Herb Garden & Veggies

Week 4 plus a few days we planted the herbs and we got some starter plants for our veggies. Here's some pics:

[caption id="attachment_217" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Herbs Planted & Sage Transplanted"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_219" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tomatoes"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_221" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Green Bell & Jalepeno Peppers"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_220" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cucumbers"][/caption]

Seed Nursery Day 14

So we are 14 days into our seedling nurturing. As you can see several FINALLY have sprouted and are beginning to look hopeful. Lavendar, Spearmint, and Parsley pots still show now sign of life but the others just popped out one day over the last week (Basil was first) and seem to be progressing quite well. Today we may spend some time prepping their outdoor home for transplanting in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday we bicycled around town to a couple of nurseries to look at starter plants for some flowers, fruit, and vegetables we hope to add to our horticultury mix for the season. Other than a few pretty flowers for Julie, we're planning to put out some tomatoes, peppers (jalepeno, anaheim, bell), squash, cucumbers, cantalope, watermelon, and I want to try some beans of some sort... green, peas... not sure yet.

The last time we attempted a garden was in TN and we planted a number of seeds for tomatoes and peppers. What we got was WAY too many. Yesterday we were thinking one or two tomato plants initially. Then we remembered we could make fresh salsa and decided to up it to four or five. YUM!

TV 2.0

After many years of a love=hate relationship with paid cable tv we decided last week to give it up. There were several longstanding annoyances that led up to us finally deciding to pull the plug:

1. paying for someone to advertise to me
   I actually remember when cable tv was appealing because it had few or no commercials.


2. paying for 800+ channels 24/7 when I only really DVR'ed and watched a handful of shows each week.


3. whenever I did sit down to just watch something live while sipping a cup of coffee or something clicking repeatedly through 800+ channel and finding NOTHING worth watching.


4. the simple reality that all the shows we watch are now posted online for free by the network, or they can be bought for a much smaller fee than the sum total cable tv bill for a month.

That's just a few, but the most obvious and highly contributory factors. Last night I watched my first two shows from the computer that I did not have DVR'ed due to no longer having the service. It was easy (fewer commercials too) and overall a pleasant experience. I had to wait one extra night after they aired but usually we don't watch shows the night or even the week they were aired.
So, that's a report on our latest experiment. We are now paid (subscription) tv free!

We're trying something new this year!

When we lived in Hendersonville TN we attempted to plant and eat some of our food from a garden. We were not very successful. Partly because we were pulled in SO many different directions with work and other commitments. Now though, we're less over extended and more motivated since Julie's diagnosis with a wheat allergy and it's associated food changes. This morning thanks to some seeds and materials from our daughter and friends we attempted to launch at least the seasoning and spice portion of our new garden for this year. (and some tomatoes not pictured here... maybe another day)
We're attempting to grow some seasonings and spices, as well as some vegetables. I'm going to try really hard to post regular pictures and blog posts of some of the stuff we're trying to do. So for today, here's the first post and picture:
[caption id="attachment_208" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our Seed Nursery Day 1"][/caption]

Fix Hijacked Search From URL in Firefox

So I don't really know when it happend but I noticed a few months ago when I entered just a set of words in the address bar in Firefox rather than giving me a list of Google results I was presented some kind of Comcast sponsored Ask.com search (thanks Comcast... I'm guessing some "gift" from you since I'm a Comcast subscriber). I wanted my Google results back. A quick search on Google gave me the answer to fixing it. Here's the page I found to help me get it back the way I wanted it:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/06/12/hack-to-modify-firefox-3-address-bar-to-return-search-results-when-query-or-invalid-url-is-entered/

Thank You

With all the hyper-marketing to buy stuff surrounding them these days, holidays in the USA seem to have simply lost the essence of their meaning. To many, Easter means candy and gifts, Christmas means food and gifts, and Thanksgiving means food, football, and Black Friday. Today I'm going to do my best to spend the day looking at the many amazing people who have been provided all around me to help me become a better person and to just plain enrich my life. So if you are reading this, chances are you are one of those folks and I'm just plain thankful for you.

My Favorite Veteran

[caption id="attachment_182" align="alignleft" width="209" caption="Captain Charles E. Kendall"][/caption]

Today is Veterans Day and we all have much and many for which to be thankful. Though my dad never went to war, he supported the war and defense efforts of our country for over 27 years in the United States Air Force. I truly appreciate those who put their lives on the line with bullets and rockets flying all around them. But today I want to also remember that behind them are guys like my dad who work their tails off helping to make sure there are fewer bullets and rockets flying around for those on the front lines to dodge. Thanks Col. Charles E. Kendall (US Air Force Retired)!

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Mom pinning Colonel eagles at promotion"][/caption]