Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Testing, 1, 2, 3... Updated

Update  Got a call Friday evening from Dr. Lin's office.  He wants me to consult with a neurosurgeon, based on the MRI findings.

Oh, goody.

I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) evening, and some sort of nerve testing early Friday afternoon.  The follow-up visit with Dr. Lin is scheduled for July 11.  I was told that if he thought something was urgent, he would contact me to get in earlier.

I'm relatively mobile, but lately it's been more painful to get around.  So I haven't been, much, except I've been expending my energies and mobility on the garden.

More later...

Friday, June 21, 2013

Friday Garden

Here we go again...

Establishing shot.  Can't believe how much has grown in one week.  I got out and trimmed back lawn and weeds, for a tidier look.


Tomatoes and melons.  The Early Girls are almost as tall as the Big Mommas.  Melons are doing well. too.


I potted several of the pepper plants, because most of them were getting over shadowed by the tomatoes.  So now I have 'Pepperland'!


Kitchen bed is well.  Two new garlic have sprouted!


Blackberry is healthy !


Onions and garlic!  New garlic sprouts in the lower-left quadrant!


Tiger Lilies and Royal Candles.


Tiger Lilies, and the lost-in-the-weeds blueberry!


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Audit The IRS - 6/19 (Updated and Bumped)


More here!

I'd love to go, but the cost of gas is, shall we say, prohibitive.  I'm looking for someone in the York/Lancaster, PA area who would like to drive and split the cost of gas.  (I'll drive and split the cost if you prefer.)

Leave a comment if you're interested.

Thanks!

Update:  I've been put in touch with a group that is arranging buses to the rally.  The pick up sites are relatively close to the York PA area (Westminster, MD, Owings Mills, MD, and near Towson and Bel-Air as well.)

Info and sign-up at: Restore America's Mission

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Father's Day, 2013 (Updated)

Had a nice, long chat with the Kiddo.  She was sitting in her car, on top of The Rim at the Billings airport, knitting while we chatted.  She had sent me a present, which arrived Friday.  I told her that I would wait until today to open it.  I resolved to open it when she called.  She called once, but it rolled to voice mail without ringing.  I left a message on her's, and since she had called, decided to go ahead and open it!

To my joy and surprise, it was a cook book holder.  It's collapsible, to the size of a smallish cigar box laptop.  And, it has some storage!  And a conversion chart, from teaspoons to cups, to ounces to milliliters.




The book support has a clip for holding recipe cards and such.



And of course it holds books!


Eat What You Want And Die Like A Man by Steve H. Graham

As part of dinner this evening, Crock Pot Beans!




`

If you're wondering...
1 lb white beans                       1 c brown sugar
1 large onion                             1/3 c yellow mustard
1 lb ham, in chunks                  1/4 c cider vinegar
1 12oz can diced tomatoes     1 tbsp liquid smoke 
1 can tomato paste                   1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
About 20 oz stew run-off (chicken or beef - I'm not sure which.  Smelled good, tho.)
I started soaking the beans Friday night to de-gasifiy them.  (Safety tip!!)
Saturday afternoon, I put everything into the crock pot, and cooked on high for about 6 hours.  I turn to low when I went upstairs, and let it go over night.  Turned down to warm this morning when I got up.
All of the above are "to taste", measurement approximate, since I squeeze and splash instead of measuring.  YMMV!  I neglected to account for heat - a couple of Thai Hot Peppers should probably have gone in, but I can always add some Tapatio if I need heat!
Dinner: planning on grilling a couple of burgers (if it doesn't rain), and having some mashed potatoes. Brownies for dessert!

Update:
I should have added more sugar.  The amount I used was what normally works well when I use catsup instead of canned tomatoes.  Also, some more liquid smoke.  I didn't get around to brownies, but I did grill the burgers outside.  And got beer.

All in all, a great Father's Day.

I May Not Be Spock...

...but I had some cool toys to share!
http://ak1.okccdn.com/php/load_okc_image.php/images/150x150/558x800/384x156/968x740/0/2533599049824232678.jpeg
The Kiddo and me, at the Bird Farm, 2004-ish.

My Dad Is...

...Mr. Spock!



OK, you win.

(Via Post Secret!)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Friday's Friday Garden (I know!!)

Got back from Gettysburg on a beautiful Spring day, with my phone in my pocket, so, pictures!!

First, the top of the stairs establishing shot.  All of the rain and sun have engreenified things tremendously.


The nascent blackberries:


Yellow onions on the right, and 15 garlics in the upper left quadrant. I put some Thai Hot pepper seeds down the middle of the lower left, along with four red onions I salvaged, and the more garlic.


 The Quince, garlic, Early Girl tomatoes and the peppers are well:


The Big Mommas (on the left) are living up to their name, almost obliterating the peppers.  I'm not used to tomato plants this big.


Three buds on one of the Big Mommas:


And two small, green tomatoes on the other!


The kitchen bed is well, as are the Tiger Lilies and the Royal Candles.  Photos I took, not so much.  I've added some garlic and pepper to the kitchen bed, and I have another sprout in the sprouting set that I put together.  I'll find out what it is (looks like maybe a pepper), and figure out where to put it!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Walking The Dogs

I have an appointment with a neurologist this coming Friday, to see if we can figure out what the next step in the drama that has been my partial paralysis.  I have been pushing myself a bit every day, and lately I have been able to walk short distances.

Today, I took the dogs for a walk.  I doubt we went a quarter mile, round-trip.  Up the alley to Main, and down Main past the gym, the big antique store,  the kid clothing consignment shop, the seamstress, to the insurance agency.  We went down the walk there to the alley, and back to the house.

I started to run out of gas before we got home, so I slowed up, and let the dogs pull me a bit.  Sat out on the patio for about a half hour, then came in for treats and Cokes.

Woo-hoo!


Saturday, June 8, 2013

Saturday's Friday Garden

We got rained out on Friday, so we're late again.  The rain was steady and gentle from Thursday evening through last night- just the sort us farmer love.  (Heh.)

First, the kitchen bed.  Something got at the sage, so there's only one plant that is robust - the others are in recovery.  The robust one is between the tomato and the baby basil at the bottom, and you can make another one out to the right of the Poodle's ribbon.


Next, the blackberry, looking quite healthy with a number of blossoms:


The yellow onions are doing well.  The reds, not so much. I finally got garlic in the upper-left quadrant.  It's too early to tell, I think.  Maybe Thai Hot peppers where the dead reds are...?


Tomatoes, peppers and melons.  The Big Mamas int the back of the bed have some blossoms, as do a couple of the peppers and melons:


Side view:


The back corner bed, with tomatoes, garlic and hot peppers:


The Quince stick and fading roses. (I have no idea where the warp effect on the left came from!)


Tiger Lilies:


More Tiger Lilies and the  Royal Candles:


More to come!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sunday's Friday Garden

Things are growing!

Well, sort of... the yellow onions seem healthy, but the reds look DOA.  Still gotta get some garlic in there.


Quince, tomatoes, peppers and garlic are looking good.


Blackberry is almost bush-like this year!


Tomatoes, peppers and melons all standing tall-ish.


Kitchen bed holding its own.  The basil is blooming already, which means I need to do some trimming.  Perhaps this evening...


Close-up on the Rosemary and Basil.


Production notes:

The colors are a tad washed.  I used the phone's lighting correction, because of the overcast.  I have other photos that are cyanotic, so I'm not using them.

I tweaked the layout a tad.  This lets me display the landscape shots at a larger size!  I'll go back and update the last garden post, now.

Saturday, June 1, 2013