Trip to Jamaica

I recently got the opportunity to go to Jamaica with a group of other students. We spent the week donating the supplies we brought with us and our time to a few orphanages, schools, and handicapped centers. It was an incredible experience. To see people who have very little be happy with what they have was overwhelming. The children at the orphanages, deaf school and rehabilitation center were so glad to just spend time with visitors; to let them take you by the hand and let them show you their world made them smile. It was a great experience.

The scenery and location was almost surreal. It was so interesting how the ocean met the beach or cliffs and then within a few yards was lush green forest and further up were mountains. In Montego Bay we got to watch gorgeous sunsets. Where we were staying was right across the beach and the planes flew very close to us (the runway was just a few blocks away). We visited lots of cool places like Dunns River Falls and ate a lot of interesting food (jerk chicken, jerk pork, curried goat, fried plantains). It was quite an experience, but it was very enjoyable.

North American Flyball Association CanAm Classic Pictures

Today we went to the fairgrounds for a couple of hours to see the North American Flyball Association CanAm Classic. Today was the last day of events, but yesterday a world record was set for the "Largest Flyball Tournament". A total of 810 dogs participated. You can read more on their website http://www.nafacanam.com/

Here are some of the photos:

Morning Garden Pictures

This morning I went out and took some more pictures of the garden. The top picture is a young cherry tomato plant I grew from seed. The second picture is of the bed where the flowers were. Now there are peas growing on a trellis, and cilantro (still very small). You can also see our PVC gate and the huskies' pool. The third picture is of a zucchini blossom. Hopefully, today will be sunny, not rainy, so I can go pull some of the weeds.

The Green-Eyed Boy on the Ladder

Twister enjoys the view from a ladder



While we took a break from cleaning the fan in the living room, a mysterious man in black decided the ladder was a luxurious post from which to view the indoor world. With green eyes glistening he struck a pose, then another, then he decided it was too much: with tail flicking he descended and disappeared into the shadow clad hall.

Garden Overhaul

This has been a very rainy week! We've had morning showers a few times and today there was a random afternoon shower.

The garden took on a new look in the past few weeks. We built two raised garden beds that are 8x4 and 10 inches high. We also moved the flowers at the back of the house (they were being uprooted by the dogs) to the front. Now there are three garden beds total, not counting a 1x5 row outside the fence. We bought some good soil, filled them and transplanted/planted all the vegetable plants. As you can see though, we had to change the 2ft plastic fence around it to a 4ft wire fence. We built a PVC piping gate that was inspired by a gate I saw on the Skippy's Vegetable Garden blog (http://carletongarden.blogspot.com).

The seedless grape vines are doing well (top picture), the zucchini plants are beginning to blossom (2nd picture), and everything is looking great. We look forward to a good harvest!

Extreme Makeover Yard Edition

Over the last few weeks our yard has been renovated. We now have a 6ft chain-link fence and two 8x4 garden beds full of wonderful soil.

A storm system moved through last night, I'll post pictures of that too.

The garden needs to be planted soon since we are now past the frost date. I've got peppers, tomatos, corn, zucchini, and cucmber started so far. Hopefully, this group will make it. My tomatos had serious problems and I've had trouble with the cucumber this year. I hope to get some onions and cilantro in soon too; the cilantro did really well last year.

Happy gardening!

Gulf Shores Vacation 2010

Our vacation summarized in under three minutes.

The Rainy Season?

The rains came today, so no progress could be made in the garden. (Note the wonderful puddles, not)Unfortunate, but despite the rain the ducks seem to be having a good time. This pair was enjoying an evening swim. The light colored one has been around here since it was a baby. It was good to see it again.

Garden Prep

Today saw the perfect day for garden prep. We cleared our roughly 8ft by 6ft garden and added some nutrients to the soil. Including the past week's coffee grounds.

In addition to that, we added some square bricks to our patio thereby increasing it's width by a foot. It took a good part of the day to get it done, but it looks good.

The seeds we've started indoors are doing rather well. Unfortunately, I mixed up the peppers again and now have no idea what is what! We've got the peppers (sweet and hot), tomatoes (regular and cherry), and cucumbers all started inside. Cucumbers took a turn for the worst last week, but two of the six have recovered. I think I watered them a little too much.

Hopefully next weekend will bring some more progress.