Mary is going back to school!

She is looking to get another Masters, then on to a PhD. in Sociology. She is very excited about the whole thing, and I'm rooting for her. It means lots of time back in school, but she loves the classroom, and really wants to do some research on her "changing the culture of divorce in America" ideas. So back to school she is planning. She is taking practice GRE tests and has an appointment to get that done next week. She is really enjoying herself. More power to her, I say. It is kind of funny, since I really don't enjoy the classroom stuff, but love to learn, she really likes to do both. More details later on this!

During some the warmer part of the weekend, Sunday afternoon, I worked outside on the trellises for the beans and peas. I received some 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe on Free-cycle to use to keep the wood from rotting, and cut them into 2 foot lengths. I pounded one into the ground, then pulled it out, and pushed the soil out of it and then pushed it back into the ground. I took 2x4s and ripped them with the hand circular saw, so I had 2x2s. I then shaved off the end of the pole enough so that it would fit into the PVC pipe. This will keep the poles up even in strong wind, without having to pour concrete into my garden. Anyway, I then used the saw to nibble off some rabbets for the top poles. These will hold the trellis netting or strings that Mary and I will use for the peas and beans to climb. Anyway we have about 40' of trellis ready to go up, I just have to figure out how tall I want to make them. Then pound in the rest of the sections of pipe, and assemble them. I'm going to drill pilot holes in the tops of the poles, and through the rabbet joints and use a deck screw to hole the top poles on. It should look pretty spiffy when I get it done. But the temperature has just been way too cold to work outside since Sunday. Brrrrrr!

The kids are doing fine, normal school routine.

We've managed to keep the clutter monsters out of the living room

From Jan 2007 livi...

and dining room for a week! We can keep them out longer, I'm sure.

I hope everyone got a chance to at least scan through my environmental steps in my previous blog entry. Mary and I have taken a whole pile of small steps that have resulted in some really huge changes over time. Please consider something that you could do to make a positive change in either habit or health. Positive small steps are easy!