thingy.

It has been a pretty good day. I woke up in the arms of the woman that I love. I cooked delicious food for us and the kids for breakfast.

Samuel got his First Aid merit badge work done. Kyle helped, by being the patient.

Mary and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to do some simple shopping for a friends wedding gift. We then drifted over to the Bowen's (farm supply) and got a double hanging pole for the birdfeeders for the back yard.

I put up the birdfeeders when I got home from Bowen's.

I then went to work outside sifting the gravel from dirt. I spread the gravel next to the house. in about foot wide line next to the house. This should help keep the bugs off the concrete.

We had unexpected (and very welcome) guests this afternoon! Jon and Lee brought Noe and Gil and the new baby over so Mary could have some cuddle time! The smalls (as Jon calls them) have grown greatly just since I saw them last.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

New Computer

New computer because the old one was going on the fritz.

Last weekend my old laptop started acting weird. It began to screech. The poor little cooling fan which had run for 3 1/2 years, finally decided that enough was enough. Well, almost. It screeched, and clattered, and banged and just gave up.

So I talked with Mary, and we decided to get another machine. We traveled over to Best Buy, and looked at the machines there, and a nice fellow, Jay, told us about all the features of these machines. He suggested we should get into gaming, but Mary and I aren't going to do that. We wanted another laptop to be able to have some mobility, and also be able to do the internet stuff, web pages authoring and such, so we went for a lower-end model. Not hugely expensive, but powerful enough that we could use it for the next 3 years...

After doing a little checking (and emailing my Dad) I ordered a replacement fan and will put it into the old computer when it gets here.

As a side note, I called a local computer company that was listed on the computer manufacturers website, and they gave me a quote of between $35 and $75 for the fan, and $100 labor to put the fan in. So I asked if they would sell me the fan... and they said no. They would not. So I went on to ask, "So, you're telling me that I have to pay $100 extra to get the fan if I buy it from you?" The fellow said, "Yes." The nerve. So I hung up the phone and emailed Dad.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Much about Mulch

I had 6 cubic yards of double shredded hardwood bark mulch delivered this morning. So I spent the day shoveling the stuff into my trusty red wheelbarrow, walking it to the appointed places in my front yard, and mulching everything that needed mulching. It is a very relaxing work-day, and very satisfying to get done. I started at about 8:30 am, and didn't get finished until 4-ish. I did take breaks for water, snacks, and lunch. Mary came out and helped in the afternoon. She really is a great help with that kind of stuff. She enjoys getting her hands dirty and "playing" in the yard.

I only get around to mulching the yard every 2 years, since I try to stretch the mulch out to last that long. It really needed it, and it looks so very much better now.

I'm not sure I could have picked a better day to do this, since it was cool this morning, and just wonderful this afternoon. The sun was out, the birds were singing, and I got quite a lot of work done.

I need more mulch for the back, but I don't think I will need quite as much mulch.

My mom sent Tori a scarf and matching hat this week. Thanks Mom! Tori really likes them, but now it is getting warm, Tori won't have much chance to wear them until next fall.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Simply a beautiful day to ride a bike.

It was over 70 degrees today. A wonderful day to work. ----NOT! I knocked off after only 8 hours today and made it home in time for Samuel and I to get a good bike ride in!
This was Samuel's first trip along the highway. We rode up to the trail and kept ourselves from getting hit by the traffic. Samuel was great at the ride, and soon he'll be able to make the ride himself.

After our ride, I changed into yardworking clothes, and went outside to move some more dirt. Mary and I decided it would be better to put a bed of sand down under the bricks. This should make them much more level. So after I get done spreading out the 6 cubic yards of mulch that will be delivered tomorrow, I'll get right on purchasing the sand, and moving it into the back yard.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Simplicity in Earth Moving

Is there such a thing?

I think so. So I've moved earth today. It was some of last bits out of the "swimming pool" near where I've put in the french drain. I cleared the path, stacked the earth at the top of the little hillock that I've built and put my FREE wood chips down on the path. It was much easier bringing the wood chips DOWN the hill.

I am also leveling the ground, in preparation of putting in the brick patio that Mary and I have planned under the family room window. I envision a seating area back there that will allow us to look up into the garden.

So I got that done and almost ready to start hauling bricks down the hill. Hopefully I have enough of the silly little things. I should, since I've spent almost 3 years collecting them.
I'm debating on putting sand under the bricks... but will have to talk that over with Mary.

Mary suggested rosemary as an idea to hold the hill up, and I think that would be great. I'm also planning on planting daffodils and crocuses and snowdrops all along that angled hill too. I think that will look fantastic in the spring next year.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Keeping it frugally simple

Quiet night tonight.

The kids are doing their own things... Homework, church and what-not.

Mary picked up the Angels and Demons book by Dan Brown, and she can't seem to put it down. She said to leave her alone so she could have it finished so that I could read it tonight. I went in to bring her some dinner, and she just kept reading and reading... Evidently it is a very good book. I like the 50 or so pages I've read so far.

Samuel is at Kung-Fu again. He really is loving that.

For dinner tonight, I used my leftover rice, and left over mashed sweet potatoes and made a soup. I added pigeon peas, fresh spinach, diced tomatoes, curry powder, a couple of table spoons of soy sauce, 3 cubes of vegetable bullion, and some red pepper flakes. Stirred it up and let it cook for an hour or so to get the lentils cooked. It thickened up because of the rice and sweet potatoes, but made a very tasty broth. We had some leftover sub rolls that were getting kind of dry, but they are wonderful dipped into that soup.

Mary and I haven't started on the walls in the living room yet. We will get to it soon, because if we don't it will be FALL before we get them done. I do NOT want to do that sanding in the heat of summer.

I think I'll be going back to the meditation meetings on Monday nights at the Annapolis Friends Meeting house. There is a monk that comes down from the Baltimore Meditation Center and teaches the lessons. It has been many months since I've been, and I'm feeling the need to learn a few more lessons. This will help me keep my life simple and settled

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Reading again

This time it is the Dan Brown book, Angels and Demons. I checked out the illustrated version from the library, and already am stuck in the story. I was told by a long-time friend that I HAD to read this book before the DaVinci Code. So I will. So far he wasn't wrong.

For tonights dinner I made Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas. I even made baked rice pudding for desert. Yummy! And to think, it is a shame there isn't anything for vegans to eat!

Mary took Samuel to audition for a summer band camp, and had to listen to 17 different kids practicing their instruments. She is a little over stimulated right now.

Eliza won another of her Mock trials tonight. Her group won on points (again) but lost the case.
I'm very proud of her. I did mention that the ice cream cone purse did not go with the power suit.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Finished wood chips and cutting the cable habit

I have finished moving the wood chips!

I managed to get the faucet in the kitchen replaced with no leaks... (knock wood).

I finished reading the Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card. These are 4 books about the boy Ender. I won't give away the story, but the story starts as Ender is born... by request of the government. It seems they need a commander to fight the aliens that have begun killing human outposts.

Tonight I prepared stir-fried veggies with cashew nuts, served with rice noodles for dinner. It was very good. We actually had all 4 of Mary's kids here for dinner. That is kind of rare now that Tori is working so much and keeping such odd hours outside of the house.

Mary and I took the unusual step today of cancelling the cable. We will now only have the local stations to watch. We really don't use the TV much, and can't justify the expense of the cable for how little we watch the silly thing. So we are keeping the high-speed internet, but losing the cable channels. Another step in simplifying our lives.
A personal observation: I know so many people who have a TV in every room in their house, and can hear it from the bathroom. I used to be about the same way, addicted to the mindless drivel coming from the box. The advertisements, the pressure to Buy, BUY, BUY!!! It took me quite a while to wean myself off of the need to turn on the things. Then I realized I suddenly didn't really care what was going on with my favorite characters, because they weren't really there anymore. Some felt like old friends that you see only once in a while, and can renew the friendship with a cup of coffee and a few hours of conversation. But really now, I just let them all go. I figure if I'm sick, or in hospital, I'll have tons of things to watch because I've missed the last 4 years of TV. But I digress.
I was writing about people having so many TVs. Know how my first marriage was ruled by the start time of TV shows, and that the shows were NOT more important than that. I can remember wondering why my first wife wanted to spend more time with the TV than with me. All those people out there who want to simplify their lives, could let the TVs go. Let the schedule of their lives be set by their own clock, not by the executives at a network in some far off city. Also, these parents that would rather watch TV than pay attention to their kids really annoy me. I mean really, children can "zone out" watching the thing, but children would much rather actually engage their parents in conversations that don't have to wait until the next commercial.

Friday, March 03, 2006

It is FRIDAY!!! Weekend is here!

More wood chips were moved today!

I'm glad to have the chips, but don't have much place to put them right now. So, they are all going up by the back fence. It was a nice afternoon to work on them, the breeze was chilling, but working kept me warm. I spent about 2 hours filling, moving, and emptying the wheelbarrow.

After I get the rest of the ground moved in the back, I'll bring some chips down to and cover up the ground with them. The wood chips that I don't use this summer will be great for spreading anywhere next year, since they will be well seasoned and won't burn plants.

I'm missing Kyle. He chose to stay at his mother's house this weekend because his sister's Birthday party is tomorrow. I guess his mother doesn't remember what started our whole litigation process last year. (Same thing... Over and over and over and over again.)

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Happy Birthday Samuel and Miriam!

Happy Birthday to our Twins!

Miriam and Samuel are 13 today!

I know they are excited by all of this.

Their Grandfather has come to visit and we all went to Los Portales Mexican Restaurant for dinner.


On a personal note, Mary got me another present! She got me a whole truckload of wood chips from the BG&E tree trimmer who was in the neighborhood. I came home from work and found that the driveway was full of wood chips. I will have to put some more down on the paths, and also pile them up in the back yard for more coverage when I get the earth moving done.
Thank you for thinking of me, my love!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Getaway Weekend at Raphael Inn, Gettysburg PA

Eliza had a MANDATORY meeting with the Rotarians who are going to send her to Hungary. The meeting was near Gettysburg PA, so Mary planned a way to get Eliza to her 2 night stay meeting, while Mary and I had a getaway weekend.

We dropped Eliza off at the camp, and drove on in to Gettysburg on Friday evening. Mary booked us 2 nights in a neat Bed and Breakfast in town. The Raphael Inn is just north of Lincoln Square. It is such a great place to relax. Alexandra and George are excellent folks who enjoy visiting with new people. The rooms are comfortable and the food was also excellent. Alexandra asked if Mary and I had any dietary restrictions... And when Mary told her we didn't eat ANY animal products, Alexandra took that as a challenge! Alexandra provided us two fantastic breakfasts, Saturday morning we had cinnamon toast, soy-yogurt, fruit, juice and fried potatoes. Enough to carry us most of the way through the day. Saturday night our hostess prepared vegan rice pudding for "dessert". The funny thing is, that we had eaten such a late lunch, neither Mary or I had any appetite for dinner, so the rice pudding was dinner. And it was delicious.
On Sunday morning, Alexandra made us more of the wonderful cinnamon toast, mandarin oranges and bananas, cherry cereal bars, and steel cut oats with cranberries. I was so full that I didn't need anything until dinner.

All in all, it was a very restful weekend for me.

During the day on Saturday, a distant cousin of Mary's who lives nearby came over to the B&B to go over genealogy with her. Mary had tons of information for her cousin Doug Creech. We enjoyed meeting, and Doug brought his lovely wife Jeanne along. While Mary and Doug went over the family stuff, Jeanne went antique shopping. I spent my time reading. Jeanne came back and we all walked up to Pings Cafe (Chinese & Japanese cuisine) just of Lincoln Square in Gettysburg. It was good vegetarian food too!

While we were out, we saw some soldiers in Union uniform, and also some in Confederate uniforms too. And there wasn't a reinactment anywhere around there. Some people are strange like that...

Mary and I did get out to look at the town a couple of times, but the weather was not making it pleasant to be outdoors. The wind took any bit of heat right out of you. So we didn't go see the battlefields and outdoor attractions. We will do that another time.

I feel very relaxed and ready to go back to work. Egads... Did I just write that?

I highly recommend a trip to Raphael Inn for a pleasant get away weekend. Alexandra and George will take very good care of you!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Simple Dinner

Baby bok choy stir fry with noodles. A simple dinner, but seems like it was enjoyed by all!

I'm trying to use up the rice noodles I bought, so I figured that by mixing them into the stir fry, they would be devoured! And they were.

I didn't get to put any wood chips down today, since it was getting dark when I got home with the groceries. It was also rainy and cold outside, not fun gardening weather. At least my previous applications of wood chips are keeping the mud down where they are. Less erosion and looks good too!

Mary got a call from Miriam's English teacher. Seems our dear Miriam, while one of the smartest in her class, has decided to quit turning in her homework... We will have to follow up on that much more closely.

I did the simple indoor chores tonight, and am planning on going to bed early. We shall see what comes of that.

Mary is off to a meeting with the scouts, since she is pushing to get all of the "orphan" merit badges new counselors. She is really getting this set up for Samuel to excell. I hope that he is paying attention to how much his mother is putting into this for him, and the other scouts.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Wood Chips!

Mary got me a present: A truckload of wood chips. The neighbors down the street had several trees that they are taking out, and Mary walked down last week and asked if we could have some of the wood chips that the tree surgeons were making with that huge chipper. They took her information down, and yesterday afternoon, after another long day of chipping, they brought us the treasure. The wood is poplar, and ground into between 1/4 inch and 1 inch chips. There is the occasional big chip, but they are pretty well ground. The wood is green, so we can't put the chips down anywhere we already have plants... But we have lots of areas in the yard we don't have plants, due to all the digging, and landscaping we have been doing.

So after the chips came yesterday, I enlisted Samuel's help in spreading these things out. I had previously sliced open about 30 paper grocery bags to use as a weed mat under the chips. (Been planning this since I started digging last year!) Anyway, Samuel was very good about putting down the bags, and covering the ground so that I could quickly shovel wood chips into the wheelbarrow, then spread them out where we need them. I was amazed how fast we went on that project. We got the entire side yard done before dark yesterday. We put the chips down about 4 -5 inches deep. I also re-chipped the path out front. I came home from work today (10 hour day) and put a few more loads down on the paths up the hill in the back.

I have another path to put them on in the back yard, but don't want to put them on the places we still have some earth shaping to do, since I'd just have to move them again.

Due to the wood chips coming in yesterday, the freezer has not yet arrived. We will keep that on a back burner, and get it done eventually.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Moving back into the bedroom.

Mary and I have moved most of our things back into the bedroom.

I did get to the Home Depot yesterday, purchased the timer for the bathroom fan and the wire, outlet box, and circuit breaker for the new freezer line that I'm putting in the storage area, a latch handle for Samuel's door and a tarp for the wood pile.

I got the latch handle and the bathroom timer installed. They went quickly. I'm beginning to think that I'm getting pretty good at this sort of stuff.

I got the tarp on the wood pile, but I'll still need to tie it down so that it doesn't sail over to the neighbors yard.

I played Magic The Gathering with Kyle and Samuel this morning, and managed to beat both of them at the same time. Keep on trying, boys! (BwaHahahahahaha!) (cough, wheeze) Ahem. Yea.

I finished the book by Stephen Baxter: Evolution It was pretty good. It consisted of several short segments, all tied together in that the main characters were ancestors of humanity was interesting. The story also went into the future, after humans... and what comes after us. It had a sad ending, but with so much sadness in the past, since life isn't easy, I understood it.

Dinner last night was stir fried Bok-choy with carrots and celery over brown rice. Tonight I'm planning on making collard greens and black-eye peas. Yummy! If I have time, I might make some cookies, or applesauce spice cake. Or both.

We may or may not get the chest freezer in today. We will try, though.

With a chest freezer, I may finally have enough storage space to make it worthwhile to shop at BJ's or some other of the big warehouse food stores.

It will be easier to get the Asian foods from Grand Market and have them here... Since Grand Market is about 45 minutes away and Mary and I don't get up there very often. Grand Market has many items that are vegan and much cheaper than Whole Foods so it is economical to make the trip up. Much more so since we will be able to store the food longer, and have more options here.

I haven't felt much like slowing down and resting since my illness on Monday. I guess there is too much that I feel needs to get done around here.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Pres. Day Weekend

Last night Mary and I moved back into the bedroom! It has such energy and looks fantastic!

Kyle helped me move the larger pieces of furniture, and today Mary and I will get our closets back together.

It was supposed to snow a little this morning, but hasn't shown up yet.

There may be a Home Depot trip in the works for later today. There are several little things I need, and will put to use this weekend.

I also have a commissary trip to make this morning. A vegan fed family HAS to have fresh fruit! Ok, so they don't, but they start to get grouchy if they can't have their bananas, apples and oranges during a day. I'm so glad they enjoy healthy food.

Right now I have muffins baking in the oven. That should get the day going well.

I woke up this morning with a couple of solutions to problems I've had at work. It is amazing that even though I wasn't thinking about these problems when I went to sleep, my brain knew that I was puzzling them out at work, and went ahead and solved them for me.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Long Week

It's been almost a week since my last blog entry.

I've been busy around the house, and not feeling well either. After the big snows on Saturday and Sunday, bucking trees on Sunday and mudding the bedroom, I was run down and feeling like crap on Monday.

Yesterday I felt better, and Mary has been painting her heart out in the bedroom to get it finished. We are both looking forward to having our room back. She has done a fantastic job getting the painting done, but I said that about the hallway, and Samuel's room too.

We are expecting a guest tonight from California. That should be interesting for him, since he will have to sleep on the air mattress because Mary and I have taken over the futon.

We will have to leave soon to pick up Eliza from court... She is trying another Mock-trial for class. Then we will drop off the kids to church and hopefully be back home before our guest arrives.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Windows open in winter!?!

I came home from work today, and found Mary getting stuff moved out of our bedroom. I guess tonight is the night. We will be moving the rest of the stuff out after dinner, and I'll start mudding tomorrow evening. I want it DONE! I realize it may take a few days, but I'm not going to wait on this project.

I left Mary moving books, and made a quick run to the commissary for fruit veggies. I'm keeping the veggies cut up and moving along with hummus and bean dips in the fridge. Mary and the kids are eating them up well.

There isn't much really going on here, Tori is fighting a cold, and Eliza is doing her endless homework.

Ah, one small moment of trial on my part today. I got home from the store with the groceries. I looked up at the house, and noticed that both of Miriam's windows were open. Now I don't mind the windows being open in the spring, summer, and fall, but when the temp outside is around 35, and she is heating the outdoors, I get a little upset. I carried in 2 bags of groceries, plopped them down on the floor, clomped up the stairs, threw open the door to Miriam's room, and proceeded to very loudly tell Miriam that I don't appreciate spending my money to heat the outdoors as I was closing her windows. I really shouldn't get angry with her, but I spent 4 days putting insulation in the attic, and much $$$ putting liquid siding on the house, and new windows in, all to keep the house warm with less money, energy and natural gas. And she had the windows open! So, I went back out to bring in the rest of the groceries, and Eliza sure did move quickly to help, even though I wasn't upset with her. Anyway, I hope that Miriam gets the point that she shouldn't lay around her room in winter with her windows open.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Planarity puzzle game

Here is a simple game, but very addicting. It is called Planarity. Give it a try... The first few levels are easy... Hahahahaha, but the higher the level the harder it gets! Ever tried to untangle a tangled skein of yarn?

Cheers,

James

Busy day at work

Mary and I didn't get our room cleaned out yesterday. We may get it done tonight, and then I can start mudding walls tomorrow evening. I'm anxious to get this done.

Kyle had a nice visit up here last weakend, and seemed to be doing well, after he got over feeling like crap on Saturday. He had a stomach thing, and didn't feel he could keep anything down. He didn't eat until around supper time, and then just some noodles. He had a headache too (but I think that was from not having any food all day.) He was feeling worlds better on Sunday morning though. And his appetite was back.

Today was a busy day at work, and the day just flew by.

I came home and put some 3-grains and veggies in my rice cooker, and it is happily bubbling away making dinner for us.

I got almost all of the wood split and stacked yesterday. I still have a few logs that need to be cut down shorter to fit into the fireplace, but I'll get out to them with the chainsaw soon. I have a LOT of wood back there.

The daffodils are coming up, since they don't know that it is still winter and going to get cold again. I'm afraid that lots of flowers will be lost this year if we have a really deep freeze.

I'm thankful for these small, simple things in my life.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Not much news

It's been a busy week. I've been working 9 hour days, cooking dinners, grocery shopping, chopping wood, stacking wood, emptying buckets into the compost pile, washing dishes, and just generally getting things done. Not much to blog about.

I haven't felt much like blogging either.

I'll be going to pick up Kyle tomorrow. I'm going to call him in a few minutes to remind him that I'll be there. We meet up and usually make really good time back up this way. I hope that he has good news about his recent report card. He hasn't called, so I don't know what to think. I get really excited about seeing Kyle after a couple of weeks apart. I hope he enjoys the visits as much as I do.

Mary and I are planning on starting the destruction of our bedroom after we take Kyle home on Sunday afternoon. That will make all next week, mudding, painting and generally home improvement chores. I'll plan plenty of quick, easy meals to get us all through these times.

After our bedroom, the LIVING ROOM!

I think I'll have a meditation session, and maybe get some reading done before bed.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Rest... or trying to.

I'm not remembering how to handle this resting thing. I feel like I should be doing something to get the project done... But what? I guess I could go to the Home Depot and pick up a door handle for Samuel's room, after I drop him off to the Kung Fu.

Mary and Eliza went up to Pennsylvania today so Eliza could visit a University. I forget which one.

My pile of firewood is slowly becoming neatly stacked. Splitting and stacking now will give hours and hours of fire enjoyment when next winter comes. I'm planning on covering it with a tarp, but I would like to find one that is either dark green or dark brown.

I'm down to just one library book, and it isn't due until Feb 20. The last book I read was by Stephen Baxter and was titled Coalescent. I found it a rather long story, but the final fifty pages made the long set up worthwhile. So I have another of Stephen Baxter's books, Evolution to read now.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

"New" Car for Tori

Mary and I have almost completed Samuel's bedroom. I have to put the door handle on yet, but that requires another trip to the home improvement store. As my dad always says, I might as well sign my paycheck over to them!
Anyway, my major accomplishment (learning experience) yesterday was figuring out 3 way light switches. I had a downstairs hallway light that was not working. I thought that changing out the switches would restore the functionality of the light. It did, but it took me a while to figure out all of the possible combinations of the switches. And I'm still not sure if I have it wired correctly. But it works!

I've been very project oriented this weekend.

Tori came home last night with her "new" car! She was very excited and bubbly and jumping up and down. So Mary and I went out to see her new car. We couldn't see much, since it was dark outside, but I'll get a better look at it a little later this morning.

Today, I'm planning on getting this project's loose ends done, and getting the new hallway lights up, and perhaps having some relaxation time somewhere in there.

For a simple life, I sure do seem to be getting quite a bit accomplished.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Hallway is finished!

The banister is back up... The air return grills are back up, so I now declare the hallway finished.

Almost!

I went to put the smoke detector back up, and found that no matter which battery I put in it, the stupid thing kept chirping at me. Now I know that I wouldn't be able to sleep with that thing going, so I didn't even get to the point of mounting it back on the wall.

I'll see if I can get another one the next time I'm at the PX, since they are cheaper there.

Mary did a fantastic amount of painting in Samuel's new bedroom today. I think she got 2 coats of primer on the walls and ceiling and the closet. She really does a fantastic job with the painting. I'm so proud of her.

How come a simple life has so many chores? Yesterday I was busy with grocery shopping, wood splitting, dinner cooking, putting groceries away and then doing cleanup after dinner. I was tired, so I went off to bed early.

I'm off to bed early tonight, and will be waiting for Mary to get home from the Scout Council meeting, where she is trying to get the church involved in supporting the scouts by volunteering to be merit badge counselors. Good luck Mary!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Simple Monday Night

It was a good weekend. I got the mudding done and sanded and the room is ready for Mary to paint it. Tonight I was out splitting some more of that free firewood, and left a large pile that still needs to be moved up to the wood pile out back. I'll be doing that later this week. For now, it is bean soup for dinner and some incredibly hard Italian bread to soften in the soup.

I have to put the banister back on the wall, as well as put the air vent covers back on. Not hard, just needs to be done.

The kids are sleeping (Tori and Eliza) and the twins are doing their own thing, whatever that is.

Mary is upstairs journaling, I think. It is almost dinner time, so I'll get the bread in the oven to toast it.

I love my simple life.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Free Wood

It has been a productive day!

I got Samuel's room sanded, and the 2nd coat of mud on the walls. I'll be sanding that and getting it ready for Mary to paint soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

It has been lovely here today, and I'm getting a feeling that spring is around the corner, when I know it isn't. But a day with windows open, kids outside, and 60+ degree weather makes me wonder...

Mary and I went for what turned out to be a very short walk. We headed off to the park to see if the "girls" were still chasing the "boys", and got waylaid by a sign saying "Free Wood". Naturally I saw the neatly cut wood from the trees and thought, YES! So we went up and talked to the neighbor, and he said we could have all we could haul away. It is maple, green and unsplit, but will be nice for winter next year. So Mary and I came home and then called a friend with a pick up truck, and are waiting to borrow that tonight. Hopefully the rain will hold off long enough for Kyle, Samuel and I to get lots of wood moved to our yard, then we can take our time getting it up into the backyard wood piles. Free wood is good!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Not so simple family meetings

I've been working in the downstairs again. I got the holes patched and the first coat of drywall mud on the walls. I have to sand the walls, and then do another coat.

Mary is finishing up the linen closet shelves downstairs, so I'm taking a few moments to get this blog written.

We had a family meeting tonight and got about halfway through before Mary had had enough of the kids rambunctiousness. The nice weather has them all keyed up, except Eliza who isn't feeling well.
Anyway the meeting was about the children's responsibilities to the parents and also the children's responsibilities to the family. We will have part two of the meeting tomorrow night.
Hopefully we will have a bit calmer of a meeting.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Photos from the past, waiting, waiting, waiting no more!

Photos.
We take them for granted in this digital age. Kids don't think anything of shooting as many pictures as they want for "free".

I took in 38 rolls of film that had been piling up in Mary's fridge. They are a tresure trove of family memories, that were just waiting to be brought to the light of day. I won't say how much it cost to get them all developed, but it was worth it.

Here is one of Kyle from 2003.It really was cold that night. This was during the HUGE snowstorm that we had in February of 2003, and when my mom said not to force the children together. I think they had fun though.
The twins and Kyle got along very well right off the bat. Even when Mary and I sent them outside every 2 hours or so to make a path to the car. We couldn't get the car out, but we could get to it! There are too many photos to show here, but kids playing in snow is a wonderful thing to remember.

Mary and Eliza sat for over an hour trying to date and remember the people in the other photos. When the family gets them all figured out, we will upload them all to our Picasa and get them archived. I had them all on the photo disks as well as printed copies made. So that will make it much easier to get them into the computers.

Simple cleaning

I spent all day yesterday (it seems) cleaning out Tori's room. The girl doesn't know how to use a trash can. So I began at the door to the room, and worked my way to the wall. It took about 5 hours to get her clothes bagged up, and the boxes she had previously packed (before her Spain trip) stacked neatly in the crawl space under the house. I operated on auto-pilot, trying to ignore the trash, mouse-eaten candy and general disorganization that girl lived in. I cannot live that way myself.
After about 3/4 of the way done, Mary had finished painting the upstairs hallway, which looks fantastic, and made her way down to help. She too was disgusted and amazed with how her daughter had trashed the room. We finished up the room together, and removed 6 bags of trash, and 4 bags of paper for recycling.
Mary and I were both feeling some parental failure, as we had allowed Tori to get to this point in our house. We vowed not to let the other 4 children ever to get to this point. Hopefully we can manage this without having to throw away all of the kids' items.

Today's plan - work all day at my job, then come home and begin sanding up the walls in Samuel's room, and then get the hole in the drywall patched and get the first coat of mud on. That may be too much to accomplish before bedtime, but we'll see.

The simple lesson I've learned today - don't let things pile up. Take care of them as they come up, and don't let my children have their rooms a mess. Throw away everything that they have that is out of place, because obviously they don't care about it if they aren't willing to keep it neatly stored away. And if they do care about it, well, they will learn quickly.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Simple life and power outages

Mary and I found out last night just how good it is to base our lives on simplicity.

We had quite a windstorm last night, and the power went out at about 5:30 pm. I went around the house and lit candles, the emergency 100-hour candles, and the oil lamp. I didn't know how long the power was going to be out, so I lit a fire, since our house is heated with natural gas, but needs electricity to make the furnace work.

After the fire was going well, Mary and I continued doing what we normally do, and got another freshly painted bookshelf up into the library. Now that the shelves are dry, we can reassemble the unit and load it up with books.

The power remained off all night. I got up this morning, restarted the fire in a very cool house, and then went out to get more wood. Mary said that just as soon as I went out and closed the door, the power came back on. So we've had a fire going all day.

Before the power went yesterday, I cleaned the top shelf of the fridge, to make room for my vegan potato rolls. I tried them from Katie's blog. I found her blog when I googled "frugal" when I was going through my frugality learning curve. She has lots of good ideas, and just so happens she and her family are vegan also. So her recipes work for me too!

As I was cleaning the fridge, I noticed that there were many rolls of film in there, some from years and years ago. So I got them all out, and Eliza and I took 38 rolls of film to the Rite-Aid up the street to have them developed. That will be lots of $$$ for the photos, but I'm sure there will be lots of good memories on them, and stories will be told. I went ahead and asked for the CD's so I can directly load them up into the computers, and send them out to those who will want to see them.

Today, I spent some time sharpening the blades on the chainsaw, and cutting up 5 huge pieces of cherry tree. This is the same tree that went down over a month ago. I split and stacked the wood, and have quite a bit of a pile out back. The neighbor who cut the tree up when it fell, seemed upset that I was working on the remains of the tree, but it has been out there for over a month. Melissa (the other across the street neighbor) said I could have the whole thing, as long as I cut some of the bamboo down to get to it. So I did.

I fixed Miriam's light switch in her room, so now she doesn't have to use the little desk lamp alone. Unfortunately now I can see the entire mess that has become her room. We will have a little talk about that.

Tori's stuff is still crowding out Samuel's room, and now that the upstairs hallway project is almost done, Samuels room will be next. So everything has to come out of the room.

I'm off to cook dinner, then Mary and I will load up that bookshelf. I also want to get the moulding put on the bathroom door. That makes that project done! Only a year...
Then I want to do some reading before we go to bed tonight.

I have tomorrow off, so I'm sure we will get into something... But it should be simple.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

MitchellMania

MitchellMania

Here is the link to one of my Sisters-In-Law blog. I'm trying out this Blog This! button on the top the blog page.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Catching-up post.

It has been a couple of days since I got to write anthing down. It has been busy here with kids going here and there, and last night taking Mary and Samuel to see Les Miserables. It was a good show. Samuel liked it and Mary liked that Samuel liked it.

I haven't got much of a plan tonight, just a simple evening with Mary, since all the kids will be at other parent's houses tonight.

I think I've had a touch of the "crud" that everyone around me has had. I didn't get it nearly as severely as they did, but I sure have been having trouble sleeping. Last night is understandable, since I didn't get to sleep until 12:30 am and had a 5 am wake up.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Can life be simple with an ex-spouse?

Hooooooo Boy!

If you want to have a simple life, I highly recommend that you do NOT have an ex-spouse!

Mine sent me an email out of the blue today. She was sharing some "concerns" that she had about Kyle's last few visits up here. So I replied to her on the main concern of hers, $$$. It seems that because my Veterans disability payments have started, it has affected the garnishment on my retirement pay. Long story short, I didn't find out about this until late December, and promptly wrote a check for the balance. Mary, very nicely thank you, took the check in to Child Support Enforcement, and spoke to a very nice case worker there, who is trying to get this all straightened out. The caseworker (Pamela) said I needed to fax a request in to her to stop the garnishment from my retirement, and restart the garnishment from my new employer. So I did, and Pamela called at the end of last week. Pamela was very polite and willing to help me get this all arranged. I assured her that I would be mailing in the difference each month (the entire balance if needed.) Pamela also didn't want me to be double billed, and I thought that was very nice of her, don't you?

I'm still working on the reply to my ex-spouse about her other concerns. Kyle has her believing that he has nothing to eat here, is cold (when he spends hours on end in PJ bottoms and no shirt!) and lonely, since there weren't any other kids here last weekend.

So to keep it simple, I'll let this sit for a few hours or days and reply. I may actually wait until I have the opportunity to talk to Kyle about all of this, at least the points that apply to him.

Mary's ex-spouse is having major car trouble, and the poor thing will be into the mechanic on Thursday. So we are left with driving the kids back and forth. It seems like we are always in the car.

I got the rest of the wood that I bucked over the weekend split and stacked. That was satisfying.

I also cooked dinner, which is Channa Masala and spiced basmati rice. Yummy! There should be enough for leftovers for the next couple of days. Lunches made too!

Mary, Samuel and I are looking forward to seeing Les Miserables on Thursday night! I love this show, and have shared that love with all the kids, and Mary too. Miriam was offered the chance to go, but declined. She does make some very contrary decisions sometimes. Why would she turn down a night out in D.C.? -- FREE! Eliza had already gone with the French class from school, and Tori was busy working. So Samuel has been doing the "going to Les Miserables" dance.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Chopping wood, simple life.

Splitting firewood gives me an incredible sense of accomplishment.

I spent 9 hours working away today at my computer code at work. Very engaging and time sensitive stuff. Stuff that makes it fun to work, but builds stress, from sitting in one position for so long (even with breaks every hour or so) and holding my body still.

Splitting some wood, and watching the logs fly from my maul is a fantastic way to get out that pent up stress from the day. It is simple, just me and the logs.

I asked Eliza to cook some pasta tonight, and she came up with spaghetti and sauce. Simply yummy!

Mary took a break from painting the upstairs hallway to have a bowl of pasta. She's almost done with the first color coat. She has been doing an excellent job of making our house beautiful too!

Soon we will have our cleanup time, and I'll get in the kitchen and make some more muffins for breakfast. I also have a bowl of soaked chick-peas that need to be cooked, and some made into hummus, since Mary and Tori finished off the store-bought stuff we brought back from Rob and Lisa's house. I may toast up some more corn chips while I'm busy in the kitchen.

Samuel needs to be driven over to his Kung-Fu practice also.

Isn't it amazing how much work a simple life can be? Hahahahaha

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Kyle won!

I meant to get on and do some blogging yesterday, but my son asked to play a game.

He wanted to play Magic - The Gathering. I taught him to play when he was very young, and he has enjoyed the game ever since. I've won most of the games we have played, but lately he has greatly improved. It has been quite a competition over the last few months, with me winning every game. I have a very powerful deck, and he has been improving his deck to beat mine. So, last night was his time. He shut my deck down and proceeded to win, dominating the game from the beginning. I'm proud of him. He won without me giving an inch. So now he knows the joy of beating a difficult opponent who didn't just let him win. He earned it.

I spent yesterday afternoon firing up Dad's chainsaw, and cutting up the rest of the fallen wood across the street. I still have some more work to do, and I need to sharpen the cutters on the chain, but I'll get it done. My neighbor has a log splitter, and I think once I get it all cut, I'll go over and ask if I can borrow the splitter. Otherwise, I'll just use the wedge and maul to get the job done.

Mary has masked the upstairs hallway, and should begin painting soon. I know she wants to get that done, but we work on things when we have the energy, and eventually we will get it all done.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

First Bike Ride of 2006!

I just was reading a piece on Veg source and thought I would reference it here.
The article is by Jo Stepaniak and is called Wishing Small.

I agree with her outlook, and would add that taking a simple approach to life does enable you to have a more fulfilling life. It also allows you to make choices from a positive place, not a manic, 'I have to keep up with everybody out there or I'm going to lose" mentality.

Bright spot in my day was when Mary called me at almost 3 PM at work and said that I had to come home so that I could go ride my bike. It was a beautiful day, she said. So I wrapped up what I was doing, and came on home, got on my cool weather gear, and went for my first bike ride of 2006! It was chilly, but the insulated shoe covers I bought on sale last spring really worked well. My feet were warm, but my fingers were a bit cold, even though I had full-fingered gloves on. The bike ride was good, and I got home before the sunlight was completely gone from the sky. It did feel good to get that ride in! Thanks Mary!

I think, since most of the kids are farmed out to alternate parents houses, we will clean some of the leftovers out of the fridge.

I kind of wimped out on the dinners last night, since I just made steamed mixed veggies and mashed potatoes and gravy. The kids really like the simple foods.

The muffin tins are clean now, so I will go make a couple dozen of the apple -raisin kind.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Simplicity in Evolution?

Dinner time!

For dinner tonight, we're having Veggies, and mashed potatoes and gravy. I rather think that the kids will put gravy on the veggies too, but that is up to them!

Samuel is having a friend over to test him for his Boy Scout badges. He seems to be doing well, but we shall see.

I'm planning on making some more muffins tonight, after we do cleanup, since the kids didn't wash the muffin tins last night. I think apple-rasin-cinnamon muffins sound good.

My new year is going well so far. I spent some time today getting my new calendar arranged in my book. I still have to put the birthdays in for the year. I'm sure that I won't be able to forget the twins' birthday... but some others seem to get past me.

I was relieved to hear that the "Intelligent Design" was no longer going to be taught in the Dover Pennsylvania schools. I may be going way out on a limb here, but I have a real problem understanding how someone could discount all of the empirical evidence that supports the theory of evolution. I can't get past the fact that "Creationism" was old history, and now that science (and various logical theories) have come along making much more sense of the world, that people still cling to the need of a creator. If we still lived in a time of little communication, wide-spread illiteracy and church oppression (much like the middle east has now) I could understand it. But we live in the communication age. We have facts, and can look to the rationality of the scientific method to weed out the theories and beliefs that just don't work, in a rational way.

Scientific method is the simplest, most rational explanation of how we got here. The conclusions of what the scientific method shows are not easy to dismiss. Logical thinking should win out, instead of superstition, myth, and legend. I tend to lean toward that simple explanation.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Rainy Day

Mary got up early today. She is attempting a new 30-day experiment on fitness and getting things done, early in the day. She talks more about it in her blog.

I've been just reading Orson Scott Card's Enchantment and feasting.

Last night I sanded the upstairs walls, in preparation for the painting they will get later this week. I have some tools and such that have yet to be put away up there, but my part of the task is done.
I am having a day off. No big projects calling me, and resting. I haven't had that for some time, and figure that taking some James time is about due.

I plan to have a fire sometime this evening, and we have so many leftovers in the fridge, there is no reason to cook more. So I'll just putter around the house, read, and do whatever I feel like doing.

Simple, eh?

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year!

A common post on this day I'm sure, but heartfelt greetings to all!

I've cooked the blackeyed peas and collard greens (separately) and have them ready for the traditional good luck lunch. And of course Kyle protests when presented with the greens... I don't think he likes them much!

My wonderful family has slept in until 11 am today, and seems quite content to try for 12...

I guess staying up late at night is out of character for most of them... except maybe Tori.

I spent the cold and rainy day yesterday getting food made... Muffins, foccacia bread, and pakoras to snack on all day! Yummy.


The running joke between Mary and I is: Whenever we are eating the wonderfully flavorful, healthy, animal and dairy-free foods that I prepare, one of us will say, "shame there's nothing for for vegans to eat!" We say it with such sadness and pity too.

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Simple Muffins for the New Year

Muffins are simple.

I've made several types of muffins these last few weeks. I love the silly things, and some times I've had to make 48 at a time! Just to keep up with my hungry brood!

So I make chocolate, chocolate chunck muffins, Pumpkin spice muffins, Orange-cranberry muffins, blueberry muffins, banana-nut muffins, "plain" cinnamon muffins, Ginger-spice muffins and oh, pumpkin-pie muffins.

Wow! That's lots of muffins. But the kids (and Mary) love to be able to grab a quick bite, and run with them. This goes over well with a family that doesn't like to prepare food for themselves, but like to eat a lot.

This last week having Kyle here has been nice. I sure do like to get to know my son when he is here. Not having him here all the time, I have to make special efforts to figure out who he has grown into, and every other weekend isn't usually enough time to get him to open up. But these extended stays, I get to the heart of the boy-man he is becoming.

On to other business - Tori seems to be getting angry at her mother when Tori needs rides to places. (as a recap, Tori lost driving privelages when she was caught talking on the cell phone while drivning her mom's car... and bumped into my car.) Tori had been warned previously that talking on a cell phone and driving our cars was forbidden... and now she is experiencing the concequences of her actions. But she doesn't see it from that perspective - evidently she is feeling persecuted and unfairly treated. As one of my coworkers suggested to me the other day, Tori is a grown woman (18) and needs to deal with the consequences. She can be mad all she wants, but they are our cars, and we can say who can, and cannot drive them.
Tori has some other issues these days as well. She can't seem to figure out how to follow the simple rules of our house. This attitude is going to make Mary and I less and less willing to help Tori out by providing a place for her to stay. It is very difficult to contemplate kicking a person out into the world, but it seems that if Mary and I don't do this, Tori isn't going to do it on her own. Tori is far more interested in "hanging out" with her friends and coworkers than she is in being an active participant in our family.
She is a grown woman and is, in my opinion, acting like a 14-year old, blaming everyone else for the mess she has gotten herself into. She only has herself to blame, since she knew the deal ahead of time, and she isn't living up to her end of it. So she is fast approaching either a meltdown point or a huge opprotunity, I'm not sure how she is going to see it but it's coming.
I think that Tori loses sight of appreciating how good she had it during High school, with so many privelages and so few demands on her responsibilities. (Self doubt here, but were we too easy on her then? If so, sorry, but we are not going to be easy on you now.)

Hopes for the New Year:

Tori to figure out that she is in control of her world, honor her obligations, and respect her parent's house rules.

Kyle to continue to explore himself and figure out what he wants to do/be/experience in his life.

Eliza to keep on being sure of herself, taking her world by the horns and persuing what she wants! I'm very proud of her for getting all of the study abroad stuff sorted out, handled and organized!

Miriam to keep up her attitude and maybe learn to organize her stuff a bit more without having to "Dr. Phil" her again.

Samuel to continue to learn that earning what you want is the easiest way to appreciate what you have.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Simple living and drywall mud

So Mary says to me, "I want to paint the upstairs hallway next week." She said that on Friday evening. So I've been sanding, and mudding the walls, trying to get them smooth and ready for her to paint them.

Saturday we spent a lovely evening by the fire, and just enjoying the quiet. On Christmas day, we went over to Mary's hanai sister's house for celebrating with their 4 year-old twins. Those kids were really gifted well by their grandfather.

I'm so glad that our children receive only a few gifts from friends and family each year. We have so many "things" now that we have to constantly cull them from the house. The kids can't keep their rooms neat with too much stuff, so they either keep it neat, or get rid of it.

One telling thing that I noticed was the way gifts were given between the couple. There were some fantastic things, (mainly CDs and DVDs) that were given, that would be listened to/watched a few times, then put on a shelf. Just like the hundreds of books and things they already have.

In my simpler, less cluttered, life, I've been trying to minimize the things that I have, and really pare down to the things that don't just sit on shelves, needing to be dusted. I have a very good library down the street, and can borrow movies if I want to watch something. My friends purchase so much, and they are ususally quite willing to allow me to borrow a DVD or CD if I ask.

That makes for a much less cluttered life in my house.

Today, Boxing Day, Mary and I are picking up the kids, and going to her brother's house in Alexandria, Va. for the day. I'll be leaving from there this afternoon, traveling down to Fredericksburg, and picking up Kyle for his time up here with us. I hope he brings his Didgereedoo with him that his grandpa gave him for Christmas.

So we are off to the family gathering, and fun should be had by all...

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Happy Christmas Eve

As I sit in my house, with not even a creature stirring, except the fish and the cat...
I enjoy the quiet, since all the kids are off to their alternate parents' houses. There is an advantage to part-time parenting, and that is: Quiet!

Mary and I spent a quiet evening (literally) just curled up on the couch, watching the glow from a beautiful fire. We shared our thoughts of the past year, our hopes and dreams for the future year, and discussed what makes us successful. More to the point, how we define success.

We will be working on the upstairs hallway walls today. I'll find my drop cloths and make a curtain to contain the dust from the living room. I really don't want dust everywhere in the living room, as I would actually have to dust everything if that happened. I remember cutting the tiles for the bathroom, and having to clean the entire living room afterward. Thank goodness I draped plastic over everything.

Well, I'm off to get that project started. Hopefully I can get the sanding, washing, and first coating of drywall mud up today. If not, oh well. There is always later.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Simple week so far

So Mary's surgery on her shoulder went well on Monday. It was an all-day affair at the hospital, but I must say that I'm very happy that military medicine covers us. Tri-Care Prime is a bargain at $460 a year for me and my family.
Mary isn't feeling very much pain at all from her wound, and is complaining mainly of itchiness. She seems to be bouncing back quickly from that. A few more days of taking it easy, and she will be back in the swing of things with a "new" shoulder.

Yesterday was spent at work, and evening was making sure that the kids had food, Mary felt good and I got some sleep! I think we are all doing fine.

Today I got some very good news from the owner of my company. I got a bit of a raise, quite a bit more than the annual cost of living raise that I was expecting. The raise also superseded the "step" increase I was contracted under. I suppose the new contract for the government was very well negotiated! Anyway, I came home and told Mary the good news, and she had to sit and figure out how much I'd be making next year. It is a great deal more than I had been making in the Air Force, that is for sure!

We also had our annual "White Elephant" gift frenzy today. I took a gift in that I wanted, since there was a possibility that I would get stuck with it. It was an automatic clock/weather station. Very nice. The rules are that we would draw numbers, and the person with #1 would go first, choose a gift, open it and wait. Person with #2 would have the choice of either "stealing" #1's gift, or opening one from the table. If #2 stold #1's gift, #1 would then be encouraged to open another gift. This goes on like this until all people have had a chance to either steal or open a gift. Now it gets much more interesting when several gifts are open, and a person has a gift stolen, and then steals another's gift, and so on. Some gifts were stolen consistently 4 or 5 times. Loads of fun. I wound up with a cordless drill, and a gift card to Home Depot. There were such interesting gifts as a Crown Royal set, Border's gift card, poker glass set, movie candy-popcorn and Blockbuster gift card, Starbucks gift set, a Redskins lamp, a Snicker's NFL football, ice cream serving bowls and toppers, etc.

A simple thing to remember - Live in each moment, and enjoy everything that you can from each experience. Like yourself, because no matter how exciting or how boring, you are always with yourself.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Simple visit to parents house

So we came down to my parents house for the weekend. Since Mary and I won't have the kids on Christmas day, we decided to do our visit a week early this year.

So we've been having a wonderful visit with Mom and Dad, and Kirk and Melissa brough Jessica over (see Melissa's blog) to play with her cousins.

It seems that Kyle really liked the didgereedo that his grandparents got for him. He is trying to teach himself circular breathing so that he can continue the plaing of the drones.

Samuel received a Doumbek drum, and was really liking that.

Eliza got a 20 gig external USB drive, so that she can store pictures and such.

Miriam got several needlework kits to sew.

Jessica got an easy-bake oven to learn to cook with grandma.

I think all the kids like the gifts.



The best times were when everyone was just sitting around, doing things together. Talking, telling family stories, playing games, watching the fire burn, playing musical instruments (Kirk brought over his banjo and was playing it.) But really nice was that the TV never came on, and I don't believe anyone was bored for the entire day. Very nice, simple life.

I take away from this, the love of family, the lighthearted picking on each other that cements relationship, and builds memories of the future for the kids. Also making life a lot more rich and meaningful. These are those gems of moments in lives that while some planning is involved, we all appreciate and hope that there are many more days like these. (Or as someone pointed out... for the kids, these ARE the good 'ol days!)

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Simply living is a great joy

Waking up to the sunshine coming through my window is a wonderful way to start the day. I appreciate the sun, because most days in the winter, I wake up before the sun, and am already at work before it even graces the sky. So seeing sun is a wonderful gift to myself.

It is also wonderful to wake up next to Mary and just listen to the soft sounds of her breath on my neck, and feeling her heart beating against me.

I'm not sure what I'm going to get into today, but it probably wont be as exciting as my sister-in-law's day at the "Extreme Home Makeover" project in Virginia. For more on that see her blog. I'll probably spend some time reading, cooking, and building a fire in the fireplace.

I have 2 projects under way: Replacing the light switch and sockets in the library room, and putting on new wall plates, and sanding the wood filler on the bathroom door to make it ready for painting.

Simple things to keep me occupied and life going on.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

James Day!

Mary is having a "down day". That is when she takes time out for herself and just does whatever she wants.

That leaves me with a "James day."

So I went out this morning and spent about 4 hours getting the logs from the tree that snapped in half in the last snowstorm. Our neighbor's tree was standing dead, and about half of it came down. So I walked over and used my trusty bow saw and cut it up. I came back in, ate some lunch, and then went out and split the logs and staked them out back. They are ready to burn, since the tree has been dead for about 2 years.

I dropped in at the library and checked out 4 movies for Mary and I to watch tonight or tomorrow. After the library, I went down to the hardware store, and got some wood filler for our bathroom door. There were some pretty big areas that needed some attention, and they are filled now. I will have to sand them down in an hour or two, when Mary wakes up from her afternoon slumber. Then the door will be ready for painting. Maybe I can get that done tomorrow!

Tori doesn't seem to be happy, not having driving privileges, but she is adapting I suppose.

Sometimes parents have to be tough on the kids, so the kids either learn lessons, or just learn how to deal with difficulties. A child would stay with his/her parents forever if we let them.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Simply funny...

As Mary and I were getting into bed last night, we heard Samuel say, "Where is Tori going?... How is she going to get the car out of the driveway?" I had parked my car in the driveway behind the Saturn wagon in anticipation of the winter storm.
So Samuel continued with, "No Tori! STOP!" Now this is funny, because there was no way Tori could have heard Samuel, since she was in the car, and Samuel was watching from the library window.

Anyway, Tori, while talking on her cell phone, got in the car, started it up, and backed right into my white Saturn. Samuel's narration did nothing for Tori.

The downside for Tori is, that she won't be allowed to drive either of our cars for quite some time. She not only was caught talking on the cell and driving (a major rules infraction) but did not even SEE my car parked directly behind the wagon.

Both cars were fine, since she wasn't going very fast at all when she bumped them together.

It is the principle of the thing. Driving our cars is a privilege, and with her doing something that we've always warned her not to do, well, she lost that privilege!

Consequences of one's actions can be hard to live with.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Muffins and more Muffins!

Those family people eat muffins so quickly! I made a double batch last night of chocolate-chocolate chunk muffins, and they were gone today when Miriam ate the last 2 for an after school snack! So I made another double batch of pumpkin-cranberry muffins tonight. Whew!

Simple foods like this make our family work well. We continue to grow and share and have lots of healthy and yummy food to keep us happy.

I try to keep fruit, veggies, and these grab-and-go foods available so the kids aren't always eating junk foods. (Junk food can be purchased with their own money.)


On budgeting. Eliza seems to have it down. She knows exactly how much money she has, as well as what she wants to spend it on. This came about because Mary and I decided that we weren't going to continue to buy her clothes whenever she wanted them. So we figured out how much we were spending for each kid, and well, turned that money over to her. So now if she wants a new pair of pants, or a skirt, or belt or whatever she "needs" she budgets for it herself.

I can't wait until Samuel and Miriam are ready for that step too.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Snow way it is going to be a day off!

Woke up this morning to 4 inches (give or take an inch) of snow on the ground. The kids were actually disappointed that school was only 2 hours delayed.

Let me tell you, I was very glad to have 2 hours extra to sleep this morning!

Mary got word that she is having surgery on the 19th, we just don't know what time yet. I'm going to take time off work to drive her to the hospital and back home when she is released. Since it is such a "simple" surgery, they will do it on an outpatient basis. I'll make sure that she has everything that she needs to get along, and take good care of her.

Dinner plans are for Gyozza and noodles with dipping sauce. That should go over well. The kids love the dumplings, and I love the noodles!

Not much is going on, just did the chore of emptying the buckets into the compost pile. It is funny how the compost pile has no snow on top of it right now. I guess the heat of the pile is working! If you have any questions about humanure composting, you can check out the following link: Humanure Handbook Or have a look in Wikipedia to see what I'm talking about.

Following the path of simplicity requires you to live in the moment. Not living for tomorrow, and not living in the past, but living in the right now. Yes, sometimes the now can be boring, but I concentrate on why I am bored, when I have so many things going well for me. I'm grateful for the wonderful family, friends and people in my life.

Today, I had occasion to walk along a hallway at work, and met up with someone I hadn't seen in about 6 years. She was a friend that I used to hang out with when I was working down in the Norfolk Virginia area. So it was quite a surprise to meet her up here. I immediately invited her over for dinner to mee Mary and whatever kids are here when that happens. We spent a few minutes catching up on relationships, and such, and just resuming a trusted relationship that was put "on pause" when we parted ways.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Monday, Monday!

Snow falling, Wonderland in Winter.

We had an easy dinner of my 3 grain and veggie cook-up. I also made a big batch of mashed potatoes and gravy, which was a big hit. The kids also enjoyed the vegan pumpkin pie.
And so many people say that vegetarians don't have anything to eat.

I don't know what I'll make for tomorrow night's dinner, but I have some time to think that up.

No chores to do tonight, as I have two of the girls doing dishes.

Mary's right arm is still hurting her, and she is eager (in a strange way) to get to the surgeon so she doesn't have to hurt anymore. I hope the weather doesn't cancel her appointment tomorrow.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Busy Saturday, and hoping for a lazy Sunday

Yesterday I woke up EARLY when my lovely 18 year-old daughter came home from visiting with friends, boyfriend or whatever it is that she does all night. She came in at about 4:30 am. So I was awake.

I lay in bed for about an hour, just meditating and listening to Mary sleep beside me. But I got up after that and started my day.

List Follows:

Washed and dried dishes
Made banana-pecan muffins for breakfast and since I had the oven warm, went ahead and mixed up some dressing balls for later.
Took Kyle's bedroom door off and outside to use the router on the top edge to keep it from sticking when Mary paints it again. I took some time to figure out the router, but got it working just fine, and took off about an 1/8" off the top of the door.
On the same door theme, Mary wants to paint the bathroom door, so I took it outside and sanded the whole thing down for her. There were 3 layers of paint on that thing, and Orange was the worst color. But it is all smooth now, but we will fill in the screw holes with spackling compound, and sand them down to make ready for the paint that will come.
I recovered some of the wood from the fallen tree from this week, and split it and stacked it in the backyard.
I made dinner of mashed potatoes and gravy with steamed veggies (and dressing ball if you were still wanting them after snacking on them all day!)
I started a fire in the fireplace and kept that going until near bedtime.
Eliza called at about 6:30 PM requesting a ride over so that she could do some painting work on her school project, so I drove her both ways around.

On to other concerns - Mary's right arm has been bothering her more and more, so she has gone to the doctor to get it checked out. She has a fatty deposit growing on her shoulder that really hasn't caused any problem, until now. So she is scheduled to see a surgeon on Tuesday to discuss the removal of the growth and general medically related results.
She is hoping that they can get her scheduled for an MRI and then surgery soon after, so that she can get healed up and rehabilitated. She really wants to stop having her shoulder hurting.

About the Lazy Sunday... It may be for a while, but I have a few chores to take care of... processing pumpkins and storing the puree over in the Peterson's freezer. The Peterson's gave us 5 pumpkins yesterday, so I need to get that going.

I'll make up something for dinner tonight too. I have plans of using the veggies that we didn't eat last night, combined into a soup or something. Who knows, maybe I'll have some pumpkin in the soup too! Ha Ha.

Friday, December 02, 2005

TV and How It Can Detract From Your Life...

Living a simple life can be too simple for some, and yet, all too complicated for others. Figuring out what works for you, is the whole point!

What I've figured out works for me is:
1. A healthy diet, low in fat, no animal protein (for health reasons), and high in carbohydrates.
2. A simple life philosophy. I chose Buddhism, but your choice is, well your choice. But you have to think it through, and stick to what you believe. But also be tolerant of what others believe.
3. Have a worthwhile hobby, career, life goal, or journey. I've found that raising my children, enjoying their growth, love and changes is a wonderful thing.

Which brings me to my title...

If I had continued to spend every night in front of the idiot box, I would not have figured all of this out. I would have remained a passive observer of other people's lives, and not had a life of my own. As I watched less and less TV, I became happier and happier.
Some friends who still watch TV ask me what I do with all of my time. "Aren't you bored?"
NOPE! I have children to pay attention to and love, I have games to play, I have home improvements to make, I have friends to meet with, I have books to read, I have magazines to flip through, I have dinners to cook (I love to cook), I have computers to learn from, I have meditations to do, I have backrubs to give (and recieve), I have gardens to tend, and I have quiet times to just listen to music.
Those are just a few of the options that I have to keep me busy. Oh, and if I don't want to do anything special, I can sit in my garden, enjoy the sunshine and talk with my neighbors as they come by. Family and community. I have much more going on in my life than a drama show on TV, and I surely don't want my life to be exciting with crime, betrayals, lies, cheating and strife, all of which play integral parts of the "entertainment" that the TV tries to draw me into.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Life Ain't Always Simple...

I was driving home from work today, and had a bit of a fender bender with a pick-up truck in front of me. Yep, that was my first crash, and eveyone was fine. I got out of the car, and the fella got out of his truck. The crash couldn't have been faster than 5 MPH. I had stopped at the stopsign, and the truck had just gone through the intersection, I looked left, and started to pull out, and before I could get my eyes back around, I had hit the truck. The driver had stopped to avoid hitting a child that ran across the street in front of him.

I've been through that intersection hundreds of times, and never had a problem. But today, that was the way it happens.

Jose Cortez is from El Salvador and took my name and phone number and called later this afternoon. We are handling the work on his bumper, and not involving either the authorities or the insurance company. What he said it would cost to fix the bumper is just a bit more than my deductable would be from the insurance company.

In other, less adrenaline rushing news, we are having a simple dinner of veggie burgers, and sweet potato fries.

I've got a fire going in the fireplace, and I plan on relaxing for the evening, and enjoying some quiet time with Mary.

Simple things.

I really don't know how people can maintain a marriage with the TV going all day and all night. It really takes the attention away from everything.

I'll get on the anti-TV soapbox in a later post.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Good News from a Good Friend

Congratulations Brian and Dominique! I'm very excited for your new addition to your family!
I started that 14 years ago and now Kyle is almost as tall as I am!

You have so much to look forward to, the sleep deprivation, the first smile on his/her face, the crying, the cuddling, the amazing love, the eyes looking into yours. I hope that your bundle of joy is as healthy and happy as you both are. Oh, and keep in touch!


On another note, we had a bit of excitement in the neighborhood last night. At about 9:45 we had a rather heavy wind/rainstorm and a loud thump! shook the house. I though Miriam was moving around in her room and knocked something over. But NOT! A few minutes later Mary and I saw flashing blue lights outside. We investigated a little further and found a tree across the road about 15 feet from our mailbox. The cop was outside lighting flares to keep other cars from driving into the tree. Mary and I went to bed, and by morning the county had come out and sawed the tree off the power lines. Another crew came out later with a chipper, and cleaned up most of the tree from the road.

For dinner tonight, I made my 3-grain cookup. I take a cup of brown rice, a cup of barley, and a cup of wheat berries, some veggie broth, and whatever veggies are in the fridge (chopped), a can of diced tomato (fresh works too!), a can of corn, oregano, basil, pepper, soy sauce and toss them into the rice cooker. Put in enough water to cover, plus 2 inches, because the whole grains take a good deal of water to cook down.
Very good food, for not much $$$. Oh, and it is best served HOT, and like a good soup, will warm you up.


Kyle called tonight to tell me that he wants to participate in his high school band's parades on Saturday. He wouldn't be done until after 8 on Saturday night, so I asked if he would rather just stay up there this weekend. He said yes. I feel a bit sad that my 14 year old has grown so much that he can make those decisions. But this is a good step toward his independence.
Hope you enjoy those parades, son! You are loved.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Another wonderful day...

I'll take a moment and say that I appreciate being alive.

The weather is rainy (a warm rain for the end of November!) and I feel wonderful! I was listening to All Things Considered on NPR this afternoon, and was caught in a story about people who jump from the Golden Gate bridge. The fella was talking about how his friend jumped when he was 33 years old. I couldn't imagine what would make someone do that. I've had some extremely low points in my life, but not enough to want to take that kind of leap.

So looking at life from a positive, active perspective has helped me through those emotionally difficult times.

Again, I appreciate being alive.

Today was filled with work, and mundane little chores that need to get done. Things that make eating and living easier. I won't list them here, but chores they were.

I'm almost done finishing the toilet paper holder. All I need to do to is sand and put one more coat of polyeurathane on it. So I'm off to my very crowded workshop to get that done.

I will take some reading time to finish the library book that I'm reading now. Here's a link to the book: The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke

I'll give my review of the book after I finish it. I generally love books that deal with a "scientific breakthrough" and how it would affect the entire planet.

Cheers,

James

Monday, November 28, 2005

What a Monday! Whew! I'm glad I only have one of those a week!

What a Monday!

I was up at my usual 5 am, and out the door a little later than I wanted to, because my dear Eliza daughter likes to procrastinate on her homework. She was doing the homework just before we left this morning.

Work was long marathon session of sitting in front of my computer, and furiously arranging Excel files. Nine hours flew past!

I've been home for a while now, and have got dinner almost ready... Yakisoba noodles with bok-choy and cabbage. Yummy!

Plans for the evening are:
Put polyeurathane on the toilet paper holder that Dad and I built on Black Friday. I stained it last night.

Top off the station wagon's coolant level so the little light will go out.

Take Samuel to his Kung-Fu lesson, and pick him up an hour later.

Get some reading done before bed, and then SLEEP!

Mary and I had a great time visiting with family this weekend. Seeing what Chuck and Debbie have been doing with their place, just makes us want to get everything done on this house so that we will be ready to sell and get "THE PROPERTY". Where ever that winds up being.

So I'm back to the kitchen to finish up the meal.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Peace, or not?

I was reading my email this morning and my brother's wife asked me why my adds all had to do with toilets and she asked me what that meant? I replied that maybe it was because I have a "potty mouth?"

Anyway I have a story for this morning... Aesops fable of Everyone agrees to Peace. This speaks to me because seemingly in our world so many speak of peace, love and getting along, yet they have not defeated their own fears of aggression or anger. So that old guy Aesop really did pay attention to his world, the human world, even if it was hundreds of years ago.

So Black Friday is here, and my family is actively avoiding the commercial excess that seems to beset so many Americans at this time of year. We will enjoy a quiet day at my folks' house to just unwind, and eat leftovers. Somehow we will manage to get through without fighting the crowds that are out and about, rushing from store to store, buying things they don't really need.

The frugality books that I've read really seem to have driven home the minimalist need in my life. Simplify my life until I have just the items I need. Yes I said need! Wants come on top of those, and can wind up controlling my life.

I have a few things to mention about Thanksgiving.
I didn't put down my "Thanks List" from yesterday.
Here it is:
Mary, Kyle, Tori, Samuel, Miriam, and Eliza - thanks for keeping me in your lives, and showing me the love and generosity of spirit you enjoy.

Eliza - Your energy, when directed toward your self-set goals will get you there. Not always with the results you expect, but that is life. Keep on working toward your destination and enjoy the journeys that you are on.

Kyle - Thank you for your competitive spirit, your peaceful nature and your ability to take a step back from situations and view them from the other person's perspectives.

Tori - My advice... Think about your long term goals. Get a plan to work toward, and set yourself a timetable. Then figure out the little tasks to do each day to work toward that long term goal. Personal experience shows me that if you don't have a goal, it is very easy to be swept along in life's river, with no real direction, and it is easy to be swept in directions you don't want to go.

Miriam - Love your drama, even though we joke about it. You would do well to tame it, and underplay it, make it much less obvious that you are being dramatic. Age and experience will show you when to use your gift!

Samuel - Your energy will carry you through when you figure out where you want to take it. You can do it! Just think of the back yard project.

And Mary - Well, love, I met you only 3 short years ago. What a fantastic time it has been. The changes we have both made to be together are wonderful, and I really love the partnership we have created. With a team like ours, we can't be stopped!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got Mary and Tori up this morning for our 5 hour drive to Virginia. The traffic was light and we had an easy drive down. We made good time.

The family gathered for our Thanksgiving feast. Dad had baked the turkey yesterday, because he read my post earlier this week, and wanted to spare Mary and I the baking turkey smell. We sat down and had a lovely meal, but the after visit with the family was the best.

Talking about everything and anything.

My brother recently purchased a banjo. He starts lessons in a week or so. Little did I know that he always wanted to learn how to play it. He's learned a few things on the internet about "breakdowns", and is building up his calluses. He showed Tori some of the fingerings and rhythms and Tori picked that up quickly.

All for now.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

I did not work the extra hour today. I had to cut loose after only 8, and get a jump on my 4 day weekend!

I'm about to get into some chores here soon. I have to bring up the garbage cans and the recycling bins. Then I need to put away some leaves that a friend brought over for our compost pile. I'll come inside then, and get the bucket from the downstairs toilet, and go dump it and wash it out.

After all that, I'll come in and do the dishes, so that I can make the individual stuffing servings that I've made every year since my mother taught me how to make them.

I suppose I'll have a fire tonight, and cuddle up for the snow that is supposed to fall.

Mary is taking a nap, I guess she stayed up too late last night reading her library books.

I'll have to throw something together for dinner tonight, oh and get our suitcase packed for the trip tomorrow morning to my parent's house.

So that is the plan for the day...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Happy Birthday to Kyle! 14 and still going strong!

Love from me and all of us in Maryland!

Dad

This is Mary and me. We were relaxing in our garden on our garden glider.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Work had a "feast" none of which could I eat. Except for the wonderful pumpkin-orange-pecan muffins I took. So I had a couple of them. I usually take some other things to eat also, and enjoyed them.

Work was a kind of drag, having to smell the cooking turkey all day, but I got through.

When I got home today, I went up to empty two buckets of sawdust from our two toilets. My compost pile has heated up and is processing the compost nicely. There is barely any odor to the contents of my buckets, and the leaves cover the rest.

I'm making brown rice and stir-fried Bok-Choy for dinner. That should be good. I'll have to do some cooking tomorrow afternoon, in preparation for our trip to my parent's house on Thursday.

Mary says she has reached her limit on the "clutter" around the house, and has set about to remedy that. My feeling is that everyone has a clutter level that they are comfortable with. Some are comfortable with no clutter, some with a little bit, and others, well..... they are not fun to visit. So anyway, I forsee some putting of things away, and de-cluttering things tonight.

Monday, November 21, 2005

So,
It's been a while. My wife dragged me into a project of cleaning out a daughter's room, then tearing out all the shelves, and a built-in corner curio cabinet. We then had to sand the walls, and get them ready for painting. We also put up 3 coats of scrim coat of drywall compound. Mary painted the walls a lovely sandy color, with white trim on the windows and doors. It took us a week, but we got it finished. It looks fantastic!
Mary then bought some fabric, and made Kyle (elder son) a bed cover and bed skirt. She stuck with Kyle's favorite colors, orange and red.

I haven't been out cycling much, but have managed to whip up fantastic vegan dinners for the kids and Mary. I still get some complaints from Samuel (younger son) about all the vegan food, but he still is eating.
Trying to feed all of these kids, and keep up with my own things gets challenging sometimes.

Oh, Mary and I are working toward getting our own place out in the county. We both love the country, but are stuck here (due to child visitation/custody orders) that keep us in Maryland.

We'll get that property eventually, then we will be able to garden on 30 acres, not just the 1/3 we have now.

*** Mary found the Humanure Handbook online and wanted to try doing that. I was up for it, because I do want to make a smaller ecological impact on my world. And getting the septic fixed is very expen$ive! So we made our first sawdust toilet, and put it in downstairs right next to the toilet that leaks. We turned off the water for that toilet. The new sawdust toilet works very well, with one exception... Miriam. Miram refuses to even acknowledge that the toilet is there. She won't use such a "medieval device." Hilarious.
I'm sure I'll have plenty of compost in 2 years, when the first batch is done. Check out the Humanure Handbook at: Humanure Handbook

That should be good for now. Oh, check out Mary's Blog at http://mkrelates.blogspot.com/